A little taste of Spring...

Just a glimpse of things to come. Spring is starting here in SoCA, though there will be cooler days ahead they say. Things like to get started here about this time every year, though, and it is a real treat to have these balmy days in winter. I wanted to share , to let you know that it IS going to happen, wherever you live...Spring is coming...no matter what Punxsutawney Phil had to say the other day...In the meantime, enjoy these little snaps from my yard...

No water in the fountain at the moment...it needs something done to the motor.

My poor neglected and unfinished garden...I'm going to put in raised boxes and plant veggies and more flowers in there.
Pink India Hawthorn is starting to bloom right now...I love it.

My glorious nectarine tree is in bloom and leafing out already. This tree drags on the ground when the fruit is ready. Such delicious nectarines every year. It's always a good thing when I'm still in town to enjoy it. Some years it fruits later than others and I miss it when I have to leave for NY before the fruit is ripe. I noticed the crab apple tree is starting to flower, too. It will be lovely in a few days. I have picked the end of the tangelos, they were a bit sour this year. The grapefruit are mostly done. And the other citrus are beautifully budded. Let's hope for more lemons and limes this year!

Knitting, knitting, knitting...

Well, not a lot of sewing or quilting going on here but I have been knitting. We had a spell of cooler weather and even some rain last month, but it didn't last. What it did do while it was here was make me want to be cozy, so I started and completed 3 knitting projects in January. I only have photos of one of them, darn it...

This was inspired by a pattern in Joelle Hoverson's book, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, which is a book I checked out of the library and ended up ordering for myself because I liked it so much. The hat is for my little 3 year old niece who just moved with her family to the frozen land of Colorado from sunshiny Southern California...I thought she needed to keep her head warm while remembering me =-) The design of the hat pattern in the book is so simple and allows for adding your own elements and embellishments very easily. I added the crocheted flower to help her know which side was the front. I also knit a darling pink and brown hat for her 5 mo. old baby sister out of the same book. The third thing I knit was a quick and easy scarf for myself out of brown mottled Homespun, super simple, plain old garter stitch on sz 19 needles. It was purely an impulse project that came home from JoAnn's with me last week and was so quick and easy-peasy, just what I needed to scratch an itch I must have had at the time =-) I am in the process of making another one to stash in my gift box for next Christmas. I already have it earmarked for a certain recipient, so I feel pretty proud of myself for being ahead of the game...at least by one gift =-)

They tell me today is Super Bowl Sundae...you mean we get to have a really big bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry? Huh? That's not how it's spelled or what it means? ...oh. Well, darn...=-/

And Happy Birthday to my other little girl!

...who is 11 years old today...what a sweet, sweet, loving girl. Happy Birthday, Daisy! Mommy loves you!

Birthday doings...

Happy 25th Birthday to my "baby"...Now I need to buy three boxes of birthday candles for both my kids...I remember turning 25...this is weird...

This was taken on Xmas (before her haircut) Dontcha just love her vintage glasses frames? I remember those, too...

This is a most delicious vegan chocolate cake with chocolate filling...Stephanie's Bakery in Ocean Beach is the bomb, I must say...We had the cake last night, even though today is actually her birthday, cuz she has a big night out on the town with her friends planned for tonight...

Split this picture (of her blowing out her candles) from the nose up and you will be looking at me...well, a me 30 years younger...ok, stop doing the math, I know, I know, I, too have a milestone of sorts coming up in March...sigh...

Well, we are off for some girl time and birthday shopping. I do love hanging out with this sweet girl...my buddy, my pal...Happy birthday sweetheart; I love you with all my heart!

Ohhhhhh yeahhhhhh!

Sworn in at 9 am Pacific Standard Time...I had champagne for breakfast...What a glorious day!

Priceless photo:

Buh bye, W!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 1, 2009

I joined the Creative Every Day Challenge...and today I was creative =-) The post just before this one was about me not making resolutions for the new year. However, this afternoon I did talk to myself a bit and decided that I would commit to starting an everday entry into a sketch book. I want to get more comfortable with drawing and sketching and I know that the only way to do that is to draw every day...so I am starting at the very beginning of the year and will see how long I can keep at it on an everyday basis. Of course, nothing says I can't get back up on the horse if I fall off every now and then...Anyway, I did sketch today. And I enjoyed it. It wasn't much but it was a start. Oh, and I found the manual to my camera so I can check on a few things that I had questions about. And I got some things organized in my work room so that I can be comfortable in there with space to be creative. I found some art supplies that I knew I had bought awhile ago and couldn't find for some time. I got inspired just looking in the bag! So I think this every day creative thing is going to be a lot of fun and a good nudge for me.

Happy New Year! And non-resolutions for 2009...

Image from The English Association at University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH

I am going to continue my mother’s years-long practice of resolving not to make any resolutions for the new year. I am not good at keeping resolutions, and I can make myself feel guilty and stressed out over enough things without adding anything more to feel guilty about doing or not doing in the new year…That said, I do have some ideas and feelings I would like to incorporate into my life and my outlook, so I guess this is as good a time as any to give them a good brushing off and have a new go at some of them…but these are not resolutions…

On the creative front: After 31+ years of quilting I have such an overabundance of UFOs that I can’t possible put them all to a list or a schedule…I really can’t. But, I can give myself the gift of accepting that the pile will always exist. I would like to remove the "Quilt-guilt" from my brain and work on these things when the whim strikes, not as a strict, demanding chore that I make for myself. I want to delight in finding long lost projects and immersing myself in them once again …when and if the mood strikes. And I want to free myself to take on new projects, fabric/textile related or otherwise, as the mood also strikes for that. It is self-defeating not to allow myself to make anything new as long as there are piles of old things sitting around…since there always will be…I need to grow and learn and let myself find the joy once again in my creative life without putting barriers in my own way...

Roma Journal Medium, Image from My Scribe, UK

I have always wanted to keep a sketch-type or illustrated/mixed media journal, a la SkybelleArts’ Kim, and various other journal makers and artists. I have long admired Kim’s dedication to her art and creativity, and always love to see her illustrated pages. I would like to try my hand at one of these…I think it would help me overcome my sense that “I can’t draw” by letting me practice (something adults are loath to do) in a non-threatening venue—my own private journal. I know that the only way to become better at drawing is to draw every day…practice, practice, practice...so I would like to try to do that…Now, whether I start off the new year doing it or start it at some later point in the year is immaterial…I just want to do it and plan to in 2009…

After reading JenClair’s blog post yesterday I ordered The Vigorous Mind: Cross-train Your Brain to Break Through Mental, Emotional, and Professional Boundaries by Ingrid Cummings. It sure sounds like a book and set of ideas that would help me out of the artistic funk that has gripped me for so long now. I’m looking forward to its delivery, along with Danny Gregory’s An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers. Thanks, Sis, for the Amazon gift card! =-)

Off the coast of Albania, October 2008, dnmc

I am interested in getting some of my photographs ready to display at an artist’s co-op gallery sometime in the next year. I have been told that I have an eye for taking photos, by several different, unrelated people, and I would like to explore that a lot more, perhaps even trying to sell some of them in some form or another at some point. In January, I want to sign up for a photography class to expand my knowledge more into the technical side of photography, as well as to add to my artistic sense of it.

On the personal front: I want to get outside of myself more. I want to be more gracious, more forgiving, and to be more tolerant, less critical of, and less irritable to the people I come in contact with on a more or less regular basis. I’ve become somewhat of a “my way or no way” type lately, and I have also mired myself in a depressing lack of enthusiasm for most things that have been meaningful to me in the past…and it’s hard for me to take, so I’d like to come to some good place in dealing with those issues. I know that it would make me a happier person, to say nothing of the people I interact with… Though these sound sort of like resolutions, I have been thinking a lot about it for awhile now and, really, wanting to act on it has nothing to do with the new year…these are just things I feel the need to address and change and I’d want to work on them at whatever time of year it happened to be right now…

So, there you have it…my non-resolutions for the new year. I guess the main gist is this: I want to become a freer, more creative, less restrictive maker of art, and a more gracious and more accepting student of life…not too much to ask for…I just need to leave my bubble and get to it!

Well, the ball has dropped, Bill and Hillary have gone home from the festivities, so it’s time to say: Happy New Year, everyone! The best to you all in a great, creative 2009!

Peace.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Winter Solstice

Jeanne has a lovely poem posted over on her blog, Spiral, celebrating the shortest day of the year and the new year to come. Here's to longer days and the festivities ahead!

New header...it's from last year's tree...We don't have our tree yet this year but will get it today or tomorrow... edit: we got it, it's lovely and sitting out in the rain to keep it fresh until tomorrow...

I had hoped to sew yesterday but went Christmas shopping instead and did almost all of it at once since I hadn't really done much before this. I am just about done, just need one or two small things and that'll be it. I want the boxes in the mail early this next week! Mid-week latest... Priority boxes: I hope I can fit at least one person's stuff in one ...and then the other one I'll have to bite the bullet and go for the big box with the big postage in order to get it there in time...but that's ok...

Waitin' on the rain...missed the big moon last night because of the clouds, darn it... edit: It's RAINING!!!! YAY!!!! A very neato day =-)

Have a great weekend! I'll be wrappin'...

I do believe the dam has been breached…or, at least, I have been sewing for the last few days, which hasn’t happened in a very…very… long while. I guess I got the bug or had to scratch an itch or something…annnnywayyyy…I can’t really show you much cuz I’m not sure who reads this blog…but I will on Dec. 26 or thereabouts…after the unwrapping…It’s nothing too earth shattering, I’m using a magazine pattern, but at this point any sewing is better than none and product (completed product)) vs. creativity is not really an issue…baby steps…I’m actually liking the results, and I have put my own spin on it, with different colors and feeling…BTW: I (still!) HATE paper piecing…but hand appliqué, now that I can get into…and quick strip piecing…yep, I’ve been doing it all…

We are in wait-and-see mode around here. Supposedly we are in for some cooler, wetter weather in the next few days, starting on the weekend and continuing into the next week or so, and I can tell you we are ready…though it has been quite lovely this last week…We still have Fall leaves on the sweet gum trees, and they are so beautiful…I guess, technically, it’s still Fall…and really, what is Winter here in SoCA anyway??? Not braggin', just askin'...

Sunday Movie

Went to the movies late this afternoon and saw Cadillac Records, which just opened this week. I know that there are glaring omissions in the movie vs. actual history of Chess Records, but the music is great, the story compelling, Adrian Brody as fascinating as ever, and Beyonce Knowles A.MAZ.ING as Etta James. Wow, that young woman can sing and, truly, she can act. I have always enjoyed Muddy Waters, too, so to hear the music and view a story of the times was entertaining.

Coupled with a good late lunch/early dinner of Mexican food this was a most enjoyable outing.

It's a special day today...

Twenty-seven years and nine months ago today I began a career that I had dreamt of and planned and waited for my entire life up to that point. It was what I had always wanted to do with my life, what I knew I was made for. I was, myself, 27 years old. I knew if I accepted the job it was going to be a lifetime commitment, one from which there would be no retirement, though the benefits and joys would be immeasurable. So here I am, in 2008, still loving the path I chose, grateful for every moment I have spent on its many winding ways. I have been blessed time and time again, every single day. I have laughed, I have cried, I have been challenged, and I have been happy down to my very toes. Thank you, my sweet boy. Thank you, thank you, thank you--for the boy you were, for the man you have become, and for giving me my life’s dream. I love you more than words can ever say. Happy birthday, sweetheart…

Did you see it??

We've been watching the moon and the planets this week...what a lovely Fall show...

Well, I did not leave the property on Black Friday, no-sir-ee...I did venture out this afternoon, however, and it was not bad, which was my plan =-) I had to go to the P.O. and that was the most crowded place of the 4 places I went, but even that wasn't bad. I do realize that it will only get worse as the time passes so I plan to get my act together as soon as possible. I only have two packages to mail this year and will get them ready soon. Today I mailed DS's birthday box; his birthday is always my priority in early December (no Christmas prep until after it...ever...). This will be the first birthday I have not seen him or made him a cake in all his 27 years on the planet and I don't like it one bit...nope...I know I'll be thinking of him all day on his day and missing him so much...this thing of families being spread out all over the country/world sucks...truly...Happy Birthday, my "little" red-headed guy, xoxo...

I've been knitting (yet another scarf, it's what I do) and reading (all relaxing and entertaining, not a lot of thinking) and catching up on DVR recordings (Days of Our Lives, still watching after 36 years)...a peaceful, lazy 4-day weekend...most enjoyable =-) Now if I could just get some fabric and/or quilting into that mix, all would be looking up in my creative world...One day it'll happen again...

Have a great week!

Go here! Great fabric in a very nice giveaway at Little Blue Cottage. I love the name of this blog, I can imagine sitting in her little blue cottage, myself...

Sooo, I hear it's supposed to rain here in the next few days...all I can say is: "Bring it on!!" I'm ready!! And, actually, as I've been typing the sky has gotten pretty dark...so maybe it will really happen: YAY!

I've been going through costume jewelry that has accumulated in the multitudes of boxes, zippered bags, baggies, and jewelry cases on the shelf in my closet...I've found things from years ago, and things I don't remember buying...and things that belonged to my mom and my aunt...I've been sifting, putting things in jars

to save for collaging or whatever, into piles for DD to glean from, and piles for me to actually keep and wear...they are the smaller piles, I'm proud to say...I'm paring it all down kids. What a great feeling! Two bonuses from this: I get to wear new-to me or new-feeling-to-me sparklies, and I'm beginning to see open space where there recently was none...=-)

I'm off to the grocery after I hang some clothes out on the line (maybe not since it's gotten so cloudy and dark), and then I'm meeting DD after she gets out of work for a trip to the food co-op

Some of the lovely local and /or organic offering's at People's Market in O.B.

...all in prep for Thanksgiving, of course. Ours will be a tiny, quiet affair this year. I hope you all have a lovely one!

I think I suffer from "ADD"....("Almost Done, Debby")..read on...

I'm home again, home again jiggity jog...Finally! It has been an amazingly full 6 months...All I have to say is: Whew!



The Grand Canal, Venice

Europe was *A*M*A*Z*I*N*G*! Venice is a truly magical place (and I WILL be going back!) and what can I say about the Greek Islands and being able to see the Parthenon from my hotel balcony in Athens... I loved Dubrovnik and Rovijn, Croatia and Kotor, Montenegro, and the ruins of Knossos in Greece and of Ephesus in Turkey: Wow! ...I have so many photos, so many ideas for art in all media...I hope to have things to show you in the next few months that will come from all that.




Oia, Santorini, Greece



The Parthenon, Athens
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Rovijn, Croatia

Rovijn, Croatia

Kotor, Montenegro (yes I climbed all 1500 steps to the ancient fortress)

Ephesus, Turkey

I had an, let's call it interesting, experience 3 days before I left my house in NY to come home for the week between NY and Europe to pack . I woke up on a Wednesday morning with Bell's Palsy. I thought I was having a stroke, my face was all droopy and I couldn't move it, or whistle, or blink, wink, smile on that side...not numbness, I just couldn't move my face, and my tongue felt like I had just come out of major dental procedures and my taste was really off with most foods, and I couldn't drink very well out of a wide glass or cup or with a straw and had to have a small spoon, (and, as I found out at lunch later that afternoon, no big sandwiches for me)...so weird. I had my sister take me to the emergency room at the nearby hospital right away because I was freaked out. They did various things to rule out stroke, CT scan, all that, and prescribed an anti-viral and prednisone, and eyedrops because I couldn't blink. So, here I am at 7 weeks out, tomorrow, and I am mostly healed, at least it seems so to look in the mirror or to anyone looking at me. But, I do still have some weakness on that side, my eye is not 100% and I still have trouble with the blinking (which is a pain let me tell you in single- or low double-digit humidity here in San Diego Co.), can't whistle yet, and my face is just a touch droopy on that side. But I am grateful, so very grateful!, that it wasn't a stroke and that everything is coming back in line in such a timely way. Some people have it so much more severely, and have problems for months or years, some don't come back from it completely at all. So I am counting my blessings...for sure... (but don't look for any close-up photos of me in Europe, I was really camera shy, even more than usual...)

Soooo, I'm in a real clear-it-out, get-rid-of-it, don't-need-it mode right now. I am determined to get rid of at least half, if not more, of what has accumulated in this house and our lives over the last 10 years, which is how long we've lived in this house come Dec.20 (DO*NOT*EVER*MOVE*NEAR*THE*HOLIDAYS*!). This week I have been working in my walk-in closet. Yesterday I got rid of at least 25 (I'm not kidding) pairs of shoes that have been crammed in various shoe bins, boxes, and dusty corners in there. What a freeing experience to carry that bag out to the garage to pull out for the Amvets truck that's coming on Friday. In my frenzy, I came across a bin with a small pile of quilts that are just about done (the "A.D.D." --Almost Done, Debby--of my title! ), except for a bit of quilting...I think I might have felt the bug...I mean, I felt excited to see them and excited that I could actually finish them very quickly and have some of the quilter's guilt lifted...I haven't felt like quilting in months and months, well, years really, and ever since I took up knitting and after I lost my mom, my quilting has been sporadic at best...I think when the pieces are done I will put them up on Etsy or EBay, at least some of them, and will only keep a couple...They are mostly small, and were class samples from when I was teaching, or some I did to scratch an itch I must have had at the time...Anyway, it was good to see some "old friends" and to be glad of the sighting...

It is still hotter here than it has any right to be in November. The humidity, or lack of it, is not fun. The poor dog and cat run when we want to pet them, they hate the shocks they get from the static electricity. Though, I have to say my sweet beagle girl won't let me out of her sight, she is so afraid I will be leaving again, off on another trip somewhere. It is nice to feel so loved...humans hardly ever do that for us in such a devoted way, do they...

It's good to be back, and I hope to post more now that I am, though I don't promise anything =-). I've been reading blogs, I love seeing what everyone has been up to. I'll be seein' ya around the blogosphere, kids!

First off, I am sending all my thoughts and prayers to everyone in the path of the hurricane...stay safe!

Second, I'm outta heah for a little while...3 weeks, then a week home, then another almost 2 1/2 weeks away yet again...Sooooooooo, I'll see you on the flip side, kids, hopefully with pictures and interesting things to share. Have a lovely start to Fall and enjoy the feel of the air, the sights, and the smells of the season =-)

Still goin' strong...

DD and I went to see our man Bob tonight...ya gotta love Bob...we danced our butts off out under the stars...what a fine time =-)

Wow, that was so COOL!

I did end up going to the quilt show and met up with some friends there ($10 for parking...JEEEEEEEZ...). The show was actually pretty good this year. I watched Mickey Lawler, who was the guest artist this year, create a piece of lovely painted cloth, a la her SkyDyes technique. She said, "It's easy...what isn't easy is making something you actually like. But all it takes is practice and getting very comfortable with your medium." Makes me want to...buy some of her fabric...hahahaha! I might paint some sometime but not anytime soon...=-)I did not buy one thing except for a mahi mahi taco and iced tea for lunch but I had a good time catching up with my friends. I'm the one in the left middle next to my dear friend, Fran who's wearing the red blouse. You can look at a blurred photo two ways: it's a good thing or a bad thing...heh!




Now, all that is cool enough but the realllllly cool thing is this: When I was standing at the stop light waiting to cross the street, a couple of women joined me. I glanced over at them and one of them looked so very familiar...I knew instantly who it was: our Jen A. from Scraps right here on the Quilt Studio blog ring! She said she knew that she "knew" me, too, but didn't know from where. It gets even more cool: I asked her if she'd ever belonged to any guilds..."No." Ok, I knew a woman years ago, and I'm talking 30 years ago, who was named Jenny, who looked so much like her...did she ever work at this particular business where I worked??? She was astonished. "YES!!!!!!" So, we worked in the same office over 30 years ago. We live within 10 miles of each other, and we both know each other through this blog ring. I tell ya...what a world! Jenny is very sweet and her friend was, too. I'm glad I decided to get my work done and GO!


Now...I need to finish that binding, eat something, and go get DH and DD at the airport...time is too short for comfort, now...

It.is.RAINING. "Like, ohmygosh"...what is going on??? (sorry, blonde CA-speak kicks in...)

I may, and that is a big 'may', go to the San Diego Quilt Show today...I only have 2.5 sides of the binding left to tack down on the baby quilt, wash it, and take a pic, then wrap it...so I think I can do that, run a couple of errands, and maybe make it to the show...again, that's a big 'maybe'...

I am enjoying the rain...and praying the sun doesn't come out anytime soon...we'll be melting if it does...

Hey! I got a new camera...pretty cool, that...

My heart and prayers are with everyone in the path of the storm in the Gulf...No global warming??? Riiiiiight.... Please stay safe, friends.

I'm here...

...for a little while, anyway.

My DD, my grandcat Delilah, and I all got back a week ago, Tuesday. Delilah did SO well! She mostly slept in her little crate but liked to get out every now and then and take a stretchy snooze on top of my suitcase. And used the nice covered cat box in the far back of the car (and which I made her mommy clean out immediately after!) Man, this is a huge country...which is what I say every time I drive across. Anyway, we had an easy drive except for some fairly scary weather a few miles outside of Odessa, Texas one night on the way here. We were safe in the hotel room by the time the storm hit, but it was a doozy!

Not a lot of quilty news from me this summer. I did make a top for a baby quilt/comforter for my SIL's soon to be delivered little baby girl. It needs to be tied and bound but I sewed it all together in NY. I'll post pics when I get it done, which better be this week, I think! It's, well, let's call it cheerful=-) A bit brighter than I usually do my baby quilts...but I really like it. It was made with a collection I bought from Keepsake, I forget the designers, but it's someone we all know and I'll think of them at some point...la la la...=-) I also knit a hemp shopping bag and just have the handles left on that to do (wow, did that take a long time,) and crocheted a sweet pillow cover for my bed in NY.

Oh, and I covered a lampshade for one of pair of vintage 40s lamps for my dresser there.

...let's see...I think that's about it...OHHHHH! except for this!!! I almost forgot a very important purchase!!!It's a vintage Singer 99K, made in England, in great shape and it runs well and was fairly cheap! Finally a good portable machine in my house there!! I sent for the booklet so now I know how to thread it and everything else about it. It has a drop-in bobbin, which is cool. It's very much like the Featherweight (one of which lives here) except it has one more threading loop to go through and it's just slightly larger...and MUCH heavier. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one! =-) So, no excuses for not sewing when I'm in NY now, I guess! =-) The rest of the time I spent hanging out with dear friends and rellies, working in my flower beds, watching wildlife,

reading, taking drives, exercising by using the nice, new walking trail we have by the river, ...oh, and spending money on installing a complete new septic system (tank and dry well..That's a guy's head you can see in that gaping hole in the picture below...yikes...what a lot of digging went on...)

...arrrrrrgh...but it was bound to happen and I think 60 years is more than anyone should expect from a system...heh...it just wasn't what I'd planned to spend several thousand $ on this summer =-( Plus, I have to have my bathroom redone this Fall because that was part of the problem...but once that's done, I won't have to worry about it anymore, right?!?!? Anyway, all in all, it really was a wonderful visit, as it always is, and I miss my house and everyone terribly. Luckily, though, I'll be headed back for three more weeks mid-Sept. I usually go later in the year for the Fall but had to do it early this year because after I get back here we leave for our cruise a week later for 16 days or so. More on that as it gets closer...

So, I have caught up with a few of you through email and have been reading my bloglines since I got back. You have all been very busy! I love what I'm seeing on the blogs...everyone is so creative! I'm interested to see who will be reponding to the ArtImage Challenge Debra was talking about earlier in the Spring and will be tossing out there for us soon to ponder...It is definitely something that I am interested in. I love art as a prompt for creating more art...so we'll see, huh??

Hope you all have had a great summer!