SATURDAY WITH KIDS

Darrell picked up Skyler and Scarlett for the weekend.  We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Then, back home, we painted rocks.

 

QUILTCON THURSDAY

 First day of Quiltcon in Raleigh.  There were so many people!  I was volunteering at the Merchandise Booth from 8am to 10am.  It was non-stop.  I heard they ran out of tote bags before the show opened at 10am.

The big award winners - Ethylene's is right there!

Here is the Best of Show quilt.

"What We Will Use As Weapons:  School Supplies" 
made by Ginny Robinson of Chapel Hill, NC

The back of the quilt

It was so wonderful meeting up with my BravePatch Friends.  We mostly just meet on zoom every week.  Some of them I had never met in real life.  I met Claudia for the first time.

Some of us went out to dinner at a great Lebonese restaurant, Sitti.  The waiter had better things to do, but the food was excellent.  They gave us a postcard with the history of the restaurant and I included it into my sketch.

Dinner with Ethylene, Kim, Robin and Maggie.

LUNCH WITH MOM

 I took Mom to visit with her friend Kim.

Then we went looking for the Pizza Hut in Renton to no avail.  And they won't answer their phone to tell us where they are.

So, we went to the Indian Restaurant.  Mom has never eaten Indian.  She was game for it though.

She enjoyed it.  So, did I.

FOUND A GREAT THAI RESTAURANT

The guys at Popular Woodworking took us to lunch yesterday at a great Thai restaurant in Blue Ash, Ohio.  The food was great - fresh and tasty.  Go there - Bangkok Terrace.

I went back today by myself, while Darrell was busy with his video making.

 I had planned to go to the Cincinnati Zoo today, but there was a torrential rain storm moving through the area.  It's funny, I noticed everyone here has an umbrella - hardly no one in Seattle owns an umbrella.

After I had lunch, I didn't feel like going back to the video studio, so I set out for the Cincinnati Art Museum....

BREAKFAST WITH GRANDCHILDREN

We had breakfast at Luna Park Cafe with half of his grandchildren this morning. 

GANG UNIT

Had lunch at Toshi's Teriyaki in Westwood Mall with my husband Darrell and these fine officers of the law, Seattle's Gang Unit.  They looked so young.  I'm feeling old.

This is a very quick pen and ink sketch with a little black watercolor.

LUNCH WITH MY MOM

I helped my Mom take some boxes to her new apartment.  [We're getting more help this Saturday with the big stuff.]  Once we got the boxes upstairs to her fourth floor apartment and stacked out of the way, she took me out to lunch.  We went to the nearby mall, Kent Landing, where we had lunch at Ram.  They have tables outside, which we took advantage of, since we had Mom's little dog, Reba, who we couldn't leave in the car on such a warm day.  We put her in her crate, and she was nice and quiet under the table.

I did a quick sketch of the folks enjoying their lunch outside on such a gorgeous day at the tables next to us.

I used my fountain pen with Noodler's ink and a little watercolor in my sketchbook.  It was done very quickly while waiting for our food to arrive. [I wouldn't have noticed the cool 'swoop' of the chair legs if I hadn't been drawing them.]

We had a very nice relaxing time sitting there enjoying the day.

DINNER AT JOE'S

The husband likes to celebrate when a job ships out.  We usually go to Endolyne Joe's.  It was very crowded and it was Happy Hour, so we ended up sitting in the bar for dinner.

Here's a little sketch I did while waiting and chatting about today's news stories.  The man at the end of the bar caught my eye because of the way he was sitting.  He was turned to his neighbor, sitting with his leg crossed, up on his knee.  As soon as I began sketching him, he took notice (I tried to look like I wasn't looking at him) but I think I made him uncomfortable and he changed position.  Dang.

Oh, we had meals off the special seasonal menu, this quarter featuring Argentina, and they were excellent!  Darrell had gnocchi in a creamy tomato sauce (he rolled his eyes with the first bite and savored every last bite of it), I had a very interesting tasting chicken breast and arugula salad.

LUNCH AT MAWADDA CAFE

This is fast becoming one of our favorite lunch places.  There are several Mawadda Cafes that serve Mediterranean type food.  This one is in Burien, right off 1st Avenue by Fred Meyer.  There's another just north of the Admiral Junction.  Great food!

This is my semi-blind contour sketch of a group of people jammed into a booth.  It sounded like they were co-workers.  Although, they posed outside the restaurant for a group photo.

PATTI'S BIRTHDAY

My sister-in-law Patti had a special birthday this year, and we all met at the Olive Garden to celebrate.  Her parents had sent along a beautiful bouquet of carnations, and I thought they should definitely be included in the sketch.  

Here is a quick sketch I did before dinner of Patti and her friend Sue, with the carnations.

Happy Birthday Patti - we hope you have a great year!

FIRST SKETCH OF 2012

Not many places open today, January 1, 2012.

On our way home from visiting with Matt and Julia, we stopped for dinner at one of the many Chinese restaurants we've passed by.

The food was good, we will return.

Here is the quick sketch I did of my husband, Darrell and granddaughter Victoria.  I glued our fortunes into the book when we got home.  (This is a really bad sketch of Victoria - maybe someday I'll capture her image and she won't be embarrassed by it.)

LUNCH AT ENDOLYNE JOE'S AGAIN

My parents came over to pick up some wood scraps and then we all went out to lunch at Endolyne Joe's down the road from us.  We had an extra granddaughter staying with us this week, too, while school is out.

Here is a quick sketch I did before our lunch arrived of the two granddaughters, Victoria and Kimberly and my husband, Darrell.

ON THE JOB INJURY

I finally talked him into going back to the Salvadorean Bakery in White Center for lunch again.  He did not have a pleasant experience there the first time we went.  But I had dinner there since and loved the food and wanted to go back.

He was more impressed this time, and we both enjoyed the meal immensely.

Darrell had recently been fighting a bout of tendinitis in his left arm and has not been working in the shop, but catching up on book work and drawings (slowly but surely using his right hand, he's left-handed).

I really wanted to get a sketch of him in his sling.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We went out for dinner on Darrell's birthday to Endolyne Joe's.  

Darrell got a nice phone call from his youngest daughter, Julia, and I caught him on the phone in my sketch.

From where I sat I could see the kitchen, and I noticed one of the chefs had purple hair.  I had to include her in my sketch.  Boy, she was a dynamo, never standing still.  But I think I caught her essence.

Victoria (granddaughter) was pleasant as always, unlike what turned out to be a sour look on her face in my sketch.  I don't know where that came from.

I wrote out the words to the Happy Birthday song, showed them to Darrell and told him that was the only singing he'd get from me.  I wouldn't even attempt to carry a tune in a bucket (unless I'm in the shower).

BAMBOO GARDEN

While out and about for the day, Darrell and I stopped for lunch at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant near Seattle Center, Bamboo Garden.  Wonderful food, very pleasant hosts, I highly recommend it.

My fortune cookie read, "Your next business venture will be very profitable."

That implies I'm going to start a new business venture....

I'll have to think about that.

SKETCHING AT A RESTAURANT NOT CALLED RASPUTIN'S

We didn't look at the name of this restaurant in the U-district as we went in...so we named it Rasputin's.  It was a place we've driven by many times, but never went in.  

The service was friendly, but very, very slow.  The food was great, and almost everything, sandwiches included, was available gluten-free.  Oh, happy day.

We will be returning. 
What's funny is I usually only give myself the time from when we sit down until the food arrives to sketch the semi-blind contour drawing and paint it.  I was done with this waaaay before the food arrived!

SKETCHING AT TOM YUM KOONG

It was raining cats and dogs.  I tried to show that in this sketch and realized - I don't know how!

MORE SKETCHES