Power

This past weekend I got to help a local artist with an installation for a community center my firm is completing. AJ Power is his name and colored cement was the game. Denise enlisted Emma and I and we grabbed Melinda and Chuck and off to Van Asselt we went.

We began the day taping off the 'threads' to be colored with some odd product. We then filled in with slurry and cement. After a few hours of filling we felt adventurous enough to remove the tape.

To our horror the colors had bled everywhere and as Denise described it 'AJ looked like he had run over a dog'. So on the beautiful sunny day which we were completely oblivious to because we were under a tent, we set out to sponge up all the excess color. Luckily for all involved the color came up fairly easily and the colored 'threads' were saved.
All in all it was a lovely day, met a few nice people and got to hang out in a heated tent with some friends and some cookies (very important to feed your free labor) and learn how to trowel in cement fairly evenly.

On a side note we met the inventor of verdana that day, she also paints blue sky farmfield backgrounds, and she's a lovely lady.

Travis' Quilt

I have to confess; I’ve been on a bit of a quilting kick. I made almost all of the blocks for a quilt for my boyfriend before I went home for Christmas and then my Mom and I worked on assembling it while I was there. It was about 90% done when I left and my Grandma is sewing the binding on it today. It’s so exciting to see something that big and involved come together, which is why I couldn’t wait that long to get started on the next one, but I had to find a good fabric source.

Eureka! Yesterday Melinda and I braved the icy cold to go to a fabric store in Queen Anne; Nancy’s Sewing Basket. They have a huge selection of quality solids, which translates to my sewing heaven. (I tend to shy away from prints, preferring to make my quilt the print.) I went crazy and bought roughly 14 yards of fabric in all of my favorite colors (I really need to start branching out of my favorite colors). Melinda just kept looking at my growing pile of fabric bolts and laughing, but I feel I should remind her of her ever-growing pile of yarn in the corner of our living room.

The pattern I’ve decided to go with is the same block consisting of stripes of color rotated in a specific pattern so that it resembles a basket weave. I haven’t decided how big it will be yet; I guess that all depends on the strength of my character. My Mother’s 12 foot long quilting machine is no longer just an hour’s drive away. I will actually have to quilt it on my little Singer all by myself, which I’ve obviously never done. Probably the most logical to start small, but no one has ever said that I’m logical.

I made it back

So, I missed my 6 a.m. flight to Texas and for my horrible deed, I was punished. I had to wait in the Seattle airport for 20 hours on standby. I got a 2:30 a.m. flight to Dallas where my parents picked me up by car and drove me 5 hours back to San Antonio, so that I wouldn't be waiting on standby for a connecting flight. But I made it in time to enjoy my family's Christmas Eve celebrations and that's what matters, right?

I did have a lovely, if not ridiculously busy, time in Texas though. There was some sun as well as a few downpours, but the sun made up for it. I even went for a jog in a tank top and short pants complete with sunglasses, that is definitely one of the best things about Texas. I got to see a lot of family and went to Houston and Austin in addtion to San Antonio. In Houston I saw Travis and we got to visit with some of his LaLaLand friends and of course his family. Travis came back to San Antonio with me and visited with my family and went to my Grandma's 80th surprise birthday party. It was great, she teared up a little and we had a big presentation of her life in pictures and witty banter that was pretty fun to see, if not that fun to 'help' put together. Travis and I took Abby around with us to go have lunch with Marc and run some errands. She loves Travis now because he fed her ice cream and swung her around in the parking lot while I picked up some last minute gifts. Marc is doing well; he now uses a pair of hedge clippers for grooming, but it definitely suits him. His work is going well and he actually has friends where he lives, unlike me. So then Travis and I went to Austin to hang out with Yessi for New Year's Eve. Frankly it was kinda boring and we would have had more fun just about anywhere else, but it was relaxing, which is something that does not happen in my family.

When I flew back to Seattle I got to an hour and a half for my luggage to come in on the next flight and then I got to wait a little longer for the shuttle, but it wasn't too bad, because when compared to 20 hours on standby, nothing is that bad.

Since I've been back I've finished up the scarf I started the night before I flew to Texas and kind of halted the crafts for a bit to catch up on sleep. I've taken a couple of dance lessons and am sore because of it, but they were fun. New teacher, very crowded class, but I'm learning some different ways to move, which is fun. Mindy and I had dinner at Jesse and Josue's and we are now terribly jealous of their apartment with the huge kitchen, separate studio, dishwasher and washer/dryer in apartment. I can't wait until Travis moves up and I can do an extensive search to find the perfect place.

Today my Mom called and told me she has Bell's Palsy, so half of her face is immobile. It's kind of hard not to really worry about her, high blood pressure, cholesterol, overweight, lots of infections recently, it's getting a bit scary.