Tree tunnel

You can see why I call this the "tree tunnel." It's the same place I sketched last week, only this time I concentrated on a wonderful avenue of bent-over trees. The photo shows the view that I drew in my ink pen sketch.

Weekend fun

Here I am last week, sketching in the shade of big gnarled trees near the beach. I broke off a small branch of one of the trees that had a lot of interesting round pinecones on it, and brought it home to sketch later. You can see my efforts in the second photo.

Plein air by the beach

Today I did two sketches with the plein air painters at Poplar Beach in Half Moon Bay. The other sketch is from my botanical art class, we did a lot of experiments with colored pencil.

More recent drawings and paintings

This is a mix of ink drawings and watercolor sketches done at my botanical art class and during the plein air group at Farmer John's Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay.

Pacific International Quilt Festival

On the same weekend as the Pumpkin Festival, I went to the huge Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara. Here are just some of the wonderful artworks on display there. An "evil" cat face quilt (sorry, I didn't get the artist's name), a wonderful 3D beaded frog made by Thom Atkins (about 15 inches tall), and a layered pumpkin wall quilt made by Sarah Roberts.

Pumpkin Festival 2009

Last year, I was in Atlanta during the Pumpkin Festival. So this year I really enjoyed it (it's good to take a break from the madness). Just two photos for you: the little tie dyed shirt I got for Baby J, and a guy wearing a very scarey mask at the Half moon bay Yacht Club's calamari booth. I also got two fimo-clay switchplate covers for our house, on sale for $5 each. The weather was perfect and the craft and food booths were not too crowded.

Finally, some artwork

Several things happened this week to get me drawing and painting again. First, our little local Saturday Painters group got together again, and I did a quick "flower vase" painting in watercolor, from a photo I took during the summer of flowers from my garden. Second, I began an 8-week Botanical Art class at the SF Botanical Gardens, and made a quick ink sketch of holly and berries from the gardens. Third, I joined the Half Moon Bay Plein Air painting group at Farmer John's Pumpkin Farm and did some quick watercolor studies in my sketchbook. Tons of fun!

Finished Victorian Lace Shawl

I've been totally neglecting my blog, sorry about that. But I have been busy knitting, last night I finished this Victorian Romance lace shawl. It was a mystery knitalong designed by Renee Leverington of Goddess Knits. The group received the pattern for free, but it is now available for purchase.

Sanchez Adobe on my birthday

Today I went to lunch with friends for my birthday (Portofino in Pacifica) and afterwards we checked out a fascinating show at the Pacifica Art Center. Each artist made 50 small pieces of art in 50 days. Here's a few photos to give you an idea of what the show was like.

A new painting and my talented son

I finally finished a floral painting I started awhile ago. Instead of tracing the photo, I sketched it and didn't paint in every leaf in the background, so this is a big different style for me. The other artwork here was created by my talented son, they are all based on the "long cat" Internet theme.

Back from Atlanta

Here's the cat quilt I showed you earlier, with Baby J! I just got back from a week in Atlanta to visit her. Such a cutie! I have more pics to share, but jet lag is catching up with me, time to retire for the night.

Cats in the window

This won't be much of a surprise if my son sees it, but I made this bright quilt to send to baby Jeannette. I used the "envelope" method of sewing the backing, batting, and top together and then turning it right-side out, so there is no binding needed. It still needs machine quilting and then I will pop it in the mail. I also finished the Mola Quilt that I had pieced together a few months ago.

First grand baby, first clothing design

I looked all over but could not find a christening gown that I liked. They were either way too elaborate (I had only a few weeks to make it) or too simple, like white play dresses. So I did what any thinking knitter would do, and designed one. Using creamy cashmere laceweight from my stash--I don't need a white lace shawl for myself, after all. Here it is! I am posting the pattern for sale on ravelry, and if you do not belong to ravelry, you can send me $5 via paypal and I'll send you the PDF pattern in exchange. Pictures of actual baby wearing the gown will be posted as soon as I have them.

I'm a grandma!

This little face is the reason I am now a grandma! My oldest son and his wife have been trying to adopt for a long time, and last week they were finally lucky enough to bring home this little charmer. Her name is Jeannette and I am now madly knitting a christening gown for her.

Marina rose in full bloom

I don't think this has ever happened--my Marina rose (that is its real name, the same as mine so of course I had to plant one in my garden) had four blooms at the same time! I waited a bit too long to take the pictures, so two of the flowers are falling apart, but you can still see their petals on the bush. The other picture is a wood sculpture garden that is along Main Street in Half Moon Bay, they are all made by the same artist. I can't remember his name right now, but he is a well-known local artist.

happy mother's day

This lovely bouquet just arrived, sent by my wonderful son and daughter in law who live far away in Atlanta. It came with a box of chocolates, too! What a wonderful day :-)

Free Comics Day

Saturday was Free Comics Day, when comic book stores pass out free comics that have been specially produced for this purpose. I took my kids to Isotope in San Francisco, which happens to be next door to Urban Knitting Studio (great placement!) The pic shows some of the unusual decor inside Isotope--evidently, whenever an artist comes to the store, they are asked to draw on a toilet seat (new and purchased just for this purpose). Quite unusual.

lost lace and reward for honesty

Remember that lovely round lace shawl I was so proud of finishing last week? Well, I lost it. I went to downtown Burlingame to meet a friend, shopped a bit, and when I got home, the shawl was gone. I searched, placed a lost&found ad, filed a police report, and distributed flyers. If I dropped it in the street or a store, someone picked it up and took it home--they did not turn it in yet.

In much better news, I received a box full of goodies from Hawaii, sent by the grateful owners of the camera I returned last month (see pic). This is proof that I'm a good person, I deserve to get that shawl back. UPDATE: I did get the shawl back! An employee at Peets called and said she found the shawl in the back room, high up on a shelf. I did give her a small reward when I picked up the shawl. Now it is even more precious to me.

States in the U.S. and countries I have visited

visited 23 states (46%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or another interesting project


visited 6 states (2.66%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Like this? try: Chinese Radicals

My mandala is done

It took months, but my round lace shawl is done. The photo shows it pinned out on my design wall, blocking. I will take it down when it is dry. Lace really needs to be stretched out to show the pattern. The yarn is hand dyed by Lisa Souza and the pattern is Mandala by the Knitting Goddess (Renee Leverington).

My sepia family

I enlarged a couple of old family photos and merged them into one painting--my mom, dad, younger brother and me! There was one pic with my dad, me and brother. The other shot had my mom, brother and me. So together, we get the whole family. They were black and white photos, so I painted them in sepia tones. This is the first time I have tried this kind of thing, and it isn't quite finished, but you can see what I was aiming for.

Color wheel socks

I am still knitting constantly and today I started these socks, using a color wheel of yarns (mostly leftovers from other projects).

leafy or weedy sea horse sketch

I was kinda bored at work today, so I sketched this sea horse (there was a great article about them in the SF Chronicle). I need to bring my sketchbook with me to work and do more like this, I think.

The last camellia comes home

I painted this pink camellia a couple of years ago and just got it back from the framer last week. Somehow, it got misplaced and only surfaced again recently. I am very happy that it finally came home!

Watercolor at the Presidio

Yesterday, I visited the great watercolor show at the Presidio. It's there through May 24 and it's free, so do check it out if you have a chance. There is plenty of free parking and the views are fabulous. I enjoyed all the paintings and especially a display case full of sketchbooks. Next door is a small display of Andy Goldsworthy's work (on our way home, we drove past the Spire he designed that is installed nearby in the Presidio). He made a smaller version of the spire in a closet! I liked it better than the large, outdoor spire. In the morning, I met with the One Sock a Month Ravelry group--the knee socks were made by two different knitters who used almost the same color yarn and the same pattern.