Tidying up

What's this, you say? A very clean sewing table? A rare occurrence, indeed.



And another stitchery sample finished? (This is "Color Study: Flying Geese," stitched up in pinks and reds for my sister. You can order her patterns here -- and they're easy... I did this one during evening tv viewing in about 3 weeks. And I don't even watch very much tv.)

Yep, I've been finishing stuff. Look-- fruit quilt # 3 quilted and bound and ready to donate to a homeless shelter.



This wouuld make a great picnic quilt, wouldn't it? I couldn't resist trying some artful draping in the backyard.



All of this is in preparation for my October Week of Quilting Fun -- four days of quilt retreat at Bishops Ranch (you can see my happy ravings about past retreats here and here) and then down to the bay area to attend the Pacific International Quilt Festival next weekend. This is always a very fun week. I'm especially looking forward to seeing my retreat friends at the Ranch.

Unfortunately, a difficult community disaster hit this morning which will make my quilt fun a bit tricker, to say the least. Caroline's elementary school was significantly damaged by fire early this morning, and school is cancelled for tomorrow, if not more. There's enough damage that I can't imagine that there'll be school at all this week, but we'll see. The multi-purpose room, office, and bathrooms were completely destroyed. Several classrooms sustained some damage, but most are okay. So, for the week ahead? Who knows. One of Caroline's classmates lives on the Ranch premises where the retreat is, so Caroline will come with me to play there and hang out with quilters for some of the time tomorrow. We'll just play it day by day from there. Everyone will have to be flexible.

I remember as a kid wishing that some disaster would befall the school so I could stay home (in California, we don't get to hope for snow days!) but now that this wonderful little rural school has been damaged, everyone is very upset. I think I've spoken to every 6th grade mom this morning, in shock and dismay and worrying about how the kids will cope. Caroline is drawing a comforting picture for her school principal and last year's teacher (whose room was really damaged) as I type this.

We never know what tomorrow will bring, do we?