Going to Japan in January...

I may have mentioned it before but if not, I am going back to Japan in January for another visit. Yes it will be cold in January, but nothing I haven't experienced before.

This time I plan to go to Tokushima (on Shikuko) for some indigo dyeing (aizome) experiences, then to Kyoto for more shibori, then on to Tokyo to go to the (huge) famous Tokyo International Quilt Show and some amazing fabric shops. I have wanted to go to the quilt show for many years and I finally decided to just do it! It is held at the Tokyo Dome (a baseball stadium) and is so large that everyone suggests going for 2 days! I can't wait.  And of course between all this, shopping for fabrics and cute sewing/stationary things and eating!!

I also look forward to getting another goshuincho (the book for the red temple and shrine stamps as seen above) and going to a lot of temples and shrines I have not yet been to. Out of thousands in Japan, finding 20 or so to fill my book will be easy!

If you have been to the Tokyo quilt show, please tell me how it was for you in the comments below!

Been to Hawaii and Oregon and didn't blog... hmmm...

I ended up just putting photos on my Instagram and in FB for these trips. Blogging from my phone was too awkward (small) ... there must be an easier way.
So here are a few of my favorite photos from Hawaii...

I do want to find a way since I am going to Japan in September and would like it to be easy to post photos from there.

Back from Oregon...

August zoomed by as did September. Then at the end of September into October I went back to Oregon. Lots of quilt shows, quilt shops, and bits of nature later... I am now home, sorting through hundreds of photos and wondering what I want to do with this blog... again!

And practicing yoga, and putting fabrics away, planning clothes and quilt projects, catching up with the cats...

Back from Oregon...

I have been in Oregon... and Blogger did not function well on my tablet so I just didn't worry about it. Back now and going through my photos. I spent a few lovely days on the coast in windy and rainy weather. I loved it! And yes, I bought fabric! More info soon...

Back to quilting and the blog...

It has been a slow start but I am gathering old projects to finish and moving my sewing area into my art room and generally making a mess of things around here! I have started the process of changing where I sew. I was tired of using the eating table for my sewing because a) it is a small table and b) we never could eat at the table unless I cleared it off every night which I didn't...

So my other "art studio" room is undergoing a transformation into more of a sewing room and crap is everywhere! And now I am leaving for 10 days in Oregon and you know what? It will just stay a mess til I get back! Not going to worry about it!

But I did get the table runner I was making for my sister done and I will be giving it to her in a couple of days when I see her. She saw it mid-blocks but hasn't seen it done. And she doesn't get the cat! (That is Phoebe, dutifully watching what I was doing on the bed since I didn't have a long enough table to set it out!).

The back is just the purple fabric.  The surprise is that I got variegated green and purple thread and serged the edges instead of traditionally binding them like a quilt. I thought it was a cool more casual look and I love how it turned out!

A close up of the serging around the edges:

And now I am really jazzed to start some of my other quilting projects when I get back. I found a really cool lap quilt on Pinterest which I want to use as inspiration for my own modern scrappy quilt and then I have a lot of other unfinished projects (UFOs) to get done. My intention is one UFO a month or at least work on one as well as any other newer project. We shall see!

So now I am heading to Oregon, land of incredible fabric stores -- NOT that I need a single morsel of new fabric, but any of my quilting or sewing readers that has never stopped any of us in the past! Hah!

But I am also going to the coast and some other fun stuff so I will post some pix here and blog from my tablet along the way.  Aside from fabric hunting, my sister is having a big birthday bash, I will get to see another cousin later in the trip and who knows, yoga on the beach anyone?

Side trip to Oregon...

Last weekend I took a quick trip back up to Oregon to see my friend Evie who had come down from Alaska for her friend's wedding.  Evie and I have known each other for 45 years! She is all dressed up from the wedding she had participated in, looking gorgeous!

Got a chance to visit with my sister for a little bit too. The last time the three of us were together was over 20 years!

I also stopped in at a couple of great shops in Ashland: Papaya Living and Red's Threads. Papaya Living is Anahata Katkin's gorgeous shop. Everything in it reflects her amazing artistic sense. I just wanted to pull up a cot and live inside the place!

Red's Threads was my dream come true -- a shop where I could wear everything in the store! Most colors in big name shops are not really for redhead complexions. This shop was just for us! The clothes I am wearing in the first photo above came from there actually.

Visiting Alameda...

Last Saturday I took Andy to Alameda for his birthday surprise. I had a great many things planned but it ended up that the first one was so fascinating we stayed there over 4 hours and didn't do any of the other things I had on my list (and I had thought we would run out of things to do! Hah! Silly me!)...

Our day started with a filling breakfast from the Wren's Cafe, nestled along Highway 80 about 35 minutes out of Sacramento. Here is a photo from their Facebook page because I totally forgot to take a photo of it that morning!

Then we drove down 80 to 880 and into Alameda. I had not been there for probably 40 years and had never been to anything historical there so this was a treat for me too.

I had several places on my list:  USS Hornet, Alameda Naval Museum, a microbrewery, the Pinball Museum... a little history and hopefully a lot of fun!

The USS Hornet has quite a history, both in wartime and with the space program. HERE is info all about it and how to get there if you are in the area. I took a ton of photos but here are just a few to show you the vastness of it all...

HERE is my Flickr album if you would like to see more photos from the USS Hornet excursion.

After spending 4+ hours at the USS Hornet though, we were hungry and went searching for lunch at 2 pm. Found it in a delightful deli on Webster Street too! (Forgot to take photos of the food, we were so hungry!)

Then Andy decided he would rather do the Pinball Museum another time and so we took off for another old favorite, Port Costa and the Warehouse Cafe. We hadn't been there for several years so we stopped in for a brew before heading home. An eclectic biker bar dive if you've ever seen one, but lots of brews and that afternoon a very funny bartender who kept us amused.

I was glad Andy enjoyed his birthday surprise as it is sometimes quite a challenge to come up with something inventive for him, especially after he has surprised me the month before for my birthday! 

More Cape Breton...

With more to follow. I sort of gave up trying to post on the blog this time. My thoughts on all this in a later post when I get home next week.

Visit to a coal mine, more beaches, nice drives...

Had a wonderful time visiting with Leah... more on that too when I can figure out how to link her page on mobile-blogger (I miss my normal computer!) *** EDITED: Here is Leah's wonderful BLOG!

A few Cape Breton images...

Here is what I have learned about myself when I travel: I can post photos to Facebook or I can blog. Apparently I am not good about doing both.

So here are a few more Nova Scotia photos while I figure out what I want to do about the way too many social media options available now.

I will be home in 9 days. More on this wonderful trip then!

Hiking the Skyline Trail...

I have learned a couple of things from today's hike... I like to hike alone, I am still in horrid shape for hiking uphill and in the sun, and that I am starting to get over my fear of heights but it still stops me in the end. Just things I pondered today in this beautiful place.

More greetings from Canada...but no WiFi...

Having lovely (rainy) days on the coast of Cape Breton the last few days... and no WiFi around. Managed to get a few moments on a public computer in the Info center to post a note... I am hoping soon I will be somewhere where the WiFi is working and I can post photos...

If not, then later...

It is beautiful here, lovely winding roads through forests and along beaches... just my recipe for a relaxing start of my retirement!

Photos soon!

Greetings from Nova Scotia, Canada!

A silly selfie from Peggy's Cove lighthouse. Got to Halifax and have been exploring. Went to this lighthouse and to Lunenburg yesterday...

Querencia and other thoughts about writing...

I have been thinking about writing lately...

From Writing Towards Home by Georgia Heard:
 Querencia: a place where one feels safe; a place from which one’s strength of character is drawn; a place where one feels at home. From the Spanish querer to want, to desire.

          {Where is my querencia?}

This makes me ask other questions:

Where do I feel most at home?
Where do I feel most happy and relaxed?
What is my ideal writing environment?
Where can I write with all my full powers?

I like quiet places.

Places without a lot of distractions.

That is why often writing in public places like coffee houses is difficult for me, unless I can find an out of the way table or a booth.

The quietest place for me is really a time – very early morning before the world seems awake. This has  worked well in the past then I got distracted with work and stopped writing for long time. Now I am retired so I can reclaim my mornings.

Another thought, taken from an art workshop years ago, maybe Julianna Coles? She asked, "Where does your art hide for you?"  So I am taking a side step for today...

          {Where does writing hide for me?}

Where in nature? Where in art? Music? Colors? Tastes? Textures? What memories hold hidden writings? People? Places? Things? I know there are many tidbits of life that are keeping secret writings – it is my job {task?} now to find them and draw them out. Another question might be, WHY does writing hide for/from me?

Another theme: Find my own truth. Seems to be a recurring theme. What is my own truth? Who am I now? What is the path with the heart (Castenada)? What is my bliss? The same question in different forms.

These are some of the things I might be thinking about as I travel this coming month...


“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I know, I know, it's only February...

But I have been thinking lately a lot about my intentions for my first trip this summer once I have retired… (partly because I have to start making reservations and partly because it is just so exciting to think about!)

It will be a relatively local and short trip for me, just to DC and NJ on the East Coast and then to Nova Scotia. The East coast part will be to visit one of my cousins and an old friend from High School with whom I have reconnected thanks to Facebook. They are both named Barbara so I call that part the 2 Barbaras tour. Then I will head to Nova Scotia and that is where the intentions come in.

After a lot of searching on the Internet I found there were so many places I wanted to visit that I had to prioritize and figure out just what it was I wanted to see and do there. So I came up with these three things:

1. To listen to Celtic music and go to a few Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee and is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic/Celtic folk music and dancing). I absolutely love Celtic fiddle music.
2. To enjoy nature there and wander along a few beaches to find some sea glass, especially more rounded older pieces (and if I am lucky, in some of the less common colors.) I also want to see some puffins either from a boat tour off the northern part of Cape Breton Island or a more complicated trip to an island nesting site from New Brunswick. And speaking of nature... getting to see a sun rise from the Altantic, which is why I went to Nova Scotia the first time about 40 years ago!
3. To visit a few of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in as I like to do when I travel. I am focusing on a few in Nova Scotia but maybe I will also find some in DC and NJ for the East Coast part of the trip.

So just in the planning and dreaming stages... more to come.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about revisiting Iceland...

Home from Alaska...

I am home from this...

Now gotta upload my other photos and get back to the computer! Took a nice week off, didn't even work in that cute art journal after all! I may get back to it and put in some Alaska stuff but when I was there, we were so busy having fun I didn't even have time for the journal! That's what happens when you have a couple of decades of news to catch up on!

Figuring out what art supplies to take...

And WOYWW for this week.

THAT is always the hardest part of a trip for me. The clothes are generally easy but figuring out which art supplies to take often takes a lot more thought and time. Oh, didn't I mention it? I am going to Alaska to visit my friend Evie and her family. Since I will only be gone for a week and want to travel light I won't take too much.

I am starting a Moelskine journal for this trip. Never used one of those before but I have had this journal for years and never used it. It is just the right size for a week's trip to Alaska!

This is how I bring my washi tapes when I travel. Not the big case, that is how I store them here. For traveling I lay out what I think I might want to use (based on the colors in my head the moment I am packing) and then lay them out on a sheet protector, both sides. Light and easy, keeps the sticky going, and I can use the sheet protector for collage scraps on the way.

Then I will take a small bunch of gelli printed deli and other papers so I have some backgrounds and collage fodder. I plan on using the ephemera from the trip as the rest of my collage fodder.

And here are the supplies I narrowed it down to (late last night). You can see I did a pen test in the Moleskine to make sure this time anyway I was taking pens that would not bleed through. The copic and the regular Sharpie bled through so not taking any of those.

All that stuff amazingly fits into this little bag. Not sure where the bag is from either as I have had it a long time. Maybe I got it from Jet Pens, but not sure.

And finally it all closed into this. The bag with the supplies is actually larger than the journal! But it will be just the right amount of stuff to have in my carry on bag for the lay-overs on the trip and when I am there.

Leaving tomorrow and going to test out using Instagram for the trip... this will be a first for me as I am an Instagram newbie! My name there is rhozza. Guess there were too many Rhondas already and my favorite art name rhoz was already taken. Feel free to follow me there!

Linked to:

Ruby Tuesday2
Colorful Gelli Print Party
WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday)