The Exercise Room

We have an "exercise" room. It contains a treadmill, an exercise bike, and a futon--for company to sleep on and for us to collapse on, should we ever actually USE the exercise equipment! Recently I decided to recommit to using the treadmill at least 5 days a week. I've been doing pretty well at it, but Tom...well...he uses it whenever his blood sugar is high. It is harder for him, being off at work all day whereas I actually have the time, being here at home, to do it. Theoretically, anyway. It's amazing how many things get in the way of exercising! Like quilting or playing on the computer or..well, you name it, I probably have used it as an excuse! To encourage treadmill useage, Tom figured a tv would help. He went out and bought one, but it ended up being a bigger one than we'd planned (yes, I was encouraging him with this!) Here is a photo:


I think it is a bit too big and a bit too close for comfort, but Tom likes it and that, my friends, is what is important here! Meanwhile, since he installed it, I have been watching the morning news from the treadmill and I think maybe I like it too! If I exercise first thing in the morning, even before breakfast, I get it done and out of the way. The goal of 10,000 steps isn't hanging over my head, making me feel guilty when I fall short. 30 minutes on the treadmill and my regular running here and there day, and I usually go over 10,000 steps! I think between that and trying to keep chocolate out of the house, I might actually get somewhere with my "get in shape" goal. (chocolate: it calls to me and I can't help myself, I have to devour it! LOL)

Liz

Here is a recent photo of my eldest daughter. When Liz came into the world, she looked around, then let out a holler! Red faced, and tiny, arms and legs waving in the air----I thought she was adorable and the most wonderful baby girl ever. Well, she isn't tiny or red faced anymore, but she is STILL, from this mother's viewpoint, adorable and wonderful! I could never have imagined, though, looking at that tiny baby, the person Liz would evolve into. She is a remarkable woman and one of my personal heroes. To read more about Liz and her adventures, click on the "Liz" link in my list of blogs. You too will be amazed! Ahh...that's my girl!

Hitty

Somehow, last year, I found my way into the world of Hittys. Who is Hitty, you may ask? (go ahead, ask..I'll wait...) Okay, well, Hitty is a wee wooden doll, about 6.5 inches tall. You can read about her in a children's book called "Hitty, Her First 100 Years" by Rachel Field. I remember reading that book as a child. It is the story of a wooden doll, as told by the doll herself. She has quite a few adventures, not the least of which is living among natives on a tropical island! To read about the real Hitty, go to this website: http://www.hitty.org

I found this regression to a bit of my childhood to be a good distraction from the stress going on in my life at the time, and something different from all the quilting I do. I joined an online group with other Hitty-obsessed women, and made an attempt to carve my own Hitty for a Halloween swap. Very appropriate, as she turned out to be more of a Franken-Hitty! Here is her photo.


Pretty scary, all right! I managed to lop off her nose at least three times, but fortunately, didn't lose any of my body parts. (I was a bit worried about my fingers as I attempted the carving)

The person who received my Hitty was very nice and gracious; not making fun of the poor thing. Today I finally finished my second attempt at Hitty-carving and while she is a slight improvement from the first, having kept her nose through the whole process, I don't think I'll try again. Here is her photo:



I just don't have the talent for carving that a lot of the ladies in the group do. They are amazing! What I like to make, though, are tiny quilts for the beds and dresses for the Hittys. I have a Hitty Elizabeth that travels with us, as that is the other part of all this. Hittys travel. They have adventures. Here is a photo of Hitty Elizabeth, named after Liz, of course--who has many adventures and travels a lot (not as much as she'd like, but she is always ready and looking for the next adventure) Hopefully Hitty Elizabeth will be as adventurous. So far, she's only been to the radar site in Redmond, Oregon. Not a lot of adventure there! Hitty Elizabeth came as a kit that I painted.

So there you go. Now you know. I play with dolls. When I'm not quilting! Although you might find me making quilts for the dolls...

Lunar Eclipse

Did you see this last night? Wow! I'd gone outside about 6:30 pm and couldn't see anything but our usual cloud cover, obscuring the sky. Not to give up, about a half an hour later, I went out again. The sky was sparkling with stars and the moon was orange! I called Tom out and he took pictures. Most are fuzzy and look like the moon was shedding orange flakes, but this one turned out well.

Liz's Game

Liz did this at her site and wants me to do it too. (sigh! The things a mother will do for her kiddos, eh?) This means I have to go to Photobucket http://photobucket.com/ and try to figure it out.

Okay, here goes:

AGE AT NEXT BIRTHDAY (Liz said 54, bless her littl' heart! LOL)











Place I'd like to travel (how to chose? I want to go EVERYWHERE!)











Favorite Place:











Favorite Object:











Favorite food:














Favorite animal:












Favorite color:














Town where I was born:












Name of a past pet:










Bad Habit:












First Job:












Favorite Song:










Favorite holiday:














Favorite sport:













Favorite thing to do:














Nickname:

What makes a hero?

This is Peggy. She is my cousin. I have been wanting to share Peggy's story with you, but it still makes me cry, just thinking about it. Any of you who know me, know I have overactive tear ducts anyway, but this is a genuine tear-jerker. Peggy is the daughter of my Dad's favorite cousin, Iris, from the Dutch side of the family who settled in Canada. I can understand why he was so fond of Iris. She is a wonderful person and I love her dearly too. While I've never met Peggy, I have, over the years, heard quite a bit about her from Iris, and knew that if she was even half as wonderful as her mom, she had to be pretty special. Well, I had no idea just how special. A few months ago, I learned something else about Peggy. She has tremendous courage. She has become one of my heroes and that is not a category I put people in lightly.

Peggy, her husband and 17 year old son were leaving a restaurant, just about to get in their car and drive home. Another car, speeding, jumped the curb and plowed right into Peggy, narrowly missing her son. Peggy was pinned to the car and badly hurt. She lost both her legs. Iris, broken hearted, phoned to tell me about it and wept. I could feel her anguish and my heart broke with hers. What a horrible thing to have happened. I can only imagine how I would have felt if this had happened to one of my children. Better it would happen to me than to them. Peggy has faced this challenge with courage and determination and as you can see from the photo, she is winning the battle and learning to walk again!

Now what I do when I am upset is make quilts. Oh, all right, when I'm NOT upset, I made quilts! MUST MAKE QUILTS!!! It's very theraputic to chop up fabric and sew it back together again in a pleasing design. When Iris phoned, I was just putting the finishing touches on this quilt.



I packed it up and mailed it to Peggy. It was a hug made from fabric, to wrap around her and know that, even though we haven't met, I care about her and wish her well. It made ME feel better to do something, other than say "I'm sorry about what happened to you." Sometimes words feel so inadequate.

Here she is at Christmas with her family.
Iris is the one on the left, Peggy in the middle (with the quilt behind her!) and Iris's other daughter, Barb, on the right.

Here is Peggy with the rest of the family.


Front Row: Rebecca, Shannon and Stefan (Peggy's children)

Middle Row: Iris, Peggy, Barb

Back Row: Kristen (Barb and Rob’s daughter), Dennis (Peggy's husband), Shawn (Barb and Rob’s son), Rob (Barb’s husband) (left to right)

She has a lot of support, many family members and friends who love her. If you live in Nipowan and know Peggy, you are indeed blessed.

So what makes a hero? There are many definitions, but for this one...and this time.....it is someone, who, when faced with a situation beyond her control--doesn't give up. It is someone who faces a trial with courage and strength, determined to get through it, one way or another--to conquer it, and come out the other side, a better person for it. That is a hero. That is Peggy.

Kindergarten Quilts

Here they are, with my sweet hubby holding them up for the photo!

Taz photos for Liz

Now say, "Ahhh, isn't she cute?" LOL

My Quilting Assistant

This is Taz. Taz, as you can see, likes quilts. Earlier this week I was finishing up the quilting on a quilt from a kindergarten class when Taz decided sitting on the back of the quilting frame wasn't enough. She wanted to be up closer. I was down at one end of the rolled up quilt, starting the thread---and was very surprised to look over at the other end and see Taz stomping across the quilt at me! She hasn't done that before, preferring to sit on the back and watch what I was doing. The sewing machine, of course, rolls across the back as I quilt, so sometimes she has to move. She squeaks, then perches herself at the farthest end where the machine doesn't reach, her back to me and her ears folded downward. Obviously irritated.

Here is a photo of the kindergarten quilts, all finished. I'll have to take a better photo, maybe with Tom holding them up. As you can see, Taz had to stomp around on them again. The quilts are for an auction next month. My friend, a kindergarten teacher, has two classes: morning and afternoon. Each class has to come up with something to auction off, as a fund raiser for the school. She came up with the idea of quilts. I like the way she thinks! The children colored on muslin squares, the squares were heat-set with an iron, and then I turned them into quilts. I loved looking at all the drawings the kids did.

New Glasses

Today I got my first ever pair of prescription glasses. The grocery store bifocals just don't do it for me anymore (one of the problems of getting older...alas!) These are "blended" bifocals, so there isn't a line separating the lower section. So far, it's pretty weird. I have to be careful where and how I look at things or it makes me feel a wee bit dizzy.

Here I am in my new glasses. What do you think?

Pay it Forward

In the morning, Tom sits and reads the paper as he eats his breakfast. Me? I read email, then if there is still time, I do a wee bit of blog-hopping. I joined a couple of blog-rings, so I am actually connected with other bloggy quilters all over the world! How cool is that! Popping in to look at their blogs is like having a little quilt show, all to myself. I love seeing what other quilters are making. While doing that one morning, I came to Sue's blog. http://greenfingers-sue.blogspot.com/ Sue lives in Australia, a country that is definitely on the top of the list for this hopeful world traveler! Sue posted about the Pay if Forward game. Here are the rules:

"The first three people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me, sometime within the next 365 days.Who knows when it will turn up, or what it will be, but rest assured, it will arrive. All you have to do is promise to make the same declaration on your blog, and send out gifts to three of your lovely readers. Easy Peasy."

I was the #2 comment, so Sue is sending me a surprise! How fun is that? And now, ha! I am offering the same deal to YOU! Who will be the first three people to post a comment here? I will send you a surprise (a nice one, really...I promise!) You have to have a blog, though, so you can keep this going.

Me-Me game

So Linda thinks I should play. The rules of the me-me are:

1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Write 7 things about yourself

4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs

5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged

All right, I'll give this a go. The biggest question is can I come up with SEVEN people who have blogs and are willing to do this? Stay tuned!

1. When I was 10 years old, I won a coloring contest. Anyone in the Pacific Northwest of a "certain age" will remember J.P. Patches and his tv show. Every month he had a coloring contest and gave away two bicycles: one for a boy, one for a girl. I won the March 1962 girl's bike. When the letter arrived, addressed to me, my mother opened it. I had just walked into the kitchen to hear her shriek of surprise as she read MY letter. She turned to my sister and told her--that was when I walked in to find out...third...that I'd won the bike. My sister taught me how to ride it by pointing me down a hill. LOL That was my big sis for you!

2. I grew up in Seattle, Washington, living right across the street from the elementary school. The land all around us had once been in the family, but by the time I came along, all that was left was our house, a lot full of trees, and my grandmother's house. I used to sing "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house I go" when I'd cut through the woods to visit her. By the time I got that much sung, I was almost to her backdoor. Good thing, because I don't think I knew much more of the song!

3. Met and married Tom while in college. He got drafted, joined the Air Force and we lived in Montana, Maryland, Nevada, Southern California, Ohio, Oregon and finally when he retired after 22 years, we moved back home to Washington state.

4. I love to read and like books on CD, which I mostly get from the library--but also get from paperbackswap.com A fun place to swap books! Books on tape or CD are great, because I can sew AND listen to a book at the same time. Multi-tasking. Very important in today's busy world. ;-)

5. Tom is my best friend. We've been married for 34 years and have been through both sunshine and rain together. My aunt Kay told me not to marry him, as we were both born in the same month and astrologically, that is bad! This from a woman who was married four times? I ignored her, of course.

6. On the subject of Tom, his favorite line to tell people is "I slept with my wife before we were married." Not such a shocker in this day and age, I suppose, but then he goes on to tell how we were born in the SAME hospital, two days apart. So...we must have been in the same room together, there in the hospital nursery and I'm sure we slept. Usually I just roll my eyes when he goes into this story. Or hit him. Either works.

7. One more! This is harder than I thought it would be. I guess it is because I am boring without much to tell. Does that count? LOL Okay, well, in case it doesn't...my favorite color is blue. There! DONE!!!

Favorite weblogs and people I am tagging: (btw, I don't know how to link the site to the name--hey! I am new to blogland!)

1. LIZ http://theironinoursoul.blogspot.com/
2. Dorothy http://oldwifestales.blogspot.com/
3. Meloney http://melsquiltingblog.blogspot.com/
4. Kathy http://pawsandquilt.blogspot.com/
5. Mindy http://mindynhales.blogspot.com/

Oops! I can't come up with SEVEN people I know, not already tagged by either Paula or Linda. Guess this will have to do it.

I tried...sigh...

Issac and his new quilt

My quilts always look much better wrapped around a sweet little baby! This one is no exception. Welcome to the world, Issac! You see him here, with his mother, two sisters and proud Grandma Jodie and Grandpa Dave. What a lovely family!

Aidan with his quilt

Liz sent me photos of her friend, MJ's, new baby--with the quilt I made. What a cute little guy! Congrats to MJ and her hubby. :-) I love seeing the quilts I make with the people who get them, particularly when those people are sweet little babies.

Yet Another Baby Quilt

Baby quilts are like potato chips...can't just have one, right? Here's Tom, being patient and helpful; holding up a quilt I finished yesterday for one of Liz's coworkers. Liz is one of my biggest fans! It's nice to be appreciated, thanks Lizzy!!! Notice Tom is holding a wee white lamb? I spotted it at the store and decided to accessory this quilt, which has little lambs on it. I like the colors on this one--the purples and yellows. The backing is a soft purple flannel with stars on it.

BQL February Bag

Instead of waiting until the last week of the month, like I did in January, I finished up my February bag for the British Quilting List bag challenge--and it's only February 7th! It feels pretty good to get something done in a day; these bags are a lot quicker than even a baby quilt. To see more of the Challenge bags, go to this blog: http://bqlbagblog.blogspot.com/ I'm not sure if the blue things on it are leaves or hearts, but since the fabric itself has heart "leaves" printed on it, they could be either. This is a nice sturdy bag. On the other side, rather than the hearts, I put a pocket...which is shaped like the hearts, only much larger. I do love pockets!


Here's another bag I completed this week. I love the travel themed fabric. It has a big pocket on the outside, as well as a divided pocket inside. The next one will have more pockets! I also put a clip on a strap inside, to clip onto one's car keys.

Slide show

All right, so I managed to download photos for a slide show, but I can't figure out how to get it to the side, rather than being one of my blogs! Sigh. Oooh well. Better look now, then, since this will cycle to my "older posts" list eventually.

Check out my Slide Show!