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Back at the Moscone Center, Derry and I picked up our various conference materials, downloaded the show catalog onto our respective iPods to schedule what we’re doing when, talked with various people, had a late lunch, and then ventured out into the City to wander around and take photos.

I love this statue, with its three hands and multiple feet.  I took several photos of it.  This should work its way into something I do — collaged in, I suspect.

At San Francisco MOMA.

A building on the walk to the Moscone (it’s a mostly gray-sky day).

Closer.

Even with the gray day, there is plenty of color.

We walked to the Ferry Building and took pictures of the Bay Bridge.  My favorite was taken across the street, with the bridge in reflection within another reflection of the metal sculpture near the Embarcadero.

Because the weather wasn’t the best, we decided to walk around the Embarcadero.

There are all types of interesting angles, buildings, and lighting nearly everywhere I looked.

The rainy evening continues.

Taken from inside the Embarcadero.  Using a long zoom the picture picked up a lot of blue which was fine by me.

I’ve been playing around a lot with this image.  I’m hoping it finds its way into a new piece.

There’s a fabulous tiled floor and spiral staircases.  I took plenty photos of both, something else that may end up in a quilt or digital art piece of some kind.

We took the cable car back.  Look at the steepness of those hills!

Tomorrow is the keynote and the show officially begins!

Derry and I have arrived in San Francisco to attend MacWorld.  It’s our yearly trek and we tend to arrive earlier than the show’s start because of better airfare rates.  These photos are nothing great, just some snapshots of the start of our journey.

After our long flight, we’ve arrived.  It was an excellent flight, and we watched several episodes of a UK series called “Survivors” on the iPod.

It was a clear evening.

Making our trek to the Moscone Center.

2009.  Still surprises me.  When I saw first saw the signs my thought was “2009?  Aren’t they jumping the gun a bit advertising for next year.”  Than, daaaa … I realized it IS 2009.

Since it’s on the way back …

There were beautiful holiday decorations in the shopping center.

The ceiling.

With the weather in the 50s and clear, we decided to walk …

and walk …

and walk …

and walk.  The hills are always such a workout!

There was a blimp hovering about, but I found this creepy.

What goes up …

(some Photoshop effects)

Must go down.

Eventually we made it to the Wharf area where we had to eat at an In-N-Out, a burger place that I love.  I wish this chain would open in NJ, namely within a brief driving distance (walking would be better yet)  from my home.

After all of that walking, it was time to take the cable car back up to our suites in the Nob Hill area.

It’s out of focus, but I did take it from a moving cable car.

Tomorrow we’re off to the show.

Yesterday  I decided to clean my workroom to make way for the new year.  I continued right through most of today.  While cleaning, I found myself getting nostalgic while reminiscing about this or that.  I’m often amazed at how much time has gone by when I discover things in the back of various cabinets.  I found an embroidered name tag I used when attending Embroiderer’s Guild of America meetings.  I was a teenager, and it had my maiden name on it.

I’ve also had bunches of ribbons in various piles, and several pinned on different walls. I decided to put them all into boxes lined with acid-free tissue paper.  I started counting them but stopped after hitting 200.  The exact count isn’t important.   Looking at them now makes me feel sort of sad.  I remember years ago my husband’s aunt had many things precious to her — various cards, awards, and other things — lovingly wrapped and stored.  I also remember how everything was heaved into the trash after she died.  Witnessing the nonchalant way it was deemed garbage made a lasting impression on me.   Right then I realized that someday my important things would have the same fate.  But, nothing lasts forever!

I also found myself looking at the awards and remembering how happy I was after winning this one or that one.  I looked at a Best of Show from the NJ State Fair and remembered how my father-in-law actually cried when he saw I won the ribbon.  I think that’s the first and only time something I did ever moved him to tears!  I looked at a series of ribbons from a NJ State fair.  I won so much that year – two best of shows (one for quilting and one for embroidery) and several trophies ( best design,   best color,  best original design, and for grand prize).  I was young, maybe 21 or 22, and those wins had me drunk with pride.  I looked at my first blue ribbon from the American International Quilting Association show.  It was 1994, years before the organization changed its name to the International Quilting Association.  I remember someone calling me to tell me the news, and how I nearly jumped through the phone to call my husband and my then best friend (who has since moved and we totally fell out of touch).   I was fortunate to win a couple firsts from the Schweinfurth Quilts=Art=Quilts show.  I went with Rich to one of the awards ceremonies.  That was the first time I went to such an event.  Memory after memory.

But, I packed them into very large, deep boxes.  I will add that I have some a handful of ribbons in my office that are staying up!  They include  the 2007 Master Award for Innovative Artistry from IQA, the 2008 Best Wall award from AQS, a 2008 first from the Lancaster Quilters Heritage show (that’s a show my old best friend and I went to for years!), and the 2008 IQA shows first in the digital division.  Those I want them hanging around.

I continued cleaning, filling two extra large Priority Mail boxes with fabric that I know I won’t use.  It included a lot of commercial fabrics and stuff I’ve painted or dyed that I decided to pass on.  I’ll be shipping the boxes to my sister-in-law in California.  It will be a surprise to her unless she happens to read about it here.  I also decided to send her some books, too.  She’s an excellent quilter, but more traditional than I.  I then refolded everything.  On the back wall are all fabrics that I either painted, dyed, or airbrushed.  The larger bookcase is filled with commercial fabrics, lots of the hand-dyed Hoffmans.

The wire baskets and other storage things under part of the sewing table aren’t visible in this picture, but it’s now all organized too.

I’ll be installing (with the help of dh) a proper design wall, hopefully this week, across the one of the entire walls (partially showing above).  But, even if that doesn’t happen until the new year, I have large insulation boards that I’ll put up against that wall to work on in the interim. Right now I’ve a short insulation board with things pinned into it.  I don’t want to make things look too workable or dh will never get around to helping me with the proper wall.  I also have a large board behind the door to hold things in various stages.

Last week I cleaned up my paints and dyes are organized.

Okay, the stuff in this draw isn’t organized at all.  But it’s one of those toss it in there and find it when needed type of draws.

This is a series that I’m working on relating to time.  Each piece will be small.  They are digitally printed and I’ve painted over each.  I did a couple prints of the same image painting them in different ways to see which I like best.  I’ve had this on my table since last week; it’s time (no pun intended) to get them finished!

So … a new year is coming.  Let the next creative mess begin!

Happy holidays!

Every year I try to come up with an xmas/holiday card that features a picture of Rich, Buddy the dog, and me.  This year I started in June, trying to get Rich to take a picture with our dog.  But month after month went by and still no picture.  With xmas fast approaching, I decided to take a photo someone took of us earlier in the year at Longwood Gardens and put it together with another picture of Buddy.  The snow globe idea obviously isn”t an original one.  The globe is a circle with an inner glow, some tinting, and a reflection of light to give it a round-globe look.  I used the tree and snowflakes brushes in Photoshop to create the background, did some snow and trees, and used a soft blue brush to paint in the shadows and snow around Buddy.   The base was some gradients to give a metal look.  The wood table was something learned from Bert Monroy in a class years back.  I suppose it looks a bit odd with both of us dressed for the summer while trapped in a snow globe with snow.  But so it goes!

Next up, I want to use a similar design but put in pictures of Derry, our employees, and me and make a GloDerWorks card to send to our clients.  Hopefully that idea will actually work!  It’s going to be tricky since the only photos I have of Anita are ones in which she is seated.  That may result a whole other concept.

I needed to make some 6×4″ pieces that will be mounted on form core, the added to watercolor paper,  and displayed in a box frame for an upcoming Fiber Revolution show.  I decided to do something with a photograph I took of a swan while  visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon.

This is the original photo.  I was pleased with the lighting in the photo and the overall look of the swan. It seemed a good image play with some digital ideas.

Using a variety of filters, this was the first.

I kept going with it.

For this one, I added a layer and used a brush to create lines with a low opacity to create streaky lines behind the swan.

Then I decided to crop into the swan, add another layer, and paint different background colors, and apply more filters.

Another version.

And yet another.

I like the grainy quality in them and particularly like the second and fifth versions.  I did several other versions than what I have here.  I tend to get carried away, doing  so many versions and experimentations, making lots of prints, playing around with additional ideas in my sketch book, that it’s a wonder I get anything done.  (The same thing happens when I design for clients.  I do a zillion of them.)  Many times I think I’m onto a new series for quilts, and I end up leaving it all in my sketchbook and then coming back to it a year or two later.  That’s what happened with my Blushing Triangles 3 and 4 quilts — I did the layouts for them a couple years ago, left them in my sketchbook, and only decided to create one last year and one this year.  I digress.  Once I print a couple of these,  I’ll add paint and possibly some pastel highlights to it to give it some extra omph.  Then, hopefully, I’ll finish one or two by Friday when I’ll be meeting up with another member of the group.  We’ll be framing the pieces.  I’ll be taking pictures for the group, and I’ll post my final.

Meanwhile, I continued designing.  I have another piece due for a new group I joined.  I decided to use time as my theme.  I have a thing with time, always feeling that I’m not getting enough finished, not maximizing my minutes, hours, days.  I have a zillion photos of clocks that I’ve taken all over the place — in the US, the UK, France.  In addition to the designs I created for the group, it seems I have another series in the making. I have a slew of designs for it, although who knows what I’ll actually make.   I’ll post some of the images once I get it the small project for the group finished.

Witley Decay is a piece I completed earlier this year.  I’m happy to report that  it was accepted in the Transformations ’09 SAQA show which will be premiering at the Festival of Quilts show in Birmingham, England.  At some point I’ll post information on it, too.  That quilt is a different direction for me.  I have more in that series, too.  However, I still have some other designs left in different series that I feel still need to be made.  In other words, I haven’t yet exhausted my need to continue with them.  See, not enough time!

I spend far too much time using Photoshop, yet I can’t help myself.  If I’m not using it for work, I’m using it for play. It such a universe of never-ending possibilities of a program.  I did a series of swan images for a 6×4 small textile piece I need to finish up for  a project.  But, I got sidetracked with some images I took while in York, UK.  While there I photographed many clocks (I love photographing clocks; I have a thing with time) and arches (I like arches, too).  I decided to collage them.  I wanted dark, almost brooding, with surprises tucked in misty layers.  At this small size, it’s hard to see some of those surprises.  I’m not sure what, if anything, I’ll do with this.  Tomorrow or later I’ll post the series of swan images.

What a night!  Rich and I watched the election returns on pins and needles (and not the quilting kind).  Seconds after 11 p.m., when the announcement of the new president was made, tears flowed!  Corny, I know.  But it was just amazing, and we felt such pride. In the morning while I was out buying various newspapers, I heard a very ugly comment.  Just as I thought that stuff would fade into the past, I was quickly reminded that it’s not happening any time soon.  That attitude took some of the air out of my feeling high balloon.  Far more gratifying, however, was all of the eye contact and smiles going on between strangers.   It reminded me of 9/11 with the huge difference of being united with the feeling of hope rather than of horror.

I am SO excited that election day is finally here!   I saw something on TV saying many places were open after midnight.  As a result, Rich and I drove over to our local election place at 12:05 a.m.   It wasn’t open.  It was instead spooky quiet and dark.  The only posted sign was information on an upcoming spaghetti dinner.  It seemed just another nondescript evening rather than one on the cusp of something historic.

By then we were both wide awake.   We ended up taking our dog for a long walk in the refreshing night air and chatting about the last eight years and the significance of this election.  We both feel a guarded optimism.  This morning the plan was to get up at 6 a.m. and get on line, but when 6 came around, Rich wasn’t getting up (no surprise there).  Instead, I’m now waiting for him to come home from work so that we can go off to vote.  The waiting is maddening.  I’m ready to head off without him.  But I’m waiting, waiting.  It feels like the entire world is waiting.  Everyone holding their collection breath.  It is so incredibly exciting to be voting in such an historic election. And this time tomorrow, a new chapter will begin.

My birthday was October 26th.  As a huge surprise, my younger brother Mike returned a guitar I lent him nearly 20 years ago.  In short, long ago I played some classical guitar (taught by my talented sister-in-law Sarah, whose dad was a famous musician).  Mike was living with me and my husband.  He use to pick up my yardstick and goof around with it.  At one point I started noticing that he had excellent finger dexterity when air-guitaring on it, and I realized he needed “real” lessons.  I stopped playing, and his lessons began.  Along the way, he commandeered my guitar with my pleas to return it falling on deaf ears.  Eventually I stopped asking (although it became a joke between us).

Flash forward:  Mike is now an excellent musician with a room full of guitars, and I’ve basically forgotten most of what I learned.  When he came over with a guitar case, I figured he was bringing one of his guitars into the house to play.  When he gave me the case, I was stunned.  When I opened it and saw my old guitar, my mouth dropped.  Not only did he return it, but he had some work done on it.  Better still was the tear-jerking letter he gave me with the guitar. It was truly the best gift I can remember. How could I not let Rich take a picture to capture the moment, despite me not being showered?

So on this birthday before the big one, Coldplay preformed on SNL (okay, that was Saturday night, but they played Sunday morning), the Giants won, and my brother put an solid smile in my soul!  And that’s all before the lovely roses from Rich.

Funny enough, just a few days prior I found a bunch of my original music books and started itching to play.  Maybe it’s time – although I did see that look of panic in my husband’s face — that, oh no, I’m not going to have to listen that again.   BTW, hanging behind us is a quilt I made in 1986!  It was my first to win a Best of Show at a state fair.

Last year during a work session in England, Derry’s family invited me to go camping with them in Wales.  They go a couple times each year, apparently going back several decades.  As a result, they get first choice of camping location.  They told me it’s lovely, peaceful, and a wonderful place to “get away from it all.”  I had some apprehension.  I’m from New Jersey, as in born and raised in New Jersey, as in not doing much camping in my life, well, more accurately, any camping.  As in none (unless you count throwing a blanket over a line strung between two trees and playing in it as a kid).  After saying noting my apprehension, I saw the looks with the seeming consensus that I wouldn’t be able to cut it.  Reverse psychology?  Maybe.  But it worked.  I went.

The drive to Bala, located in Gwynedd in the Snowdonia National Park in Wales, is quite breathtaking – especially in clear weather.

I cannot understand how to pronounce anything Welsh, but luckily for me English is generally spoken (albeit with an interesting accent, although I’m always dealing with various accents when on that side of the pond, as I’m sure people are dealing with mine).

When Derry says most of his family camps here, he’s not kidding, like three generations of them. There were tents everywhere, and not small tents. Nosiree, some of the tents had multiple rooms.

Here’s Derry and his mom.  She’s quite a beautiful lady!

The lake was peaceful.  Very peaceful.  Then I realized no motorboats.
I learned that except for emergency workers, motors of any kind are not allowed on the lake.

Despite the beauty, as the sun started to set, it was cold.  Very cold.

Notice how some are bundled up and some are in shorts?  I was bundled up. This is just the start of the clan that would later gather around the campfire – probably some 20 people at least!

The morning was quite beautiful and peaceful, although I do have that “how the heck did I get here” look.  And,  I will admit that I’m not keen on walking several blocks to get to a toilet and shower.  But at least for 50 pence one can take a quick shower, albeit a cold one (who knew I had to wait a few minutes for the warm water).

Lake Bala (or Llyn Tegi) is the largest natural lake in Wales.

That’s me with Derry’s brother Mark.  Mark gave me clear instructions – how and when to lean, what to do when the sail goes this way or that, and that if I were to go into the water, to immediately get to the boat.  I listened.  But Mark is somewhat of a jokster, as evidenced by his stories of monsters coming out of the lake (which only had me asking for times so I could photograph them).

Notice wet hair?  We were going along, and I was enjoying it.  Then I heard something snap.  For one brief nanosecond, our eyes widened and met with an “oh *h@&!” expression.  The next thing I knew, I was under water.  It was that fast (now I get the need for a life jacket).   When my head was above the water, I saw that Mark was also in the water. We both got back into the boat, and I learned that something with the sail snapped.

Luckily, I love the water so I had no fear.  But Mark, the jokster, had a look of true concern on his face.  I did think about milking it (only because my brain sometimes works that way) — playing the “are you trying to kill me” card or “I’m so frightened I must leave” or “my husband is going to hunt you down and make you pay.”  I even considered acting as though I fainted and falling back into the water.  But, instead, I reassured him that I was fine.  In fact, not only was I fine, but I found myself smiling and finding it all incredibly fun.   It fell into that “I’m alive” feeling.

He artfully held the sail to guide the boat back to shore.  Derry and his entire family were lined up along the coast.  Derry was taking some pictures when he realized the sail went down and we weren’t on the boat. He was very concerned and hoped I was okay physically and mentally. I thought about the “I was so scared” and “Rich would have killed you” speeches (I fantasize a lot), but I also told him I was fine.  Derry’s mom had a 50 pence piece ready and  told me to  immediately take a hot shower and change into warm clothes.   She was right, I discovered on route to the shower that it was far colder than I had originally though.  When I returned, she had a hot chocolate waiting for me.  There were lot of smiles and pats on the back.  I do believe their original assessment that I couldn’t cut it may have melted away.

It was an experience, including getting use to weather that changed many times during the day, vacillating  from bitter cold and rain to downright sunny and nearly hot.   The scenery was serene and gorgeous, and I’ve lots of pictures – food for Photoshop play and quilt ideas.  Will I go again?  Well, never say never, but not anytime soon.

It’s Buddy, my doggie, all snuggled up with one of my quilted blankets. He is such a cutie!  And, okay, he’s not just “my” doggie, he’s also Rich’s doggie.  Rich resuced him from a shelter several years ago.  This gorgeous doggie was just a week from being “put down.” Rich got Buddy just weeks after our first dog, Mustang, died.   I admit that I didn’t originally want Buddy; I wasn’t ready for him, and he looked none to happy being with me.  He walked with his head down, had very sad eyes, and a droopy wet, noodle of a tail.  He weighted about 42 pounds with his ribs sticking out. But it didn’t take long for me to totally fall in love with him and his beautiful personality.  And he’s one happy camper now — weighing some 90 pounds, having a jazzy, pert tail and bounce in his walk, and my permission to cuddle up with whatever quilted blanket he wants!