It's not just that the fuschia (from light to dark) is beautiful – it is that it is mixed with the different shades and values of green and brown/gray. Great colors for a quilt.

The ombre shading of the banana leaf (below) really stands out in this photo. It's an interesting idea – to use this sort of shading on one motif in a composition to draw attention to it.

…on the north shore of Oahu. They are supposed to be 30′ and they looked that big. We watched 5 surfers brave the waves and if you look really close you might be able to see one or two of them. Amazing! We agreed that their mama’s wouldn’t want them out in those big waves.

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We've been looking at a lot of leaves as we walk around Hawaii and we've noticed some interesting veins and textures in those leaves. It's a good idea to file away interesting patterns provided by Mother Nature to fall back on when you are quilting leaves. Here are 3 of our favorites…

Lava does the darnedest things – like cutting across an important road. We had been to this spot before except that I really do think that there has been more lava in the intervening 2 years.

I finally have a good internet connection so I can share a few photos taken with my good camera.

We're working on designs for fabric. I don't know if the color or the foam pattern on the water or both will end up on fabric – but we're loving this!

This plant has polka dot leaves and little pink flowers. Linda spotted it and I would have been so sorry to have missed it. I have no idea what this plant is and it probably would not grow in Sherman, TX, but isn't it marvelous?!

And here is a much better photo of the City of Refuge:

AKA Pu’u honua o’honaunau (if I spelled that right). The beach is rock but the snorkeling is great. I hope you can see the structure in the distance. It’s part of the City of Refuge park. I love the carved totems outside it. They are probably not called totems, but I can’t remember the Hawaiian name for them.

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