Sunflower, the Moon and the Terrier Tree

Yesterday, on the autumn equinox, there was a gorgeous moon.

Husband and I sat out on the patio until late into the night - it was a beautiful evening.  I enjoyed the pretty sky and the leaves are showing signs that they are ready for a change.  Two weeks ago, the leaves were green.  Now, they are all different shades of green. 

 

One of my daughters (this one:)

thinks this tree looks sort of like a Terrier.  I agree:

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from a lady in Ohio who apparently saw my Surf and Sand quilt: 

I don't know where she saw it (there are a variety of ways) but she was wondering if I had any of this fabric:

She is working on a quilt using that fabric line and needed more  but couldn't find it anywhere else.  After receiving her e-mail, I did my own fabric search and, sure enough, couldn't find any, online.  So I looked in my stash out in the barn and had about a yard of it. 

I thought that was pretty smart of her to see if I had some scraps. We are doing a fabric exchange. 

I had my painting class, this morning. We were supposed to learn about working with a palette knife.  The professor decided that we needed more time on our first painting so that's what we did, instead.  I'm so glad we did because mine looks much better (a relative term, granted).  It is just a painting of some styrofoam shapes.  I will post a photo when I bring it home. 

Yesterday, I had an all-day continuing legal education class on school law and really enjoyed it.  The class was geared to legal issues - primarily employment matters - of school administrators.  So we learned about school district structure/chain of command; how to legally fire teachers for cause and in RIFs (reductions in force); unemployment benefits; an ethics discussion regarding who the school district's attorney represents (the district!); and a discussion of open meetings law (many adverse employment matters are discussed by the board in open meetings).  They fed us breakfast and a nice lunch - VERY important to me.  I'd hoped to see some of my old Oklahoma lawyer buddies but the only person there that I knew was the husband of a friend (he is a school board member).  Most school districts rely on a handful of firms to handle their school legal issues and if you aren't members of those firms, there isn't a lot of work.  But I suspect if you know where to check, there are jobs available.  I also suspect that with the increasing litigious nature of employment law and the intense federal regulation of public schools, more districts will start hiring attorneys, in-house. 

I sent off the little nature quilt I've been working on for a friend, this morning.  It was a struggle, to me, and I hope she likes it better than I do.  :)  I went with fall colors and combined crazy quilting with quilt coloring.  I'm uploading a few photos.  Here is my original sketch:

 Transferred to a drawing sheet to allow me to trace it onto a piece of muslin:

 The flower traced with blue, water soluble marker:

 The body of the little quilt:

 Closeup of the center flower after quilting:

 After spraying it with water:

I always get a thrill when the blue disappears when water is applied.

 

The center, colored:

 Flower colored - block not yet squared:

 

 

 

 

 Ladybug:

 The backing and binding:

 My good helper (Pearlie):

I'd hoped to see the full moon, tonight, but we had some rain roll in so the clouds blocked the moonrise.  It would have been hard to beat last night's moon, anyway. 

Happy Quilting, Penny, Evelyn and Pearl