Farewell Juki

Sob . . . I had to take Juki home to Janice today . . . sob!

Juki, you have been a perfectly wonderful house guest. You stayed where you were put, stitched a fine line, had a wonderful flat bed and gave me plenty of room to move. Your foot control was very comfortable to use and I love the needle up/down button you have. The only thing I don't like is that you are no longer here! You are very welcome to come and have another holiday at my house anytime you like (hint, Janice, hint, hint).

Honey Bunch Leaves Home

Such a strange thing to drive my son to the Halls of Residence and leave him there. I mean, I have driven him to his father's plenty of times but somehow this feels different. That's 'cos it is different. Now, I've got him all "growed up" and he is off on the next step of his life. He is technically no longer living at home. I don't know what to feel. I didn't cry, but I was very proud of him as he said hello to every one he met. I still have 2 homestay students at home so I am not totally alone. But ...

... and, darn it, I completely forgot to take the camera with me. He dyed his hair in the weekend using some 'wash out in a few weeks' dye. He is naturally blonde but now is red. Kinda suits him but he didn't like it ha, ha. Le's hope the dye is true to label, otherwise he is going to have a 'roots' problem :-)

I forgot to say he is only 1 hour away and will be home in the coming weekend so I guess that is why I don't feel tearful. He has been away for longer than a week during holidays in the past. This is nothing!!!

Over the first hurdle

The selection letters arrived today. It was a bit stressful as I had entered 3 pieces and there were my 3 self-addressed envelopes. I gathered them up together from the letter box and could tell they contained CD's. Oh well, I thought, at least the pressure is off to finish the quilting since it has been more like quilting undone. I was not at all pleased with the quilting I had done and decided to do it again. This is what half a quilt's worth of ripped out threads look like:

There has been a hiatus in replacing all that stitching. The new school year has started and I needed to do some serious prep which took a week out of my quilting time. But I started back on it in the weekend. Which is just as well because only the first 2 envelopes had rejection letters along with the CDs. The third envelope had an acceptance letter and no CD's. Poetry in Motion has been selected for the judging process. I have 3 weeks to get the quilting finished and send the quilt off. Let's hope it passes the 'decision to hang' test so I can get to look at it from a decent distance.

I am not at all hopeful of any prize. The jurors' comments were 'most interesting', to say the least, and I think there will be some very disappointed quilters in New Zealand today. The emphasis was definitely on 'original design'. I have a lot I could say about it but it is way past zzzz time.

ZZZzzz z z z z z z z z . . .