Florida Flooding
Geesh! Tropical Storm Fay really dumped some RAIN here in Florida! Officially, we received over 18" in two days. However, some spots reported over 25"! We've lived through quite a few hurricanes in this area, but we've never seen anything like this! The flooding has been very significant and widespread.

This photo shows the entry to my neighborhood. The gray truck is about to drive into a dip which is about one foot deeper than his current position. The submerged white car missed the road and ran into the adjacent ditch! Needless to say, this area was impassable by all but the tallest vehicles for more than a day. Still, we were the lucky ones, since all of our homes were high and dry. Many neighborhoods were not so fortunate, and thousands of homes were damaged.

As Floridians, we're pretty hurricane hardened, so we hardly bat an eye when a "mere" tropical storm is on it's way. For most of us, that will never be the case again!

Upcoming Events
- Rescheduled: Ft. Myers, FL, September 16-17, Lecture Playing with Fabric, and workshop Design Your Own Nature Quilt
- Rescheduled: Punta Gorda, FL, September 18-19, Workshops Instant Art Quilt and Double Reverse Applique, and lecture Playing with Color
- Mt. Dora, FL, September 19 - October 23, Fiber Expose exhibit, at Mt. Dora Center for the Arts
- Mt. Dora, FL, October 10, Interactive Demo Fabric Collage, followed by opening reception of Fiber Expose, at Mt. Dora Center for the Arts
- Mt. Dora, FL, October 18, Workshop Design Your Own Nature Collage - Glued or Stitched, Mt. Dora Center for the Arts

Current online class: Design Your Own Nature Quilt. (Sorry, this class is full.) Learn more about online classes here.

See Teaching and Events schedule for more details.

E-Books coming soon!
Because I'm keeping my online classes small, they've been filling very quickly. Therefore, several people have expressed their frustration at not being able to take their desired classes. That got me thinking about alternative ways to present my classes. As a result, I've decided to offer e-books! I'm very excited about this!

What is an e-book? It's a book in digital form, which you download from the internet. You can either leave the document on your computer and read it there, or you can print out the pages. Of course, a book won't have the interaction of a class, but I think it will be a good alternative.

It will take some time for me to write the first book and to figure out the logistics of online payments, downloads, etc. But, I hope to have the first one, Double Reverse Appliqué, available in October, 2008.

Old New Work

The quilt at left is one I did a couple of years ago, called Morning Light. Although I liked it fairly well, I always felt like it needed something. I took it to a critique session, led by Sandra Sider, and the group confirmed my suspicions. They suggested rotating it 90° to the left. When we did so, it took on a landscape feel, as shadowy impressions of buildings and a hillside became visible. I decided to run with that and to add more contrast while I was at it.

Here is the newly finished quilt, at right, now called By the Baltic Sea. You can access a larger image and a detail shot via the Quilt Gallery.

This is not the only time I've reworked a finished quilt. In fact, my revisions to Urban Sprawl were MUCH more extreme. You can read a photo essay about that transformation here.

Website additions

By the Baltic Sea, with detail shot
Urban Sprawl, with detail shot

"Extreme Makeover, Quilt Edition", article about reworking Urban Sprawl.

Enjoy the adventure!
Ellen

Would you like to subscribe to my newsletter? If so, use the button below. Your privacy is highly respected!