Spring is off to a very busy start

and it’s not going to slow down any time soon.

I’m a little slow to post this month due to all the prep work I’ve been doing for my crazy teaching schedule this April and May. I’ve also been finishing a quilt for an exhibit, gathering supplies, shipping supplies, burning CD’s, and preparing stacks of handouts, but I’ve had some fun sprinkled in between.

Phil and I took a trip to San Francisco to see a friend visiting from Australia, 

then we spent the weekend in beautiful Half Moon Bay.


Those are harbor Seals soaking up the sun on Moss Beach, this photo was shot on my iphone looking through the lens of a telescope on the beach.

I think I could never tire of looking in tide pools. 

 

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Phil is a pretty multifaceted guy; he’s a programmer by day and plays in a rock band for fun, but he also has degrees in digital music production and has been performing since the 80’s with a bay area group called the Hub. On Valentines weekend the group held a memorial concert at Mills College in Oakland to honor Phil’s good friend and fellow group member Mark Trayle, who died from pancreatic cancer last year. 
Not your typical music performers.
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The weekend after, Jenny Lyon and Martha Wolfe joined me on a road trip to Pasadena to go Quiltcon.

We had so much fun and were so inspired by the quilts.

Having a background in graphic design myself, I was very drawn to the spareness and clean design of many of the quilts.
I loved the color palette and playful design of this triangle quilt by Tara Faughnan

 

the simple geometry of this purple and blue one by Tami Levin above, and this little one by Krista Fleckenstein, below.

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I love these two, but unfortunately don’t have names for them

Such a beautiful subtle color palette!

I loved seeing my friend Kathy York’s quilt too!

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This dark blue one by Leanne Chahley was my very favorite quilt in the show.
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Besides all the fabulous quilts, I couldn’t believe how many friends we saw there. Here are just a few:
my friend Robbi Eklow from Chicago

Quilting Arts editor Viveka DeNegre

My dear friend Emily Parson from the Chicago School of Fusing. This is Emily’s beautiful quilt in the show.

mixed-media artist Jeannie Moore

Leslie and Jamie!

the Pixel Ladies  🙂

and of course Pokey!

do two Wolves make a pack? (check out that photo bomb)

Martha Wolfe and Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Victoria’s super fun quilt Mr Swirly Bones that won viewers choice.

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A special treat was getting to see my daughter Indigo and her adorable friend Penny from England,

who was at the show with her quilting mom Belinda.

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Martha, Jenny and I did our duty manning the SAQA booth, trying to help ‘modern’ quilters realize they are making work that completely fits in the art quilt category.

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It was so great that Quiltcon was in Pasadena because it meant that I could also get in a visit with my old art school room mate Amy

and we could crash with my dear friend Mary Rose, before she zipped off to help with the Bernie campaign in Vegas.

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Last weekend, I got to spend a few hours doing my favorite form of exercise – dancing! to the rock band Phil plays in

I have to say after all the frustrations I had dating while living in Chicago, it sure paid off when I was finally able to move back to California, where I got to meet Phil!

 

A fun little side project I did last week, was altering a cute rayon t-shirt swing dress I bought from Old Navy.

It started out as heather gray and I over dyed it a soft aqua, because the last color I need to wear much of is gray, heh!  Then, I used two of my thermofax designs to print a border of queen annes lace in white and little leafy plants in black.  I’m very pleased with how it came out.

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Tonight, me and Phil are taking the red eye to New York City for a week, where Phil will be performing one of his digital compositions for a modern dance company that he has been composing and playing music for annually for 30 years! 

And there’s a nice review  of the dance company performance in today’s Tribeca Trib online news too!

This will be my 3rd trip to NYC with Phil and I look forward to exploring a few more museums, and as icing on the cake, I get to visit my friends Melly Testa and Mistyfuse Iris!

Keep creating it’s good for the soul!