For Elle

Elle asked to see a close-up of one of the faces on the sisters quilt, so here are close-up photos of both. HA! I also posted a shot of what seems to be everyone's favorite shoe, the pink wedgie ankle strap. (That shoe was inspired by a pair Joshilyn bought for herself as a Virtue Reward.) The Pink Wedgie Ankle Strap Sandy DebR You know, I have to ramble for a minute here. People who know me face to face tell me this portrait really looks like me, and I suppose it does. But when I see it, I see hints of some of my relatives in there...hints that I don't normally notice when I'm just looking in the mirror and seeing the same old me. Somehow that fascinates me. I look at this portrait and can see my Grandma Keeton in my cheekbones and the set of my eyes. There's something about my face in this portrait that reminds me of my Great-Aunt Maxine too, but I haven't been able to quite put my finger on what it is. And that's interesting to me, because I've never thought I looked like her. Aunt Maxine was a self-trained artist. She contracted polio when she was nine and she lived through it, but was paralyzed from the waist down and spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair. She never had formal art training, but she taught herself to paint and I loved to watch her when I was a child. I was pretty much drawing on every available surface from the time I could clutch a crayon in my chubby little fist (including, unfortunately, the time I drew purple cats all over my mom's ironing board cover and she didn't notice them until she'd already started to iron one of Dad's work shirts....oops). But it fascinated me to see a grown-up artist at work. She's also the person who gave me my very first sewing machine. So I feel like she had a big influence on me doing what I do today. I find myself pleased to see a hint of her staring back at me from my own image. I'll be curious to see what Sandy thinks, since I know she reads this blog (Hi Sandy!) but it'll be a few more days because she's currently lolling around on a beach somewhere. (mildly envious sigh) It will be interesting to hear what she thinks of her own portrait too! She knew I was doing this, but hasn't seen the faces yet. She really liked the pink wedgie shoe though. :-)