Hello,
Mother Nature is warming my days and lengthen them too. I sure like it when I am eating dinner in the light.
The Schweinfurth Spring Retreat was wonderful. I got the second half of the SAQA 100 Day Challenge squares assembled. That was my goal.
I even did a little bit of experimenting with the creation of a new block of my own. I need to adjust the measurements for one of the pieces so they come together like I planned, but I am quilt happy with it so far.
There were lots of old friends there like Victoria. She was working on cutting up and old work and re assembling it in a new fashion.
Susan worked on a challenge for a conference she is attending in the near future.
Donna was playing with her rusted fabrics and doing a bit of Gelli Plate Printing.
Janet W was working away on a floral piece.
Vanessa was getting ready for a show and she gave me these little gifts- including the background fabric.
Ellen was doing lots of creative playing. She was an inspiration to watch from across the room.
Davana is working on a giant fifteen foot square Shorbi work.
I keep building on the Stitch Club project and I am now behind in that area too. But I like how this work is going so I will stick with it.
I continued to do work for the Sketchbook Revival assignments. These are a few.
I made more brushes this morning for the Creative Strength Class. I will make marks with them in the near future.
I also spent a morning doing Gelli Plate Printing with my friend Barbara. We had fun and laughed a lot.
Progress Report: Scrap Happy I am happy to say this work is all done now. I like having an extra quilt in the closet when a need is called for.
I did send off six of my older wall quilts to a benefit for the Ukrainian war effort this morning too.
Pillow This project finally got completed this week. I did the stitched center after a Stitch Club practice.
Lap 10 This is just the beginning of a new work. I did finish up lap quilts #8 and #9 and delivered them to a local nursing home this week. I did not realize that I had no photos of them.
Daily Practice Now that Action is completed I can go back to the old project of stitching on my dye wipe up clothes. It is pleasant work.
College Life- Spring Break trip to Florida
The quarter went along quickly and Eric and I made several trips to South Bend. On one of them Gwen asked for a painting for her dining room wall. I was thrilled–my first commission! I painted an abstract nighttime city scape from the point of view of a ship off shore, with reflections of the lights in the water. The painting hung in that dining room, and then the next dining room, until Gwen’s death in 2008.
Eric and I had a big adventure for Spring break. Eric’s great aunt, Margaret White (Grandmother Butter’s sister), invited us to visit her and her husband in Pompano Beach, Florida. She wrote a very nice inviting letter to me and my folks asking me to come. My parents agreed, and Grandmother Butter got the airline tickets. Eric and I drove down to Indianapolis on Friday and spent the evening with Grandmother. When we were loading our suit cases in grandmother’s car at 11:30 PM, a passing couple wished us luck–they thought we were eloping! We had a 12:30 flight and it was my first time flying. I was sure I could not sleep as I was so excited, but I quickly dozed off once the plane was in the air. Mr. and Mrs. White quickly became Aunt Margaret and Uncle Ed after they picked us up in Miami at 5:30 that morning.
The air was warm and the world was green as we drove to their home on an off shoot of the Intracoastal Waterway (which is an inland waterway along the east coast from New Jersey to Florida). The White home was beautiful, and Eric and I both had very nice guest rooms, along with a private bath. The first night we were treated to a dinner cruse up and down the Waterway. I enjoyed the ribs, another first for me, and we had a good time. Aunt Margaret graciously let us use of her white Chevy Convertible and we enjoyed diving around with the top down. One day we went to the beach. The ocean water was fantastic, and we had fun splashing around and burying each other in the sand. We both got sun burnt, of course, and two years later Eric still had a tan line on his back where his suit began. We spent a day at the Fort Lauderdale State park, walking the trails and taking a scenic train ride through the swamp. We drove through Fort Lauderdale itself since, of course, it was spring break. Quite a scene! We even spied the famous Elbo Room bar. One day Aunt Margaret took us to a big shopping mall where I purchased some turquoise shorts and a top to match. She also took us to a new fast food restaurant–our first Arby’s. We still go there for a fast meal every now and then. Uncle Ed took Eric to see a spring training game one afternoon where he got to see the Yankees. They were his favorite team even back then. The White’s had a screened-in pool that was just outside our bed rooms, and I enjoyed swimming in it several times. One evening Eric and I took the convertible for a short drive up the coast to Boca Raton, where we saw The Graduate.
The whole week flew by. Too quickly and too soon it was Sunday, and we were getting on the plane to fly home. It was cold and dreary in Indianapolis when Grandmother Butterworth picked us up. We drove straight drove back to Muncie. And Spring term began the next day.
Enjoy the weather and keep Creating
Carol