Special thanks to the folks at Issaquah City Hall for helping us celebrate our offspring Birthday!
Happy Birthday Griffin!

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”
– George S. Patton
About George S. Patton
George S. Patton, the American Army general who fought in both World Wars, received numerous awards during his 46 years of service, including the Purple Heart and the French Legion of Honor. He was born in 1885 in California and was descended from a long line of soldiers. He was an early advocate of armored warfare and led the U.S. Tank Corps in World War I. The 1970 movie Patton cemented his reputation as “Old Blood and Guts.” He died in 1945 of injuries sustained in a car accident.

“What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.”
– Matina Horner
About Matina Horner
American psychologist Matina Horner is best known for her groundbreaking research in the late 1960’s on smart women’s fear of success, which became known as the Horner Effect. She was born in 1939 in Massachusetts. During her 17-year tenure as president of Radcliffe College, she helped integrate the women’s college into a mainstream presence for women on the Harvard University campus. She has received several awards and serves on the boards of many institutions.

For the holiday season I am working on a couple more light installations: $1800 each.

Today’s Quote

“We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are.”
– Tobias Wolff
About Tobias Wolff
American author Tobias Wolff is best known for the memoir A Boy’s Life, about Wolff’s childhood with an itinerant mother and abusive stepfather. He was born in 1945 in Alabama and spent most of his childhood in the Pacific Northwest. His book In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War recounts his experiences as a young soldier in Vietnam. He is an acclaimed writing professor at Stanford University. He has three children.

This week in the shop!
I have been asked to make another sculptor from my Light of War series, for a fellow artist and good friend Anette Lusher. I 16 hours n and almost finished with the cleaning! The top and bottom have been welded on. Next week I will finish with the cleaning and will clear coat so that the lights can be installed! I am hoping to have this finished by November 1st.

Having been a point and shoot kinda of girl in the past I am now learning to have a greater appreciation for the art of photography! I took just over 200 photos today and these are the 4 that turned out. I have so much to learn about using a camera!

Today’s Quote

“Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.”
– Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
About Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the Russian classical composer best known for the Nutcracker and Swan Lake ballets, was renowned for his passionate melodies and for bringing Western music into the Russian tradition. He was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk in 1840. He taught music until a widow offered her financial patronage, then retired to the country to compose full time. He never met his benefactor. He died in 1893, just after the first performance of his Sixth Symphony, the “Pathétique.”

It was fun being back in my work shop today but I do not miss cleaning all the toxic paint off of them. It has been 8 hours and two showers later and I am still tasting or smelling nasty smell!

October is my month to finish things up that people have been waiting for.

I finally got “72 Hours” hung for my clients who calls his house, Cynthia Freese Gallery West.

Today’s Quote
“To play it safe is not to play.”
– Robert Altman
About Robert Altman
Robert Altman, the iconoclastic American filmmaker known for his naturalistic, multi-character dramas, has directed many acclaimed feature films, including M*A*S*H, Nashville, and The Player. He was born in 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, to a socially prominent family. Alfred Hitchcock gave Altman his big break when he hired him to direct on the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Actors say they love to work with Altman because he gives them freedom to improvise. He died in 2006.

“I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
– Pablo Picasso
About Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso, the Spanish painter at the forefront of Cubism, is perhaps best known for his painting Guernica, which depicts the hopelessness and violence of war. The masterpiece hung in the Museum of Modern Art in New York until democracy was restored in Spain; the painting was then sent home, where it hangs now at Reina Sofí a, Spain’s national museum of modern art. Born in Spain in 1881, Picasso spent his adult life in France. Although he’s known for his abstract paintings, his realistic work, particularly his Blue Period, was equally accomplished. He loved to be surrounded by friends and had multiple love affairs. He died in 1973

I love to try new things especially if it is something I am told I cannot do, or that it just wont work. I was super excited to see that Pablo Picasso also did what he could not do in order to learn how to do something.
I spent a good part of the day making some more baby bibs! I am finding sewing to be relaxing and fun.
Today’s fun fabrics show support for my favorite sport and myfavorite team! GO Seattle Sounders!

Bibs prices are between $7-$15 plus tax and shipping fees.

These are reversible:

I got up early this morning and was running some errands. I stopped at the market to pick up a few things and I was in a rush so I just sat the bags on the floor of the front seat. I went to start my car and the key would not work. I called USSA road side assistance and they told me it would be 30 -45 minutes for a tow truck.

While I waited I sat in the truck chatting on the phone. 15 minutes or so went by and a man came up and tapped on the window. I held up my finger to let him know I would be a minute but he impatiently tapped again.I looked around and did not see the tow truck. Since the car would not start I had to open the door to ask him what he wanted.

He said, “I thought I would ask you what you were doing in my truck before I called the cops.”

And a quote

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
About Theodore Roosevelt
Known both for his larger-than-life personality and his many achievements, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest US president at age 42. He was born in 1858 in New York. He led the Rough Riders, a motley volunteer cavalry, to victory in the battle of San Juan Hill. As the “Trust Buster” president, he instigated some 40 lawsuits to break up monopolies. An ardent conservationist, he put 230 million acres under federal protection. The Panama Canal was begun under Roosevelt. He died in 1919.

To keep busy I have been making some baby bibs for friends with new grand babies. I had forgotten how much I enjoy sewing. I am making 4 different sizes in the below photo the bibs are all hte large ones. I now working on some for some preemies.

Today’s Quote

“Courage is the human virtue that counts most — courage to act on limited knowledge and insufficient evidence. That’s all any of us have.”
– Robert Frost
About Robert Frost
Robert Frost, the influential American poet known for his rural settings, uncluttered language, and meditative themes, wrote the poems, “A Road Not Taken” and “Mending Walls,” among many others. He was born in San Francisco in 1874 and moved to Massachusetts at age 11. He ran a farm for ten years, selling it to move to England and become a full-time poet. After achieving his goal, he moved back to New Hampshire. His ambition was to write “a few poems it will be hard to get rid of.” He died in 1963.

Today’s Quote:
“I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life. And that too is a deed.”
– Etty Hillesum

About Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum, less famous than her contemporary, Anne Frank, lived a short life of great courage. She was born in 1914 in the Netherlands to a Dutch father and a Russian mother. She studied law, Slavic languages, and psychology. Hungry for knowledge, she cut down on food in order to buy books. She went voluntarily to the Westerbork camp to help fellow Jews interned by the Nazis. Her letters detail her experiences; her more meditative diary focuses on issues of faith. She died at Auschwitz in 1943.

This is one of my last pieces in this series. For some reason it just does not seem finished yet.