Wednesday, October 26, 2005

20 Things

Hilda responded to Debra's request for an introduction from the Artist's Way Quilters with 20 things and tagged the rest of us. Here are mine.
  1. I was born and raised in Michigan and attended Michigan State University. I completed my BS degree at 20--I was in such a hurry to get on with my life.
  2. After graduation, I moved to Houston where I met my future ex-husband.
  3. In addition to Michigan, I have lived and worked in Houston, Austin, Boston, assorted small towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, on the Riviera in the south of France, and around the San Francisco Bay: Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto, La Honda (home of Ken Kesey's psychadelic redwoods), San Francisco, Oakland (again) and Sonoma Valley.
  4. I was married in a beautiful small chapel in New Hampshire . . . and divorced some years later in a cold, impersonal courthouse in Massachusetts.
  5. My mother always talked about quilting, but the only quilt she has ever made was a cathedral window quilt--a wedding gift for me. It is one of only a few things I still have from my marriage.
  6. I learned to sail in Massachusetts, to fly in New Hampshire, to ski in France, to quilt in California.
  7. When I was on sabbatical from a silicon valley start-up, I bought a 4WD truck, headed toward the snow (there was none in the Sierras that year) and skiied in New Mexico and Utah for a month. In the mountains, I first decided I didn't want to go back to that sili-valley startup, then I realized that I didn't want to go back to hi-tech at all.
  8. During my break from high-tech, I interned or worked for several non-profit performing arts organizations in San Francisco, started a hat business and, for one season, made hats in the costume shop for the SF Opera. I also had a long string of interesting day jobs. When I returned to high-tech, I felt I was better equipped to maintain a better balanced life. (I still tell myself that I balance my high-tech career with high-touch interests.)
  9. In early February, 2001, I drove my little pickup truck 2400 miles cross-country from California to Michigan through blizzards and ice storms and had to stop 4 times because of closed highways in Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa. What I thought was going to be a 3 or 4 day trip took 9 days. I planned a 3 month leave of absence to spend time with my family when my dad was ill. I decided to stay in Michigan when the winery I worked for in California was sold and I got a voicemail message telling me that I no longer had a job.
  10. Before that trip, I mailed some Jacob's Ladder swap blocks to the hostess from Calfornia; she returned them to me in Michigan; I put them together in an arrangement known as Road to California, but my quilt is named Road from California. It was a gift to my mom.
  11. My father died at the end of 2001. I still miss him, especially at the end of the year.
  12. I love kids, but have no children. Being close to my nieces and nephews is one of the reasons I decided to stay in Michigan.
  13. Now I live in Lansing, Michigan.
  14. 30 years after graduating from Michigan State University, I find I still have my student number committed to memory . . . but ask me for my month-old cell number and I'll have to look it up.
  15. I have also studied at Boston University, Harvard University, Golden Gate University and San Francisco State. I love to learn.
  16. I am fascinated by how things are made and once spent a 2 week vacation in western Utah learning to make custom western boots and hiking boots.
  17. I will be 51 years old on November 8.
  18. I believe there is one more love-of-my-life in my future.
  19. Although I learned to quilt 6 or 7 years ago, I made my first quilt block, from a library book, as a teenager. It was a drunkards path, made from solid blue and orange fabrics. It became a pillow.
  20. This will be my third trip through The Artist Way. The first time led me to making hats. The second time led to my move to the Wine Country. I'm a little afraid of where this time will lead.
Ok, who's next?

6 comments:

Hilda said...

Fun getting to know everyone a little better. My mom made cathedral window quilts as well. I moved around a lot in my younger life. You should have taken a more southern route to drive cross country--Route 66 and you might have missed all the bad weather. (From your picture on the quilting forum I thought you were much younger.) So if we have questions on the AW, you're an old pro. I'll try to let it lead me wherever I'm meant to go instead of trying to direct my future. I usually have better results if I follow that advice.

sophie said...

Funny about that northern route through the snow and ice ... I figured I should take a more southern route, too, so I asked the experts at California AAA and they assured me that I'd be fine. At the time my dad was in the hospital, undergoing chemo with only a slim chance at survival, so I wanted to get there as quickly as I could and so I suspended disbelief and followed the route that AAA chose for me.

As for TAW, I don't think that experience with the book helps ... in fact I know I'm going to resist the same exercises I have in the past.

Tracey said...

That was so interesting to read, Sophie. You truly are having a colorful life and have experienced so much. Isn't it interesting all the different things we are bringing to The Artist's Way "table"? Reall cool.

sophie said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jules said...

Interesting stuff. My older sister and her husband both graduated from Michigan State 15 years ago, so I have been to East Lansing a couple of times.

Pat/SWquilter said...

Sophie, I love learning things about the other women involved in this AW adventure -- things it might otherwise takes us years to find out about each other, possibly never. Sounds like you've had some interesting travels. I love to learn too - would go to school forever if I could afford it!

Pat H.

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