I’ll be home tomorrow and back to posting about quilting but here’s one more yoga post.

Our graduation ceremony was on the beach as the sun was setting. We made a ‘tunnel of love’ to run through, one at a time, to receive our diploma.

The light from the setting sun was very glowy. If you consider that I’ve only been practicing yoga for a couple of years, it’s amazing to me that I am now a certified yoga teacher.

Group photo on the beach. I’m in there, second row, right side. You can take the 200-hour certification course anywhere, but going to a place like the Zen Spirit Center is pretty nice. It’s remote so the only distractions come from nature.

It’s hard to take a photo of people in yoga poses when you are in the middle of your own pose, so I don’t have any to share. The next photo is of me, Amanda, Cathy, and Sophie after our last practicum in our yoga shala, the space where we practiced most of the time.

I didn’t usually carry my phone on our sunrise meditation walks but I loved the reflections so much that I took my phone once, to capture the moment.

The tides moved in and out a lot more than I thought they would. Maybe because the beach was so flat. When it was like this, the reflections from the sky were crazy amazing.

Our last sunset on the beach after graduation was spectacular! We watched, and watched, and took pictures, and watched some more. I will miss this, and the stars in the dark night sky.

I am grateful to have had the chance to take part in this class. I am thankful that I had two such great teachers (Liz Heffernan and Alison Scola) to learn from. I am happy to have traveled along this path with strangers who became friend—except for Andrea, who was already a friend and is now a better friend!

Yoga is more than poses. A consistent yoga practice, combined with a variety of breathing choices, can lead to new ways to enjoy your life. It’s pretty great :-).

Mary H. has won this week’s giveaway—a package of Thimble-It finger protectors. They are thick enough to protect sore spots on your fingers without being as thick as a thimble. Congrats to Mary!

Shop for all sorts of sewing notions, books, and other fun stuff at pieceocake.com!

As I wrote in previous posts, my friend Susan Allen, and I challenged each other make a quilt that began with pieces of the same 40+ fabrics. We made and traded five 9″x9″, ten 6″x6″, and twenty 3″x3″ blocks. Actually, we made twice that many blocks because we each kept a set of our own. I designed an 18″x18″ applique block. Click here for the free applique pattern.

Our Mysterious Challenge Retreat started Monday morning. Susan and I both had a plan and we got to work. This is where I was Monday morning at 9:00AM.

I had made strips of 1 1/2″x1 1/2″ finished squares before I left home and that saved time.

By Monday night at 11PM I had the top finished! The tables are in the way, and the quilt itself is really lighter, but there you go.

There isn’t a pattern for this quilt but it is a medallion quilt. Here are the finished sizes of each row out from the center. A big part of the challenge is deciding what blocks you want to make.

• 18″ Center medallion
• 3″x3″ blocks
• 1 1/2″x1 1/2″ squares
• 9″x9″ blocks
• 1 1/2″x1 1/2″ squares
• 6″x6″ squares

Susan’s vision was to put the applique block off-center and surround it with movement and color.

I think it’s fascinating to see them together. There is no one right way to make a quilt. We each have to follow our own instincts.

On Tuesday I turned my attention to another project, making pillows from a couple of my mom’s favorite garments. One pillow is going to Carla, who was a good friend, and one to Bear.

And then I came down with a cold and sinus infection that put me in bed until today. If it had to happen, I think that was pretty good timing.