A good week for UFOs

While waiting for my Bernina to come back from repair, I picked up a hand sewing project that had been idle for awhile.  Have you seen the candle mat patterns from Bareroots?  They are fun to do - good tv projects, perfect for car trips or being without a sewing machine.  One of the patterns (Firecrackers) was supposed to be my vacation project for last summer's vacation.  Hmmmm .... as usual, something got in the way of finishing the project!

So far, I have made the pumpkin, fall leaves, bunnies, and hearts & flowers mats.  My arthritic hands keep me from doing handwork for any length of time, but I enjoy fitting a few minutes in occasionally.  You can make these from wool or wool felt.  I prefer working with the wool (easier on the hands) although it is more expensive.  Many quilt stores carry the patterns and some even have a selection of wool or wool felt.  I stumbled across a website, Woolfelt Central, that carries lots of patterns and gorgeous colors of wool felt.  This could become an obsession!  Or should I say, another obsession?  I haven't bought anything from them yet, but I'm tempted.

With the Bernina out of commission, I spent lots of time finishing up the hearts & flowers mat and getting back to the firecrackers.  Hopefully, I'll finish the firecrackers mat in time for 4th of July 2010.

I also spent some Bernina-less time cutting out dresses for Miss T., the elder, and Miss T., the younger, for Easter gifts.  I just love the Sister Smocks pattern from Indygo Junction and couldn't wait for Tasha to reach a size 1 so I could make matching dresses for the girls.  I bought the pink and green ladybug fabric last year in Utah and picked up a couple of fat quarters at Road to California to complete the outfit.

I found the ladybug fabric in a cute quilt shop in a wonderful little town near St. George, Utah.  It was the end of our vacation, and I had gone just a tad overboard buying fabric and reached the point where the guilt starts to creep in.  That is inevitably the same point when you find fabric that just cannot be passed up.  This little shop had a full bolt of the pink and another full bolt of the same fabric in lime green with pink ladybugs!  Sadly, I walked out of the store without buying any.  Off and on throughout the night, I awoke thinking about how damned cute that fabric was and how perfect it would be for Talia whose favorite color is, of course, PINK!

I convinced my DH to go back to that little town because we missed seeing the bakery (good line, huh?) and rushed back to the quilt shop.  The green bolt was gone - all of it! - but I walked out with 2 yards of the pink.

I had so much fabric left over that I'm making Tasha a coloring bag tote.  I can just imagine Miss T., the elder's, reaction when she realizes that little sister has a PINK coloring bag!  It might get ugly.

And don't you think these outfits must have matching hairbows?  Time to search the web for a good tutorial on making hairbows .....

Okay - I need to vent a little!

On February 6, I brought my beloved Bernina 640 in for service.  It's really painful to be without a sewing machine when you sew as much as I do - daily.  Of course, I can always get the Featherweight out (and I love her, too), but the Bernina is such a quality machine and has so much going for her .... well, it's a little like taking the Mercedes in for an oil change and driving the '65 Beetle home.  Nothing wrong with the reliable Beetle - it's a great little car - but it doesn't purr like a Mercedes, does it?

I wasn't having any trouble at all with the 640 until I finished an embroidery and noticed that the buttons on the front plate were "recessed" into the machine.  My first thought was, "What the hell have I done?"  But I'm really careful with this machine (it's destined to be the last sewing machine that I own).  I took her in for a checkup right away and was told that I needed a new face plate.  Part ordered - given the ok to keep sewing - waited 3 weeks for the part - then took her in for her repair.

Apparently, once the tech got to see her insides, he decided that I also needed an "S board."  I don't know a lot about what is inside these machines, but I guess an S board is pretty significant.  Interesting that I did not notice any problem at all other than the recessed buttons.  But a new S board was ordered and duly installed - without a phone call to me.

I received a call late Thursday afternoon that my machine was ready to be picked up.  Those of you who are avid sewers will understand .... I dropped everything, bid DH a fond goodbye, and headed out to the dealer to pick up the 640.  So what if dinner is late?  It's all about priorities, isn't it?

Our Oasis Quilt Guild had our first Sew-In on Friday.  I was anxious to participate and to get the 640 up and running again.  As soon as I turned her on, I noticed a problem - the welcome message no longer said, "Hi, Oma" - it had reverted back to the default message!  All stitches saved to my personal program had vanished.  The designs in my embroidery folder were gone.  It all made sense, of course.  If you replace the board, the memory is kaput.  I kept my anger in check with my guild friends, but I was not a happy camper.  Why had no one called from my dealer to tell me that my memory was about to be wiped out?

Now, if the memory/board had failed causing the trip to the tech, I could understand this.  But I took a machine in for what appeared to be a "mechanical" failure.  I was not having a bit of trouble with the computer/board component of the machine.  I really think they should have called me to tell me that (1) the board needed to be replaced and (2) I was going to lose everything saved to the machine - designs and personal stitches.  I would have willingly gone to the shop and written down the specifications of the stitches in order to recreate them on a new board.

Lesson learned.  When next the 640 needs service, I will ask (instruct?) the service technician to alert me to any and all needed repairs, modifications, parts, etc.  I have a personal relationship with this sewing machine - it is part of my daily life.  Now I need to figure out what is missing from this relationship .....

I've already changed the message so it once again says "Hi, Oma."  Makes me feel a bit better already.

Small but impressive

The Valley Quilters Guild of Hemet, California, held their annual quilt show last Friday and Saturday.  I love this show!  It was the first quilt show that I ever attended, and it renewed my interest in quilting after a lull of about 25 years so it has a special place in my heart.  The show is held in the local community center.  The quilts were lovely this year, and there were more vendors than I remember in the past.

I went with several of the gals from my Oasis Quilt Guild.  We had lots of fun, bought a few things (surprise, surprise) and even treated ourselves to lunch on the way home.

My camera batteries died after only a few pictures, unfortunately.  I missed capturing the ribbon winners.  (I think it's time to give up on rechargeable batteries.  They just don't seem to hold a charge very long.)  At least I have a couple to share with you:

I've seen this quilt pattern done a lot, but I really like the way that Marvel Dorf took some of the fish from the border print and appliqued them in the sashing.  Adds just a touch of whimsy!  Must try to remember this in my continuing effort to think outside the box and be more abstract.

I loved this quilt.  My heart is pushing me towards a bargello quilt as well as a landscape quilt, and this one fed my yearning.  The quilter, Marcia Monroe, claimed it was easy.  Hmmmm .... easy enough for me?  Looks like the first challenge is finding the right fabric.  There are oodles of lovely landscape prints around.  I see multiple shopping trips in my future.

The last one I'd like to share with you is entitled "Love This Star" and was made by Gloria McKeehan and machine quilted by January Shaffer.  The picture I took of the whole quilt is pretty awful, but take a look at the stippling done by January.  She must have incredible eyesight!  When I grow up, I want to quilt like this (without 1000 hours of practice ..... hee, hee, hee).

To see more wonderful quilts from this show, visit the SewCalGal blog.  Enjoy!

Oh, yes ... I remember it well!

My daughter took her 3 kids to the pediatrician last Friday.  The girls had regularly scheduled well-baby appointments - a 4-year-old checkup for Talia, and a 1-year-old checkup for Tasha.  DD decided she could handle this appointment on her own including towing almost-3-year-old Jackson along!

Unfortunately, the appointments were running one hour late.  Oh, my.  Remember trying to keep the kids entertained in a doctor's office?  Ain't easy, McGee.  Kudos for DD for even attempting this.

On top of the delay, the 4-year-old was aware that she was having two shots.  When they finally got to see the doctor, she discovered that Tasha may have an eye problem and recommended a visit to a pediatric ophthalmologist.  So, anxiety and anticipation at a 4-year-old level plus a one-hour appointment delay plus a very bored 3-year-old plus a possible eye problem for the 1-year-old (who was definitely ready for a meal, by the way) = phone call to Oma!

The kids will recover from their shots, Tasha's eye problem will most likely be minimal, and my DD will recover from the trauma of holding her oldest daughter down so the nurse could give the second shot.  I wonder, however, if I'll recover from hearing the emotion in my daughter's voice as she described the appointment to me?  Not likely.  Maternal instinct moves through the generations at lightning speed.  My mom used to say, "When your child is hurt, you do the bleeding."  My baby was hurting last Friday, and I got to sing the blues.

It really wasn't about lemonade after all

Had a great weekend with the family.  The Super Bowl game really was "super!"  For a football fan, that is really special.  I was lucky this year.  Even though I wanted the Colts to win (I adore Peyton Manning), who could possibly not be excited about the Saints winning the championship for New Orleans?  Who dat?

Best of all, we celebrated birthdays for our 4-year-old granddaughter, Talia, and our 1-year-old granddaughter, Tasha.  We sang Happy Birthday over and over, we ate until we were stuffed, we opened lots and lots of presents, we ate princess cake and warmed to the excitement of watching Tasha stand on her own!

I gave the paper doll book to Tasha and Talia yesterday morning.  Guess what?  Neither one of them noticed that it wasn't put together exactly according to plan.  Talia played with all the dresses trying different combinations - dresses, hats, shoes.  Tasha put at least a dozen dresses in her mouth!  They loved every minute of it.

Their mom liked it, too.  Pretty special moment watching my daughter play paper dolls with her daughters.  It doesn't get any better than this ....

How to make lemonade!

You know the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?"  Well, today was a perfect day for making lemonade.

I was so excited about the paper doll book for my granddaughters (see this post).  I read the directions twice, carefully cut out all the fabric for the pages and for the dolls.  According to the directions, you need at least 13 paper dolls.  If you are lucky (and I wasn't), the fabric in the kit will be cut so that you can get even more paper dolls out of it.  If you get more dolls, you can put more than one doll on a page.

Another timeless saying comes to mind:  Plan ahead!

The cute, cute, cute picture on the kit label shows two dolls on the cover of the fabric book.  I think, "Perfect!"  The gift is for both of my granddaughters, who are sisters, so two dolls makes sense.  I happily start fusing the dolls onto the fabric and get to my Bernina right away to start stitching the buttonhole applique.

The cover came out great, and my machine buttonhole stitching was the best I had ever done.  Wouldn't it be nice to have another page with two girls on it?  They could be sisters, they could be friends, schoolmates or playmates.  Adorable!

You know where this is going, don't you?

I don't have enough dolls for every page in the book!  Stupid with a capital "S."  How do I keep doing these things?  Arghghghghgh .....  I'm not particularly fast when I sew.  I take my time.  In fact, I think it takes me lots longer to complete projects than the average sewer.  I still make dumb mistakes.  I've been sewing for over 50 years - I shouldn't make these kinds of mistakes!

Thought process on the road to making lemonade:

1. Run out and try to find some more of this fabric.  Nope - not enough time and it's raining in Southern California.  Don't want to be on the freeways in the rain unless you're going to the hospital to have a baby.
2. Cut out the remaining pieces of the dolls from the fabric and piece them together trying to match head to body to feet.  Nope - would look horrible!
3. Wait - there are a few "bodies" left on the fabric!  I could cut out those bodies, print a picture of the grandbabies on printable fabric, cut out their heads, and stitch them to the doll bodies!  Last night, I really liked this idea.  This morning, I said to myself "no, no, no, no - too much like a Grade B horror movie!"  My daughter would kill me .....
4. Go with two blank pages in the middle of the book.  Who would know it wasn't in the original plan?  Hmmmmm ... nope, that's like a flashing arrow saying, "Look here to see the mistake!"
5. Cut out all the little flowers on the doll fabric and fuse them to the blank pages in the book.  Tell Talia and Tasha that the paper doll friends are playing in the garden together looking for lemons to make lemonade!

Interestingly enough, I was watching an episode of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting tv show and they were talking about how many mistakes they make.  They said they think one of the reasons they rose to prominence is because they made more mistakes on camera than anyone else!  These things do happen.

Okay, I'll stop beating myself up.  The goal is not perfection.  The goal is for two little girls to have a special gift from their Oma who loves them best in all the world!

Happy Birthday, Dear Talia ......

Our oldest granddaughter turned 4 today.  Quite a big day for a toddler.  Early this morning, DH and I called her to sing a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday."  She was quite excited to tell us that she was having cake for dinner!

It wasn't too long ago, Christmas actually, that we were told she was "3 and 3/4."  Remember when counting half years, quarter years, and months was terribly important?  Now I'm happy to count in decades and forget the years and months in between ....

Her younger sister, Tasha, will be 1 on February 9.  We'll be going to see the family for Super Bowl Sunday and to have birthday celebrations for the girls.  I started a cute gift today, which I hope to finish in time for the big celebration (that would be birthday cake and candles, not the Vince Lombardi trophy).  It's the paper doll playbook kit from Creating Keepsakes.  So cute!  It took me awhile to understand the directions, but I did manage to get the fabric cut and the fusible fleece fused to the doll clothes.  Tonight I will cut out the doll clothes.  I have every hope of finishing this project between tomorrow and Friday so that I can give it to the birthday girls on Sunday.  I think Talia is the perfect age for paper dolls.  Tasha will most likely just get some fun out of touching and feeling and putting dresses in her mouth!

I remember playing with paper dolls for hours when I was growing up.  The fad then, in the 50s, was to have paper doll kits for the stars of the silver screen.  I had Piper Laurie, June Allyson, Betty Hutton, and a bride set of course.  Inevitably, the tags ripped off the clothes and the cardboard dolls bent at the ankle or the neck making them a bit less fashionable.  But what fun we had!

I hope my granddaughters have as much fun with this doll kit.  At least they won't have to cut out all those paper tags!

And, I actually had fun!

One of my goals for 2010 is to practice free-motion quilting.  My resolution was actually to practice every day.  Gotta fess up - that is not happening.  But I am putting in more practice time than last year, and I think it is paying off.  I'm not getting better yet; I'm just not scared to death to try!  That's progress, don't you agree?

I have about a dozen gorgeous batik panels that I inherited from my MIL.  These panels were among the boxes and boxes of batik clothing that she bought in the 80s.  I'm slowly selling off the clothing in my Etsy shop, but I just can't part with the panels.  The grade of cotton is high, the designs so unusual, and the colors are brilliant.  My heart says that these panels deserve to be worked on by a true artist.  There is such potential to create a beautiful piece when you start with such a unique foundation.  I've been tempted to try my hand at some kind of art quilt, but always turn away at the last minute.  In most areas of my life, I'm a pretty confident gal.  I just don't think of myself as artistic or creative.  The left side of my brain is too dang strong, I guess.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the smallest panel and make a pillow out of it.  I found a new batik fabric that coordinates fairly well for the back of the pillow.  With trepidation, I got the BSR out of its cocoon, lowered the feed dogs on the old 640, and went full speed ahead.  Well, maybe I got to second gear a couple of times, but mostly I ambled along in first learning more and more with every inch I covered.  And ..... it was a blast!  My poor sister was visiting the weekend I worked on this project, and I kept slipping into the other room to do "just one more row" of outline quilting.

No closeups this time - too embarrassing!  But I'm pretty proud of the result.  I took it to my quilt guild meeting this morning and got a few compliments, so I'm more determined now to get back to regular practicing.

When images from the past are painful

DH and I just returned from a short trip to check in at his mom's house.  The house has been empty for about 3 years since she died.  We made a commitment to his dad, who lives elsewhere, that we would visit the house once a month to make sure all is well.  Dad does not want to sell the house - it's the economy, stupid! - nor does he want to rent it out.  So, it sits empty in a lovely little seaside town above the Pacific Ocean.  Sad ....

Part of me enjoys going to the house, especially if we are escaping the summer heat in Menifee!  The phone doesn't ring, the temperature is always comfortable no matter what time of year, there is no mail - it's a great getaway for a day or two.  We do maintenance, say hi to the neighbors, order take-out dinners, watch movies, and just relax.

Except when the memories and ghosts appear.  Doug's mom had Alzheimer's.  She was most likely ill with the disease for years before the family was aware of it.  Most families have "stories," and this one is ours.  During the last ten years of their marriage, Mom and Dad lived apart.  Mom was quite adept at hiding her illness from Dad and from us because we saw her intermittently.  By the time we realized how ill she was, she had trashed both her life and her house.

Over the last year of Mom's life, I drove to her house two or three times per week to visit, interact with various health agencies, run errands, and clean - clean, clean, clean - clean out, clean up, and clean after.  I wish I had been blogging at the time!  It would have been cathartic for me (and a bit overwhelming for you!)

The house is now free of junk, filth, every check written in an 80+ year lifetime, over 40 boxes of sewing projects, and 320 pounds of laundry that had to be professionally cleaned (really).

It is not, however, clear of Mom.  And it never will be for me.  In her heyday, Mom was the most meticulous housekeeper I have ever known.  So, before I leave her house, I make sure that everything is in its place, the kitchen counters are wiped clean, the beds are made, the trash is out, there are fresh towels in the bathrooms.

She deserves nothing less.  It is still her house.

I feel a rant coming on!

Big problems rarely get to me.  Pesky little irksome problems sometimes hit me so hard that I fixate and can't get back on my normal track for days.  Here's my latest fixation:

DH and I use our Mastercard for most of our charge purchases.  We are in the habit of paying off the bill every month.  If we do use another retail charge card, we also pay the balance off when the bill arrives.  With a difficult economy, we are fortunate that we can do this and avoid the high interest rates you face if you only make minimum payments.

We used our Macy's charge over the Christmas buying season to take advantage of the extra coupon savings.  (By the way, another pet peeve of mine is that these "extra savings" coupons have dozens of exceptions.  You have to be Sherlock Holmes to find something you actually want to buy for which the coupon can be used!)  I got the bill this week.  At first glance, it looks like I owe Macy's $167.30.  That amount appears in bold print on the top of the statement under New Balance.  It also appears, again in bold, on the payment slip under "New Balance."

I dutifully check all my receipts and find that I actually only owe $164.07.  Back to the statement.  Oh - there's a line item for Interest Charges of $3.23.  Interest charges?  I haven't used my card in 6 months.  There couldn't be interest charges, could there?

Back to the bill.  Here is what is written, in very small print, on the statement:

To avoid Initial Interest Charge:  If you pay your New Purchase Balance of $164.07 by Feb 6, 2010, your Initial Interest Charge of $3.23 on your Revolving Account will be refunded on your next statement.

My first reaction, other than confusion and anger, was that I had to pay the $167.30 then wait to get a credit of $3.23 on my next bill.  Since I don't plan on using my charge card for the foreseeable future, I would carry over this small amount for month after month after month until either (1) I used the card, got both the credit and ANOTHER Initial Interest Charge entering an endless circle of purchases I really did not want to make; or (2) Macy's finally gave up on me and sent me a refund check or, more likely, a credit slip that could only be used against a charge purchase!

On reflection, and many hours of internal ranting, I decided to pay the $164.07 and prepare my attack when the next bill comes showing that I "owe" $3.23.  Now, there is a chance that my next bill will show a 0 balance, and I'll have a clean slate.  The evil part of me hopes that the $3.23 shows up as an amount due - maybe even with a finance charge on top of it! - and I'll be forced to go into attack mode.  Imagine a senior citizen on the brink of Medicare eligibility cutting up her credit card in the middle of the Macy's business office!  Delightful .....

Road to California - Take 3

Just a quickie tonight - I'm recovering from 4 days of visitors!  Thought you'd enjoy another view of the "Quilting Makes A Difference" exhibit at Road to California.

Enjoy!

Male Logic - or When did I say "yes"?

We are now the proud owners of a brand new 42" Toshiba HD LCD TV.  I'm not quite sure how this happened, so I guess I'll blame it on one week of nonstop rain which pretty much kept us housebound. My DH had all of his meetings cancelled, couldn't hike or birdwatch or work in the yard.  For the man I love, boredom leads to research on the Internet which inevitably leads to "what can I buy and how can I get her to agree?"

This is a strange purchase for people who don't watch a lot of tv.  DH watches the nightly news because (1) I have it on during the dinner hour, and (2) frequent attempts to get me to turn it off have led to various threats none of which he particularly likes.  It's one of those "you knew this when you married me" kinda things.  I am a news junkie.  Deal with it!

I record and watch sewing shows like Sewing with Nancy, America Sews with Sue Hausman, Fons & Porter, Martha Pullen, etc.  NFL football is a given - any day, any time, any team.  A woman is entitled to her passions!

And, we try to have a weekly movie night.  Our son calls us Netflix' favorite customers.  We've gone as long as six or seven months without watching any movies although there are always 3 rentals in the house.  Pretty expensive movie!  Anyway, one of our New Year's Resolutions was to reinstate the weekly movie night with the agreement that either one of us can walk away if the choice just doesn't cut it.  (Note:  He'd watch classics every week whereas I opt for the new releases.)

During the first rainstorm this week, DH mentioned that he's enjoying movie nights and wouldn't it be nice to have a bigger screen and HDTV.

While I was looking for the emergency flashlight during the second storm, DH gave me a rundown on his research and listed the "finalists."  Huh?

By the onset of the third storm, he told me which stores had 12-months-same-as-cash.  He knows this makes or breaks a deal for me.  If we can't pay for it out of monthly income, it ain't gonna happen.

DH saved his best for last.  In the middle of the fourth storm while watching the horizon for signs of tornadoes, he said, "You'll have your new tv in time to watch your games on Sunday."

How does he do this?  How did a vague idea (his, not mine) become both a reality and a gift for me?  Gotta love the guy ....

Seems it never rains in Southern California ....

... but girl, don't they warn ya, it pours man it pours!

Remember this great song, written by Albert Hammond, and sung by the Mamas and the Papas in the 60s?  I've been humming it off and on all week as the rain has continued to pummel Southern California from the beach to the mountains to the deserts.  The storm today, the fourth this week, has been the most severe.  As I write, we are under a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch.  Pretty unusual for us -- we're used to sun and heat and are weather wimps at heart.

Such downpours cause problems all over the world, of course, but particularly for us since we are also prone to raging wildfires.  The burn areas from last fall's devastating fires were evacuated early this morning in the San Gabriel foothills.  All we can do now is wait to see if the oversaturated earth will hold or begin slipping down the slopes into whatever stands in its path.  Once the slippage begins, it'll take out everything - homes, businesses, freeways.  The pounding waves of the Pacific are threatening several homes along the coast.

I ventured out yesterday to run a couple of errands but quickly decided only to do the necessary ones - bank, milk, bread.  The freeways here are bad enough when the weather is good.  They are deathtraps when the weather turns ugly!  We usually only get rain a handful of times per winter; the raindrops evaporate before we can remember how to turn the windshield wipers on.  The youngest drivers on the road today were learning how to skateboard the last time we had this much rain in such a short time back in 2005.  Inexperienced drivers more interested in texting than driving = deathtrap.  Time to stay home and hunker down!

We really need the rain, but not all at once!  Let's just hope that the storm passes without further damage.

In between listening to weather reports and watching the color of the sky change, I've done lots of sewing, listed a few more items at my Etsy shop, and baked peanut butter cookies.  And hummed a few more songs from the Mamas and the Papas!

Road to California - Take 2

Road to California had a great exhibit which was an eye opener for me.  I am, and always have been, a visual learner, so this exhibit had a huge impact.  It was titled something like "Quilting Makes the Quilt."  (Again, I apologize for not taking better notes.  I will improve next year!)  Taking the same large quilt block in the same fabric and colors, various quilters experimented with a variety of quilting styles and techniques.  Wow!  What a difference the quilting makes .....

Feast your eyes on just a sampling of the two dozen or so samples:

The example on the left is beautifully done and somewhat traditional.  But look at the sample on the right - colored threads, a little glitz - totally different impact.  These are the only two pictures that I took, but I was fascinated by the exhibit.  Trapunto was featured in several of the blocks, and many had heat-set rhinestones and metallic thread.  One or two used thread couching as embellishment.  Whoever thought of this exhibit is a genius!

Road to California

I went to the Road to California quilt show on Thursday with four of the ladies from The Oasis Quilt Guild.  We had a blast!  This is the largest quilt show that I have ever gone to; I've attended each of the last four years.  The quilts are exquisite, and there are a lot of vendors to tempt me.  The show runs from Wednesday night through Sunday at the Ontario Convention Center, about 1 1/2 hours away from me depending on traffic.  Some year, I'm going to plan ahead and actually take a class!

Quilt in a Day had a booth, and Eleanor Burns was holding court.  It's amazing how many people wanted to have their picture taken with her!  Alex Anderson was and Ricky Tims were also manning a booth for The Quilt Show.  (Note:  Guess the man at the show with Alex was her husband, John, and not Ricky Tims.  Must work on my accuracy - and watch more tv!) Alex is just as pretty in real life as she is on tv!  I'm not really a celebrity watcher, but it was fun to spot these quilting heroes.

The real heroes of the show, though, are the gorgeous quilts on display and the quilters who designed them, created them, and quilted them.  Here are some of the ones that spoke to me:

I kept coming back to this one again and again, probably because it is so striking.  My photographic skills are minimal, even with these wonderful digital cameras, but I hope you can imagine the impact of this quilt.  What you cannot see from this photo is the intricacy of the quilting.  By the way, I made a huge mistake in not jotting down information about these quilts.  I apologize to the artists!  The background of this quilt is black.  I can't even stitch a hem on black without cursing!  Here's another picture showing the beautiful quilting:Many of those viewing this quilt stood at the back just admiring the detail.  I know because I kept coming back to this quilt over and over.  A few more that caught my eye (if you click on the picture, you'll get an expanded view):

And, lastly, here's a ribbon winner that I really fell in love with.  This quilt won for Best Pictorial Quilt.  Don't you just love her eyes?  Has to be a female, don't you think?

All You Need is Love - and Lots of It!

NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday had an interview with Ringo Starr.  Fun, entertaining, nostalgic - great way to start a Sunday!  By the way, Ringo has seven grandchildren!  If you were ever a Beatles fan (and who wasn't?), listen to the interview.  You won't be disappointed.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This ....

If you've been a football fan any time during the last 20 years, you know that this is a phrase used often by John Madden - player, coach, analyst, and NFL broadcaster for many years.  But the phrase can be used in so many ways.  Even though I am a diehard football fan (and am watching the Baltimore/Indianapolis game even as I write), the phrase means most to me as a grandmother ... it really doesn't get any better than this!

I finished a couple of projects for "the girls" (my granddaughters, ages 4 and 1) who have upcoming birthdays in early February.  Loved this project!  I bought the patterns during our trip last year to Utah, the Grand Canyon, etc.  I fell in love with the fabric in St. Georges, Utah, and discovered the patterns somewhere along the way on our trip.  Fortunately, I was able to squeeze two outfits out of a single purchase of fabric and two patterns bought along the way.  I seem to do that often - hoping that I'll be able to figure out how to finagle the fabric and the pattern to get matching outfits!

Here is the dress for Talia.  The pattern is the To Tie For pattern from olive ann designs.  Really easy pattern and so adaptable for some of the incredibly cute fabrics on the market today.  I elected not to do the giraffe appliques on the reverse side, but I may do that on a future project.  The onesie conversion for Tasha was a bit more challenging.  The pattern, One-zee Conversions from Vanilla House Designs, gave me a few stressful moments.  I think the end result will be fine for a one-year-old who has a pretty relaxed momma.  But I'm not sure that it came out as well as I had hoped.  I don't think I really understood how to attach the skirt to the onesie.  I tried the fusible tape - and failed.  So I just opted for trying to ease the gathered skirt onto the onesie - me thinks I stretched a little too much.  We'll see when we go to see the grandkids for Super Bowl weekend, which is also the girls' birthdays.  Maybe it won't be as stretched out as I think it is!

It is cute, though, and Tasha is only 1.  She won't remember this outfit at all!

Kinder and gentler - who me?

Doug and I drove to Redlands Sewing Center today to take the Bernina to the repairman (repairperson?).  A quick look told him that I need a new front plate which has to be ordered.  Supposedly, I was not gentle enough while pushing the buttons in and caused the problem myself.  Hmmm .... I'm really careful with this baby and don't think I am the culprit.  I smiled softly and promised to be a gentler, kinder sewist.  It will take several weeks to get the part in and then the 640 has to stay in Redlands for a few days to be fixed.  At least I can still use the machine and sew until the part comes in.  My sanity is on the line!

Let's hope I can schedule this when I'm due to be away anyway, maybe for the girls' birthdays and/or Super Bowl.

I browsed, of course, while waiting in the shop for the diagnosis.  They're going to have a trunk show in February by quilt artist Marilyn Fromherz.  They had several of her pieces on display.  Quite interesting and very colorful.  Click here for a little preview of her work.  The quilt on the left with the fish was actually on display at the Redlands store, and it is stunning.

Finally got back to Etsy and listed a couple of the caftan-style blouses.  I'm hoping my sales pick up a bit with these new listings.  I have 3 more blouses and 4 scarves to list then it's on to the wraparound skirts again.  Remember Resolution #3 - this stuff is sold or gone by December 31!

As for Resolutions #1 and #2, I give myself a great big "F" for failure two weeks into the New Year.  I have not done any free-motion quilting.  I downloaded one podcast of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."  Does that count?

I feel a martini night coming on ....

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter got all excited about something one of her Moms Club friends had purchased at a boutique.  It's a cover for the infant/toddler swings that they have in public playgrounds.  Quite a neat idea.  The cover is basically two pieces of fabric sewn together with batting in the middle and a couple of snaps on the end.  You can easily snap the cover around the swing front to keep little hands (and mouths) clean while playing on the swing.  There are probably many places where this cover would come in handy.

So, I whipped one up using pieces from my stash and decided to embroider my youngest granddaughter's name on it.  Oops - big mistake!  I forget that things are not the same as they were when I raised my children in the 70s.  Personalized clothing, accessories, etc., are frowned upon by today's parents due to the fear of abduction and other equally scary things I'd rather not even think about.

I worked around the problem and embroidered "Toodles" on the cover.  That's what we called her before she was born.  I like the way the cover came out.

The next day, I went back to my trusty Bernina 640 to work on some sewing projects and noticed that the four buttons to the left of the screen (needle position left and right, needle up/down, and pattern end) were recessed into the machine!  I can only surmise that the vibration of machine embroidery (and that baby really works hard during embroidery) caused something to go out of kilter.  So, I've been wrestling with what to do about a repair.  Can I just keep sewing carefully and nurse her until she's due for her cleaning in April?  Do I dare take a chance that things will get worse?  I tremble at the thought of being without her for days at a time.  The term obsessive comes to mind, doesn't it?

Yesterday, I tried to move the needle over to do some edgestitching and the machine went berserk.  I couldn't stop the needle from moving back and forth!  So, it's off to the repairman tomorrow.  We'll leave early and hope that it is a small fix that can be done while we wait.  Fat chance.  I see myself going through sewing withdrawal and forced to find something else to do while my Bernina is in the hospital.  I might even have to clean the closets.

Yup, definitely a martini night.

I won't give up, I won't give up ...

I worked through the entire Sharon Schamber video on her binding technique and followed it step-by-step.  You should have seen me running from room to room!  The computer is in the sewing room, the ironing board is in the great room, and the sewing machine is, of course, back in the sewing room.  So, I would watch a minute or two of the video, run to the ironing board with glue bottle in hand, follow the instructions, check back with the video to make sure I was doing it correctly, then drag the TLC quilt to the sewing machine and complete the sewing step.  All went well until sewing the second side of the binding.  I just can't seem to get this part right.  Here are pictures of the finished binding from the front and the back:

Can you see where the stitching in the back is not really right at the corner?  This drives me mad!

There are many parts of this technique that I like - especially how she does the mitered corners - but I'm certainly not happy with the total result.  Practice makes perfect, I suppose, but I am displeased with the number of places where the binding is not solidly stitched on both sides.  To be fair, Sharon's video ends with a detailed explanation of how she hand-sews the second side of her binding.  This is the part I was trying to avoid!  To satisfy finicky me, I will probably go back to doing the same.  What's the point of putting all that work into a nice project and then trashing it with the last step?

I'll probably try machine binding again on small projects.  I'll refer to this video for all the tips on glue-basting, ironing, etc., to get those crisp mitered corners.  But I haven't yet found the definitive way of machine binding a quilt that satisfies the perfectionist in me.

On a positive note, I took the finished quilt to my guild meeting this morning.  The gal who does all her bindings this way said mine looked very good, especially for a first timer.  Made me feel better!  She suggested trying 2 1/2" binding rather than the 2 1/4" suggested in the video.  I'm never going to enter quilt shows, so maybe I should relax my standards and be satisfied - not easy for a finicky Virgo to do.

I'd be better off concentrating on free motion quilting, right?

Hello? Are you out there? Anyone?

One of my daily pleasures is to the read the newspaper.  I'll sometimes skip over the front page if the news is terribly upsetting.  I've already listened to NPR for the morning update by the time Doug brings in the papers, so I feel up-to-date on events.  At some point in the day, no matter how hectic it gets, I'll take time to grab the papers and read.  I always start with Sports, then move to Business, the main section, and finally Calendar (as the Los Angeles Times calls it).

One of my favorite columnists for the Times is Sandy Banks.  She writes several times per week on a variety of topics, many related to living in L.A., others about raising 3 daughters on her own or balancing work, family, and a social life.  On the surface, Ms. Banks and I don't have a lot in common.  I'm from another generation, Doug and I raised our children together, I'm retired (yippee!), and I'm not African-American.  But her words resonate with me so often that I like to think that we'd have a great old time having coffee together and just yakking.

Last Saturday, Sandy's column was about a letter written by her mother, Ruth, in 1941 to a younger sister.  The letter was recently discovered by a family member and mailed to Sandy.  Ruth chats about daily life, socializing, looking for work, all things important to a young girl of 19 - fourteen pages of words!

Somewhere in the letter, Ruth wrote the following:

If you don't want to bother about reading all this it's alright; I'll never know the difference.  But it was on my mind so strong, I couldn't help writing it.

That's a bit the way I feel about this blog.  I love knowing that, somewhere, people are reading my words.  I see the names of cities, towns, and countries on the Live Traffic Feed and wonder - who is the reader, how did they stumble on my blog, will they return to read more?  Will they leave comments?  Please, please let them leave comments .....

I hope someone, somewhere is reading what I've written.  But if no one reads, that's okay, too.  I write because I like to write.  It helps me think.  It forces me to be creative.  It keeps the old brain cells oxygenated!  It proves that something was "on my mind so strong" that "I couldn't help writing it." 

If you'd like to read Sandy Banks' column in its entirety, and I encourage you to do so, please click here.

Yes - my house is back! And Resolution #3 ...

Doug and I spent most of the last three days undoing Christmas.  As much as I love to see the decorations come down from the storage bins in the garage, I smile broadly as they make their way back up into the rafters for another year.  I'm sure there are those who are saddened when the season is over, but I'm not one of them.  I'm no Scrooge, however.  I love Christmas and the joy of spending special time with family and friends.  But I'm a neatnik (some would say I border on the fanatical), and the extra "stuff" in the house starts to get to me after a week or so.  Today is a happy day - the house looks normal again.

One of our traditions is to watch the Albert Finney version of Scrooge at the end of the holiday season.  We saw this movie in Michigan in 1970 - our first Christmas as a married couple - so it has special meaning to us.  We watched the DVD last night after dinner.  I still smile at the "Thank You Very Much" scene!

I started the binding on the TLC quilt yesterday using Sharon Schamber's method.  So far, it's going well.  I definitely like the way she joins the binding strips and how detailed the video is (see this post).  The binding is on; the true test will come tomorrow when I try to sew the second side on by machine!  Normally, I finish binding by handsewing it to the back of the quilt.  With Sharon's method, the binding is completely sewn on by machine.  I tried this a couple of weeks ago following another blogger's method and was not particularly successful!  Sharon's method is more time intensive, uses glue, and is highly recommended by one of my quilting friends.  Keep your fingers crossed!  As the arthritis in my thumbs worsens, I'm looking for more ways to use the Bernina instead of doing handwork.

Now for Resolution #3.  About 30 years ago, my inlaws went on a trip to Asia stopping in Sri Lanka along the way (it was Ceylon then).  My mother-in-law fell in love with batik clothing and purchased dozens and dozens of skirts, blouses, dresses, saris, etc. to bring home.  We think she intended to sell them at the College of the Desert Street Fair but never got around to it.  When MIL passed away several years ago, I inherited this clothing as part of the "big clean out" of her house.  I've managed to sell a few pieces on eBay and Oma's Closet and at a The Oasis holiday boutique in 2008.  I even cut up three of the skirts and made handbags out of them!  But I still have two big plastic boxes of clothes in the garage.  Resolution #3 - by the end of 2010, all of the clothing will be sold, recycled into new sewing projects, or given away.

Happy New Year - and Resolution #2

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and Day.  We had our usual subdued New Year's Eve celebration.  For more years than I care to remember, we have stayed home and treated ourselves to a special dinner, a bottle of champagne, a movie, and toasting the New Year on Eastern Standard Time - 9 p.m. California time.  We don't party anymore!

Last night, we had crab legs (a first for us), rack of lamb, roasted asparagus (yum!), and baked potatoes.  Believe it or not, this was the first time either of us had had crab legs.  My sister and her hubby have them on a regular basis.  Doug and I enjoyed them and will probably spring for them again for a special meal - he opted not to make Beber's homemade mayonnaise so we just did melted butter.  The lamb was yummy, though it took a bit longer to cook than the recipe called for.  We opened a bottle of pinot noir and never got around to the champagne.

It isn't always easy for us to find a movie that appeals to both of us.  I like the new releases (and special effects never hurt).  Doug leans towards classics and war movies - the ones we've seen countless times and can recite all the lines.  Anyway, we agreed on the newer version of  "The Thomas Crown Affair" and did enjoy it.  How can I object to spending two hours watching Pierce Brosnan in custom-made suits?  Works for me ...

Spent most of today taking down the holiday decorations.  As much as I love seeing them go up, I adore seeing them come down.  This is part of the New Year tradition - let's clean up, clean out, and get organized!  Tomorrow we'll take down the tree and the Dickens Village display above the fireplace, get all the boxes up into the rafters in the garage, and breathe a sigh of relief that our house is back to normal.

No sewing today.  I really expected to start on the binding for the TLC quilt using Sharon Schamber's binding method.  Maybe tomorrow ...

Resolution #1 has gotten off to a pretty bad start.  I did not do any free-motion quilting today.  Let's hope that the other resolutions have greater success.

Resolution #2 is to listen to NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" every week.  The show is fabulous and I cannot understand why I got out of the habit of listening to it.  Try it - you will really, really like it!

Can it really be 2010?

I've been mulling over that number all day.  It just sounds so "futuristic" to me; not like a real year at all.  More like a movie or song title.

Anyway, Happy New Year to all!  I hope that you take time to celebrate today with friends or loved ones, say goodbye to 2009, and raise a glass of bubbly to the hope that a new year always brings.

My family is fortunate that 2009 did not bring us the economic hardships that many endured and continue to endure.  No one lost their job or their house, thankfully.  The 30-somethings still have time for their 401Ks to grow, the 50-somethings may have to rethink retirement age, and the 60-somethings (that would be us) are grateful for the conservative approach we've always taken on investing.

No one is directly involved with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Everyone is healthy - even me!  Yup, that blessed pain seems to have disappeared for no apparent reason.  A little like the way it showed up for no apparent reason!  My doc refers to me as the "mystery woman."  Friends encouraged me to go through with the physical therapy that the doc ordered, which I will do.  I'll just have to explain where it "used to hurt" instead of where it hurts!

We celebrated the election of the first Afro-American as President of the United States.  Regardless of your political leanings, this was certainly something to celebrate.  Now, if we could only get around to electing a woman .... not just any woman, either.  A woman who is strong, decisive, confident, as well as qualified, experienced, and competent.  I think that pretty much rules out Ms. Palin.  Sorry, I just couldn't resist!

By far the best part of our year was the birth of our third grandchild, Natasha Jade.  She is turning out to be quite a beauty with striking blue eyes and ash blond hair that can't be matched by the salons of Beverly Hills.  She has the cutest way of furrowing her eyebrows from time to time.  My guess is that she's trying to figure out how the heck she's going to deal with all these grownups.

2009 also brought me:

• new friends in The Oasis Quilt Guild
• into the world of blogging
• a trip through the Panama Canal
• hiking in 5 National Parks
• attempts to expand my sewing and quilting skills

I thought about doing a resolution a day for the past week, but life always seems to get in the way of my plans.  I do have a few resolutions to share with you over the next few days not necessarily in rank order of importance - just in the order that they pop into my head.

Since this blog actually started out as a quilting blog, Resolution #1 is to practice free motion quilting every day until I either learn how to do it or give up!

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow, we leave to spend the next 5 days with our family in Ventura County, California.  I will be away from blogging for a week or so.  I can hardly wait to visit with our 3 wonderful grandchildren as well as our adult children.  Isn't Christmas the most wonderful time of the year?  Hope to take pictures of the grandchildren playing on Santa's gift - and hoping, hoping, hoping that it survives the onslaught of preschoolers!

I've been thinking today about the new year and my resolutions, but I won't bore you with what I've come up with!  I think I'll do one resolution per day from Christmas until the New Year.  Come join me - let's make a list!

It has been a wonderful year.  Our family greeted a new grandchild, Natasha Jade.  Nothing is better than welcoming a new life into your family.  Our country welcomed a new president, Barack Hussein Obama.  On any level, this was an historic event.  I am forever grateful that I was able to witness this.  As a young adult growing up in the 60s, I could not imagine seeing an African-American being sworn in as President of the United States.  Let's hear it for us!!!  We did good.

On a personal note, this was the year that I started blogging.  Not a big deal on the world stage.  Not such a big deal with my family and friends.  But for me - a really big deal!  I love blogging.  I don't know who is out there reading my blog; I don't know who may come forward in the future to read my words; but I do know that I am enjoying the process.  I enjoy learning about new technology, expanding my horizons, and challenging myself.  And, I may be the only one in my family who actually knows what a widget is!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  Enjoy spending time with loved ones; worship the season as you choose; sprinkle a little fairy dust on someone less fortunate; hum a Christmas carol; watch "White Christmas" for the 20th time; remember that the world would never be the same unless you were in it!

Through the eyes of a child - the magic of Christmas!

I don't know who had a better time on Saturday - Talia, Tati, or Oma.  The three girls went to see Disney on Ice at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.  Talia knew that she was going to have a special outing with Tati and Oma and that she was going to see a "show."  She'll be 4 in February, so a show to her is a movie in the living room!  When I picked her up at 9:30 a.m., she was all dressed up in holiday finery, excited, and ready to go.

We had a wonderful day of experiences for a 3 & 3/4 year old (she insists on the 3/4), a 50-something, and a 60-something (we insist on the "somethings").  We drove through LA Christmas traffic talking about how a show differs from a movie.  How do you explain these things to a preschooler?  All of a sudden, Talia shouted "city!" as we first caught sight of the tall, tall buildings in downtown LA.  She's a gal from the suburbs - cities are pretty exciting!

We parked and asked Talia if she wanted to walk to the Staples Center (a short 1/2 block) or take the shuttle.  She opted for the shuttle and delighted in the "crazy driver" who turned corners a little too quickly for her to maintain her balance.  The giggles and grins were enough to make my day .... and there was more to come.

You can enter one hour before showtime and visit the Disney princess exhibit.  If you are lucky enough to have a little girl in your life between the ages of 2 and 14, you know that Disney princesses are all the rage.  We saw Belle's dress (from Beauty and the Beast), Show White's costume, and - ta da! - Cinderella and Tiana (The Princess and the Frog) were actually there!  They smiled, they waved, they blew kisses - and brought delight to all the little girls and boys, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors who were enjoying this holiday treat.

Talia caught sight of the popcorn booth and insisted on popcorn.  The box was half as big as she is!  She wouldn't let me carry it for her, so lugged that box halfway around the Staples Center until we found our seats.  Tati went to buy lunch, and Talia and I settled in for the start of the show.  They announced a countdown to showtime and Talia stared at my watch intently waiting for the time to click down - 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute until showtime.  Tati brought lunch, the lights went down and ----- Mickey and Minnie Mouse skated out to great us!

I don't have the words to describe the look of wonder on Talia's face as she experienced her first live show with characters that she knows and loves.  Mickey and Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck, Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, Simba, Tinkerbell.  We almost skipped a potty break at intermission because she was afraid she would miss the start of the second half!  She laughed, she cried a bit (why did they choose to do the stampede scene from The Lion King?), she waved at Sebastian, shouted at Skar, and jumped up and down when Tinkerbell flew!

I know I'll get gifts on Christmas from my wonderful family.  They'll be thoughtful, beautifully wrapped, carefully chosen, and given with love.  They'll also understand when I say that no gift that I receive this Christmas will be more precious to me than the look on Talia's face when she first saw Ariel skate onto the rink.  There is no gift greater than the look of joy, wonder, and magic on the face of a child, especially a child that you love!

Something Special for the Kidlets!

Months ago, I bought snack holders from The Sewphisticated Stitcher to give to the kidlets as Christmas gifts.  Of course, I waited until the week before Christmas to do this project!  Isn't that typical of crafters?  It was so much fun looking for appropriate designs that matched each of my three sweethearts to embroider on inserts along with their names.  Trains for Jackson was a given, and our little princess (otherwise known as Miss T. the Elder; Talia; or T. Rex!) definitely needed something girlish.  Her snack holder has stylish pink highheels and a matching purse.  Tasha's personality is just beginning to show, but she is sweet, sweet, sweet as the cupcake design on her snack holder.  Unfortunately, I wrapped the gifts in a gift-wrapping frenzy yesterday before taking pictures!  I carefully unwrapped Jackson's today so you could see at least one of the finished projects.

I was tempted to put something good to eat in the holders, but Christmas will be filled with enough goodies to get Talia and Jackson on big-time sugar highs!  I reluctantly stopped myself from being the indulgent grandmother and just left them empty.  Sigh.

By the way, if you are looking for a really nice selection of mini-designs that stitch out very well try Bunnycup Embroidery.  (I like to link to sites that I especially enjoy.  I have no affiliation with any of these sites except as a happy customer!)

Spent the rest of today wrapping gifts, working on embroidered Christmas ornaments (another late project), and trying to get ready for a short weekend trip to see the family.  Doug will be helping Brian put together the kidlets BIG gift (it's a surprise!)  Tati (my sister) and Oma will be having much more fun - we're taking Talia to see Disney on Ice at the Staples Center on Saturday!  Whoo hoo!!!!

How sweet it is - a project day!

Once in awhile, a day crops up when I have nothing, or almost nothing, on the calendar or the to-do list.  Aren't these just the most wonderful of days?  Of course, I have a mental list of all of the things that I'll get done during the day.  I can usually count my total progress at about 50% of what I actually think I can do.  No matter - these are still sweet, sweet days.

Here's a picture of the finished tablerunner actually on the kitchen table.  I decided not to add the Christmas tree applique that the pattern calls for.  Maybe next year I'll do another one in better fabric and add the applique.  I still like it, though, as simple as it is.  I made beef stew on one of our rainy days last weekend and spilled some of it on the tablerunner the first day we used it!  So, now I'll get to see how it behaves in the wash.

Doing the binding totally by machine did not work out as well as I had hoped, so I added a decorative stitch in gold metallic thread.  I haven't used metallic thread often, but I do like the effect it gives to the right project.  I used Sulky.  Although my 640 does not like the regular Sulky embroidery thread, it did very well with the metallic thread.  Several years ago, I learned at a class to put difficult thread in a coffee mug behind the machine to give it an extra-long path before it winds through the tension disks, etc.  This works like a charm for me!

One of the reasons that it took me so long to finish this tablerunner was that I had to put it aside to work on a TLC quilt for our Oasis Quilt Guild.  A downside of living in a senior community is that people get sick - seriously sick - on a regular basis.  Our Guild keeps a supply of small lap quilts on hand so that we can gift one to a resident undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment.  We were quickly in need of two quilts suitable for men, so I was tasked with adding borders to a quilt which someone started who knows how long ago and just stuck in the Guild closet.  I scrounged around our stash and found some red prints that livened it up a bit and did a piano keys border for the first time.  I enjoyed learning how to do this border design, and I definitely like the effect it has on the quilt presentation.  It's hard to see in the picture, but the small border is a black & white pindot print which is repeated in the piano keys.  Someone else in our group gets to quilt it - I'm done!

And I finished personalized snack holders for the kidlets for Christmas!  I purchased the acrylic holders from The Sewphisticated Stitcher.  The designs come from Swak Embroidery, one of my favorite sites for children's designs.  This was a fun project to do and another learning experience with the embroidery software.  Pictures tomorrow - DH needs the computer!

Infrequent Visitor

I've lived in Southern California since 1976.  I was happy to get here.  I had definitely had it with ice storms in Detroit and commutes to work ranging from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours during the winter.  Gifting the snow shovel to our neighbors as the moving van pulled out of Carrie Drive was a sweet, sweet moment.

I will not complain about the weather here at all, even though there are days (usually the fifth day in a row of 105+ temps) that make me want to get on a plane to anywhere else.  Incessant wind is a fact of life; firestorms announce that fall has, in fact, arrived.  And rain, any amount of it, is always the lead story on the nightly news.  Rain was actually the second story tonight, after the "Fall of Tiger."

Over the past week, we have had an abundance of rain by Southern California standards.  On Monday, it poured all day.  We've had 3 waves of storms over the past two days increasing the chances of mudslides in the fire areas and causing multiple road closures and fender benders.  As I write this blog entry, I'm dry and warm in my nice little home with no plans to venture out onto the freeways of Southern California.

We really, really need this rain.  We just don't need it all at once in downpours that threaten the hillsides and urge neighborhoods to form sandbag brigades.  Temperance, Mother Nature, haven't you heard of temperance?

I thought today would be an wonderful day to stay inside, listen to Christmas tunes, and start to wrap the Christmas gifts.  Unfortunately, I soon realized that my list from last year was inadequte - I desperately needed more wrapping paper, more ribbon, more tissue paper.  So, I ventured onto the wet streets of Menifee, California.  I should have stayed home.

One and one-half hours later, I am the proud owner of one roll of somewhat-acceptable wrapping paper for toddlers.

'Tis the season!

This is a pain in the gut - Final Chapter?

After waiting over 3 weeks for my appointment, I finally got to see the pain management doc today or, as Doug calls him, Dr. Pain.  My appointment was scheduled for 10:15 a.m., but they called just before 8 and asked me to get there as soon as possible.  They had a few cancellations, and the doc had to leave the office early.  So, we were there by 9:15.  Did I feel a little rushed?  Slightly.

Not much to the appointment.  Dr. Pain feels that I have "nerve irritation," a condition extremely difficult to pinpoint and diagnosis.  He offered a spinal injection which would deaden the area.  That didn't sound too appealing!  Since my pain has subsided over the past 3 weeks with the proactive steps that I have taken (no bra, avoiding the tasks that compress the painful area and trigger the pain, etc.), I wasn't too enthusiastic about such an invasive procedure.

He'll recommend a course of physical therapy subject to insurance approval.  That's not always a given these days.  He also recommended that I stop the pain medication.  The rest is basically up to me.  He'll give me one of those scary shots into my spine if I call him up and make an appointment.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the worst is behind me and that I will continue to make slow progress towards normalcy.

While waiting to see Dr. Pain, three people left his office who could hardly walk upright, obviously in pain.  Made me grateful that I seem to be on the road to recovery.  Chronic pain is a pretty gruesome way to live.  My mom used to say that you could always find someone worse off than you - how true.  I need to remember how stressful it was to wake each morning knowing that I would be in pain by mid-day.  I need a gratitude check on a daily basis!

This afternoon, I finally finished the Christmas tablerunner.  The experiment with machine binding was less than successful - I wasn't happy with the sloppiness at all.  So, back to hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt the way I've always done it.  To cover the "boo-boos," I decided to use gold metallic thread and use a decorative stitch around the finding edge on the front of the tablerunner.  I'll post a closeup tomorrow of the finished binding and also share more of why I was disappointed with the machine binding technique.  I think the decorative stitching adds a cute and festive look for the holidays!

Is there a letter, a letter for me?

I was listening to NPR yesterday while trying to avoid traffic collisions in the mad rush to finish Christmas shopping (why do we do this to ourselves?).  Anyway, I love NPR.  At least 70% of the time, the programming is riveting and fascinating to me.  Diane Reym interviewed Thomas Mallon, author of a new book entitled Yours Ever, in which Mr. Mallon discusses letters written by world leaders, famous writers, and ordinary people.  The art of handwritten letters is dying fast, much to my (and Mr. Mallon's) dismay.  I was enthralled by the topic and the interview.  This was definitely a broadcast in the riveting class ... I was transfixed.

Mr. Mallon addressed some very famous correspondence - John and Abigail Adams (a love affair for the ages), King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson (oh, my - he was besotted, wasn't he?), Woodrow Wilson and Edith Galt (another besotted male).  Fascinating.

I couldn't help but think about the letters that have played an important role in my life and how sad it is that my grandchildren may not know the thrill of receiving a letter in the mail, handwritten, addressed just to them, very personal and full of news, love, warm wishes, and sometimes sadness.  In this age of instant worldwide communication, will we lose forever the joy of opening the mailbox and retrieving an envelope addressed to us in a recognizable and well-loved hand and anticipating the words within?  Oh, I hope not.

Here are a few of the more memorable letters in my quite ordinary life:

• A dear-Jane letter from a boyfriend who left for college before me and fell out of love with the girl back home.
• The long letter from my first serious boyfriend telling me that his mom didn't think my letters to him sounded like a "woman in love."  What was she doing reading my letters?
• All of the letters that I wrote to my parents while I was in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Niger, West Africa.  My mother saved every single one of them and carefully preserved them in a notebook for my return.  Instant diary!
• All of the letters that our daughter, Sara, wrote to us during her college years which I saved, carefully preserved in a notebook, and presented to her on her graduation day.
• Letters from my future husband while he was serving in Vietnam.  Newsy, friendly, revealing, then loving, longing and full of hope. 
• My mother-in-law's letter to us as young parents criticizing our parenting skills and including a laundry list of action items!  I still can't throw it away - it is a reminder to me of what not to do as a mother-in-law and grandmother!

Today, we e-mail, blog, send text messages and twitters.  Just doesn't feel the same, does it?  I think I'll spend part of the weekend - which is supposed to be cold and rainy - writing a real letter to my oldest granddaughter!

I'd love to hear about letters that you remember receiving!

Santa, Baby .....

If you are obsessive about sewing, quilting, and/or machine embroidery the way that I am, your holiday wishlist leans a little heavily on supplies, notions, magazine subscriptions, scissors, thread (LOTS of thread), rulers, books --- whew!  One can never have enough goodies to support this hobby!  I really try to explain exactly what I want and even add websites and links to help all the Santas in our family.  It's a little like my DH explaining to me about dremels and bits and routers and why he still needs more of them, whatever the heck they are.

I have my perfect sewing machine in the Bernina 640 with embroidery module, so I don't lust after the 830.  Truthfully, I do sometimes daydream about a longarm machine.  But then I force myself back to reality.  We don't have the room!  Ahhhh, room.  Now, that is what I'd really like Santa to bring me - more room!

In our last house, I had a dedicated sewing room on the second floor.  Could anything be better?  A room to myself with a door!  Heaven on earth.  I could sew (or scrapbook) all day long and then just turn out the lights and shut the door.  No cleaning up, no search for lost pins that might be discovered by DH, no worrying about putting all the project pieces together in one place that I'll be certain to remember.

Here's a picture of my current sewing room.  (You can see the table runner which I am still working on.)

Sadly, it isn't all mine and it isn't all sewing.  It's a combined craft/sewing/computer/office that is wide open to the entire house.  I love the built-ins, of course, and feel lucky to have something so nice.  Notice how neat things look?  This is done purely out of necessity.  I want room!  Room to make a mess ..... room to work on more than one thing at a time ..... room for more storage (i.e., more goodies).... room for a real, honest-to-goodness worktable!  Ah, Santa .... I've been really, really good this year.

I have, on occasion, been a little uppity with Santa.  One year, I clipped pictures from the Zales catalogue and slipped them into Santa's lunchbox.  I think that was the year that Santa left me and my DH matching sweatsuits and running shoes.  Hmmmmm ...

So, if Santa is still listening to me after all this time, this is what I really want for Christmas:  a sewing room that looks just like this.

Who needs the gym?

Being a grandmother is just about the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Actually, I'd probably place it #3 after falling in love and having my own two children.  There is nothing I'd rather do than spend time with these three small humans.  They make me smile on the outside and the inside.  Their hugs fill me with joy; their laughter makes the most ordinary day extraordinary.  But ...

... they wear me out!  Where did all this energy come from?  I can't remember being this exhausted when my son and daughter were growing up, but I was 30+ years younger.  I suppose that might make a difference!  I awoke this morning at my DD's house around 7 a.m., quietly unmade my bed (2 sleeping bags and an exercise mat carefully placed among the toys and the Christmas tree on the floor of the living room), turned on the coffee, checked e-mail (I am a thoroughly modern Oma), showered and dressed.  The day officially began at 8 a.m. when Talia, Jackson, and Tasha were awake and ready to be dressed and fed, simultaneously.  Then began the very serious task of figuring out how long Oma can play before something vital starts to hurt!

One Lego town built; 6 Christmas books read; 2 diapers changed; 1 baby cuddled; favorite Matchbox car recovered from under the Christmas tree; a timeout or two; brown barrettes replaced with red - whew, temper tantrum avoided! - more milk, please.  Hooray!  It's 9 a.m. and time for Oma to meet her friend for coffee.

Love comes in all shapes and sizes.  For me, love is a face covered in mashed bananas, a red-headed 2-year-old learning the power of the word "no," and a blue-eyed blond who loves Ariel - and her Oma.  Well worth a few sore muscles at the end of the day, don't you think?