RED ROBIN LUNCH

We haven't eaten at Red Robin in a long time.  We usually go for the salads.  

LOST WAGES

BREAKFAST AT LUNA PARK

Luna Park Cafe is an interesting place.  Not only do they have great food, they have an interesting collection of vintage signs, including this giant ice cream cone looming over the bar.

We have breakfast there every other Sunday.  The waitress knows what we want before we do.

ME AND MY SHADOW

CHUCKLES

I couldn't get away from my office, so I drew while there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!

We had a great afternoon at my friend and co-worker's home that she shares with her partner Kathryn.  They were celebrating Jo's 50th birthday and also their recent nuptials.  

They live on a small lake in east King County.  Their place is beautiful with lots of gardens and flowers everywhere.  I couldn't resist doing a quick little sketch of the view from the back of their house.  

Congratulations to Jo and Kathryn, we are very happy for you.

And, Happy Birthday to Jo!

PORTRAIT OF CHLOE

A friend at work asked if I would paint a portrait of his Great Dane, Chloe, who had just recently passed.  I don't do much of dogs (I find it very difficult for some reason) so I was hesitant, but he kept asking, so I relented.

I've been fiddling with it off and on for over a month now.  I really didn't like it at first, so that makes it difficult for me to work on it.  But the guilt outweighed the dislike, so I persevered. I'm not hating it.

Here it is, acrylic on canvas 9" x 12".

Chloe, Good Dog.

LOWMAN BEACH VIEW

I spent the morning painting my office room walls.  My neck hurts and I'm tired.  I just wanted to go somewhere and relax.  So, Lucy and I headed to Lowman Beach.  I took a blanket, the newspaper and my sketching stuff of course.  We found a nice log to lean up against and sat down to rest.  Eventually the view intrigued me and I couldn't resist.

It was lovely and the sun was shining when we arrived.  We weren't there very long when it started to rain about the time I was finishing up the watercolor.

I love Seattle's weather.

A TRUCK ON THE TIPPER

Not a very good rendering of a truck on the tipper at work (Cedar Hills Landfill) while it's trailer gets emptied.  I sat through three different trucks getting tipped out, but I still couldn't capture it at the moment it was at the top of its cycle.  So this was my best guess, and it's bad.  I'll try again someday.

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.

LEVI JACKET

I thought his Levi jacket looked particularly interesting this morning while we waited for our breakfast at Luna Park Cafe in West Seattle.

MOVING DAY

After we got all of Mom's stuff up into her penthouse apartment in the sky, Josh and Billy went about setting up the cable and TV while the rest of us watched.

I kinda had some goobers with the watercolor.  Let's blame it on Mom's dog (puppy) Reba.

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.

DARRELL'S CNC

This guy is making a CNC machine for Darrell.  We went up to check on the progress and get some questions answered.  I sketched while they talked about stuff I couldn't understand...vectors, g-code, CAD, spindles, tool path...on and on until Lucy fell asleep.

WATER TRUCK AT WATER TOWER

VIEW FROM THE FISHBOWL

Looking out my window at work.

BORDERS AND DONE

After the body of the quilt is done, I added a 2" red border (same color as the outside triangles).

I measured the quilt top across the middle both directions and cut the border strips to length.  I was amazed at how much easing into it I had to do.  I hope the quilt top will be flat.  Better then a ruffly border though, I guess.

Then I added a 5" purple border.  It's now done.

My sewing machine started making a clunking noise just as I was finishing up the blocks.  It wasn't sewing quite right when I put on the borders.   I had to take it into the shop for a good cleaning and tuning up.  It will be gone for two weeks.  Yikes.

I'd bought the machine in 1993 brand new, a Bernina 1230.  It's 20 years old and has a lot of miles on it.  But it's been a great machine, I have a newer one I've never used because I like my older one so much.  I'm going to have to get the newer one out while mine is in the shop.

Post:

The newer one doesn't work either, the repair shop says it's just gummed up from not being used, so it's going to get a good cleaning, also.

My sister loaned me her Bernina, I'll have to clean and oil it too, probably.

PEOPLE AT WORK

Sitting in the lunchroom at work, I sketched Wanda and Steve and then I wouldn't let them look at it.  Doesn't look anything like Wanda, but I got a good likeness of Steve.

IKEA GARAGE

 I took Lucy to the vet's for some tests.  I had to wait about an hour for her to be finished, so I headed over to Ikea, which was practically next door.  I went in, flew through the place (not an easy task) looked at the fabrics, bought some and headed out.  Whew.  I still had time to kill so I sat in my car and sketched the garage.

 She's going to be fine.

BLOCKS INTO ROWS

Then, I put the blocks and sashing and cornerstones up on the design wall.  I need to make sure I get the pattern and colors going the right direction.

Then I take them down, a row at a time, sew the row together, then put it back up on the wall.