Frosty View

For years I wanted a window in my writing studio and I finally got one in December when Tom and I moved into our new place on the third floor of the Box Factory for the Arts.

Unfortunately this view, which I'm sure is fabulous in the summer, is cold and frosty this time of year. It's a little chilling to look out and see snow flying and the icy water of the St. Joseph river flowing with slush in it.

But, cold or not, I'm working on three writing projects I'm determined to finish this year and perhaps having it be so fridgid outside just inspires me to stay put and not venture out.

Tom and I are anticipating a trip to California in June, which will be here before we know it and the view from this window will be much different. And if I can keep to schedule, I'll be nearing the completion of three writing projects I've been working on for five years.

New Studio, Finally!

Tom and I finally have our studio up and organized on the third floor of the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph, Michigan. We have three windows in our studio, which is something I've wanted since I first took a studio here about 6 years ago. We moved in the first part of December



My side of the studio

Although I really liked my old studio, it was dark and had become chock-full of stuff to the point where I had to apologize for the mess to everyone who came in and I found it almost impossible to work there.

Tom's side of the studio

This studio is light, bright and organized - this is how I plan to accomplish so much this year.

New Year Update

I haven't written for a while, mostly because Blogger had an issue where they would not let me upload a photo from my computer. Evidently that has been fixed, so I can update with this illustration of me holding my latest grandson, Weston, born January 27.

As for my writing goals for the year - they are pretty simple - but work intensive at the same time.

Novel:
I plan to finish the novel I've been working on for five years - working title "Copper top" - by the end of July. Then I'll let it sit for August, before beginning rewrites. By the end of the year I hope to be able to shop it around to agents.

National Park Essays:
I have also been working on this project for five years, but I'm very close to being done.  I plan to finish this collection of essays I'm writing about Tom and my travels to the western national parks after our trip to Yosemite in June. I'm in a manuscript critique group and I'm running this project through that workshop.
By this fall I'll be ready to look for a publisher. The title: "Canyons Calling, Michiganders Exploring the West."

National Park Poems:
I originally thought I would include poetry in the above project, but this year I decided it would be better as a completely different project. Once again, I will finish this project after we return from Yosemite and self-publish in the fall. Tentative title: "Heading to the Canyons."

And that's it! Three long term projects done so I can move on to other projects percolating in my brain.

"Coming Home" quilt show

I recently hung a small exhibit of my quilts at the Box Factory for the Arts and it will be up until Jan. 6.

I've been wanting to see a collection of my work  hanging together for a while, ever since someone told me a quilt I was working on "looked like me."

Do I have a style? Hanging all these together makes me realize that I do.
In my artist statement, I tried to sum it up.

I like using pure colors - not ones "browned" or "greyed" down.  I like using folk art shapes - as opposed to precise, almost photographic, images. I like combining traditional blocks with applique. I like improvising and compromising to make things work. I also seldom make a bed-sized quilt (unless I'm giving it as a gift).

I never - and I mean NEVER - choose colors for a quilt because it matches my decor, although I may chose them for some other random reason. The colors for the large quilt on the left and the two smaller companion quilts next to it were chosen because they were my high school colors, maize and blue. The quilt next to it is a combination of purples, pinks and poison green - just because I liked those colors together.

Home for Thanksgiving

Sloan and me sitting in front of a couple of large bison at a museum in Jackson, Wyoming


Our daughter, Sloan, is coming home next week for Thanksgiving. My sons, who live nearby, and their wives are coming too ... and my grandson.

We don't all get together that often, and usually when we do, I'm the one who has to instigate it.
It takes much shuffling of schedules, both work and recreational, to manage it ... and that kind of makes me sad. I always hoped that we would have the kind of family I had when I was growing up. One that just naturally comes together and hangs out pretty regularly ... but that's not to be.

Sloan is spending the year student teaching about two hours away. She is winding up her last few months of college and each time she comes home I feel like I'm living on borrowed time. She has made no secret to the fact that she wants to move to a larger city than the small town we live in ... and she's made no secret that she hopes that city is some distance from here.

Of course, I have no wish to clip her wings, her life is her own to manage. But how can I get past the fact that she's on her way out?  It wasn't something I did. I intended to have a career where I would move from place to place ... but I ended up back in my home town and here I've stayed.  Our family just doesn't move away ... not my brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, sons ... nobody (well I do have an odd cousin who moved to California, but I don't usually count her).

I'm just wondering ... of all the people who feel they have to leave, why does it have to be my only daugher?

Autumn in the Smokies

A couple of weeks ago Tom and I went on the only vacation we're taking this year and went to the Smoky Mountains.  We rented this little cabin, which was tucked up in the hills.

We invited our son, daughter-in-law and grandson along with us and had a great time hanging out in the cabin. Nolan, our grandson, called it the "tiny house" and every time we left to go do something, he wanted to go back to the "tiny house" and the set of 20 new Matchbox cars we bought him to play with.

The colors of the trees were very nice, although living in Michigan we are used to seeing spectacular colors every fall.  We also saw several black bears, which was exciting, and some deer, which wasn't so exciting - we have bigger ones wandering through our yard at home nearly every day.

All in all it was a nice vacation, but not necessarily one that will go down in the memory books. I miss not going out west. The Smoky Mountains just seemed like big hills covered with trees. There wasn't much exciting to see and everything there was to see, Tom has seen it several times already since he has gone there for photography workshops a couple times.

It's a lot more fun when we go to new places and discover things together. Then I don't feel like the tourist who knows nothing and he the tour guide who has done it all already.

October Update

So much has been going on since I wrote last.

I went to my usual quilting workshop in Northern Michigan the first week of October. It was good to get away and I finished one quilt top and got a good start on another.

Then my quilt guild had our quilt show, which takes place every even year. I entered five new pieces but, as usual, did not win any ribbons.  The ribbons are awarded by popular vote and I'm not sure the vast majority of people understand or appreciate my quilts. It's easy to buy a pattern and replicate someone else's quilt - it's harder to design and make your own.

Just got back yesterday from a week in the Smoky Mountains - and I'm still trying to recover from that.
It was fun - but now need to get back to my scedule.

That's all for now. More and pictures to come later.