I returned to the Medford area with Pat so we could go to the reception for the “Art and Science” mixed media art show at Southern Oregon University in which she has a quilt. On Day 1, we went to Grants Pass with April Hill (mother-in-law). First stop, the Grants Pass Museum of Art to see “‘Transformations ‘09, an exhibit by members of the Studio Art Quilt Association. Next door we browsed the Grants Pass Arts and Fair Trade shop, where we all found something to buy. Before leaving Grants Pass, we stopped at the Textile Connection, which had the most beautiful fabrics from around the world. Pat had to buy a few chunks of the hand-dyed hand-woven hemp, which looks a bit like burlap but is beautifully soft and wonderful.

Pat did all the driving, thank you Pat. We had to go to Fabric of Vision in Ashland, again. And again. Then we learned about the Big Sale, a warehouse garage sale at half-price because it was the last day. Pat found a brand new dish towel for 50 cents- look for a tote bag in the future. I found something too, but will save it for later. Dinner at Bambu (southeast Asian food), in Medford, with Pat, April and Bob Hill (in-laws).

But all good things must come to an end, and finally it was time to go home. We couldn’t stop talking about the pieces in the Art and Science exhibit: paintings, drawings, sculptures, digital prints, 3D printed objects, and a quilt!

The Zipper Obsession began in 2008. I have more ideas than time, but so far I’ve completed 3 quilts and 1 necklace using zippers and zipper parts.

I put out a call for zippers in our electric coop magazine, called the Ruralite, in the summer of 2008.

I’ve received over 90 packages of zippers since then, from all over the western United States.

The smallest package held one zipper, folded up and mailed in a legal size envelope.

The largest package came from Chugiak, Alaska, with two big boxes of over 300 zippers, all still in their original wrappers, but not new.

I bet you’ll see zippers everywhere now…

The next best thing to fabric shopping is eating a good lunch while lingering over the fabric finds. In the last week, Pat and I went to Sisters. After shopping at the Stitching Post and seeing an art quilt exhibit, we went to Angeline’s for lunch. Happy Birthday Pat! She is now nine months older than I am.

This week we went to lunch at Soba Noodle in downtown Bend before browsing quilts at an annual festival of quilts at the Aspen Ridge Retirement Community in Bend, Oregon. This photo shows Pat and I with our favorite (wait)person. He remembers our favorite food items and is always smiling: thank you, Phil- you make the world a little better place.