New quilt

Finally, there has been some creative activity in the studio! This is the first quilt top to come of the new studio. It makes me think of the waters in Venice...

Shameless love

I am head-over-heels in love with the dog. She is a bundle of unbearable cuteness and everyone who lives with her is hopelessly under her spell. I haven't taken any new pictures recently because she is either speeding around the condo with unbridled energy, or fast asleep with her eyes shut. So here's a picture from a week ago when we took her on a little outing to visit Andrew's new college campus.

Such cuteness!

New Jersey State Quilt Show

Late last night I returned home from teaching at the New Jersey State Quilt Show. It was a fun time, and an exhausting trip. I drove through pouring, blinding rain to get there on Thursday evening, and then drove back home in a blinding rain storm last night. But the ladies I spent time with made the trip worthwhile.

Today, I'm planning on a quiet day here at home on the sofa with perhaps a little knitting (and perhaps a little nodding!).

Here are some pictures from the weekend. This is Toni, who took my goddess project workshop yesterday, and created a "past and future goddess."

This is Lisa. She created a lovely "doctor goddess."

And the day before, Friday, I taught a class of 28 (yes, 28!) how to Free Motion Without Fear. They were a lovely class. This is how they looked when they were well-behaved....

And this is how they looked when they were being themselves....

Only kidding! They were fabulous. If you're one of them, please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you. And thank you for being great students -- I had a blast with you guys!!!

It's all about the dog

For now, anyway. I promise not to blog about Topolina every single day, but gee ... she's so cute, it'll be hard not to! I've been working hard on a little wool sweater for her to wear during our outings on those chilly Vermont mornings and evenings. I should be able to complete it this evening. If I do, the lovely Topolina will model it for tomorrow's blog entry!

Topolina Rosenberg

Fred and I adopted a new family member on Friday. Her name is Topolina, (pronouced: TOE-poe-LEE-nah) which is an Italian word meaning "little female mouse." It's also the word that Italians use for Disney's "Minnie Mouse." We love our little darling dearly. Topolina is a chihuahua, and she is 12 weeks old, incredibly tiny and completely adorable. Andrew and Fred have been calling her "Topo" for short (pronounced: TOE-poe).

Above is our adoption photo, taken at the Yonkers Petsmart Adopt-a-thon. More pictures of our new darling to follow!

Storage in the studio, good news . . . and zebras!

Two of my very favorite guys (my husband and my youngest son) worked hard today to transport my heavy shelving units into my studio. I spent the day filling them back up with all of my beading "gear". As you can see from the photo below, the shelves fill up the empty back corner very nicely and provide some much-needed storage space.

The front area of my studio is now filled with two closed units and two open ones. The open ones will be used to display some of my finished jewelry as well as my beloved zebra collection. I really missed my zebras while they were in storage. It's wonderful to have them back out again where they can be admired!

I haven't finished arranging all the shelves yet, because we left the studio to have a very special celebration. Today, Andrew was formally accepted into Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT. His dad and I are so very proud of him ... he worked hard to finish up his last semester at Landmark College on a good note against some very tough odds. He impressed the Green Mountain admissions office with his determination and grit. What a guy! Go, Andrew!

While we're busy celebrating Andrew's success at a local restaurant here in Vermont, my oldest son, Jordan, is flying over the north pole, on his way to Hong Kong to visit with our cousins for a few weeks. Then, he will continue his trip to Shanghai, where he'll be studying Chinese economics and Mandarin. He'll be blogging about his trip at his own blog, Anthem. I'm so excited for him!

As for me, tomorrow, I'm driving down to NY to meet with my salon sisters. I'm really looking forward to seeing them all, getting some big hugs, seeing what they've been up to, and showing them what I've been up to in my lonely studio.

I have some other plans while I'm down in Westchester county ... but I'm not going to tell you what they are -- I'll surprise you with something special when I return on Friday!

Good morning!

This is what I see when I look out of my window in the morning.

What do YOU see when you look out of YOUR window? Why don't you leave a comment and tell me about it? Or, you could post a picture of what you see outside your window on your own blog, if you have one . . . .

Orange

I'm not much of a photographer, but every now and then, I see something that makes me try to capture it with my camera. Last weekend, my mother-in-law turned 89 and to celebrate her birthday, we brought her up to Vermont. It's always been a dream of hers to stay in a bed-and-breakfast, so we arranged for her to stay at one just around the corner from us here in Manchester. And we took her out for dinner at a popular neighborhood Italian restaurant. (She loves spaghetti and meatballs.) The place was crowded, and we had to sit in the bar to wait for a table. I didn't mind, because it was so pretty in there -- see?

I love the straw-covered wine bottles hanging on the ceiling, too!