Something About Nothing

 I had a big birthday this year: 60 years. My sister wanted it to be an especially fun birthday so she planned a fun weekend for the two of us. I flew to California and we went to San Francisco, one of our favorite cities to celebrate. We stayed in a beautiful little VRBO apartment in Mill Valley. My sister brought her cat too. We all had a wonderful time. We shopped at Dharma Trading Company , or rather I shopped, my sister watched. We ate well. And of course had to add lot of treats. We had delicious Cruffles at Sift. Especially loved the brownie Cruffle. I would definitely buy it again. Had my usual nausea riding the hills. Shopped at Flax Art Supply . Lots of beautiful books, bags and all the art supplies. My sister made the best chicken parm.. .  . . . And a homemade German's Chocolate Cake! My favorite!!! We spent a perfect day at Stinson Beach . . . . . with all the birds We had a good time naming them and giving them each their own voice. This is 60! There were a few o...

Took a little trip out to Chicago to see my sister and we had to go to The Art Institute of Chicago.  It is my sister's favorite place and I have not gone in many, many years. It was a delightful afternoon, which had to be cut short because we didn't realize they closed at 5 p.m. Because of our short time available we made a plan to visit the Rodin exhibit, the impressionists, and a quilt exhibit! Rodin's sculptures were amazing!  The quilt exhibit was called: Making Memories: Quilts as Souvenirs One of my favorite things about seeing paintings is being able to look up close to see the paint strokes. I absolutely love Van Gogh Look at all the colors in there! And those short strokes of thick paint. Yummy. A very fun day with Sistah.

     My Mother and Grandmother were not really sewers or quilters although they had their moments of trying. Grandma told me she made quilts during her years as a stay-at-home mom living in a holler in West Virginia but it wasn't a skill she kept when she moved to the big city of Chicago during the 1950's.  After I made a few quilts in the late '70's, she decided to make one from patches of cloth she cut out from her polyester pants suits.       We affectionally called it "The Ugly Quilt." Grandma Marie raking the back yard in West Virginia      Unfortunately the quilt was not attached securely to the top of our car when we were moving one year and was blown away on the freeway, lost for all time.  I'm still very sad about losing that quilt, even if it was ugly, it was the only quilt I had from Grandma.  Grandma's real skills were in the kitchen.      She was a really good cook. ...

I put together a Turning Twenty quilt for my sister and her fiancé.  I had every intention of quilting it myself but I felt so stressed every time I thought about quilting it. Vicky, who is an excellent long arm quilter, had already volunteered her services, if I wanted them, in exchange for some sewing I was doing for her.  My stress levels virtually disappeared when I gave her the quilt!  I got the quilt back in time to sew on one side of the binding.   I brought the quilt in the car and finished the rest of the binding by hand. It only took me from Elko to Reno. I took a photo of the completed quilt in our hotel room in Berkeley. Here are my sister and her wife reading the card after the wedding. Was it selfish of me to track them down and make them open their gift in front of me? Probably. . .sorry about that sis. . . . . .but it was worth seeing their reactions. They loved the quilt. For me the best part of a present is watching ...

I like to dabble in animal portraits and have drawn several in charcoal and pastels but never done a painting.  My sister has been bugging me for the past several years to create a portrait of her latest addition, Wesley. He is an adorable, ball obsessed, Momma lovin' boy.  I had put the task off because I didn't have a good photo of him so while they were visiting during Christmas I did my best to get a good photo of him.  He was feeling dejected because Mom was dealing with Christmas and wasn't sitting with him. I decided that this photo captured him beautifully.  I started taking painting classes in January and decided to try painting his portrait for my sister's birthday at the end of April. I started with a black and white study that was okay for a start but I knew I had a long way to go. I laid in the darks and lights in the new attempt.  His paw was awkward and needed fixing and his eyes weren't quite right. With a bit of work o...