Intro

Hi everyone,
I'm so so sorry for being late to the party. My name is Karen Rips and I live in Thousand Oaks CA. I have 4 kids, age 27 -19 with 2 still living at home. As they started moving out I started incorporating their rooms and I now have a great big studio to work in. I'm married to Ted for 30 years. He is retired and has gone back to school for a masters in history and now that he's almost done, he's starting over as a freshman in fine art. He works with glass, fusing and kilnwork. As you can see, we are having a lot of fun. I'm retired from neonatal nursing so I get to do this full time.

I have been making quilts for 25 years, but turned to fiber art about 6 years ago. I have taken a lot of classes over the years, thinking back I used to take classes to make a specific quilt, but now I only take technique classes. I dye my own fabric and am enjoying the process of "mark-making" I have been busy the last few months getting ready for a gallery show in November.

I love challenges so this will be really fun for me. I met Diane this year at a class by Carol Soderlund that Diane organized in Santa Rosa. Thank you so much for including me in the group. I'm somewhat computer challanged (menopause seems to have killed my memory) so bear with me please. I'm waiting for my husband to get home to put up a picture of me!

Dandelions should be challanging, it kept me awake last night thinking of the possibilities. Very nice to read all your intros and thanks again for the invitation. Karen