Spring!

No, the hydrangea's aren't abloom yet ... this photo was taken in May 2009.

I'm sure looking forward to the coming flowers! I posted this photo just to help me get in the Spring mood.

Happy Dance: Valentine

Well, this quilt square made for a nice quick stitch! This is now ready to send to my charity group for the Holiday quilt.

Next? I've picked out an Easter bunny. I might even start stitching it tonight ... if I first finish reading my book.

Happy Sunday, friends!

WIP: Valentine 1

Keeping with the theme of holidays throughout the year, the next quilt square I'm stitching for charity is a valentine.

This design is from a freebie chart I had in my stash. It's called Heart's Desire by Honey Bee Creations. I'm using DMC colors of my own choosing instead of using the specialty threads called for in the design. I also decided to add a grid to the largest heart just to make it a little more interesting.

There's a good chance I'll need to add a border to this design just to fill up the design area of the quilt square a little more. I guess I'll figure that out when I complete the main portion of the design.

Happy Dance: Groundhog Day

 had a chance to stitch for a few hours while watching recorded TV shows and was able to finish this quilt square for charity:

We're asked to stitch our initials and state on each square. Because the this square's design, it was a challenge to figure out where to put mine. So I chose to stitch my name and state in a floss color just a shade darker than the background, and placed them vertically on the square. That way they don't detract from the design itself. I like that solution!

Next to stitch? I think maybe a Valentine or St. Patrick's Day square. Time to go pet my stash and see what charts I have on hand.

Atheists Don't Have No Songs

Two my three atheist buddies, this song's for you!
Jim and Allen ... thanks for pointing The Way.



Love Steve Martin!

WIP: Groundhog's Day 2

I didn't stitch at all while on vacation, and have barely stitched in this last week. Since there's a little progress, I figured I might as well share the latest update on my happy little groundhog.

Angels Drive SUVs

Who knew? I found out the hard way.

It all started with this photo ...

Driving Through Clouds

Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. But I know exactly how much this photo is worth:

2.5 hours

38 miles
a quarter tank of gas

$100

a promise to "pay it forward"

and some new friendships

But let's rewind a bit. I've not written on my blog because I spent the last week in Las Vegas. Three days driving down. Three nights in the Vegas area visiting my daughter and son-in-law. Two wonderful stretches of time catching up with a dear high school friend who I've not seen in a dozen years. (He stayed here!)

Vegas. Yeah.

Not good for Margaret.

Not my kind of town.

I loved the time with my loved ones. That was the highlight. But the lights, the buzz, the action, the vibe of the city was not good for me. Did a number on my brain. It was a bit like putting an epileptic in a room with a strobe light. Not good. Not good. I could feel the mania rising; my ability to sleep dissipated.

Even giving two therapeutic Swedish massages and lots of down time talking and sharing meals couldn't quite bring me back to myself. I had to get out of Dodge. Run away home. So though it took three days to drive from my home in north Idaho to south Nevada, I high-tailed it back north in just two long days of driving. Very little sleep and the equivalent of 8 cups of coffee in 14 hours pretty much put me over the top.

I was on the very last leg of my journey, ready to cross the Montana/Idaho border through the Bitterroot Mountains and Lookout Pass. The lovely view in this photo was before me. The tall pines. The clouds resting in treetops. The mist and rain. The piles of snow and ice. The lowering sun.

Just! So! Pretty!

Just -- HOME!

So I zipped into the rest area three miles shy of my state's border to snap a photo and take care of business before cresting the summit and coasting into Post Falls, just an hour away.

And that's when it happened. Distracted by beauty, out of my usual "rest stop routine" due to taking a photo, I locked my keys in my car.

Oh. Dear.

There was one 18-wheeler in the parking lot, the driver sleeping for the night.

There was one SUV with a mom, a teen, two little girls and two frisky dogs.

There was me.

There was no spare key - on the car or at home.

There was no cell phone reception (mountains, trees, rain, remember?)

I woke the trucker up but he said Citizen's Band didn't work there, either. He pulled the curtain down between me and his bare chest and crawled back into his sleeper.

The women in the SUV came to my rescue. They were on a different cell carrier than I, so were getting some sporadic connection. They took pity. I took a chance. I climbed into their vehicle, went up over the mountain with them, and down into Idaho's Silver Valley.

I learned that my rescuers were driving home from southern California. They live about an hour north of me in a town even smaller than mine on the edge of  a very pretty small lake. The driver told me a story of how she got into a pickle on the first day of their trip, and strangers helped her out. By helping me, she was just paying it forward. She wouldn't take any payment for her help, asking only that I pay if forward to someone else in need.

My Idaho Angel dropped me off at the Wallace Inn in Wallace, Idaho. There, I told my sad story to Wanda, the feisty female owner with a huge heart. She is a long-time resident of the small mining town. I was physically shaking (from the tension and all that caffeine) and my cell phone was about out of battery power. So Wanda took me under her wing, used her cell phone to call AAA, my husband, and the local locksmith. Then she pointed me to a comfortable couch and the coffee pot to wait while she popped out for a quick smoke.

Within the hour, I'd talked with the gal from AAA who told me that since my car was in Montana, she could only call a locksmith in Montana ... the closest town about 100 miles away! I declined that offer.

Then I talked on the phone with young Zach, the locksmith's apprentice. Once bundling his dad into his pickup, he'd be by to pick me up, drive me back over the border, and unlock my car. It would cost extra, though, because it was after hours, it was in another state, and it would be x amount per mile. Well, at least I'd get home, right?

And then my hero drove up to the door in his silver convertible. Dale was glad to see I was OK and that things were in the works to get me back on the road. He zipped off long enough to find an ATM so he could pay Zach. He and Zach (and Zach's dad) all arrived back at the Inn at about the same time. We discussed where the car was and how to get to it since there are very few exits on this divided highway.

By the time we got back on the road, the rain had turned to snow. Visibility was miserable. Zach told us what exit to look for that would loop around to get to the rest stop. Of course, Dale and I missed it! So down the Montana mountain we went for another four miles. We found a turn-around. And back up the mountain we went in the slushy weather.

Zach, of course, hadn't missed the first exit, hometown boy that he is. He was waiting for us by my car, with a troubled look on his face. He started, "Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to open your car door."

Dale and I look at each other, jaws dropped.

Then Zach broke into a great big Idaho grin. "... because I already got it done! That was the fastest I ever opened a lock! Took me about a minute and a half!"

Then he did the most gracious thing. He gave us a huge discount on the bill! He said that it wasn't any skin off his nose to come out in the weather, that his boss would understand, and that he really enjoyed working with us because, despite the hour and the weather and the trouble, Dale and I were very pleasant and in good spirits.

I looked at him with a twinkle in my eye and blurted, "Gosh, you're a good guy! Would you like to date my daughter?"

After all, what parent wouldn't want their daughter to date such a nice, polite, generous young man. Zach sort of shifted on his feet and said, "I already have a girlfriend." Poor guy. He really didn't know what to make of this nervous, laughing, nutty middle-aged woman and her offer!

:)

Before we left, we thanked Zach's dad for his patience and keeping Zach company on the road. The apple didn't fall far from the tree; Zach's dad was as polite as his boy.

Those last miles over the pass felt pretty treacherous driving through the snow and slush and rain (it got warmer and wetter the further we traveled down the mountain). I clunked in and out of pot holes and held tight to the right side of the road, white-knuckling it in the pitch black night, allowing drivers much braver than I to zip past me on the winding road. 

We drove through the dark, over the bridges and eventually onto the wider lighted highways leading down into the Coeur d'Alene Lake basin. Driving through Coeur d'Alene and on into Post Falls, I kept my eyes glued on Dale's tail lights, trying to push back the cathartic tears that I could no longer restrain.

To the West

Sunset: Caldwell Idaho

... at 75 miles an hour on I-84

I love road trips!

WIP: Groundhog's Day 1

One of the gals I know from a cross-stitch e-mail group encouraged me to start posting photos of my current work in progress on my blog. She said that it's fun to watch the progress, and has the side benefit of inspiring her to stitch more.

So Ellie, this one's for you!
:)

I started stitching Groundhog's Day today. As you might be able to see, I already made one counting error. The little guy is supposed to have two front teeth, not one. I intend to fix that the cheater's way ... stitching over the dark threads with the lighter one rather than removing the errant stitches. I'll do the "real" fix if the cheater one doesn't work (it requires more time).

My husband spent a couple hours trying to get my computer to talk to my scanner. He managed a plausible work-around for me after researching why the original way I scanned doesn't work any more. Now that scanning has returned to a simple process, maybe I can get in the habit of posting these works in progress (WIP) more often.

But I know me.
No. Promises.

He’s Just Not That Into Anyone

I don't usually blog about articles like this, but I read this yesterday and it's been on my mind ever since. Let me back up a little.

Yesterday I received the following Tweet from PostSecret:

Davy Rothbart from FOUND has a fascinating piece in "New York Magazine" how online porn effected him & his relationship.

 Well, I read FOUND Magazine's "Find of the Day" as religiously as I read PostSecret. So I followed the link to the article at New York magazine about how porn is affecting the libido of the American male.

It's not for everyone. But interesting. Fascinating.

I don't even know where to file this one. Under "Inspiration"? "Soap Box"? "Just for Fun"? I think I'll create a new category called "Huh".

I Need to Get Me Some of This

Happy Dance: Feed My Lambs

My second 2011 quilt square for charity stitched up much faster than the first! I started and it February 16th and finished it February 23. Making one day a week a "computer free" day has its benefits! (Of course, it also helps that I messed up my back, so have to sit quietly for hours).

Precious Moments: Feed My Lambs

I chose to work with the theme: Precious Moments - Any Square. I don't have a lot of Precious Moments charts, but I do have a book called Furr-Ever Friends. Like all Precious Moments charts, this is published by Designs by Gloria and Pat.

This chart just tickled my fancy, so I stitched it. By the time I was done, though, I realized that though I used to be enamored by the muted colors of the PM line, I'm not much drawn to them any more. These days I seem to like deeper colors and jewel tones.

Our charity group just opened a new theme this week:
Any Holiday Themed Squares. Finished squares will be sent to Love Quilts.

Oooo! This is right up my alley! I hope to stitch more than one for this theme, starting with Groundhog's Day. I have an older freebie by Bent Creek and I've been looking for an excuse to stitch it. When it's done, it should look something like this (though I'll be stitching on white aida):

Cute, huh?!!

Happy Dance: Baby Bunny

I've completed my first cross-stitched piece for 2011. This is a quilt square that will be donated to my charity group, Cross Stitching for Charity.

The design is from Farm Babies by Stoney Creek Collection.

I haven't been stitching much these days, so this little square took me almost a full month to complete: Jan 17 - Feb 13. I'm hoping to stitch one quilt square per month for charity this year. Time will tell if I can keep that up.

I must say, taking time to sit and stitch last weekend had a very positive effect on my soul. I'm considering having a second goal: to leave my computer off on Sundays so that I can concentrate on more offline activities at least one day each week.

Wish me luck on that one!

In Early February

Outside my window...
traces of snow at the curb
far too many pine needles

I am thinking...
way too much
especially in the wee small hours of the morning

I am thankful for...
Julie's safe solo trip across the country
Jodie's last months at home before college

From the kitchen...
the aroma of pasta e fagioli
a fresh batch stewing in the pot

I am wearing...
my uniform:
blue sweats, black T, lined hoodie

I am creating...
a vision of life with Dale
once kids are gone and we get to be "a couple"

I am going...
to learn to use my new camera!

(one of these days)

I am reading...
The Wednesday Sisters
by Meg Waite Clayton
just finished, in fact
(can't really recommend it)

I am hoping...
to put two and two together
and finally come up with four

I am hearing...
the sound of my fruit gum
popping

Around the house...
bits
of Valentine love

One of my favorite things...
slipping into clean sheets
after a hot shower and powdered body

A few plans for the rest of the week...
help Julie get settled back into life at home
then do my job to help her on to her career

A Model City

Last weekend my husband, daughter and I visited the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, WA. We saw four temporary exhibits:

Women's Votes, Women's Voices
This large exhibit traces how Washington women won the right to vote through the life of our country. Then asked the question, "Should the voting age in Washington be dropped to age 17." Children are encouraged to write their ideas on postcards. Some of the answers posted were thoughtful and provocative, others were funny. The best? "The voting age should be lowered because people come of age at 17 in the wizarding world." Harry Potter readers chuckled.

Timothy c. Ely: Line of Sight
This artist creates extraordinary handmade books that have elements of both science and art. Completely fascinating.

Dress Code
My favorite of the exhibits, this gave examples of clothing women in the Spokane area wore over the last 250 years.

American Indian Collection
My favorite parts of this exhibit were the many examples of native American bead work.

The Bridge at Spokane Falls

We also took some time in the permanent exhibit about Spokane's regional history where I captured this image of Spokane Falls. It's from a scale model of Spokane ... what it looked like before the Great Spokane Fire that destroyed most of the downtown are in 1889.

It's a bit of a thrill to walk over the modern bridge that spans that same canyon, especially when the water flow is high due to the spring runoff from the surrounding mountains.

Walking in the Dark

I forgot how much I love walking in the dark and the cold-but-not-too-cold.

Street lamps don't light everything, so there is sport in avoiding sidewalk cracks and patches of thick ice. I love the crunch of gravel under my feet. I feel uneasy pebbles beneath my soles. I can hear them crack in my wake, even though I walk with earbuds, listening to podcasts of The News from Lake Wobegone and The Writer's Almanac.

I don't so much mind the dogs who yelp at me from their side of the fence. I just bark back, and enjoy being a tenor voice in a chorus once again. It's been too long since the last time I sang that tune.

I delight in being the lone pedestrian. In my neighborhood, there's little chance of getting jumped. No pickpockets, thieves or gangs are around. No stray teenagers loiter in crisp 39° weather.

I like how my ears turn cold and red while the top of my head is steamy, body heat rising into my black cap. I like how my own exertion fuels my body temperature. I revel in scooting from shadow to shadow, a shadow myself in suede shoes and dark jeans. I like swallowing frigid air while I gradually warm up in an insulated hoodie and Isotoner gloves. I abandoned my winter scarf and wool coat when the Chinooks and rainstorms ran through the Valley.

What annoys me are those cars, their headlights too stark, steering home from work on wet streets, the glow of a cell phone plastered to the driver's ear. I relinquish my right-of-way, hurrying them through our mutual intersections with an impatient stance and a wave of my hand.

I like the dark. I really like the dark. I like the frosty air in my lungs. I like stomping out my inner churnings where few bother to see or hear me. I like watching the vapors rise in front of my eyes as I curse my frustrations to the deaf heavens.

And when the first mile has passed and the rhythm of my gate has soothed my furrows, I like slowing my pace at the curb and watching my neighbors through uncurtained windows, greeting one another, sharing a meal, nestling before blue-screened TVs.

At the Side of the Road

I learned this on Sesame Street:
keep Christmas with you 

all through the year

Kicked to the Curb

Udderly Charming

My daughter Jodie and I had some girl time today. We went to our favorite sandwich shop for a meatball sandwich on a toasted sourdough roll. Then we stopped at our favorite re-sale store. My Favorite Things is sort of an upscale thrift / consignment shop. In one jewelry case, we found this gem of a brooch:

 

Pearl teats!

This artist has quite the quirky sense of humor!

Sunday Secrets ... end of 2010

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I find it to be an insightful sociological experiment.

I didn't manage to post any secrets for the last three weeks! This is a catch-up post. Here are my favorites, in no particular order.

I love this. Thirteen years ago,

my mom died between Christmas and New Year's Day.

The following year I gave her purple coat

to "Coats for Kids."

Wish I'd thought of doing this.

 After my parents died, I gave myself the same gift.

I have the same reaction.

 My adopted grandmother died this year.

I love you, Catherine!

I still send Christmas cards to some of my former beaus.

I've been happily married nearly 20 years.

I truly hope they are happy in their relationships, too.

(A couple of their wives ARE jealous ... 

I don't get it ... they won!)

On back: This pen is from the psych ward as well.

I hope this patient is healthy enough to know

to take the meds again should the need arise.

The help helps!

On back: happy new year

This was the first Christmas in a long time

that I didn't cry over those that won't forgive me.

I'm living the charmed life I dreamed.

I hope they are, too.

 

This secret brought a tear to my eye.

And this card made me laugh out loud.

It's the New Year

And we still have inches and inches of
THIS pretty stuff around!

Yeah. We're quite cold and flaky in Idaho!

[ photo actually taken in February 2009 ]

Keep Christmas With You

A gentle reminder ...



Safe holidays, all!

Halleluia!

I know this has traveled around the internet a lot this season, but it's well worth seeing more than once!



Merry Christmas, everyone!

Back to Beading

As I continue to heal from this virus, I keep myself occupied with quiet, creative tasks. Today, after months (years?) away from this craft, I returned to beading.

Each year I make a handmade Christmas ornament for each member of my family. Most years I cross-stitch. Other years I embroider or sew or craft or bead something special. Our tree is now laden with hand made ornaments!

Today, I made a dozen of these beaded star ornaments . They look like snowflakes to me. (Click the photo to the left for a larger image.)

The ornaments come from a kit made exclusively for Mary Maxim by Mac Enterprises. All beads, wires and threads were included in the kit. The directions are clear and simple. All you need are some basic beading tools, a workspace where the beads won't roll away from you, and a bit of time. Christmas music playing the the background helps!

What a pleasant way to spend a few hours!

What a pleasure to give a little gift of creativity each year.

While I've Been Sick

I've been tending to my knitting. With this horrible virus that lasts about two weeks, there's not a lot else I can do in between coughing, trying to regulate my body's temperature, and sleeping.


So Jodie asked if I'd make her a new scarf. She used the last one I made her so often that it ended up unraveling. She picked out the yarns ... so pretty. Two shades of blue in a very soft 4-ply yarn -- Caron's Simply Soft. It took less than one skein of each color.


It's simple, straight knitting. 15 stitches wide using #15 knitting needles. I worked the two yarns together, handling them as a single strand. I just knit and knit until it felt long enough ... someplace around 5 feet long. Then I added 5" of fringe to each end.


Pretty. Soft. Warm.

Time for more snow so she can take it out on the town!

It's Time!

Christmas is coming ...

It's time to set up the tree
Unwrap the handmade ornaments
Get some jolly Ho Ho Ho time

Sunday Secrets: December 12, 2010

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I find it to be an insightful sociological experiment. These four secrets made me smile:

My husband isn't quite that playful,
but his wife and daughters just might be.

There's nothing that teaches us
quite like the lessons learned
when walking a mile in someone else's shoes.

I'm pretty sure the example
of my sense of humor
helps my kids cope with stressful situations
all the time.

On Back: I hope you see this and wonder if it was for you.
I miss you

Sometimes a third party
is all that's left
as a way to communicate.

In Memoriam

Except for my 110 film camera where I could shoot some snapshots in my high school years, I became excited about photography far too late in the game to appreciate what film can do.

With digital photography now the norm, the last roll of Kodachrome has been manufactured, shot, and developed.

I know some of my more experienced photographer friends are feeling the loss. It's the end of an era.

As a final tribute, I offer Paul Simon's song:




Many thanks to Jim and Lucy for pointing me in this direction.

Thanksgiving Hijinx

Objects in the frame are closer than they appear.

Sunday Secrets: December 05, 2010

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I find it to be an insightful sociological experiment. Only one of today's secrets caused me to raise an eyebrow:

I'd think that shopping lists and receipts
would make for good fodder for a novelist.

The name Frank gave this postcard:
checkout.www.foundmagazine.com

I've read Found for a couple years now. It's fun.
Makes for a quirky gift, too.









They even have a "Dirty Found" magazine for those that enjoy a bit of extra steam in their lives.





Today's secret also reminds me of this book:
To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us.
Browsing through this book is an interesting way to while away an hour.





There are FIVE PostSecret books that also make for great gifts. I've got all five, and just love them. My favorite just might be The Secret Lives of Men and Women

Camouflage

I got a new sweater

Jodie says I can now hide among the cushions
on her Dad's sofa.

Happy Dance: Crocheted Scarf

My daughter Jodie is taking part in a holiday gift exchange at work. The gift needs to be $10 or less and good for either a male or female. She decided to crochet a scarf. But then she thought she'd crochet several scarves, the others for her close friends.


She's a busy girl, what with high school, college classes, work, a boyfriend and other obligations with friends and school organizations. Finding time to crochet all these scarves before Christmas was going to be tricky.

I was in between projects at the time, so offered to make the scarf she needed for the gift exchange. It only took a few days of stitching while watching movies.


Jodie bought several skeins of Red Heart worsted weight yarn at Wal-Mart, picked the colors for her fellow employee, handed me a size K crochet hook, and gave me the parameters. We made it 15 stitches wide, all double crochet.

There are 8 rows of the navy blue, followed by 6 rows of the teal. I repeated that pattern until the scarf felt long enough -- which ended up being 8 blocks of navy and 7 blocks of teal. I finished it off with about 3 inches of fringe using both yarns.



Fast. Fun. Androgynous. Pretty. (Or is that handsome?)

Next? Some Christmas gifts of my own to make!