We went to the Art Institute of Chicago last Wednesday. What an amazing place! The bronze lions flanking the entry are just about as wonderful as the art inside.

I wondered about people taking photos of the art… and then I found myself snapping a few photos. It was allowed, I wasn’t breaking any rules. I bought a postcard of this Van Gogh, but I’m glad I have the photo too. It’s different in its frame.
I’m also happy to have this detail shot of one of Monet‘s waterlilies. That man could do amazing things with splotches of paint.Dots have always been good…

Vicki Norris made a small version of Everyday Best in wool and brought it to a class I recently taught in Kingwood, TX. It’s on our Show & Tell page too, but I wanted to be sure you blog readers saw it. It’s way cute!

I’m on the road now with my husband, Steve. We are on our way to the Vermont Quilt Festival via Chicago, Michigan, Niagra Falls, etc. I’m also going to be teaching Connecticut and we will visit NYC and Baltimore. I hope to be able to post from the road but here’s some flowers from TX for now…

My students noticed how I fold my quilts for travel. I thought it would be a good trick to share. I didn’t think this up – I learned it from Quilter’s Newsletter. The thing is to never fold them on the straight of grain. When you unfold and re-fold, change the location of the folds each time.

I fold quilts to fit my suitcase. When I’m home, I roll my quilts and store them on a long shelf.

Bring one corner up…
Bring another corner up…

Fold one side up. That triangle of quilt up at the top folds over the rest.Fold it up (sort of like rolling it up, but keep it flat).

There were several sidewalks made from these wonderful bricks. They were not exactly level, but the pattern on the bricks made me think of quilts…

I may have to paint my front door lime green. Isn’t this great!?
The NC Quilt Symposium was held at Peace College. Peace is a liberal arts college for women. The buildings and walks on campus were all red brick. This acorn finial was very different.

This view of the angel in the cemetery was truly lovely.

I saw these on my walks. It was surprising to me how much light there was at 6:30 in the morning.


I can’t grow gardenias in Sherman, TX. These smelled wonderful! I had never looked so close at a gardenia – it’s as if there is a starfish laying on the center of each flower. Click the image to see it enlarged and you’ll see what I mean.

Plain, old begonias are lovely in a close-up. Below are some Tibetan prayer flags hanging on bird feeders. Truly, I thought they were little quilts. Hollis is the one who knew what they were. They are nice here.