David has been posting his photos from World Fantasy Con to my Flickr account. You can see them HERE.

(I am not at the convention, unfortunately. I'm not the woman in this photo. I'll have to ask my husband about the blonde showing him her mathematical tattoos! Update: That's Karen Burnham.)

On my studio window sill:

We're having the window frames we got repaired last summer painted this week, and I'm really liking how the color is looking:

One thing I learned this weekend is that it is rather difficult to find a good restaurant when crossing Massachusetts on the Mass Pike in the area between the western border of Massachusetts and where the Mass Pike meets Interstate 84. (The kids and I drove round trip from Westport, NY to Dennis, MA for a memorial service for a relative of my husband's.)

After some driving around at other exists trying to find someplace that wasn't a McDonalds, going both directions, we ended up at Tokyo Asian Cuisine at 1152 Riverdale Street, West Springfield, MA. The food was great and the staff was really nice. It made our trip much better going both directions. It's near exit 4 off the Mass Pike. Their phone number is 413-788-7788.

Not only do they have pretty good sushi and other Japanese food, but some of the menu items are particularly creatively prepared. (I ordered one of  their specialty rolls, and it was great!)

From Richard Cytowic:

Richard E. Cytowic, MD will give an illustrated talk on synesthesia and creativity at the Library of Congress on Friday, October 30 at 6:125 p.m. based on his latest book, Wednesday is Indigo Blue.

A book signing follows.

His lecture (6:15 to 7:15) is part of the Library’sMusic and the Brain Series While free, tickets disappear rapidly. The library will hold a block of seats for personal guests. Please mail [email protected] to place your name on the reserved list.

When we were first sewing pieces together for the smallest block, I told her, "Never sew the pieces together unless you know what they mean."

She asked, "What do these pieces mean, mommy?"

I said, "These are angry men running in the grass. This one is the moon rising over the lake. This one is our house. This one is about thinking about the tiny little creatures in the water."

This is not a quilt make from a pattern, but from a method of construction. This is a method to be done fast, in love, in anger, and as a form of meditation: Use only scraps, as much as you can. Cutting from the big pieces of cloth should be a last resort. Make small blocks as though you were spelling words, combining letters. Then make bigger blocks as through you were making sentences.

The bigger blocks will not all be the same size. The easy way out would be to trim them so that they are and then sash them with a plain fabric to spread them out so they don't have to mean together. Don't take the easy way out. 

Arrange the pieces on the floor in relation to one another. If some are too simple, cut them apart and sew them back together in a different order. Add strips of fabric to fill in the gaps, but using the same grammar that you have used so far.

Work fast, but observe things like seam allowances carefully. Because this kind of quilt is made in the heat of the moment, it is prone to structural flaws.  Overwork the structure just a little to make sure it will all hang together in the end.

I did have to reach for the larger pieces for the outside edges, and needed a trip to the fabric store in Lake Placid, NY to get the batting and the backing.

Also, I did a small amount of applique using some of the better scraps -- 20 years ago I had experimented with hand-cutting rubber stamps and then printing on fabric with fabric paint.

I am going to tie the quilt, rather than hand-quilting. Elizabeth and I discussed it last night, and she wants the binding to be sunshine yellow like the backing.

It will be a gift for her seventh birthday.