Author Archives: Becky Goldsmith

Unknown's avatar

About Becky Goldsmith

I am a quilt designer/teacher/author, a wife/mother/grandmother, and certified yoga instructor who is searching for balance, strength, and happiness in all things.

More from Michigan…

Posted on by
1

Jackie drove me through Bay View Chautauqua in Petoskey, MI. the houses were so very cute! This one had the coolest hanging baskets on the porch…


…the owner put little pumpkins in each hanging basket! A great look for fall.


This floor detail is from the remodeled elementary school from my last post. I think the spirals are brass, the tiles appear to be slate. The spirals were not at every corner, just enough to be interesting.


Jackie took me to dinner at Siren Hall in Elk Rapids. Great food! Great look! The walls were painted white. Lots of different textures. There were a few mounted, taxidermied fish that looked like they had been painted professionally by an auto body shop. Each fish was a different color. Each fish was a single color. I’ve never really liked fish on a wall, but these were really good to look at. I think, because they were each a single color, it’s focused your eye on the beauty of the fish’s form.



This lovely, huge, perfect rose was blooming outside of Hearts to Holly, the quilt shop in Charlevoix. I think it would be a fine screensaver!


On the road in Michigan…

Posted on by
Reply

I taught at the Columbine Quilt Guild (near Denver) and at the Little Traverse Bay Quilt Guild in northern Michigan last week. It was a lovely trip. I didn’t manage to take pictures in Colorado but I did get some fun shots in Michigan.


I stayed with Jackie C (hi Jackie!) and she managed to squeeze in a lot of sight seeing on the way to the various guild events.

Classes were held at an old elementary school that has been remodeled into an amazing public library in Charlevoix, MI. It was lovely and the classrrom (which I did not get a photo of) was amazing! Lots of space and light.


The sculptures outside the building were fun!
There was a very definite Frank Lloyd Wright/Mission/Craftsman feel to the place.

We drove past the Charlevoix water tower several times. Isn’t it festive?! 


This part of Michigan is known for its cherries. I came home with 4 lbs. of dried cherries and they are pretty special. The “world’s largest cherry pie” is right there in front of that great water tower.

I took more photos and will post more of them soon.

My son the chef!

Posted on by
1

Our youngest son, Jeff (23, working on a PhD in biostatistics at John Hopkins), cooks. This is not unusual in our family since my husband is the cook in our house. I make desserts but you cannot live on dessert alone. He does the grocery shopping too. I am a very lucky woman!

 
Back to the story of the day. The biostat department at JH has an annual chili cook-off. Jeff is for sure the only Texan in that department and so felt honor-bound to win that chili cook-off with real Texas chili. He got his dad’s recipe, added 3 new ingredients, and came away with the prize – a sombrero! It is his to wear until next year. His father is very proud.

Cool Clipboards

Posted on by
Reply


I always seem to have papers on my desk. Often they are in piles. It’s true that they are usually small, tidy piles – but they are still piles. At some point I have to deal with them so that I have room to work. 


I ran across this idea in Martha Stewart Living. She says to put those piles on clip boards that hang on the wall and get them off your desk! She gives decoupage instructions for covering them with pretty paper. Her site is packed with good ideas!

I admit that Marha’s are cuter than mine. I think I need more clipboards. But you can’t see the rest of the room – I’m not sure my wall can take much more. 

I’m happy to say, though, that my desk is already cleaner and I do like that!

Aunt Catherine’s Chair

Posted on by
2

My mom and sister have been weeding out their furniture. I was up at mom’s 2 weeks ago and she sent me home with a chair that came to her from my Aunt Catherine. I think that’s Catherine, 2nd from the left. My grandmother, Nan (real name Mabel), is 2nd in from the right.


The chair had a very red mahogany stain and burgundy fabric on the seat. The finish was not in the best of shape. I should have taken a photo, but forgot.

Steve volunteered to strip the wood for me. After looking at it I decided that the chair would look a lot better painted than re-stained. 

Once I decided that white was the best choice for the house we decided that spray paint would work just fine. He hit it with a primer coat of Kilz, and then sprayed on 3 coats of gloss white. We sanded it a bit after each coat with steel wool for a smoother finish. The steel wool took some of the paint off at the edges but I like the subtle look of wear that that gives the chair. 

I chose fabric for the seat from my stash. Regular quilting cotton seemed too light weight, so I used a heavy, woven silk that I bought last March from the Talbot’s tie outlet near Monterey, CA. Like all quilters, I buy fabric and usually have no idea where it will end up. It looks good in our bedroom in from of the quilt, Everyday Best.

Henry Winkler at Austin College!

Posted on by
Reply

Henry Winkler was the speaker at Austin College’s opening convocation Monday night. One of the perks of being married to the dean of the sciences is that Steve and I were invited to the dinner beforehand in Henry’s honor (or should I say Mr. Winkler? That seems so formal!)


We were all seated before Oscar Page (AC president) and his wife Anna Laura came in with Mr. Winkler. It was amazing – Henry came to each table and said a quick hello and shook hands with each of us! Nine table, four people per table – that’s 36 hello’s. I can speak for Steve and I and say that this was not a perfunctory hello, this was a really friendly hello! What a way to start! I do have a photo of Henry at our table but it’s not particularly flattering of any of us so I’m not going to post it :-).

The speech he gave at the convocation was truly inspiring – and funny too! Mr. Winkler is dyslexic and he talked to the audience, that was mostly made up of freshmen and seniors, about how important it is to value what you have to give. That every individual is gifted in one way or another and that we all add something to the world that no one else can. This is a message that we should all take to heart! If you ever get a chance, go hear him speak.

I should also add that he is an author with Lin Oliver, of a series of children’s books called Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World’s Best Underachiever, published by the Grosset & Dunlap imprint of Penguin Putnam. They sound wonderful!