Looking Back at 2014, Part 2

Happy New Year!  I'm hitting some of the things that happened in 2014.  It was a crazy-busy year with more travel and events (mostly good) than I have ever packed into a single year.  Here is the second part of the year....

Throughout the year I guest-blogged for Stencil Girl products.

I love all the amazing ways I can use their exceptional stencils in my work!

June:

Tim and I traveled back to Europe for Art Basel.

"Tim's Vermeer" was a featured film at the festival.

An amazing Gerhard Richter show at Foundation Beyeler.

If you ever find yourself in Basel, Switzerland, you must go to this museum.

We also took in a Paul Chan exhibit.  He is Iris Karp's nephew!

I love trains!  I convinced my husband to take an adventure with me into the Alps on

the Bernina Express!  It just seemed right, don't you think?

We boarded this great observation car and had it all to ourselves.

The train is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Take the trip if you ever have the chance.

We ended up in the small Italian town of Tirano, 

where we spent the night.

It is so breathtaking these pics seem fake.

What a great adventure!

Late June/early July:

I was honored to be present for the birth of these identical twins

in Los Angeles just a few days after I returned from Switzerland.

These girls held hands in the delivery room!

We had babies closer to home:  this is our great-niece.

Later, I bumped into this wild animal, er, I mean Mark Lipinski!

We both serve on the board of the Quilt Alliance.

Here I am with a rare "blow-out"  Straight hair?  Only for a few minutes...

August:

Back to Europe!  This time for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK.

I was honored to have a quilt in the Art Quilt Masters category.

Tim accompanied me.  His first quilt show.  Ever.

We traveled into London as Tim had a business meeting.

I tagged along and went my own way, as I was anxious to see the Matisse Cut-Outs

exhibition at the Tate Modern.  Amazing!

I turned 60!

What do you think of my new crown, made for me by Jamie Fingal?

My curator's piece for "Whats For Dinner?", entitled "local flavor".

Inspired by my trips to London, I created "Matisse and the New London Skyline"

My amazing "Bizzi At the Bernina" birthday cake!

The creation of a dry creek bed through my garden...

September:

A trip to Cleveland to tape episodes of Quilting Arts TV.

On to New York for Quilters Take Manhattan.  We filled every seat.

Two of my favorite women:  Melly Testa and Yvonne Porcella

late September/early October:

Then we went back to Italy!  We met Jeannie and Mike Moore in Tuscany.

I love all the old surface textures.

Beautiful tomatoes on the vine.

Grapes.

I came back to Texas and met Ringo Starr prior to the All Star Band concert.

Then, I traveled back to Ohio and took a week-long workshop with Nancy Crow.

Here is a work-in-progress.

Then, on to Quilt Market!

Jamie and I pose in front of "Selfie" by Kristin LaFlamme

We ran into our friend, Marie Bostwick!

November:

And, after almost 2 weeks of work and play, we returned to San Antonio.

Breakfast outdoors!

Tim and I traveled to Puebla Mexico to another conference,

where I met Piper Kerman, author of "Orange Is The New Black".

December:

In early December the Modern Quilt Guild had our holiday party and gift exchange.

I am the fortunate new owner of this beauty by Allison Chambers.

And a photo booth at the Newtek party.

There were extreme highs and deep losses in my life this year.

Tim and I lost family members so there was profound sadness mixed into all these bits.

It was a crazy, creative year.  

Let's hear it for the year ahead!  A very Happy New Year to you all.  

What does the new year hold in store for you?   Do you have artistic goals?  I would love to hear about them.  Drop me a line!  xo Leslie

A Train Travel Adventure on the Bernina Express!

This little train has always captured my fancy.  The fact that it is the BERNINA train is icing on the cake!  When I found that I would be traveling to Basel with my husband (more on that in another post) I factored two extra days onto the trip so we could do a bit of exploring.

We began in Basel this morning by taking the tram to the central train station, or SBB.  First, a train to Zurich, then Chur, then St. Moritz.  Then, we boarded the Bernina Express Train in an observation car, which we had all to ourselves.  

The scenery is beyond belief.  One immediately understands why this was deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the train:

The train leaves St. Moritz and takes the line to Pontresina (1,774 m) in the Val Bernina. It ascends progressively the valley to theBernina Pass passing the Morteratsch station (1,896 m), where the traveler can see the glacier of the same name and the highest summit of the Eastern Alps, the Piz Bernina. Before arriving at the pass the train stops at Bernina Diavolezza (2,093 m) where an aerial tramway leads to Diavolezza. The Bernina Express reaches the summit at the Ospizio Bernina station at 2,253 meters above the Lago Bianco.

Alp Grüm (2,091 m) is the first station south of the Alps, situated above the Lago Palü and right below the Piz Palü and its glacier. After many hairpin turns the train reaches Cavaglia (1,693 m) above the Val Poschiavo, then the Swiss Italian-speaking town ofPoschiavo at 1,014 meters. The train then follows the course of the Poschiavino and stops at Le Prese (964 m) and Miralago (965 m) both on Lake Poschiavo's shore. After Miralago it continues its descent toward Brusio (780 m), where it passes the spiral of the Brusio Viaduct. Shortly after having passed the Italian border at Campocologno (553 m) the Bernina Express ends its journey at the Tiranostation at 430 meters.

The Albula line and the Bernina line on the Bernina Express route were jointly declared a World Heritage Site in 2008. The trip on the Bernina Express through this World Heritage Site is a four-hour railway journey across 196 bridges, through 55 tunnels and across the Bernina Pass on the highest point at 2,253 metres in altitude. The entire line is 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) (metre gauge).

None of these photos can fully capture how magnificent this experience was.

And, tomorrow, we are doing it again in reverse!

And we are on Italian soil!

I love that my traveling companion is adventurous!

We walked to our hotel from the train station.

I love these old cobblestone streets even though they 

are very hard on my knees.

As a postscript:  when I texted one of our daughters that we had done this trip she responded by writing, "Well, you must have felt right at home on that Bernina train!"