Fiber Art Dreams become Photography Dreams

Architecture has always appealed to me - in Italy it was doorways, in San Francisco it was firescapes...

I've spent so much time hidden behind the camera photographing markets and food that I realized this is my current artistic passion. So these are my favorite shots for the day. Enjoy a little piece of San Francisco through the eye of an Aspie.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

When plans fail ... we move on to new adventures

My plan to post once a week was interrupted by life ... I've been trying to down-size our 2000 sq. ft. house to move on to a place of 1000 sq. ft. or less. I've been pairing down my collections and moving them into my antique mall space to sell (ouch, I said that in print ... now it seems so much more real.) Home schooling is going well - my daughter is learning what it is like to work in the real world and having to deal with some tough issues. My husband's company continues to slowly weather the economy for now.

And I have been spending a great deal of time writing (and less on my art) I was lucky to spend time with friends in Sausalito, CA for some research for my third book. So I'll share some of the artistic beauty of CA:

Tinker - a 30' sailboat was my home for two weeks - I've missed her since I returned to dry land (well, not so dry up in Seattle.)

After my work was done I was able to walk along the beach with my toes in the sand.

I'll be busy working on my books to ready them for publication, but MUST intermittently spend time on a variety of mediums of art ... so watch out, there's more to come.

Today I plan to relax, organize my art supplies and do a little quilting.

What are your New Year resolutions?

I don't make a list of New Years Resolutions - instead I make goals for the year and try to break them down into manageable steps that I can check off as I go along. This helps me keep going throughout the year to stay on task and see my goals through.

My motto continues to be "Be a Dreamer and a Doer" and I manage to make my way through difficult periods of life by holding on to my DREAMS!

My son and I have joined a 365 day challenge on www.iresolveto.com where we will track out progress toward our goals and try to do one thing each day for our health or happiness.

My goals for this year again focus on my books - one will be published and available this Aug. 2010 and then a series will begin publication in 2011.

Another major goal is to eat healthier and improve the health of my family - we will again have another garden and hope to double it in size this year.

My final goal is to work on my artwork.

Stay tuned for updates - I will be posting once a week!

Thanks for joining me on my journey and Happy New Year!

As the year comes to a close...

I am truly amazed by all of my family accomplishments in 2009

I received two publishing contracts and will have my first book out August 2010
and the second contract is for a series (minimum four books ... but the possibilities are limitless)

My husband's company has managed to weather the economy storm and they forge ahead with positive spirits into 2010.

My daughter graduated in 2009 and is on her second seasonal job - this second one she'll be able to stay on parttime and I know the third job will be a charm and she'll find something more permanent as she makes further plans toward entry into the world on her own. She has become a great sales person - and she continues to amaze me as I watch her in action. And loved it as a small boy left the store with his mother, he past the window where she was standing - knocked, smiled and waved goodbye.

My son is progressing and learning many new social communications and I continue to be proud of him. He has a keen eye and is quite entrepreneurial as I teach him more about the antique collectible business. We will be business partners in a new antique mall space much closer to home - we are coming "home" to the mall where we belong, among friends! As we shopped at a mall together we were shocked at the treatment we received at the counter, by the staff. We ultimately decided to walk away from any purchases and he wasn't upset at all - he "got it" and understood that their words, tone and treatment were innappropraite and didn't mind that he didn't get him purchases either. Us to Aspies continue to learn to be a part of the world we live in and he continues to amaze me.

Our Family is embracing the new year and making goals that we can break into smaller tasks to check off along the way as baby steps toward reaching our goals. We don't make New Year's resolutions that we will ultimately fail at. I hope you will join me in making a "Dreams list" and make goals that you will reach along the way toward your dreams.

Now I must get back to quilting or my crazy children won't get their crazy quilts in 2009!

Merry Christmas to all ... enjoy the reason for the season with family and friends. Surround yourselves with positive people you love and welcome the new year and all its possibilities!

Happy New Year!

Crazy Quilting - a Christmas Promise

Crazy Quilts for Crazy Kids :)

I told my children I would make them each a quilt for Christmas - I opted for twin sized eventhough my daugter has a queen sized bed.

They picked out the fabrics - an odd assortment of their likes - in crazy colors.

My daughter loves giraffes, cats, dogs and bears and asian themes in many colors

My son likes jungle elephants, penguins and beavers and asian themes mainly in blacks

So we gathered polka dots, stripes, I threw in some checked black and white since my son also likes cars/racing, then found all the appropriate animals and I began piecing together some CRAZY quilts for them.

My son's is pieced together and backed so I can begin quilting soon:

Art through the eye of the Aspie

Art Deco through the Eye of an Aspie

I love the art deco period and as luck would have it our hotel on a recent trip was a fabulous representation of the period! If you know me - you'll know I love to photograph doorway and fire escapes. This trip I enjoyed the art deco light fixtures, so I thought Robert Schumann said it well:

"To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist."

~Robert Schumann, German Composer

My husband and I managed a quick get away for a few nights while out 18 and 11 year olds had some fun ordering delivery with the money we left them. They get along much better when we aren't home :)

I'm not sure why I go through phases but in Italy I was captivated by doorways, in New York City it was the fire escapes down the sides of buildings and in Vegas it is the amazing deco light fixtures.



Thanks for sharing another peek at some photos = I like to refer to as art therapy :o)

Join me again for some quilting fun - crazy style

We DREAM of ART

A day with Chihuly Art Glass

I have been homeschooling my son for a little over a month now and after completing some work we went to the art museum. Tacoma has a wonderful glass museum and art museum. Having a combination of anxiety with Aspergers when we arrived at the museum and saw a number of school buses he opted to begin at the glass museum bridge that is covered with Chihuly art glass.

My children and I like to take photos so we each had a camera with us.

The roof of the covered portion of the bridge is full of hundreds of pieces of art glass and one side has larger vases encased in glass.

There are beautiful fountains in front of the museum of glass




We use art as a therapy or form of stress-release and also enjoy studying new forms of art or learning about new artists.

Thanks for sharing our day at the museum.