Packing

The past few days have been spent rushing around getting ready for Thursday's departure for 2 weeks in France. Since I won't have my DH along to help with luggage hauling, I have to pack with my own strength in mind. The big suitcase that I have would be wonderful, except that when it's loaded it's too heavy and difficult to maneuver. I went out and bought some new luggage, the expensive kind, a small 22" piece and a smaller carryon. They have lots of pockets (I love pockets) and zippers and places to put things. They were perfect. Until I actually started trying to load them up with the stuff I wanted to take along. Suddenly the insides seem to have shrunk considerably. What happened???

Taking some advice from Dijanne Cevaal, quite a seasoned traveler, to put back at least half of what I had taken out, I pared it down. It mostly all fits now, except I still have to find room for an extra pair of shoes. Part of the problem is that there is an artists' reception that I have to be dressed a little nicer than is my norm, which includes shoes.

Our plane leaves at 10pm tomorrow night from Dulles International Airport, outside (wayyyy outside) of Washington DC. We're catching a group bus at 4PM, which allows us approximately 3 hours to get to the airport (not an inordinate amount of time, considering that we have to navigate the DC Beltway at rush hour) in order to be there 3 hours early for checkin for an international flight. The flight takes 7 1/2 hours, and we will arrive in Paris at 11:30AM their time. Jet lag is me.

Meanwhile, here is what I've just finished working on.


Rising Sun

It's not quite 40" wide. I used a lot of my new Superior threads to quilt it. Here is a detail shot of the center area.