As I tidied up the entry for Fuego, since I put it in the mail today, I looked over the quilt list for the year and was a little disheartened, because I felt like I haven't accomplished much this year. It's also entirely possible that I'm an idiot.

It's the end of October. In 2012, I've finished:

The story: I was fabric-hunting in the Petticoat Lane district in London, where there's a street of nothing but African fabric shops one after another, selling 6-yard lengths of what's variably called "dutch wax fabric," "african wax fabric," etc. The marketplace looks like this, with racks and racks of clothing available for sale out in the street, and wax fabric storefronts on both sides of the street:

While I was working on Sea & Sky, I decided I'd cheat and re-use the pattern ("New Wave") a second time because it was quick, easy, and chews through large-scale prints like a hot knife through butter. Since the color scheme for that quilt was light, bright, and warm-toned, I wondered what I could do if I started pulling out fabrics with muted grey or brown tones.

I shot a lot of photos in Europe. The collection is available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/domesticat/collections/72157631548498001/ and is broken down by city and by theme, but since I've been asked a few times, I thought I'd pick just a few photos to tell the overarching story.

...and we're home. This is the unofficial part of the trip that falls between 'the end of the trip' and 'the resumption of real life.' I am home, and hobbling on somewhat sore and extremely tired legs, and I'm dealing with the oddity that is culture shock in my own country.

On the nine-hour flight back, I tried to think through some of the questions I expected to be asked.

I'll say it. I like Amsterdam, but I don't love it.

I don't think I'll speak of it in the rapturous terms that many others have. We get along, the city and I, but I think we're meant to see other people. It hit me on the way home; Amsterdam is a city of revelry, merriment, and conviviality. I am alone by choice. We have different intentions, the city and I. I'm glad I came, and I've seen amazing things here, but I'm ready to move on to London.