Wednesday, May 04, 2016

the complaints department

That's me.  Yes, I apologize to my loyal (and not-so-loyal) fans who have complained that I have not  posted since the day before I left to teach at the Virginia Quilt Consortium's bi-annual Celebration.  I have to admit, the countryside at the 4-H  place was lovely -- but the cell phone service and Internet were somewhat tempermental.  

Nonetheless, I had a wonderful time, with two fun groups of students who provided a lot of hilarity and some nice results.  It is not easy to teach Free-form in one day, and a couple of students who had never done this before were stymied early on by the thought of cuttiing without a ruler. BUT - they persevered as I coached them (as in, cutting without a ruler is the same as cutting with a ruler, except you don't use a ruler).   I worked with one of the students and here is what she had at the end of the day: it was a real accomplishment!

A couple of other pieces from that class...




These three tops were finished by the end of the day and I'm sure the others will be finished soon.  Amazing for a one-day workshop!

Backtracking a bit -- I flew into Greensboro and it was about a 2-½ hour drive to Wirtz, VA.  The lovely Lucille Amos, who lives in Greensboro, gave me a ride and it was a pleasant (and amazingly short) couple of hours.  Along the way, we spotted a farmstand selling just-picked strawberries and I had to stop.  Our strawberry season in NJ is in June and is so short-lived that it is impossible to find them.
So, I purchased a gallon of berries, about half of which I consumed while we were at the Quilt event.

Five days later, when I was leaving for home, they were a bit iffy, after having frozen in the back of the fridge and defrosted en route home.  Going through security with two quarts of strawberries was less of a challenge than I thought it would be. Happily, I was the only passenger at the Greensboro airport going through security and I simply announced to TSA person #1 that I had strawberries. She alerted TSA person #2 and it was not a problem.  When I got home on Monday night, I made 1-½ quarts of strawberry ice cream.  I don't even LIKE strawberry ice cream, but there you have it.

TODAY (Wednesday) It is 40-something degrees and has been raining for two days.  The heat on in May?  Yep.  And this morning, I made a pot of soup, some of which I am eating as we speak.

I did spend the day in my studio, experimenting (for a change) and deciding that the idea I had in mind was too much trouble for the result.  I abandoned it and started to work with the African and Indian fabrics I love so much.  Schlepped a ton of fabric home so I could work on it tonight and tomorrow because I am leaving again on Friday. Unpacked, did laundry, and will re-pack, all without even taking my suitcase upstairs.

It will be a week's vacation in the outer banks with my friends from college.  I can only hope that it will not be 40-something degrees.  SO - if you don't hear from me for another week, you will know why.
I expect we will be sitting around, walking if it is nice weather, eating, drinking, reading, and knitting.  I may bring some hand-work or even my sewing machine.  We will see.
See you anon.

6 comments:

Karoda said...

Enjoy yourself on your vacation. Good work came out of the workshop!

Mostly Turquoise said...

Hi Rayna,
Wishing you lots of fun with your friends!

Bev said...

Yup, the heat is still on in Nova Scotia too. Enjoy your holidays:-)

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

Love the results of the workshop! And your vacation sounds lovely... do hope the weather cooperates! We are going from rain/snow showers tomorrow to temps in the high 70's next week... springtime in the High Country! ;-)

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

You are an inspirational teacher...your first students work here is stunning!
Enjoy this Spring time vacation!

Suzanne Abrams said...

Have a great vacation and thanks for sharing the work from your students. You are a spectacular teacher as well as inspirational! Xoxo

soup weather in June and a little more

DISCLAIMER: Blogger is giving me grief tonight, which you will see by the varying sizes of the type. Ye p, soup weather and it's ...