Today we went for a walk. It was a good walk – not a great one, because we still can’t seem to make it past about 3/4 of a mile before backs and feet start hurting. We’re consistent, anyway. We’ve walked every day for two weeks except last Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday we walked all over the Donald P. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. So what if we were really just strolling as we looked at the quilts and booths – we were on our feet from about 10 am to 6 pm with just a couple of short breaks. And Sunday, well, that was recovery.

But today we walked. As we neared home, I spotted some petals from our neighbor’s tulip tree (aka saucer magnolia) on the sidewalk. It’s a messy tree, but for a few days it’s beautiful with its creamy pink shaded petals. Someone had ridden a bike over the petals, and I noticed that they had perfect brown impressions of the tread pattern. It reminded me of thermal paper, the way a crease creates a dark mark. I scooped up a petal and showed it to my mom, who commented that it would make a neat quilt. Idea! Inspiration! Best of all, it was early enough that I popped onto EQ6 when we got home and I drafted this quilt:

I even made it to work at 8:50, 10 minutes early, which is a big challenge for me.

And when I gloated a bit to my boss about being early, he asked if I could start coming in at 8:30.

Drat.