Thursday, November 25, 2021

Really Random Thursday, 11/25/21

 Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the States. Today is also my birthday. We have much to be thankful for. 

Mark's brother, Pete, our sister-in-law, Jane, and their daughter, Rose, are here celebrating with us. The last time Jane was here was in 2003. The last time Pete and Rose were here was in 2014. This is what we all looked like then. Ella was brand new to the family--three months old. I'll post an updated picture next week.


Gabe has begun cross country. Last week they had a mini meet, just their teammates from their school. They ran about a half mile and his time was just over 4 minutes.


Oops. Probably too late for this...


Every once in awhile I get a spammy comment on the blog. I just delete and move on. This one was kind of funny, only because of who supposedly sent it.
Last week we attended the memorial service for our friend, Kyle, a 20-year-old who lost his three-year battle with brain cancer. Early in his course I had made him a quilt. It was shortly after I had finished radiation for breast cancer and he had finished his first round of radiation as well. I called him my "radiation buddy." I was a little worried that it would be awkward giving him a quilt--he was 18 and I was old enough to be his grandmother. But he was so gracious. He willingly posed for photos and also was not bothered that his story would become part of a quilting blog. Over and over in his memorial service, his humor and empathy for others was mentioned. He valued each day as a gift and it was a good reminder to live that way as well. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.


This is mind boggling.

Are you done with shopping? Just beginning? Or somewhere in the middle?



Have you already decorated?


Whatever your weekend is like, I hope you take some time to be thankful.

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Really Random Thursday, 11/18/21

 I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is one week from today. Christmas seems to be popping up everywhere! Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday and I just want to savor it before the hustle and bustle of Christmas begins.

Do you feel this way too? Or is your tree already up and decorated? No judgment. 

I've been remaking a quilt, something I have not ever done before. It has gone from this...
to this...
But it really deserves its own separate post.

I sent this to Aaron and Christa the other day. I'm sure most parents feel this way at some point.

Have you begun (or finished) Christmas shopping? We don't do much for Christmas in the way of gifts, but I always get everyone socks. I always buy from Bombas (a little pricy but worth it--and they donate one pair to the homeless for every pair purchased). With all the different styles (ankle, calf, no-show, etc.) I want to make sure everyone gets their favorite. So I sent out a text. It took me a second to get the "dad joke" but yet, there it was. Haha.

I'm nearly finished with the bit of shopping for the grandkids. Yay!

True...

Happy pre-Thanksgiving weekend!

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Really Random Thursday, 11/11/21

 Welcome to "vertical day," a day named by our niece, Becky, because of all the 1's. Years ago, in 2011, Mark and I were going to fly to Chicago (she lives in a suburb) and celebrate vertical day at a restaurant called...wait for it...11. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it to Chicago that year.

Anyway, every time I see 11:11 or 1:11 on a clock, a vertical minute, I say a little prayer for Becky. And once a year, I drink my coffee out of this mug.

Last week, Levi's water polo team was in a championship match. Mark and I are new to water polo, but it's already one of my favorites. Levi played goalie the entire time, so if you know anything about water polo, you know that meant he had to tread water for the entire match. 

It was a weird match. They beat their opponent 10-6 (I think that was the final score). 

The players had already thrown their coach into the pool in celebration.

People were beginning to leave when we heard someone on the loudspeaker say, "Please do not leave with the players. We have a problem." What??? It turns out that one of our players had three fouls. I guess neither he nor the coach realized it, and he continued to play (bookkeeper's error?). So after everyone thought the game was over, they added 2 1/2 minutes (or something like that) back on the clock and the score reverted 7-6, WAY too close for comfort. Levi's team ended up winning in the end, but wow that was a nail biter. I kept thinking how awful it would have been to win. And then lose...

I have really enjoyed water polo and look forward to next season.


A reminder I sent to our son...Amen.

Gabe and Ella have their first vaccination. Yay for science!
This came from Audible. I thought it was interesting. Yes, I was definitely working my way through Louise Penny books!

One of Mark's very best friends, Marvin (the white hat), reffed his last football game last Friday, after doing it for thirty years. Mark was so honored to be Marvin's last officiating crew.

Last night I went to a fundraiser at Tagua, a fair trade store run entirely by volunteers. Part of their sales last night went to Central Valley Justice Coalition, where Christa is heavily involved. I bought these ornaments. (note: in a previous creative life, way before quilting, I did a lot of quilling, wrapping thin strips of paper around a straight pin, gluing the ends and then shaping the pieces.) It's time consuming, and I was happy to get these beautiful ornaments made by someone else, free trade, and support such a worthy organization all at the same time.

Gabe found a book there with blank pages, and told me that he needed a new sketchbook. The paper was made from recycled elephant poop! Who could resist that?? Fortunately, it just smelled like regular paper.

Ella found this stocking hat. It looked so cute on her. Again, there was no way I could resist. Seriously, how cute is she?!



So today, since school was out, and Charlotte and Levi are in Portland visiting Stacie, Gabe and Ella spent the morning. We ran a couple of errands. 

My calendar was ready to pick up from the printer!!!
 And then we stopped at Donut Fantasy.

It's been a good day so far.

Hope your weekend is a good one.

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Really Random Thursday, 11/4/21

 Note to Bernadine who left a kind comment about purchasing some of Gabe's note cards: If you are reading this, you are a no-reply commenter and I have no way of getting in touch with you. If you can email me, that would be great!

Charlotte was in her first play at Roosevelt High School, which she attends because of their theater arts emphasis (side note: If you are familiar with Audra McDonald, winner of 6 Tony awards, 2 Grammy awards and an Emmy, she graduated from Roosevelt and the theater is named after her. Just sayin'. We thought maybe she would show up but I guess she was busy with her television and Broadway commitments, haha.)

Anyway, the play was about first dates and how they can go decidedly wrong, so the entire play was a series of vignettes. Charlotte played a thief, who stole everything off the table all while talking to her date. She even stole the tablecloth and stuffed it into her purse.  She was really funny. I told her we need to keep an eye on her from now on...
This is how the theater looked--very COVID conscious, so Mark and I had to sit with an empty chair between us.
No taking masks off, not even for photos. In case you are wondering, the actors all wore the clear masks throughout the performance and they had a tiny, nearly invisible microphone on one side of the mask. 

This was the last performance, a Sunday matinee. So many friends came to her performances over the two weeks they were offered and she got many flower bouquets. She loves nail art, so we gave her a little bouquet of nail polish. I tied them to little plastic sticks with stars on the top and told her she would always be a star in our eyes. :)

Later in the evening, we went to Aaron and Christa's house for chili. Every Halloween (except for last year), they set up a firepit in the driveway and we are fortunate enough to join them and some of their friends.  They offer hot cider and candy to all the trick or treaters walking by. In the meantime, all of these kids (who have been spending Halloween together for years) go around the neighborhood together.

When I asked Charlotte about her costume, she said she was going as a ceiling fan. I was thinking to myself, "How are you going to walk around with ceiling fan blades on? Won't that be kind of awkward??" She said that she was going as a fan of ceilings. Get it? A "ceiling" fan...
Gabe, who probably had my favorite costume, went as Bob Ross. He even talked in a calm and quiet voice: "Let's just add some fluffy clouds here and maybe a little grass..."
That's about it for this week. I have spent a good part of the week finalizing my Quilts by the Water 2022 calendar so that's been kind of exciting. Here is a sneak peek of the cover.
Other than that, not much happening in the past week. As we have a time change this weekend,  I'll leave you with this.


Monday, November 1, 2021

Quilts and Classics: Foliage/1936 Ford

 This quilt came about when I wanted to use some beautiful fall-toned Oakshott cottons to make a version of Delta Breeze, this time with maple leaf blocks rather than bear paw blocks.



Long before I had the idea for the calendar, I had wanted to photograph it with the vintage orange truck at Hillcrest Farms, a Christmas tree farm which decked itself out with pumpkins around Halloween.

It is a popular place for school field trips and there are usually many school buses, so it is overrun with children during the week. On weekends it is crowded with families.

But on this particular day, it was early afternoon and there were no school buses. I parked and went to the ticket booth. They were just closing up for the day. I was so disappointed but I told them all I wanted to do was photograph my quilt with their truck. They said I could have full access to the entire farm as long as I didn't move any pumpkins. Deal. And they didn't even charge me an admission fee!

It was a gray, overcast day, so the experience was actually a little bit spooky. Especially when I turned a corner and saw this guy...At first glance, I really expected him to start moving and point that rifle at me. I noticed a few other "guards" as I wandered around. See if you can spot some of them...
You can see why this vintage truck was the perfect backdrop for this quilt. Can you see the "driver" in there?



But there were so many other photo ops--and I didn't have to ask a single child to please move. :)






Watch out--another guard...





Foliage is one of my favorite fall quilts and I hope you enjoyed the photo op tour around Hillcrest Farms.


Quilt: Foliage

Designed by: Cindy Wiens

Quilted by: Darby Myers

Size: 54" x 63"