memorable day

Yesterday I got my first ticket in years.  Absolutely years.  Sigh.

I was heading over to Nolene's, and turned off one of our side roads onto a good size road.  I no sooner turned, than I saw these overhead lights flashing behind me.  "I'm Officer so-and-so, and the reason I pulled you over is that you didn't come to a full and complete stop."   I can remember preaching to my kids when they were early in their driving years, always come to a full and complete stop.  So, I pull out my drivers license and proof of insurance, and he took them back to his patrol car.  A few minutes later he returns with the citation, explaining the procedure for contacting the court and getting it taken care of.  He was pleasant, I graciously accepted it, and went on my way.

This morning I was looking over the citation, and realized he may have a problem with his sight.  He listed the color of my hair as "gry".  I'm pretty sure that's short for gray, not groovy.  I went to the mirror, and thought, I've got more brown in there than gray.  If he's wrong about something like that when he can see it up close, could he be wrong about me not coming to a full and complete stop? 

Well, I can dream.  And no, there aren't any pictures with this posting.  I didn't think it would be well received to jump out and take a picture.

shifting gears

I shifted gears a bit on my Santa wall hanging shown in the previous posting.  I decided the border was too scrappy to suit me, so I trimmed it up, and added another border.  I'm actually working on three of them, so here they are at this point.  The one with the single red border will be getting another border to go with it, just not sure what yet.  Most likely I'll hand quilt the centers, and try my hand at machine quilting in the borders. 

a busy weekend resting

I'm not sure if retreats are about resting, or going into seclusion to get some work accomplished.  Either way, I just attended a retreat in the Houston area, and it met both of these criteria.

There were 11 of us from the HGTV quilting and needlework forum who came together at the Quilter's Cabin.  I've been on the forum a few years now, maybe even 4 or 5.  As different ones post their questions or comments, you learn a bit about them and oftentimes their families.  Because of this, I didn't walk into a room of strangers.  While I didn't know them personally, and had only met a couple face-to-face, it didn't take long to establish a nice comfort level. 

Quilter's Cabin provided a home atmosphere with sleeping for 12, a nice size kitchen for seating the whole group, and a workroom that easily accomodated our 11 quilters, their sewing machines, and their projects.  And we did a lot of work!


Holee recently moved to Texas, so Lisa TX coordinated this retreat to welcome her to her new home.  While most of us live in Texas, Jayardi and Shawkl joined us too.  What a treat to form new friendships, and learn new techniques in quilting as well.  There was a lot of knowledge and talent in that cabin.  We got to try our hand at dying lace, beadwork, free motion quilting, crazy quilting, and other things I can't think of right now. 

Here's Shawkl and Holee.  Shawkl came all the way from Alabama to join us.

Here you can tell Jayardi, Keep You In Stitches, and Will Quilt for Chocolate are up to some mischief.  

Sassy Needle Pusher was a day late in joining us, but she didn't waste any time in jumping in on a project.

Lisa TX stayed busy the whole time.  Her she is working on dresses for her daughters.

Shawkl gave a class on dying lace.  Look carefully and you'll see Needlecrazy in the yellow dress.  I realized when I got home that I didn't get an individual picture of her.  : (

Of course, there are always the rowdy ones in class.  We'll excuse them though, they were having fun.  ; )

Happy Erm stayed busy the whole time. She put together 2 quilt tops...one from black, white, and red strip blocks, and one from red, white, and blue strip blocks.

TX Wildflower was a fun addition to our group too.  Besides doing her sewing, she fixed a delicious ham dinner along with mac and cheese, and a lemon cole slaw.

I'm proud to say that I also accomplished something.  I've had a project on a Christmas wallhanging in mind for awhile.  I've had the embroidery completed for some time, and this weekend was able to finish the border.  Now all I have to do is the quilting, and my secret sis will have her December present.  Yea!  I also practiced free motion quilting.  I'd been somewhat intimidated about it, but have a sense now that this is something I'll be able to do.  I may even do some on this piece, we'll see.

The last bit of excitement at the cabin was a tree falling on Keep You In Stitches' car.  It was not storming, the wind was not blowing, it was just time for that tree branch to fall 40 or 50 feet and bounce off of her suv.   Fortunately, no one was around the car when it happened.  She was able to drive it home today, so that was good.

I guess you've figured out by now that everyone on the HGTV boards have screen names.  I'm elsie123.

I left this morning, and started the trip home.  I took my time, and decided to stop in at the Huntsville State Park.  I have a state park pass, it was right off the freeway, and I guess I just wanted to commune with nature.  : )  Pretty park, and not too crowded...most likely because school is starting this week.

So, all in all, it was a good weekend.  I just might have to retreat again someday.

a little change

Life is about change, and we need to be flexible enough to recognize when changes need to be made and then make them.  Obviously some changes are easier than others.

Take dietary changes for example.  That one is hard.  That requires much dedication and thought and commitment.  A willingness to consciously make healthy choices.

Exercise.  There's another toughie.  Get up off the couch and move around.  Doesn't sound so hard, but when you're entrenched in, ahem, let's just say "several" years of a sedentary lifestyle, incorporating movement into the normal routine is a challenge.

Comment moderation.  Huh?  Where did that come from?  For some reason, I've started getting comments from some anonymous users that are not even relevant to the posting, and they are honing in on one or two of the older postings.   I've never minded they idea of someone remaining anonymous, realizing that some people haven't figured out how to not be anonymous when they post, particularly if they don't have a blog.    Anyway, this is an easy change to make.  I have changed my comment modification to allow my review on comments made on postings over 14 days old. 

That last one was easy enough to do.  Maybe now  I ought to work on the first two.

the heat goes on...

We're still in the triple digits, but as long as I do most of my running around in the early hours things are good.

I finished the second of the James Bond series, From Russia With Love.  Another one I'm pretty sure I didn't see as a kid.  This one came out in '63 or '64, so I would have been about a freshman in high school.  The movies are fun, and sometimes far-fetched, but probably not any more so than these current ones.  I had to laugh when in one scene the old truck he was driving just missed an explosion and had dirt and smoke all over it, and in the next was shiny clean.  I'm pretty sure he didn't run through a car wash as he was continuing his escape from the bad guys.

My vacation quilt is progressing. I haven't decided on the final layout yet, and still have a couple of shadows to put on, but it's coming along. 












Robert had a birthday.

Happy birthday, son!  And as I see what a loving dad you are, I know I did something right.  :)











I missed getting a picture of him and the kids blowing out his candles, but did get one where they fell on the ground in their enthusiasm!  Dare I show it?  Ah, what the heck.  Here it is.

Have a good week.  And stay cool!