The Artist

Had a great meeting at the Brown Sugar Stitchers yesterday! Regina Carter taught a class using Shiva Paintstiks. I am no artist, but these paints are so versatile, we all achieved excellent results with little effort. Sad how long I've had Painstiks on hand and didn't do anything with them!

This is currently drying...then next weekend I'll embellish with Swarovski crystals.

Pain makes you stronger. Tears make you braver. Heartache makes you wiser. And Vodka makes you not remember any of that crap.

President's Block

Today was errand run day - eye check, hair cut, visit Tracy at KiwiQuilts, cleaners, Post Office. The African American Quilt Guild of Oakland gives the outgoing President a signature quilt as a thank you...I was able to squeeze in a little sewing and completed my block for Marilyn. If it wasn't overdue, I would take the time to trace the signature outline in embroidery thread so that 100 years from now when the ink fades, the signature will still be there...but...it was due the 28th, so...it will just have to last for me and Marilyn!


If all good things come to those who wait, does that make procrastination a good thing?

Which Way North?

I've been back from Empty Spools at Asilomar since April 20th but I haven't been sewing. I enjoyed the class - it was freezer paper piecing...a lot of work for not a lot of results.  On the third day, I was still working on putting the Mariner's Compass together. I'll stick with regular paper piecing, thank you very much. I choose this pattern because I thought I would learn a new technique but wouldn't end up with another UFO.
Here's the piece...this is a whole week of work, and I seriously worked...even stayed late one night until about 10PM. It rained a couple of days, so I wasn't taking walks on the beach and I only got one massage.  You can see the Mariner's Compass underneath the freezer paper (a little bit.) 








I must have had a brain fart when I filled out the form for the class, because they ask if you would be interested in being a hostess for your workshop, and that is just not something I would normally do in my right mind. Maybe I was thinking that since I'm retiring, I would start branching out and doing new things and being a class hostess would be something I could check off my bucket list. I don't know. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I got the letter saying "Congratulations, Hostess!"  Quite the surprise! It's easy enough - all you have to do is take attendance the first day, on the night of Show 'n Tell help the instructor sell books, and collect evaluations at the end. For this they give you a $30 gift certificate, which of course I spent the first day. Being a hostess was fun, and when I signed up for 2013, I intentionally checked Yes!

I stayed with Regina before traveling down to Pacific Grove and we walked Lake Merritt with Rafiki. This is the full moon over the lake on Saturday morning, April 7th. If the moon hasn't set yet, aren't you up Way Too Early?



Received this information from a friend - this is a very frightening statistic and probably one of the most troubling in recent years: 25% of women in this country are on medication for mental illness! That is truly scary! It means 75% are running around with no medication at all!