Quilt Crawl at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science

The hair on my arms stood up the first time I saw my quilts hanging at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. When I was a child, my parents would bring me to Fair Park to visit this museum, which at that time was called the Museum of Natural History, if I recall correctly. The building is so familiar to me, and walking up that staircase, running my hand along that cool, smooth metal banister, well, it was a wonderful feeling of deja vu. And to imagine that I would someday have my work hanging there...it just wasn't something I could have imagined.


I spent last Saturday at the museum, talking with visitors, many of whom were participants in the first of three Quilt Mania II Quilt Crawls (http://www.quiltmania.org/). Eighteen Dallas-area venues are participating in Quilt Mania II and you can check the web site for locations and schedules. Here are a few photos from my visit on Saturday.

Mikey, The Certified Safety Professional

Looking over my shoulder, he said, "Why is that funny?" Yes, it is his jacket draped over a heater. No, the heater wasn't on, but still...

But Can I Drink It?

I'm always on the lookout for odd signs. This is one of the best ones I've seen lately. I was so glad I had my camera with me (I try not to leave home without it). I navigated a quick U-turn in the parking lot, briefly parked my car in a no parking zone, ran up the incline to the construction site--to the puzzlement of other shoppers--but it was worth the effort.

I know what it was supposed to say, but I couldn't help but think of possible captions for this photo.

1. So, how did it get here?

2. How will it get back?

3. Okay, I can't move it, but can I drink it?

Lucky Woodpecker!

I was in the bedroom when I heard the louder-than-usual "thud" on the living room window. I always cringe when I heard that sound because I know that a bird has flown into a window, mistaking the reflection for the wide open sky. Just a couple of weeks ago, a goldfinch crashed and I picked him up and put him in a safe place. In only a few minutes, he regained his senses and flew away. But this poor woodpecker looked like he might not survive. He had knocked himself unconscious, so I couldn't tell if he was dead or alive. His little pointy tongue was hanging out and he didn't move at first, but then I saw him blink. I put him in a notch in our biggest tree where he could not fall out. In half a hour or so, I checked on him and he was perking up, so I took this photo. A few minutes later I checked on him again and he jumped up and flew to the top of a big tree, apparently as good as new.

Naaahhhh, I'll Stay Inside Today

There's lots of fresh snow in Breckenridge! Everybody went skiing today except me and I had a fine time sitting by the window, watching the snow blowing by. It was too windy, too cloudy and too cold for a fair weather skiier like me!

Tidying My Dyeing Workspace

It might look messy to you, but I should have taken "before" pics so the relative tidiness could be fully appreciated. My little shed feels so spacious now, even though Mike moved my boxes of printed patterns in there. He put lots of heavy duty shelving up to hold all those boxes (and get them out of "his" garage to make room for his fancy new table saw). Having a clean (sort of) space has inspired me to do a little dyeing and fabric painting in the last few days. We got a tiny refrigerator from our neighbor's garage sale so that I can keep dye solution cool in the summer, and I've also got my old microwave out there for batching small things during the cold weather, like one or two yard pieces or socks.

Brown Sugar Meteorite

I found this mysterious object in a bag of brown sugar. It was darker and smoother when I found it. It has been sitting on the spice shelf for a couple of years. It always makes me smile when I see it. I thought I'd better photograph it before it deteriorates more.

Dye Discharge Mystery

The spot remover removed not only the butter spatters but also the dye (see previous post), so I thought I'd finish the job, this time with an intentional dye discharge since the shirt wasn't fit to wear in its current condition. My first attempt involved using the same spot remover that had removed the butter and the dye. I gathered the shirt in pleats and put rubber bands on it and put the spot remover on. After two attempts, no additional dye had been discharged. So, I rinsed the shirt, mixed up a thiox solution and applied it. Again, no luck. Odd, it always worked before. I thought maybe I'd mixed it incorrectly, so I made ANOTHER thiox solution and applied it and, you guessed it, no luck! The shirt was ruined anyway, so in desperation, I rinsed the shirt again, pulled out the chlorine bleach, applied it to the shirt and TA-DA! The color disappeared in a wink. I had some anti-chlorine drops on hand, so I soaked it in a solution, so the shirt should be okay.