Musings from a Dreamer

Houston!

2011-11-03T22:49:00.007-05:00

We have arrived! This is the first road trip my daughter and I have taken together in years. She agreed to come with me to the International Quilt Festival in Houston.
We had an uneventful drive and spent most of the time counting the 'Buck-ee' reststop billboard sightings. There must be something like 50 billboards along the route and we plan to stop to visit Buck-ee on the way home. We had fun catching up on politics from the perspective of a 20 something vs. a middle aged something.
I terribly underestimated the location of our hotel so we are somewhere off of highway 10, roughly 30 minutes from the convention center. Anyway, we are here.
To our delight, the hotel has a happy hour each evening with 'drink specials' and 'free appetizers'. We decided to partake of the merriment and the entire experience made for great comic relief. We headed to the bar, making our way past what we thought was a closed lunch buffet. In the distance we spotted a buffet table filled with delicious looking finger sandwiches, chicken wings, fresh fruits and vegetables and other tidbits that had us salivating. We decided to start at one end and make our way to the fully stocked bar where we would order a nice blush and enjoy our food. -- That was until a really, really nice waitress quietly came up to us as we picking up our plates and asked if we were 'with the group'. Group? My first thought was - 'we could be' but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Apparently, we walked into a corporate happy hour and the 'closed lunch buffet' we passed when we walked in was for us. These 'free appetizers consisted of left over cheese cubes, a sleeve of crackers, a jar of salted peanuts and a steam tray we were afraid to open. All we could think to do to hide our embarrassment was to quickly hide at the bar and order a drink. Gulp! Slurp! We were done and out of there.
Somewhere in this story is a moral but I will post it later, after I figure out what it is.

ATC Swap

2011-09-26T12:54:00.013-05:00

Tonight, the Dallas Area Fiber Artists will have an ATC swap as the mini workshop. Aside from meeting the size requirement of 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches, the only other criteria is 50% fabric. I decided to try a technique that is new to me - Discharge Paste mixed with fabric paint. I used a hand dyed piece that I wasn't in love with and added images with a stencil of a butterfly and texture with a couple of text stamps. I then ironed the fabric using lots of steam and the result is a very interesting piece.
I fused it to Peltex, added some thread sketching and cut it to ATC size. A little foil and a backing and I was done. I am very happy with the results. I have an extra piece of discharged fabric that I cannot wait to use. Here are a few pictures - the first one is a shot of the ATCs pinned to my 'design wall'. The 'design wall' in this case was the back of my desk chair - what can I say, it is padded and fabric and the correct height for the fan to reach it to dry the glue.

cut to ATC size and pinned to 'design wall'

after foiling and before treating the edges with black paint

here is the extra piece and what the fabric looked like before stitching and foiling

One of the Employee Resource Groups at my place of employment is sponsoring its second annual art show. The show is for any and all employees who wants to show their creative side. There are not real rules just different categories and an opportunity to donate your work to raise funds for the Special Olympics. I decided to enter this year and submitted the following pieces.

'Marsh Grass' is one of my favorites

'En Pointe' displayed with the Twisted Stitchers special exhibit at the Dallas Quilt Show 2010

'City Lights' displayed with the DAFA special exhibit at the Dallas Quilt Show 2010

When I dropped my piece off, it was wonderful to see how many boxes were lined up with submissions from employees and/or family from around the country including Alaska and Mexico. They will hang the works October 3rd and I cannot wait to see the show. I did get a glimpse of a piece from an associate in Mexico that was painted tile - it was wonderful! I will post pictures ...

We Will Never Forget

2011-09-11T22:53:00.005-05:00

Deborah Boschert Inspires the Dallas Quilt Guild

2011-09-02T00:33:00.005-05:00

Today was a good day. My friend Deborah Boschertwho used to reside in Texas and who is a member of the Twisted Stitchers friendship art quilt group, presented the September program for the Dallas Quilters' Guild. She gave a wonder talk on the 12 X 12 Quilt Collaboration project, sharing her inspiration for interpreting the various themes the 'Twelves' were presented with. Here is Deborah with her set of Color Play quilts. Today was the last reveal for the Color Play series. The lower right hand corner is Deborah's interpretation of the color orange - Hibiscus. I like her use of 3 dimensional embellishments and the abstract nature of her work. I always enjoy visiting the 12 X 12 blog on reveal day. To see Deborah's work and the works of the other 'Twelves', you will have to visit the International Quilt Festival in Houston this fall. There is a link to the 12 X 12 blog on the left.

Donation Quilt

2011-08-31T23:05:00.004-05:00

I finally finished binding the quilt I am donating to the Frisco, TX Firefighters Association Benevolence Fundraiser. I purchased the quilt top at an estate sale a couple of years ago and my friend Carol Morrisey quilted it for me. The pattern is either a stack and whack or a one block wonder. Either way it is fussy cut from fish fabric. The woman who made the top passed away and her daughter sold off some of the dozens of quilt tops her mother had created. Carol quilted some pebbles and outlined the center designs. It is a nice quilt and I hope it raises enough money to help the recipient family. I will post a picture tomorrow.

Hello Again

2011-08-27T15:20:00.024-05:00

The sleeping quilter awakes. Ahhh - it has been what - 2 years since I last posted? What can I say, I have been busy, very busy and very tired. Almost every day I think about adding a new post to let my friends and followers know I am still in this world. Today I vow to change from an every 2 year update to at least once every two weeks.
A brief synopsis - I went on a quilting cruise with my lovely mother in 2010 and I received an Honorable Mention at the Dallas Quilt Celebration this past March - that's it. In reality, I have done much more but I won't take up precious blog space covering every detail now. In time...
Right now I am making meatballs and spaghetti. I was watching a show called 'Cooking Yourself Thin' or something like that, where the hosts take a calorie laden dish and redux it using less fat, less sodium, less creamy deliciousness while keeping the flavors. I'm no food stylist but yummy..........

Getting back to art and artistic endeavors...for a while my creative mojo went on vacation. I believe my brain was so full of work 'things' there was no room for creativity to flourish. I struggled to come up with ideas and my motivation was absent. I challenged myself during Lent to either create a piece of art each day or finish a UFO. I was somewhat successful and pleased that some pieces I have had for years were finally quilted.

Here is a piece that has been around for 4 or 5 years.

I was also able to work out a few ideas I had floating in my head. The Lenten project idea came from my friend Deborah Boschert, who by the way is having an excellent year. I will show pictures later because of course I cannot find these gems right now.

The one thing that did not change was my desire to purchase fabric and gadgets, gadgets I haven't used and cannot find. My daughter has instructions to not let me buy one more inch of fabric, yet I manage to sneak in a fat quarter or half yard every now and then. I think this is my crack.

I have been dying to dye for some time now. About a month ago, I took some time and dyed a 12 step gradation.

I love it! I have no real plans to use the fabric but the whole idea of playing with color makes me happy. I'll just pet it for now.

2009-11-30T22:17:00.004-06:00

I found this in my draft folder. Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I am still so very thankful. (I even finished a few more pieces since then.)

I am so thankful for everything in my life. My friends, my ability to make a living and take care of myself, my loving family and my health. I spent Thanksgiving weekend finishing or at least mostly finishing - quilting projects I started within the past 2 years, patterns and fabric I bought years ago but never started, hand finishing bindings on wall hangings, thread painting pieces started some time ago that I wasn't sure what to do with. I am quite pleased with myself. I have these things hanging all over the place....First thought is that it is two days off from work and time to sleep late and do what I want when I want but the more reflective time I spend, the moreI am thankful for all that I have and all that I am able to do with my hands and my mind.

Back to Life

2009-11-14T20:51:00.015-06:00

I had a breath of fresh air this week. I went to a meeting of the Twisted Stitchers, something I haven't done in months. It felt good to have people excited to see you and to be excited to see them. Tonya, Carol, Sharon and Judy were there working on projects for the upcoming Dallas Quilt Show. I brought a project from the Prayers and Squares Quilt Ministryt to work on. I managed to only sew parts of 3 blocks the wrong way.

The quilt store where we meet, Quilt Country, is sponsoring a cruise to Alaska next summer featuring Carol as the main instructor. I am giving this serious consideration... I left our meeting inspired to do something, anything creative. I decided to make a wall hanging of the Man in the Maze. My friend Lorraine bought me a bracelet while on vacation in Sedona. This was my inspiration for the quilt. I was hoping to make it for the 12X12 challenge but it is too big. I made two patterns so maybe I will make the smaller one for the challenge. We will see - there is a boatload of cutting that gives you something like this:

but then you can change this garbled bunch of fabric into a positive

and a negative. They are fused and waiting for finishing work.

Ahhh! Feels so good to blog...

Shoot Me Now!!

2009-08-19T23:00:00.010-05:00

Okay, so it is Wednesday and I am catching up on some mindless television. I thought Toddlers and Tiaras was disturbing but now I am watching a show called Truth Be Told. This week the show is about crazy, obsessive pet owners. Eleven cats! Yikes - that's a lot of poop scooping - and their names - Georgie Porgie Puddin Pie-come on. And this lady with this monkey - okay so he is a service monkey - and she has agoraphobia - but a monkey, in a stoller, wearing matching clothes - you just cannot domesticate everything. For grins, I looked up the definition of agoraphobia - whatcha think - a monkey for comfort - embarrassing situations??? Thank goodness the Health Dept. stepped in and won't allow 'Richard' the monkey in stores with food. Somehow I don't think agoraphobia is the worst of her problems. Did she not hear about the pet monkey attack that practically killed a woman???
Now - a Pageant Dog - and the owner wipes the dog's ass - I would go to my grave before admitting to something like that on tv. The dog has a better wardrobe than the owner.

I don't want any animal lovers to be upset with me - I love animals, have had dogs in my life and currently have a kitty - I just don't get anyone over the age of 10 dressing their pets in 'outfits' and letting animals climb on counters where you cook and eat - after all animals have their own special way of 'cleaning' themselves and I don't want those lips anywhere near my food. Hmmm...Swine Flu comes to mind... Oh stop it - now there are balloons and decorations (what else but Hello Kitty) for the cat birthday party - and catnip (kitty pot), look at them, they have the munchies now. Now the monkey lady wants to sue the county because she cannot bring the monkey into the grocery store. Let me change the station

What I really wanted to say in this post is - knitting is taking up my time. I am working on a Noni pattern called Urban Daily Adventure Bag. I am directing my creative energies in a different direction for a bit - kinda like cross training.

Happy August!

2009-08-09T19:04:00.020-05:00

Since my last post, I have been busy doing things I love to do. I spent a day at United Cerebral Palsy , helping the clients celebrate the Fourth of July. This is the second or third year we have done this at work. We started with a cookout, a craft project and ended with a parade around the facility. I made a few new friends that I look forward to seeing again. I also spent quite a bit of time and energy on team for another ACTS retreat. Most normal people would have been done after the retreat on Mother's Day weekend but I have never been considered normal, even on my best day. I promised my friend Jessica that I would assist on team when her church had their first retreat and I try to honor my promises when possible. And as if I hadn't had enough, I was asked to be a co-director for the next retreat given by my church - sigh. I'm going to take 2010 off.
I managed to make a couple of art pieces. One was rejected by the Texas Fiber Arts Federation for their annual show - phooey.

I made a couple of small pieces using techniques from Kelli Perkins Quilting Arts Workshop - Stitch Imagery. I don't have pics on this computer so I will post them later. I also decided to knit and felt a couple of purses. I was inspired by a simple, yet beautiful purse Suzanne Morgan brought to one of our DAFA Board meetings. True to my nature, I had to try making one for myself. Here is the felted purse. I will needle felt a design later. I was very happy with the results and was inspired to make a cell phone holder. I used a pattern from Pursenalities Plus. The amount of shrinkage amazes me:

Pre-felted piece, look at how much room there is.

After felting and with snap closure.

Pre-felted piece

Finished piece with heart shape covering the magnet snap.

Life's a journey....

Terri and Sue have a Summer Giveaway of some of their hand dyes, books and other great stuff. Check out Two Creative Studios to sign up for their newsletter and to read more about it.

Still Here

2009-05-26T09:43:00.007-05:00

I am still alive and kicking and working on a few pieces. Life has gotten in the way a bit but I have managed to start working on a few new techniques.

I have created this little ditty for our Art Swap tonight at the Dallas Area Fiber Artists meeting. I used a technique I learned on a QA Workshop video to make the flowers and I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. I waited until last night to start this even while I had other 'starts' laying all over the place. I didn't have time to think so I 'did' and I like the results. When will I stop overthinking every single thing I do????? It is a small (4 X 9) felted piece with flowers made of sparkle organza. Some other techniques I have been experimenting with are turning photographs into small artful pieces. These are in progress. The fabric version is in UFO status. This photo
became this watercolor piece which will become a cloth piece.

This watercolor piece started out like thisStill working ...

Collage Mania is On!

2009-05-06T07:38:00.003-05:00

Collage Mania is on!
Go - buy - support - the American Cancer Society. There are still some beautiful pieces available. Today, the collages are available for a minimum contribution of $40. This is such a wonderful way to raise money where everyone benefits - the American Cancer Society receives the funds, the artist gains exposure and a feeling of community, and the donor receives a piece of art.
Collage Mania will be open until midnight.

Tote that Mat

2009-04-13T22:04:00.004-05:00

Working on making a tote to carry supplies to class. Now to find a class...

front of tote, big blue square is a pocket to hold square ruler

inside of tote, entire length will contain cutting board and there are double set of pockets on either side

These are lousy pictures, hopefully the next set will be better.

2009-04-07T22:17:00.007-05:00

I finished my entry for Collage Mania and got my picture in on time. I made a series of two and decided to keep one for my collection.I will post pictures later. I screened some of the fabric using the screens I purchased from Ginny Eckley during a DAFA meeting. I had a lot of fun and will post pictures of the screened fabric later. I really anguished over these pieces and I am not sure why. In addition to some screened fabric the collage pieces have some fabric beads and Chinese coins.
Bought a couple of new books: Mixed Emulsions Altered Techniques Photographic by Angela Cartwright (yes the one from Lost in Space and Sound of Music fame) and Exhibition 36 Mixed Demonstrations+Explorations.

Merry March

2009-03-17T00:41:00.009-05:00

Once again, I have over committed and blogging has fallen to the bottom of the list. Strange how one of my most therapeutic activities I don't find the time for.
I did completed my leaf for the International Fiber Collaborative 'Interdependence' tree project. I found a piece of needle felted wool I made from a recycled Goodwill jacket and cut it into a ginkgo leave. I fused it to a piece of black felt and stitched the veins and outline in metallic thread- added my name and was ready to go.

Attended the Dallas Quilt Celebration and was happy to see the work and ribbons of my friends Tonya, Lu, Deborah and Judy. This year I attended the mini auction and did I ever have a fun time! I set a limit and found a few pieces I would go over the limit for and I waited. Here comes piece number 1 and the opening bid was more than half of my limit - it was over before it started for me - damn! I will start saving now for next year.

Tonight I made rosaries at the church. We dismantled necklaces and reassembled them into beautiful rosaries. No pics - maybe next time.

Done!

2009-02-07T12:11:00.010-06:00

Finished, Done, Finit!!! Last weekend I put the finishing touches on our Black History Month building presence displays for work. It is amazing what you can do when you don't think about being tired and you want to deliver something you feel is spectacular. The theme this year is Education = Inform, Improve, Inspire and it was my job to translate it into something visual.

This is what we came up with- 6.5 ft. tall by 2 ft. wide display cubes. The 'we' is me and Bill Wegener from Color Enlargement. Karen joined us and the three of us spent Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday building and assembling the boxes and the lobby display. Everything fell into place and come Monday morning, there were 9 display cubes strategically placed around the building. They are a big hit - our building needed something different and light to brighten it up. Here is a picture of the lobby display - the faces across the top are of our Quiet Historians. I missed a live viewing of the Super Bowl so I watched it in about 30 minutes Sunday night. Looks like it was a good game.

Before starting work on the display, I managed to complete a small piece for the 'Rock On' challenge sponsored by Quilting Arts. I've always thought the idea of stage diving was pretty cool, trusting all of those outstretched hands...

2009-01-22T00:05:00.010-06:00

Some of my favorite photos. My thanks to the many photographers who shared their work on the web.

Saturday

2009-01-19T18:37:00.024-06:00

Saturday, I tookDeborah Boschert's class 'Small Art Quilts: Designing a Series' sponsored by the Denton Quilt Guild. Deborah with class samples

My theme word for the day was 'balance' and this was a great way to start a day of creating.

Tonya's handiwork

Jo with all of her floss in a mound

Jo's handiwork

Becky Jackson

Mickey

Johanna

I decided to challenge myself by working in colors I normally don't use - the dreaded blues and purples. I was so uncomfortable without a red, orange, yellow or green, I finally broke down and added a piece of red and ditched one of the lighter blues. I used a bird as my common image which is another challenge because circles and squares are my comfort zone. So now I have some abstract pieces that I like more today than Saturday. They are not finished but here is a look at where I am now. I worked on the series today, along with a busines card holder the I have pre-sold to a friend.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that '24' is back with Jack Bauer and his man bag? There was even a techie duel between Chloe and an FBI techie played by Janeane Garofalo...pretty darn good although I think Chloe can kick anybody's ass. She is awesome on the keyboard, can backdoor into any computer system and has got skills with an automatic weapon. There is even a female president this year. I think '24' is ahead of it's time.

What's really on my mind - Inauguration Day! I am so very excited about tomorrow and what it means to the country. I am hopeful that we will pull together as a nation and begin to dig ourselves out of this mess we are in, knowing it will take time. I have programmed everything in my house to record the events...wonder if I can still find an Obama bobblehead,

Computer Blues

2009-01-12T18:32:00.003-06:00

Let us all pray that my computer can be fixed...

Thank you Tonya for the beautiful birthday card.

my friends are so good to me...

2009-01-09T21:31:00.008-06:00

BABY LOVE

Fat little fingers
Chubby little toes
Angelic little faces
The cutest baby clothes

The joys of bringing baby home
Will start on that very first day
But after about a week or so
You’ll be begging – ‘someone, please show me the way’

Yea, sure, they start off all sweet and sleepy
All knotted up in an itty bitty ball
Your hormones may even make you a bit weepy
As you envision when he first starts to crawl!

Your family – they will stay for a while
Support they will hand out in droves
Be brave when they leave – BIG SMILE
Now you have to wash all the clothes!

Oh, you will still have the fat little fingers
And the cute, chubby little baby toes
But if you don’t have a nanny named Inga
You’ll be the one wiping snot from his nose,

And the spit-up from off your shoulder,
And the poop - ‘cause the diaper was loose
But…, You will tighten the diaper and get bolder!
You will move up from milk to the juice!

You’ll marvel at all of his parts
So perfect in every single way
It’s the love that you have for your baby
That will always make for a wonderful day!

Congratulations!

Someone actually got a little choked up when I read this.
Today we hosted a baby shower for John and Ya-Fang. They are having their first child - a baby boy - in ten days. They are young and cute and unaware of the love that will move in and take over their hearts. This poem was one of my gifts to them - a special request from my friend Karen. Art comes in all forms.
.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T19:12:00.017-06:00

I wish you a happy, healthy, creative 2009. Having said that, I am still not over the flu/cold/virus or whatever it is that has a hold of my head. I had to give up the NyQuil because I was waking up disoriented and it would take all day to get my head right again. I have been on vacation since Christmas Eve so that has helped.

I have a wonderful family and fantastic friends. They went to great lengths to make sure my birthday was fun. Most things did not happen as planned and I still had the best day. We had Thai food (twice),

partners in crime Karen and Camille

took a trip to IKEA - was overwhelmed by the crowd and left empty-handed and tried twice to see the new Clint Eastwood movie - Gran Torino. Who knew the movie was so popular? We toasted with Pomegrante and Apple Martinis birthday cake, ice cream and Martinis

and strolled around the Shops at Legacy. My good friend Linda had two dozen roses (beautiful, two toned roses) for me and an inspiring card with some great horoscope messages. This was the first time I went out with my daughter where we were able to toast to each other - I love it!

I worked on several pieces,

part of my empty nest

made some gelatin prints, a leopard print camera case for my daughter's new camera.

Tomorrow will be a sad day - I go back to work after a week and a half off and Camille heads back to the chilly northeast. Her leaving is the saddest - we had a great time and I am proud of the young lady she has become.

Liz and Cam - 80 degrees in January!

She is going to spend some time with her Grandma in NYC and I am comforted that she will still be with family.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T22:25:00.006-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone!
Last night, my daughter and I finally put up our tree! This seems to be our tradition of late - putting the tree up on Christmas Eve. All I really wanted was something festive and light in the house so we didn't fuss over ornaments. We rearranged the furniture and carved out a spot for the tree. I celebrated midnight Mass with the Pope while we wrapped gifts in our respective rooms.

Santa was very good to us. We talked to Grandma and Uncle Mike - the very best part of the day. I have a beautiful set of hand painted mugs, an Art and Design in Photoshop book, lingerie, new slippers, aromatherapy spa socks (yum) and a gift certificate to one of my favorite stores. Santa brought Cam clothes, a purse, a laptop and a camera.

We made Chicken Enchilada soup for dinner and had chocolate chip mint ice cream for dessert - yummy! We even had special treats for Indie - chicken bites - Cam made her sing the meow mix song for a treat.

Christmas was a beautiful, peaceful day. I hope it was the same for you.

I have the flu and everything hurts - ugh!!!

Saturday Evening

2008-12-14T16:18:00.014-06:00

Saturday evening, I attended Ashley's graduation (with honors). She received her Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Specialization in Elementary Education.

Not sure what was on my mind - ceremony started at 5:00, seemed like a 4:45 arrival time would be perfect - WRONG! OMG! Traffic was backed up onto the highway and just inched along. It took almost as long to travel the last mile as it took to travel the 45 miles from Garland to the school. Complaining aside, I was thrilled for Ashley and her family. We were her fan club, complete with a sign and flashing cameras. Mom and Dad, Monique and Gene, were there of course.

Aunts Toni and Dreama also flew in for the ceremony. It was so nice to see Ashley's family again and the next time I visit Monique in New Jersey, Dreama will drive up and we will have a pajama party.

Christmas Music

2008-12-11T10:14:00.006-06:00

I heard this on the radio on the way in to work today. These guys are fantastic - Straight No Chaser - enjoy!

I've always wanted one but been too embarrassed to buy it. No brown paper wrappers and sneaking around in the dark to get it either. Instead, I stole it! That's right, in broad daylight and in front of at least 60 people, I stole it and got away with it - drum roll please...my very own Chia Bugs Bunny Handmade Decorative Planter!

Applause! Applause!

Dinner with the Twisted Stitchers

2008-12-10T22:59:00.009-06:00

Tonight I met my friends Deborah, Tonya, Sharon, Judy and Carol aka Twisted Stitchers at LaMadeline in Lewisville. It was so great to see everyone.
Deborah is published in the latest edition of Somerset SEW; Tonya and Sharon showered us with gifts of fused glass jewelry and Christmas socks; Judy showed us an amusing presentation on how to photograph your quilts; Carol showed us some some photos from the 1990's of painted vests (woo hoo!) and all of them gave me suggestions on how to finish a piece I have been working on.

On Blogging...
Tonya has decided to take the blogging plunge, Deborah is celebrating her4 year blog anniversity, Carol has promised to blog more often in 2009, Judy has committed to blogging annually and we are going to work on Sharon. What a group!

Follow me...
I have added a Follow Me widget so go ahead and subscribe - please. It makes me feel good to know you are interested in what is going on in my world and I even promise to update more often.

Is it December already?

2008-12-07T19:16:00.044-06:00

A lot has happened since my last update. The event I am happiest about is our new President-elect - Mr. Barack Obama. I truly believe the team who will do the most to help our country won the election. I still have nightmares when Palin's name creeps into my head (shudder). Obama and Biden have a daunting task ahead of them but I believe they can handle it. During this time of instant gratification, I hope we, the American people, understand that it took eight years to get into this mess and it will take time to climb out.

I went to Boston to visit with my daughter. Here she is looking a little rumpled.
She actually lives in Brighton but if you cross a street, you are in Boston. I really like Boston/Brighton, or whatever - all except for the parking. It stinks big time. What is it with 'Resident Only' parking? There is 'Visitors Parking' but that's like 6 spaces (okay, maybe 10)for an entire neighborhood and between the hours of 8:00 am and 6:00 pm you can only park in the same spot for 2 hours. It is worse than New York City because I had to go out in the cold every 2 hours to move the damn car. Sucks big time and yes, I got a ticket (or 2). I suppose it could be worse (how you ask) - she could live in Brookline - they have NO overnight parking for visitors. I have no idea how it works and don't really even care. We found out too late that you can get a temporary 'Resident' sticker - next time...

I took an interesting Nuno Felting class from DAFA member Suzanne Morgan. Here she is showing us a couple of her pieces for inspiration.

I invited my friend Linda, who is waiting for the next instruction
and coworker Lorraine, whose passion is knitting and spinning. She is a member of the Dallas Hand Knitters Guild.
Along with the usual suspects - Deborah
and Lu

and Michelle
we had alot of fun embedding silk into prefelts, rubbing, rolling and beating the hell out of our pieces.

I finished the graduation quilt I was making for Tessa. It's made from feedsack fabrics and it's a great quilt to wrap up in while watching television on those cold Seattle nights.
I cooked an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. Ashley, a friend of my daughter, joined me and we had a great time. She brought me a beautiful bouquet that one day will end up in a quilt.

My brother celebrated a birthday on Dec. 5th so I made him a birthday postcard using Grungeboard. It's a pretty interesting material to work with as you can sew and paint it. I used copper and bronze paints and orange foil to add texture and glimmer. I love this card! Happy birthday Mike.

Guess I will go put up the tree...

Damn Girl, Where Have You Been?

2008-10-14T20:57:00.009-05:00

Good question. Where have I been?

Let's see, I can blame it on several things: jury duty and death penalties, New York City and Mom's 80th Birthday celebration, yoga, yoga, yoga and today - layoffs at work.

In July, we ended the penalty phase of the trial. What trial you may ask - I couldn't or rather, didn't want to talk about it. Ten hours of emotional deliberations later, we were unanimous in our decision. I served with twelve wonderful and fair people. I wish them all the best and that we never have to serve again. FYI - for added fun, I was called to serve on a Municipal jury - traffic; I suppose we are entitled to our day in court.

August 14, Mom celebrated her 80th birthday. My brother travelled to NY from CA and I from TX. We had a great time - dinner at Ruth Crist Steak House - delish! New York City sponsors many great events or 'happenings' to coin an old phrase. This summer, Park Avenue was closed to traffic from Central Park all the way down to 'I don't know where'. It became a pedestrian mall for walkers, skaters, bikers and you name it. We, as a family decided to take a walk and it turned out to be the longest walk of my life. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 miles - yeah, that's right -17 great miles. We started at 115th street, through Central Park to Park Ave., down Park Ave. through the Village, China Town and other parts of town I don't know the name of, across the Brooklyn Bridge and back (stopping to see the 'Fountains' art exhibit), to Ground Zero and up the waterfront back to 115th St. Along the way, we grew closer as a family, rubbed blisters on our feet and got a glimpse of Tom Cruise and what it is like to be stalked by photographers. I also set up a card shower for Mom, asking my friends and coworkers to send her a card in hopes of getting 80 cards. She was surprised and grateful - and my brother didn't think I could pull it off - ha! (I can do a lot of things you don't think I can do - from getting 80 men and women to send birthday cards to someone they don't know to walking 17 miles in a day.)

Sometime in June, I started practicing Dahn Yoga. I show up in my yoga clothes with my yoga mat and my yoga attitude only to find out that Dahn yoga was not what I was expecting. It's better - I will talk more about this later.

Today, there were big layoffs at my job. I was at home working off a headache so my friends contacted me. I am very sad about this. There have been rumors floating around for a few weeks and we expected something, but we all hoped there would be more of a warning and that it would be handled differently. In the past, we had different times to report to work and we were told our status then. Today, as I understand it, HR visited people in their offices and took them for meeting to give the bad news. There were a lot of surprises. I am nervous about tomorrow since I missed today - don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight. I am feeling anxious now so I better stop. I will post pics of Mom's great looking 80 year old legs and NYC later.

Deborah's Book

2008-05-29T22:10:00.007-05:00

During my search for Omiyage: Handmade Gifts from Fabric in the Japanese Tradition by Kumiko Sudo, I came across a new book recently reviewed in some publication I read. I thumbed through the book and recognized a few pieces by my friend Deborah Boschert. Of course I have to have her autograph. (Deborah is the same person who picked my piece in the DAFA 'art swap'.) Congrats to Deborah! The name of the book is Creative Quilting with Beads I find it is a pretty good resource for creative use of embellishments and some fresh ideas for projects - the cover photo alone is intriguing.

Quick Update

2008-05-28T20:41:00.026-05:00

I am really tired, drained and getting ready to hit the sack but wanted to update before I was too far behind.

Water Heater Woes: my neighbor got in touch with a friend of his who specializes in maintaining water heaters for the Garland ISD.

Frank came over, told me the obvious ' your heater is broken', took me to Home Depot and Lowes and showed me what to buy. Frank returned Sunday morning to install the heater - what a nice man. He saved me over $150 dollars - love him and my neighbor!

These are the hands of a hard working man.

Dallas Area Fiber Artist: April meeting featured Deanna Wood on Artist’s Books: Concept and Form.

She showed us many different types and forms of handmade books.

There was also a mini workshop where we made a concertina book. We learned how to cover a chipboard cover with flawless execution. Great workshop.

For the May meeting we had a potluck dinner and a fun 'art swap'. I made a 10 X 10 piece out of linen, transfer dyed panne velvet, beads and a little embossed metal piece. Deborah was the lucky person to pick my piece. I must say, this group is very talented and extremely supportive. I picked a couple of beautiful origami folded 'treasure boxes'. The workmanship is exquisite. I will have to find a creative was to display them.

New works: remember those repro fabrics I bought for the baby quilt I forgot to take a picture of? Well I had so much fabric left over, I had to buy some colorful fill-ins and I made a feed sack quilt. Here is a picture of it in progress.

It still needs its borders. I also made a magic wand and a second piece matching the 'art swap' piece. The bottom piece is the swap piece. I added a 'window' on the right hand side that looks pretty cool. I will keep the second piece for myself. I also have 2 pillows in progress using the same idea. I will display pictures as I develop them.

Here is a picture of my 'Magic Wand'. I needed something fun to do over the weekend, as I was stressed thinking about what I had in store for the rest of the week. It is pretty cool.

Here is an experimental piece featuring cowrie shells. I have had this cowrie shell thought for a few months and I decided to use a technique from Quilting Arts Magazine. This is a picture of the 'pieces'. It has since been developed a little more. I think it is a bit dark, so I will have to figure a way to lighten it up and the tea bag paper is more prominent than I hoped. The fabric is painted and the shells are drawn on tea bags and adhered with gel medium.

I have more pieces in work, just no pictures. - Yet.

Off topic: have you ever seen a purple yam? I have seen them in the Asian grocery stores and mentioned it to a coworker. Jane brought me 2 purple yams that she painstakingly picked from a stack of yams. They were perfectly pointed on one end and were the perfect size. They are not purple while raw, but after cooking them, they are purple! See...

They taste like sweet potatoes but the texture is denser. They are pretty good and are sweet so you do not need to add brown sugar.

Lastly... I finally met Linda's brother, Jeff Zachmann. We went to Fort Worth Main Street Art Festival and he had a booth with his kinetic sculptures. His work is amazing and I stood there with the children, mouth open and watched the little metal balls whirl around. I am going to start saving my money now cause I want one. I liked the one that is a sofa table - the sound of the balls traveling around has the same affect as a fountain. Here is Jeff and Linda - by the way - the Art Festival was awesome - I recommend attending next year.

Until next time....

Water Heater Woes

2008-05-17T18:14:00.002-05:00

Lynn and Susan received their collages and were very happy with them. I finished (or mostly finished) the impromptu baby quilt and gave it to Alison for the baby shower. When she brings it back, I will add a label, some yo-yos and a pom pom or two and I am done. Everyone seems to like it but as usual I see all of the flaws and I am not too sure I like my method of quilt-as-you-go.
Now my woes - I looked out onto the patio and saw water or rather dampness. I go out to look a little closer and it seems that the pipe from the hot water heater has emptied water onto the patio as it is supposed to do in the event of an emergency (or something like that). Now the question becomes - what emergency? I try the hot water in the bathroom and it is not even lukewarm but I am in denial and plan to go about my business...until I go into the garage to make my escape from what I sense is impending doom. There is a nice stream of water running down one side of the garage. Yes, the water heater did something and the entire side of the garage is wet and I can still hear the water trickling. Christmas tree box - soaking wet, everything, everything, everything - wet. Now starts the process of cleaning up the water - ugh!!! Looks like the field mice that live across the alley moved in and left their little mice turds everywhere - what a pain.
Here comes next door neighbor, smiling cause he is getting a sprinkler system installed today. I was smiling like him when I got mine installed too. He wants to talk and the only thing in my head is cleaning this shit up and what the hell is wrong with this heater. I guess he doesn't notice the broom in my hand and the stream of water exiting the garage. I smile, share his joy and bring him to my page. He looks at the heater and tells me the water is running out - lightbulb moment! Anyway, he works maintenance for a management company and he calls his friend who specializes in hot water heaters...maybe his friend will call back. His daughter is off to her middle school dance and she stops by to show us how great she looks - she is beautiful and looks like a girl in middle school - yeah for her! I cleaned up half of the side with water because that's all I thought was there - that is until I looked around outside and saw other trickles around the slab- shit! I am going to the store!

Collage Mania

2008-05-09T23:13:00.004-05:00

They are in the mail. Full Circle I was sent to Susan Kennedy in Sugar Land, Texas and Full Circle II was sent to Lynn Krawczyk in Plymouth, Michigan. These 2 ladies absolutely made my week.

Overall, the Collage Mania auction brought in $12,000+ for the American Cancer Society during the 2 days. I think this is a fantastic accomplishment and I applaud Virginia Spiegel for taking on this tremendous task.

I also want to thank my Twisted Stitchers sisters (try saying that 5 times) for their kind words of encouragement. They are an accomplished group of award winning quilt artists who waited patiently for me to loosen up enough to share my work.

Oh yeah, I gave in and bought a few more feed sack/30's fabrics so I can make this scrappy thing I saw in some junk mail ad that came to the house (damn that junk mail). I am still working on the baby quilt- it must be completed by Wednesday because the recipient will be leaving for her daughter's baby shower on Thursday. I am glad I am doing it as a quilt-as-you-go because everythin so far is quilted...I just need something for 2 or 3 blank block, maybe hearts because they are easy to do...should work with the bears...so much for keeping it simple--why did I forget to add the darn sashing BEFORE quilting??????? S#@*!

More tomorrow...

Fiberart For A Cause!

2008-05-05T21:30:00.003-05:00

Today is the first day for purchasing collages at Collage Mania! Today, the pieces sell for a minimum donation of $80 to the American Cancer Society and tomorrow they sell for a minimum donation of $40. Guess who (and I am not naming any names) sold both of her pieces both of her pieces today? I am so excited I had to call my family and share the news. Now all I have to do is sign them and package them for mail. I will do my shopping at Collage Mania tomorrow. There are still plenty of pretty pieces available.

Thursday

2008-05-01T07:59:00.003-05:00

Yeah!! It's Thursday, one day before Friday and the weekend. This past weekend was productive: I made 2 purses using an Amy Butler pattern and started a baby quilt with the repro fabrics. I decided to make 12 inch blocks comprised of half square triangles. Each 12 in block has 25 half squares in a single color. I will set them with white blocks that have appliques of bears and hearts. I will add a picture later. Off to work now...there is a Dallas Guild meeting tonight. Will post about the DAFA meeting later.

As Far As I Will Go

2008-04-27T09:52:00.011-05:00

I am done! Done, done, done! The time between February and now is done, can't play catch-up any more.

There are a few things I would like to share. I had a couple of pieces accepted by Virginia Spiegel in her Fiber Arr For A Cause, Collage Mania 2008 . 100 percent of the proceeds benefits the American Cancer Society.

Full Circle 1

Full Circle 2

I was thrilled when I received an email from her telling me one of my pieces was featured on her April 9th Tuesday Blog. The preview starts Monday, April 28 and the auction starts Monday, May5.
I was looking at my copy of Quilting Arts, Studios, and on this pass, I was actually reading rather than staring at the pictures in awe. I love to see who is quoted and where they are from so it was no surprise when I saw a few comments from Texans. Oh look - someone from Garland - well maybe I know her - yep - it was me. I had to read it a few times to see what my quotable gem was because I answered the survey so long ago. Anyway, it was fun seeing my name in print.

On a recent trip to Boston to visit my daughter, I took a side trip to Stow, MA, home of Quilting Arts and Cloth, Paper, Scissors. It was a 40 minute drive from my hotel through some beautiful countryside. The trees weren't green yet but I can just imagine during the spring, summer and fall, it's paradise.

Speaking of green - I entered the Quilting Arts Go Green! challenge. The challenge is to make a 5 X 5 piece using materials you already have. I used the tea bag packaging and fibers to weave a background and added flowers punched and cut from fabric scraps and a horribly, ugly silk flower I have. I stitched in the stems and leaves but ended up adding beads and sequins to make them stand out. I added a flower made of paper beads and added a bit of nylon netting. The background was colored using fabric crayons as transfer dyes. Whew! I put quite a bit of effort into a 5 X 5 square!

I have been up to my old, sad, pathetic behavior again. I bought fabric (that's not new) but it's repro fabric - what the hell was wrong with me? I am a weak woman when there is a 'going out of business' sale. I ended up with pink and yellow fabric, and everyone knows you cannot do anything with pink and yellow, so I was forced to buy blue, green and purple to round out the palette. I confess, I AM WEAK!!!!!! As a consequence for exercising no self control, I must make a baby quilt for a friend who is becoming a grandma. This is a high risk pregnancy and the mom is on total bed rest. Off to make pinwheels or something...

2008 Highlights so far

2008-04-15T22:52:00.001-05:00

January:
I celebrated my birthday with my good friend Linda, her husband Larry and son Kyle. We went to The Tavern and dined on Prime Rib, mashed potatoes and peas. Yummy, delicious comfort food. Linda gave me a bouquet of beautiful, fragrant lillies.

I also enrolled in a couple of classes at Quilt University Patchwork Illusions with Karen Combs and a dyeing class with Marjie McWilliams. Here are a couple of the blocks I made during Patchwork Illusions:

The dyeing wasn't as successful. I struggled getting the red dye to take to the fabric. The dye bath that I poured down the drain was beautiful, the fabric sucked big time.

February:

Dallas Area Fiber Artists hosted the Federation of Fiber Artists Conference this year. The exhibit titled Horizons in Fiber 2008 was held at the Art Center of Plano. I enrolled in 2 workshops, one covering screen printing with Dawn Zero Erickson and one teaching 3D Shibori with Carol Lane Saber.

Dawn Zero Erickson

our supplies

Carol Lane Saber

our supplies

At the end of the month, I went on an ACTS Retreat with my church. ACTS stands for Adoration Community Theology and Service. I had a wonderful time and made several new friends. I found it interesting that you are identified by the church service you attend. To save you from asking, I attend the 7:30 am service.

Catching Up

2008-02-29T21:07:00.005-06:00

I started this entry in February (hence the date). It is now April and I am publishing. Atta girl Sherrie!

Happy April! I have quite a bit of catching up to do so let's get started.

December, 2007

I decided I needed a light box to photograph my etsy gems. Rather than spend the $100+ and buy one, I found directions on the internet for making my own light box. I purchased some pvc, various connectors, pvc glue, a white sheet and some colored poster board.I was rather pleased with the assembly and I am looking forward to using it.

I attended the Dallas Area Fiber Artists Christmas party and won the bid for some beautiful polymer clay beads and a composition by Flo Barry. I left the beads on their string and draped them over a mirror I have in the dining room. Will I be able to use them? Who knows.

I decided to make a project outlined in Quilting Arts Magazine. I made some amulet necklaces. They are made with acrylic felt that is embellished to look like leather on the outside. Foil has been added to the inside for some bling. These pictures show the outside and inside. The blue one is mostly completed with beads and cords.

outside of amulets

inside of amulets with foil applied

completed amulet

I also made a few check book covers using a free pattern from Fiber and Stitch.

And just for grins, I will show some of the loot I purchased at the International Quilt Show in November. This is a guilt thing since I exercised absolutely no self control:

here are some beautiful glass beads and buttons

here are my Artgirlz treasures.

some Stewart Gill Paints

silk fabric squares in various colors

variety pack of various silk odds and ends from Treenway Silks

Wonderfil Thread variety pack

During Christmas vacation, an old friend from my days at EDS was in town visiting. Reverend Carolyn Byars came by and we visited with another friend of hers. Carolyn is in the middle.

Final item to share for the month of December is a wall hanging I created. Here is a layout using some of the polymer clay masks I made. The masks leave much to be desired and haven't made it onto the quilt yet.

Okay, I will take a break now.

Season's Greetings

2007-12-02T08:28:00.001-06:00

Time to catch up. Let's start with Houston International. This was the first time I was able to attend for more than one day. We started our adventure on Preview Night. The 'we' is my good friend Linda and her Mom who came down from Minnesota for the show. With the precision and focus of treasure hunters, we marked our map of vendors and took off with list in hand. I really should clarify this - I was the only one with a list, they were 'browsers', I was serious. In the end, of course I spent too much money but I had a blast. I attended a 'Make It, Take It' mini-workshop with Sue Bleiweiss and created a mini padfolio. Sue is the inspiration behind Fiber and Stitch . Fiber and Stitch has lots of good articles on mixed media techniques from artists around the world, worth taking a look at.

I met up with members of the African American Quilters yahoo group. We visited, took a group photo and did a show and tell.

Of course there were the quilts - the beautiful quilts. I will post just a few of the many photos I captured.

Here is the Grand Prize winner - a work by Hollis Chatelain.

Here are a couple of pieces created by two award winning artist friends of mine.

This piece is by Tonya Littman

This piece is by Barbara Barbara Oliver Hartman.

I participated in the final year of the Journal Quilt Project so of course I was happy to see my work hanging amongst the other inspired works. Here is a link to blogs from other participants: http://quiltart.com/JQ_links.html

To my surprise, there was an exhibit of the quilts published in Creative Quilting Journal Quilt Project and I was able to see another one of my little works.

Gotta run.

It's Been a While

2007-10-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

Has it really been 3 months since my last entry? I guess I will just have to catch up. Let's see...
After the workshop at the end of July with Mary Ruth Smith, I decided to join the Dallas Area Fiber Artists and the Surface Design Association.
I committed to participating in the final year of the Journal Quilt Project and as usual, I was working up until the last minute completing my work. On this piece (17x22), I used techniques learned in the workshop with Mary Ruth Smith. There is stamping with hand made stamps, fabric painting, hand embellishing with metallic gold thread. I found this really beautiful thread that has a black wrap on it but also irridescent film that shows green and brown. I used it to sew a grid and I left lots of tails hanging. I even made my own sequin looking things out of metallic gold cardstock. The binding has seed beads all around and the skeleton leaves are metallic. This was fun. I even managed to get the sleeve and labels completed!

I took 2 more classes at Quilt University - People in Places taught by Linda Schmidt and Upside Down Applique, taught by Susan Brittingham. I completed much more of the work for the Upside Down Applique class than I did for People in Places. Another underwater scene but this time with sea horses. One day, I will complete the work for both classes and put them in the Finishing School Gallery.

I even managed to make a batch of hand dyed fabrics. I did the 24 color batch and there is still so much for me to learn. This time the colors were more even but it seemed to wash away during the last step. I will get it some day.

Lavender Fields Forever

2007-07-19T23:30:00.000-05:00

I started work on another small piece. The inspiration came from a fellow student in my Quilt University Machine Embellishments class and my Quilting Arts calendar. It is a scene of lavender fields in France and I am able to use the needle lace technique to make the trees. I used Pellon Peltex as the interfacing so the piece is rather thick and firm. I found some really tiny seed beads and some leaf beads to embellish. It is still a work in progress.

Scrap Project

2007-07-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

I decided to make a series of small works to represent the seasons. The inspiration came from an article in Quilting Arts magazine. The pieces are the size of a postcard and were made with the leftover scraps of fabric from the Habitat for Humanity quilt.

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Maybe I will take them to work so I will have something colorful to look at. It has been grey and rainy this month.

I helped Rhea finish the Habitat quilt on Tuesday. In spite of her protests, I took a couple of pictures. She found an empty conference room and we sewed on the binding. I think the red really makes everything pop. All that is needed now is a label and Rhea will take care of it. The people that commissioned the quilt are thrilled with the results.

Machine Embellished Surfaces

2007-06-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

I am taking another class at Quilt University , Machine Embellished Surfaces. The teacher is Susan Brittingham. The Discussion Forum is supportive and there is at least one person from the Filament Fantasy class taking this one also - Lilian. The class covers needle lace, adding texture using several techniques of scrunching fabric, manipulating sheer ribbon for different effects and a few other things. There is no real project in the class, just technique. Here are a few of the techniques I practiced and a couple of compositions:

needle lace dragonfly

tree canopy

sea kelp

mossSpanish mossnecklace using 'window' technique

auditioning layout for scrunched fabric

final layout

I received some very nice feedback on this piece. It looks very dimensional in the photo and this is what I was aiming for. I still have a couple of weeks to stitch everything down and quilt before the gallery closes. I have also signed up for a fabric dyeing class taught by Marjorie McWilliams and will probably take the People and Places class taught by Linda Schmidt.

Habitat for Humanity

2007-06-26T23:35:00.000-05:00

My department at work is planning the logistics for a Habitat for Humanity home in Wylie, Texas. Part of the dedication is to present the new homeowner with several gifts, most with symbolic meaning. The program manager asked Rhea, a co-worker and fellow quilter, to make a quilt for the homeowner encorporating pictures taken during the build. Rhea, asked me me to help and of course I said yes. We discussed, more like sweated over what to do - a photo album? sashed photos in a row? and what size? This was exhausting. The turnaround was quick, less than a month and and we literally had hundreds of photos to choose from. We finally decided on something - because we had to, but neither of us was feeling good about the decision. We started looking through Rhea's stash of fabrics and both of us spotted a quilt Rhea completed a few years ago. Instantly we both had the same thought - what about this one!? The decision was made - circle or square within a square. The background in greys and the circle or square in a suede-like fabric. The photos were printed and cut to wallet size. It took one more get together and the top was 90% complete. We even found some fabric for the backing that looks like a computer motherboard. This is very appropriate because we work in the IT department. We got the final word on the dedication and the completed quilt will be ready. Here is a peek of the work in progress.
Rhea is great with color and loves to hand applique. Behind her is just one of her many creations.

Photo Finish

2007-06-04T23:42:00.000-05:00

For the past few months, I have been taking a Photoshop class at the Sachse Assembly of God Church. The class was offered by a graphic artist friend of mine, Bill Wegener, who is a member of the church. He is so generous, sharing his knowledge for free. We met Sunday evenings for an hour and Bill showed us so much it was difficult to absorb it all. At least now I am not afraid of Photoshop anymore. Last night was the last class and Bill had a final exam/competition for us. The rules were to create an advertisement using at least 3 photos from a CD of photos he provided; include text of some kind and adhere to the dimensions he provided. We had roughly 50 minutes to complete our project. While we were desparately trying to come up with ideas, Bill found 2 staff members to judge the projects. Bill answered questions and helped us see our ideas to fruition and then it was time to judge. "Step away from the computers", tick-tock, tick-tock; judges evaluating required elements, creativity and does it sell the product...and the winner is #2! Hey wait, that's me! I thought for sure the peppers would win! When I shared my surprise at winning with my friend Merriel, she paid me a great compliment by saying she knew it would be me because of my creative side and unusual way of looking at things - my friends have more confidence in me than I do. Here is a look at the winning ad.

My prize was a framed, signed copy of "Someday". The story is the orphan boy in the picture used to stand outside of the classroom every day and listen to the teachers. It was always 'someday' he will be able to attend classes like the rest of the children who lived at the orphanage.

Filament Fantasy

2007-05-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

I am back. Okay, so I am not a regular blogger but I plan to do better in the future. I completed a class called Filament Fantasy offered at Quilt University. The teacher is Linda Schmidt and she has a very good lesson plan - plenty of follow-up in the Discussion Forum and posts in the Gallery. This is my third Quilt U class and my second with Linda. This class encourages you to use the collection of pretty threads, foils, beads in your stash.

I have posted all of the individual blocks in my Picasa album http://picasaweb.google.com/stootle13/FilamentFantasy . Here is a look at the finished quilt.

The picture doesn't show the beads attached to the binding that were hand sewn. I gained confidence using the host of threads I have collected over the years.

Year of the Pig

2007-02-22T20:16:00.000-06:00

Okay, my other favorite thing is food. Today I went to lunch with a few coworkers and we celebrated Chinese New Year. It is the Year of the Pig - a good year for having children. Isn't this a cute picture?

We dined on a feast of ten dishes - whole fish, Bejing Duck, BBQ pork, chicken and duck, Chinese brocolli, shrimp and scallops, BBQ beef with pineapple, baby bok choy with mushrooms and dried tofu, fried whole shrimp (heads and feet), pickled something, and a few other dished I don't remember - what can I say except it was wonderful. I am an adventurous diner so this was like heaven to me. My Chinese friends were so happy and proud to share this with the rest of us. Great time.

Hold on a sec, Mer is coming back to life. Oh no, it's her mom that's dead and Mer is not ordinary. Sniff, sniff. Sorry - Grey's Anatomy. If you watch it, you understand.

In the Beginning...

2007-02-04T02:09:00.000-06:00

It's 2:00 on a Sunday morning and I am writing my first entry in my first blog. I read my friends and friends of my friends blogs' and I decided to write my musings and share my creations with the world too. We shall see. I am sleepy now so I will see you later. I have a repair man coming in a few hours to give me an estimate on replacing my mailbox (need those bills) and some other projects around the house.