The show remains open today from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  We have quilters giving live demonstrations of hand quilting, machine quilting and hand beading.  We will be raffling off three lovely patchwork quilts to three lucky winners, so be sure to buy your tickets and to vote for the quilt you believe is the best in the show when you visit us today!

"Hands of Friendship" art quilt by Gretchen Sanders-Mwaura

"Simba" lion quilt by Jaswinder Phull

"Hot Log Cabin" contemporary traditional quilt by Deanna Gaudaur

The exhibition will be open from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. every day of the weekend.  I will be there to help sell quilts.  Three quilts will be raffled off through raffle ticket sales, and we will be looking for new quilters to join the Guild.  Both hand-quilting and machine-quilting demonstrations will be ongoing.

This show is not to be missed.  Find us in the exhibition hall above the food court; we’ll be eager to meet you!!

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It took me fully five minutes to wake up and wonder what was that noise outside my bedroom window.  Who was doing what at that time of the morning to make such a sound?!

Then–I remembered.  That’s the sound of a hippo feeding on grass.  With recent rains, the stuff is growing everywhere, even on our gravel driveway.

But this sound was behind the house in a place where the bush grows right up against the bedroom.  I knew there was a hippo out there, but as I listened, the noise stopped.  “Right,” I thought, “the hippo’s moving off.”  I looked outside, but could see nothing but bush.  I even opened the back door to let in a cat and peered carefully all around the verandah through the trees, shrubs and vines, but could see nothing of a hippo.

Reassured, I headed for the kitchen.  Morning chores include making tea and feeding dogs and cats before hitting the computer.  First of all, though, the dogs need to go out.  With a young puppy in the household still being house trained, I always walk out to the driveway with them.  This morning was no exception.

The path from the kitchen door drops a flight of steps straight down from the porch to a kind of landing on a lower level of the garden, turns left nearly 45 degrees and falls another flight of steps down to the roundabout below where the dogs go to take care of themselves.  Standing on the lowest step, I enjoyed watching the black and white coats of our three Dalmatians against the brilliant lush green of grass and shrubs.

I turned to go back into the house and started up the steps, the hippo still on my mind.  “Hrumpf,” I thought.  “Spitting cobras, black mambas and foraging hippos–what a place to live!”

About that time I looked up, now about four steps higher than the driveway level.  Right before me stood the hippo, no more than about forty feet away.  It was on the garden level below the porch I needed to reach for safety.  The hippo looked at me, and I looked at the hippo.  Then, I had to make a choice–to scream and run backwards or to carry on moving gently up the steps to the kitchen.

The dogs also saw the hippo, but all were surprisingly quiet.  None of them barked as they normally would have done, but instead simply got on with the job of returning to the kitchen.  The hippo seemed disinclined to move, so I followed the dogs up the steps.  I tucked my head down and turned my face away from the animal as if to signal “no threat,” reached down to direct the puppy, and moving at the same pace I had set, I climbed the rest of the stairs up to the kitchen door.

It was as if the entire altercation took place in slow motion.  The hippo’s eyes never left me.  I knew that all it probably wanted was to pass down the same stairway towards the lake–yes, I was between the hippo and the water, the most dangerous place to be with a hippo.  I simply cannot think what inner strength gave me the ability not to panic, squeal or run, but I will always believe that grace saved me from what could well have been one more wildlife/human conflict–a fight I would most surely have lost.  Instead, each of us seemed to respect the other so much that neither of us took any action to harm or offend the other.  The hippo’s expression was one of benign wariness; I think mine was about the same.

Safe in the kitchen, with the doors closed behind me and my dogs, I watched the hippo make its departure.  On silent footsteps, it chose an alternative route through a household service area across the small patch of lawn.

Then, I began to tremble, but I didn’t cry, didn’t throw a strop and get hysterical.

After all, this kind of magical experience is one reason I came to live in Africa.

The most recent session of Reflections, one of my favorite online quilt classes at Quilt University, has just ended.  The students produced some remarkable designs and learned some new ways of making quilts.  I wish I could show you all the work done by my students in this class, but that does not seem possible.  I hope these few samples will serve to give you a good idea of what the class is all about, and that you will want to join us at Quilt University for the next session of Reflections!

Inner Strength, a Reflections quilt by Tricia Wyard-Scott

Stars and Butterflies, a Reflections quilt by Sabine Courtellemont-Max

Detail from Stars and Butterflies, a Reflections quilt by Sabine Courtellemont-Maxx

Untitled work, a Reflections quilt by Sharon Keightley

I’m sorry if you missed out on this super opportunity to study with me online, but the class will run again soon.  Check my class schedule and find more information at Quilt University to find out more information.  Be sure to have a good look at the Quilt U Class Catalog while you’re there.  You may find other online quilt classes there that you would enjoy taking.

Don’t miss the next great opportunity to learn how to put one of nature’s simplest design tools to work for you!

By the way, see more Reflections quilt art in my gallery and be sure to have a look at my Quilt University students’ work.

I’m a member of Expat Blog.  That’s because I’m an expat living in Kenya.  Recently, I have noticed some changes to the blog, so I want to share those, plus some general information about the blog, with you here.  If you are an expatriate living in Kenya or in any other country, you will want to know about this great place to swap stories, find help, make friends, share photos and more.  Read on!

What’s Expat Blog?

It’s a web portal launched in 2005 by expatriates, for expatriates. Its ambition is to help people living or willing to live abroad, wherever they are from or would like to go. Expat Blog is the most active online community of expatriates, with 420,000 members from 206 countries and 400 big cities.

Who is it for?

For all the people living or wishing to live abroad. It is a platform of expression and exchange, an information source about expatriation.

How does it work?

The website offers various tools to help expats and potential expatriates:
-          discussion forums
-          expatriate blogs directory
-          guides
-          photo albums
-          business directory
-          classifieds.

New features : Jobs and Housing sections

To meet the demands of expatriates and soon-to-be expatriates in Kenya, Expat Blog has launched two new dedicated spaces: a jobs section and a housing section. They are aimed at helping people in their job and accommodation search, two essential steps when expatriating.

The idea is to get access to job offers in Kenya and everywhere in the world, wherever you are. You can have access to the Kenya job offers, per job category and job contract. You can also create your CV and contact potential employers.

The Kenya Housing section enables you to look for or to offer an accommodation: rental, sale, flat share, flat, house…it’s up to you! You can see pictures of the apartment and get in touch with the person via Expat Blog (you need to be a member of Expat Blog to post an ad).

So, now that you know all about Expat Blog, why not go there and see for yourself?!  Oh, and if you are looking for housing, you might also want to read the individual postings.  A lot of folks in Kenya are on the move, and some great furniture bargains can be found with a little effort on your part!

Goodbye to the Grid, my newest online art quilt design workshop at Quilt University, is now open for registration. Find my description of the class here and more information at Quilt University.  Learn how to make original art quilts by studying design fundamentals.  Find more details about the class here and at Quilt University.

Glissando, art quilt by Dena Crain

Truly, even YOU can be an art quilter!  See you in class on June 8, 2012!

By the way, see more art quilts in my gallery and be sure to have a look at my Quilt University students’ work.

Did I pick up the trousers before I saw him?  Yes!  Did he run up the inside the trouser leg (mine was not inside the trousers, thank goodness!) where I could not see him?  Yes!  Did I squeal?  Yes!  Can you tell that my hands were shaking when I took the photo?  But, of course!!

Then, I calmed down, grateful that I had not yet been stung, rinsed out Jonny’s large glass tea mug and flipped it upside down over this most unwelcome visitor, found a piece of cardboard to slide underneath both mug and scorpion, and carried the creature out into our garden, putting him back where he belongs.

After a lovely night’s sleep during a gentle rain, this experience was something of a shock.  With the long rains comes Scorpion Season!  They don’t like the wet, either, so they come into the house seeking dry, dark and safe places.  This fellow, stretched out flat, would have been almost 5 inches long, a lovely specimen.  And, he’s NOT the worst kind.  The worst stings come from the little yellow scorpions, not from these huge black ones.  It’s definitely time to start keeping a look-out.  When I think of how closely I came to being stung by this guy–well, it makes me feel a little faint . . .

But wait! There’s more!

Before I could even publish this report, our servant came into my studio with eyes wide: “Iko nyoka!” “There’s a snake!” in the laundry room. I asked her how big it was and she replied kidogo (little).  Still, to her it was quite frightening.  Folks around here trust NO snakes, and with cobras, mambas, puff adders and carpet vipers plentiful in the area, that’s good advice!

I went down to see what was going on for myself, and Jonny came from the sitting room to retrieve this harmless large-eyed snake in the windowsill, trying to come in and take shelter in the house.

Hey, gals!  Check out these lovely colors!  Can you imagine a quilt made with this palette?! 

Crystal Quilts, the ultimate workshop in innovative quilt design, is now open for registration at Quilt University.  Learn the secrets of symmetry and how to use them to best advantage to make these stunning quilt designs, each one an original quilt design made by YOU!  Get more complete information about this wonderful online quilt design class here and at Quilt University.

"All That Glitters," a Crystal Quilt by Dena Crain

By the way, see more Crystal Quilts in my gallery and be sure to have a look at my Quilt University students’ work.

I shall be expecting you in class on the opening day, May 25, 2012!  Register here.

Darned Quilts, a wonderful, fun way to learn about the importance of color and value contrast in quilt design while you make original quilt art, has been scheduled to open again at Quilt University on June 22, 2012.  Registration opens on May 18, 2012.

This online quilt design workshop presents raw edge piecing as a construction technique that makes it possible to create a composition from a single piece of cloth. Learn more about the class here and find additional details at Quilt U.

"Golden Mist," a Darned Quilt by Dena Crain

Join me for this great chance to play with color and value contrasts in quilt design. Mark your calendar now for so you will be among the first to register!

By the way, see more Darned Quilts in my gallery and be sure to have a look at my Quilt University student gallery, but whatever you do, don’t miss seeing the

My first thought was that my husband must be convulsing or something!

Then I heard the chair in the corner rattling against the floor and I knew it must be an earthquake.  The whole room was rocking and rolling.

It didn’t last long, only a few seconds.  I had been through a similar event at home in Kentucky when I was a child.  Once experienced, you never forget the feeling of an earthquake.

Throughout the whole thing, HE slept like a baby.

Would I’d been so lucky.  The adrenaline rush I experienced brought me straight out of bed to face the new day–a lovely quiet morning with four casqued hornbills in the fig trees above our house.

I bet hornbills don’t worry much about earthquakes!