Al Ready to Quilt:

I have spent my entire quilting "career" placing my blocks on the floor to see how the flow of the quilt was going and then picking them up by row to secure the placement design - only to keep doing it again and again.  I have resorted at times, with smaller quilts to secure them to quilts I have around the room.  But now, drum roll please, I have an actual and for real Design Wall. 

I took down a print and moved the TV console to the side and realized that I actually had some space in my very full quilt room.  The foam board covered by batting is 7X4 feet.  Thank you Roger!  I can add more to the bottom, when and if needed.  What a delight!  As you can see I am working on a log cabin quilt and am thoroughly enjoying watching it grow without once having to take it apart, row by row.



This photo is NOT of Antelope Island, but rather the  Oquirrh Mountain range to the south of us and borders the north end of the Salt Lake valley.  The sun was just coming up and hitting the new snow on top.  I took this photo from my bedroom window.  Not a bad view to wake up to.  

YUMMY TREATS AT THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL

This plate of chocolates was a complimentary gift in the room of friends staying at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok.  You have to admit, that really is a lovely treat to greet you in your hotel room.  Thought they were kind enough to allow me full access to the little chocolates, the elephant was strictly hands off.

Indian Spice Tour

Sarah & I spent a happy time meandering around parts of the spice district in New Delhi.  This is the largest spice market in Asia.

Outside the train station is a little market area with a temple.  Men queued to get food (possibly a free handout).  The man behind the counter wielded a big stick (which I believe is called a lathi) as a scuffle broke out in the queue.

BANGKOK PROTEST - BANGKOK SHUT DOWN

The stage at Asoke was dismantled last night.  We walked through after 3am to find that although you couldn't drive through the site, the stage, big screens, tents etc had all gone.  There were a few forlorn people sitting around and a lot of rubbish too, though the garbage trucks were out and about clearing as much as they could.

Spiral Jetty

I love those days that you look out the window and just decide it would be a great time to get out of the house and go on a road trip.  North of our home and on the Rozel Point of the Great Salt Lake is an earthwork sculpture named the Spiral Jetty. It was constructed in l970 by Robert Smithson who used black basalt rock, salt crystals and mud collected from the area in the construction process.   The Spiral Jetty forms a 1,500-foot-long , 15-foot wide counterclockwise coil jutting out from the shore.  Originally the site was chosen because of  the blood-red color of the water and its connection with the primordial sea.  The red hue of the water is due to the presence of salt-tolerant bacteria and algae that thrive in the extreme 27 percent salinity of the lake's north arm.

SNAKES IN THE BEDROOM - YIKES!

My friend Sue (the quilter not the painter!) found this in her guest room.  This would be one of the guest rooms that she invited me to stay in!  They had spotted it earlier in a bathroom, but it disappeared before they could remove it.  Sue apparently sat in the same room with it for 5 hours sewing (Sue not the snake).  

The rumours going around that Sue asked the snake so many times which bit of fabric would look best in the quilt she was making that the snake committed suicide by throwing itself onto the guards stick, are untrue.  It was her chat about her sewing machine tension!

She has also told me that this snake is going into a jungle curry, which is a joke I hope.

BANGKOK PROTESTS

I skirted around Democracy Monument yesterday and managed to snap these photos from the car.  This was the only sign I could spot of the trouble earlier in the week.