need a laugh? I do

I am dealing with the aftermath of rejection. Rejection of my recent challenge quilt from the traveling show.
I also finished my book, Juliet by Anne Fortier. I didn't want to stop reading it and I didn't want it to end.
Anne should stop whatever she is doing now, unless it's writing the next book, and write. No sleeping, no eating, no partying, just writing lots of beautiful mysterious books full of well turned phrases. Anyway, I'm sad on a couple of levels today. 
I am enjoying the videos and when I feel low, I find myself drawn to the tap dancing cow (puttin on the ritz). 
Now this cat loving dog might cheer me up.   In case it doesn't load, try this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI4yoXyb1_M
 Hope you laugh. LeeAnna

thinking of vacations

come on in!

Thinking about Lake Placid... we have settled into a pattern. We found Lake Placid in the Adirondacks of NY a few years ago and loved the whole atmosphere. We visit wineries and quilt shops along the way up. We stop in Saratoga Springs and walk the town.  Cole comes with us of course, and loves being with his people all day for a week. He is packing bandanas and toys now in anticipation.
We stay at a hotel on Mirror lake in the town, park the car, and can walk everywhere the rest of the week. I like to watch the World class ice skaters each day, we walk the three mile path around the lake twice each day, visit the winery in town, sit on the balcony and read each evening, Drew goes for runs, and swims. We lay by the lake and Cole watches the ducks.  There is shopping, and all three of us like milling around in town.
The picture is Cole standing in a boathouse connected with a property for sale last year. We all three spent a minute visualizing being able to own it, and come up as often as we liked...   LeeAnna

poodles in trouble

In case this video doesn't come up on your ipad/phone here is the link
poodles in trouble

Alexandria and Annapolis, two

gaslight in Alexandria

window well

Alexandria VA is a lovely town. We don't go often enough, but we took a moment to walk around after picking up my quilt.
The architecture is so intriguing to me. I love history and imagining all the people who have walked those streets over the last three hundred years. Those bumpy streets. We drove over one cobblestone street subsidized by the chiropractic industry. I can't EVEN imagine a poor horses hooves skittering along those.
After the shaking subsided, we took a walk to the birkenstock store.

They are my favorite shoe now that my feet and back are aged. They are coming back into style according to tv. YEAH! I won't be made fun of til the fad passes again, and I am still wearing them. A person with high arches needs a comfortable shoe.
We had a wonderful little walk around town, in the rain. That's just not as romantic as songs tell you.
 Cole wasn't with us and yet we brought him home some treats but not this bowl.

Look, my dog is hungry, oh my

 The next day we went to first Sunday arts festival in Annapolis, very similar in look to Alexandria.We all three shopped. Cole shops, looks intently at all shelves at his nose level, but only once chose something to buy which was a very expensive boiled wool hat. It was for a child, and we couldn't figure out what the attraction was, but then our noses aren't as finely tuned as his.
We met many poodles and poodle mixes, and Cole listened to some jazz.
Well we would have if we could have waited the musicians out. Setting up is a long process.

 He isn't named after Cole Porter for nothin'.

Anyway, we got a lot of disagreeable home projects done this weekend along with two little day trips.
Cole didn't get his bath, so he considered that a successful weekend.

LeeAnna

home again

She put on her power suit everyday by LAPaylor

haiku detail of power suit

"She put on her power suit every day..."  has been gone for two years and been places I've never been.

The quilt holds a poem I wrote about living with pain, whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual, pain can be all encompassing. The choice to continue is made daily.
"Sometimes it takes super human power to just face life bravely"

The figure is me, both in the mirror as my old self, going to court each day to protect children, a business suit and briefcase, and as I live today as an artist. There is a tiny free form quilt hanging in her studio, as it mine, and the letters under it are scrabble tiles.
(Better keep all those bits and pieces as you'll need them)

Note her messy hair, her bare feet, her comfortable clothes. 

She holds a magic wand as so much of life seems magical.

The piece is very personal to me. If you can relate to chronic pain, here's to a good day.
Love, Lee Anna

finished and ready to send

Finished and ready to send, the quilt for my niece.
She loves a garden, and I wanted to make something for her. She doesn't quilt but appreciates them.

Why is it so hard to give up a quilt? Even when I make one to give away, I still want to keep it.
This is made from Cheryl Philips's pattern for folded insert mariner's compasses. The points are made from folded rectangles opened up after catching them in the seams of the wedges. Easy but like everything there are tricks to getting a good point.
I must learn to let go...

LeeAnna

sketch like a four year old

palm sketch

 I am a bit insecure about my drawing ability. I've never had a class in drawing, can't wade through the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and keep quiet in conversations about sketchbooks.
Recently someone mentioned the value of drawing for yourself is in the really looking at something. Not long enough for a picture, but long enough to really see it.
I got out one of the meeelion sketchbooks I own, and my watercolor pencils and started to draw what I saw. What I saw is the palm tree on the deck off the porch.

flower pot sketch

Then I looked at the pot holding impatiens and tried it.
I doubt either plant has all these colors in them in real life but you know, reality is over rated when it comes to art. This is how I saw them.

They won't be in an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art but they are ok, and kind of a surprise for me. I didn't expect to like them at all, being very critical of myself. I didn't expect them to look like a real item.
I actually like the colors in the palm.
Growth happens
LeeAnna