The lull

On the radio this morning the news guy said today was "a lull between the storms." The rain will be back tomorrow, possibly even this afternoon, but for a few hours we are having beautiful weather. Today's newspaper:

It was so nice to walk this morning. I confess that on some of these awful, rainy mornings we have looked at the rain, sighed and just got coffee instead. It smelled so great out on the trail this morning—everything fresh and green. Wish you could smell these wild roses.

Even the wildlife seemed friskier than usual. Haven't seen the bunnies out for awhile.I had just said something about wishing we'd see a rabbit, when we turned a corner to find this little guy.

This squirrel has lost his tail somehow. There is but a nubbin left. He looked like a short-eared rabbit hopping along.

Plenty to do at home, rain or not. I am getting my quilt ready to send off for the "Beneath the Surface" show. Getting a piece ready to travel is always a production. I roll the quilt around a foam pool "noodle" so it doesn't wrinkle, then make a muslin bag to put it in to protect it. The people in our High Fiber Diet group have started making bags with a clear plastic pocket on the outside, so you can put a photo of the quilt in it, then those recieving the quilts can see, at a glance, what is inside. Good idea. So I did that on this bag, which also has my name and address on it.

I spent a couple frustrating hours yesterday trying to track down a container to mail it in. Really the only possibility I found was this mailing tube. I think it will barely fit inside. 

I'm working on my Baños, Ecuador house piece and pulling possible fabrics for it. I made a drawing in Illustrator on my computer and  enlarged it to the size I want. Now I am refining the drawing which I will use as a guide as I start cutting fabric. Working from a photo is an interesting process. It does not make sense to include every detail and good composition requires decisions and changes to be made. The "editing" process is a good challenge.

A little sketch for another upcoming project.

And, it's beginning to cloud over...