Some Quilting, Some Tai Chi

I've certainly not been a good blogger this summer. The reasons vary, but the result is the same--long absences from this blog.

Before the Dallas tournament, I was working frantically on carrying bags for our weapons. I had fun with the quilting on these, although it was time consuming. On mine I used 3 different variegated threads (King Tut, which I love). I sandwiched some Timtex in the bottom to take the weight of the weapons.




















On Thomas' I tried a little thread work with metallic thread (which was not so much fun because of the fraying) and some ad libbed trapunto.

These are the in progress photos, because I didn't get a picture of Thomas' after I finished it.

Last weekend (I posted about this on my reading blog the other day), Thomas and I went to Houston and competed in the Houston International Martial Arts tournament. Thomas came away with one gold and two silver medals, and I received two gold and two silvers. We were both pleased to have improved our scores from Taiji Legacy in Dallas. Some of the competitors were amazing, especially in the children and young adult categories.

I failed to check the setting for my camera, so most of my pictures did not turn out, but Thomas took some after I'd made the corrections that were much better.


Most of my pictures from the Master's Demo (which was terrific) did not come out, but with PhotoShop, I was able to rescue some of the pictures from the Opening Ceremonies.


Here is one of the two dragons as it awaits its cue to go to the floor.
The lions that that took part in the Lion Dance, were especially charming, but most of my photos did not come out. I managed a couple of this young dancer, though.











I wasn't able to get any pictures of Thomas competing in his weapons categories as I was busy in other rings, but here he is in his empty hand routine. I need photography lessons, folks.