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

Come See "What's For Dinner?"!

My friend and partner-in-crime, Jamie Fingal, and I have a long-running conversation about what we are cooking for dinner.  This lead to a cooking (and restaurant-appreciation) blog, and eventually Jamie began asking her Facebook followers, "What's For Dinner?".  Last fall, we discussed the idea of creating a unique quilt exhibition with this title.

This amazing pan was hand-painted by Desiree Habicht

and given to Jamie for her 60th birthday!

Each piece was created inside a 15"L by 24" W format, something about the size of a placemat (or a cafeteria tray).
We are very excited to debut this exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  Jamie and I had a difficult challenge because there were so many wonderful submissions.  Please stop by and take a peek at this fun and creative exhibit at the festival, and I hope you will stop by the blog and let me know you saw it!
I gave my curator's piece a great deal of thought.  I like the idea that we eat for sustenance, but we also have a lot of traditions surrounding food that are handed down in families.  I have a ritual of making my grandmother's English Date Pudding and my late sister's recipe for Southwestern style dressing each year during the holidays.  There is something comforting about the creation of these dishes and remembering the women who taught me how to make them.
It was with these thoughts that I created my piece, called "Nourishment and Tradition".

I started out by making color laser copies of some of my mother and sister's old recipes.

I like that they have splatters on them.

I laminated the papers to a piece of silk organza with matte medium.

Once dry, the excess paper on the back of the recipes was removed.

Since my husband and I eat a great deal of fish it seems 

appropriate that I would have one on the plate.

And...I never pass up the chance to use a googly eye or two! 

We generally eat a lot of salad or some other type of greens.

I wanted them to be dimensional.

To make the flatware I used my own stainless and made drawings on gray silk

and thread painted the reflections.

The napkin is held in place with a few stitches.

The plate fabric, a piece of lovely Kaffe Fassett cloth, strongly resembles 

my Tracy Porter dishware.  It works!