Oh, NO!

We have had to postpone our Portland trip. We were leaving tomorrow and would be back next week sometime. I have the "coughing, sneezing, sore throat" kind of stuff. We will head that way for Valentines weekend instead. I am feeling sad, sad, sad because I will miss my Meagan's 5th birthday party. We will have to do something very, very special for Valentine's Day for sure!

Also - finished the "Heritage" quilting. It started out to be one of my least favorite quilts, but I have come to find it very appealing. I do have to admit, many I admire have influenced my thinking as everyone loved it except me. So, I had to accept the fact that I may not have good taste and change my thinking. It worked. Now, I like it! That was easy!

I am off to get a nap so I can get rid of the "coughing, sneezing, sore throat" stuff. I hope it works as I hate being yucky, especially when I complained all last week when Bob had it that he might be going a little too far with his complaining. Now, I can't complain a peep! Serves me right, huh?

Great weekend . . .

We just got back this evening from a wonderful 2 days at Fairmont Hot Springs - this is the one in Western Montana - not British Columbia in case you know that one. There are huge outdoor and indoor pools of varying temperatures. We went with Stan, Rainy and Weston to celebrate Rainy's birthday and our anniversary - both coming up this week on the 28th. Here is a cute picture of Weston - already for bed. He "had" to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's room - we loved every minute. He loves the water and is a pretty good swimmer. He is getting too grown up!

Some things . . .

. . . change your life and you are never the same! 25 years ago tomorrow, January 24th, the Macintosh computer arrived and I have been in deep, panting, husky, passion every since. Here is a pic of my first Mac. It had 128k of memory and no second drive. So, in order to do wonderful charts and graphs you had to swap out disks and it would "grind" away as it prepared amazing graphics first loading the software needed each time and then saving your work. I was in a school district in Colorado as a district administrator and everyone thought I was magic because I could make the best graphs for all of my reports. Then, it was kind of in the day of cults, I "shaved my head, put on a rob", and followed that passion to work for Apple Computer, Inc. Now it is just called Apple, Inc. I went through every iteration of Macs, and still do. It has been a long passion. We truly believed we could change the world. Although I haven't worked for Apple as either an employee or a consultant since 2000, my heart skips a beat each time I see one. 

I have a boatload of Apple paraphernalia - lots of t-shirts, sweat shirts, pens, paper pads, etc. (I see a t-shirt quilt in my future.) All with the original 6 color logo from those dark ages. It was a wonderful time and I am blessed to have been able to take the journey. We had a saying in those days at Apple, "the journey is the reward". That is how I still live my life most days. I now have this Mac. It has the Intel chip and will run Windows software. I can't make myself do that as I don't want to flip back and forth. It feels like I am making it be something it should never be. So, I had to actually buy PC to run my EQ6 and my embroidery software. We also had another saying we used a lot, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Most days, I should remember that as well. Happy Birthday, Macintosh. You rocked my world!

working . . .

It has been a long time since I was so glued to the TV. I can't even remember the last time in fact. But, yesterday, I was glued from the time I awoke until I went to bed. Of course I took a couple breaks just to keep my heart moving. Our neighbor asked a few of us in to share in the day and get better acquainted - it was a little brown bag and so much fun. We live in the country and know some neighbors well and some not at all. We should know our neighbors better to lend or reach for a hand or a hug as needed. We met for an hour between the Inauguration and the parade. The conversation was about responsibility and commitment - very interesting.

Here is a little paper pieced ribbon. It is my first effort at working this small and I have some ideas so I can get better. Our guild president has this as her charity project. We are making them to sell in our booth at our summer quilt show with the money raised to go to a local charity. As you can see, I have some learning to do. They are to be pins and are just a bit over 2 inches one way by 2 inches the other and all paper pieced. I tried a regular binding and like the look, but need to work on the corners. It is my first effort so I have room to improve. Some are using interfacing and just leaving it on. I like to paper piece with parchment paper - the kind in a roll that is used for baking, but is light colored. I cut it and run it through my printer and it holds, and then just pops off when I am done. I can see through it from both sides and I like that. I am going to try some really light interfacing - no iron on - just plain and see if leaving it on will give me sharper corners. Some are just zig-zagging the edges, but I like the regular folded binding look. I also added a few crystals to this one.

What a great couple days. I have made a committment to work the last hour of each day on my service projects - I started on Monday. Machine sewing when I am home and hand sewing when traveling - which we are going to be doing some of in the next couple weeks. I will stich and do my daily prayers. That is my New Year's resolution - a little late in the year. Maybe it is a New Me resolution.

Making progress . . .

I got in a few hours - of course I will need lots more as I am a very slow piecer. Here is the progress. The first picture is of the strips waiting on the laundry rack. This is the first one of these I have made and I can see I need more strips of some colors and less of others. And here are the first blocks which I will rearrange after I get more done. It is a fun and easy process.

I am off tonight to a guild board meeting, but I will take breaks from quilting tomorrow to keep working while I stay glued to the inaugural events. I will watch some of that downstairs on the big TV. It is almost like being there.

A day for service . . .

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are so many in my internet community of friends and heroes who are challenging us to come forward for a day of service today on Martin Luther King day. The focus of this challenge is to meet the needs for Quilts of Valor quilts. Alycia in Colorado is working to provide 400 quilts to the injured soldiers in Fort Carson. The need is now for 700 by May. Kim Brunner has issued a challenge for us all to sew a quilt today for that purpose. Okay, I am in!

Here is a picture of some fabrics I pulled early and I working on today. I have decided to use a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter that she shares on her Quiltville site. It is called Strip Twist!

Also, last summer I pieced and quilted a QOV - all done except the handwork on the binding. I didn't think it turned out very nice, but I am going to finish it and send it as well. So, I will work all day on the Strip Twist quilt and then have them both in the mail to Alycia by the end of the month. It is a little thing that I can do.

Wednesday . . . my favorite day!

I love Wednesdays - not sure why, but I always have felt it is the day I get "so much done". When I was younger, I was an elementary teacher and Wednesday was always the day to get the most done. Today I am off to Missoula for a quick parent visit and to attend a "90 day" review at the nursing home. As I said yesterday, Dad is doing much better. Mom's sister passed away on Monday, so Mom is okay, but sad as would be expected. Mom has a younger sister who also lives in Missoula (half-sister) and they will go to the funeral together as it is a long drive from Missoula to Fort Benton. I am thankful they have each other.

Weston had his first ski day on Saturday. Here is a picture of him on his ski pass. Skiing is free for him as he is under 5, but they get a "lift pass" so he is very impressed. Stan said he just kept him between his knees/legs, but on his own skies they rented and that he really liked it. It is a good thing, because his Dad lives to ski and has looked forward to the time when he could take "his son" to the hill.

And, here is a picture of his little brother who is planning to be born in May.

The quilt guild session last night on "Tips and Tools" that I planned was really well received last night at guild so I feel good about that and know we can make it better and better. There was a nice excitement and warmth at the meeting that I have not seen before. I guess the stars and the moon were all aligned "just right".