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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Morning Mug 9–and teapot, too

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006

Oh what fun….my friend Marie sent so MANY wonderful treats in her Christmas and birthday box. One of the goodies was this tea-for-one pot and big cup. It is definitely a morning pot and cup. Please don’t ask why, I just know it is! And I inaugurated it already .

In the second photo, you can also see a mini teapot and cup-with-saucer sent by my friend Penny, whom I have known since 7th grade—that was um….1969, which means we’ve known each other for —SHRIEK!!!!!!—- 36 years! Shudder, gasp, ohmyg****d……OK, breathe deeply, concentrate, inhale slowly, and be grateful I was sitting down! OK…back to the minis….. they are for my Christmas tree!!! They are SO wonderful, that I was going to keep them out all year, but I have zero display space in this house, and I think they’ll be even more special on the tree…hanging next to the German ornament Pen gave me about 25+ years ago when she was doing a university year in Heidelberg. Hang on…let me go snap a picture of that one!

Here’s the German ornament–a cradle with two bebitos:

I love being able to look at my tree and think of who and when and where!

Batik log cabin tops

Sunday, January 1st, 2006

Well, here they are…the two batik log cabin tops. In the “red center” (first photo), the red logs are the narrow strips (finish at 1 inch wide), and the blue/green are the wide (finish at 1 1/2 inches wide). I still wish there were more undulation, but so it goes! I like the skinny yellow border (half inch) and the pieced outer edge.

In the “blue center”, below, the red logs are the wide ones….I think I like the red center (with blue predominant) better, but once on a lap, it’ll all be a jumble of glorious color anyway! For some reason, though the photos were taken in the same lighting with the same camera with the same fabrics, the color in the second photo is more “true.”

I ordered some Minkee today—a “hand-dyed” look from eQuilter–which will go on the back. I’ll probably quilt it VERY simply…wavy lines or something like that….stay tuned. I likely won’t decide for sure until I sit down to the machine!

Resolutions

Sunday, January 1st, 2006

NOT! I have successfully kept ONE New Year’s Resolution: Never to make any more New Year’s resolutions! Instead, I vowed to make a resolution when it needed making and begin immediately, and not wait until January 1st.

This past year, I finally made up my mind, for example, that I needed to get serious about the excess weight I’ve been carrying around since I was pregnant 8 years ago with my second son. I am now 48. From all I hear, weight loss after menopause is near impossible, so I figured I’d better get the weight off now while I can. So, I did something about it as soon as my husband was recovered enough from his heart surgery (heart attack on Feb. 2–he’s doing great now!) for me to leave him at home alone, with or without the kids around.

Since June 1, when I joined Curves, I have lost 15 pounds and over 15 inches (they measure in a lot of places so it sounds better than it is…but basically about 3-4 inches each around waist and hips…a full pants size). I have another 13 pounds to reach my goal: What I weighed after son number one but before son number two. If I make it, I may even go for another 6 pounds and get to what I was before son number one!

Yesterday, I fit into size MEDIUM pants!!!! So I bought a pair of yoga / exercise pants on sale. After my weigh in tomorrow, I’ll inaugurate the new pants with an extra long workout. Maybe by June 1, my anniversary at Curves, I’ll be at my goal?????

Log Cabin from Bali?

Tuesday, December 27th, 2005

Well….another so-so…..I have wanted to make a log cabin quilt for the sofa out of batiks since about June. So I did. I wanted to make the undulating sort, and did some scouting on the web, and thought I had it right…that logs that finish 1 inch and 1.5 inches wide would give the right effect. As you can see from the photo, alas, I think the size of the logs should have been more than 1/2 inch different. Anyway, I like the cheerfulness of the colors, and maybe it will improve after being sewn together and adding a small border. I had planned on using the fabric on the right side, but now have nixed that idea (more below).

I want to back the quilt with either fleece of minkee (any preferences out there? How slithery IS minkee to sew anyway?)…the current favorite sofa quilt is the one with Polartec on the back..so soft and warm and cuddly. Anyway, given the size of the blocks, I can either have NO border (an option) or about 3.5-4 inches all around. I decided (I think) I’d like a skinny, maybe 1/2 inch , strip of yellow, then the turquoise colors pieced in long running strips around the edge–maybe two lines of turquoises. I don’t want to piece the back, so need to keep it at about 58 inches square…..

Thoughts anyone?

Self-Portrait Tuesday Dec. 27th

Tuesday, December 27th, 2005

Wellllll…here we are on Christmas….Paul is not exactly the best of photographers….Joshua just informed me he hates me because I’m posting this photo with his eyes closed. Well, it’s better than being decapitated like the other shots. How is it I have a twelve year old son who is nearly as tall as I am?

I had a better self-portrait Tuesday photo, but can’t find it now, so here you go for now….