Opportunity is everywhere...

Sometimes you just have to yell with food in your mouth.... somethings are that important.
Lot's of things are that important to my little Mango... I can not stop taking pictures of her. I love dressing her in zany outfits and then I love taking pictures of her. My excuse is, she will not always be so willing to let me pick her clothes so I must play while I can. Right?!
I was playing with my telephoto lens a few weeks ago and caught some new (to us) backyard birds... Western Tanager (above), there was a whole flock of them flitting around in the back laurel hedge.
Then a male Black-headed Grosbeak (above, he blends in to that pine REALLY well) and a female one (below) feasted at our feeder. I LOVE seeing new birds in the yard.
Additionally, I would like to say "WATCH out WORLD!" I am finally understanding Photoshop AND learning Illustrator... I could be unstoppable in the very near future.

Additionally, X2-- My sweet Eugene Modern Quilt Guild and I hung our first show today!!! Woot-Woot! Another one of the bucket list items people!! I feel like it kind of just fell in to our laps and I would have been silly to say no. I will admit that it is WAY harder than I thought to make some of the crucial decisions like-- "Which to hang first??" I am so grateful to all of the awesome Quilt Mafia/Quilt Club members that helped make this a reality. Whether you helped hang, brought a quilt in, or even just have had a encouraging word-- THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am so happy with what we put together. I am especially thankful for the wonderful couple that offered us the space and then helped us put up the quilts. Thanks Don and Mary Jo from Our Sewing Room. Just to give them some more love-- I love to sew there. They have a great open space, large cutting tables and (my FAVORITE!!) a huge design wall. I would be making only king-size quilts if my design wall was that big. Design walls are the best.

Our Opening and Reception is, Thursday, June 2 from 6-8PM. If you are in the Eugene-Springfield area please come, it would be so fun to meet you! I will be the one with the very short hair, spazzing out because she is so excited.

Something to think about:

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

-Thomas Alva Edison

JMB

Catch up time...

My guild meeting in September hosted a FANTASTIC quilter...Janet Fogg. I have seen her work in magazines and thought "oh, that is beautiful" but then seeing her pieces up close is enough to make you pass right out. I am not sure if she can make a small quilt each of the portions of quilts that you can see are draped over a table with a 6 foot diameter, some of them dragged on the floor all around.
She uses a wide color range, the technical difficulty of the piecing, not to mention the PHENOMENAL quilting...it was all so awe-inspiring.
While she spoke and shared her pieces I was drawn in by her desire to inspire people to create their own masterpieces. She said that she has not yet made her best quilt and that while she has a plan when she starts the quilt, where she ends up is where it needs to be, but that is not necessarily where she thought she would end.
What I found most resonated with me as a quilter, I think that it is something that we all need to accept when designing our own quilts, she said, "Develop a belief in yourself that each decision will be a good one, not the perfect one, but a good one." She went on to say that, each choice you make along the way will open up the next choice. I have always believed this, but maybe not so succinctly. What a nice affirmation to my inability to follow a pattern...right?
I really enjoyed hearing her speak, very down to earth. She just started doing some workshops in her studio in Portland...I don't know when, but I think that I will be attending one in the futureI also made my first e-fabric shopping trip this September. I really like to touch the fabric as I shop so I have been holding off on web purchases....WELL, I think that getting a package that is so cute and filled with BEAUTIFUL things compensates me for the tactile shopping experience. I didn't read the return address when I first got the mail, so I thought that one of my swap partners had sent me a doll quilt with lead weights...but it was all of my beauties...hooray!
I am such a sucker for Halloween prints and this grouping also had the always needed dots!
I haven't been able to find anyone in town that stocks these mermaids (Heather Ross)I had to get them, they had orange, aqua, and the mustard yellow?? To be honest, I worked really hard to not buy more fabric. It is an illness, but I started to dream about the chasing mermaids (I think that they are kind of spooky) and after that I had to buy them. I am so glad that I did. I want to give a shout out to Fabricworm, whose etsy shop I perused...she got me with the packs of 1/2 yards, priced to sell...toot, toot (they also shipped really fast!)
Farewell to the well-tended garden...Late September and early October bring all kinds of crazy, yet I tend to forget (or forget to tend) EVERY YEAR! I am happy to report that, as of this week, our Chickadees have returned as well as some of our Oregon Juncos. I spied the Chickadees flitting from the destroyed sunflower heads (our squirrels, Nutty and Wacky have been working hard on their acrobatics). The Juncos surprised me this morning and are out hopping around in all the lush garden greenness. By surprised, I mean that I was surprised how happy I was to see them again. I guess it is almost time to find places for the feeders, now that the death-trap arbor has been torn down...
Look for birds and make something!
JMB