beach trip

Well, it's been quite a week--a five-day trip to the coast with four kids, don't forget the prerequisite to any trip: a catastrophe at home (in this case, burnt up fuses and a broken breaker at the pump, thus no water for over twenty-four hours--and of course this happened on the weekend before we left--)

But--Yay! the trip was a blast and all the critters were still alive when we got home--we're up to four dogs, six cats, ten chickens, and five goats, and they were all waiting for us when we pulled in the driveway. Also good--we missed five whole days of heat wave in Central California, arriving home to 99 degrees (a far cry from the 115 degrees it was when we left.

foothill fire

i didn't drive down to town today, so i haven't seen it, but i guess the fire burned over 1500 acres and closed down the highway overnight. i'm hearing helicopters overhead now, which means either that there's another fire further up in the mountains or that they're just checking to make sure that last night's fire is completely out...

we haven't had the fires that Southern California has had this summer so far, but the late heavy rains certainly created plenty of fuel. a lush winter creates the potential for a dangerous summer fire season.

thunderstorms in the foothills

thunder and lightning last night started a fire in the hills to the west of us--when I turned out the lights for bed the sky glowed an eerie orange and illuminated the smoke creeping up into the darkness. i didn't sleep well, and so watched the fire's ebb and flow during the night, but there's no smoke this morning, so I'm sure Springville's wonderful firefighters put it out.

fires scare and fascinate at the same time--the hills absolutely crackle with dryness at this time of year, so it doesn't take much--sometimes just a spark--to set them ablaze. then the summer breezes, so welcome most of the time, carry the flames up and down hills at a terrifying speed. i'm hoping last night's fire did not damage any homes or livestock...

seem to have hit a brick wall as far as creativity goes--the little quilts were going so well and i was having so much fun that i thought "okay, let's go out to the studio and work with paint!" and BAM! nothing. i know i simply must get started, make an ATC or a paper doll, but just do something! after sunday my studio computer will be hooked up to the internet, and then i'll be able to blog and work on my web site while i'm in the studio if i so choose. hopefully it will make me more productive.

Journal Quilt 4

This quilt is entitled "The Road to the Beach"--my middle one is off to the beach for a week with a friend--down through the foothills, across the valley, over the coastal range, to the ocean. It's lonely around here without her...

Quilt Number Three

I'm really enjoying this--such a small piece, easy to work on--
This is my vision of my own little blue house on the hill, of course, filled with my heart's desires...




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Quilt Number Two

This is the second daily quilt--I want to include some of my own writing on them, but when I started this one, this thought kept running through my head...


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Inside My Studio

Here are a couple of composites of the inside of the studio. I painted the plywood flooring with red porch paint and the walls a medium gold color--spray painted all my file cabinets and the doors I use for table tops--I just love it! I've been moved in now for a couple of months, and some days I think I could just live there...

Daily work

Decided to start doing one small (5 x 7 or 6 x 6) quilt or collage every day. Here's the first one!