Family Pampering

Miss C and I are at Grandma and Grampa's house. Her grandma and grandpa, my parents' house, that is. We inched our way through San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge in traffic the likes of which I'd not seen in ages in order to come -- I reminded myself that people pay oodles of money and travel miles and miles to drive over the bridge, so if I got to creep over it a foot at a time, I was LUCKY.

The purpose of the trip was to bring Caroline to see the pediatric neurologist who specializes in migraines at Stanford Children's Hospital. There is nothing -- nothing, I tell you -- which snaps your life into perspective faster than sitting in the waiting room in a pediatric neurology waiting room. I am still counting my blessings.

So, all is good and we are now hanging out here through the weekend so that Caroline can go to a Halloween party on Saturday night at the home of one her school classmates. She'll get to meet some classmates in person, so that should be fun. She has an elaborate wizard/princess costume going, and Grandpa helped her make a faux metal dagger and she is delighted. Nothing like greeting new friends with a weapon on hand, just in case.

And we are enjoying the portability of our work -- I have my laptop so I can continue (sigh) my legal work and Caroline has done her classes on Grandpa's computer and is hard at work on her algebra. Have laptops, will travel.

Have a spooky Halloween!

Can you hear the machine humming?

Just a sneak peek at what I've been doing...

More Coffee, Please!

I feel as if I am slogging through mud. I wake in the morning and have the urge to just stay in bed all day. I am tempted to wander around the house in my cozy bathrobe and Ugg boots, with occasional collapses onto the couch to rest after the exertion of going downstairs.

In contrast to my external lack of energy, my brain can't stop the whirls of color and pattern flying by. I lay in bed at night and think about quilts I saw, what to do with that one piece of fabric I've had in my closet for the last year, how to finish the border on an almost-done top that is folded on the UFO pile.

And the reality is that once I'm upright each morning, I have to force myself to the computer, open up my work files, and turn down the volume on the right side of my brain so I can summon some lawyerly thinking to deal with the pile of work on my desk. I'm analyzing the legal definition of criminal negligence and trying to ignore the thoughts about how to quilt my pink quilt top as they fly past my inner eye.

So here I sit, yellow pads of paper scattered to the sides of my keyboard. I'm getting down to work. Just ignore the doodles of quilting designs all over them, okay?

Quilt Show Delirium

I am down in the SF Bay area, attending the Pacific International Quilt Festival. I am cruising the show with my friend Pat D., and we have had an exhilarating day viewing quilts that we will never make and fondling all of the fabric we long to bring home and shove into our all-too-crowded stashes.

By 4:00, we are giddy with Quilt Overload. Still, we persevere. We admire amazing technique and gorgeous designs, and always look to see the quilt's descriptive card so we know just who to admire and envy as we ogle her (usually her) quilt.

We are standing in front of a lovely, colorful quilt. I glance over at the placard and notice that the quilter's last name is "Dippinlips." I am pondering the fate of either surviving on an elementary school playground with that last name OR loving some fellow enough to take on that last name, and say to Pat, "Her last name is Dippinlips!"

Pat looks more closely at the card. "And her first name is 'Snickle!'" We look at each other as we say, in unison, "Snickle Dippinlips?"

We fall about laughing. Trying to catch her breath, Pat looks more closely at the card. "Wait," she says, "that's the name of the QUILT. Her name is Claire Fairless."

I'm sure Claire Fairless is a lovely person -- undoubtedly quite talented, too -- but somehow we liked her better when we thought she was Snickle Dippinlips. We stagger off down the aisle, giggling helplessly, and entertain ourselves for the next hour by saying things like "Meet my good friend Snickle!" and "How lovely you look, Mrs. Dippinlips!"

Quilt shows: not for the faint-hearted.

October Excitement

It's October in California! And that means (drum roll, please...) it's time for Pacific International Quilt Festival!

I'm off for the weekend to visit my parents (who live 20 minutes away from the quilt show site, lucky me), get inspired by amazing quilts, and see what new fabrics and gadgets I can't live without.

Back soon!

Perhaps a librarian could help

Today was re-entry after a blissful few days off on quilting retreat. After several days of uninterrupted creative time, lovely friends, lots of laughter, all punctuated by regular delicious meals which I did not have to cook, there's always a bit of a thud returning to the reality of home. (Not that home isn't lovely, but landing back amid piles of laundry and catalogs and Work To Be Done and miscellaneous Things to Be Put Away is always a bit of a shock. You know, "Who ARE these people and how to they manage to make such a mess?!")

So, naturally, I took myself out to run errands. I dropped by the fabric store (not having had enough fabric time despite 12 hours per day of it over the last several days), and picked up some groceries, and visited the library to pick up some of the books they'd found for me.

One of my favorite things about my local library system, by the way, is that I can look things up online in the library's county-wide catalog, "request" them with the click of a button, and they magically appear on the "hold" shelf sometime later. It's like Amazon.com but without the
less fun result when the credit card bill comes.

I'm in and out of the library frequently, and I have come to the conclusion that people who become librarians do so because they like books more than they like people. (Excuse me if you are among the rare breed known as Friendly Librarians -- I don't see them often in my bibliographic forest.) Gradually, my extreme charm and sparkling wit are winning these reserved folk over -- some days I get a timid smile and on a really good day I'll get a compliment about my just-for-library-books basket.

Today, as the librarian was sliding my books past the magic magnetic thingie, she looked up with a broad smile. "Oh, I never read books, but I read THAT one and it was really good."

You got that? "I never read books." I replied that I was very glad to hear the book was worth reading, and we resumed our exchange in silence while I pondered how it was she came to choose her career.

This reminded me of an incident some years back with my favorite front-desk librarian, a slim blond woman with perpetually wispy hair and bright pink lipstick smeared crookedly across her lips.

She sighed as she started in processing the stack of novels I'd placed on the counter. "You read so many books! I wish I could find a good novel to read."

What does one say to that, standing in the middle of a library? "Well, what sort of things do you like?" I asked.

"I don't know how to find books about the things I like," she replied with a shrug, and then went on to tell me that she preferred to read the astrology columns in newspapers. I suggested that she search the online catalog for books about astrology, and threw out the name of an author who writes mysteries featuring astrological topics. She looked astonished at my cleverness. "I never thought of that!"

Of course, this was the same woman who announced once as she took my library card, "we have the same name!"

"Oh, you're Diane too?" I replied (brilliant, yes?)

"No, my name is Cynthia." Said brightly, as if perfectly logical.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to reply. "We're both goddesses!" she exclaimed.

Note to self: don't try to engage the librarians in conversation. It will only cause more furrowed brow lines of confusion, of which I have plenty already.

Off to the Ranch

This evening marks the start of another of the biannual quilting retreats I attend out at Bishop's Ranch. I especially love the October retreat, when the crispness of fall is in the air and the vineyards are tinged with yellow as the leaves start to turn. It's a wonderful time to gather with friends and get busy with sewing.

So, today I'm packing up and sorting out what to take. It's not easy figuring out what I'll work on! I've found, from past retreats, that I don't do well working on anything that requires too much thought -- I'd rather be chatting, and the retreat setting just doesn't lend itself to heavy concentration. I've also done machine-quilting there in the past, although keeping one's head down and humming away at quilting speed isn't conducive to community chatting, either. So, for me the best tasks tend to be piecing, or working on something I've thought out before I arrive.

In the pile are 1) a bunch of wedges for a One-Block-Wonder quilt I cut out quite a while ago; 2) squares stacked and ready to be sewn into rows for a simple cozy throw quilt, using the snow ball pattern; 3) more blocks to piece from scraps for a springy quilt, probably for donation purposes; and 4) papers and fabrics for a Karen Stone paper-piecing project in shades of yellow and purple that I started at the last retreat.

That ought to keep me busy.

Of course, the camera will go into the bag for future pictures...

Let the Studio Tours Begin!

Quilting Arts is hosting a studio tour this weekend -- what fun to be able to sit at home and still see the creative spaces of a whole bunch of talented quilters and artists! Pull up a chair and start studio hopping!

Me, I have a funny little office/studio combo which means I have desk and work area in one corner and a sewing area in another ... with a closet stuffed full of fabric. Hardly tour-worthy. But I look at some of these studios and dream of having more space someday, still feeling grateful that I have a spot to leave my sewing machine up all the time which I'm convinced is the secret to getting anything done.

Happy touring!

Make a Good Impression

I finished a quilt! This feels like quite a triumph, given my scattered brain and ongoing upheaval of daily life lately. After I made a fingerprint piece for a recent 12x12 challenge (the theme was "Identity") I was inspired to go bigger with the same idea. I've called it "Make a Good Impression" and it's 33 x 39 inches.

As luck would have it, an assignment in my ongoing Practical Design workshop required me to design a quilt with a monochromatic color scheme and an asymmetrical design. So the fingerprint fit the bill nicely. I used reverse applique to create the fingerprint lines. I do enjoy the cutting away part and seeing the design reveal itself.

Here's the original 12x12 piece which spurred me into this larger one, btw:




On to the next UFO!

"Twelve" by Twelve by Twelve

Over on the Twelve by Twelve blog, we've just revealed our challenge pieces for the twelfth challenge -- on the theme "twelve." As always, the results are clever and fun and wonderfully surprising. Great variety, but much similarity, too.

Go see!

Quiet Time

You may have noticed that I've not had a lot to say here lately. I'm not entirely sure why. But my mood has been a quiet one lately, not just here but overall. I'm not feeling particularly social, and I'm not feeling particularly creative. I'm just sort of ... well, quiet.

Is it just me, going through phases like this? I don't think so. I wonder whether it's that my outward energy is directed at getting Caroline well-settled in her new school routine, and as a result getting MYSELF into a new routine. For a while I thought that maybe I was coming down with a cold, what with feeling so dulled and flattened.

Now I'm thinking it's just a transition, after a very busy and emotional time. So I am moving forward slowly. I'm working away on a simple piecing project to get an old UFO out of the closet. I'm reading a lot, and I've been letting myself sit in the sunshine in the living room for a bit in the morning after Roger leaves for work, reading and sipping my coffee. I'm making slow progress on a long-term work project, but I'm not knocking myself out with any brilliant spurts. I look at the garden and think about all that needs doing out there, but decide that I don't feel like working on that right now.

It's a quiet time.

Bye to Summer, Hello to Fall

I have been a Very Bad Blogger over the last months, and I apologize. Too much summer fun, and I'm feeling quite scattered as I try to get into some semblance of an organized mode for fall. I'm trying to get the downstairs back together after the Extreme Colorizing of the last two weeks (Pictures, soon, REALLY!)... sorting out the piles of stuff I'm accumulating to take off to the Salvation Army... Getting Caroline off to a solid start with the new distance ed school...

Which reminds me -- it's AMAZING what technology can do! I mean, I'm pretty computer savvy, but it totally awes me to see Caroline sitting at her school table (we've dedicated a corner in the upstairs hallway to her school table, computer and books) with headset on, watching her teacher and seeing the other students' faces appear on screen when they ask questions ... It really is a virtual classroom.

I guess I'm in some sort of decorating/nesting mode. I found a big big bargain on a set of that resin wicker outdoor furniture, and it is being delivered today. So I was out there early, cleaning off the patio and rearranging stuff in anticipation of a new outdoor room where we can sit and chat and sip wine before dinner and all. I have big dreams of being able to sit still for a bit and be leisurely! Good thing this is California, where we really will get use out of patio furniture even if it does arrive in September.

My sewing area is all tidy and ready for -- ta dah! -- sewing, any minute now. I've got ideas percolating for the upcoming 12x12 challenge on the theme "Twelve" ... I've got various things in progress to finish...

I tell you, getting to the FUN stuff is just around the corner...

The picture above, is in honor of a very fun summer. I took this from our hotel room window when we stayed for a few nights in Reno, Nevada. (Someone asked me if I took it from a diving board! Yikes -- not likely for ME, that's for sure.)

Need Inspiration?

What with the summer travel, painting the house, getting Caroline squared away for 8th grade, and general exhaustion (!), I've not been making any fiber art. I just think about the unfinished projects I have going -- which I really do want to finish one of these days! Really! -- but I haven't had any hunk of time to dive into a fabric project.

In the midst of the August Stuff, Jean Wells' new book "Intuitive Color and Design" arrived. I blocked off an hour and parked myself in a lounge chair in the back yard, and fell in love.

Wow. That was my immediate reaction to the book, and it's still my reaction every time I pick it up.

You all probably know Jean Wells from the big Sisters, Oregon quilt show, and from her appearances on Simply Quilts, and her books with her daughter Valori. But this new book shows a whole new side of Jean and her work. Jean says right up front that she was inspired by a workshop with Nancy Crow, and it's clear that Nancy Crow's work with linear design and solid colors have heavily influenced Jean's new direction. Still, the work shown in this book has that simple, direct, clarity that is instantly appealing.

What I especially like about this book is how Jean provides small lessons on seeing the world in a new way -- looking at lines and shapes, mainly -- and then on translating those new sights into cloth. She covers the artistic elements of design and composition, and then addresses sewing techniques for how to make designs in fabric. Jean pieces, so these aren't fused works -- but they're easily accessible to all levels of sewing ability.

Jean shows how she plays with designs in sketches, and then how the ultimate quilt resulted. (I love seeing the contrast between the original concept and the finished work.) She doesn't just stop at the quilt top, either. She discusses how to incorporate a quilting design that is compatible with the overall piece design, and she goes on to show various finishing techniques (including one that strikes me as rather odd an unappealing -- a square, pillow-esque construction she calls an "off the wall" quilt -- but that's just me... it's definitely different, and it may well appeal to some who want to finish their small pieces in a new and interesting way.)

This book is the first thing that has made me itch to get back to fabric -- not that I've been able to yet, but when I do, I'll probably have this book open and I'll be playing with an exercise or two!

Living with Color

I've been all about paint over the last week or so. Here's the family room, with walls in "Golden Glow." It's a rich, bright color, and changes how the room feels depending on the time of day. Sometimes it seems like a cheery yellow, at others a deeper tangerine. We are loving it!

I've moved on to the kitchen and eating nook, which are both at this back end of the house and connected. One wall is a nice, straight-forward red (Benjamin Moore's "redstone," for those you who need to know. And the rest is a very happy robin's egg blue (Ben M's "fairy tale blue). It is intense color but it sure makes me happy.

Pictures when the masking tape is off!

Now I'm eying the guest bathroom off of the dining room, and mentally selecting colors....

Life goes on...

It has been a week of ups and downs. We are still mourning Brad, and will be for ages and ages. I think we're all still in shock.

But good things are happening too. See that tower up there? It's Hoover Tower at Stanford University. And I'm posting it because Caroline has been admitted to Stanford's online school program for gifted kids! We're so proud of her, and so excited for her. Their online middle and high school program is innovative and I think it will be a great experience for her.

Me, I've been in home-dec mode! In that "one thing leads to another" deal, Roger and I bought a tv/shelf/wall unit to replace the ancient tv cabinet we'd hauled from New Hampshire, and it was being delivered last Tuesday. It occurred to me that I should paint the family room BEFORE the wall unit was assembled and put in place, so that I did. Our family room is now a sunny and cozy marigold color, which looks stunning against the white wall shelving unit.

But, of course, you change one room and then other things need changing. The family room is connected to the kitchen, and I have been testing paint swatches all week. I thought I had a plan (a slightly paler shade of marigold) but when I painted a swatch, it just looked flat and boring. So, I've made daily trips to both Home Depot and my local paint store, for more paint chips and samples. I'm now on a first name basis with our local paint guy, who says "See you tomorrow" each time I'm in. Finally, I bought paint today to surge forward...well, maybe "surge" is too strong a word..."Crawl" forward?

Along the way, I learned that the annoying pain I've had in my foot over the last several weeks is a FRACTURE. No wonder climbing up and down ladders made my foot hurt! I figure I'll have a beautifully and artfully paint-spattered immobilization boot by the time the kitchen is painted.

Welcome to Heaven

There are times where we are reminded how fragile life is, and how quickly everything can turn upside down. For us, this is one of those.

Over the weekend, we received news that a member of our family -- a man not yet 50 -- died suddenly and totally unexpectedly. He'd just dropped his oldest daughter off for her first year at college, and he and his wife were off with family for the weekend to relax and have fun. On the golf course, he was having a good old time -- and then he keeled over, dead.

We are so sad, and so shocked. I keep having that "but he was just HERE" feeling, totally unable to get my mind around how it could be that he left the house with a smile and a wave, and will never, ever come back.

I know this happens to people all the time.... death and loss strike all the time, seemingly so randomly. And yet, when it happens in your own circle, it is so harshly shocking. It feels unfathomable.

As trite as it is, it makes me want to say this: Tell everyone you love that you love them. Hug your dear ones. Let your friends know how much they mean to you.

I so appreciate you all -- most of you I've never met but your comments and your support cheer me and make me happy. Thanks for your friendship! Now, go hug your family! Oh, and when you're outside? Look up at the blue sky with a smile to welcome those newly-arrived folks in Heaven.

A Blog Give-Away!

Some time ago, I reviewed this very appealing book, Paper Quilts by Sandra Lounsbury Foose.

Well, I'm cleaning my office (got to make room for the NEW stuff, you know) and I have a copy of this book to give away!

First person to email me to say that want it will get it! (Do include your postal address!) And who know... I might just sneak a few other goodies into the package...

Okey dokey -- book is spoken for! Lucky Lisa will get it!

No School Allowed

Hey, school administrator people! Listen up! The month of August is still summer! And August is for sand-between-the-toes, and catching butterflies in the backyard, and riding bikes around the neighborhood at dusk, and eating ice cream cones.

It is not for starting school. What are you people, crazy?

Summer ends with Labor Day. And THEN school can start.

Sheesh.

[Roger starts back at school today, with classes starting on Monday...]

Zinnia Heaven

Last week, I visited at my mom and dad's house while Caroline attended a near-by day camp. In my folks' neighborhood, there's a guy who plants about an acre or so of land with a vast garden - tomatoes and vegetables and flowers. From about mid-summer on, he runs a small farm stand on the corner where you can get all sorts of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, squashes, eggplants, lettuce, and more...



But oh, it's the flowers that get me. He has rows and rows of zinnias and dahlias and flowers whose names I don't know -- but I can prowl around there with my camera and have a good old time.



So , here are a few zinnias for you...



They're just the happiest flowers.

Fun and surprises in San Francisco

Meet Beth and Moe, two of my best friends in the whole world. When I was a freshman in college at the University of California, Irvine, I had the amazing good luck to be plunked into a dorm room next door to these two. I rapidly learned that I had little in common with my roommates, but that Beth and Moe and I would be lifelong friends. Unfortunately, Moe lives down in Southern California and I don't get to see her nearly as often as I'd like.

But about 2 weeks ago, we finally got together in San Francisco, a trip we'd planned to celebrate a significant birthday for Moe. And what a time we had! We stayed at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, a San Francisco landmark (and got an amazingly great rate, thanks to Priceline.com)... had dinner at the Tonga Room in the Fairmont Hotel (which is like Disneyland's Tiki room but without the singing birds and flowers), then went to see "Wicked" which surpassed our very high expectations.

The following day, we rode cable cars and walked all over the place. You know, you really doln't want to walk up one of SF's hills if you can ride...



At one point, we were strolling along Fisherman's Wharf yakking away (as we do, non-stop), and suddenly a bush jumped out at us. Beth gasped, "geesus!" to which the bush replied, "I AM NOT JESUS!" When we'd caught our breaths (and stopped laughing) we realized that we'd had an encounter with the famous (infamous?) Bushman of San Francisco. He sits on a milk crate, tucked next to a mailbox or garbage can, and he holds a hand-made hedge-like bundle of branches. And then he scares passersby. Given that San Franciso has a pretty wide assortment of homeless folks and/or street performers asking for money (we'd been serenaded while waiting in line for the cable car earlier that day), I was impressed at the ingenuity of this guy. I mean, he was certainly entertaining, and it was certainly original. Turns out he has been doing this in SF's Wharf area since 1980! You can see him here:



If you've got a bit more time, you can watch this mini-documentary about him:



And check out this rather humorous article about him from the SF Chronicle which discusses his "act" as "performance art."

Our encounter with the Bushman not only amused us at the time, but kept us talking (enough to research him when we got home.) We learned that he claims to have made as much as $60,000 in a year from the donations he gets. Just goes to show that there are all sorts of career paths out there, eh?