OK, I will forget that I saw we were next to the Chica Chica Boom Boom lap dance parlour and I can cope with the balcony.

Oh my goodness, its while since I was able to devote time to the blog.

Indeed, I did have a few problems with the internet.

In Italy, I paid to have a superior room with good internet in my room.

I nearly choked when they opened the door, It was very late, dark and I had been traveling for 15 hours from France to Amsterdam, back to France and then Italy… so I was in no mood to argue.

The room was so small, with just a foot at the end of the bed, a foot on the left hand side and 2 feet on the right hand side where my desk was situated.

"BUT madam", he said with a sweep of his arm, "You have a balcony"

I popped through the door and there was a huge private balcony overlooking the suburbs of Rome and I thought, OK, I will forget that I saw we were next to the Chica Chica Boom Boom lap dance parlour and I can cope with the balcony.

I relished the fact that I could leave the door open and share in the ambience of Rome.

It wasn't until the next day that I found out there was no Internet.

Scusie, I said…. I don't have internet in my room.

"Why not" said the guy behind the desk?

"I don't know, you tell me" I replied

"You do have internet " he said as I turned slowly to take in the crowd in the foyer on their computers.

I raised my eyebrows.

"OK, we will shift you to another room" he growled.

Well, not wanting to experience any of the rooms I peeked into on the way down in the tiny lift, I decided to stay with the balcony… at least there was no cigarette smoke there.

Consequently… no blog. I put up with the smoky lobby for as short a time as possible.

I came to enjoy the hotel and its quirky staff. The lady at breakfast who refused to clear the tables until she had had at least 6 ciggys and had read her emails on her cell phone. You just piled up the dirty dishes on a bench and set your own table. Simple.

The arrogant man behind the desk and who didn't know how to make a phone call to my chauffeur for pick up and the helpful young man who was embarrassed by the rest of the staff. It was like being in a Monty Python movie.

The lift was hilarious, just enough room for two people, and you have to shut the door before it will close the internal one and eventually move, try fitting the luggage in!!!!

But there we are I survived, I had a wonderful time and I have lots to share.

BUT today I'm creating a quilt for the Silent Auction in Houston.

A photo taken in Little Rock

I changed it to a water-colour.

water color image

I wanted to try something different with this quilt, that's why I decided on a water color picture. I wanted to create an image that looks like a painting, not a photo., so I'm using a free motion Zig Zag. Its 1.4 stitch width and 1.4 stitch length and I don't drop the feed dogs but you need to be sure you have an open toed free motion foot on the machine.

Janome has the best foot I've ever used.