Two Days After Christmas....

Finally things have settled down enough so I can finally get caught up here. It has been a very busy three weeks....

I have spent a great deal of time helping my daughter out. Even though her husband is home on family leave for a while, they are both sleep deprived and are tired when a very active 3 year old wants to play. So....Grammy to the rescue. Yesterday I received a plaintive call...Mom, are you doing anything? (Of course not!) Would you like to hang out for a little while? (of course).
so over I go. Jacob would like to ride BART. So we make a stop at the bank, head for BART, ride all the way to San Francisco with the idea that we would quickly look around and then head back. Nope...he spotted the cable car which has a turn table right there at the foot of Powell where we came up from underground. So, an hour wait in line with all the rest of the tourists, and we were able to get an outside seat right in front so he could look out the front window. He loved the fact that we went up high hills and then hoped we would go fast like a roller coaster, coming down. Of course, I prayed that the grip man was on his job and would keep us safely on the cable...which, of course, he did. Got off near Fisherman's Wharf, looked for a place to get a quick bite to eat and then back to wait for the cable car ride back. Again, we had a front seat! Arrived at the foot of Powell, went down to BART past all the street musicians and headed home. On the way back Jacob fell fast asleep almost doubled over and he wouldn't wake up when we had to get off BART...does he ever weight a ton! and a sleeping child is even heavier.
finally he woke up enough to walk to the car but I called his dad to come out to the car to pick him up...then I went home for a nap.

This Christmas has been full of delight for Jacob...his family helped us put up the tree the Saturday before Christmas, after we had picked my son up who had come in from Ohio. He carefully held every ornament and exclaimed over their beauty. I have a wonderful pile of tinsel on one branch, right at his level. And of course, the tree is much more heavily decorated in one section! The joys of a young child.

I took Advent to heart and spent a lot of time in contemplation and then realized I had to get some shopping done. I had already made arrangements with the other parts of the family that come over that we would not exchange gifts, except for the children. The tree seemed a little forlorn without tons of presents but I felt much better about it...not piled with stuff. Of course, I gave my daughter and her husband a new dishwasher for Christmas which, needless to say, was not under the tree!

I received a number of books on art by Sister Wendy Bennet...I have just started reading them and am enjoying her commentary. I also received an 80gig IPod so I can also put books and photos on it. The idea is that I can put pictures of my quilts and grandchildren on it so I can show both around....

I received good news that my piece, Life Circles 2, was accepted in to the final jurying in my David Walker and that it was chosen for the cover of the catalog that is being printed for the FAVA show, The Artist as Quiltmaker XIII which will open in May. That was exciting.

Also received my comp copies of Vicki Anderson's brand new magazine, Machine Quilting Unlimited. She is the publisher of Professional Quilter. I received comp copies because I have an article in the very first issue! And the photo she has of me is to die for!

I have also been busy making robes etc for both three large kings and three small kings for the Christmas pageant at church. They all looked good although I wasn't able to be there...I go to the midnight service which is so calming and affirming.

I have done a couple of little things of birch trees....they are each 4 x 6 inches and are mounted on black mat board and framed with a matt black metal frame. These will go for $75 each and are ready to hang.

Birches 1

Birches 4

Birches 5

I am also finishing up postcards for the Art2Mail group which should go out in a week or so.

I've been busy cutting out rubber stamps that are 4 x 4" and have had a good time doing those...

And....writing the lessons for my on line class...I am really excited about it and feel it will be really good. Lots of exercises and fun things to do! I still have a couple of places available

The class will start on January 21 and will go for 6 weeks. Each week students will receive a lesson with a number of exercises to do. Each student will post their exercised in the folders on our Yahoo site and then we will discuss them before we go to the next lesson. This is all about the elements and principles of design.

I am feeling like I am about ready to start doing to serious work again. We will go away for the first week of January with our daughter and her family and go up to the mountains and hope it snows so we can sit inside where it is warm, eat home made soup, and watch the snow. What could be better? And then, it is time to get back to work! My studios await me!