Arriving in Amsterdam

Tim on the train ride from Schiphol airport into Amsterdam

I am tagging along with my husband to Amsterdam.  His company has a presence at a big computer trade show, IBC, and I have had the pleasure of coming here with him several times before.  Because of this opportunity, the city of Amsterdam has become a favorite destination.  The people are gentle and friendly.  I love the feel of the city, the mass transit, the ability to get lost and not feel afraid.  I love to wander and do a lot of photography, people-watch, and dream.
We didn't do much today because neither of us have the ability to sleep well on a long flight.  We checked into our hotel and lapsed into a jet-lag-fueled altered state.  We should have stayed upright and pushed ourselves through this first day, but neither of us had the stomach for it.
This evening we ventured out for dinner with some other Newtek people.  The rain stopped and we
had a leisurely walk through the city afterward.

one of the many beautiful canals in the city

we walked past this strange shop filled with crazy masks!

I must go back....

Take-Along Quilt

This is such a good idea. Many members of the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild are pitching in and making quilts for the Bastrop fire relief effort.  Malka Dubrawsky kindly contributed this pattern for the Take Along Quilt. Please check it out:

The Take-Along Quilt

Traveling in One Carry-on Bag

I'm getting ready to leave on a trip.  Believe it or not, I do know how to travel light!  You just can't base it on photos of all the "stuff" I haul with me to quilt festivals or mixed media retreats:

These are different festivals, and not all this junk is mine, but you get the idea

It looks like I don't know how to edit my packing.

Read on...

If someone had told me 10 years ago I could travel overseas with one carry-on bag I would have laughed! I always took more clothing than I needed, along with too much of everything else. A few years ago I traveled with one bag for the first time, and I swear I won't ever go back! Many people have asked how I do it, and since I am packing for this trip I decided to photo-document the process. Here goes:

I use an Eagle Creek "Load Warrior" 22 inch carry-on. It weighs 6.5 pounds empty.

The empty bag....nothing fancy here

Since it has a retractable handle, I pack small items in the ridges such as my umbrella,

anorak, and a small roll of t.p. (my experience in Europe is that toilet paper isn't a sure-thing).

For the first time I will be carrying a large digital SLR camera and 2 lenses. These additions have presented a packing challenge! I broke the camera down into the smallest components for travel, packing the body in a foam envelope.

Each lens is packed in a sock!

all my clothing is in this packing envelope, also made by Eagle Creek.

I have 2 pashmina scarves, 4 tops, 1 pair of slacks, 2 skirts.

I carry one extra pair of shoes.

Note that everything is neutral but the pashminas. Each item works with everything else.

It all dries quickly. I still might cull a couple more things from the pack...

This cube (also Eagle Creek) holds a couple changes of underwear and socks,

a foldable water bottle, quick-drying towel, 1 moleskin notebook, a packet of watercolor postcards,

a small set of watercolors, & double-sided tape.

I write and send postcards to myself as I travel.

It is a treat to receive them after I get back!

This is my "liquids" clear plastic bag, found at the Container Store.

The surface-area is the size of a one-quart ziploc, but this bag has a base so it holds more.

I purchased several one-ounce flip-top bottles for shampoo, etc., and I have several packets of Woolite for washing out my clothing as needed.

This is what I pull out for my friends at the TSA to look at when going through security. Grrr.

Another of the plastic bags holds all my cords. Sheesh.

I can't help it: I'm a nerd.

My cute little MacBook Air in a lovely red Speck protective cover.

I just bought the padded Incase sleeve. So cute! So lightweight!

(I ditched the sleeve because I don't need it)  Now I carry my ipad, too.

The liquids case and the laptop are situated on the surface so I can quickly pull them out to go through security. Grrrrr. Oh well......

See how nicely it all fits inside?

For this trip I plan to use a small daypack and travel wallet in lieu of a purse

since I'll be carrying my larger camera a great deal of the time.

My dog is not happy to see the suitcase.

Don't worry: she stays with close friends of ours who

spoil her rotten while we are away!

Quilt Article in Texas Monthly!

Texas Monthly Cover

September 2011

 Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes received some great publicity for their new book, Lone Stars III:  A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1986-2011 in Texas Monthly.  The article is an eight page spread called, Common Threads, in the September issue. My friend, Kathy York, has a quilt featured in this article:  Little Cities.  It was published as part of the article on the book,  on p. 151.  The article talks about the book and shows a preview of 10 quilts.  

I am proud to be part of this book, as well.  I am a co-creator of several quilts that will be featured in the book, due to be released at the International Quilt Festival, Houston, in November 2011.  

Dogcentric

Our little miniature Schnauzer happened to be with my husband one day when one of his employees, a professional photographer, was preparing for a shoot.  He got Bizzi to "strike a pose" for him.  I think this is an excellent photograph.

Scenes from CREATE!-Part Two

Samples of Artist Houses accordion books, among other things!

Our second workshop was "Artist Houses" folding accordion book.  The first half of the day was spent learning gelatin plate monoprinting with the new Gelli Plates, and creating fun foam stamps.  The students had a set of pre-cut Hoffman fabric to work with, as well as paper tags and other miscellaneous found papers.  After monoprinting a variety of cloth and paper, the foam stamps were used over the surface of the monoprints.

A colorful array of monoprinted cloth, stamps, and used paper towels

(which we later fused with Mistyfuse and utilized in the projects)

here are a few of the items used for gelatin plate monoprinting

Cindy Kuo works on the layers of her house.  Doors and windows 

were created from a combination of color laser copies of photos, as well as 

unique printed papers and more.

cloth and paper were fused with Mistyfuse, then cut to the needed sizes

houses were stitched onto window screen

Here are Cindy Kuo's houses. 

She was excited to do some hand-embellishment and therefore opted to wait

to finish her project at home

Sandy Mayfield and Debbie Pine hold their nearly complete artist houses

Scenes from CREATE!-Part One

Here are a few scenes from our workshop, "Aprons As Personal Armor", at the CREATE mixed media retreat in Chicago:

The students worked hard to create unique aprons.

Everyone got a great start on their projects!

 Sharon Davis had a colorful palette of fabrics,

even a custom print from Spoonflower based on a drawing by her son!

Hiliary Ayer and Sue Sulaiman share a laugh during class.

Our classroom looked like a fabric explosion had occurred in it.  Yay!

 A passerby asks to try on my apron

After class we attended a reception for the workshop instructors

Jen Mason welcomed all the teachers.

Fun!