in memorium and catching up

Before I go on, I need to say how heartbroken I am about the assasination of the beautiful Benazir Bhutto. Aside from the political reasons - one more voice for democracy silenced by extremists - FOR WHAT???? I feel it on a personal level. If I hunted long and hard, I could probably find my photos of her, taken at Todd Gillman's graduation from the Kennedy School at Harvard. She had attended Radcliffe and was Prime Minister of Pakistan at the time -- probably around 1989. It was a small class, and afterward she mingled with the parents and families of the graduates. I remember chatting with her; she was warm, down-to-earth, and very charming. How impressed I was by her strength, her politics, her leadership, and her naturalness. And how sad and angry I am right now.

I think this is the third time this week I have attempted to post. Each time I've been interrupted by something or someone. Last night, it was a call that my mother was on her way to the hospital with "a touch of pneumonnia." (is that like being a little bit pregnant?) She'll be fine - I was chatting with her for a couple of hours this afternoon and have seen her in much worse shape.

I've been working at home this week. Christmas was ultra-restful. Marty, not feeling up to par, slept the day away. I quilted two pieces and attached the facings, which need to be sewn down by hand. After having read Cathy Kleeman's blog post about how she wonder-unders down her facings, I decided to try it. As I suspected, it was not for me. Without going into details, suffice it to say I am back to sewing them down.

I spent yesterday getting a pile of work ready for an exhibit that opens January 6 from 1-3 pm at the Gaelen Gallery at the JCC in West Orange, NJ. It is called "Ellis Island Memories" and it is a two person exhibit: the other artist is a photographer who has taken many pictures of the old buildings on Ellis Island. My piece, "Journey," incorporates some of my great-grands' documents. Here is Zeida's passportand his green card. It really was green! He was a baker so I come by it naturally.
I don't know where these are now: my mother had them and I borrowed them to scan them into my computer. How was I to know I should not have given them back?
On another subject, I brought home a pile of fabrics from the studio yesterday so I could work at home . Here is part of one I printed with a tape resist.( Remember, you saw it here first.)
In a moment of madness yesterday I grabbed a piece of fabric that had been sitting around and decided to warm up my quilting stitches on it. I must have been in the mood for red and purple.
I don't understand how my flash created a reflection on this matte fabric.

Tomorrow, Josh & Ben will be here for a while; Hilary is going to work for a couple of hours and they, of course, are on vacation. Josh will be 9 in March and Ben was just 7. We will have an art day while the kitchen is still a disaster area. Not sure what will be after it is done. The contractor was here tonight with the electrician so I could ask questions and make some lighting decisions. I suspect the price will escalate a bit after tonight...oh, well. If I sell enough books, maybe I can pay for the undercabinet lights - LOL.

Yawning after this long post, so it is time to go upstairs and get enough sleep to get me through tomorrow's energy requirements. David and Jake (7 and 4) will be here later in the day: all four of them have to collect their Chanukmas presents which are sorely overdue.

As usual, I will try to be better about posting. Now that I have finished my book, you would think I'd have more time. But NO. Whose law is it that you fill all the space with what you have? Nature abhors a vacuum? Whatever.