http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/2011/07/creating-large-paintings-full-of-text.html

Or this:

http://nothingbutbonfires.com/reviews/extreme-bedroom-makeover-end-result

I have been trying to decide on a poem or a bit of a poem, and reading lots of poetry.  For some reason a poem by W.H. Auden pushed its way out of some cobwebby corner of my mind today and now I have the perfect bit of poetry, the third and fourth stanzas of “As I Walked Out One Evening”

“I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

‘I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.”

Now to decide on style and color.

100 Things I Would Like to Do Before I Leave This Life

In no particular order:

1. Complete my family tree on my Mother’s side of the family. Thanks to some LDS relatives, I already have a good bit of my Dad’s side.

2. Learn how to use that quilting machine that is silently mocking me.

3. Ride a zip line through a tropical rain forest.

4. Scan all of my childhood photos.

5. Scuba dive with my kids.

6. Learn to ride a horse in the English style.

7. Go on a silent retreat.

8. Spent a month or two traveling in India.

9. Rent a house in Northern Italy and invite family and friends for a marathon house party. Something like “Stealing Beauty” without the suicide and intrigue.

10. Hike a 14,oooft peak.      http://14ers.com/

11. Adopt some elderly basset hounds and let them live out the rest of their lives on my couch.

12. See whales and dolphins in the wild.

13. Go on a photo safari.

14. Sew something that I would actually wear in public.

15. Age with grace.  I am so tired of people not wanting to look their age.

16. Attend an arena concert. Preferably Wembly Arena in London.

17. Go on a vineyard tour.

18. Visit the Library of Congress.

19.  See the Grand Canyon.

20. Learn to do graphic design.

21. Take a jewelry making class.

22. Go sailing.

23. Have a really great birthday party. Boy, have I had some bad ones.

24. Live in a really urban environment.

25. Have a picnic in Paris.

26. See the Northern Lights.

27. Ride a camel.

28. Volunteer at the public library.

29. Show my kids where I grew up.

30. See Lake Martin during nesting season, camera in hand.

31. Go to a Mardi Gras parade in small town Louisiana. I have been on the floats, but not seen it from the other side.

32. Go to the Getty in L.A.

33.  Go skinny dipping in a hot springs. Or rather, chunky dunking.

34. Fly first class on an overnight flight.

35. Spend the day in a hammock by the beach.

36. Learn to play chess.

37. Live long enough to really know my grandchildren and spoil them absolutely rotten.

38. Have a real vegetable garden.

39. See my uncle’s memorial in the Philippines.

40. Visit the Isle of Man and look up the dead relatives.

41. Go to a show in the West End.

42. Learn to knit.

43. Ride the bullet train in Japan.

44. Have every box unpacked.

45.  Go traveling in Australia.

46. Go on a working vacation. Maybe an archeological dig?

47. Build something useful.

48. Have a beautiful flower garden.

49. Own a hot rod or classic car.

50. Drive that car in local parades.

51. Refurbish a vintage Airstream.

52. Take that shiny Airstream on the road.

53. Go on a sleigh ride.

54. Live in an old house.

55. Build a new house (done, sold and moved on).

56. Go to Rome.

57. Stay on a houseboat.

58. Take a long road trip with my friends.

59. Have my entire house clean and organized at once.

60. Sleep in a four poster bed with curtains.

61. Have chickens.

62. Join a book group.

63. Do yoga on the beach.

64. Have a real conversation with my Mother-in-law. We speak different languages.

65. In order to do #64, become fluent in German.

66. Play hooky with my kids.

67. See Patty Griffin live.

68. See Lyle Lovett live.

69. Learn to make a slipcover.

70. Take a graveyard tour in New Orleans.

71. Go to Vegas.

72. Teach adults English.

73. Be a really quirky, bodacious old woman.

74. See a wild sea turtle underwater again. It was amazing!

75. Foster dogs.

76. Have a raptor perch on my hand.

77. Work with an international aid organization.

78.  Successfully shore dive.

79. Once again have a local group of girlfriends that I meet with regularly.

80. Write some public servants thank you letters.

81. Buy a homeless person a hot meal. I would like to make this one a habit.

82. Adopt a sibling group.  This one won’t happen, due to our ages and reluctance from my husband, but I think about it often.

83. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

84. Go hiking in Bryce Canyon.

85. See a taping of a TV show.

86. Live without TV and limited internet access for a period of time.

87. Cut my own Christmas tree.

88. Live in the forest.

89. Live near the ocean.

90. Have a local hang out.

91. Have one of my photos published.

92. Ride in a helicopter.

93. Take an overnight bike trip.

94.  Go glamping.

95. Go on a trip with my three sisters and maybe my female cousins, even though I would have to firmly bite my tongue the whole way.

96.  Tell my family that, no actually I am not a Christian in any way, shape or form and I am extremely  liberal, thank you very much.  Sigh. Just how many prayer lists do I want to be on? And how many phone calls about me burning in hell? Maybe it’s better to bite my tongue since I see so little of them.They are sure to take it personally.

97.  Find a hometown.

98. Pet a penguin.

99.  See my kids as happy adults.

100. Keep my mind active.

This is a wall hanging for a silent auction at a library conference. I hope the librarians will like it enough to pay a good price! Various scraps of fabric, with Kona cotton white and charcoal. It is a bit off in the upper left corner. Just pretend you don’t see it, ok?

I had seen some similar quilts, but none of them were exactly what I pictured in my mind, so I just made it up as I went along. I think I would like to make another one for myself with all solids.

Top of what will be a quilted wall hanging for a silent auction at a library conference.

Lap/kid quilt with matching pillow/toy for a silent auction. Cotton with flannel back for extra warmth. Quilted in slightly, ok more than slightly, wonky lines.

To go with the owl quilt.