Chrystal's birthday

Today is Chrystal's birthday. I know she hates having her special day so close to Christmas. We had dinner with them tonight & Chrystal's mom & brother stopped by for cake & ice cream.

This is what I made for her birthday.



I actually finished this a month or so ago and, of course, couldn't post it because it would ruin the surprise. I used an Eileen Sullivan paper piecing pattern. It's actually supposed to be a rectangle, but I tried something different for the borders. The first attempt border design was a failure, but I think the final result turned out okay.

I started this at our state guild retreat in October and it was strange to me the number of people who seemed surprised that I was making something for my daughter in law. More than one person said 'you must really like her.' I guess not everyone likes their in-laws.

Happy Birthday Chrystal!

He was lucky

Craig had a motorcycle accident tonight. He was merging on the freeway, looking over his shoulder for oncoming traffic. When he looked forward again he discovered that traffic was coming to a sudden stop. He hit his brakes, the bike dropped and he ended up going head over heels on the roadway. Luckily he wears lots of protective gear - helmet (this is a helmet optional state) gloves, boots, protective leather pants and jacket. He ended up with a low level separated shoulder and a badly sprained ankle.

By the looks of his helmet, he would have had some serious injuries if he'd been bareheaded. We're counting our blessings.

Getting ready for Christmas

I purchased a pre-baked gingerbread tree kit for us to work on with Noah. The kit also included the icing and decorations for the tree. Initially Noah wasn't too interested in working on it because he said he didn't like the way the gingerbread smelled.




Once I got the icing all prepared and started working on the tree he got more interested in the project.



















It was hard to sit him down for a photo with the completed project because he was too hyped up from all the sugar in the icing he licked off his fingers!

Another WIP Wednesday

Years ago - late 1980's - my mother asked me if I'd make her some embellished beaded and sequined Christmas ornaments. I ordered some kits from a company called Crackerbox. I gave her the ones I completed and stuck the other kits in a drawer. I've moved those kits 5 or 6 times and always put them in the same drawer in the same desk. Last week I decided I'd try to assemble one. I just finished it tonight and only because I cut a few corners and fudged the instructions a bit. I figure it took about 10 hours. Now I know why I left them in the drawer for so long. These buggers take a lot of work!




I was going to send it to my mother, but since she doesn't really decorate for Christmas anymore I decided to keep it for myself!

WIP Wednesday

I've been a slacker on Work In Progress Wednesday because I haven't been doing anything. This is a bad photo of the only thing I've done lately. An advent calendar for Noah. I have it hanging in a place where I couldn't back up far enough for a full shot so the bottom & sides are missing. This was a preprinted panel that I purchased at my local quilt shop.

Since Noah doesn't have much of a sweet tooth (he must not really be related to me!) I've put little mini ornaments in the pockets and have gotten him a little tree to place them on.

This is cool

I got an email today from someone who saw my quilt in Houston. She wanted to know if the quilt was for sale, or if I would make a duplicate to sell. I don't make quilts for sale, so I had to decline, but it sure made me feel good!

Ancestry

I saw an article in my local paper today talking about this website on which you can find passenger info about people from the UK who immigrated to the US. The data is available for entries between 1820 to 1960. I was able to find both of my maternal grandparents who immigrated through Canada into Detroit. They were already married when they came into the US in 1923, but separately; my grandfather in March and my grandmother in May. I've always known that one of my grandparents was from Ireland and one from Scotland, but I didn't know which. Turns out my grandfather, Sidney Gunning, was born in Belfast Ireland and my grandmother, Agnes Gunning, was born in Greenock Scotland. The odd thing about that is that when we lived in Dunoon Scotland, we were just across the River Clyde from Greenock and I never knew it was her birthplace.

While I never knew either of my grandparents, I have seen samples of my grandfather's handwriting - which was very elegant and looked a bit like calligraphy. The image of his entry card that I found on-line was obviously filled out by him in his own beautiful handwriting.

The info on the website is only free until November 30th and does require registration, but is interesting to browse.

My quilt in Houston

My friend Sarah, a fabulous quilter and a former state dept. worker who has lots of very interesting stories to tell, took this photo for me of my quilt as it was displayed in Houston. (clickable for a larger view)

I'm hoping that the woman pointing to something on the quilt wasn't pointing out some mistake!

Thanks Sarah!

Boys and their toys

I think it's now official - Jerry has reached the height of a mid-life crisis. (although as Craig pointed out, he's a bit late for 'mid-life' unless he's planning to stay around until he's over 100).

About 2 weeks ago Jerry decided to grow a beard. I've never been a huge fan of beards, so I've been giving him a hard time, which he just laughs off.

Now, to go with his beard he has purchased a motorcycle.

This is the 3rd bike he's owned, but the first since the 80's. This wasn't a spur of the moment purchase for him as he's spent the last 6 months or so looking for just the right bike.

Now that Jerry has a motorcycle, I think I should be able to get what I want - don't you?

A bunch of odd questions

I got this one from Deb

Someone knocks on your door at 2am, who do you want it to be?

It better be either Ed McMahon or the Publishers Clearing House people with my $10,000,000 check.

Your boss tells you he/she will give you a $20 raise if you'll do your job naked. Do you stay and take the raise?

Nope, Nope, Nope - although now that I'm retired I no longer have a boss.

Put yourself in a nutshell.

Yeah, like I'd fit...

Ever see a ghost?

No!

Happy with your body?

Hate it!

A reason to move to Iceland.

We have old friends who lived in Iceland for a few years. They liked it.

A place you've lived that you miss.

The California weather and the drive along Pacific Coast Highway

A job you'd never do, no matter how much you were paid.

Sewer worker

A band/group you thought was cool when you were 13.

I was the biggest Beatle fan at 13. There wasn't another band to compare.

You have a nightmare, who's the first person you think to call?

Jerry

Wanna have kids before you're 30?

Been there, done that.

A memory from high school.

Singing in Choir concerts

Ever had a crush on a friend's parent?

What a weird question! NO!

Do you look more like your mom or dad?

My mother

Something you've always wanted to learn to do.

Be part of a rowing crew

How you'd like your life to be in 10 years.

Just like now

Something you learned this year.

That not exercising equals added pounds.

What do you want for your birthday?

A golf cart.

Name 4 things you did yesterday.

1. Went to the quilt shop
2. Picked up Noah from school
3. Played checkers with Noah (with the chess pieces)
4. Surfed the web

Last item you bought yourself?

3 magazines

What did you have for breakfast?

Peanut Butter sandwich

Name a celeb you crush on.

Mark Harmon

Name the last 3 songs you heard.

I don't know the names - they were on the radio this evening

How many hours of sleep do you get each night?

Fewer than I'd like

What do you wish you were doing right now?

Seeing the quilts in Houston

Who's the first person in your phone book on your cell?

My cell phone number (which I had to put into the phone because I don't know it.)

Last time you witnessed a fight?

Don't know

Name 3 places you'd like to travel to.

Not sure, let me get back to you on that

Do you know how to ice skate?

Not really, but I do roller blade sometimes (not well)

Name something you like that's out of the ordinary.

??

Is bigger really better?

Depends - bigger is better for ice cream but not so good for rodents

What do you think of Brad Pitt?

I don't think about Brad Pitt

What color are your toenails.

No color right now - I just took off the chipped polish the other day

Do you own anything with a skull on it?

We have a pirate flag.

Traveled to Europe?

Yes (and if you consider the UK Europe than I even lived there for 2 years.)

Last movie you watched?

Some movie on WE today when I was sewing

Where were you when you had your first kiss?

Can't remember back that far!

Last board game you played?

Sorry with Noah

Leather or lace?

How about lacy leather

Ever had a black eye?

No

Have you ever worn fishnet stockings?

I think so.

Accent on Accents

I have always been interested in regional expressions and dialect. Probably because of moving around the country and getting funny looks when I ordered 'pop' to drink. (Since living in New York City I now order 'soda' - I didn't want to mess with those New Yorkers about what to drink!)

I find it interesting that this short quiz would place me in the area of my youth even though I haven't lived there in years. I guess you can take the girl out of Detroit, but you can't take the Detroit out of the girl!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
North Central
The Northeast
The South
Philadelphia
The Midland
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have?

Houston, we have a problem

I got my car all packed up and took off for Houston just before 8:00 this morning. As soon as I got on the freeway I noticed that my coolant light was on. I got off at the next exit and investigated. I'll admit that I'm a car idiot so I got out the owner's manual to assist me in figuring out how to fix the problem. I was frustrated because the drawing in the manual didn't match the actual car at all.

I had been having second thoughts about the trip so after a while I decided that the powers that be were trying to tell me something and decided to just turn around and go home. I'm disappointed about not going to see my quilt in the show, and I feel badly about letting down my friend Janis - with whom I was supposed to room. Even so, I do feel like I've made the right decision.

On the Road Again...

I leave in the morning for Houston to attend the International Quilt Festival. I'll be driving because of my fear of flying. I could probably make the trip in 2 long days, but I'll do it in 3. I want to be there early on Wednesday so I can be refreshed for the early opening on Wednesday night.

I'll be rooming with my friend Janis. We originally were going to be staying at the Doubletree but lucked into a room at the Hilton which is connected to the convention center. I hope to be able to blog a bit from the show, but I'm not making any promises.

Until then, here is a photo (clickable for a larger version) of the sun project I started the other day. I'm not sure I'm happy with it and may be taking some of it out, but heck, at least I'm sewing.

Jerry has said all along that it looks like an eyeball - among other things - and I'm beginning to agree with him.

See ya from Houston - quilter's mecca.

Newest Project

Last summer at Quilt Surface Design Symposium I took a class with Vikki Pignatelli. One evening while in the classroom working on my class project, I came up with a design I wanted to make using Vikki's techniques. I finally got started on it. It's probably hard to figure out by this photo (which is clickable to enlarge) that this is the sun. The white circle on the right will morph into yellow/orange/red flames.


Here are some of the fabrics I've pulled together thus far for the piecing.

I'll try to keep you posted on my progress (or lack thereof).

The Quilt Studio webring, of which I am a new member, is going to establish a Work in Progress Wednesday where the bloggers in the ring post photos of their Works in progress. Since I leave for Houston on Monday and won't be back for 10 days, this will have to be my WIP photo for a couple of weeks!

Measure Your Feet day

I discovered from this website of Bizarre American Holidays that I was born on Measure Your Feet day. My special day (January 23rd) actually has 3 exciting events; the foot day, National Handwriting Day and National Pie Day.

I'm living like every day is April 7th - No Housework Day and March 22 - National Goof-Off day.

What is YOUR bizarre holiday?

Happy Birthday Honey

Today is Jerry's 55th birthday. I think that qualifies him for ordering from the senior menu at Denny's. Good thing I'm SO much younger than him!

Unfortunately he spent the day trying to fight off illness. Craig got sick when he and Jerry made the trip to Detroit for the baseball games, and Jerry has finally come down with it. I suppose I'm next. Hope I get over it before I need to leave for Houston on 10/31. We were going to have the kids over for a birthday dinner, but since everyone seems to be feeling so bad, we canceled it. Instead we watched the first game of the world series.

Happy Birthday Jerry. I love you.

Quilter's Day Out

Last Saturday our guild had Quilter's Day Out where we all worked on an easy lone star top. I don't usually do pattern quilts, but I really liked the class sample and wanted to spend a day with fellow quilters. We had a preprinted fusible foundation and used the sew, flip and fuse technique of construction. Rather than cutting our pieces into diamonds this method allowed us to use rectangles. It's really a fast and easy method. I was able to complete all 8 of my segments this week and then had to decide which color should be in the middle. I could either put the yellow there...


Or the print...



I selected the yellow and went on to complete the top (except for the borders). That's when I took a good look at the background fabric and realized that in spite of the fact that I thought I'd cut it out properly, the direction in the fabric is messed up. The stripe like pattern goes in one direction on one triangle and the other on the adjacent triangle. Damn!


I don't have any more of the background fabric so I can't even attempt to fix it by cutting some new pieces.

This is what the top looks like right now. I guess I'll have to take out all the background and find something else to put there. I don't think that the quilting will camouflage the mistake do you?

Wait until next year!

The Tigers beat up on the A's in the ALCS and sadly our season is over, although since Detroit is my hometown, I can't be too upset. We'll be pulling for Detroit in the series.

Jerry & Craig attended games 3 & 4 of the ALCS in Detroit. They had a great time even though it was really cold.

Hopefully the A's will be in it again next year!

LET'S GO A'S

The A's are on their way to the second round of the playoffs. Amazingly the Detroit Tigers took the Yankees out in round one. The A's and Tigers will fight it out for the AL companionship.

Jerry was hoping for just this pairing. He had me go on line last week and get him tickets to the games next Friday & Saturday nights in Detroit "just in case." Turns out I can't go with him (darn) because I have to give a presentation at my quilt guild on Thursday night, so he's hoping that Craig will be able to make the drive up with him. The seats are up in the nose bleed section, but it's good to know that at least one person in the stands will be cheering for the A's.

Where it all started

My friend Liz, who grew up across the street from me, was visiting back in Detroit early this year. Neither one of us has lived in the city for years. Liz took a drive down our old street and snapped a photo of the house in which I lived from birth until I went to college. I was surprised to see that the house is still yellow. Our house was always the landmark on the block. If one of our neighbors was giving directions to their house, they'd say 'it's 3 houses from the yellow house' so some such statement. The house was small, about 900 sq. ft, but since we had a full basement in which to store all our junk, it didn't feel as small as it could have. Now I'm living in about 2700 sq. ft, but feel like I need more room. Too bad we don't have basements in this part of the country.