In France, ask for "wee-fee" to connect!

I'm sitting in a cafe in Rouen, France waiting for DD to join me so we can go to a meeting of the Rotary Club that sponsored her stay here during this past school year. I've been Internet-less for most of the three weeks since I left Indiana, so there's a lot of unreported news, but I'm typing with one finger, so most of it will have to wait. Let me just say that I am blessed with a wonderful daughter and am happy beyond words to be with her again. We spent two weeks in Lithuania where I got to know the young man who is the love of her life and not surprisingly, he's terrific, too.

Unfortunately, my iPhone won't let me upload any photos, so stay tuned. We leave for home this Thursday.

Pocket Doors

When we removed all the plaster from the stairwell in our old house we discovered the rails for sliding 8' double pocket doors between the stairwell and the living room. Of course in my quest for historical accuracy (not to mention more light and openness), this meant that we had to find old pocket doors to fit in the space, and thus began a daily early morning Internet search that eventually yielded a pair of promising doors at Sunset Antiques in Oxford, Michigan (www.WilliamsArtGlass.com), north of Detroit, more than eight hours from here. DH, ever one to seize the day, insisted that we had to go the next weekend or miss our chance altogether, and so we trekked north in two vehicles. DH, DS and our exchange student son from Brazil led the way in our truck, and I followed with my sister from Texas in my little Toyota.

It was a long trip, involving an overnight at the very comfortable Waterloo Gardens Inn. When we finally got to Oxford on Sunday morning, the doors were just as stunning as we thought they would be. The folks at Sunset were very accommodating and found wheels for them, too. While we were there my sister and I fell in love with several stained glass windows, including a gorgeous nativity scene sadly removed from a cathedral in a neighborhood in Detroit hard-hit by difficult economic times.

There was an ominous black cloud in front of us as we crossed the Michigan-Indiana line, and it erupted into driving rain for several minutes, during which my heart sank as I envisioned our beautiful doors, protected only by a tarp in the back of our red truck, all swollen and waterlogged. I called DH on my cell, advising that we tuck into a gas station with a large roof until the rain let up, but he knew better, and as usual he was right: the doors arrived in perfect condition, and he wasted no time at all in getting them installed. Now when the doors are open the stairwell and living room are like a single space, and when they are closed they are beautiful.

No, I haven't been anywhere!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted on this blog--I think about it every day, but every day gets away from me somehow. Anyway, I wanted to make sure and let everyone know that this Friday, June 5 from 5-8 p.m. you will have a great chance to see a lot of wonderful creative work on display in downtown Bedford. Put on your walking shoes (it really isn't that far--maybe six blocks if you walk the whole thing) and park behind the Lawrence County History Museum. You can pick up a map at the Lawrence County Art Association tent and go from there. We are supposed to have beautiful weather and I look forward to seeing all of you there.

Reason to Smile

I just noticed that this tatted collar and cuffs set looks like a big smile the way I have pinned the pieces for blocking. That smile pretty much represents the way I feel about finishing the tatting on this project--now I have to design the top to go with it. I've gotten inspired from some of the offerings on etsy.com to create a top that is not at all granny-ish. Wish me luck.

The collar and cuffs pattern is from Barbara Foster's book "Learn Needle Tatting Step-by-Step." One of these days I'll take the online shuttle tatting class, but in the meantime, I'm happy with what I can create with a needle.

I'm starting to work hard on our Gallery Walk, scheduled for June 5. There are still a lot of decisions to be made and people to be talked to. It is shaping up into a big, fun event with a lot of different things going on in downtown Bedford. Put it on your calendar for 5-8 p.m. and go have a nice dinner afterward.

You're gonna LOVE Barbara Lynn!

I'm really looking forward to Barbara Lynn's exhibition at our center, which opens with a reception on Friday, May 15, from 5-7 p.m. Barbara is one of the most naturally creative people I know, and her work always brings a smile. I get a big kick out of this gourd clown, and the gourd mushrooms pictured at oldjailarts.com. I haven't seen everything that is going into this exhibit, but I know there will be a lot of happy surprises and I know you're going to love Barbara's work. Put the opening reception on your calendar and come celebrate with us.

I'm pretty much finished with my tatted collar and cuffs, but haven't found time to block them yet, so stay tuned for a photo.

What can you make with 2,688 tiny patches?

This quilt! I finished the top today and am ready for a celebration. I started this quilt on another continent, in Tbilisi, about four or five years ago, in the downstairs sewing room with my kids. The fabrics are scraps from thirty years' worth of sewing projects, my husband's old shirts, clothes I wore as a kid, worn-out sheets, and donations from friends and relatives. Each patch started out as a 2" square, sewn into 16-patch squares, sewn into 64-patch squares...well, you can see how it turned out. And now to get it quilted.

Streamcliff Farm near Commiskey

I haven't had much time for needlework in the couple of weeks since my last post, but I wanted to let you all know about a lovely place about an hour east of Bedford called Stream Cliff Herb Farm (check it out at www.streamclifffarm.com). We went there last Sunday to celebrate DS's fourteenth birthday; he loves plants and good food, so Stream Cliff, with its gourmet restaurant and huge plant selection, was the perfect destination. In addition to a wonderful lunch (the berry cobbler a la mode was a high point in a lunch full of culinary delights), we enjoyed walking through the greenhouses and gardens; some of the adults among us had fun sampling wines at the winery. The farm dates back to 1821 and has been in the same family for six generations. Its success is living testimony that there is a market in southern Indiana for wonderful things.

In the pictures you can see our family grouping testing the weight limits of a little Monet-style arched bridge, and my niece enjoying a walk through one of the greenhouses. We were expecting rain at noon but it held up until late afternoon, when DS's new plants were all tucked away in my brother's van and several bottles of wine rested on the back seat of our truck. With DH at the wheel, I allowed the windshield wipers to lull me into a soothing nap all the way home.