A Photo Journal from 2012

The year began with moving my mom to an assisted living facility and cleaning out my parents house that they lived in for more than 50 years.

In mid-January, a beautiful bundle of joy was born "Will" my grand nephew.  I brought my mom to the hospital to meet him.  My dad would have loved to be here for his birth, but alas, he was looking down from heaven at this amazing event.

After suffering a head injury, my mom entered hospice care and passed away towards the end of March.  We lived in the moment during our time with her at the assisted living facility. It was heart breaking to lose my mom, especially so close to losing my dad (4 months apart).

It took us about four months to clean out their house.  I went every Monday to clean out every drawer, cupboard, closet, photographs, family keepsakes, etc.  My sister and I would meet up on other days to work together and make the hard decisions of what to keep.  My sister, brother and I pose on the fireplace at my parents house as our final tribute to our parents .  Sitting on the hearth was a common place for family photographs, so it seemed fitting.

I was honored to be a part of the first eMag 'Surface Explorations" for Quilting Arts, and my part was about stenciling on art quilts

'The Sketchbook Challenge' book as released!  I have an accordion book of watercolored houses in this book.  I am honored to be included!  

Girl Scouts celebrate 100 years and I created this watercolor to use in art quilts.  A GS used my design on a cake for her troop, another used it on a button for a jamboree in Vermont, used to thank volunteers, a service unit manager uses this as the header for her newsletter. 

My parents house sold in the summer!  Bittersweet.

Dinner at Eight Artists presents "Rituals" a 42-piece collection at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach.  Leslie Tucker Jenison, Yvonne Porcella and me stand in front of Yvonne's art quilt

Our daughter, Jen graduated from UCLA in Theatre Studies with a minor in English, with her brothers by her side

Annual family vacation to Ashland, Oregon - where we take our family picture every year for our Christmas card.  The photo highlights our true selves

I packed up and moved out of my studio in an office park with dentists and doctors, that faced a busy street - 630 square feet divided up into 5 rooms.

The new studio - 1,000 square feet of industrial space!  No windows, but has a rollup truck door, and 2 doors that open in the front, onto a parking lot, off the beaten path, amongst a group of glass artists.  I feel totally at home here and every day that I walk in the door, I am thankful to have this amazing space!

Quilting Arts Magazine - It was a thrill to do a Q&A with Vivika DeNegre (QA) on behalf of Dinner at Eight Artists - Leslie Tucker Jenison and me about our exhibits and have a great representation of art quilts from the exhibit 'Rituals.'  We were pinching ourselves!

and in the same issue, an article about Havel's Scissors and how amazing they are to cut work with

A trip to Kauai with my man to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary

Festival in Houston  'The Mother of Girl Scouts' which was in the second installation of "I Remember Mama" exhibit several years ago.  This was for a special Girl Scout exhibit celebrating 100 years!  I was so honored to be asked!

Working in Open Studios, free motion machine quilting at Festival in Houston was a total blast!

Leslie Tucker Jenison and I posing by the Quilt Expo sign, because our Dinner at Eight Artists special exhibit 'Rituals' will be shown in the Netherlands in early May 2013, yay!

Panel Discussion with moderator, Lesley Riley about finding your own voice in your art

Some members of The Sketchbook Challenge together in Houston:  me, Judy Coates Perez, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Sue Bleiweiss, Lyric Kinard, and Lesely Riley!  I am honored to work with such amazing women!

My parents who spent their birthdays, and holidays in heaven this year. We marked the first anniversary of my dad's passing on Thanksgiving.  I miss them everyday.  Needless to say, this has been a very hard year of loss, grief and sorrow.   I am thankful that I had them both in my life, and that I have the god-given talent to make art, family and good friends to surround me, and fill my cup. 

'Home is Where Your Story Begins' made for the Quilt Alliance contest in 2012, won first place and raised money for the Alliance in December on eBay bringing in a record amount of $1,675

Holiday House 'how to' on the Havel's Scissors site

What's for Dinner?  I am using this 1950's electric oven to cook my Company Potatoes!

Yes, this has been an extremely hard year emotionally and heart wrenching at times, but I realized after writing this post, that I have many things to be thankful for. I am still here and surviving.  I have a wonderful family and caring friends who have rallied around me to offer their love and support.  I am making art, writing articles, took this year off from teaching, but feel that I am still thriving and creating.  I feel the only way I can go is up!  Here's to a fabulous 2013, open to remarkable opportunities!