Having fun

Still playing with dollies

2012-01-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well, that is not entirely true... I have been thinking about my next fiber piece and gathering materials. But in the meantime I am having fun (as the title of this blog specifies) with my fashion dolls. They really are riveting but I think the most fun is photographing them. I need some fill light and will get to it eventually. Right now I am doing the best I can with what I have. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Yep, I have been AWOL....

2011-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

I was hijacked.... by dolls! I suspect I needed a break from fiber but would not admit to it. The respite has been good for me and I hope in a bit I will get back to my fiber art but in the meantime I have been having a blast.
I discovered that there are Fashion dolls out there... not the usual Barbie dolls. These are 12" and 16" dolls with the most wonderful facial expressions and outfits to die for. I also found out there is a huge community of adult doll collectors out there as well... who knew! I am sorry I did not discover this years ago.
So, for your Christmas day enjoyment I am posting some pictures. Hope they bring a smile to your faces.

The first batch of pictures are of my 16" doll who I find mesmerizing: All these dolls are fully articulated.

Lucy decided to help me out here and I decided not to crop her out.

This next batch are of the 12" dolls. The first scene happened by accident.. It is titled "A Bordello Christmas". I got a bit carried away :-).

This next scene is waiting for their families to arrive... they had to clean up their act.. they look bored out of their minds.... no one opened the bubbly yet. One of my friends suggested an "after " picture but I haven't gotten there yet... maybe an after New Years Party picture!

Wishing you all a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, and anything else you celebrate this season. Hoping the new year brings health, joy, and wonderful experiences.

Sherryl, Lucy, Gigi, Freya, Larisa, Dania, Carmen, and Natalia.

And we are off again!

2011-11-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

This time to San Francisco for a family wedding. In the meantime, Fiona decided she wanted a large family so we have adopted Freya. Phoebe seems to be pleased as well. We are hoping to check out Britex tomorrow so we can pick out some fabrics...we are going to have to sew some outfits as the family seems to be growing.

All good things must come to an end

2011-11-05T15:18:00.001-07:00

Today is the last chance to pick up what I need and see the quilts I missed.

Please click on each photo for a larger picture..Blogsy does some funky stuff with them.

Annie Smith wanted her photo taken with Fiona and Phoebe by the SAQA desk where I did a lot of hanging out and working.

Here are some of the other quilts I liked very much:

This is Megan Farkas with her award winning quilt Sakura I: Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms.

Susie Johnson, Preserve Nature,Preserve Self

Ellen Anne Eddy, Butterfly Garden

Here is a photo of my photo in the special exhibit

Fiona and Phoebe agree it is time to go home. They had a great time and met lots of wonderful people. Hope you enjoyed the trip with them.

Thursday at international quilt festival

2011-11-04T07:24:00.001-07:00

Yikes, a cold front moved in overnight and it was cold and windy this morning. Good thing we didn't have to be outside long. We spent the first part of the morning looking at the gorgeous quilts. Here are both some winners and some I just liked.

TO SEE THE FULL PICTURE, CLICK ON IT.

This one is called Exposed by Jeanne Pfister

Tired by Teri McHale

Life in the city by Sheila Frampton-Cooper

Three Wee Figs by Daphne Greig

Maynard by David Taylor

Sharon Schamber with Phoebe in front of her prize winning quilt Crimson Promises. Sharon is sort of a neighbor of mine from Payson, AZ. She said it took her over 2000 hours to make this quilt.

Really "Wild" Flowers, Second Season by Sharon L Schlotzhauer

Refracted Lily by Gloria Hansen

Fiona, Phoebe, and me at the SAQA booth working.

At the end of the day there was a meet and greet at the SAQA booth and I got to meet some of the people I hear about and some of my friends from Facebook. It really was fun putting names to faces and making new friends. I think tomorrow Fiona and Phoebe will get to meet Jaime Fingal's girls.

Arrived in Houston

2011-11-03T06:07:00.001-07:00

.....after about an hour delay..could have been worse. We checked into our hotel and had some lunch....we were starving! We then took the shuttle over to the convention center and got our passes for the show. I had forgotten how overwhelming it all is. Half the space is devoted to the quilt exhibits, the other half to vendors. I was already tired so I split my time between the two. I find I can only absorb just so many quilts at one time before they start to swim before me. For some reason I saw the ones which could not be photographed..I will do better next time. They are all stunning. Most of the ones I saw were very heavily stitched. ...something I still hate to do. I ran into several people I knew and also stopped off at the 12 x 12 booth and the SAQA booth where I will be volunteering for 2 hours Thursday and Friday. I really was pooped by then and decided to go back to the hotel before closing time . I also figured I would beat the mad dash to the bus. Even though it was early, the bus was full. Norma Schlager and her sister Ruth were on the bus and we decided to have a drink at the bar before going up to our rooms. I also ran into Marianne Williamson and she joined us. Fiona and Phoebe made their debut in the bar and garnered a bit of attention.

I promise to take pictures my next visit.

Houston, here we come!

2011-11-02T08:04:00.001-07:00

We had to get up at the crack of dawn but it will be worth it...we are on our way to Houston for the international quilt festival. Fiona and Phoebe are looking forward to making new friends too. At the moment the flight is on time.
I will blog as I can.

Sedona, AZ

2011-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another gorgeous day although the weather has turned a bit cooler after a storm blew through Wednesday night. It was a perfect day for a drive up to Sedona. Fiona did go along with us on the trip. I am just going to post photos... they say it all. The sky was really this blue. I have not touched up these photos... not a cloud in the sky.

Kissed by a frog?

A day at the Botanical Gardens

2011-10-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

I had a very lovely call this past weekend from dear friends who decided that would spend some time in Arizona this week. The weather has been glorious so we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens. Phoenix has one of the largest cacti and succulent collections anywhere and it is exhibited in beautiful settings. We also visited the Butterfly house. This is the season the Monarch butterflies make their annual Migration down to Mexico. We saw a bunch while we were in Mobile, Alabama last week as well. The ones we are seeing here in the Phoenix area are actually migrating down from Oregon. It takes one generation to migrate south but 4 generations to migrate back up north.

Blogger isn't playing nicely. Try the link to see the pictures, sorry.

https://picasaweb.google.com/skbk2004/BotanicalGardensOctober2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL-xwO6plqSb2gE&feat=directlink

Tuesday in Mobile, Al

2011-10-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

This mornings activity was play time. We were given large sheets of tar paper and paints and "hazmat" suits! We were to do some sea creature. I am not a painter but had some fun none the less. Fiona was trying to give me directions while I worked on my fish. After we were all through the piece was sealed with shellac for us. I wish I had used some lighter colors in the background. The finished piece (which I have not photographed) came out rather dark. There were extra suits so I brought some home to use in my dye studio.

Melinda Sapp and me

We all had fun. I am thinking of perhaps trying this technique out on heavier tar paper and sealing both front and back and using it for a runner or small mat on the floor. I think a nice geometric pattern would not be beyond my talents.

Across from the arts center was this wild and wacky house built by one of the local artists, Dean Mosher and his father in law, Craig Sheldon. It reminds me of a house that should be occupied by hobbits or some fantastical mythical creatures. The outside is really a hoot. Embedded in the outside cement is all manner of weird stuff... wine bottles, broken pottery, and anything that most of us would have thought to throw out. The inside is not quite so fantastical as the outside but has some wonderful woodwork and metal work. While it is fun to look at, it would not be a place I would be comfortable living. It has too much going on.

Lunch was at a local private marina that was decimated in hurricane Katrina and completely rebuilt. After lunch we were let loose shopping. I found some wonderful artsy clothes at a local boutique including this colorful vest... It was very windy that evening... and no, I was not wearing a cat suit.

Dinner was a typical southern style barbeque with all sorts of fried seafood... deadly for my diet. ( I somehow managed not to gain any weight on this trip). The following morning was free before we headed home and I hit the gym and treadmill.

Fiona is playing catch up!

2011-10-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is going to be the first of a series of catch up blogs today. Monday...
The Mardi Gras Museum was really mouth dropping. Some of the costumes were beyond the imagination. It takes almost a year to create the outfits for the King and Queen and the costs can be well over $100,000.00 for each. Each person who participates is a volunteer and pays their own way. The trains are about 18 feet long and can weigh upwards of 150 lbs! Can you imagine schlepping one of those on your back? Mardi Gras originated in Mobile, Alabama before New Orleans. The industry created by the festivities is the main financial support for the area. It brings in about 3 billion dollars a year. Our next stop was at the headquarters of the Order of Myths... one of the top secret societies that participates in Mardi Gras. This is a male only bastion but we were allowed inside. Most people don't even know where the building is it is so secret.

Our next stop was lunch at a place called Seven Gables. It is a large Greek Revival Seaside Cottage overlooking the Mobile Bay. Cottage is a rather large misnomer in this case. This is the lovely veranda as you enter the house. The house is decorated with traditional antiques and is owned by a rather eccentric older couple who while not the original owners, might as well have been. We were greeted by the lady of the house who we noticed had green hands. The story is that one of the members of the staff got over zealous with some weed killer and killed off much of the grass by the entry to the house upon which we were to tread. The mistress then used some green Rit dye to touch up the color on the grass!

This is the rear of the "cottage". It sits on a rather high bluff overlooking the bay and is quite the piece of property.
Lunch was a boxed affair I could have easily lived without but Fiona did seem to enjoy her traditional sweet tea out on the back porch. The weather was lovely.

Our next stop was a Greek Orthodox family church which was built in the late 1960's. It has some lovely stained glass windows.

That pretty much took care of the days activities. Evening was a fancy dinner but Fiona was tuckered out so she didn't go. I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures of the lovely Southern Belles in traditional dress with the huge hoop skirts and bonnets and umbrella's.

We are at the Mardi Gras museum

2011-10-17T09:29:00.001-07:00

Sunset over the bay

2011-10-17T05:40:00.001-07:00

Fiona can get used to resort life

2011-10-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

She got up early and took a stroll on the beach then indulged me as I hit the treadmill. We went for a walk after and saw a gorgeous blue heron. ... And then watched as another one caught its dinner.
There were lots of butterflies enjoying I the flowers. Lunch was a casual affair outside but Fiona was jealous of my raspberry chocolitini. Ned was hard at work.

Fiona is off again

2011-10-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

Well Fiona didn't get much rest this week before starting to rack up those frequent flyer miles again. This time she is off to Mobile, AL with a change of planes in Houston. Poor thing didn't even have a chance to pick up a new outfit!

Waiting at Newark airport

2011-10-10T12:55:00.001-07:00

Fiona and I are enjoying a surprisingly good hamburger while waiting for the flight back to Phoenix. She is eating the fries..with her figure she can afford them. At the moment it looks like the flight will be on time.

Getting my last Will fix before heading home...

2011-10-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

I hate leaving. Will is such a good baby.

I am stealing an idea from Jamie Fingal....I liked her idea of using Barbie when she traveled. Meet Fiona. Will doesn't quite know what to make of her. She is saying goodbye to will as well.

I had a great time and am sad I have to leave my daughter and grandson. Love you all!

Another fun day

2011-10-09T16:08:00.001-07:00

My trip east has been a lot of fun. Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with Norma Schlager and we went to The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) on Columbus Circle. The weather was gorgeous and everyone and their uncle was out in force.....the bikers, the skateboarders, the runners, and of course the ubiquitous horse and buggies. The museum was in the middle of some new installations simony part of it was open. We saw a wonderful jewelry exhibit and one called Flora and Fauna which included some lovely art quilts including one by Jane Sassaman. What fun to have someone we recognized. The only other thing open was an artists studio and all I can say is what fun we had. The artist is Patrice Yourdon and she has a thing for screws.

We spent a lovely time talking to her. Unfortunately she doesn't have a website.
We then had lunch up in the restaurant and had a good chuckle this morning. Somehow Norma and I got back each others credit cards. They were both black and since we had the same thing for lunch the amounts were the same. Priority mail, here we come!
We had some time to kill before we headed for our respective trains so we walked across the street to the Time Warner building which houses a bunch of upscale shops. This is one of the very large sculptures that sits in the lobby....
Reminds me of a Botero...there is a female to match but she doesn't garner as much attention!

Will about to eat his first rice cereal

2011-10-09T15:34:00.001-07:00

He is sooooo cute.

What a greeting!

2011-10-07T07:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I am loving being a grandma...I am sure it helps that Will is a cheerful and happy baby. This is the big grin I got this morning...makes my day.

Tidbits from today

2011-10-06T20:08:00.001-07:00

Will is the cutest...he doesn't stop moving for a second and He is all smiles.

Today I met up with Rayna Gillman and we went into Manhattan. Our initial plan was to go to the memorial park at Ground Zero. It turns out you need tickets and you have to reserve them weeks in advance. We went anyway hoping we could get some last minute. Luck wasn't with us.

We took the PATH from Newark to the World Trade center. This lovely mural greeted us as we exited.

We managed to see a corner of one of the waterfalls from the pedestrian bridge. Thankfully I now have some new memories to replace the scenes of horror.

The weather was glorious so we decided to just walk around. Here are some shots of the Occupy Wall Street. Every news station was there.

And a few blocks away....

I love all the old art deco buildings. They have such charm. Here is a small bronze plaque above a doorway.

A bit further up Broadway is City Hall Park. We got excited as there was a structural art exhibit installation. This was the first sight that treated us.

Our excitement was short lived. The rest of it looked very similar to a bunch of white stackable boxes you would get at IKEA.

The afternoon passed rather quickly and it was time to go home. I invited Rayna back for dinner and to meet my daughter and grandson. It was a good day.

break time?

2011-09-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Looks like Lucy has decided it was time for me to take a break.

My memories of the World Trade Center.

2011-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

The tragedy of September 11, 2001 can never be minimized or forgotten. I did not personally know any of the thousands who lost their lives but I still feel the loss.

I have a different memory of the World Trade Center. The complex was built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. My mother was a purchasing agent for the PA and was the supervising buyer. It was her responsibility to buy every nut, bolt, lighting fixture, piece of furniture, etc. that went into those buildings. She awarded the contracts for those who did the construction. I watched those structures as they were erected with awe and fascination. I remember when the PA moved into the towers. The elevators were a unique experience. The view from my mothers office was breathtaking. I would visit often. I remember the opening of the Windows on the World restaurant... my mother had enough clout to secure a reservation the first week... after all, she bought everything in the place. We sat next to Walter Cronkite that evening and were graced with the spectacular view of twinkling lights and stars. It was a magical night.
My mother retired in the mid 80's and other than using the PATH, I no longer spent much time there. There were a few visits back to the restaurant.. it went through several incarnations, and sometimes just a visit to the bar to wait for friends or have lunch. My mother passed away in 1995 and in 1997 I moved to Arizona.

A little after 6:00 a.m. (local time) on September 11, 2001 my phone rang. No one calls me that early so I knew something bad happened. My ex called me and told me I had better turn on my TV. ... a plane flew into one of the towers. Not long after that my daughter called me as well. She worked in lower midtown and her office faced the south tower. She could not see the north tower but could see smoke. While I was on the phone with her, all of a sudden I heard her gasp and scream. She said she could see another plane and it flew into tower two. She was 22 years old and like most of us, naive to such hatred and violence. She walked more than 50 blocks to get back to her apartment.

I felt like I had lost a best friend.... memories. I was glad my mother was not around to see this. It would have killed her. These were her children.
For many years we lived in a condo on the Jersey side of the Hudson river. The view from our windows was a sweep from the Verazano bridge to the GW bridge. I saw the lights of the towers every night.
I remember my next trip back to NY and driving across the George Washington bridge from New Jersey into NY. I always loved seeing the towers in the distance. This time, there was nothing but a huge gap where they should have stood. I started crying. I had to pull off the road when I got off the bridge... I could not contain my tears. For years I averted my eyes when I made the crossing. My daughter and friends have moved and I no longer take that route into NY.

To memories.... of people and places.

Winner of "Masters Art Quilts, vol 2"

2011-09-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please....... I want to thank everyone who left a comment on my blog for this giveaway. Thank you for looking around and I hope some of you saw things you liked and will come back for another visit. There were 51 comments left on the correct blog entry and at least 8 others left on incorrect blogs. I used a random number generator and the lucky winner is...Dianne Koppisch Hricko. Please contact me via the "contact Me" button on the right side of the blog and send me your snail mail address so Lark can send the book out to you. Congratulations.

I am calling this one Drunk Driving

2011-09-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

.... I think. The top is now completely pieced together. I have to do some trimming and I think I will add black around all the edges... or not...then it will be ready for quilting... the part I hate. I think I am going to quilt this in sections so maybe it won't be so stressful. I don't think I am going to do another one like this. Since none of it was really planned, I don't think I have the value variations required to not make it boring. I will see what happens when I quilt it. Sometimes these pieces grow on me. If nothing else, it has gotten me out of my slump.

Not so random piece

2011-09-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

The more I worked on this piece the more I realized that I am not a random type of gal. It finally even occurred to me that the fabrics I had chosen weren't so random either. I wound up with 10 large squares that I chopped up a bit. I have spent the last 2 days putting them up on my design wall... the result so far is not random either. It still needs some more chopping. I am hoping to have it all sewn together in the next day or two. Now just have to figure out how to quilt the damn thing.
While this is not a brilliant piece, at least I am back to doing something. ..... which actually encourages the creative process. Sometimes even the mundane is a good thing.

Givaway!

2011-09-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

OK folks, today is the start of the giveaway for the mouthwatering copy of "Masters Art Quilts, vol 2".
There is a twist to this one though. ... You need to leave a comment ON THIS POST about a different post on my blog. Since you are here anyway, you might as well look around :-). I will draw a random name on Saturday.
Good luck! And don't forget to make sure there is some way for me to contact you if you are the lucky winner. If there is NO email address associated with your name I cannot find you.

Teaser

2011-09-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Leslie Gabrielse

Tomorrow I am giving away a copy of "Masters Art Quilts vol 2". I am posting pictures of some of the quilts in this wonderful book. Enjoy.

Elizabeth Busch

Jan Meyers-Newbury

I have too many favorites but these 3 are indicative of the scope of the works in this book.

Come back tomorrow (Tuesday) and leave a comment .... but there is a twist to this one. Tomorrow I shall tell you what the twist is.

On some other notes... my diet is going fine... I had some added help (not wanted) in the form of a very bad UR infection that kept me in bed for days. I only sound like I am dieing now... with the help of some antibiotics, I think I avoided the dreaded bronchitis. I am going to try to get back to the project I started several weeks ago... if I have enough energy. This sucks.

Till tomorrow!

Grandma has turned mushy

2011-08-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Is he adorable or what?

Lost more weight

2011-08-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Woot! Lost another 2 pounds... and I managed to do it while away. We were at a bridge tournament last week and keeping to my diet was a challenge. I hit the gym 3 mornings and did the best I could with eating. Now that I am more aware of what I can and cannot eat, it is easier. The hard part was finding places to eat that were not all fast food. I have now lost more than 7.5 lbs and am halfway to my goal. Yeah!

Anniversary

2011-08-18T08:52:00.001-07:00

I almost missed it. I just passed my 14th anniversary. Life is good.

Dinner 8/14

2011-08-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

I was very good today! I walked a bit over 3 miles and walked off 350 calories (that should have taken care of last night's dessert!).
Tonight's dinner was steak on the grill, one half of a luscious heirloom tomato (the best I have had this season), and some steamed asparagus. Total carbs.... 5. Total for the day is 11. I will have some blueberries for a snack later.

A splurge

2011-08-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Just so no one thinks I am perfect.... we went out to dinner last night with a friend and I shared a piece of flourless chocolate cake 3 ways for dessert... plus about 6 oz of wine. I was really good on the carbs all day and even with the rich dessert, I think I was still within my limits... or 1 or 2 over. Gotta have some treats some of the time! This was my first splurge in 2 weeks. I figured I earned it. I was worth it.

What was for dinner tonight?

2011-08-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight's dinner.... Ned made sea scallops with a caper sauce and I sauteed up some bok choy... add an heirloom tomato and a glass of Chardonnay and the total carbs come to 17. Weird thing this morning... something is off with our scale. I weighed 1.2 lbs more than I did yesterday.. when I got on it again this afternoon, fully clothed and having eaten 2 meals and lots of water I weighed the same as this morning. Ned weighed 1.5 lbs more this morning than he did yesterday. Maybe the battery is going. I am well under the carb and calorie counts for the past few days so something is really screwy.... but my pants are looser!

Ok, so I couldn't resist.

2011-08-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

He is so adorable! Love the red hair he got from me ( the young me).

Random? Maybe not.

2011-08-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

I have a few ideas for my next project percolating in my head but I not quite ready to start them yet. In the meantime so I wasn't quite fiddling my thumbs, I decided to just sew. I cut a fair number of strips from my leftover piles and thought I would just sew them together randomly. Nope, not happening that way. I noticed that after the first few strips I was not grabbing random pieces. I was actually looking at how the next strip fit with what was there. This did not start out as a conscious effort but rather developed the more strips I had sewn.

Has anyone else found themselves doing this or do you actually just close your eyes, reach for a piece and sew it next?

Tonight's dinner

2011-08-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

It is hot out.... Ned and I were both lazy and didn't want to cook. We settled on hamburger from Whole Foods. Add a slice of heirloom tomato, slice of onion, slice of pickle, a bit of ketchup and some broccoli to about 3 oz of Zinfandel and we had a tasty and easy dinner. Total carbs.... 15. I am way below my total for the day. I have also lost 4+ lbs. This is working!

Update on my diet

2011-08-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pics... meals are good but boring. I am getting the hang of this low carb thing and it is not so bad. There really are a lot of good foods that I love that I can eat. The strangest thing is that my craving for sweets has gone away and I am not willing to kill for pasta. The diet is also working. I am down almost 4 lbs which is slow but fine. I eat at least one salad a day but filled with goodies so it is not bland. I am also finding that I am eating fewer calories per day. I suspect that my weight loss will pick up a bit. I have only been getting on the treadmill every other day, but I will add some extra days this week. Since I don't feel like I am starving myself, I have stopped whining. I don't have to suck my gut in to get my pants closed, but I do want to go down at least one size since I went up 2! I may even aim for down 2. What I really want to do is find a way of eating that keeps my weight off but allows me to splurge every once in a while.

Great customer service!

2011-08-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

I have something nice to share about a company with superb customer service. In April I bought one of those hippy dippy coffee brewers by Keurig. I don't use it very often but decided today I wanted an iced drink. Worked fine this morning. I went to do it again and got an error message. Went through the troubleshooting directions to the letter and it still did not work. Since today was Sunday I figured I would either have to leave a message or get a recording to call back during regular business hours. Much to my surprise a live body (who spoke American) answered!!! He ran me through the troubleshooting instructions again and decided the machine had died. They are sending me a NEW one with a new full year warranty. How good is that???

I am surviving the low carb diet

2011-08-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

What was for dinner tonight? Tilapia, green beans, Bufala Mozzarella with tomato, and since I was good with carbs today, a glass of Chardonnay. Total carbs 12, calories 566, and 86 gms of protein. I am well under my limits for the day. Never got to those rasperries... maybe snack before bed.

Low carb diet

2011-08-05T14:51:00.001-07:00

OK, I finally bit the bullet and hit the low carb diet route. I hate it... I am a carb junkie, but it does work. I started it about a week ago and have lost 3+ lbs already. I also get on the treadmill 3X a week. This was my lunch today.... kept it to 10 carbs. I made chicken salad from the left over roast chicken from Costco.

Masters Art Quilts Vol 2

2011-08-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

I am lucky to be on the Lark review list for their Art Quilt books. Each one I get seems to get better and better. This one was no different. Martha Sielman has again put out a fantastic book to follow volume 1. There are 40 artists showcased in this second volume and each one makes you want to see their quilts in person. The group has an international flair and the artists hail from all over the globe. Their personal stories are fascinating and I wish there were more of them.
I am continually astounded at the creativity out there. Many of the artists in this book I had not heard of before so this was really an education for me. The variety of techniques used in these art quilts only makes me want to reach higher and higher. There were many aha moments as I looked at each picture and read the artists statements. Every time I look at the pictures I see more and more. It really cannot be fully enjoyed in one sitting but something savored a bit at a time. This is more than a lovely coffee table book. This is a book I can learn from.
I know quite a few of the included artists and of course I have my favorites, but now I have some favorites of ones I never heard of before. I waited a few days to post this as I had asked for photos of some of the pieces. Since I have not heard back yet, I decided to post my review anyway and I can add photos later. Some of my favorite artists include Jan Meyers-Newbury, Leslie Gabrielse, Elizabeth Busch, and Paula Nadelstern just to name a few.

The book is published by Lark Crafts which is a division of Sterling Publishing Co. You can buy it through Amazon.

My new date?

2011-08-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Ned thought Will needed this guy!

Finished another piece

2011-07-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Woohoo... got a piece off the to finish pile! Time Warp is done. This piece just did not call out for a facing to finish the sides, but thanks to a piece I saw by Jane Davila, who had pinked 2 of her sides, I decided to pink all 4 sides. It works for this. Thanks Jane.

This piece is a great departure from my usual work but it was fun. It has about 8 layers of fabric paint and is quilted.

Happy baby...

2011-07-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

...happy grandma! I just spent a week + in New Jersey battling the heat wave there (it is more comfortable in Arizona at 108 than NJ) and cuddling this cutie. I have fallen hard for this grandma thing! Have to find a way to spend more time with Robin and Will.

Will's first smile

2011-07-16T10:40:00.001-07:00

Google Plus or Facebook?

2011-07-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

I, for one, am not ready to make that choice yet. Most of my friends are still on FB, and Yes, I like some of the features of FB. Perhaps since I do not friend the world and they me, my list is manageable. Plus most of my friends don't post much so I don't have to wade through a lot of garbage. I have had no qualms about defriending people who only wanted to sell me something or just boost their numbers. Right now, I am not sure I like Google Plus. It has lots of things going for it, but I am not sure it will be a total replacement of how I interact with family and friends. Many of my friends and family are not tech savvy and don't want the learning curve of having to learn something new. Am I suppose to ditch them because they prefer to stick with what they know and I want a new toy to play with? I don't think so. Social Media is fine... up to a point. Most of the big guns have moved over but frankly, that doesn't really excite me. It is not likely they spend any time reading what I post or have the same interests that I do. Let them have their fun, but I have never been a lemming. Jury is still out for me. For now, I will have one foot in each camp.

Funky

2011-07-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

I decided today that along with a haircut I needed a bit of funky in my life. I am not into tattoo's... I can't imagine what they would look like with wrinkles, and I not into piercings. I decided a bit of color in my hair was about my speed..... as long as the color was lavender. I kind of like it. Not sure how long it will last as my hair does not hold color. Here is the result.

Quilt National 2011 book

2011-07-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have the good fortune to be on Lark Books list to review certain Art Quilt books and it was a pleasant surprise to find a copy of "Quilt National 2011" sitting in front of my door when I returned from my trip. Until now I have not had the time to really read through the book and I am glad I waited.

Quilt National is an international juried quilt exhibition held every 2 years at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio. 85 quilts are ultimately chosen from hundreds of entries by 3 jurors. I would not want to be in their shoes. "The Quilt National 2011" book is a photographic feast of those quilts that were chosen to be in the show this year. Two years ago I was able to visit the Dairy Barn for the 2009 show. It was very impressive. I am sure this years show is no less so.

Each piece is professionally photographed and a description of the materials used and a short statement about the piece is included. The pieces chosen encompass the world of contemporary surface design and traditional quilting techniques. Almost half the pieces chosen were by newer artists that had not been in any previous Quilt National shows. It is nice to see that so many innovative quilts were chosen that did not depend on heavy traditional quilting techniques.

Some of the artists are Kate Themel, Elin Noble, Jean M. Evans, Marianne R. Williamson, Judy Kirpich (cover artist), Gay E. Lasher, Patty Hawkins, Jan Myers-Newbury, and Mary E. Stoudt. These are just a handful of the great artists in this book and I just picked the names at random.

This book is a must have for your library. You will enjoy the variety of styles chosen for this years biennial event and perhaps inspire you.

Perhaps there is hope for me yet!

This one is a wrap or....

2011-07-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

... when less is more. Time Warp is done... except for the edges... Maybe I should call this Time Line Warp instead? After letting this sit for a day, I decided that Gerrie was right.. it needed more red and blue. This is so not me, but it is growing on me. Here are the pluses and minuses. It was fun to do, but I think I would like it better using dye than paint. The hand of the fabric is "rubbery" and it was hard to hand stitch through. I gave up on that pretty fast. It was fast and right now I needed something not too intricate. I prefer playing with fabric. I never envisioned myself as a painter and this is much closer to canvas art than fabric art. Who knows, maybe there is room for both.

Thoughts?

Not getting much done

2011-07-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

Lucy

...this might be why!

Time warp

2011-07-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

Seems like my muse has been on vacation along with me.... but longer. She decided to make a short appearance so I grabbed on. While waiting for my grandson to be born, I had the opportunity to visit with Rayna Gillman and take her one day workshop on screenprinting using paper as a resist with paints. I decided that one of the pieces had some potential even though it is not my usual style. I stenciled more paint on it and will add some hand stitching before I figure out how to finish it. At least it is something to work on for a change! Gotta start somewhere.

If you click on the thumbnail, it will come up in full size and you will get a better idea of the piece.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

2011-07-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I woke up sick. Low grade fever, sneezing, and scratchy throat.... bummer. We were suppose to drive to Florence today and stop along the way at some of my favorite small towns. I didn't have the energy and I know Ned was disappointed. He had never been to Sienna and San Gimignano, but I just couldn't do it. I was hoping that if I took it easy I would be OK tomorrow for Florence. I was feeling so lousy that we never made it to our favorite restaurant, La Barca. We ate in the hotel and I went to sleep early.

Plan worked and I was feeling much more human on Sunday. Some ibuprofen and some throat lozenges and I was ready to go. Florence is my favorite city. I love the art and the architecture.

It is said that Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance. It was called home to the Medici's, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Galileo just to name a few. We were going to only be here one day and the weather was gorgeous. We decided to just walk. We had to park the car pretty far out of the old city but we headed toward Ponte Vecchio, along the Arno river.

We passed by the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace Museum, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, and lots of lovely typical Tuscan buildings. We ogled the jewelry in the shops along the Ponte Vecchio. We had a lovely lunch in one of the piazzas and were serenaded by a (really good) female opera singer. We were going to stop in and see Michelangelo's statue of David, but the lines were too long. If I had been feeling better the day before I would have ordered tickets online but I wasn't sure I would make it. If you haven't seen it in person, you really don't get the full impact. It is usually one of the things I always do when I come to Florence. I found one of the street markets and bargained mightily for a leather pocketbook. Probably the only bargain in this area are the leather goods. The jackets are to drool over in both color and style as are shoes. Probably just as well I wasn't feeling great and not in a real shopping mood! It was time to drive to Venice for my return flight early Monday morning.

Monday... the downside to using points for flights is that you get the crappy routes. My trip home had me going Venice, Munich, Toronto, Chicago to Phoenix. Luggage got tagged through to Phoenix but I had to go through customs and immigration in Toronto and pick up the boarding passes for Toronto and Chicago flights. I thought I had plenty of time. It took 40+ minutes for luggage to arrive, another 30 minutes for the agent to arrive to hand out boarding passes, and immigration was a zoo thanks to some crazy lady directing traffic.. that took another hour having to schlep luggage through the maze. By the time I got through customs and dropped my luggage off, my flight was already boarding. I was going to have to sprint to the gate to make the flight. Thankfully, the gate was pretty close and I made it with about 5 minutes to spare. Turns out everyone else was having the same problems so the flight was delayed. We finally pulled away from the gate only to hear an announcement that there would be another delay because they were experiencing a mechanical problem. Some sensor in the landing gear was acting funny and they were going to try to fix it. If they could it would only be a 20 minute delay. If they had to replace it, it would be longer. I had almost a 4 hour layover in Chicago so I wasn't all that worried. Two hours later and it still was not fixed. We were still on the plane. Crew explained that if we got off the plane we would have to go through Canadian immigration and U.S. again before we could get back on. They were starting to take some passengers off and reroute them if they had connecting flights. I still figured that if they fixed it, I could make my connection. Another hour and they cancelled the flight. They were going to rebook us all for the next day and provide us with a hotel and a meal voucher. Not the end of the world. Here is where everything went to hell. We were going to have to go through Canadian immigration, collect our luggage and find our way up to the rebooking desk. One would think there would have been some airline representative shepherding us along the way. Toronto airport is very large and very confusing. Not one person representing the airline was anywhere around. We got separated in the crowds going through customs and immigration (there were 130 of us), baggage was delivered haphazardly and people weren't sure where to go after that. Turns out we had to go somewhere on the 3rd floor... again schlepping all our luggage. We finally all straggled to where we were suppose to be only to find out that the computer systems for the airport were down. It was well past 9:00 p.m. by now. I hadn't eaten since the morning ( Venice time) and was starved save for the junk food I picked up. It took about an hour before the system started to work again. There were 3 agents trying to juggle 130 passengers. We were given vouchers for hotels (several different ones) and a dinner voucher. 17 of us were going to one hotel... it turns out there was a west hotel and an east hotel and the voucher did not say which one. When the van arrived the driver refused to take us because he didn't know which one. I called the hotel and was told there were no reservations for us! One of the other passengers ran back upstairs to ask the agent which hotel. By the time she got back the van driver had left..... turns out it was THAT hotel. The driver did not return for over an hour... he didn't want to deal with us apparently... and he couldn't fit all of us in on one trip. By the time the first group of us got to the hotel it was well past 11:00 p.m. Their restaurant closes at 11:00. We were pissed off and starving. We did notice a Burger King a few blocks away so a few of us walked over and had to use the drive up window at that hour. I will say they were very nice to us. The beds were supper comfortable but I had to take a 5:00 shuttle back to the airport. I wasn't going to get much sleep but I was able to snag a direct flight to Phoenix. We were told that it could take up to 3 hours to get through immigration in the morning so we should be there early. I was switched to another airline and also had to get boarding passes. I originally had 2 bags checked but the new airline insisted on charging me for the 2nd bag. I was too tired to fight with them (but I am going back to original airline... I did ask them the night before and was told there would be no fees). Getting through immigration was a breeze although the agent did ask what I purchased in Canada... I cheekily told him just a bottle of water and a hamburger. I had already told him that my flight the night before was cancelled. I was able to use the dinner voucher for breakfast. Flight home was uneventful.

I got home a day later than planned but was happy to get home and see Lucy and sleep in my own bed for a change. While I had a wonderful trip, I need to decompress for a while.

Hope you all enjoyed the trip along with me. You can see all the photos HERE.

Friday Cinque Terre

2011-07-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

Wanting to get out of Genoa today, we decided to take the train to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is comprised of 5 local villages that cling to a remote stretch of the Italian Riviera and are part of the national park system and a UNESCO world heritage site. The only way to see them is by walking. They are charming villages and we made a plan to walk from Vernazza to Corniglia. Hike would be more accurate. Varnazza sits at sea level and is a charming little old world fishing village.

Vernazza

Corniglia sits high on a hilltop and is known for its wines and olives. There are 2 trails available, one is far easier than the other.... we didn't do our homework. In fact we didn't even know there were 2 trails until we were well into our hike. Need I tell you which one we took? Most of the trail is comprised of steep stairs carved out of the soil and lined with stepping stones, except when there are avalanches, which then cause havoc with this steep and very windy trail. In most places it is one person wide and set with lots of switchbacks... after all we are climbing into a mountain. Passing is fun. As you get higher into the hills the view is spectacular... so is the drop off.

Corniglia in the distance

They told us it would take 90 minutes.... I assume they really meant if you were in tip top shape. Two and half hours later we limped into Corniglia. We had to stop and rest along the way and at one point I was not sure I was going to make it. But make it we did.

We made it to Corniglia!

We found a lovely outdoor restaurant with a wonderful breeze (it was hot as hell) and had lunch. It was 400 steps down to the train. The other two women decided to take the train to the next village but I decided to go back to Genoa. I was exhausted and I told Ned I would be back at a certain time. With no way to get in touch with him, I was already going to be much later than I told him.. I didn't want to add another hour to that and really have him worry. I needed that 2 1/2 hour train trip to recover. I set an alarm so if I fell asleep I wouldn't miss my stop. They do not call out the stops. I can tell you that if I had known how difficult this hike would be, I never would have done it. While I am in decent shape, I am not that fit and while we were in the UK I did not get to do the kind of walking I wanted due to the rain.

By the time I got back to hotel, Ned was wondering where I was. Finding a restaurant for dinner was going to be an adventure. Because of the holiday, almost everything was closed. And while I usually wouldn't mind walking a bit to find something, my legs were screaming. We walked farther than I wanted but we were well rewarded. We stumbled into a wonderful restaurant. The owner is the chef and the waiter knew his stuff. It was empty. There was one other couple and by the time we left only 2 other couples turned up. Apparently this is one of the Pope's favorite restaurants when he comes to Genoa. We were presented with photo albums from the last several years. I suspect that had it been any other time we would have needed a reservation made well in advance. We let them recommend both the food and the wine. We were not disappointed. I needed the walk back to the hotel!

Thursday Genoa

2011-07-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ducal bedroom

Today was going to be a fairly low key day. Four of us were going to get together and take a closer look at some of the places we didn't have time to do yesterday. Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco, now museums, were formally palatial residences of some of the richest Genoans. We chose to spend time in Palazzo Rosso first and see how the time went. We drooled. They lived like princes. I will let the photos tell the story.

The security guys must have liked us four old bats because they unlocked the top level and took us up out on the roof to get a panoramic view of the city. What a treat. You can really see how the city spread up into the hills.

View of Genoa from the roof of Palazzo Rosso

Paganini's violin

After spending a few hours here we went across the street to Palazzo Tursi, city hall of Genoa. Our goal here was to see the violin of Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840). It was made by one of the best violin makers, Guarneri, and after Paganini's death it was left as a gift to the city. Paganini is not buried in Genoa. It is a rather sad story. Apparently, after giving a Ducal concert, Paganini was asked to perform an encore... of the same piece he had just done. He refused, stating that he did not reprise his same work but the Doge did not want to hear a different one. He was banned from the city and he never returned. He left the violin as a reminder that his home city snubbed him.

Next we explored some of the alleys whose shops had beckoned the day before. We indulged ourselves mostly by window shopping but collectively we picked up a few trinkets here and there. We were ready for lunch which we ate outside in one of the Piazzas and people watched. Gelato and sorbetta (for those who are lactose intolerant) was for dessert. Time to go back to our hotels and rest up for dinner.

Dinner was planned by the folks running the convention at the Aquarium. First was a tour of the Aquarium, then hors d'oeuvres and drinks followed by a sit down dinner. There were almost 500 of us spread over several rooms looking at the shark tank. The whole thing was rather impressive. The attendees got to relax after listening to technical papers for 2 days and the spouses got to socialize.

There are a lot of feast days and Saint's days in Italy and every city/region has their own. Friday was going to be such a day in Genoa. It was the feast day of Saint John the Baptist. We noticed while we were walking around all the preparations that were going on. Bonfires were being built, churches were being decorated, etc. Nothing was going to be open.. this was a real holiday. There was still one more day for this convention and we needed something to do on Friday that would get us out of the city.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

Wednesday Genoa

2011-07-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Frescoes painted on outside of palace

The history of Genoa goes back to the 5th and 6th centuries B.C.E. Its position as a port has contributed to its varied status as it absorbed many ups and downs of financial prosperity or lack thereof. It has been part of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and France. It has been said that Christopher Columbus grew up here. It suffered from the Black Death in 1347 and more than half its inhabitants were wiped out by the Plague in 1656-57. Genoa flourished in the 16th century and it drew many artists and architects. You can see many of the works of Rubens, Caravaggio, and Van Dyck and palaces designed by Alessi. The city is not very large, 251 acres, and it is squashed between the mountains and the sea. Everything is uphill or downhill. Fishing, shipping, and banking were the main contributions to Genoa's fortunes. As they became more prosperous, people wanted to get away from the poor fishing villages on the coast, so they moved uphill and built spectacular palazzos. Amazing how life is a loop.. now people want to live by the sea. The 1200's saw the power of such families as Grimaldi, Doria, and Spinola controlling the city. Today you can still see the magnificent palaces of these families which were built in the 1500's. Most have been renovated and are museums, banks, or government offices. Many have been designated as World UNESCO heritage sites.

These aren't small

The weather in Genoa was the opposite extreme to the UK. We had above normal temperatures and humidity. Normal temperature for this time of year is around 75. It was in the high 80's and low 90's. The days excursion was going to be a walking tour of the old part of Genoa. We were to meet at a square near Via Garabaldi which my hotel told me was a 5 minute walk. With map in hand, I set out. It was a good thing I left early.... 15 minutes later after huffing and puffing uphill and downhill I arrived wondering if I were going to last the whole day! The 8 of us managed to find each other from our scattered hotels and we waited for our guide. The architecture is both imposing and impressive. The artwork on the palaces is mind boggling. A fortune, even in those days, was spent on these building. There is a combination of sculpture, paintings, and tromp l'oeil, on the facades of all these buildings. One of the stories our guide told us had to do with the "Sunshine" tax imposed by Napoleon Bonaparte. There was a special tax that had to be paid for every window in a building. In order to maintain the symmetry of the structure and design, fake windows were painted on the facades and the tax was avoided. Two of the old palaces had been turned into museums but we were not going to have time to see them today. (This turned into tomorrow's outing for some of us since we had no official plans).

The alleys in Genoa resemble those in Venice.... narrow, dark, serpentine, and full of surprises. We ogled the store windows, vegetable markets, meat markets, and candy shops. Our next destination was to have been the Cathedral of San Lorenzo but it closed at 12.00 and was not going to reopen till 3:00. Lunch was scheduled for 1:00. There was another church nearby that would be open till 1:00. Everything shuts down in the afternoon and reopens at 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. Lunch was in this really weird restaurant. The decor was posters and memorabilia of movies from the 1950's. So was the music. I will stand on record stating that I am not fond of Elvis.... please don't shoot me. The food, thankfully was pure Italian and delicious. Pesto is one of the local regional specialties and our first course was loaded with it.

Piazza de Ferrari

Porto Soprana

After lunch we retraced some of our steps past the Piazza de Ferrari (we wanted to jump in the fountain) back to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. We passed the Porto Soprana which is one of the gates in the old city walls, ruins of the old cloisters (which were relocated) and the purported family home of Christopher Columbus.

San Lorenzo

The interior of the church is stunning. No expense was spared here. There is still a lot of restoration work going on and you can see the old fresco's that were painted on the walls.

They used a combination of marble and slate to get the bands of color.

Bicycles are not very common here but cars are not very practical either. In a population of 700,000 there are more than 200,000 motorcycles and motorbikes. They are really the only practical way of getting around such a hilly city

I was pooped by this time and still had to hike my way back to my hotel. Most of us opted to call it quits for the day and some of us decided to get together the next morning and explore some of the places we did not have time to do today. There were no official plans for dinner. Ned and I ate at a lovely restaurant overlooking the sea.

Tuesday, Genoa, Italy

2011-07-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

I am doing some skipping here... but I will do a short catch up. Sunday was a travel day and everything went without a hitch. We did find a fantastic local restaurant for dinner that has always been closed when I was here in the past.. turns out they are closed Mondays, but not Sundays. There was no menu and we ate for 2 1/2 hours.... and drank way to much. Monday Ned had to work... usually I take the car and do day excursions but to be honest I was tired... so I crashed. The weather was lovely so I took my iPad and sat outside to read. Dinner was low key. Tuesday morning and we have to drive to Genoa.... the reason for this whole trip. Ned's conference starts this evening and I am looking forward to hooking up with some of the other wives... some of whom I know and new ones I hope to meet. We were not staying at the host hotel (near the airport)... his company is cheap, but rather one closer to the old part of town. Luck had it that it was more convenient for me. There were shuttle buses for the guys as it turned out that the conference got a last minute boost and the host hotel could not accommodate everyone. We were a bit scattered around. Rather than check into our hotel first, we stopped at the convention spot as Ned's company had a booth and he wanted to make sure all the materials had arrived.

Next stop our hotel.... or so we thought.

If any of you have driven in old Italian cities you know that some of the streets are nothing more than narrow alleys. Genoa is a hillside city so think long, windy, narrow, and steep alleys. The "street" our hotel was situated on was one of these.... there was less than a foot clearance on either side of the car... it was not marked as one way. The hotel was down the middle of this alley.... We arrived to find out there had been a fire a few days before and there was no electricity. No one was notified! BUT, they did re book us somewhere else. Ned started to make phone calls to reroute the rest of the group.. and then we had to figure out how to get out of there.... the alley was a dead end! There was a small clearing at the bottom and a steep drive into a garage whose metal doors were closed. 15 minutes later and a lot of sweat, Ned managed to get the car turned around.... think a zillion baby K turns. I think I had my eyes closed for most of it. Now we had to head back up this alley and pray no one was coming down. We found the other hotel without too much trouble, and checked in without incidence. Now we head for the lift and I started to laugh. I haven't seen one of these in ages. It was the old fashion cage type.

At least we didn't have to schlep our luggage up the stairs.
Ned had to be back to the convention early... he HAD to work. I wandered into the bar and found my buddies and we sat and caught up till the reception started. There was suppose to be a program all three days for the spouses but 2 days were cancelled due to not enough interest. In truth what really happened is that they made it almost impossible for anyone to sign up. Instead of accepting credit cards or stating you could pay (in cash) when you arrived, the sign up insisted you do a money transfer in Euros. That did not go over so well. Ned had called and they told him to just pay when we arrived, but most didn't call. As a result, many of the women who would have signed up, didn't. To make things worse, the person who was in charge of this took off early and rather than be there in time for the reception when most arrive, never came back. So those who might have paid that evening, never got the chance. There were going to be 8 of us on this tour the next day.

Day 9 UK Kew Gardens

2011-07-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yay! We woke up to sunshine! Our excursion today is going to be The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew... better known as just Kew Gardens. Sue was going to meet us and we would take the train out. Kew Gardens is located southwest of London and houses the worlds largest collection of living plants. There are over 30,000 different types of plants in a 300 acre park. Obviously, were weren't going to make much of a dent in a few hours but we were going to give it our best shot. The history of Kew as gardens started in the 1700's and thanks to some very foresighted people it has grown into one of the worlds most important sites for experimentation and seed repository, not to mention a feast to the eyes for the general public.

The Palm House, Kew Gardens

Our first stop was the Palm house which was constructed between 1844 and 1848. In front of this greenhouse are a line up of mythical creatures who I thought were kind of cute. I am putting their pictures in the gallery and a description of what they represented. There are more than Palms in this house and we all ooed and ahhed over the variation of plants but most especially the markings on the leaves. Some of them look like they could have been appliqued.
I am sharing lots of these pictures in the gallery, but please remember that these are mine. If you want to use any of them, please ask permission. With few exceptions, these plants are not labelled.... some I know, most I don't. In the lower level of the Palm House are some aquariums... lighting was horrible and my flash was bouncing off everything...

Next stop was the Water Lily House. The structures of some of the Lily pads were really interesting. This was the smallest of the greenhouses we visited.

By now we were hungry and needed a break.... this was a lot of walking. Just as we got to the cafeteria, the skies opened up! Good timing. By the time we were done, the sun was out again. Welcome to the weather in the UK.

Our last stop was the Temperate House. This is the largest surviving Victorian glass structure. It took 40 years to construct and has the floor area twice that of the Palm House. I forgot to take a picture, but here is a link to one that is probably better than I would have done. This greenhouse has plants from all the temperate zones for all the regions of the world. Did you know that there are a zillion types of Fuchsia??

We had company on our walk to the Temperate House.. this lovely peacock who just took us in stride. This stately old tree also caught my eye on the walk.

We had a great time and the weather cooperated. Thank you so much Sue for spending time with us.


Sue Sanderson and yours truly

Dinner is going to be late... we are exhausted. Tomorrow is a travel day for us to Italy... it is also Father's Day and my birthday... we are celebrating tonight... who knows what we will find open tomorrow night or how tired we will be.

Day 8 UK London

2011-07-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

I am still flying from yesterday. Not much is going to top those memories. We arrived in London late morning and of course could not check into our hotel. Weather is the norm... not that I am getting use to it, but I guess resignation has set in. We decide to go to The Victoria and Albert Museum via the Underground. We are hoping the weather is better tomorrow and we can go to Kew Gardens... if not, we will go to the Tate. The V&A have a special exhibit called "The Cult of Beauty", The Aesthetic Movement of 1860-1900. This would be better known as Art for Art's Sake and would include Rosesetti, Whistler, Leighton, Burne-Jones, and of course William Morris, just to name a few. They would take art in a totally new direction. The entrance to the museum has a gorgeous Chihuly chandelier. They didn't allow photography in the exhibit, sorry. I can only do museums in short spurts... the floors are too hard on my knees and back. Guess I am going to have to come back for another visit. I would like to see more of it.
The weather improved and we decided to walk back to our hotel which was a few blocks from Buckingham Palace... we passed it on the way in and it was very crowded. I believe the changing of the guard was taking place as we drove by. Since we both had already done that eons ago, we were steering clear. I decided that this was a good opportunity for High Tea... we tried to get a reservation at Claridges but it turns out you need those months in advance. We settled for Harrods. Of course we had to wander through a bit and fresh off a new grand baby we headed towards the children's department. They had really nice stuff, but, OH, the sticker shock. One outfit would have set us back $150... and that wasn't even the expensive ones! Sorry Will..... We did find some cute stuff animals though..... and maybe you will see them one day (they are in Ned's luggage which is currently lost). High Tea is an experience... it really is a misnomer. It is a full meal in itself. There were cucumber sandwiches, egg and watercress sandwiches, salmon and cream cheese sandwiches... all with the crusts cut off. There were scones with clotted cream and jams, and some pastries, all of which were presented on a 3 tiered serving piece. And of course you had your choice of teas. While we were enjoying this sumptuous repast, we were treated to an impromptu piano concert by a child... no I am not kidding. I have no idea who he was but they unhooked the baby grand player piano and this kid sat down and just played. Amazing. I bet they didn't get that at Claridges!

After stuffing ourselves, we needed that walk back to the hotel. I enjoyed the window shopping. Normally these days when I travel, I tend to see the same stores everywhere. It was nice to see new ones although I am sure some of these are just the local equivalent of chain stores. Mixed in were the high end shops as well. I think Ned was happy that I was not in a shopping mood. We got ourselves settled into our room and relaxed for a bit. We arranged to have dinner with a Quilt Art list member who I had also taken a Carol Soderlund dye class with a few years back. Sue Sanderson saw my post on the list and offered to spend some time with us. We didn't want to go far...it was raining again, so the hotel recommended a restaurant close by. Who would have thunk that an Indian restaurant could garner a Michelin star rating? If you are in London and enjoy Indian food, try it. It is called Quilon. I can well understand its star rating. The service was impeccable and besides being well presented, the food was excellent. Even more, the chef was very gracious. We were served an appetizer drink that is called Tomato Rasam. It is a thin spicy mixture that is traditionally poured over rice but here they served it as a drink. We asked for the recipe and they gave it to us! They even used dual measurements. We had a lovely evening.

Day 7... And we are off... to see the Queen

2011-07-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

Literally. Remember that hat from an earlier post? Well, I had a real need for one. We are attending Royal Ascot, Ladies Day... in the Royal Enclosure. Sometimes the long shots come in! This story starts a few months back when I knew I was going to Genoa with Ned. Because of the nature of free tickets, one doesn't always get the best or most convenient routing. One of my transfers was through London so I suggested to Ned that to break up my trip, he take a couple of days of vacation and we spend the weekend in London. His schedule can change on a dime, and usually does.....In May he informed me that he had to see a customer in the UK.... if he could change the dates on my tickets did I want to go early? Such a silly question! Hubby suggested we see if there were any steeplechase races going on that week since he knows I am a horse lover. Turns out they were out of season BUT Royal Ascot was being held... I thought that would be fun. I always reach for the moon hoping I will get a star so I decided to see if we could get into the Royal Enclosure in Ascot where all the really high society hob nob with each other..... oh, and also wear those wonderful hats. The fine print on their website says that sometimes the Embassies have available tickets.... OK, so with nothing to lose I wrote to the American Embassy in London and asked. Much to my surprise I got an application back that we had to fill out plus a requirement for a letter of recommendation from some professional who knew us to be fine upstanding citizens for at least the past 5 years. ( Yes, you can interpret that as you wish). We passed muster. Now the fun began. I needed a hat and dress and Ned needed a morning suit plus top hat. He was less than thrilled but was willing to go along. I will spare you the details getting him attired properly. The dress code for women is pretty strict... no spaghetti straps, no halter dresses, nothing too short, no midriff showing, and no straps narrower than 1". Anyone notice the fashions for spring/summer this year? I was determined!! I also needed a way to get my hat there undamaged. Hat boxes are not easy to come by anymore, but I ordered one online.

The big day was finally here... and it was pouring rain. We were planning on taking the train to Ascot and walking the last 1/4 like many do as the parking is insane. In view of the weather, we decided to hire a car. Thankfully, it was flat rate. Good thing as it took us over 2 hours with the traffic to get there... of course by the time we did, the rain had stopped.... oh well. To say I was excited is probably the understatement of the year. We walked in with everyone else dressed to the nines and enjoyed the scenery. Some professional photographer liked my hat and snapped a photo.. but I don't think it was published anywhere... still, it was nice for my ego. What I forgot was a hatpin.. and with the weight of the flowers, the hat kept swiveling around.

People watching was almost more fun than the races... we didn't win, but we only bet on 2 races. One of the Queen's ladies in waiting places bets for her... and we watched as she both bought and cashed in her majesties winning tickets. It was hard taking pictures as everyone kept moving around. I really didn't care. People were pretty friendly.... and the champagne was flowing. We saw several of the Royals.. and I easily was able to snap a photo of the Queen although she did not look up. We did take the train back to Reading that evening. It really was a very fun day.

I have posted lots of pictures to the gallery.

Day 6 UK

2011-06-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today we head toward Reading. Our run of good weather appears to be coming to an end as the sky is filled with clouds and it has gotten chilly again.

First stop is Salisbury Cathedral which is a rather imposing structure. It is built in the English Gothic style and was constructed between 1220 and 1258. The Tower and Spire were added 50 years later and stands 404'. It is the tallest spire in Britain. Salisbury Cathedral also houses the best preserved of the 4 remaining copies of the original Magna Carta. It also has Europe's oldest working clock. The clock has no face but rings chimes every 15 minutes. The day we were there was their annual Flower Show. The arrangements were both creative and breathtaking. The only drawback was the crowd and the noise. Floral arrangements were hanging everywhere and it was impossible to get good photos. Embedded in the walls are memorial plaques to those who have lost their lives in battles or disasters. Given the frustration of not being able to take good photos of the interior structure, I amused myself by taking photos of the sarcophagi of ancient knights. By the time we left the cathedral, it was pouring again.

Next stop.. or drive by as the case was because of the rain was Stonehenge. I am sort of glad it was raining... Stonehenge was incredibly disappointing and there was a pretty hefty entrance fee. I have to admit that I envisioned that it encompassed a large area. My imagination conjured Druids marching around chanting. It is no where near the scale I imagined. In fact, it probably is less than half an acre.

That said, the areas around Stonehenge were far more interesting. Next trip back, I would like to spend more time exploring.

Woodhenge was far more interesting and better yet, free. It appears as though it is larger than its sister site. Here is the Link to the Wikipedia entry. From there we drove past the most interesting of the sites... in Avebury. However, time got away from us and rain hampered us. Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe. The megalithic stones are everywhere. The fields we drove past contained the stones, people walking around, and sheep grazing among them. We unfortunately could not find a place to park so I could take some photos. Here is the Wiki Link.

As we drove toward Reading we saw several white horses "carved" into the hillsides. These aren't the original ancient ones but they are certainly arresting and can be seen from miles away.

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day, stay tuned!

Day 5 UK Corfe Castle

2011-06-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our luck is holding. Today is a gorgeous day.. it has even warmed up a bit. Today's plan was to drive around the Isle of Purbeck which is not really an island but a peninsula. The area has been designated as "As an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". It lives up to its appellation. You get there by a short (5 minute) ferry ride. The car ferry is unusual in that it doesn't go under its own steam... there are chains that winch it back and forth. It probably holds about 80 cars. Once on the other side, you start to drive through gorgeous scenery. We did not have a plan for the day and were just going to explore. Ned saw signage for Corfe Castle so that was our going to be our main destination, however, first stop was a local farmers market where we picked up local cheese, bread, and other goodies to eat later for a picnic. Ned also got the name of a local pub that he wanted to try out. He seems to have developed a taste for local ale. The drive to Corfe castle was beautiful. Everything was in bloom and the flowers were really a feast for the eyes. The castle sits up on a mound and you can see if from miles away, beckoning as we drove through several lovely villages.... blink though, and you miss them. We never did find the highly touted pub but Ned settled for a different one that gave us a wonderful view of the castle.

The area around Corfe castle is said to have been inhabited as far back as 6000 B.C.E. There are indications that Celts settled in the area and may have had run ins with the Romans until they were chased out around 50 A.D. Corfe castle is said to have been built by William the conquerer after the the Norman invasion in 1066 and was re fortified several times until it was destroyed by treachery in 1646. The stones and wood from the castle were carried away and used by the locals for their building material. Only the skeletal remains of this once proud edifice reminds us of the scope and scale of this old Royalist stronghold. What is left is still majestic. We ate our picnic lunch in the shadows of the ruins and then walked around the local town before heading around the "island" back to Bournemouth.On our way back we poked around some of the antique shops and enjoyed the nice weather.

Remember the photos of the pony? ( Posted June 14th) We pulled into the parking area of a small antique shop and I saw what looked to be a pony with its head in the window of the small cottage behind it. I thought at first it was a statue and was someones idea of fun ( I thought it was fun).... until it moved! It certainly gave us some chuckles. Back at the hotel after a short rest, we asked for a recommendation for dinner. We asked if we needed a reservation and were told, no, it was a weeknight. So off we go down to the pier area where we have to park the car and hike back to the restaurant.... only to find that they are hosting a private party. We hike back to the car and decide to try one of the large hotels for dinner. Everyone seemed to be full up with parties but the maitre'D took pity on us and found us a table. The meal was excellent. Back at the ranch (hotel), we sat outside on our terrace for a bit and contemplated the lovely full moon.

More on Day 4

2011-06-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

Poole is a large coastal town and resort on the English Channel in county Dorset in the south of England. It has gone through several incarnations over the centuries as its fortune has risen and fallen with the times. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries it was one of the most important shipping centers in the UK, having more trading ships to North America than any other English port. After the War of 1812 it saw a decline in trade and could not accommodate the new newer ships that required a deeper harbor. The beaches and beautiful landscapes of the south Dorset coast started to attract tourists in the mid 19th century. The villages to the east grew and merged and the result was the seaside resort of Bournemouth. During World War II, Poole was the 3rd largest embarkation point for D-Day landings and became an important base for supplies for Allied troops in Europe.

We actually stayed in Bournemouth at what was once probably a 5 star resort but is now a notch lower. They obviously redid the place but it was an adventure getting from our room to the lobby. It was like walking through a maze with lots of twists and turns. The hallways were very narrow and probably would never pass code here in the states. I wanted to leave a trail of crumbs so I could find my way back to our room! The room was nice with a wonderful balcony looking out to sea. The bathroom was very modern and even had a skylight.

We had a reservation for dinner with one of Ned's associates and his lovely wife at one of the other local resorts right on the water. We got there only to find out that there had been a fire in the kitchen and the electricity was off... somehow, our host never got the message. Alternate plan worked out well.

We are hoping for continued good weather tomorrow.

Day 4 Drive down to Poole

2011-06-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! We had some sunshine this morning for our drive south to Poole where Ned had a meeting. We were also going to have dinner with an associate and his wife.

The countryside looks so much better with clear skies! The field of poppies was so cheerful.

We stopped in Lower Slaughter.. no it has nothing to do with animals. The old English word Slough or Slothre means muddy place, but that seems to have been cleared up. The village is quite small but incredibly lovely. The main attraction is an old mill with a working water wheel. The mill has been converted into a gift shop with cafe. The bathrooms are in an outhouse BUT these outhouses are more luxurious than some of the facilities in restaurants! I unfortunately left the camera with Ned so no pics of these. We walked around a bit taking advantage of the lack of rain and had a snack.

This is sheep country!

Next stop Poole.

Day 3 UK

2011-06-22T23:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning...and it is pouring out. Weather forecast is pretty grim for today. The rain is coming down so hard that even the locals are in shock. The UK has been experiencing a drought for the past several months and we seem to have broken that spell. Lucky us. Everything is lush and green around us so I am not sure of their definition of drought, however, the farmers are ecstatic. Left to my own devices, I would be curled up with a good book, but hubby has dragged me out of bed. Maybe the sun will come out later?

No such luck today. It poured pretty much non stop today. We did do a lot of driving around but only got out of the car a few times. I am told that they had more rain today than they usually get in a month. Not an exciting day for sure. The Cotswolds are lovely. I really wish we could have walked around some of the villages. They were charming... but I am not one to get soaked. We did manage to pop into a few antique shops while dodging the rain in Chipping Norton and Morton-in-Marsh. Don't you just love these names? The thatched roof cottages are so adorable.

Many of the restaurants are closed tonight (Sunday) so we grabbed a "meal" at a local pub. The picture should tell it's own story. I had grave reservations as we pulled into the parking lot. They were validated -:(.

We are driving south to Poole tomorrow. Let's hope the weather improves.

Day 2 UK

2011-06-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

Tintern Abbey

We awoke to sunshine this morning, but we were both so tired that we got a late start. We were going to take a nice drive through the countryside and decided on Tintern Abbey.

"Tintern Abbey was founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, on 9 May 1131. It is situated in the village of Tintern, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire. It was only the second Cistercian foundation in Britain, and the first in Wales. It is one of the most spectacular ruins in the country and inspired the William Wordsworth poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey".
The monks for Tintern came from a daughter house of Cîteaux, L'Aumône, in the diocese of Blois in France. The Cistercian monks (or White Monks) who lived at Tintern followed the Rule of St. Benedict. The Carta Caritatis (Charter of Love) laid out their basic principles, of obedience, poverty, chastity, silence, prayer, and work. With this austere way of life, the Cistercians were one of the most successful orders in the 12th and 13th centuries. The lands of the Abbey were divided into agricultural units or granges, on which local people worked and provided services such as smithies to the Abbey. Many endowments of land on both sides of the Wye were made to the Abbey.

The present-day remains of Tintern are a mixture of building works covering a 400-year .period between 1136 and 1536. Very little remains of the first buildings; a few sections of walling are incorporated into later buildings and the two recessed cupboards for books on the east of the cloisters are from this period. The church of that time was smaller than the present building and was slightly to the north.
During the 13th century, the Abbey was virtually rebuilt; first the cloisters and the domestic ranges, then finally the great church between 1269 and 1301. The first mass in the rebuilt presbytery was recorded to have taken place in 1288, and the building was consecrated in 1301, although building work continued for several decades. Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, the then lord of Chepstow, was a generous benefactor; his monumental undertaking was the rebuilding of the church. The Abbey put his coat of arms in the glass of its east window in gratitude to him.
It is this great church that we see today. It has a cruciform plan with an aisled nave; two chapels in each transept and a square ended aisled chancel. The Gothic church represents the architectural developments of its day in the contemporary Decorated style. The buildings are constructed in Old Red Sandstone, of colours varying from purple to buff and grey. The main church building is 72 metres long.
In 1326 King Edward II visited Tintern and spent two nights there. The Black Death swept the country in 1349 and it became impossible to attract new recruits for the lay brotherhood. Changes to the way the granges were tenanted out rather than worked by lay brothers show the difficulty Tintern was experiencing with labour shortages. In the early 15th century, Tintern was experiencing financial difficulties, due in part to the effects of the Welsh uprising under Owain Glyndŵr against the English kings, and Abbey properties were destroyed by the Welsh rebels. The closest battle to the Abbey was at Craig y Dorth near Monmouth, between Trellech and Mitchel Troy.

In the reign of King Henry VIII, traditional monastic life in England and Wales was brought to an abrupt end by his policy of establishing total control over the church, partly to take advantage of the considerable wealth of the monasteries. On September 3, 1536, Abbot Wyche surrendered Tintern Abbey to the King's visitors and ended a way of life which had lasted 400 years. The valuable articles from the Abbey were sent to the King's treasury, and Abbot Wyche was pensioned off. The building was granted to the then-lord of Chepstow, Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester. Lead from the roof was sold, and the decay of the shell of the buildings began." Wikipedia.

The ruins are very dramatic. It always amazes me that the engineering skills it took to design and build these were available in the 12th century. We saw a sign posted that there would be Morris dancers in the afternoon so we decided to have some tea ( for me) and ale (for Ned). No sooner had the dancers arrived in period costume, the skies opened up. Oh well.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving through the rain to Cheltenham, our next destination. I wanted to spend some time in the Cotswolds. Little did I expect to be seeing most of it through the car windows.

Untamed and beautiful

2011-06-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

Another adventure

2011-06-20T03:24:00.000-07:00

This seems to be my time to travel. I got home from the excitement of my new grandson just in time to get a haircut and pack to leave the following day for a trip with hubby to the UK. This was pretty much last minute as he had to see some clients in the UK and asked if I wanted to tag along...such a silly question. The perks of his traveling so much is the accumulation of miles so I can go free. We couldn't get the same flights but that was OK. He arrived first and managed a nap then returned to pick me up. I hadn't been to the UK in 42 years...I now remember why. The weather has been lousy. Day 1 Ned had a meeting in South Wales. We met a coworker for lunch then I checked into the hotel and crashed. When Ned got back we drove to Usk and walked around. It stays light pretty late now so we had lots of time to explore. It is a lovely and quaint town with charming little cottages and gorgeous gardens. I love the wildness of the English gardens. Ned was looking for an old pub he used to haunt but it turns out it was recently bought and under renovation...it has been turned into a private residence. We found a nice restaurant and dinner was most excellent. Sometime in the past 42 years the English have learned to cook. We shared a chicken and liver pate that may have been the best I have ever eaten...I could have made it my main course. I had sliced duck breast cooked to perfection but I couldn't finish it. The portions were huge. I had a wonderful hard cider instead of wine. Everything is so lush and green but the Brits claim they have been having a drought. We seemed to have brought the rain with us!


Usk

P.S. I am adding more pictures.. I could only upload 1 from ipad... there must be an app that allows more than one... I am also starting a gallery of pictures from the trip. LINK

Pooped

2011-06-20T03:12:00.001-07:00

Laugh a little more

2011-06-14T10:59:00.000-07:00

Laugh a little

2011-06-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

After my first bath

2011-06-11T10:45:00.001-07:00

More Will pics

2011-06-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

The best thing I have going right now is my gorgeous grandson, Will. Hope you will all put up with me for a while as I kvell. Probably won't be any new projects till July.

Welcome Will!

2011-05-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

I have been busy the past few weeks with my daughter awaiting the birth of my grandson. He was late but worth the wait. Will finally made his appearance yesterday and weighed in at 7lbs 12oz, and 20" long. He has red hair. I got to hold him for a while yesterday and I am over the moon. Mother and son are doing well.

Mad Hatter

2011-05-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, can't believe it is 3 weeks since my last post. Life has not been boring but I guess I did not have anything worth posting about.

I didn't get an invitation to the Royal Wedding or a ticket to the Kentucky Derby, but that did not stop me from having some fun. I love hats. Wish there were more places and more occasions to wear them. I use to wear them several times a year but that was eons ago it seems. I rummaged through my old stash of hats and came up with a summery one that for some reason was pretty plain. I think it once had some netting around it but that is long gone. It is a lovely peach color and I thought it would be perfect for the season. Did you know that peach is not in style this year? No ribbon, no tulle, and only 1 flower even though I went to several different stores. No matter. I was never a slave to fashion. I am also not into the outrageous and my hat is pretty low key in comparison to some of the recent news worthy headpieces. I am happy with the results.

Counting down the days till my new grandson makes an entry into this world!

Wish me luck... I finished a piece I am entering into Houston.. Just need to put the paperwork in the mail. This will be a first time entry for me.

Soon to be grandma and daughter

2011-04-18T22:29:00.001-07:00

This was just taken at my daughter's baby shower. I am getting very excited to welcome my grandson...5 weeks to go!

Eyes

2011-04-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is a test post to see if I can blog with photos from my I pad.

Scarves

2011-04-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

I added some hand dyed and over dyed scarves to my offerings on my other blog as well as some new fabrics. I hope you will visit. Click on the tab under the banner.

http://fieldofcolor.blogspot.com/

SAQA piece is done!

2011-03-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

Despite my cute kitty, I got this finished. I am going to call this one FOCUS. I will send it off next week. I want to explore more abstract pieces.

I seem to have come to a standstill!

2011-03-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Lucy has decided she wants to help me with the quilting on my SAQA piece. Guess it is time for a break.

More on FOF

2011-03-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

This was our lovely setting for the week.

I had fun dyeing bamboo socks.

A lovely walk on the beach:

Here are a few more pieces that I dyed:

The next 2 are silk.. the first is silk charmeuse and the second is a silk Jacquard.

I have some others that I will probably sell off.. I will put them on my other blog in a day or so. I am also going to sell the silk scarves I over dyed in the indigo pot.

Can't wait till next year!!

Focus on fiber retreat

2011-03-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have been spending the past few days down in Florida at Mary McBride's Focus on Fiber retreat. It started with an optional 3 day class before the start of the retreat which I decided to take. The class was on advanced Shibori techniques and was taught by Linda Dawson who is a very patient and giving person. We had a blast! I learned techniques I never knew how to do and found out that there are some I have no interest in doing again and some I thought I never would have had an interest in that I love. We did indigo dyeing, pole wrapping, burn off, melt off and discharge. Some of the class also did some traditional shibori stitching... not my thing. I loved the indigo, especially over previously dyed fabrics.

The retreat officially started on Monday and is well attended. Everyone came with their own projects plus group things to do. The women are all very giving and sharing. There are some very well established artists at this group including Pamela Allen, Rosemary Claus- Gray, Marianne Williamson, Patricia turner, to name a few. I have actually done more work here in 3 days than I have done at home in the past 3 months. Happy hour starts at 4:30 daily, Yoga at 11:00, and dance at 4:00. All meals are included and we are fed very well. There is only wifi in the studios, but not in the rooms. There is a wet studio and a dry studio and many of us are using both. I have been dying up some gorgeous fabrics and selling them before I can even iron them. I even did my first mandala on a silk scarf. Now that I have done it, I haven't a clue what to do with it! I have been overdyed some silk scarves with indigo and they came out wonderfully. I even dyed up some baby socks! I really am having fun. I worked on my 12" square for SAQA and that is almost done. Enjoy the pictures.

We have a winner!

2011-03-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

The comment left by Lyn Wolf Jackson was the winner...Congratulations. You will love it.

Review of Twelve By Twelve

2011-03-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

Wow! Ok, I have to admit that I love art quilt books. It's the eye candy that calls out to me. However, I don't always have time to really delve into a book before I buy it so what happens is that I get it home and somewhere past the first chapter I wind up flipping through the rest of it until something strikes my fancy. Many of these books wind up in the bookcase collecting dust and not looked at again because there really was nothing past the first chapter that spoke to me.
Twelve by Twelve is not like that. This is a book that has lots in it for all of us. It is the coming together of twelve artists who, over time developed a special relationship with each other and their art. This group made a commitment to create 12 pieces of art each based on 12 themes over the course of 2 years. Each piece was 12" x12" and had a deadline of 2 months. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a theme and we get to visit with the artist who chose the theme. We find out why the subject was chosen and get to see how the piece developed. We also get a real in depth interview about each artist and a "tour" of their studio's. Some are large, some are closet sized. Each other artist has a short explanation of the piece they created for that theme's challenge. There are also extra pages on some of the techniques used and other useful information. There are 144 quilts to drool over.
The Twelve artists are: Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Helen L. Conway, Kirsten Duncan, Terry Grant, Diane Perin Grant, Francoise Jamart, Kristin La Flamme, Karen Rips, Brenda Gael Smith, Terri Stegmiller, and Nikki Wheeler. Their website/blog is www.Twelveby12.org.
The book is published by Lark crafts and has an ISBN 978-1-60059-666-7

Run, don't walk and pick it up. You will not regret it.

If you read my earlier post, you will know that I received this book directly from Lark. Since I was going to buy it before I got it free, I decided to go ahead and purchase it anyway and give it away to someone who reads my blog. One person will be picked randomly....However, there is a twist and a hitch. I would like the winner to make a contribution to the American Cancer Society of at least $10 if your name is chosen.I will pick a winner on Sunday, March 6th.

I must be having a nightmare!

2011-02-27T05:53:00.000-08:00

6:30 a,m

Today is Sunday, February 27th, and I live in Scottsdale, ARIZONA. This is what greeted me this morning at 6:30 a.m.

What is this white crap doing here?? I do have to say it is beautiful though. It is melting pretty quickly.... at least we won't have to shovel it.

7:00 a.m

Our Courtyard

An unexpected surprise

2011-02-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

.... in my mail yesterday! I found a package by my door when I got home yesterday... I didn't recall ordering anything. I opened it up and found a wonderful book... "Twelve By Twelve" The International Art Quilt Challenge. I scratched my head for a bit trying to figure out who sent me such a lovely gift as I had just listed it on my Wish List on Amazon.... but I had only done that the day before! I was going to order it and another book ( I didn't want to pay the shipping) but hadn't decided on the 2nd book yet. Then I remembered that I had signed up last year to review books for Lark. I am thrilled.

This is going to take me a bit the get through, but at first glance I know I am going to love it. It is the contribution of 12 art quilters who each created a 12" x 12" piece that represented a particular theme every 2 months for 2 years. I see that each piece is explained by the creator as to how they arrived at the choice they made for the theme and a description of how they made each piece. There are 144 marvelous quilts for me to drool over. At first glance this is my favorite...


Passion and Colours by Francoise Jamart

I have just started to do some small pieces in this style myself, so this was really a treat.

I highly recommend this book even though I haven't had the time to go through it in depth. This one is a keeper! And to think I was about to order myself a copy. I must have been a very good girl!

February is Pamela Allen month

2011-02-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Some of us got lucky (again) and Pamela Allen decided to do another online class this month. First assignment was to find a piece of art one liked and using the same palette of colors copy it... Ok.. no screams here.. we are using it for a lesson! The 2nd step was to use the same fabrics and make an abstract design, and the 3rd step was to make a still life using the same fabrics. I used a piece by Ovanes Berberian called Sunset 1.
The still life is still a work in progress but I am finally doing Something after a long hiatus.

I also decided to go through my stash of my own fabrics and get rid of those I probably will never use. I am going to be doing more dyeing in March ... I will need more room! They are up for sale at http://fieldofcolor.blogspot.com/

The last of the Indian goodies

2011-02-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

.... arrived today. After the past couple of weeks I needed this lift! We ordered 2 hand made Dhurrie runners for our hallway and they arrived today. They are gorgeous. Enjoy.

I think I can breath now (this is NOT quilt related)

2011-02-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

Nope, I haven't been blogging. It is said that trouble comes in three's but I think we exceeded that limit in the past few weeks. It all started with a hail storm back in October. The hail was larger than golf balls and sounded like rocks hitting the roof. We didn't see any apparent damage and thought nothing of it. Fast forward 6 weeks and we were thrilled when the goodies we ordered in India arrived. I knew I was going to have to rearrange some art work on the walls but was waiting till everything arrived to do anything. Ned and I walked around the LR to decide what was being moved where. I took down one piece that hung on an outside wall only to find that the wall had buckled behind it! Yikes! We had a leak that came down through the ceiling and the wall. OK, I have to admit we rarely use the LR and almost never turn on the lights unless we are having company. We called the insurance company and the next morning they sent a crew to look at the damage and do what ever was necessary to stop further damage. They went up on the roof (we have a flat roof) and found we had holes from the hail and they could see where the water seeped in. They did a temporary repair and pulled off the sheetrock and the very wet insulation. They treated the area for mold and mildew and sealed it up with heavy duty plastic. The furniture got moved around too. The adjuster arrived later. We have an open floor plan and there is no way to stop a paint job without doing most of the house except for the closed rooms. Did I mention that we upped our deductible last February from $1000 to $5000??? Good planning. We also had to replace 2 A/C units and their air handlers ( new laws on the type of freon used), the roof needed refoaming and sealing, and there was damage to the stucco on 2 sides of the house.... outside needed a new paint job. This little leak turned into a massive pain in the ass. I will say that the insurance company was generous in their estimates and we did not have to fight for anything. Only downside is that there was enough damage to trigger an inspection from the mortgage holder (for which they have the balls to charge) which we are waiting for. Since Thanksgiving my house has been turned upside down with furniture having to be moved and art work taken down, although most of that was done by the painters. It was still stressful. During this time we had to put Sammy down. Of course since this was holiday time AND the fact that there was a lot of roof damage throughout the area, we could not have the roof repaired until January. Nothing else could be done before that was fixed. No problem fixing the roof and the painters who did the inside did a fantastic job and were very neat. All I had to do was to direct where things went. They took pictures of everything and put it all back exactly where it came from except for some changes I made. The air handlers and A/C units were put in and I decided to go to CA for a few days to visit a friend... I had a free ticket I needed to use up and Ned was out of town. My neighbor was going to check in on Lucy. Before I left, my GF asked if I could stay longer... she was going in for surgery and could I lend a hand. Not a problem. I was away for a week. They painted the house while I was gone. While I was away the weather turned cold and I noticed when I returned that our bedroom and bathroom seemed much colder than the rest of the house. Turned out one of the air handlers was not on. No breaker seemed to be tripped and the thermostat was working. We call the HVAC guys back and they scratched their heads BUT, in the area where the AH resides are 2 sets of outlets. They opened up the one that it was plugged into and found that it was part of a series.... this was weird. They plugged it into the other set of outlets and it turned on immediately. Now we got worried. We decided it was time for the electrician. Turns out the top outlets where it is now plugged in was the dedicated one for the air handler. After some more head scratching, he figured out that the other outlet was part of the outside set of outlets that has a ground fault wired to it. The ground fault had tripped but never tripped the master in the breaker box. That mystery cleared up, I was not so nervous about an electrical malfunction and the bedroom was now warm. This sense of well being was not to last long. We had a really cold spell here with a hard freeze. Nighttime temps about 22 and daytime in the 40's Brrrr. That is not usual out here. Next day the house got really cold.... I mean really cold.We had gone to have dinner with a visiting out of town cousin and got home about 9:30 and the heat is not coming on. Now we think there is again something wrong with the air handlers but their lights were blinking like they should. Ned went out with the flashlight and saw that our propane tank was empty. We called the emergency number and left a message. No one ever called us back that night! We bundled up and closed off all the rooms of the house and hoped not to freeze to death. It was too late to check into a hotel... one who would also take a kitty. I should now preface this by saying that we had some issues with the propane company a year ago... they had new drivers and a new system and somehow we slipped under the radar and ran out of propane... but it was not in the winter. They are suppose to check at least once a month. They promised it would not happen again so we trusted them. The company has been sold and the new routine is to check every 2 months except no one bothered to inform us!! We were really pissed off, especially since no one bothered to call us back. Ned made another call in the morning when the office opened and they were surprised that the person we left both a voice mail message with and a text message never got in touch with us. As far as I was concerned they were now history except that the new company I contracted with could not be here for another 5 days... they have certain routes they do and could not get here.... since we were not their current customers. We got a partial fill with a reduced price and now I am waiting for the new company to fill the tank up. They claim they check every month, but I think from now on we will check ourselves. It is finally starting to warm up and I took all the sheets off the plants. We lost quite a few in the freeze.

I hope we am done with all this crap. Sorry, I had to get this all off my chest.

miz Lucy

2011-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

So why would I want to sleep on my toys when I can sleep on Mommy's toys?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

Happy News!

2010-12-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

Word came today that we are having a grandson! Now I can start buying in earnest.. hahah.. guess I need to pull out the embroidery machine as well. When my daughter decides on colors I will start planning a quilt. Baby is due 3rd week of May.

The other baby in the family is adjusting well. Her name is Lucy... also known as Princess Lucy. She doesn't stand still to take a picture!

Our new fur baby

2010-12-24T13:31:00.001-08:00

We were in the right place at the right time and will have another Tonkinese kitty on Sunday. She is a real cutie but did not want to be still long enough for me to take a picture

Happy Holidays

2010-12-22T02:23:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my blog and commenting.. both here and on private emails. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

Pictures of my gift

2010-12-17T09:54:00.000-08:00


Front Cover


	1st page

2nd page

3rd page

4th page

5th page


back cover

This book is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much Carole. I am still in awe.

Special Friends

2010-12-16T19:21:00.000-08:00

I am not a particularly religious person, but there are times I think there is someone out there there watching over me. I have been very lucky in my life to have made some wonderful friends and recently that has expanded to cover internet friends as well. I "met" Carole in an online class a few years ago and we really hit it off. We were lucky to have had an opportunity to meet for lunch last year when I was in her neck of the woods and it only confirmed what we already knew. We have been trying to make plans to spend some more time together, but life has conspired against us and all the plans we made have had to go on the back burners. In the midst of all her family issues she found the time to make me a fantastic gift to help me get over the loss of Sammy. Carole has been making paperbag books which are drop dead gorgeous. I received one in the mail today and it actually brought me to tears. First off, it is stunning. Second, it is made with so much feeling that it practically jumps off the pages. I could not wish for a better gift and it has come at a perfect time. Please go visit her blog HERE. She forgot to take photos before she sent this off and I will do so as soon as I have more time. This is truly a work of art and of love. Thank you so very much Carole. For icing on the cake, she even ordered some of my fabric! I am very lucky indeed.

More on textiles

2010-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

I am a sucker for bright colors and comfortable clothes. I love that leggings and tunics are back in style and I have been wearing shawls for the past 9 years. If you have followed my blog for any length of time you will have seen my wall of shawls. Ned has been bringing them home from his trips to India and China. They are mostly the inexpensive ones and I have built up a collection of close to 100. Indian clothing is bright and it is comfortable.... so of course I succumbed!
The most popular and most identifiable Indian clothing is of course the Sari. The old traditional sari's were 9 meters of fabric. The more modern ones are a mere 6 meters. The history of the sari goes back more than a thousand years and was initially made from the cotton that was grown in the area. It was just wrapped around the body. It was not until the British arrived that an underskirt and a blouse (called a choli) was worn. Poor British sensibilities! You first put on what looks like a tube skirt and the choli (more on that in a bit), then you start to wind the fabric around and pleating it as you go. The fabric has a border along the bottom and sometimes the top as well. As you pleat , you tuck in the edges into the underskirt to help hold it in place. This is a learned skill! Safety pins come in very handy. You continue to wrap and pleat till you get almost to the end. The end of the Sari is usually more decorative than the rest of it. This part is tossed diagonally across the body and over the shoulder. The most beautiful of the sari's are woven out of silk with gold threads in the design. Special sari's, like those for weddings can easily be encrusted with additional embroidery and beading. They get very heavy and of course very expensive. Sari's are made out of just about anything these days and cost can be a few dollars to thousands of dollars. Hand loomed ones take anywhere from a couple of months to 2 years to weave. Choli's can be plain or also embroidered and run the gamut from a simple blouse type to fancy styled ones... some pretty sexy and risque.

I love the look of the sari and would love to walk around in one.. alas, I would look pretty silly here in the U.S... But I did buy one... I am going to cut it up and make something else from it. I bought this at one of the street markets and bargained it down to about $12.00. It is raw silk with lots of gold (not real) beads. The front end has open lace work as well. One of my many bargains!

My real favorites though for comfort is the Salwar Kameeze with and without Dupati (shawl). This consists of a tunic top which can be long or short and a pair of leggings which also come in different styles. They can be out of a cotton stretchy knit or a trouser with a tube bottom for the legs either in cotton or silk. The leg part is very long and is meant to pool at the ankle. The other style is like a harem pant that narrows at the ankle. So I went a bit overboard... I bought 10 such outfits including a tunic jacket made out of a Pashmina. Some of these I picked up in the market stalls and some in real shops. Some were dirt cheap ($8), most were inexpensive ($25-40), a few a bit more ($75) and I splurged on the jacket .... $100... but the matching pants were $8. Other than the real cheap ones, these were all 3 piece sets. Here is the eye candy:

Long silk tunic, cotton pants, silk shawl


Long silk tunic, cotton pants, silk shawl


long hand embroidered silk tunic, harem style cotton/silk blend		pants and silk shawl


short cotton top with hand embroidery, cotton leggings

Long silk tunic, silk/cotton harem pants, silk shawl

short cotton tunic, leggings

Pashmina tunic

Some of the other outfits I was wearing in photos so no need to add them here.

Varanasi or Benares is renowned for their textiles. Many of them are done with gold and silver threads and are gorgeous, but because of the prices for gold these days, these have become pretty pricey. Besides saris, they make wall hangings, table runners, shawls, and throws. They also make non metallic fabrics woven in gorgeous designs as well and these are more to my taste. We bought a table runner in a silk and wool blend as a gift, and here is where I picked up my silk yardage ( see previous post). The photo of the runner is not true to color. The red is really a much deeper wine color. The interior design is a small paisley. This is only half the runner.

There are some other pieces that I cannot post as yet because they are being given as gifts and the recipients do not have them as yet.... after Christmas I will post those.

This last piece is the my most favorite as art. It is going up on a wall. It measures 79" x 100" and is an antique piece. It is made from old silk fabrics with heavy metallic embroidery, mirrors, stones (not sure if glass or semi precious). There were 3 of these in total but in other colors. I wish I could have afforded them all... not to mention I have no place to put them. I have pictures of the others....These were priced by weight... and they are heavy. I am putting up an overall but a slide show of some of the detail works. I just have to figure out a way to hang it. It's OK to drool on the screen :-).

Back to some Textiles

2010-12-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

I purchased some trimmings. Not sure what I am going to do with them but they are lovely. These we got in Ahmedabad.

I don't usually buy touristy type stuff but I succumbed to one piece... it is hand made and it was cheap and it really epitomizes what people expect. I bought it on the street in Mumbai. It is just this side of tacky but I will put it somewhere. You will notice that some of the pictures are against my lavender shag carpeting. I do not have another area in my house big enough to spread out some of these and I did not want to deal with shadows.

I bought 2 vintage silk quilts. They are made from old sari silk and all hand stitched. One has been given as a gift. They are over 50 years old.
They are about queen size.

I love shawls and throws and I love Pashmina. Pashmina wool comes from the pashmina goat which is indigenous to the high altitudes around the Himalayas. They are hand spun, woven and embroidered traditionally in Kashmir and made from fine cashmere fiber. Pure Pashmina is very gauzy and fragile so now it is blended with 30% silk. Some are 50% silk but I did not get those. Because of all the unrest in the Kashmir area, many of these craftsman have moved elsewhere and are part of cooperatives. We visited the showroom of one of them.. and I went a bit nuts. I bought 3 king size throws and some shawls. By Indian standards these were very expensive. By our standards they were cheap.... and I know where to get more. We had most of this stuff shipped home. Some of the big name international designers have been contracting for these throws. They are ordering 80 in each design and colorway. It takes a weaver 2 months to make one so extras are made in case something goes wrong. Each weaver has his own "hand" so someone else could never fill in and finish it up. Each is slightly different from the others. The extras are sold for a fraction of the price the branded ones. I bought 2 designs by Etro and one who I have now forgotten. I love paisley.

The third one looks like the style of Klimpt who I also love. I had to stand on a ladder to photograph most of these!

Next were some shawls. I had a very hard time choosing. One was more gorgeous than the next. At least when I need my next fix I know where to get them. They will photograph and ship!

This next one I really splurged on. It is made from Vicuna and was designed by the store proprietor. It is sooooo soft.

I did of course by some inexpensive silk and cotton blend scarves to give as gifts.

And of course some silk yardage.

To be continued!

Earrings

2010-12-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Besides the comments left, I got a bunch of emails asking to see the earrings. So here they are. These are pretty simple by Indian standards.

Agra, Day 21

2010-12-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

This is our last day in India and unknowingly, I saved the best till last. It was a very long day that started early in the morning and left us at the airport at midnight for the trip home on the first of our 3 flights leaving at 3:15 a.m.

Again we got up at the crack of dawn but I forgot to ask for a breakfast box to go. We were really tired and cranky from the night before after having to sit for 3 hours in the airport waiting for our flight back to Delhi. We had hoped for an early and relaxing dinner. We had to arrange for our bags to be picked up that we had left at the previous hotel figuring we would get them on the way back from the airport. Didn't happen that way and we didn't get to bed till after 11:00. We had to pack everything up and we had a 5:30 a.m. pickup to take the train to Agra where we would be met by our guide and car. At least the weather was nice.

Not a bad train ride.. a bit over 2 hours and our guide was waiting for us. Sunil was really good! First stop was a good hotel so we could use the facilities. I guess I forgot to mention bathrooms... in many places they were just holes in the ground... I have run into this before so it wasn't a shock but I am not as young as I used to be and not as flexible. ( if I recall correctly, the top of the Arc D'Triumph in Paris had one of these ).I passed these up. Some with toilets were also not the cleanest, but I run into that problem here in the U.S. as well. We managed.

Our first stop of the day was the Taj Mahal. I don't care how many pictures you have seen, they don't come close to doing it justice. Besides being drop dead gorgeous, it is also massive in size. It is very deceiving unless you see it in person. The setting is beautiful.

Gateway into Taj Mahal complex

Agra became an important city during the reign of Akbar in the 16th century. He built what is now Agra Fort and created one of the richest kingdoms. It was in the 17th century that Agra reached its peak during the reign of his grandson, Shah Jahan. It was Shah Jahan who expanded the Fort and built most of the buildings in the city, culminating in the magnificent Taj Mahal. It is made of white marble and is a mausoleum to his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal who is said to have died in childbirth delivering her 14th child. It took 22 years and 22,000 workers to build from 1631-1653. The complex of the Taj consists of the tomb, mosques, gardens, gateway, and fountains.The Taj Mahal sits on a platform that is almost 22 ft high and covers an area of more than 1000 sq. ft. Four minarets are at each of the corners and stand 136 1/2 ft high, each set in such a way that if there is an earthquake they will fall out rather than in. Each side of the Taj is 185 ft long. The stone inlay work is incredibly intricate and is made from precious stones. The technique was passed down from father to son and remained in the family. Women were not allowed to know how it was done for fear they would pass it on to their new husbands family. These skills are being kept alive today and a few family's still create the most gorgeous inlaid marble pieces. We bought a small piece.. they are expensive and heavy, but worth it. Photography was only allowed of the outside of the Taj. We wound up buying an "official" book because I wanted pictures of the interior. The intricate work of the inlays and the lattice is simply stunning. The gardens are serene and peaceful and we didn't want to leave. The only disappointment is that renovation was being done on the waterways and fountains so they were empty. I am so glad we did not see the Taj at the beginning of our trip.

Main entrance to Taj

Inlay with semiprecious stones

Our next stop was one of the local marble cooperatives where we were shown a demonstration on how they created the beautiful inlay work we had seen. It is a very tedious and exacting skill. Lunch in one of the good hotels was delicious... Uh Oh, I was really getting use to and liking Indian food! I never thought that would happen.

small piece we bought

detail

Our next stop was Agra Fort. Most of it is off limits as it is being used by the Indian Army. It is no small complex. Shah Jahan spared nothing when he expanded the fort area. The Palace is built of the same white marble as the Taj. The red is the sandstone. The details of the inlays are exquisite and said to be done by the same artisans who did the Taj Mahal. It sits across the river from the Taj Mahal. In his later years, Shah Jahan was overthrown by his third son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in the Palace in what is referred to as the Jasmine Tower. He died 8 years later in his daughters arms looking across the river at the Taj. He was buried next to his beloved wife.

Fatehpur Sikri entrance

Next on our agenda was Fatehpur Sikri fort which sits about 39 kilometers from Agra. It was the first planned city of the Mughal emperors and was constructed by Akbar. It took 14 years to build but was soon abandoned as it did not have enough water to sustain the population. It was built to honor a Sufi saint who predicted the birth of a son to Akbar. The construction shows the influence of Hindu, Jain, and Islamic styles. Local lore has it that Akbar had 3 wives.. one Hindu, one Christian, and one Islamic. Each of them had their own areas in the complex and some of the designs here would seem to support this. This was the end of our official sightseeing, but not the end of the day.

As I had mentioned in previous posts, our guides were very tuned into my interests. Sunil was no different. He took us to a place that did Zardozi embroidery. This is a 3 dimensional technique where the artist builds up layers and layers of stitches and then adds gorgeous colored silk threads, gold and silver threads, and gemstones to produce very rich and intricate pieces. It has the look of trapunto but it is not. This art form was patronized by the Mughal emperors but because of the price of gold these days has become very expensive. You can see this type of work on evening bags, saris, and wall art. I forgot to take pictures! The pieces were beautiful, but not my style.

Since the beginning of our trip, I wanted to buy a pair of earrings that were Indian in flavor but not big. Most of the places we looked were either geared for tourists or just did not have what I was looking for..... and I didn't want to haggle. Gold is expensive these days and I did not want to spend another fortune on something I didn't really need. Sunil is engaged to be married in February and he took me to his mother's jeweler who was nice enough to stay open a bit later for us. Most jewelry in India is custom made.... you buy the weight of gold you want and then you design the pieces which are made from it. We walk in and first thing we see is a guard sitting with a shotgun in the vestibule! We had seen this in other places but they were large stores that catered to more mass market. I really did know what I was looking for and unlucky for Ned, I found a lovely pair of earrings that were well within the budget I had set. It was a nice way to top off a fantastic last day in India.

I asked Sunil lots of questions about Indian weddings and customs and he was more than willing to answer my questions. His is an arranged marriage as are most Hindu marriages, however, both the prospective bride and groom had to agree. I suspect this is not the case in the outlying villages. I wish them both a lot of luck.

He dropped us off at the train station for our trip back to Delhi where we were picked up by the local representative and taken to the airport for our trip home. If you haven't figured it out yet, we loved India and had a fantastic trip! I intend to go back.

Next posts will be of the textiles we bought. Some won't be till the end of the month because we bought some as gifts and I would like there to be some surprises.

I know many of you have been following our trip and I thank you for taking the time out to read the posts, and a special thank you to those who have left comments and written privately to me. I really have enjoyed writing this up. I have never kept a journal before so this is a way for me to have something besides pictures.