home
about the artist
gallery
blog
links
contact

Archive for the ‘Travels’ Category

Doing San Francisco

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

The weather was a little cooler today, and Mr C and I enjoyed walking around this fabulous city. First we checked out the new (to us) addition to the San Francisco Center where Nordsrom has been for awhile. Now, there is a swanky Bloomingdales and floors of retail therapy. It is a beautiful refurbishing of an old building with lots of open areas with lovely sitting areas and a food court that is not to be believed.

Next, we walked down to the Ferry Plaza where the San Francisco farmer’s market is held. The building houses several permanent businesses and restaurants.

Here are some of the sights in the Ferry Building (all clickable).

That last photo is of The Cowgirl Creamery cheese shop. I had to satisfy my love of cheese by sniffing the wonderful smells. We had lunch at a nice little Mexican restaurant.

We sat outside where we saw this view of the Bay Bridge.

After trekking back to Union Square, Lisa picked us up (in our car which we are parking for free in her garage and saving a bundle) and we set out to by wine and munchies for the opening party tonight. I got these photos of the shop before the crowds arrived tonight.

This is a mural painted by Amy Ruppel of Portland. They are carrying several of her encaustic paintings.

This is Lisa’s mobile:

I should have gotten more shots of the interior when it was not crowded.

We went back to the hotel and crashed for a while and then went out for Tapas with Mark and Jayme. We had so many tasty dishes. By the time we arrived at Rare Device, things were in full swing. You could barely walk through to the bar, and the two owners were selling up a storm:

The gorgeous tree motif behind them is wallpaper that you can purchase from them.

I got to meet so many of Lisa’s friends and to catch up with those that I have known for quite some time. Most of the friends think that she and I look alike. I think she looks more like her Dad. Perhaps it is our eyes.

The funniest moment of the evening was when Lisa escorted a very intoxicated “neighbor” from the party. He really did not want to go. Every one was sort of wondering who the shabby guy with the gray beard was – crazy uncle, perhaps?

They had a bucket of buttons for those who came. I scored these two— apropos, I think.

Sneak Peeks

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

We are in the balmy San Francisco “Riviera”. We couldn’t believe the 80+ temperatures that greeted us when we arrived. But, I am happy to shed my Portland rain gear, polar fleece and socks. I am still wearing my Keen sandals.

We left yesterday and stayed over in Yreka, CA last night. Here is sneak peek #1, Mt. Shasta, glowing in the morning sun today.

I love driving across the By Bridge. (Hey, Debra, I yelled and waved as we drove by Hercules!)

And then you get that sneak peek at the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gare Bridge in he distance.

After getting settled and doing a little walking around Union Square and a walk through Needless Markup (Neiman Marcus), we headed over to Lisa and Rena’s shop/gallery. Here is a sneak peek at Rare Device. Lisa painted the mural that is above the door. She also made the mobile that you can get a sneak peek of through the door.

This is such a delightful store, just chocked full of eye candy and goodies. Lisa had to slap my hand because I kept messing up the displays as I looked through all the good stuff. Today, a stylist and photographer from Lucky Magazine came and rearranged stuff for a photo shoot. The store will be featured in the January issue.

We all went out to dinner at a fabulous new Italian Restaurant in Lisa’s neighborhood. I am not going to tell you what I had to eat. Suffice it to say that I must do a lot of walking tomorrow.

I survive long drives in the car by doing hand work, when I am not the designated driver. I am doing embroidery work on my 12X12 piece. And here is a sneak peek at that.

Tomorrow, we are helping Lisa by picking up wine and munchies for the opening party, tomorrow night. I am looking forward to meeting all of her friends. I’ll try to get some photos of the festivities.

California, Here I Come

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

Tomorrow, Mr C and I are leaving for San Francisco for a very important event. Our daughter Lisa and her business partner, Rena, are opening a gallery/shop in San Francisco. You can read about them on this Design Sponge post.

Better yet, if you are in the Bay Area, come on by and celebrate with us. Here is the invitation:

I’ll be there to pour you a glass of wine!

We are also looking forward to some time with other family in the Bay area. It will be my great niece, Viola’s, first birthday, and we wrangled an invite to the party.

I do not have anything creative to show you as the only work I have done is for the Twelve X Twelve Journal Quilt project. And I really haven’t done much on that piece.

Yesterday, we had the family over for soup and salad. Today, I spent some time buying smaller pants. I was so embarrassed this week-end because the pants I packed were falling off. I hadn’t worn them for a couple of weeks.

I will have my camera and laptop with me so I will be checking in from the festivities. I am also going to try to get caught up on e-mails to y’all.

Contemporary Quiltart Symposium

Friday, October 19th, 2007

I am in Tacoma, WA for the 2oth anniversary celebration of the Washington Contemporary Quiltart Association. They are putting on a symposium with some pretty great speakers, tomorrow. Tonight there was a delicious banquet and a retrospective of their evolution as an art quilt organization, given by 4 former president. It was very interesting and comforting to hear that they have been fraught with many of the same problems that other organizations come up against. I am impressed at how far they have evolved and the shows they have mounted.

We arrived in a driving rain storm around lunch time. The we being Mary Maxwell, my companion and roommate for the trip. Mary belongs to Columbia Stitchery Guild and is a new friend. We have discovered that we have a lot in common. Here she is posing with this guy we found standing out in the rain.

We saw one of the traveling Gee’s Bend Quilt exhibits at the Tacoma Art Museum. I was underwhelmed and quite disappointed. Many of these were made in just the last few years and seem to me to be made in an attempt to jump on the band wagon. I was not alone in this feeling. I would have loved to see the original show that started all of the brouhaha. There were maybe two or three quilts that I would call “art.” Otherwise, they were very wonky utilitarian quilts.

The CQA has a show titled Evolution of the Art Quilt which is quite stunning. Each quilt is accompanied by a statement from the quilter with a small photo of an earlier quilt. In most cases, it is quite interesting to see how the artist has evolved.

Here are a couple of bad photos of the scene there tonight.

Our first speaker, tomorrow, is Robert Shaw who wrote the first compendium of art quilts. I think it is called “The Art Quilt.” Then we hear from Barbara Lee Smith, Cynthia Corbin and a panel discussion on Intelligent Design with Erika Carter, Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer and Jill Nordfors Clark. The final speaker is Michael Monroe, the executive director of the Bellevue Art Museum.

I have met some heroines, like Janet Steadman, and run in to friends I have before only known on the internet, like Lorraine Edmonds and Andree Fredette. I am making new friends and solidifying friendships with others who have made the trip from Portland. I’m so happy to be here. Ciao!

A Little Drinking, A Little Eating, A Whole Lot of Fun

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

After a drive through sporadic rain, we arrived in Woodlinville, WA, yesterday afternoon. Woodlinville is kind of bucolic spot in the midst of the suburbs of Seattle. It is north of Redmond. There are wineries here, but no vineyards. They are all over on the other side of the state where is is warmer.

After checking in, we visited a couple of wineries, Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia Winery. We tasted some ok wine. The syrahs were the best.

csmcask.jpg

We had dinner at a little bistro in the village of Woodlinville. The Willows Lodge is a first rate place to stay. It is ranked 12th best hotel in the country by Travel & Leisure magazine. We have a mid ranked room. It is quite luxurious, with a jetted tub, walk in shower room, patio outside, king bed with luxurious linens. We slept very well. The hotel gave us a nice bottle of wine for our anniversary.

This morning we went for a nice long walk along the Sammamish river Trail, which is adjacent to the Lodge.

riverwalkreflection.jpg

This is my favorite photo from the end of our walk.

landscapepainter.jpg

This is the logo of the Willow Lodge, which you see every place. I really like it.

willowslogo.jpg

After our walk, we took a little drive and ended up in Bothell, where we had a nice lunch in a little cafe. Then we drove down to Redmond, hoping to see Bill Gates so that I could tell him how much I hate everything Microsoft. I did see this sign. Thought it was quite funny!

thegatesofredmond.jpg

We came back to the room so that Mr C could rest his bum leg. Of course, he fell asleep. I woke him up to take the last tour of the day at the Red Hook brewery, which is on the other side of the Lodge.

For a $1, we got a little glass, 5 ale tastes and a tour. The best bargain of our trip!!

redhookbeer.jpg

One of the draws at the Willows Lodge is the gastronomic delight, The Herb Farm restaurant. Unfortunately for us, it was not open while we are here. Here is one of the photos I took of the real herb garden, however.

herbgarden4.jpg

So, we had dinner at the other restaurant, The Barking Frog. We had the tasting menu which was 5 courses, accompanied by a wine taste. It was really fabulous. Here is a synopsis of our menu

  • Mixed Berry Grey Goose Shooter
  • Roasted chanterelles & hericot Verts Salad – sparkling rose
  • Heirloom Tomato Croque madame – Washington sangiovese
  • Grilled Pesto Prawn, Sweet Corn & Polenta Tamale – Rose
  • Intermezzo – Peach & Champagne sorbet
  • Oregonzola Crusted Kobe Beef Ribeye, Maine Lobster Bread Pudding – claret
  • Blackberry Clafoutis, Sweet Corn & Cocoa Nib Gelato – Muscat

It was all delicious. Each course was quite petite and lovely. I felt as if I was a judge on Top Chef.

I took lots of pictures of dandelions on our walk this morning.

dandelionfluff2.jpg

My friend, Diane Hock, had organized a challenge group. We are 12 artists, creating 12 X 12 challenge pieces. Our first theme is dandelion. You can keep track of us here.

As usual, you can see all my photos of this trip on my Flickr site.