Dinner Break

Today I am keeping myself busy and out of trouble. This morning I got a haircut, and then this afternoon I went to my church to sew. I am working on a surprise project for church (well... some people know about it, but most either don't know or have not yet seen it). It is taking many hours!! Uffda! But I got one out of 3 pieces done, so I feel good. It's the smallest one, however, so I still have many hours of work to go before I'm done.

Before I buckled down to work on the secret project, I made one block just for fun. Here it is:



I came home for a short dinner break. Peanut butter on toast. Fancy shmancy!

On my way home from church, I had a short meeting with this friendly bunny who was in the church yard. Bunny posed so nicely, don't you think? I got to take two pictures and admire his beautiful, brown eyes. Now I'm on my way back for more work on the Secret Project. I hope to show it to you in a week or so.

Thought for the day: Vow to offer joy to one person

in the morning and to help relieve

the grief of one person in the afternoon.

Distracted by Football

Tonight I watched the Vikings-Dallas football game on TV. I like to sew while watching football, so I made a couple of blocks that were posted at Friday Block Party. The first one went swimmingly, but the second one does not much resemble the original pattern.

First I goofed and made a couple of pieces that weren't even part of the pattern. Then when I made the correct pattern pieces, I neglected to notice which pieces of fabric were to be included in the pieces. So they didn't look much like they were supposed to. I ended up assembling the block using the invented parts. It looks fine, but who would have dreamed I would come up with this block when seeing the original pattern?!

The Vikings managed to lose, but I completed two perfectly useable blocks, so I guess I won.

Thanks

This gorgeous quilt is on my mom's bed;

it was made by my sister, K.

Thank you for the nice comments yesterday. I debated about posting that story, because I don't like publicly dissing my mom. She is being herself, and I know her personality tends toward a certain affect... I just have to learn to not bristle when it comes to perceived (but maybe not intended) criticism of my kids. I'm working on that and most of the time I do OK with it. I love my mom a lot!

Your comments regarding your experiences with vegetarianism and veganism were very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

Ladies of Grace - 02 Sept 09

Join us at Walk a Mile to share a story of grace or achieving a warm, soft heart.

*******

My story of a warm, gracious heart is something I am still working on... have not yet mastered. As you know if you are a regular reader, my son got married this summer. It was a wonderful, happy celebration. Nothing but joy all day long.

My son and his wife are vegan, and so they worked with the caterer to choose vegan food to serve at the wedding reception. The food was beautiful, delicious and plentiful. There was something for everyone. If you didn't know it was vegan, you might not even notice or be "scared off."

Shortly after the wedding my mom asked me with kind of a snarly look on her face "what made Steven become vegan?!" -- It's that bad a choice, Mom???? I'm actually quite proud of him and his wife.. they both have made their choices based on morals and principles, from learning about land use and how animals are treated in the meat industry. What's to not love and be proud of? I'd be a vegetarian myself if I weren't so dang lazy about learning a new way of cooking and eating.

So I'm working on not feeling mad and petty about my mom and her 88-year-old self who tends to be critical of things that are different. Still a work in progress........ I think I'll make a God's Inbox and put a little prayer in the box to ask for help with this one. It's not good to hold a little grudge against my dear mommy.

Quiet

Quiet Tuesday:

Had the day off.

Barely left the house.

Sat in front of computer almost all day, creating photo-videos and organizing photo libraries.

I almost forgot that we own a solar oven. I didn't use it once all summer! Pulled it out today and created "solar oven chili." It might have been good if I'd had all the proper ingredients. I told hubby it would taste good if he thought of it as "hash" rather than chili.

Book club tonight. We barely discussed the book, but chatted about lots of miscellaneous things happening in our lives.

And that is all that I have to report on this quiet, lovely Tuesday evening.

What a Ride!

You know that saying about hoping one arrives in heaven in a great swoop, cheering with joy, "what a ride!"?? That's how I feel my summer has been (one busy time after another) and has ended (wow!).

I was so busy all summer long; mission trip to South Dakota, volunteering at a local summer school, preparing for my son's wedding, the wedding day (super fun!), short trip to the lake, a conference in Philadelphia. Now this past weekend my niece got married - another happy and wonderful event! We all had a blast, and I came home tired but happy from all the festivities. Tomorrow I have to get up bright and early and start back to work (the first day of a ten-month stint). So I feel like I'm sliding into work, after a whirlwind summer, shouting, "what a ride!"

groom's family

bride's family

first dance, with an audience of just

some of the cute little kids

that were everywhere (they had a blast)

chicken dance



Autumn dancing with her 2nd cousin

the Macarena - we kept dancing late into the night

the couple on their way out -
can you guess from his shirt
where they are headed?

Here's my great niece, one of the flower girls, aka Energizer Bunny! She wouldn't quit!

Now for me it's back to reality - back to work. Where did the summer go?? What a ride!

Fun, Fun....

It has been a busy and fun week, with my sister and nephew here visiting, and even some quilty stuff getting done. Tonight we had dinner with my son and DIL (I like saying that... they have now been married for one month). After dinner we had ice cream - yum! And I gave DIL, Hummingbird, her quilt which was her college graduation gift. Finally got it done, but I say that's not bad - only three months late.

Today's mail brought me this fabulous Giveaway (below) that I won from Vicki at http://felinesandfibrearts.blogspot.com/ . The fabrics are beautiful, and there are so many of them! Wow! And look at the gorgeous book! That is going to be a fun book to look at for inspiration. Thanks a million, Vicki!

Yesterday sis, nephew, and I went to the local zoo, which I had not visited in years. It has really grown since I was there last. They added a visitor center, restaurant, really nice gift shop, lots of gorgeous flowers (I dig those fabulous lily pads) and extras like a seasonal butterfly house for this summer. We really enjoyed seeing the animals, and it was such a beautiful day!

I have never before seen such enormous lily pads!

Awesome!

Zebra is my sister's favorite animal.

My favorite is - guess what - giraffes! Aren't they great?! These beauties were 15 feet tall! And the baby was 11 feet. Their legs alone are taller than most humans (over six feet tall)! I would lovelovelove to see giraffes in their natural home habitat. Wouldn't that be incredible?

The cougar and the lion both posed so nicely for us.

Very regal!

Baby orangutan: "Mommy! Watch this!"

Looovvved the Butterfly House!

The fun continues this weekend with more family gatherings and celebrations. TTYL!

Wednesday Women X

Would you believe that I forgot about Wednesday Women this week? However I did have lunch with a special woman and her son... my sister, visiting from NY, and my nephew! I didn't get a picture of us at lunch, but here they are at the conservatory at Como Park in St Paul. I'll post more about this visit a little later.

This was my last Wednesday Women gathering.. I had ten free Wednesdays during the summer and enjoyed having lunch with a variety of interesting (and sometimes not so interesting - see week VII) women. I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll do Wednesday Women again next summer. Time and circumstances will dictate.

Whatever happens, I hope I'm still here writing my blog, and you are still here reading it!

Ladies of Grace 26 Aug 09

The Ladies of Grace campaign says: You are encouraged to look back over the week and recognize a moment when your heart was open, or warm - or perhaps a time when you notice your heart closed, or hardened. It's an experiment in awareness - awareness of the grace that God offers us, and the grace that we can offer to others.

So here is my story. This week I was thankful for friendship and fellowship that other people can offer to our hardened hearts.

I'm a member of a group where I've been feeling a little bored, unchallenged, and uninterested. I've been wondering if I should quit. Then we had a gathering this week, and I remembered how much I like these people. They were friendly, happy, and we all had a good time. I felt that cold wall around my heart melt off into oblivion. Thank you, group, for helping me remember to see and love the spirit in each of us! Friendship is a gift.

Namaste!

Thank You, Senator Kennedy

photo from New York Times

A giant oak has fallen, and we were all in the forest to hear it. How will we respond? In Senator Kennedy's honor, I urge all Americans to work for universal health care insurance. Please watch this video. And below the video link, please read a story that my friend, Sally, gave me permission to share. Then call or write to your legislators to demand quality, affordable health care coverage for every American.

Tonight, please light a candle in your window to memorialize Senator Kennedy.
Tomorrow, as Senator Kennedy said, "...the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Tomorrow, let's re-commit ourselves to achieving the thing that mattered most to him: Quality, affordable health care for every single American.


http://pol.moveon.org/kennedy/?id=17001-6460468-GdbSlQx&t=2


And from Sally:

I became committed to universal health coverage last summer when my daughter was living and working in Miami. She earned $22,000/year. She paid $150/month for health insurance. She had a health issue which sent her to urgent care, and on to the hospital. Although her coverage paid for some of the costs, she owed $2,200 out of her pocket. In that one year, she spent over 25% of her income on her health expenses. She is frugal, and was able to pay off the bills over several months. No one, particularly someone with minimal income, should have to spend one-fourth of their income for health care expenses

Although she was young and single, and able to cope, it brought home to me the reality of this issue- and the crisis that families must experience when faced with an unexpected health expense or even providing routine care.
--Sally

34!?

Us 37 years ago. Feels like last week.

Who's messing with my mind clock??

Today is our anniversary. We have been married 34 years. Wowza!!! We both had to work today and are both tired and a little grumpy from the hard days at work. Never mind. After 34 years it's not even a blip in the radar. We are happy to stay home and enjoy peace and quiet tonight.

Whirlwind Weekend

Saturday was another all-day sewing retreat. My guild is trying to do them monthly, held in my church, as a good way to gather, socialize, and get stuff done on a smaller scale than at a full weekend retreat. I was blown away with how many people showed up on Saturday! At least 13!! Our previous high attendance was maybe 5, and average is about 3. So you can see why I was totally amazed.

In addition to the 13, we had about 6 people from church show up to help make school bags for worldwide school kit distribution. That fellowship room was humming with activity, fabric, talk, laughs, and productivity. What a happy day!

Nancy from church, using the serger on the school kit bags. She also brought that great antique Singer machine with the rounded wooden carrying case (see on the floor, under the table). Her husband is great at finding treasures at garage and antique sales.

Our youngest helper from church (age 11) and her mom, helping us with the ironing. Thanks for helping the children!!

Bea is a member of my church AND a member of my guild.. a double dipper, like me. She worked diligently on bags and even took some home to finish.


Here's the school bag crew. Thanks, everyone!

Six of us stayed there sewing until 11:00 p.m. - for me that was a 15-hour day. Uffda! It was so much fun that I didn't really get tired until I hit the wall at about 10:30 p.m. Boom! I needed to call it quits. We were all getting a lot done. Here are some samples:

Today, Sunday, I nearly slept through the big events of the morning. Thank goodness Charles woke me up at 9:37 a.m. I had to be at church in 23 minutes. (This is my caveat for why I don't look completely presentable in the pictures.) It's a miracle that I made it in time!

First, I delivered Quilt #22 for Quilts for Leukemia. A three-year old boy has been battling leukemia. A family at my church knows the family and will deliver the quilt to him this week. Oh the little sweetie - I hope he does OK. So young to be fighting such a battle! Please pray for him. His name is Dakota.

Next, it was confirmation Sunday. I have been a mentor to one of the confirmands for the last three years. It has been fun to see how she has grown up so much in that time. I made her a quilt, and it was fun to present that to her today. Her mother gasped, "you made her a quilt?!" I'll admit, I lovelovelove this quilt, and a tiny part of me didn't want to part with it. But it was meant as a gift, and I was happy to give it.. my mentee and her extended family all seemed to love it immediately. They started pointing out the fabrics they liked best, part of what I love about giving away quilts. I think it will be a well-loved quilt.

Here is it in all its glory.

I curled up in it to imbue it with more love before giving it away.

the quilt and its new family

This is the youngest member of our church.

I got to hold her; she was kind of spooked by all the noise and the people.

After church I crashed into bed. I was sooooo tired! I slept for two hours.

Now I'm awake, I think. It's a gorgeous day, and I think I'll take a walk. Haven't done that in ages, because I've had a bum foot that hurts after walking just a few feet, but it seems to be getting better. It's time to get a little more active again.