I found a new, wonderful, time-sucking spot online. This photo is just one of the amazing images from the facebook page, Animal Story.

Also check out the Blue photos. Nature really is stranger and more interesting than I can imagine…

Finding this site is not the only thing I've been up to. I spent most of last week working on a photo shoot at C&T. Here is Diane Pederson, the C&T photographer, in the room where we did the shoot.

I spent a good part of the time sitting in a chair about where Diane is standing holding stitching in my hands over the card table behind her. Diane got in place over-around-next to me, focusing in on what I was doing. All in all, she took more than 200 photos in our 3 days together. While the set-up isn't lovely, the photos really are very good. You'll see, in about 10 months.

We worked almost non-stop and I didn't have time to pull out my camera – except one morning. These pallets outside, near where Lynn parks, looked really good to me. All those lovely lines… they're a good inspiration for quilted lines. 

I'm in Newport Beach now, in an amazing hotel near the John Wayne airport (the Ayres Hotel). Really, this room is fantastic! The furniture is lovely, the bathroom is full of marble and is really clean (always a plus). There's a jacuzzi tub but I don't think I'm going there. No time to sit and soak. The art throughtout is nice – reproductions of old masters-looking paintings in what looks like actual oil paint. They are surely prints, but not bad at all.

Tomorrow it's back to work. I teach first for the Flying Geese Quilt Guild. I hope to find time to post. It's not always possible, but I'll try!

I left hot and muggy Sherman, TX, early this morning for clear and cool Berkeley. I'm staying with Lynn, my editor, and her husband for the next few days. It's very nice of them to put up with me.

I had the afternoon free so I walked a mile or so to downtown Berkeley. Found a few stocking stuffers (it's not too early to shop). This book should be a present but I have to say that it's going to be hard to give it away:

I took pictures of the flowers on either side of Lynn's driveway. I might be able to grow these in Sherman, but they wouldn't be as pretty:

Cropping a photo like this presents interesting options. In the shot above you can see more of the flowers – and those sweet peas are definitely pretty. But I think the photo below tells the story better.

And then there are these guys. They look like a kind of thistle, or poppy? 

The texture and color of the stucco behind the plant makes it all the more interesting.

They remind me of figures and I'm not sure why. But I like this image a lot.

Tomorrow is the first day of a 3-day photo shoot at the C&T studio. Linda and I have turned in the manuscript for the 4th edition of the New Applique Sampler and these are the photos that will go into it. The new edition should be out in a year, give or take. I'll do my best to get some photos to show you what it's like at a photo shoot. It's not nearly as glamorous as it sounds!

I'm scrambling to get ready to leave town tomorrow. I'll be at C&T for a photo shoot until Saturday and then I fly to souther CA to teach at 4 different guilds! It's going to be a busy, but fun, trip! As luck would have it, I opened the new MS Living magazine yesterday to see Butterfly Martha!

Which brings to mind the first time I really noticed the Martha ads… remember glitter pants Martha? I was about to leave town then, too.

Whatcha think about this one? I think that's all Martha, not just parts of Martha on someone else. She looks a bit thinner. Good for her if it's really her! She looks younger too – easier to pull off in print (thank you, Photoshop). 

I showed Steve. His immediate reaction was that the butterflies had been Photoshopped. They are way too big, completely out of scale. Trust a field biologist to see that.

I'll post from the road, probably mostly using instagram. Those images are supposed to go to twitter and facebook. I set them up to post to the blog but haven't checked to see if they really do. I hope so!

We are hosting the rehearsal dinner for a very good friend of our son, Chris, and his fiance tonight. I didn't remember the party favors until mid-afternoon. Oh my! But I am a woman with lots of arts and crafts supplies on hand and a husband who is willing to run (several) errands.

I had some small, cute envelopes and pretty cardstock. I set up the couples' names and wedding date in Illustrator, 12 to a page. I printed the pages and cut them apart. I used double-stick tape to tape the names/date to the outside of the cute envelopes.

I cut the pretty cardstock so that it fit in the envelope, sticking up a bit.

I put a Ghiardelli chocolate in the envelope, behind the pretty cardstock.

Don't they look nice! See, I didn't forget… I just procrastinated!