It's Spring - Except For The Weather- Plus More On Our vashon Island Trip

One of my personal favorite trees and a field of daffodils. I had to stop and snap this photo while I was on the way home last Friday. That's what I love about a powerful pocket camera. I always have it with me and now have no more excuses to not take the pictures that I used to say "dang, I wish I had my camera with me"! My camera is attached to my small pocketbook on a lanyard - and is always at hand - plus I now have my IPhone. No more bad excuses to miss these amazing photos!

For some reason I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. There are a lot of changes happening at work - employees who have been with the County for many, many years are electing to retire. Hey! I'm with them - and would follow immediately if I could - it just makes me feel like the earth beneath my feet is shifting. Change can be a good thing - and I have had to put my faith in believing that everything will work out for the best. If I was younger - and didn't have the back problems that I have - I probably would have leaped at the opportunity to apply for a better paying position, but at this point I truly want to work on my art studies  - in the hope that when I do retire I can sell a few things in order to continue to have art supply money. My pitiful retirement will not provided for those extras.

Several friends have also recently passed away - at young ages. One woman was the picture of health and vitality but she passed away alone in her house of an aneurysm in the leg. Makes one pause to consider the important things in life. I guess that what it has made me do anyway!

I have decided to finally buckle down and learn how in the heck to make fuller use of PhotoShop - so I have enrolled in some wonderful classes from Kim Klassen - and have been thoroughly enjoying my expanding horizons. If you have a desire to learn more about PhotoShop Elements or PhotoShop CS I  highly suggest checking out her wonderful on line classes - they're so well done! It's funny because I remember that when I was in photography school digital photography was just starting to creep in - and we all thought that it would never catch on! Ha! well, I love it and am stoked about learning how to make the most of the photographs I now take - digitally!

A recent sunset

These are shots of some of my favorite trees that we walked by daily when we were on Vashon Island last month. Awesome. It was the perfect time to be there too - the lushness of Spring greens and the arrival of Spring songbirds

Finally I can get to to showing you how amazing the Island Quilter quilt shop on Vashon Island is! They not only have more than 7000 bolts of fabric and carry the entire line of Kaffe Fassett fabrics but they also sell a modest supply of very nice yarns and fibers.

Looking down a portion of the" Kaffe Fassett aisle"

Another long aisle filled to overflowing with color and design. Heading down this aisle on the left is a large section of Asian inspired fabrics. The only fabrics that you will not find in this shop are reproduction lines - civil war-esque and 30's (alas because I love 30's!)

Another jog and another aisle filled with whatever colors make you swoon!

This photo was taken just a bit to the left of the door. As you enter the shop the notions are handy just to the right as you enter

 What's a quilting retreat without quilts?! Above is a beauty called "God's Eye" made by amazing quiltress Sheila Bishop (on the left). On the right is one of retreat organizers Barbara Gonce.

 This quilter was one of the most prolific women I've ever met. Her work is precise and beautiful...and I am embarrassed to admit that I cannot recall her name. My most sincere apologies for being bad at remembering names!

This pink and purple gadget is something that I thoroughly poo-pooed when I first saw it. It fits onto your ruler with suction cups . I thought it was a gimmick ...... until I tried it. It's a real help for anyone with 'arthritisy' hands and makes applying even pressure a snap. You don't have to "walk" your fingers along the ruler to keep pressure applied. I came away with one like this for larger rulers and a single for use with smaller sizes. This one is made by MHI and is called safe-er-grip - it seems that they are used in the shower too to give you something to hold to. I am very happy with the increased stability of the ruler and how much less pressure I have to use in order to keep the ruler secure and straight. It appears that Dritz and OmniGrid also made iterations of this handy implement. The larger, double size was 17.95 and the smaller, single was $12.95 at the quilt shop.

Below is one of my favorite quilts from the weekend. My friend Janet is on the left helping Kitty Sorgen on the right hold up her (Kitty's) latest beautiful work of art. Kitty is also a quilting teacher - and she gave the class that Sheila's "God's Eye" came from. Kitty also does some amazing work work empowering women in impoverished countries learn to quilt. She's been to Africa and goes to to the Aleutian Islands nearly every year to teach. She's a lovely woman and I was pleased to have had an opportunity to get to know her a bit better during this retreat, Obviously, she used all Kaffe Fassett fabrics for this inspiring rendition of tumbling blocks!

That's about it for me. I'm working on some cards that need to be sent - plus I have a lot of book reviews to get going on - so check my book blog soon if you have a mind to see what I've been reading!