My stay at the Maine house this October was different from any time before. I had a planned schedule for telecommuting, and I had specific quilting objectives. Although I had hoped to get there a week or two earlier, work and health conspired to set the agenda. The fall foliage display was past its peak when I arrived, but my walks took me past the late bloomers - the maples that flaunted their colors beside the road, and the reluctant oaks whose leaves might have been overlooked, but for their stark points and graceful curves.

As a child, I picked up brightly colored leaves to sandwich between waxed paper. Somehow the iron preserved the color. Now, I plucked the leaves by shape and size, knowing that the color would come from my imaginings, and that the leaves themselves would curl and fade before I did them justice.

The maple leaf series, that I began in the fall of 2003 in Bala Cynwyd, took on a new life, a new excitement. Once the leaves were traced, I fragmented them to abstract and stylize the shapes.

Ultimately it worked! The first few layouts looked a little too much like palm trees, but threadwork came to the rescue.

There's more to come - each cycle of seasons brings a new perspective on the circle of life.