Back in business

I have been as silent as the tomb, haven't I? My apologies! I have been very, very busy on a number of fronts and have had fairly little worth reporting.  For example, I recently attended the convocation exercises for our university.  Here's a view from the stage:

A couple of more exciting things do stand out: Our local guilds had their quilt show last week, where I entered three of the quilts that you have seen previously on this blog: I Dream of Ogeenie, Paprika, and Gong Show (below).  I was a White Glove lady and reminded people to wear the plastic gloves they were given when they paid their $6 admission if they wanted to touch the quilts or look at the backs.  I wasn't able to volunteer as much as I wanted to, but the show committee and other guild members, like Ariane and Michelle, invested hours and hours to make the show a success.  It was my first time entering in a show, and it was great to see the extent of the talent that was represented.  The aesthetic was far and away a traditional one, with only a few art quilts and the occasional modern or improv piece.  I was blown away by the perfect piecing on some of the entries.  My own quilting ethic is "get 'er done", but that level of skill is definitely something to aspire to!

Also, I was recently in Copenhagen for a conference! It was my first time there; what a beautiful city!  My doc student and I were sadly underdressed, since we foolishly packed according to the weather network, which predicted sunny skies and warm temperatures.  It was so cold and it rained every day.  One night I went to dinner wearing my pajama top since it was the only long-sleeved top I had brought with me, and I needed it underneath the two cotton jackets I was wearing.  

We especially liked the Tivoli Gardens, which is the second oldest amusement park in the world, and is filled with restaurants and beautiful gardens. It also has roller coasters, etc., but it is not a tacky midway.    Hillary Clinton was in Copenhagen at the same time, and in fact she was eating her dinner in the Tivoli Gardens at the same time as we were, at the restaurant next door to ours.

  

The photo below is Nimb, which is a hotel and several restaurants. We ate there one night and there was a peacock on the terrace right outside our window.

 

This is what I had for dinner there: the best lemon sole ever!  In fact, I had fish for dinner for every single lunch and dinner for the five days I was there. 

I saw lots of quilty inspiration on my trip: how's this for a colour palette? Inspired by the seats in the auditorium at the conference!

And what about this as a crazy kind of drunkard's path? It's a sign outside a bar in the Tivoli Gardens.

But not everything was wonderful. Apparently, the Danes are like the Dutch in their fondness for licorice.  In our conference bags, they had given us some candy.  Can you imagine anything like this?

I have one more thing to report. I have been working long and hard on a quilt destined to be a wedding present for two of my former students who met in my lab five years ago.  Just this morning, I sent the quilt off to the bride's family home, so it will be a few more days before I can show the photos.  There have been no progress shots because the bride to be is an inveterate surprise buster and knows where to find my blog photos and Flickr photostream.  This is one reason I have been AWOL - it has been a lot of work and I have been unable to say anything about it.  How do those famous bloggers who are always working on a book manage to keep an online presence and still keep everything under wraps? Suffice it to say for now that the quilt is one of the nicest I have ever made - it was very hard to box it up and say goodbye to it.  I can't wait to show you the glamour shots - just a couple more days and all will be revealed!