tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86309799764909323482024-03-09T19:45:23.315-07:00Such a Sew and SewElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.comBlogger1055125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-29394990043718954922017-09-12T01:24:00.002-06:002017-09-12T08:44:50.490-06:00I Still Sew, But This Post Is About Biking<span style="color: #990000;">Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. –Unknown</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNa-4ceXfA0UQcytuDojLtCJPR1y-K5XiLmUKaDMQV0Jqzm59B-zZj4lW4JpBSjjpZh-j5NfCkoK2d-JIcgXRRtuTmapcEtFtSvcoQQLz9fb-BRkdHzNu9uM19eiOquTwxZj2R_zdR6y_a/s1600/IMG_5889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNa-4ceXfA0UQcytuDojLtCJPR1y-K5XiLmUKaDMQV0Jqzm59B-zZj4lW4JpBSjjpZh-j5NfCkoK2d-JIcgXRRtuTmapcEtFtSvcoQQLz9fb-BRkdHzNu9uM19eiOquTwxZj2R_zdR6y_a/s320/IMG_5889.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I really miss blogging. I miss having this voice to express my thoughts. But working full time and trying to figure out how to fit the rest of the important things in — how to find the right balance — is difficult. If any of you have that down, will you let me in on the secret? You can imagine that the last two years have been filled with the miraculous and the mundane, almost in equal measure. Today I'm jumping right back in, like I haven't missed a beat. I'm not promising to blog again all the time. I may catch up on some of the more interesting bits of the last two years, but then again, I may not. Maybe I'll poke my head in here now and again, when I have something I need to say. And maybe it will be a few years before I post again.<br />
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I'll begin with a little (or a lot of) backstory (because there always is one with me) so you know how I ended up on a bicycle. In April of 2016, the kid who is running the show at work burst into my office all excited about challenging everyone in the company to run a marathon. Yes. 26.2 miles. His brother-in-law was training for one and had gotten him excited about it. He'd talked the owner of the company into paying for the race registration for anyone in the company who wanted to join in. His enthusiasm was so infectious that I thought seriously about it. I texted Mr. Bug, who suggested that anyone who wanted to still have all their own joints when they were 70 should probably stick to 10Ks. I decided against running a marathon.<br />
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<i>Back in the day, I joined the 9<sup>th</sup> grade track team because the cool kids were doing it. I wasn't fast enough to do the short races and I wasn't coordinated enough to do the hurdles. The coach devoted her time to those with potential and the rest of us were sent off to “run” around the neighborhood during practice. I wasn't coached on technique or told how to work my way into it. I was put into the 800 meter for track meets, and with no training, no love for running and no success, ended any desire to run again.</i><br />
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After making his rounds, this young coworker of mine came back and said that half-marathon registrations would also be paid for by the company for any who wanted to. The idea was intriguing. 13.1 miles seemed a lot more reasonable. So, I found a series of apps that worked you into it and signed up for the half-marathon. The first app was called <span style="color: #990000;"><b>Couch to 5K</b></span> (3.1 miles). It lived up to its name and took me from the couch to the ability to run for presumably enough time to finish a 5K, only I was slow. I finished all of the training sessions on the app, and although I still hadn't run a 5K, I moved on to the next app, <span style="color: #990000;"><b>5K to 10K</b></span> (6.2 miles). Midway through the app, my <a href="http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/plantar-fasciitis-topic-overview#1">plantar fascia</a> flared up and I had to stop running. I think that I told myself one too many times that I couldn't do it, so my body gave me an “out.” In any case, after about a week, I realized that I missed the physical activity, so I dusted off my bike and started riding.<br />
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As per usual, I jumped in with both feet. My first ride was about 7 miles. I loved it so much that I rode 27 miles the next day. I was riding a not-really-a-mountain-bike-but-not-a-road-bike-either with 7 gears. I bought it at a box store when the Not-So-Little Bugs were little. It had sat out in the elements and the chain was a bit rusty. It was a little worse for the wear. But I was excited. I did short, more intense rides on weekday mornings, 5 or 6 miles, and searched the interwebs for longer, organized rides on weekends. I rented a road bike and rack a couple of times and did a 47 mile ride and a 35 mile ride. It was awesome. Then the weather changed.<br />
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By chance, I came across a nice entry-level road bike at the outdoor shop where I had rented bikes. It was December and I'd been sent on an errand for work to pick up discounted lift tickets to a local ski resort. While the clerk went to the back office to get the tickets, I looked at the bikes on the rack and noticed a great big 40% off sticker on a pretty red one. I calculated the discounted price and the amount I had in my personal cash stash and saw that I had enough for it. I went home and told Mr. Bug about it and we looked up the specs and decided it was a good buy. I can't remember if I went back to get it that afternoon or if I went the next day, but I was soon the proud owner of an honest-to-goodness road bike.<br />
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In January of this year, I signed up for a series of organized rides beginning in June. Over the course of 11 weeks I worked my way up to a hundred miles. I started training in May and did yoga and again rode short, hard rides two or three (or four) times during the week. Saturdays were for the long rides. I started out on my first Saturday with 10 miles and added 10 more miles each Saturday. The first organized ride, on the first Saturday in June, was 50 miles and I rode it with my sister-in-law. Two weeks later, we did a 70 mile ride. And three weeks later we did a hundred. It was crazy and awesome and horrible all at once. I learned a lot about myself and what my mental and physical limits are. But that is a story for another day because we have finally arrived at the point where I can start to tell today's story. Well, actually, it was a few weeks ago.<br />
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I was out for a long Saturday ride. 60 miles, to be exact. I'd gotten a later start than I'd planned (because who doesn't like to sleep in on a Saturday), and the day was hot. I hit my wall at 37 miles. I was already headed back at that point, but I and considered calling search and rescue (Mr. Bug) to come get me. I was able to regroup and was feeling pretty good about my day's ride. I had three miles to go and came to a construction area. I'd noted it on my way out. The construction was on the opposite side of the road, and I thought to myself that it might be a good idea to cross back over to this side of the road on my way back and ride against traffic, or even up on the sidewalk, which was extra wide and had a yellow dotted line in the center of it indicating that it was a path of sorts. I wasn't 100% certain that bikes were allowed, and I prefer to ride on the road anyway, because unless it is a paved trail (of which there are a few around here), it is a lot bumpier. When I saw the construction cones, I briefly considered turning back and crossing at the light to ride on the other side of the road, but it was a few blocks back and I was ready to be done. I also didn't want to miss out on the segment recorded by GPS in my workout app by crossing to the other side of the road.<br />
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The construction cones were on the white line and there was about six feet of concrete shoulder before it was cut away. Curbing was being laid, so I assumed that the cones were there to keep people from driving off the concrete and damaging their cars. When I saw the gap that had been cut away from the shoulder, it was too late to stop. I couldn't swerve out into traffic because I couldn't see what was coming behind me. I hissed a curse through my teeth and closed my eyes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77PHc-090jGjLAqUsc0fbwDsmoEZANiF0i_p0HgWBR2JvcHlCI9KAcmRuhbecgeGNkaIhyxbaRczzlTfjD8PhTF7I0XqCTwtPnGN5A79-UKWylvzszpqZ7fJz2-bldY44cTGZsIsX9aNK/s1600/IMG_6444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77PHc-090jGjLAqUsc0fbwDsmoEZANiF0i_p0HgWBR2JvcHlCI9KAcmRuhbecgeGNkaIhyxbaRczzlTfjD8PhTF7I0XqCTwtPnGN5A79-UKWylvzszpqZ7fJz2-bldY44cTGZsIsX9aNK/s400/IMG_6444.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;">{view from the other side}</span></td></tr>
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<i>My mom scolded me later about that when I texted my family group chat to tell them about my adventure. My sister thought it was amusing and asked me in code, using movie references, which word I'd said. Fortunately for me, I hadn't used the same word as Ralphie from </i><span style="color: #990000;"><b>A Christmas Story</b></span><i> when he lost the lug nuts in the snow while changing the tire with his dad, and there was no need to get out the Palmolive. Instead, I echoed Biff Tannen from </i><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Back to the Future</b></span><i> as he ran his shiny black convertible, top down, into a truck of manure. Really, my mom is right. I have a much better and more creative vocabulary than that.</i><br />
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I was going about 13 or 14 miles an hour when my front tire hit the opposite side of the gap (closest in the picture above). If I had been going just a little bit faster, I could have jumped right over. The impact and the accompanying image in my head of the rim crumpling in caused me to open my eyes for a moment. I would later find that, while the rim was out-of-round, the front tire didn't even pop.<br />
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<i>On my first group ride, I was kind of a lost little puppy and I got picked up by a couple of stragglers at the back of the group who had been riding for years. One of them told me everything he knew about riding as we pedaled along. I don't remember much of what he said, but eventually we came around to the subject of riding with your feet clipped in and bike crashes. He told me that your arms aren't strong enough to catch you and it is best to tuck and roll. I thought it was crazy to ride with your feet clipped to your bike, but somehow I ended up with some fancy shoes and pedals that they clip into. Learning to ride with my feet clipped to my pedals afforded me plenty of opportunity to practice my tuck and roll.</i><br />
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My left ankle worked back and forth frantically to unclip. I'm fairly certain that I had unseen help at that point. I tucked my arms in to my chest. While the front tire had stopped, the momentum brought the back end of my bike around to my right. My left foot was unclipped at this point and the sideways motion helped my right foot to come out of its pedal as well. My cycling “tights,” you know the ones with the padding in the seat, are 3/4 length. I don't exactly remember hitting my knees, but both were sorely bruised. There wasn't a mark on my pants when all was said and done.<br />
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Free of the bike, I continued forward. I landed on my right shoulder and then my head hit the ground. My eyes were still closed and my mind registered this in single, disconnected words. <b><i>Shoulder</i></b>. <b><i>Head</i></b>. In all my toppling over, I'd never hit my head before. In the periphery, I wondered what would be the result of that. After, I was so grateful for my helmet — $20 of foam and plastic — that kept me safe from even a concussion. It's now in a landfill somewhere.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJ6Mr9NSl7J2gAzVVEL5D9tuQDQgXE-Ru0lW7G7dVvL0o8qY-Mf1zI5QOs7liRKAKn1ovPsiGIMeZHoh97ABc4ozcMa8sZoYqMBwypxjchB-en7rpgbWk8lpcSxjgUOsdkqt_-9B_YcP5/s1600/IMG_6457.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJ6Mr9NSl7J2gAzVVEL5D9tuQDQgXE-Ru0lW7G7dVvL0o8qY-Mf1zI5QOs7liRKAKn1ovPsiGIMeZHoh97ABc4ozcMa8sZoYqMBwypxjchB-en7rpgbWk8lpcSxjgUOsdkqt_-9B_YcP5/s400/IMG_6457.JPG" width="400" height="400" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div><br />
I must have rolled a little, because I ended up lying next to my bike, it with the front wheel facing towards the road and me with my feet towards the gap between the shoulder and the new curbing. I laid there for a moment more and then sat up. My first thought was, <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“nothing is broken.”</i></span> Then I decided to call Mr. Bug to come get me, after which I would scoot over to the edge of the shoulder, put my feet down in the gravel and just wait patiently there. I dialed the phone and suddenly there was a man there asking me if I was OK. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“Nothing is broken,”</i></span> I said. Mr. Bug answered the phone. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“I need you to come get me.”</i></span> The man was asking me again if I was OK and if there was someone I could call. I was wearing blue-tooth bone conduction ear phones, which sit on your cheeks just in front of your ears, leaving them open and allowing you to hear both your ride workout playlist and the noise around you. He didn't realize that I was already talking to my husband. I explained to him that I had my husband on the phone and then I explained to Mr. Bug where to find me.<br />
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The man asked if I would like to sit in his car, where it was cool. It was then that I noticed it was a little warm sitting on the ground. I'd checked the temperature just a few minutes prior, and knew that it was 91˚ out. He offered his hand to help me to my feet and it was then that I noticed that I had gravel embedded in my left thumb, and my right middle, ring and pinky fingers. I later found some gravel in my back jersey pocket. My shoulder stung and my knees throbbed. The man's grandaughter was sitting in the passenger seat of his truck. She introduced herself as I got into the driver's seat. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“I'm Tessie,”</i></span> she said. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“My name is Elizabeth,”</i></span> I replied. Her mother climbed back into the passenger seat. She'd gotten out of the truck to move the driver's seat back and to talk to her father for a moment. She told me that she'd seen me crash and fall and immediately told her dad to pull over to check on me.<br />
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<i>I was in 5<sup>th</sup> grade when I learned that there are people who actually laugh at someone when they fall. I couldn't fathom it. I still can't. I briefly wondered if Tessie's mom had laughed. And then I wished that someone had recorded my fall. It would be interesting to see. I wondered if I would laugh at the playback. Embarrassment washed over me. Tears were close to the surface. Fear and panic caught up to me. I fought it back. Everything was different now. A bike accident wasn't a possibility anymore. It was a reality. In the cab of the truck, sweaty and sticky, stunned to numbness and hurting at the same time, I continued to exchange pleasantries with this kind woman who had taken time out of her day to stop and make sure I was all right. I thanked her several times. It didn't seem enough. Of course she hadn't laughed.<br />
</i><br />
Mr. Bug pulled up behind us. I got out of the cab of the truck and went to get my bike, which was still lying on the ground. Tessie's grandpa told Mr. Bug to take me to the car and he would get the bike. I thanked the man and his daughter again and climbed into the passenger seat of our car. When Mr. Bug got in, I told him that we needed to go to the InstaCare. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“Why?”</i></span> he wanted to know. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“Because that's what you do after a bike wreck. I'm going to cry now.”</i></span> And I did.<br />
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At the InstaCare, the nurse told me that she didn't see many bike accidents in women, and especially women “our age.” She obviously had my birth date on the paperwork. She told me that just yesterday, a woman had come in with a badly broken shoulder from a bike accident. I wondered if I was trying to prove something with the crazy long rides. The doctor came in and asked me to go over what had happened. He ruled out concussion by the fact that I had not lost consciousness and that I could remember pretty clearly everything that had happened. Then he examined my knees and my shoulder. I hadn't looked at either yet, and when I pulled my sleeve off I was glad I hadn't. My shoulder was an angry red color and blood was oozing from the wound. There was no gravel in it though. It looked worse than it felt. Considering how the skin looked underneath, I was surprised that my jersey wasn't even really torn. There was just a small scuff on it. The doctor ordered x-rays on both my shoulder and knee, but there were no breaks. He cleaned the scrapes on my fingers, my right shoulder and right knee, bandaged them and asked if I needed a prescription for pain. I declined.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3VIVe6HHD3_9M7xsFYySP4vwQsdgOMJEJsKlba76wQFfnuud1tBpkC1Bpw4O84csVPDmuxFAv-5H21UiR7-elpSXf_km-x2mKZhZlOsF1Q4MIaH7-HZ7p_gKwREXZ3wrkDf34GmYibJY/s1600/IMG_6459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3VIVe6HHD3_9M7xsFYySP4vwQsdgOMJEJsKlba76wQFfnuud1tBpkC1Bpw4O84csVPDmuxFAv-5H21UiR7-elpSXf_km-x2mKZhZlOsF1Q4MIaH7-HZ7p_gKwREXZ3wrkDf34GmYibJY/s400/IMG_6459.JPG" width="400" height="400" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div><br />
At home I undressed to shower. There was a bruise on my chest where I must have hit the handlebars. It hadn't hurt before, but now my chest felt heavy. I showered and dressed. I went to the computer to find out what organized rides were going on with the cycling club I belong to and added about 6 to my calendar. Then I took a Tylenol and an Advil and hit the couch to catch up on some TV.<br />
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First thing Monday morning, I took my bike to the shop where I bought it to have it looked at. It obviously needed some work.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFE1AtcdSjQT62fMlNP4fUCL0osJ_VBKnTBny_6bMEQK0TDjey6PF5SRVC2EMjkhNdIUP_mMyU8G8gpJR9KjfQ4OHwtjZO4e2SelvTw748nCXrfa8OnmqWKU-ptMJxDpZ0w1zcxpSsduRM/s1600/IMG_6458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFE1AtcdSjQT62fMlNP4fUCL0osJ_VBKnTBny_6bMEQK0TDjey6PF5SRVC2EMjkhNdIUP_mMyU8G8gpJR9KjfQ4OHwtjZO4e2SelvTw748nCXrfa8OnmqWKU-ptMJxDpZ0w1zcxpSsduRM/s400/IMG_6458.JPG" width="400" height="400" data-original-width="1010" data-original-height="1010" /></a></div><br />
I picked it up a few days later and took it to a bike fitter. This guy knows his stuff. He helps you position your handlebars, brake levers, pedals and the cleats on your shoes, and your saddle for maximum efficiency and to keep your hands and feet from going numb. The impact had knocked the handlebars out of place and I needed him to help me get them adjusted again properly. <br />
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What the guys at the bike shop had missed is that the handlebar was bent and needed replacing. They had also not completely put the front rim back to true. So I left my bike with the fitter. It would take another week. I deleted two rides from my calendar. And I wondered again what I was trying to prove.<br />
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I'd been sporting bruises all spring and summer long. Granted, most of them were in places that no one gets to see. But two weeks prior to the crash, I'd lost my balance coming to a stop and tipped in the opposite direction of the foot I had loose from the pedals. The handlebar hit my arm and I got lots of questions about it. Mr. Bug said I should say I got it from kick-boxing.<br />
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It was shaped kind of like a peacock and the coloring was spot on. I thought it would be funny to take a Sharpie and draw in the outline. It wasn't the ugliest bruise I'd had from falling off my bike, but it was ugly enough. I wasn't too ashamed to admit that's where I got it. It hadn't entirely faded when I wrecked. My new bruises were not as colorful, but more painful than the one on my arm. My right knee, which hurt the most, was swollen and a little yellow. My shoulder went from red and irritated to peeling like it had been sunburned, to soft pink skin. It was bruised, but only a little yellow around the edges. The bruise on my chest was purple at the center, but was surrounded by a vivid yellow. I asked Dr. Google, and found that when deeper tissues are bruised the skin appears yellow.<br />
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Still, I wasn't stiff and sore, as I'd expected to be. I only took Tylenol and Aleve for a few days after the accident. I was down to one band aid after only a week.<br />
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Back at the bike fitter's, new handlebars and wraps installed, shoes and brake levers adjusted, front wheel in true, he encouraged me to get back out there and ride. The next day, last Friday morning, I went out at my usual time — zero.dark.thirty. Riding in the dark is no big deal. It is quiet and cool. I usually stay on the roads, which means streetlights but it also means traffic although it is scant. I have lights on my bike (it's the law); a white one in front and a red one in back, and I wear a forehead light as well. I but wanted to do a longer ride, so I rode up to a nice paved trail. A paved trail with no overhead lights. I was jumping at shadows, worried that I would miss seeing something important and have another accident. When I reached the end of the trail, rather than riding it back, I cut through town. And that's when it happened. I was coming to an intersection. A car was coming. I unclipped and slowed down. But I panicked and forgot my left foot was free and tipped to the right. I untangled myself and got back up. Nothing hurt and I was sure there were no new bruises. As I was composing myself, another rider passed me without saying a word. I found it odd. Surely he saw my flashing red light arc to the ground. I shook it off and continued on my way home. 14 miles. And I didn't die. But I did have new bruises.<br />
<br />
Saturday morning I had an organized ride with the cycling club on my calendar. I'm a member, but I don't ride with them much because they mostly ride in the next county over. The starting point for the ride that day was 30 minutes away (rather than an hour) and in the same county. They planned to take one of my favorite trails, starting at the far end, and riding the length of the trail to a connector to another trail which runs up the canyon and then back — 50 miles round trip. The group met at the parking lot of a local store, but to get to the trail from there, you have to do a bunch of fiddling around, including carrying your bike through a patch of weeds to get to a connector and then crossing a major highway. There is an intersection with lights, but it isn't the best starting spot because there is a trail head about a mile from where we started, with plenty of parking and immediate access to the trail. Besides all of that, I was anxious about riding in a group. I know my limitations and worry about being the weakest link — the one they all have to wait for and to accommodate. I worried about impeding their joy in riding. In addition, I'd been having problems with my left shoe clipping in and out, so I worried about that and not being able to start and stop, especially when we had to cross at the crazy busy intersection.<br />
<br />
We made it across the intersection, but I was still anxious about keeping up with the group. As we headed up the hill on the other side of the highway my chain came off and jammed in the cassette between the guard on the wheel and the inside gear. I managed to put my foot down — I'm not sure if it was clipped in or not since the left shoe has been a problem — and not hit the pavement. I had trouble figuring out the chain and getting it back on. I cut my finger on one of the teeth on the cassette trying to get it unstuck. I didn't have a rag or a bandaid, so I just let the blood pool and dry.<br />
<br />
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I got the chain back on but something weird was going on, because it came off a second time as I was trying to get going again. The group was out of sight by now so I was just going to turn around and walk back to my car and go home. I thought maybe the derailleur was broken. We were less than half a mile from the starting point. It made me anxious.<br />
<br />
There were only six of us in the group; two married couples, another man and me. One of the married couples noticed I was gone and turned around and to help me out. The husband fiddled around with shifting gears and got me set to go, but the chain came off again. He shifted gears some more and finally we were on our way. I was still anxious and wondered if I was going to continue to have problems for the next 49.5 miles.<br />
<br />
As we rode, the husband explained to me that you want to avoid having your chain on the outer ring in the front and on the gear closest to the wheel on the back because the angle is hard on the chain. He said it works the same for the inside ring in the front and the outside gear on the back. He explained to me what to avoid and encouraged me to use the inside ring on our ride today. I followed his advice, not wanting to have an accident, but I feel like you have to pedal a lot more on the small ring to get the same results as you get on the bigger ring with less pedaling. I knew there was a bit of a science to it, but I just shift down when my feet start moving slower and up when they start moving faster.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I was pedaling along minding my gears when we come to this part along the trail that has a really great (curvy) downhill followed by a corresponding uphill. I've done it a few times before. Still, I felt a little more anxious going down the hill than usual, worried about the riders and runners around me. The uphill is not my favorite, but it is doable. I was using the smaller/inside ring in the front like I was supposed to for climbing and had a few more gears left in the back before I got to the farthest one out. As the hill got steeper and my pedaling got slower, I shifted to a lower gear. The chain must have skipped or something because suddenly I was free-pedaling (if that is a word). There was no traction from the chain on the gears and I was slowing down almost to stopping and falling over speed. I spat that same curse out just as two of the riders from my group passed me. Maybe we do need to get the Palmolive out. I thought for sure that I was going to tip over. Again. More bruises. More pain. What am I trying to prove?<br />
<br />
To avoid falling, I would have to put my foot down. To put my foot down, I would have to unclip. To unclip, I would have to stop pedaling. If I stopped pedaling, I certainly couldn't engage the gears. If I couldn't engage the gears I would fall over. All of this passed through my mind in an instant. Not in so many words, but in flashes of thought in pictures. Out of sheer terror, I shifted back into a higher gear and the chain caught hold. I kept pedaling, but didn't dare change gears. And by the time I got to the top of the hill, I was done. My heart was racing, but not because of the climb. I was shaking, in a panic about what had just happened and afraid of riding any further. All the joy that biking brings me was gone. I was ready to sit down on the sidewalk right there and have Mr. Bug come get me.<br />
<br />
The ride leader was at the top of the hill waiting. He has to make sure the group stays together. The couple who helped me out earlier had fallen behind, so I stood there collecting myself and trying to decide what to do — continue on or call search and rescue. When the husband got to the top of the hill, he said his wife had broken a spoke and they were turning back. We were about 4.5 miles from the start. I decided to turn back and go with them.<br />
<br />
<i>The trail runs north and south through a major portion of the county. It is, therefore, intersected by lots of streets. That means a lot of stopping and starting. If you're cruising along, you'll be in a higher gear. Remembering to downshift so it is easier to start again, unclip, stop and not fall over is a lot for me. Sometimes I forget to downshift. So starting back up again is hard, especially when my left shoe is having trouble. I am goofy-footed, so I keep my right foot clipped in and stop and stand with my left. I didn't want to cross the street in the trail ahead of us to continue on the ride, or any other street along the way and worry about being too slow or too cautious for the rest of the group. Bikers tend to just slow down at intersections and try to avoid stopping and getting off as much as possible. The intersections along the trail are often blind; fences or bushes or curves in the road block the view. Slowing as much as possible to check before crossing and then needing to stop suddenly if a car is coming isn't a safe idea, especially for me. Cars aren't very considerate of pedestrians or bikers sometimes and 10 to 1, if you try to take the right of way on a bike, you'll get hit.</i><br />
<br />
The thought of continuing on for another 45 miles, not knowing if there would be further issues with the chain or shifting or if clipping or unclipping would be a problem, took all the enjoyment out of the day. I've fallen over enough to know it's not the end of the world. I walked away from a crash that should have been much worse than it was. I survived with minor injuries. But, the thought of anything going wrong, major or minor, filled me with fear and dread. I couldn't count on my bike. I couldn't count on myself. Continuing on was definitely out.<br />
<br />
Getting on my bike and riding back down the hill I'd just come up and then riding up the hill on the other side didn't sound good either. I was fully prepared to walk the 4.5 miles back to my car. I settled for walking down the hill and then back up. I called Mr. Bug as I walked, just to hear his voice and get a little reassurance. The wife of the couple had gone ahead, walking her bike up the hill. The husband could see that I was rattled, so he waited for me to walk down the hill and then rode very slowly with me as I walked back up. I'm not sure how he managed it. I can't ride that slowly. I fall over.<br />
<br />
When we reached level ground, I got back on my bike and had a nice conversation with this kind couple who had taken me under their wing. We took it slow, but I was still afraid of something going wrong. The trail is intersected with a lot of roads, but it is also designed with a few tunnels that go under the roads that intersect it. At these tunnels there are little off-shoots that let you get back to the road. The wife needed to use a restroom. Having never ridden this trail before and not knowing we were coming up on the trail head with restrooms that we should have started at, she opted to go to a Chevron, which required crossing a road rather than going under the tunnel next to it. I got off my bike and walked across the street. When we got back to the crazy busy intersection on the highway, I walked across that too.<br />
<br />
As I planned my day, I originally wanted Mr. Bug to drive me up to the starting point and drop me off. I wanted to do the club ride of 50 miles and then ride the 30 more miles home. He really wanted me to stay with the group, so I just drove myself to the starting point. And then I chickened out. So, my ride went from 80 miles to 50 to 9. All throughout the afternoon, I second guessed myself. Away from the panic of the moment, I felt like I could have continued on. But then the thought of having the chain come off, or tipping over on a stop, or crashing into someone pushed me to the edge of that panic again.<br />
<br />
I texted the bike fitter this morning. He said that the derailleur lever might be bent. He also said that he'd look at adjusting my shoe and to bring the bike in. I'll take care of it in the next day or two.<br />
<br />
Mr. Bug says I should take the clip-in pedals off and put regular ones on for a while. He spent the evening researching different types of bike shoes and pedals.<br />
<br />
I am worried that I will never stop being worried about something going wrong when I'm out riding. Mr. Bug is surprised at how afraid these last few events have made me. He doesn't think I've been afraid enough. A few months ago, downhill at 45 mph was exhilarating. Now, riding around the block scares the pants off me. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration.<br />
<br />
Something bad happened. I came out OK. Nothing was broken, not even a nail. I only had to pick gravel out of a few fingers. I had some bruises, but it was nothing short of a miracle that all I needed was a few band aids. But now my brain really knows what the asphalt feels like and how scary things can get, so it is in overdrive to keep me safe.<br />
<br />
I am signed up to ride a hundred miles again this Saturday. Mr. Bug thinks I ought to do the 75 mile option. I kind of think I should just do 35 miles. Hopefully the bike fitter can figure out what is wrong with it and have it fixed in time.<br />
<br />
It makes me sad to think of my bike sitting in the shed collecting cobwebs. That gives me hope that next chapter of this story will find me out riding my bike just for the joy of it.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-30905220843990185172015-07-20T06:56:00.000-06:002015-07-20T08:59:41.535-06:00Elephant Parade<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Look out! Look out!<br />
It's elephants on parade<br />
Here they come!<br />
Hippety hoppety<br />
They're here and there<br />
Yes, elephants everywhere<br />
<br />
Look out! Look out!<br />
They're walking around the bed<br />
On their head<br />
Clippity cloppity<br />
Arrayed in braid<br />
Yes, elephants on parade<br />
<br />
What'll I do?<br />
What'll I do?<br />
What an unusual view<br />
<br />
I can stand the sight of worms<br />
And look at microscopic germs<br />
But technicolor pachyderms is really too much for me!</i><br />
<b>–Pink Elephants on Parade,</b><br />
Music and lyrics by Oliver Wallace and Ned Washington</span></div><br />
I thought I'd lead with cuteness. I am pleased to introduce my newest nephew, Baby Firefly. Adorable, no? He's such a mellow, sweet, happy little dude.<br />
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And now for the backstory. Because there always is one. In the top left corner is my cute sister, Jill, <a href="http://spilledthejillybeans.blogspot.com/">a.k.a Jilly Beans</a>, and her family. Beginning in the 12:00 position and rotating clockwise, we have Lizard Boy, Firefly, Toad, Cricket and Mr. Jilly Beans.<br />
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When Jill announced that she was expecting, of course I put a baby quilt in the queue, right behind <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/12/christines-flower-garden.html">Christine's Flower Garden</a> <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{BTW, Christine still lives in her own home, is in church every Sunday and turns 101 in just two months!}</span></i>, <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2015/02/jardim-da-amizade-revolution-of-quilt.html">Friendship Garden</a> and <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2015/05/thoroughly-modern-lily.html">Thoroughly Modern Lily</a>. Jill and her husband decided not to find out the gender of the baby, so I planned to make a smaller version of Friendship Garden because I still had a bundle of half-square triangles sitting about and a multi-colored quilt would be great for either a boy or a girl. Those first two quilts in the line-up, the signature quilt and the triangle quilt, were fast to the finish <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{nothing like a deadline to keep you on target}</span></i>, but it took me almost six months to finish the lily quilt. That was kind of fortuitous, because Lorna over at <a href="http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.de/">Sew Fresh Quilts</a> started an absolutely adorable and completely irresistible <a href="http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.de/p/elephant-parade.html">quilt along</a> about a month before Firefly was born and since I didn't finish the lily quilt until after he was born, I then knew the gender and decided that an elephant quilt was in order.<br />
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Lorna did her quilt in solids. I loved the uniformity; the mama elephants have dark bodies with light ears and the baby elephants have light bodies with dark ears. I decided to use batiks in my quilt but tried to stay true to the original design by using darker fabrics for the bodies of the mama elephants and lighter fabrics for the ears, and vice-versa for the babies. Each elephant is unique. There are 49 different batiks and I quilted each elephant with a different design in the "headdress" and "blanket." I think this is my favorite quilting.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><i>A birdie with a yellow bill hopped upon the window sill. Cocked his shining eye and said: “Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!”</i><br />
–Robert Louis Stevenson</span><br />
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I loved making these birds and they were fun to quilt too. I pretty much can't do a quilt without doing a few swirls in it.<br />
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Inspired by the way that <a href="http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/">Geta</a> quilts her <a href="http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/search/label/hexagon%20quilts">hexagons</a>, I gave it a go in these octagonal flowers. <a href="http://quiltfool.blogspot.com/">Lane</a> frequently uses <a href="http://quiltfool.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-baby-quilt-finish-and-linus-quilt.html">leaf designs</a> in his quilts, so I tried that too. And, of course, pebbling is all the rage these days, so that's how I did the centers. All art is derivative.<br />
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Slow and steady wins the race, right? This quilt took about 2½ months, start to finish as my only project. I was on a deadline for this, too, or it might have been longer. Work takes up so much time and gets in the way of my real life a lot. In any case, I love this little turtle! I used the shell fabric in <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/10/sea-glass.html">another quilt</a> and it was fabulous there too.<br />
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And this little frog is adorable! Lorna put together such an cute quilt pattern. It was so fun to make and the top went together really quickly.<br />
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While I was working on this quilt, the foot pedal on my machine broke. As it so happened, it was a Tuesday night. The tension was also really off on my machine and Wednesdays are service pick-up days for the quilt shop I got my machine from. I called to see how long the wait was <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{minimum is 1 week and I've waited 3 weeks before}</span></i> and they told me it was a week. So I dropped <a href="http://babylock.com/A-Line/grace/">Grace</a> off first thing on Wednesday morning. And then I went a little over-board with the embroidered quilt label. It was OK that I did, because it was 2½ weeks before Grace was ship shape and back in working order. <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{They couldn't fix the foot pedal, though, so I ordered a new one and it was here in just a week. Just a bit ironic, don't you think?}</span></i> I've been using <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sulky-11-Inch-Printable-Fabri-Solvy-Stabilizer/dp/B004R2B3NU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437355041&sr=8-1&keywords=sulky+fabri+solvy&pebp=1437355055137&perid=01E0B3BJ105P4QZGATF4">Fabri-Solvy</a> self-adhesive stabilizer for embroidery lately. It is pretty fantastic. You run it through your printer, cut it to size, peel it off the paper backing, stick it to your fabric, stitch and when you're done, it washes away.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBE7p8uuOOv_hqSRIEd5I7SnYS3sayukx53-qSEdeJyghJXzDvr6SKOGDrdf1tylW1Wis9KO9P2icBx9EBfuTKbdkXTyTmpYL-TiIM9lM9aG0kEE8adXdRUBxkEPMKimHALxtQpgMd_2m0/s1600/Label+Collage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBE7p8uuOOv_hqSRIEd5I7SnYS3sayukx53-qSEdeJyghJXzDvr6SKOGDrdf1tylW1Wis9KO9P2icBx9EBfuTKbdkXTyTmpYL-TiIM9lM9aG0kEE8adXdRUBxkEPMKimHALxtQpgMd_2m0/s640/Label+Collage.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I have a number of pieces of batting hanging about which are too large to throw away and too small to use in a quilt, so I did something I haven't tried before. I pieced the batting. Vicki over at <a href="http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/">Sew Inspired</a> talked about doing that once on a very large quilt, so I asked her about her technique. She told me how to do it by hand and also by machine, but warned me that sometimes when you do it by machine one side gets stretched a little bit. Not wanting to take any chances I joined three strips of batting together by hand to make a piece large enough for the quilt. It took forever. I may <strike>or may not</strike> try it by machine next time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOsdyXwTkdfwKkmCPxc7xb4aUHW2-MFT8qpmoDLDyIz3scB16ZPD-MjOQRh8fhrFBXQf2v1ec3Ui-h7QTelscmCfFOwszhtjAVd3qJPzxCsFHIS5cj8GK716S-5mRLJ_4ezn95Q6DeSjQ/s1600/Pieced+Batting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOsdyXwTkdfwKkmCPxc7xb4aUHW2-MFT8qpmoDLDyIz3scB16ZPD-MjOQRh8fhrFBXQf2v1ec3Ui-h7QTelscmCfFOwszhtjAVd3qJPzxCsFHIS5cj8GK716S-5mRLJ_4ezn95Q6DeSjQ/s640/Pieced+Batting.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />
It is a very old tradition, dating back to 2010, to use satin blanket binding and minky or ultra cuddle on a baby quilt. This was no exception. I found a pretty silver sating binding that matched the grey background. And I bought a flat-fold remnant of extremely soft ultra cuddle for the back. You can see a peek of it in the photo with the quilt label above.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBquSr55-erWbt-q6ltWSgC_DppEwKg1nvTpcYVcF5EM9PVEV8zLp3V1WSm-pHCVGhVmesGT1254WLgI7X72HedozX4YHWXS_tFekz-FszYWB6-0NKzfGH5txHPw6Uxb60Ue4NjGqRxlNB/s1600/IMG_2937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBquSr55-erWbt-q6ltWSgC_DppEwKg1nvTpcYVcF5EM9PVEV8zLp3V1WSm-pHCVGhVmesGT1254WLgI7X72HedozX4YHWXS_tFekz-FszYWB6-0NKzfGH5txHPw6Uxb60Ue4NjGqRxlNB/s640/IMG_2937.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I suppose that about does it in the way of talking about this quilt. I would like to welcome the handful of folks who have started following my blog lately. I haven't done much in the way of posting since I started working full-time about a year ago. Nevertheless, welcome, and I hope I keep you at least a little bit entertained. Like with this super cute photo of Grasshopper and LadyBug with their new cousin. I can remember when they were that little and hardly believe I have two full-fledged teenagers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWZ3IVc-5RxIFYcSY_hGxmXdVlG9_lE7txzQ8jmFcdXiaelJmZT1XdaMripjRUDhiKdMcdX8eKVcHG9hVqCvDONFKh_BFK2yY3X2Bn6Wrt-oaIff3yh4aRfoVG959XK1U3mJriDs0-5F_/s1600/IMG_2929.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWZ3IVc-5RxIFYcSY_hGxmXdVlG9_lE7txzQ8jmFcdXiaelJmZT1XdaMripjRUDhiKdMcdX8eKVcHG9hVqCvDONFKh_BFK2yY3X2Bn6Wrt-oaIff3yh4aRfoVG959XK1U3mJriDs0-5F_/s640/IMG_2929.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
LadyBug loves to hold the babies. I think that is awesome! And I think more cuteness is the perfect bookend for this post.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xN4hikrZR50KpcleX_GiLDshVg2PUQW42uhx5Xpf1roTbPPh0jL19jmsW_EwWIGlVnDUQ-8W6ZJOTRfiBa8Bou8i1De_K4TcBfTneUC35IIofmw7YT2wZ4QSrSAwfW-KEhJzFgbIg04I/s1600/IMG_2933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xN4hikrZR50KpcleX_GiLDshVg2PUQW42uhx5Xpf1roTbPPh0jL19jmsW_EwWIGlVnDUQ-8W6ZJOTRfiBa8Bou8i1De_K4TcBfTneUC35IIofmw7YT2wZ4QSrSAwfW-KEhJzFgbIg04I/s640/IMG_2933.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Today's post brought to you by:</div><div align="center"><a href="http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.de/p/elephant-parade.html" title="Sew Fresh Quilts"><img alt="Sew Fresh Quilts" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtQllj4jPrV1rTGGizpkgponF3rcU7xDJX6kIkQob9fonXzvHgRRglRRjaQhYRcaCN9G4ikpH2CgEsHHprTj14crl8abxTyeYc2w2VQV8QHt9bj2gKfc49K_02OlZz3bWW4jINtR2BAV5/s1600/Elephant+button.jpg" style="border: none;" /></a></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-40611022256173467432015-05-18T06:47:00.000-06:002015-05-18T07:44:45.529-06:00Thoroughly Modern Lily<span style="color: #990000;"><i>There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.</i> ―Jane Austen, <i><b>Northanger Abbey</b></i></span><br />
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The photos aren't perfect. I think I had a smudge on my lens. But here is the my <b><i>Thoroughly Modern Lily</i></b> quilt finished and hung in the customary quilt photographing spot. <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2015/01/aint-nobody-got-time-for-vat.html">Pattern available here</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixVAhNqnGxFgSrj9y2rt3OboCgoj7RVwct8aYageGjqnvgCuNEiTQnN_ifQ_la84YafgbowWpP59HIIfovrtlZbFGynvSjE7OFxO9-jr3gMp2SE08pZgSyQSaRj4LLCDRdzJ9-5pOYrS_l/s1600/Quilted+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="557" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixVAhNqnGxFgSrj9y2rt3OboCgoj7RVwct8aYageGjqnvgCuNEiTQnN_ifQ_la84YafgbowWpP59HIIfovrtlZbFGynvSjE7OFxO9-jr3gMp2SE08pZgSyQSaRj4LLCDRdzJ9-5pOYrS_l/s640/Quilted+1.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I worked on a name for this quilt, but nothing seemed to fit. So, I called it what <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/">P.</a> called it, <i><b>Thoroughly Modern Lily</b></i>, after her <a href="http://thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2013/05/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2013.html">Grandma Lillian</a> whose <a href="http://thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-redo-is-done.html">quilt</a> top <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2014/03/grandmothers-garden.html">inspired</a> her. I kept P. in the loop via e-mail while I worked on this quilt. Only after I sent her this photo did I realize that I left a very important bit of information off the quilt label. I didn't mention <i><b>my</b></i> inspiration. But I'll mention it here. Thank you, P., for sharing your creative genius. You do beautiful things with fabric!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ0UiRRTS6tTo2HXS2ZuSAtVBnP-wM6aPEZasrS5Z6fiOc_C9ZfgehJbStHw6VrrbiUKDj8bGZFqkeaAeiQjDiKQZqhZkAi6OyBhDBSgc22UxIZBarPotsWVFCKsSrzJxflWXvseRUE4Ng/s1600/Label+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ0UiRRTS6tTo2HXS2ZuSAtVBnP-wM6aPEZasrS5Z6fiOc_C9ZfgehJbStHw6VrrbiUKDj8bGZFqkeaAeiQjDiKQZqhZkAi6OyBhDBSgc22UxIZBarPotsWVFCKsSrzJxflWXvseRUE4Ng/s640/Label+1.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
It was already past dark on the day I took this quilt to my friend, Eloise. We kept missing each other's phone calls and I finally caught her at home. It's been more than a month since I gave it to her, but I called yer yesterday to see if I could stop by and snap a few quick photos. Thanks to LadyBug for the assist. <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{BTW, she's 13 now and might have finally hit a growth spurt. She's getting pretty tall. I can't believe how grown up she is getting.}</span></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfLOFFWSzwL1XHCnRKZN8Vsnpm21yF7iLxWq_2KWadv1v34wgEuaJFdAlZp7czLtj8FbDjnM8J43ElMPUIUM8Imuvo-9O7PBKmJ7R6EJMyQ6nh-3msrAddIsA47i1BuAcDg1AW-37U0rY/s1600/Eloise+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="589" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfLOFFWSzwL1XHCnRKZN8Vsnpm21yF7iLxWq_2KWadv1v34wgEuaJFdAlZp7czLtj8FbDjnM8J43ElMPUIUM8Imuvo-9O7PBKmJ7R6EJMyQ6nh-3msrAddIsA47i1BuAcDg1AW-37U0rY/s640/Eloise+4.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
Here's an artsy smartsy shot. I have to say, though, photos just don't quite do quilts justice at all. When Eloise pulled the quilt out yesterday, I was slightly surprised by how awesome it is <span style="color: #7f6000;">{if I do say so myself}</span>. If you look at it just right, you can see a sub-pattern of large circles formed by two of the lily petals in each of four adjoining blocks.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia73e5SHd_-vdXN9_NnIK_9ySHDnLlyPw3_HV-p2Hnh9QHSd-efD8zOsO2ZDJr_qoYD2fdhLc2SB_r1LA1XUzgFLDSie92B3pMr_X3A24Z4zCyHykeUm-CRtycKDQzQICAe_y6sAnhu2im/s1600/Quilted+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia73e5SHd_-vdXN9_NnIK_9ySHDnLlyPw3_HV-p2Hnh9QHSd-efD8zOsO2ZDJr_qoYD2fdhLc2SB_r1LA1XUzgFLDSie92B3pMr_X3A24Z4zCyHykeUm-CRtycKDQzQICAe_y6sAnhu2im/s640/Quilted+4.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
And, a snap of the quilt back. I used the same blue on the back as I did for the background on the front; a piece of Kona that I bought for another quilt, but ended up not liking it for that. <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2015/02/jardim-da-amizade-revolution-of-quilt.html">That quilt</a> was my first quilt made entirely from stash because I had a rather large piece of Kona in another color that I liked better for the back of it. The lily quilt is my second quilt made entirely from stash. I think I used 12 or 13 different colors of thread, and I really like how it looks from the back.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7n19g_W1Ca6PV81iAcYYDkSANkFNULX_dVYcp1xIC7Reqid4QWSbIV_Lfx4gv4JfWHBAlGVM1Ui-P-wjmMRASv1jfEsSxjF_KTuGzm3GM259MIfRQ7ykyOfH0O2aUh27jF86XphvZmt9X/s1600/Back+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7n19g_W1Ca6PV81iAcYYDkSANkFNULX_dVYcp1xIC7Reqid4QWSbIV_Lfx4gv4JfWHBAlGVM1Ui-P-wjmMRASv1jfEsSxjF_KTuGzm3GM259MIfRQ7ykyOfH0O2aUh27jF86XphvZmt9X/s640/Back+2.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
One final, gratuitous quilt shot.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ4VLHhC7rY0GvcDmwbdkFa6GOqArxaiS6avG7BrPEwy44iF7Kts3yEGUQbDn9AndBK0Ce9RYMQgpOEb1Ds-BM-Fr7KvsHaMH-1BC113uTErZGs2NePdGm_9YUCfFYpBkCxF9oc4COt3Ov/s1600/Quilted+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ4VLHhC7rY0GvcDmwbdkFa6GOqArxaiS6avG7BrPEwy44iF7Kts3yEGUQbDn9AndBK0Ce9RYMQgpOEb1Ds-BM-Fr7KvsHaMH-1BC113uTErZGs2NePdGm_9YUCfFYpBkCxF9oc4COt3Ov/s640/Quilted+5.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
This quilt took me six months, start to finish. I started it right after I finished the triangle quilt in October and it is the only project I worked on during that time. As soon as the Lily quilt was done, which was at the beginning of April, I started my next quilt. But <a href="http://babylock.com/A-Line/grace/">Grace</a> took two weeks off for a spa retreat. Her tension issues were making me tense, so I told her not to come back until she was all sorted out. She took her sweet time but when she did get back, she was ready to get down to business. She makes a beautiful stitch now and my next quilt top is finished. I used stash for everything but the background and back. I even pieced the batting to use up some of the smaller pieces I have on hand. I'm anxious to start the quilting now. If only quilts would baste themselves . . .<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZALoJazfp1ZJTonHb6sd_fw6i0GEA1AVlbP558R9vGDQjoLaA_OSoDcDIaa_l7U1yZW5JnpjA3Aspq1LaqhB7cc-oX9s0ZMTUWg_EqO7hSEslEJfUOOSngsuPmrIJd1n5xSAVjW5p-l5J/s1600/Pieced+Batting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZALoJazfp1ZJTonHb6sd_fw6i0GEA1AVlbP558R9vGDQjoLaA_OSoDcDIaa_l7U1yZW5JnpjA3Aspq1LaqhB7cc-oX9s0ZMTUWg_EqO7hSEslEJfUOOSngsuPmrIJd1n5xSAVjW5p-l5J/s640/Pieced+Batting.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-82866901619997169392015-05-11T06:53:00.000-06:002015-05-17T22:56:52.989-06:00The End of the Line<span style="color: #990000;"><i>“I've come so far short in so many things. I haven't done what I meant to do when I began ... I haven't lived up to my ideals.”<br />
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“None of us ever do,” said Mrs. Allan with a sigh. “But then, Anne, you know what Lowell says, ‘Not failure but low aim is crime.’ We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them it's grand and great. Hold fast to your ideals, Anne.”</i> –Lucy Maud Montgomery, <i>Anne of Avonlea</i></span><br />
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My dad keeps telling me I should put up one final post that says, <span style="color: #990000;"><i>“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_McCoy">It's dead, Jim.</a>”</i></span> He's a funny guy, my dad.<br />
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Both blogging and sewing have had to take a back seat, but I'm not done with either of those things yet. It might be a bit of a snooze-fest around here — I started this post almost 2 months ago and am just now getting back it to it. The pictures were all edited and everything, so the hard part was done. All I had to do was add the witty commentary. Wait. Maybe the hard part wasn't done. Anyway I'm still sewing, even if it is just 15 minutes before bed, and still want to show what I'm working on.<br />
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While it is not the end of the line for my little blog, I did finish off this spool of 1300 meters <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{that's 1420 yards for those of us still using Imperial measurements}</i></span> of AURI<i>fil</i> 50wt thread. Of course, I didn't use up that whole 1420 yards in just this one project. I've used it in a number of projects, but it is pretty cool to think that <i>sometime</i> I've sewn at least 710 yards <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{because, you know, half of that goes in the bobbin}</i></span>. I'm sure more yards than that are run in the average football game. And it doesn't sound so impressive when you convert it to miles and find out that you can't even get to the gas station in 710 yards. But still, 710 yards. One stitch at a time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46_Wt1IsjDIOqTcaNu5TYHAkbObC_pT-wrk0kKrchvboCkSgEDvavkO-5CvrLyi-WB6Kl1cZdT36VBicF2UJxPTXmyerymmboat7uzGl3m4w8JyL2qjdYZSPGjFuf3Db_Q2J0qDTCC91v/s1600/End+of+the+Line.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46_Wt1IsjDIOqTcaNu5TYHAkbObC_pT-wrk0kKrchvboCkSgEDvavkO-5CvrLyi-WB6Kl1cZdT36VBicF2UJxPTXmyerymmboat7uzGl3m4w8JyL2qjdYZSPGjFuf3Db_Q2J0qDTCC91v/s1600/End+of+the+Line.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
A while back, the lovely and talented P. over at <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/">The Way I Sew It</a> found a quilt top that her grandmother had made. She puttered around with it and collaborated with <a href="http://piecemealquilts.com/">Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts</a> to put together a <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2015/01/aint-nobody-got-time-for-vat.html">pattern</a> for it. Once that was complete, she took apart her <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2014/03/grandmothers-garden.html">grandmother's quilt top</a> and remade it as a wonderful keepsake.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ykCKSddkmzGHFfwCRjk0cV6Sqwhvo1OifsGXjB9v_CJnZ-hGpkI3EANrVoqUlkIbvLBAUpDmyss3UQwBlAfBkHlUgMJH1QAqRYBYQNMDnMr9rgwx-dciMj3KX5Dp_NHUi3hkPNfsAF3G/s1600/Tracing+Pattern.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ykCKSddkmzGHFfwCRjk0cV6Sqwhvo1OifsGXjB9v_CJnZ-hGpkI3EANrVoqUlkIbvLBAUpDmyss3UQwBlAfBkHlUgMJH1QAqRYBYQNMDnMr9rgwx-dciMj3KX5Dp_NHUi3hkPNfsAF3G/s1600/Tracing+Pattern.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I loved the fun design, and ordered the pattern right away. Sidebar: it is currently available for free <a href="http://www.thewayisewit.blogspot.com/2015/01/aint-nobody-got-time-for-vat.html">here</a>. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, but as ideas sometimes do, it went on the back burner. I have this sweet friend in my neighborhood that I've gotten to know pretty well in the last five years or so, and wanted to do something nice for her birthday. So, I started playing around with colors.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxO69VcRJRdAuLLekWDjL-xGZHjct-IOd0iq9nBkqd4U8OO6nqBS0KuWt-_-tDb3-nnGqBTMkqeYd5kqyyjwd6LWMQljjCYHD8MhSh9ER8kc_YNwXyvqTyhl1-IA7VBK20QaUTER-pqtI/s1600/Petals+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="421" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxO69VcRJRdAuLLekWDjL-xGZHjct-IOd0iq9nBkqd4U8OO6nqBS0KuWt-_-tDb3-nnGqBTMkqeYd5kqyyjwd6LWMQljjCYHD8MhSh9ER8kc_YNwXyvqTyhl1-IA7VBK20QaUTER-pqtI/s1600/Petals+2.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I designed around a piece of blue Kona <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{I can't remember the name of it for sure, I think it might be Rain}</span></i> that I bought to go on the back of the triangle quilt, <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2015/02/jardim-da-amizade-revolution-of-quilt.html">Friendship Garden</a>. It just didn't work on that quilt, but I wanted to try and make it work on this one.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMHPht5kgDHdm2FJiw8ZngwrltKb2yPojuVy3ACbJhbPCbWHRnOC-NfjY0FSR2BE00u5CdljTMyNXrUrBk4huWc7rsnm7CW_xbdD_X3hLxjlJdRTbfSVoWbKSfR_QMzUP_bu-UpFVr3Qo/s1600/Assembly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMHPht5kgDHdm2FJiw8ZngwrltKb2yPojuVy3ACbJhbPCbWHRnOC-NfjY0FSR2BE00u5CdljTMyNXrUrBk4huWc7rsnm7CW_xbdD_X3hLxjlJdRTbfSVoWbKSfR_QMzUP_bu-UpFVr3Qo/s1600/Assembly.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I also had a piece of Kona in Snow, left from <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/12/christines-flower-garden.html">Christine's Flower Garden</a>. My first thought was to use the blue as the centers of the flowers and the sashings and the white as the background, but it worked better the other way around.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRKfF0y2H1U0fyNawnmDcVRS7kmAcyk03KtllbDcThzAP-rPF-8YfBbMna0UXnMMxBoMT3zsnb-2UR_P1kSHLh8iBO93eT8WbcgVWq15G0RWYrET0CNmXtvnTgoNtB6MAyvRTkEk6YKrp/s1600/Top+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRKfF0y2H1U0fyNawnmDcVRS7kmAcyk03KtllbDcThzAP-rPF-8YfBbMna0UXnMMxBoMT3zsnb-2UR_P1kSHLh8iBO93eT8WbcgVWq15G0RWYrET0CNmXtvnTgoNtB6MAyvRTkEk6YKrp/s1600/Top+1.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I started with the easiest bit of quilting first. I did the stitching in the ditch and the meander in the background. Then I decided I wanted some straight lines, but I wanted it to be as easy as possible. Marking with tape is such a hassle and if you use a washable marker, you have to wash the quilt before you give it away. While I do love a soft, crinkly, washed quilt, I also love how a quilt looks after it is freshly quilted. So, I used a <a href="https://www.fabric.com/buy/0366670/clover-hera-marker-for-applique?&cm_mmc=Google-_-Products-_-Products%20Listings-_-Ads&CAWELAID=172000510000322226&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=172000510000278066&cadevice=c&gclid=CjwKEAjwg7yqBRCu5NmlgMm6i08SJADDEudZqxnsf5z6bSAPTni7LlvHh8cHVMaNfC3_iADuEFsplxoCnGjw_wcB">Hera Marker</a> to score lines into the fabric. Actually, I started out using the back side of a 99₵ seam ripper to make the markings, and eventually bought a Hera marker. I did everything free-motion and backtracked in the seam allowances, completing each flower without stopping. It's not perfect, not by a long shot, but it was good practice.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbsd9XZTWeyYsoRRPfPxS9XHAXuXJKIChSem22_-SQa_PPDqhJIkt_M8B7qyjmUgDFUWMTNOLsYekDUtBCTfdZwKRyVtUCo6OXcYftJkorQweeeGP8O7_E1MHp0Jm58sKoFRsGq9Gqexj/s1600/Orange+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbsd9XZTWeyYsoRRPfPxS9XHAXuXJKIChSem22_-SQa_PPDqhJIkt_M8B7qyjmUgDFUWMTNOLsYekDUtBCTfdZwKRyVtUCo6OXcYftJkorQweeeGP8O7_E1MHp0Jm58sKoFRsGq9Gqexj/s1600/Orange+1.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
To balance out all of the geometric quilting, I put some swirls in the lily petals.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbSNpmnfuPcYpoIPKKInTXcokDGQDNsiLCASVVBKoJejHuRbVQOSQ380C5KWKLSrwJyG_3Xg-Y8l-xhQYsaJIHGNCzFaD1vZ02YqktCLdAp3KvFTsf4Cr0H2QOvPc8o7NvGaa6SLEgKThs/s1600/Yellow+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbSNpmnfuPcYpoIPKKInTXcokDGQDNsiLCASVVBKoJejHuRbVQOSQ380C5KWKLSrwJyG_3Xg-Y8l-xhQYsaJIHGNCzFaD1vZ02YqktCLdAp3KvFTsf4Cr0H2QOvPc8o7NvGaa6SLEgKThs/s1600/Yellow+1.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I kind of like how it is coming along.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbpZwVjtb9i8Rvculg3AfrrlYyonDvbnZkVB8fBSTN-qZkzuwH4ojsVbCEnAwn7gEIN8Ktvl7OALiT-93bT9FCEJmjRMM_8d3OJyxMd2YqK2SlcQV4KcwCA7PnyrfRWt_9Wx6-qMA5D_k/s1600/Quilting+in+Progress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbpZwVjtb9i8Rvculg3AfrrlYyonDvbnZkVB8fBSTN-qZkzuwH4ojsVbCEnAwn7gEIN8Ktvl7OALiT-93bT9FCEJmjRMM_8d3OJyxMd2YqK2SlcQV4KcwCA7PnyrfRWt_9Wx6-qMA5D_k/s1600/Quilting+in+Progress.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />
Here's a close-up of the quilting on the lilies.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEYTOmIDloZdx4D6isqnbL1OnVxSUK87mQP2BFamQ-r2hmG6jeIZqQ8qTYC5npocgiTiDQXI5DBba8U-Z29bVcSL32YTde73R5dY5em4Wtu26UlL1iSAONhqoogMuXDJDhJTQ2_DvOyljD/s1600/Green+Collage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEYTOmIDloZdx4D6isqnbL1OnVxSUK87mQP2BFamQ-r2hmG6jeIZqQ8qTYC5npocgiTiDQXI5DBba8U-Z29bVcSL32YTde73R5dY5em4Wtu26UlL1iSAONhqoogMuXDJDhJTQ2_DvOyljD/s1600/Green+Collage.JPG" width="420" /></a></div><br />
The quilt is finished, and I've already taken it to my friend. It was supposed to be for her birthday, which was December 24<sup>th</sup>, but I was a little late getting it to her. Like, four-ish months late. I've got photos, but they need editing, so we'll end on a cliff hanger. I'm hoping to finish this story off a little faster than I got it started. In the meantime, you can see what I'm up to on <a href="https://instagram.com/suchasewandsew/">Instagram</a>.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-89058544051498868692015-02-18T06:28:00.000-07:002015-02-18T06:28:00.823-07:00Jardim da Amizade: {r}Evolution of A Quilt<span style="color: #990000;"><i>The world is but a canvas to the imagination.</i> –Henry David Thoreau</span><br />
<br />
I've been wanting to show you/off this quilt for a long time. Let's pretend it is the beginning of September again. When we left off, I'd just shown the completed <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/12/christines-flower-garden.html">signature quilt</a> that was for a wonderful lady who had just turned 100. A dear neighbor, who has a long-arm, offered to do the machine quilting, so we're going to jump back a little further to the last week of August while the signature quilt was out for quilting. I received word in mid-August that some very special friends were coming from Brasil to visit, that they would be here for only a short window of time and that there was going to be a get-together on October 3<sup>rd</sup>. The gears in my brain began to turn and as soon as I dropped the signature quilt off with the lady who had volunteered to quilt it, I pulled out a bunch of <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/04/diamond-illusion-or-triangle-confusion.html">half-square triangles</a> I've had hanging about for <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2012/05/various-sundry-monday-vol-28.html">a while</a> and got to work.<br />
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Fast forward to October 3<sup>rd</sup>, and voilà. <b><i>Jardim da Amizade</i></b>, which translates directly as <b><i>Garden of Friendship</i></b>, but it is more comfortable to say <b><i>Friendship Garden</i></b>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpOmcEDjAeS7JOegiB-YuI_Lc3__FE78IAG54uwfb38ImB0YkPklLNg3-UJ66XV-reOc0_7jh37lSqjKJMGK9wnm9i-Esa12PF54D1ACbI-Ejh6Gymx5_0Qy34zzJ5GwfnYj3v6tS1-nL/s1600/Jardim+da+Amizade+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpOmcEDjAeS7JOegiB-YuI_Lc3__FE78IAG54uwfb38ImB0YkPklLNg3-UJ66XV-reOc0_7jh37lSqjKJMGK9wnm9i-Esa12PF54D1ACbI-Ejh6Gymx5_0Qy34zzJ5GwfnYj3v6tS1-nL/s1600/Jardim+da+Amizade+1.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I took my <a href="https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/color-burst-in-quilt-junejuly-2013/">inspiration</a> <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{and this photo}</i></span> from Wendy Sheppard at <a href="https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/">Ivory Spring</a>. She is a truly amazing quilter. When I saw her quilt, I knew I wanted to make one of my own. I adapted the design, making my quilt square <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{I love square quilts}</i></span>, rather than rectangular and my HSTs are 2" rather than Wendy's 1½" <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{can you imagine!}</span></i>. Here's another little tidbit about Wendy's quilt; it took her only 5 days from start to finish.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUzlXE056rxLLap2rJ8LXkmRb-Ng3XUbgJSiw_COsdpJNJwwiXzAu8bMQaU3FztnoIm0BLzCeaDCRzfKwqL7YzXg9dVkAP3cgo0NAEidMEEWDdiahm-SLKL8pYbP6eiKy6ApfEOonx2Rj/s1600/Wendy+Sheppard+Color+Burst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUzlXE056rxLLap2rJ8LXkmRb-Ng3XUbgJSiw_COsdpJNJwwiXzAu8bMQaU3FztnoIm0BLzCeaDCRzfKwqL7YzXg9dVkAP3cgo0NAEidMEEWDdiahm-SLKL8pYbP6eiKy6ApfEOonx2Rj/s1600/Wendy+Sheppard+Color+Burst.jpg" height="284" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>Color Burst</b> by Wendy Sheppard<br />
<a href="https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/color-burst-in-quilt-junejuly-2013/">Image Source</a></span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Wendy was inspired by the quilt below, which is on display at the <a href="http://www.dar.org/museum">Daughters of the American Revolution Museum</a> in Washington, DC. I did some quick maths and there are 1,200 small half-square triangles in this quilt, all hand-pieced. Wow!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiud9cGXyF13jE-61kzBcLa7BmSUKfR0M-A6ELUSTn1c_MFW1sq0MpttZctx9qXtOQDTh4dihQyI7bsNiaBuBDtg_OdE_HA62aP9A0sAD-nQqPrfyv3E6psVM_p4zUsKyQBqykjbYr866s/s1600/DAR+Old+Maid's%2BRamble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiud9cGXyF13jE-61kzBcLa7BmSUKfR0M-A6ELUSTn1c_MFW1sq0MpttZctx9qXtOQDTh4dihQyI7bsNiaBuBDtg_OdE_HA62aP9A0sAD-nQqPrfyv3E6psVM_p4zUsKyQBqykjbYr866s/s1600/DAR+Old+Maid's+Ramble.jpg" height="497" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>Old Maid's Ramble</b> on display at the DAR Museum<br />
<a href="http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=46-7A-BE">Image Source</a></span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
When I got the newsletter from my favorite local quilt shop the other day, I was delighted by another variation of this quilt. Aren't the colors beautiful? It is done in Moda's <a href="http://storefront.unitednotions.com/storefrontCommerce/search.do;jsessionid=2430F4AAE08E21DF5E54A7BF927A1987.storefront8080?searchType=keyword&keyword=lakeside+gatherings&emailAddress=">Lakeside Gatherings</a> fabric line, and I love this take on the design.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGK9BGLXXrmD7K-geGsarxgAZRxu8qM5PBGaMGRdK6ybWeqoKZ2z2-b49pWy7SP_PKvq3NVm3OkegwGZMs7iaUZO3qWvFF8CMkl6AVq-P2EXDT_n8WhNXrurill9gY8X7LE-7Y0TY_1bG/s1600/Ladies+on+the+Lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGK9BGLXXrmD7K-geGsarxgAZRxu8qM5PBGaMGRdK6ybWeqoKZ2z2-b49pWy7SP_PKvq3NVm3OkegwGZMs7iaUZO3qWvFF8CMkl6AVq-P2EXDT_n8WhNXrurill9gY8X7LE-7Y0TY_1bG/s1600/Ladies+on+the+Lake.jpg" height="574" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>Ladies on the Lake</b> by Suzanne<br />
at <a href="http://www.cornwagonquilts.com/">Corn Wagon Quilt Co.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.cornwagonquilts.com/2015/02/12/love-is-in-the-air/">Image Source</a></span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I had the greater part of the half-square triangles I used in my quilt already pieced when I decided to make this quilt. Some of them were even pressed open. The rest were ready and waiting to be pieced. I finished piecing those while the signature quilt was out for quilting, and as soon as that quilt was finished and delivered, I started piecing blocks of half-square triangles. It was a crazy undertaking to try and get this quilt done in such a short amount of time while juggling a full-time job, full-time mom and wife duties and a busy volunteer job at church. More than once I said, <i><span style="color: #990000;">I don't know if I"m going to get this done. But I <b>have</b> to try.</span></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCxuc5PgarBjTyOyvYvIQ3Wd66ZKvR8aPt6usMqd0jPp6GVEm_1rOW26C_rLkwNdPSHCLftM13GDmgQSPO-1Ha9PP_km08CYSrfDPdw286pEGBcMhQaJ-YRZf9TxoVdfEodbRS735nO4b/s1600/Jardim+da+Amizade+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCxuc5PgarBjTyOyvYvIQ3Wd66ZKvR8aPt6usMqd0jPp6GVEm_1rOW26C_rLkwNdPSHCLftM13GDmgQSPO-1Ha9PP_km08CYSrfDPdw286pEGBcMhQaJ-YRZf9TxoVdfEodbRS735nO4b/s1600/Jardim+da+Amizade+2.JPG" height="297" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I worked color by color and tried not to repeat any one print in each block. I wanted to photograph each block as I went, but it was hard to align my crazy schedule with good lighting as the days grew shorter. And I decided that I'd better spend every spare minute working on the piecing. <br />
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I like to do an embroidered label on the back of my quilts, but there just wasn't enough time for this one. Instead I used a permanent, archival quality pen and wrote my label out. I included a quote from Alfred Tennyson, <span style="color: #990000;"><i>If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk through my garden forever.</i></span><br />
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Melissa Kelley at <a href="http://www.sewshabbyquilting.com/">Sew Shabby Quilting</a> saved my bacon <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/10/sea-glass.html">again</a> and did <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/11/ripples.html">yet another</a> rush quilting job for me. After an all-nighter, Mr. Bug dropped the quilt off on a Tuesday morning on his way to work and Melissa had it ready for me on Wednesday evening, just in time for Mr. Bug to pick it up on his way home. She did a beautiful job on an edge-to-edge computerized floral design. I love the way it turned out. I then spent every second I could getting the binding on and hand-stitched to the back.<br />
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That week is kind of of a blur, but I'm pretty sure that Mr. Bug and the Not-So-Little Bugs ate a lot of cereal and take-out pizza. I didn't get much sleep and I was pretty useless at work. It was close, but I finished in time to take it to the get-together on Friday night. These are my Brasilian "parents," João Roberto <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{John Robert}</span></i> and Maria Lúcia. I respect, admire and love them so much and it was so good to see them again!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXRQMw6Y2Q9gXLJbJ9vD3SUSsmH3YVMB2EsKt7XRmwvQ_q510RlwVjHtNNRjMpUhjMwXd4npINVwDY1r43Vr2gFlqC9KrtqRYZszhlOjcUORmWkY5KomOaffxTkk_OAOsAgpb-Y54YNGb/s1600/Martins+Silva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXRQMw6Y2Q9gXLJbJ9vD3SUSsmH3YVMB2EsKt7XRmwvQ_q510RlwVjHtNNRjMpUhjMwXd4npINVwDY1r43Vr2gFlqC9KrtqRYZszhlOjcUORmWkY5KomOaffxTkk_OAOsAgpb-Y54YNGb/s1600/Martins+Silva.jpg" height="560" width="420" /></a><br />
<br />
This is the first quilt I've done that came completely from my stash. Granted, I did a swap for about half of the little half-square triangles, but all of the fabric I used for the swap came out of my stash and the ones I got back have been sitting in a drawer for so long that they count as stash by default. I did go and buy a piece of Kona in a sort of grayish-blue for the backing, but when I got it home, it wasn't quite right. I had a large quantity of Kona in Coal from <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2010/03/following.html">a project that will probably never get off the ground</a>, so the blue I bought <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{I think the color was Rain or Fog or something}</span></i> went to stash <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{and is now being used in the next project I'm working on, which is another quilt made entirely from stash and which I hope to show you sooner than four months after it is finished and given away!}</span></i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Other fun facts about this quilt:</b><br />
• It has 640 small half-square triangles <br />
• The total number of triangles <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{large and small}</span></i> is 1,344<br />
• The quilt measures 68" x 68"<br />
• I'm going to make at least one more quilt like this because I'm slightly obsessed with half-square triangles.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-72803771702756605512014-12-04T06:00:00.000-07:002015-07-20T08:43:32.684-06:00Christine's Flower Garden<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old.</i><br />
–Jonathan Swift</span><br />
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When last we left off, we were pretending it was early September. I was hurriedly trying to get a signature quilt finished for a lovely lady I know who was turning 100. This is her graduation <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{photo of a}</span></i> photo in 1932. Isn't she beautiful? Nevermind you can see my reflection in the glass and I was too chicken/lazy to call her family and ask for a digital copy, which I know they had. Just ignore the extra head growing out of her right frontal lobe and the extra shoulder over her right ear.<br />
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Back to our story. As the deadline for the party drew near <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{which I might add was 11 days <b>before</b> her birthday. #talkaboutstressful}</span></i>, I started to collect signatures for this fantastic quilt that I'd dreamt up using 1930's reproduction fabrics to make 100 signature blocks for the lady who had just been coming into her own in the 30's and was now turning 100. That was really, really fun! Families from the neighborhood and many of her long-time friends stopped by to sign a block. It was so interesting to hear what they had to say and how they felt about Christine. It turns out that she is pretty much as amazing as I had suspected.<br />
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~time elapse~<br />
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Ta, da! Signed and assembled blocks with sashings ready to go. I used Sharpies because they are relatively inexpensive and have infamous non-solubility. Yes, I know they're not archival, but they come in such lovely colors and I'm hoping that the acid will all wash away when/if the quilt gets washed some day.<br />
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~time elapse~<br />
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All told, there are 338 signatures on this quilt<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZp-3i4soRGHMjCwgv4lOvUe99E9Gwo6izGPcXrDIWiko4AZL29UNUvtp5SYaCeat6W_VG-x_Iji3pMVpp_-Ti2kHCBSZmTsk0ouaTrI0l_k1QRxXdsh3QnyjsWBp0zFUKH-Luq1BvYF86/s1600/IMG_6063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZp-3i4soRGHMjCwgv4lOvUe99E9Gwo6izGPcXrDIWiko4AZL29UNUvtp5SYaCeat6W_VG-x_Iji3pMVpp_-Ti2kHCBSZmTsk0ouaTrI0l_k1QRxXdsh3QnyjsWBp0zFUKH-Luq1BvYF86/s1600/IMG_6063.JPG" height="396" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Christine is just as beautiful as ever, wouldn't you agree? She cried a little bit when I gave the quilt to her at the party. And, actually you can see it wasn't quite finished. Note the binding clips on two of the four sides. I told you they moved the party up 11 days, didn't I? So many people were invested in this quilt that I decided that taking it unfinished to display was the only option. I came back after the party, brought it home to finish the binding and took it to her the next day. We had a nice time looking over all the blocks together.<br />
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As I was working on this, I kept praying that I'd be able to get it done in time for her birthday. I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off. There were so many people involved that I didn't want to let them, myself, or Christine down <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{not that she was aware of the quilt, but I feel like it is kind of a let-down to give someone a gift after their birthday}</span></i>. There is a fellow quilter in my ward <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{congregation}</span></i> who has a long-arm and when she came to sign a block, she offered to do the quilting as her gift to Christine. Who am I to turn away the answer to a prayer when it knocks at my front door? It was a no-brainer to take her up on her offer.<br />
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I mentioned that it was fun to collect signatures, right? The top right square in the picture above went all the way to Pittsburgh and back to be signed by a family who used to live in our neighborhood. The block under that, in the bottom left corner, is signed by a little Japanese woman who has been friends with Christine for years. That, I think, is my favorite block of all.<br />
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The block below in the bottom left corner is a close second. The couple who came to sign this block dropped by at about 9:00 pm, and embarrassingly enough, I still hadn't cleaned the table from dinner. They were very gracious while I cleared away some dishes, wiped the table and pulled out fabric samples so they could pick which they liked best. The wife narrowed it down to three different blocks and then told her husband to choose. He started to choose something that was not in the options she offered. She got him back on track and then she asked him to sign for them because he had better writing. Their kind negotiations and the familiarity of their back-and-forth was very telling of a long marriage of cooperation, mutual respect and love, and friendship. Anyway, I think their birthday wish was rather creative.<br />
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Gratuitous artsy smartsy quilt shot. That trumpet vine makes the perfect backdrop for quilts. I wish it were in bloom all year round.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6NxdfkSBPmENco1G2li7VFXnAtTzWVHwdSor5oVr8eyaQVORY97EUIa38tN8OmIGb4-TXayPp2rnessG-9aigvFLbSiMjDViQe1vl53Qp96ORwOyxrfePi6XguM-2b7bfCHQW9YM8XOS/s1600/Finished+-+Hanging+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6NxdfkSBPmENco1G2li7VFXnAtTzWVHwdSor5oVr8eyaQVORY97EUIa38tN8OmIGb4-TXayPp2rnessG-9aigvFLbSiMjDViQe1vl53Qp96ORwOyxrfePi6XguM-2b7bfCHQW9YM8XOS/s1600/Finished+-+Hanging+2.JPG" height="318" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Christine still lives in the house her husband built for their family in the 60's. Her family checks in on her several times throughout the day. When the weather is good, she walks around the block. She was even still driving until just three years ago, when her eyesight became too poor. She still goes out in the early mornings, before the sun comes out <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{she's very careful to avoid exposure of her skin to the sun}</span></i> to weed her roses. I thought it fitting to call this quilt <i><b>Christine's Flower Garden</b></i>. The finish was really down to the wire and I didn't have time to sew the label into the back like I usually do, so I put it in the corner. I kind of love how it turned out.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMA7xamrlvgEtpkhyPEcVtelrBvG1IGi6GUHLwuTz7mR3DqWc1h_rDtK0o68WEKHBcXv3Uwrbf0sZ20hCfY1zCpldDEdiC2uWh3Gdll_NdZOmLjRBylwVB3a-qhhJY_8lTdtgF3UoY84c/s1600/Finished+Label.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMA7xamrlvgEtpkhyPEcVtelrBvG1IGi6GUHLwuTz7mR3DqWc1h_rDtK0o68WEKHBcXv3Uwrbf0sZ20hCfY1zCpldDEdiC2uWh3Gdll_NdZOmLjRBylwVB3a-qhhJY_8lTdtgF3UoY84c/s1600/Finished+Label.JPG" height="396" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b>More about this quilt:</b><br />
<a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-signature-block-conundrum.html">Working on a plan</a><br />
<a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-signature-block-resolution.html">Moving forward with a plan</a><br />
<a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/07/signature-block-quilt-update.html">The first half of the blocks </a><br />
<a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-rest-of-signature-blocks.html">The second half of the blocks</a>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-60697579149860107302014-11-10T06:40:00.000-07:002014-11-10T06:40:00.508-07:00The Rest of the Signature Blocks<span style="color: #990000;"><i>The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.</i> –Jean Paul</span><br />
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Let's pretend it is the beginning of September for a minute, instead of almost the middle of November. Then this will be a new and shiny project instead of old news. I've been working on signature blocks. I already <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/07/signature-block-quilt-update.html">showed</a> you these cute green blocks.<br />
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I'm working towards 100 blocks. Here are some more green ones.<br />
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I tried to do about the same number of blocks in each color. These are the last of the green ones. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmaoliimdz3_zvhMNOcPampAG54uyDnbk81SA4f7O1BodFLKtKW4m2tjPXMHdjqlKkUcvAtg3-29pCMEB1lo6Asl_PdTQXxILNdk41GWSTdBVYegT7FCFj3fDl0r1varfJTLnrsQrAL6q/s1600/Block+16b.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmaoliimdz3_zvhMNOcPampAG54uyDnbk81SA4f7O1BodFLKtKW4m2tjPXMHdjqlKkUcvAtg3-29pCMEB1lo6Asl_PdTQXxILNdk41GWSTdBVYegT7FCFj3fDl0r1varfJTLnrsQrAL6q/s1600/Block+16b.PNG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br />
My turquoises aren't very turquoisey, but love these pretty 1930's reproduction fabrics.<br />
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More turquoise blocks. I'm going to put these together into a quilt for sweet lady in my ward <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{congregation}</i></span> who is turning 100.<br />
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The last four turquoise blocks. In 1930 this friend of mine, Christine, turned 16. That's why I wanted to use the reproduction fabrics.<br />
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I love this sweet blue print.<br />
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And this one.<br />
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And this one.<br />
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I was really excited to finally get to the purple blocks. Partly because they are such pretty fabrics and partly because I meant I was almost done!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08EnWMSxoejSpOySbqCv3ZFBE40Jk4hbKjAZsbFVM1oVFKSWFAOVpJi3V0FbrkEijgKVC02y4gAnoD1oDtJMeUbQyLvkeL5_L9CRtJEuRnJr0bIU23el2u-vv57N36VEcAhJRpVT5v5fK/s1600/Block+23b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08EnWMSxoejSpOySbqCv3ZFBE40Jk4hbKjAZsbFVM1oVFKSWFAOVpJi3V0FbrkEijgKVC02y4gAnoD1oDtJMeUbQyLvkeL5_L9CRtJEuRnJr0bIU23el2u-vv57N36VEcAhJRpVT5v5fK/s1600/Block+23b.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The blocks are 5" and paper pieced. I <a href="http://quiltfool.blogspot.com/2013/10/paper-piecing.html">printed the pattern out on freezer paper</a>, which meant I could peel the whole pattern off the back of the blocks when I was done.<br />
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To be honest, I was really relieved to get these last four blocks done. Christine's birthday is September 17<sup>th</sup>. But the party is scheduled for the 6<sup>th</sup>.<br />
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And here's a little recap of all 100 blocks – 25 sets of four.<br />
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Time to get them signed and all put together!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZNdGPR5vQariAUli2v6Y0xxvlO1qGMBwJfjGRIGvFzc19ewL203rPDY7dxP_2tT658ZuFyONmXJcEELmHCV5hyphenhyphennItUnV6wlSGgmx91BdlBssZQRYbKoSMuCLiGik9dExk9Gb810oT4ne/s1600/Blocks+14-25.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZNdGPR5vQariAUli2v6Y0xxvlO1qGMBwJfjGRIGvFzc19ewL203rPDY7dxP_2tT658ZuFyONmXJcEELmHCV5hyphenhyphennItUnV6wlSGgmx91BdlBssZQRYbKoSMuCLiGik9dExk9Gb810oT4ne/s1600/Blocks+14-25.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-20966980612794938252014-11-08T07:14:00.000-07:002014-11-08T07:14:00.334-07:00The Story of My Life<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Happily ever after isn't a fairy tale. It's a choice.</i> –Dawn Weaver</span><br />
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This is one of my favorite wedding pictures. It serves as a reminder that some things never change. My hairstyle has been pretty much the same for the last 18 years. And Mr. Bug still has that amazing smile.<br />
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What a photo can't measure is how much two people can grow together.<br />
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I've spent 43% of my life with Mr. Bug. It is impossible to imagine life without him. It hasn't always been easy, but the struggles make the good times even sweeter!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yET4p-r2TI8?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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P.S. This video portrays a very sweet love story. Don't ruin it by looking up they lyrics for the song. They are kind of depressing.<br />
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P.S.S. <a href="http://www.cornwagonquilts.com/">The Corn Wagon Quilt Company</a>, my favorite LQS is also celebrating their anniversary today. They have $1.99 fat quarters from 9 to 10 am. I think I'm going to do some double anniversary celebrating today.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-48787478462322408952014-11-02T07:30:00.000-07:002014-11-02T07:30:00.237-07:00Sabbath Songs: Glorious<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i><br />
There are times when you might feel aimless<br />
You can't see the places where you belong<br />
But you will find that there is a purpose<br />
It's been there within you all along<br />
And when you're near it<br />
You can almost hear it<br />
<br />
It's like a symphony just keep listenin'<br />
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out yo part<br />
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies<br />
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;">–Stephanie Mabey</span></div><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GytW_rgr0RM?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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This beautiful song is featured in <a href="http://meetthemormons.com/#/filter-all/page-1"><i>Meet the Mormons</i></a>, which chronicles the day-to-day realities of six members of <a href="http://www.mormon.org/">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints</a> living in countries around the world. If you love cutie David Archuleta's voice a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/meetthemormons?sk=app_107727025983833">free mp3 download</a> of this song is available.<br />
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<iframe width="420" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/n2Y8Jalsf54?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://meetthemormons.com/locations">Find a theater near you</a>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-89530076660569177192014-10-31T21:30:00.000-06:002014-11-01T10:55:14.206-06:00Mischief Managed<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death but to inspire yourself to life.</i> –Adele Brookman</span><br />
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I suppose it is just as well that I haven't blogged in several months because the cobwebs on the decor seem to fit nicely with the theme of the day.<br />
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I'd really like to dust off the old blog and get back to regular posting. It's been one wild and crazy adventure at Bug Cottage lately, and totally in a good way. I increased my work hours over the summer to close to full-time, which is counter-intuitive since the Not-So-Little Bugs are home more during the summer, but things all worked out. When school started, I took on some new responsibilities at work and so bumping up to full-time followed.<br />
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As time has gone by, I've been keeping a mental list of all the things that I want to blog about, but the list keeps increasing and it seems so daunting a task that I haven't had the nerve to start. I've done lots of fun sewing though, and I'm hoping to get in a few posts about that soon. In case you were curious, I did finish the <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/07/signature-block-quilt-update.html">Signature Quilt</a> for the woman who turned 100 in September. The party was 11 days before her birthday so it was close, but I got it done in time.<br />
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As you can imagine, I've been spending a little more time than I used to at work. They are a really wild and crazy bunch. One of the programmers pulled the best prank ever today.<br />
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Halloween is my favorite. Dressing up is so much fun. There was a costume contest today <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{winners to be announced Monday}</span></i> and my office mate and I decided that we were going to be Minions. We were nicknamed the AdMinions <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{Admin + Minions}</span></i>. It was a great collaboration and I think we pulled it together nicely.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/qTSDL94_Y7M?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-67292034281964096602014-07-27T06:32:00.000-06:002014-07-27T06:32:00.359-06:00Girl's Camp Highlights<span style="color: #990000;"><i>In the strength of the Lord I can do all things.<br />
He know hows to change the weakness in me,<br />
So I will let His love lift me up.<br />
He believes I can do hard things if I will trust Him,<br />
And walk forward in the strength of the Lord.</i> –Jenny Phillips</span><br />
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<b>Monday, June 2</b><br />
Waaaayyyyy back at the beginning of June, LadyBug and I went to <a href="http://www.hebervalleycamp.org/">Girl's Camp</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{Can you believe that 23 teenagers turned up at 7:00 am to go camping?<br />
LadyBug is on the front row, second from the right.<br />
I am on the front row, third from the left.}</span></i></td></tr>
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I use the term "camping" here very loosely. It was a lot different than when I went to camp as a young woman. We had to sleep in tents, dig latrines, and cook on a <a href="http://www.whispersfromelizabeth.com/2012/07/cooking-without-electricity-number-10.html">number 10 can stove</a>. There were a few similarities. We were definitely up in the mountains, surrounded by trees and deer and nature. But that is where the similarities ended. We slept cabins with bunk beds <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{there were no mattresses; you had to bring a foam pad, but is definitely better than sleeping on the ground}</span></i>. We had electricity and running water and flushing toilets and <i>showers</i> <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{never mind that finding time to take one was a completely different matter}</i></span>. We still had to cook on propane camp stoves and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belding's_ground_squirrel">pot guts</a> ventured into our pavilion area to pick up any food we dropped. But there was a fridge in a pantry area with a door that closed to keep the pot guts from getting into the food storage. On a scale from one to roughing it, I'd say we were only one step down from the Ramada Inn.<br />
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The camp is situated on 8,000 acres and about 2,500 girls stay there each week. Over the course of the summer 70,000 young women each spend five days enjoying the best Utah has to offer. We left bright and early Monday morning. We had 23 young women from our <a href="http://www.mormonjargon.com/ward.html">ward</a> attend. After we unpacked our gear and settled in, we had several fun activities with the other young women in our <a href="http://youtu.be/Tku-1DTiRMw">stake</a> <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{around 100 more girls}</span></i>, including a rousing version of <a href="http://youtu.be/Tku-1DTiRMw">Bazooka Bubble Gum</a>, complete with gum for chewing.<br />
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<b>Tuesday, June 3</b><br />
Tuesday was hike day. There were several different hikes as part of the camp certification, and which hike you went on depended on how many years you'd attended camp. I went with the first-year girls. It was a little short of a 3-mile hike and all of the first-years in the stake went together. It wasn't LadyBug's favorite activity. We went at our own pace, walking at almost the back of the procession, but we made it in the end. The trails were amazing, criss-crossing all over the camp and marked with signs so that you could find your way to and from almost anywhere. We didn't have a particular destination, but just made a loop back around to our campsite. The paths were wide enough for only one person and we were asked to stay on the paths, preserving the foliage. It was incredibly beautiful and very peaceful. Even though there were 2,400 other girls there somewhere on the mountain, aside from the girls in our stake, I felt like we had the place to ourselves.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{<b>Top left:</b> Legacy Lake<br />
<b>Top Right:</b> LadyBug and me at the summit of our hike<br />
I know that hat is dorky, but I wear it anyway<br />
<b>Center:</b> Entire group of first-year campers<br />
<b>Bottom Left:</b> My first year campers - Kenna, LadyBug, Abbey, Me and Jada<br />
Jada just turned 13 and the other girls are 12<br />
<b>Bottom Right:</b> Moving upwards along the trail}</span></i></td></tr>
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<b>Wednesday, June 4</b><br />
Wednesday we got to go canoeing on Legacy Lake. It was my favorite day. LadyBug, one of our other girls, and I shared a canoe and had so much fun paddling around.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{The bottom picture is a panorama of about ¼ of the shoreline.<br />
Right click on the photo to open in a new tab so you can zoom in for more details.}</span></i></td></tr>
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Wednesday, we also provided the camp an hour of service. I was so amazing at how self-sustaining the camp is. It is staffed mostly by volunteers; retired couples serving together. They have their own water treatment plant and everyone who comes and stays at the camp gets an opportunity to give back just a little bit. During our service, we pulled some logs along the trail back to our campsite to be cut into firewood. Prior to that, someone had been into the woods to cut down trees that had died. The trees were cut into manageable size logs and dragged to the trail for us to take back to camp. From there someone else cut it into firewood so that we could use it in the evenings for campfires and s'mores. Anything that wasn't large enough for firewood was run through the wood chipper by someone in our group and then later, another group could take it in wheelbarrows along the trails to keep them from getting too dusty and dry. In one our, we provided the camp 125 man-hours so that the next group could enjoy this beautiful camp.<br />
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<b>Thursday, June 5</b><br />
Thursday was the challenge course. There were five or six <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{I forget}</span></i> low challenges and each ward was asked to send one or two leaders to be trained on those so they could help the girls when it was their challenge course day. It had a really fun time helping the girls and the challenge course is one of their favorite activities for the week. The high challenge, of course, is the highlight of the day. LadyBug and I were in separate groups; my group did the high challenge first and then moved on to the low challenge where I was trained. From there they moved on to the other courses and I stayed put. I got to see and help LadyBug and my other girls when they came through my challenge, but didn't get to see any of them on the high course. I was told that LadyBug met the challenge with determination.<br />
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You start by climbing a rope ladder. Then you have to move from the rope ladder to a suspension "bridge." At the end of the bridge, you get to go on a zip line. My goal for the week was to enjoy the experience as much as possible, so I didn't think about it, but just put the harness on and climbed the ladder one step at a time. I'm so glad I did.<br />
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<b>Friday, June 6</b><br />
When I was asked to work with the Young Women in my ward January, I knew that I would get to do a lot of fun things. And there would be some hard things, too. Girl's Camp was hard <b>and</b> wonderful. When you throw 23 girls together into two cabins and they spend all week hiking and canoeing and staying up late giggling, there is bound to be some drama. But I have to say, the drama among these girls was minimal.<br />
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Aside from all the fun things we did at camp, there were opportunities to feel God's love and guidance and to learn together. We met together as a stake for <a href="http://mormonjargon.com/familyhomeevening.html">Family Home Evening</a> on Monday. We had wonderful speakers on Tuesday and Wednesday night. We sang together and prayed together. Thursday night we spent together as a ward talking about our experiences and the things we had learned. And each of us was able to spend some quiet time reflecting, praying and studying. Those private moments I spent seeking guidance from the Lord were well spent and have helped me to make some important decisions.<br />
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We were all also given a challenge to complete during the week. There were scriptures to memorize, songs to learn, <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng">talks</a> to read, questions to answer. You could complete the challenge at your own pace and every one of the 23 girls in our ward, plus all of the leaders who attended {believe me, there was no way I could have pulled it off by myself. The camp director was spectacular, as were the other two leaders who came up} finished the challenge. As recognition for this, we were given a beautiful silver pendant with a young woman and the <a href="https://www.lds.org/church/temples/new-provo-temple-provo-tabernacle?lang=eng">Provo City Center Temple</a> <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{currently under construction, and which is <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/10/something-better.html">very special to me</a>}</span></i> etched in gold. These were created just for our stake and I was so thrilled to earn mine!<br />
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All too soon, our week at camp was over. We were packed and ready to go by 9:00 am. I was home, unpacked, the braids out of my hair, showered and smelling sweet as ever by about 2:00 Friday afternoon. In the weeks since then, even though I got rid of the camping smell, I haven't forgotten the things that I felt and learned there; most importantly that in the strength of the Lord, I can do all things.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/P1OlpghORU4?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-17822961291753977302014-07-05T13:15:00.001-06:002014-07-05T13:15:52.717-06:00Signature Block Quilt Update<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Some quit due to slow progress never grasping the fact that slow progress is progress.</i> –Unknown</span><br />
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For me, life is particularly busy lately and quilting and blogging have had to kind of take a back seat. Work is busy. My kids are high on the priority list. I spend a lot of time cooking, because I have to. Gluten free and dairy free is hard to find in fast food restaurants or even in prepared or partially prepared foods at the grocery store. I'm not complaining. We're eating a lot more fresh foods without preservatives. And I've enjoyed exploring new tastes and finding ways to eat delicious food that doesn't disagree with my body. I've become a curry addict. It is awesome.<br />
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Right now, the sewing project that occupies my limited time is a signature quilt for a very special lady in my neighborhood who is turning 100 in September. I've been thinking of this quilt since she turned 99 last September. I bought fabric clear back in March. And I've been working on blocks since mid-May. Each set of four blocks takes about an hour, give-or-take, depending on how interesting/how much attention the TV show I'm watching/listening to requires. About an hour a day is all I have for sewing and what seemed like slow progress has turned into this beautiful stack of 52 blocks.<br />
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Since I didn't post as I went you get all the blocks in one giant, picture heavy post. A lot of the prints came from the 30's Playtime line by Chloe's Closet for Moda. This is one of them.<br />
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Loved this print! It came in several colors and it was hard not to get them all.<br />
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This is how I left things when I finished working that particular evening. The next morning, it looked like a perfectly staged photo op, so I took it.<br />
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Moving on to the reds.<br />
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See comment on pink block in same print above.<br />
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This is another print that I had a hard time not buying in every color. I love those pretty roses!<br />
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Orange is such an underrated color.<br />
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This one is a Lori Holt print.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibe2v1tHmVB1Tq51K4QdSCqJFojTRH3BpDRyRnMaWNlmAthvr5itRHkCHdJdKUjIKT_ncXCUit_LuMS0c1KDYa8uovOZ4WVKyDLztTWbfbQPRev92UIxu4v_R_adBSeFngzobbHwYLPxT3/s1600/Block+8b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibe2v1tHmVB1Tq51K4QdSCqJFojTRH3BpDRyRnMaWNlmAthvr5itRHkCHdJdKUjIKT_ncXCUit_LuMS0c1KDYa8uovOZ4WVKyDLztTWbfbQPRev92UIxu4v_R_adBSeFngzobbHwYLPxT3/s1600/Block+8b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
Each set of four blocks takes a little less than half of a fat quarter. I'm definitely going to use this print in a fall quilt.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdNl3quGKG6yfp3JR3po9TTacjFsevnKawhrkyidtD2RBONhNvyxUDrnoYKyCXa4HkUIa5OZS70PBd7X3zcB9orFA2iTkle-bKFLVkuImHBqq-MjYk1L8ngKwtKiBnGRUpGkKHTTiPcIg/s1600/Block+9b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdNl3quGKG6yfp3JR3po9TTacjFsevnKawhrkyidtD2RBONhNvyxUDrnoYKyCXa4HkUIa5OZS70PBd7X3zcB9orFA2iTkle-bKFLVkuImHBqq-MjYk1L8ngKwtKiBnGRUpGkKHTTiPcIg/s1600/Block+9b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
I love yellow. It is so sunny and bright. This is another print that came in several different colors, but I only got it in yellow.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXS9Y7LsirP1rbnSo4vYOv7NASSOZopC_RG2oA4PkYINiCHfllZFxSFnjkceiom_L8AF7bx1AkWHSImS9uF0TjLkj7msS1Nn-qCjvJ3FtjDCrWUPG59X1HDkI_ALCIO09D1Un43EN0xsj/s1600/Block+10b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXS9Y7LsirP1rbnSo4vYOv7NASSOZopC_RG2oA4PkYINiCHfllZFxSFnjkceiom_L8AF7bx1AkWHSImS9uF0TjLkj7msS1Nn-qCjvJ3FtjDCrWUPG59X1HDkI_ALCIO09D1Un43EN0xsj/s1600/Block+10b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
This sweet print might just be my favorite, but I can't say for sure.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwKWdtKivbBOdBQTN82rY5t1AybzIkZJsbGCp7X14N1ahRa9KlNAYyzjifGaX-YA8uVJox8adWye8ekboyPdXwRLHBhRIf2WMtEaMa6UdRK-mj_lsixivUOxgJKXnFSUaHGBso_Iezo_zV/s1600/Block+11b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwKWdtKivbBOdBQTN82rY5t1AybzIkZJsbGCp7X14N1ahRa9KlNAYyzjifGaX-YA8uVJox8adWye8ekboyPdXwRLHBhRIf2WMtEaMa6UdRK-mj_lsixivUOxgJKXnFSUaHGBso_Iezo_zV/s1600/Block+11b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
The rose print also came in yellow. I didn't get more than two colors of any print, but it was tempting.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJNy8zqfQIdC7JN3batifhKSnM4C_a4jKpDyor-5GiTar2QgKSSOb9NtaplZNS8roFqDPXGAUInpXYDad954liMMZsbG3YKkUHWSI3Xay9zyz3YF2a4HP7c69YkrPztWcXNQg8kLq3qdE/s1600/Block+12b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJNy8zqfQIdC7JN3batifhKSnM4C_a4jKpDyor-5GiTar2QgKSSOb9NtaplZNS8roFqDPXGAUInpXYDad954liMMZsbG3YKkUHWSI3Xay9zyz3YF2a4HP7c69YkrPztWcXNQg8kLq3qdE/s1600/Block+12b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
This, I think, was my least favorite print. But once I cut it and put it together, I like it. A lot.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJVQjtavoKA3JG0eTvQSMy9AowoFsxGzBFDpzj9jHYtRqVs2XLaOLF1M7XzthWobFjKRSSxMb0t28roJABFKcRAgrzw7035v1VACYU6mNKlIL_6ZLKbYVDw-lu91YWNKMHbeh9TYwGotT/s1600/Block+13B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJVQjtavoKA3JG0eTvQSMy9AowoFsxGzBFDpzj9jHYtRqVs2XLaOLF1M7XzthWobFjKRSSxMb0t28roJABFKcRAgrzw7035v1VACYU6mNKlIL_6ZLKbYVDw-lu91YWNKMHbeh9TYwGotT/s1600/Block+13B.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
All put together, those 52 blocks make 13 of the 25 flowers for the quilt <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{<a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-signature-block-resolution.html">layout</a>}</span></i>. I'm more than half-way to 100 signature blocks! That is pretty exciting! The half-way point is sort of the barrier to me; it is where the mundane becomes exciting again because what I have left is less than what I've already accomplished.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vQUaLdSkUhlWc9kHEU-str-8LtB7FwUBZG-x5Bo0zGMfmKPG_qutZ7JQzrHTzUUIcNBsrdR4EVRUptZp3cuOAuDE5U8JhnIgj6rcpKFBuUcN40fsImgmhtNZhSWxjgzMAUQfPNWFErkg/s1600/Blocks+1-13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vQUaLdSkUhlWc9kHEU-str-8LtB7FwUBZG-x5Bo0zGMfmKPG_qutZ7JQzrHTzUUIcNBsrdR4EVRUptZp3cuOAuDE5U8JhnIgj6rcpKFBuUcN40fsImgmhtNZhSWxjgzMAUQfPNWFErkg/s1600/Blocks+1-13.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
After I put together the collage, I started in on the green fabrics. If you ask me my favorite color, I would probably say blue. Or maybe red. But secretly, I think that green is my real favorite color. And now I have 56 of 100 blocks done.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6i84-MA1QIyG-SKGSgM9T4wltUjsp6PMvOG1MzJVAyYw8SMcWx0NzM3ReV_SFloGL7ULUgO5WJ6sPNP6eYjACedkZHoyE92qPPTTYEpYmCAJ4anfSAkqp-dCZopiRuBiMwDUnJNNyclb/s1600/Block+14b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6i84-MA1QIyG-SKGSgM9T4wltUjsp6PMvOG1MzJVAyYw8SMcWx0NzM3ReV_SFloGL7ULUgO5WJ6sPNP6eYjACedkZHoyE92qPPTTYEpYmCAJ4anfSAkqp-dCZopiRuBiMwDUnJNNyclb/s1600/Block+14b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-79289656626418244892014-07-03T21:15:00.000-06:002014-07-03T21:15:05.119-06:00A Stitch In Time: May Finishes Giveaway Winner<span style="color: #990000;"><i>A stitch in time saves nine.</i> –English Proverb</span><br />
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So, I looked up the phrase <i>"a stitch in time saves nine."</i> I wanted to know its origins. Also, finding the perfect quote for my posts is a part of my process. Sometimes a quote is exactly what I need to tie everything into a nice, tidy prose package. Sometimes it takes me in a different direction. And sometimes, it just distracts me. There's a lot of information out there, if you know what I mean.<br />
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I always thought that <i>"a stitch in time saves nine"</i> meant that if you hurry and do a sloppy job, you'll have to redo. Or in the in the case of sewing <b>unpick</b> and redo. I don't know about you, but I hate unpicking. But from what I read, the saying is meant as a warning against procrastination. A small tear mended now will require only one stitch, but if you leave it and it gets bigger, you'll need 10 stitches to fix it. And if you rearrange the letters of this little advisory, they spell out, <i>"this is meant as incentive."</i> I'm a world class procrastinator. Perhaps I should take the incentive.<br />
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Words of caution with subliminal messages aside, I thought it was a clever play on the words to name a linky party for finished stitched projects each month <i>"A Stitch In Time."</i><br />
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The irony of all of this is that I am just now posting the winner of the May Finishes Linky Party. I've been putting it off until I have a chance to click and comment on all of the links. I like to do a thing properly. After all, a linky party is all about showing off your stuff in a socially acceptable forum. And seeing all of your beautiful finishes is something that I really enjoy. But too much time has passed and I need to announce the winner.<br />
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Before I do that, I have an item of housekeeping. I <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/06/amelie-pattern-giveaway-winner-stitch.html">cancelled the June Linky</a> and mentioned that I may take the whole summer off. Obviously, the linky is on hold as I haven't opened a July post. At the moment, I haven't decided whether I'll be starting up again after the summer or not. But I absolutely reserve the rights to the name <i>"A Stitch In Time"</i> when I do start back up.<br />
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Thank you to everyone who has participated over the last 2½ years and thank you to the many who linked up in May. Without further ado, the winning number, drawn by LadyBug, is 10.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/30s-playtime-charm-pack-23084" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="30's Playtime Charm Pack" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODPCDqaE5HF8gxbWMCn6hVYZOZU2xsiG-gD-RZJtJnkai4bgA9-CNiWv4r45giQ4mPCv7LWTDJOHUYSnK_fjzyiVLWZc_4FhjiOH9dYtEm4L4YK7aOCeZGOu7TI_lOHaCwsJC4xYPWQ6T/s460-no/30%2527s+Playtime.JPG" width="150" /></a> </center><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Congratulations to</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=":partytime:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAUujoQypCofBxlBh6AlMY8dQSk74HBpb0Zzg7iih0LkI_RfYg2FQQsNHPrTCbUtXAoPQwUXyOvFyioIAWedfer1v3aEPNHF2bJhBBfX8_VWAtmokkwcIoTZVHhBWwl34-1UhIAhIEv0K/s41/Party%2520Time.gif" title="Party Time" /> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Beth</span></b> <img alt=":partytime:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAUujoQypCofBxlBh6AlMY8dQSk74HBpb0Zzg7iih0LkI_RfYg2FQQsNHPrTCbUtXAoPQwUXyOvFyioIAWedfer1v3aEPNHF2bJhBBfX8_VWAtmokkwcIoTZVHhBWwl34-1UhIAhIEv0K/s41/Party%2520Time.gif" title="Party Time" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">at <a href="romchaoscomescreations.blogspot.com/">From Chaos Comes Creations</a></div><br />
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Beth will receive a <a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/30s-playtime-charm-pack-23084">30' Playtime Charm Pack</a> by Chloe's Closet for Moda from <a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/">The Fat Quarter Shop</a>, provided I haven't procrastinated too long and they are still in stock. Make sure you check out the <a href="http://fromchaoscomescreations.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-finish.html">adorable place mats</a> she made for her mom. There were lots of other great finishes in May, too. Since I haven't been able to check them all out, how about if you tell me which, of those you visited, were your favorites?<br />
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<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=232948" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<center>Today's post brought to you by:</center><center><a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZA5G-lgDIdp7ZwQ3p6BH5ZKtrL04O5DLQbKVYn6wR7c532W-R4RYmLU3VCW_1ikkJrITBa3wAgpKmlajzh_eobe4UyorVUWBN2aAd8qWdZTBldU5Sph-8-KH0nsvW9p4-fDqF2zo3uXiU/s180-no/FatQuarterShop-Circle-180x180.png" /></a></center>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-57122398256346081372014-06-15T13:47:00.000-06:002014-06-15T13:47:33.329-06:00Earthly Father, Heavenly Father<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine.</i> –James E. Faust</span><br />
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From my father I inherited blue eyes, artistic abilities and a keen mind.<br />
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From my husband, the father of my children, I have learned patience and grace.<br />
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From my Heavenly Father, I have been given faith, hope, strength and forgiveness.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="237" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/R5FxdCgD-qI?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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In recognition of all the wonderful men who have shaped my life, my dad and my husband especially, and for all those men who give their all to influence and teach the children around them, to you I wish—<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy Father's Day!</span></div><br />
<a href="http://dad.mormon.org/">#aFathersLove</a>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-75937416334045768822014-06-01T19:24:00.001-06:002014-06-01T22:33:48.511-06:00Amelie Pattern Giveaway Winner, A Stitch in Time: June, and My Trip to Crazy Town<span style="color: #990000;"><i>The human mind is not a terribly logical or consistent place.</i> –Jim Butcher, <i>Turn Coat</i></span><br />
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I usually reserve Sundays for posts of a more spiritual nature. Today, however, my back is up against a wall. I've yet to announce the winner of the <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/05/giveaway-amelie-purse-pattern-from.html">promised giveaway</a> and there should be some sort of linky party going on around here starting today. With my most humblest apologies for not being on top of everything like I always think I can, let's take care of some business.<br />
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First, I threw everyone's name who entered for the giveaway into a hat. OK, it was a dish, but you know what I mean. And Grasshopper pulled out the winner.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Congratulations to</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=":partytime:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAUujoQypCofBxlBh6AlMY8dQSk74HBpb0Zzg7iih0LkI_RfYg2FQQsNHPrTCbUtXAoPQwUXyOvFyioIAWedfer1v3aEPNHF2bJhBBfX8_VWAtmokkwcIoTZVHhBWwl34-1UhIAhIEv0K/s41/Party%2520Time.gif" title="Party Time" /> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">P.</span></b> <img alt=":partytime:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAUujoQypCofBxlBh6AlMY8dQSk74HBpb0Zzg7iih0LkI_RfYg2FQQsNHPrTCbUtXAoPQwUXyOvFyioIAWedfer1v3aEPNHF2bJhBBfX8_VWAtmokkwcIoTZVHhBWwl34-1UhIAhIEv0K/s41/Party%2520Time.gif" title="Party Time" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">at <a href="http://thewayisewit.blogspot.com/">The Way I Sew It</a></div><br />
P., check your inbox <img alt=":wink:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicP3g3QfZeQP0NqwceNERsmm6RJSGmm2cPDgVXOdILbqoh4t_5txOp-TuuPT9rWHCP0LMS4pONVXfzHXjDDvpVJgHTphSEpq6ak3YzKrSyjGcEMVgsq5XikhaFYGsCd0aCoTza8LdbuZu0/s17/Wink.gif" title="Wink" />.<br />
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Now, about the June Linky Party. I've debated back and forth and have decided that there will not be a linky party for June. I'm also considering taking the summer off. And maybe not ever starting back up again after that. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'm juggling a lot and while it is really hard to let go emotionally to the idea that I can do everything, it makes the most sense at the moment to let a few things go. The June Linky Party is one of those things.<br />
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You see, LadyBug and I are going to <a href="http://www.hebervalleycamp.org/">Girl's Camp</a> for the week. It's this thing we do in <a href="http://www.mormon.org/">our Church</a> to torture the girls by making them survive out in the wilderness for five consecutive days without technology and also to make the leaders crazy getting ready for it. I happen to be on the Crazy Town Express at the moment. I still have packing to do, my gluten and dairy free food substitutions to prep and about fifty other things before my self-mandated 9:00 pm bedtime, because I have to be up at oh-five-hundred hours tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure the <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/no-bake-dark-chocolate-granola-bites/">No-Bake Dark Chocolate Granola Bites</a> that I made a special trip to the Health Food Store to get Sunbutter for <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{like peanut butter, only made with sunflower seeds}</span></i> because peanut butter and I don't get along, and then discovered I'd left my wallet and home and had to run home and back in order to make my purchase are not going to get made.<br />
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Our packing lists are about a mile long and we have to make everything fit into one bag. LadyBug and I just spent 25 minutes coercing foam pads into rolls so that we might have some hope of sleep this week. We're not <i>really</i> camping. We're sleeping in cabins and the cabins have bunk beds, but the bunk beds just have wooden bottoms — no mattresses. Hence the need for foam pads. We also have showers with hot running water if you're the first or second in line. And kitchens with fridges and electricity and everything. There's a canoe lake and a ropes course and hiking and the food is fantastic, from what I hear. So, it isn't really camping. But it isn't like home. And it <i>is</i> a lot of work to get ready for it. I'm not ready.<br />
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Wish me luck!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-45319923360902370422014-05-28T06:54:00.000-06:002014-05-28T06:54:00.818-06:00Beef Stroganoff Can Be Gluten and Dairy Free and Still Taste Good<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Cooking is not difficult. Everyone has taste, even if they don't realize it. Even if you're not a great chef, there's nothing to stop you understanding the difference between what tastes good and what doesn't.</i> –Gérard Depardieu</span><br />
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I fought it for a really long time. I did not want to give up gluten — in essence, my daily bread. I was tested for Celiac and it came back negative. I gave up dairy almost a year-and-a-half ago, which was really, really hard. It was hard enough eating diary free without adding gluten to the mix so I stubbornly stuck to my gluten-laden diet because I don't have Celiac disease. I was convinced that it wouldn't help. I couldn't have been more wrong. I was eating myself sick. Within 3 days of giving up gluten, I felt better than I had in months. It's been a little over two months now and I feel like a normal person again. I can't believe what a huge difference it has made.<br />
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Coming up with menus that aren't monotonous is difficult. And living dairy and gluten free limits what you can make but necessitates cooking almost every day. Very few restaurants cater to special diets. You can only eat so many salads with vinaigrette dressing without getting bored. And there are cross-contamination issues, as well, when eating out. This week, I felt like I was out of ideas, so I rummaged around on Pinterest and found a few things I'd <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/suchasewandsew/">pinned</a> a while ago and decided to give them a try. First up, was the most amazing <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/bean-curry/">Black-Eyed Pea Curry</a> from Mel over at <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/">Mel's Kitchen Cafe</a>. Her recipes use mostly fresh ingredients, so it is easy to substitute if necessary. This curry called for half-and-half, but I used canned coconut milk instead, added cauliflower as suggested in her notes but not included in the recipe and omitted the cilantro because I'm not a big fan. After tasting it, I could see how the cilantro would have complimented the flavors, so if you like it, I'd say go for it. As it was, I thought it was heaven on a plate. We will definitely be having more curry around here in the future.<br />
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Mel also has this <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/wild-rice-hot-dish-a-k-a-casserole/">casserole</a> <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{she calls it a hot dish}</span></i> that I've been romancing for the past year or so. It is an upscale version of one of my favorite casseroles. Mine uses cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups and plain white rice, with a splash of soy sauce, some hamburger, onions and garlic and chow mein noodles on top. Hers uses butter, flour, milk and spices to flavor wild rice. The first time I made it, I used a wild rice blend, butter substitute and almond milk and halved the recipe but otherwise followed it exactly. The rice came out crunchy and under done, and it was all burned to the bottom of the pan. The second time I tried it, I made the same changes as before but I tried cooked the rice half-way by using only half the water and half the time, hoping that the time in the oven as part of the casserole would finish cooking it all the way. It was an epic fail. For some reason, it was too salty. Way too salty <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{operator error, I'm guessing}</span></i> and the rice still wasn't done.<br />
<br />
Several months ago, I gave it one more try. I still used half the amount of rice and still did a wild rice blend, but I cooked it all the way before putting it into the casserole. I also used the full amount for the sauce ingredients <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{subbing in dairy-free only; I was still in denial about being gluten intolerant}</span></i> and added in a tablespoon of soy sauce. It was spot on. I was going to make this recipe last week, but I was still <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/05/giveaway-amelie-purse-pattern-from.html">recovering from surgery</a>, so it got bumped to this week's menu. As chance would have it, we had a leftover steak that Mr. Bug had grilled up for us on Friday night, so I decided to use it to make beef stroganoff night before last or as close to it as you can get without using dairy or gluten. I used the sauce recipe from Mel's casserole, modified slightly, and I thought it was pretty tasty. Without dairy, it isn't exact, but it is pretty darn close so I thought I'd share.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Lightfoot; font-size: 20px; line-height: 23px;"><b>Beef Stroganoff</b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJp3RCSA5lqsnj3LYeSQQLMJQKJuBHhrrYU0SeKEkN4IvDpZBv_DiSEQ12RjbmbuJq9AeEpNoqQw3MkeYVUaHXpF8f-PwdXa1j4ZJniEC0xH3hb3ChzcXqYCIILWbXfrX7D63MwAiM-5Pj/s809-no/Beef+Stroganoff.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJp3RCSA5lqsnj3LYeSQQLMJQKJuBHhrrYU0SeKEkN4IvDpZBv_DiSEQ12RjbmbuJq9AeEpNoqQw3MkeYVUaHXpF8f-PwdXa1j4ZJniEC0xH3hb3ChzcXqYCIILWbXfrX7D63MwAiM-5Pj/s809-no/Beef+Stroganoff.JPG" height="300" width="300" /></a></div>½ to 1 lb. beef (leftover roast beef, stew meat, steak – raw or left over), cut to bite size pieces<br />
2 tablespoons <a href="http://earthbalancenatural.com/product/olive-oil-buttery-spread/">butter substitute</a> or olive oil<br />
1 small onion, finely diced<br />
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed<br />
8 oz. mushrooms, diced<br />
¼ cup corn starch<br />
1½ cups beef broth<br />
¾ cup rice milk (or 1 cup almond milk)<br />
½ teaspoon salt<br />
¼ teaspoon celery salt<br />
¼ teaspoon onion salt<br />
¼ teaspoon garlic salt<br />
¼ teaspoon pepper<br />
<br />
8 oz. gluten-free pasta<br />
<br />
• Cook pasta according to package directions. Do not drain until ready to serve.<br />
• In a 10” skillet, brown the beef on medium high heat until juices caramelize on the bottom of the pan {works with both leftover and raw meat}. If your pan is non-stick, you don't need to add any oil, but if it is a regular pan, add a little olive oil to keep the meat from sticking. Transfer the meat to a plate and cover with foil.<br />
• Return the skillet to the stove and add butter substitute or olive oil and melt over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes until the onions are translucent and most of the liquid has evaporated from the mushrooms. Sprinkle the corn starch over the vegetables and stir to combine. Continue stirring and cook the mixture for about 1 minute.<br />
• Slowly whisk the broth and milk into the skillet. Add the salt, celery salt, onion salt, garlic salt and pepper and stir to combine.<br />
• Return the meat, with any juices that might have accumulated, back to the skillet and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 4 to 5 minutes.<br />
• Serve over hot pasta.<br />
Serves 4<br />
<br />
<b>Notes:</b><br />
• I used <a href="http://www.heartlandpasta.com/products/gf-fusilli-hl">Heartland Fusilli pasta</a>. It was excellent. You can find it on the regular pasta aisle at Wal-Mart.<br />
• Rice milk doesn’t thicken as much as almond milk, but I’m sensitive to almonds, so I use rice milk. Also, for some reason, sauces and gravies made with corn starch lose their “thickness” when you refrigerate them, so leftovers will have runny sauce, but it still tastes good.<br />
• My favorite butter substitute is <a href="http://earthbalancenatural.com/product/olive-oil-buttery-spread/">Earth Balance</a>. They have the original in Wal-Mart, but I go to a health food store to find the kind made with olive oil because I like it better.<br />
• The amount of meat doesn’t have to be exact. This is a great recipe to use up leftover roast or steak, but you can buy a steak or stew meat if you don’t have leftovers. Stew meat tends to be a little bit tougher, though.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-91203696758007106352014-05-27T07:53:00.000-06:002014-05-31T08:57:50.187-06:00Giveaway: Amelie Purse Pattern from Geta's Quilting Studio<span style="color: #990000;"><i>In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.</i> –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry</span><br />
<br />
A couple of weeks ago, I put my name in on <a href="http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/2014/05/giveaway-day.html">Giveaway Day</a> at <a href="http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/">Geta's Quilting Studio</a> and I was delighted to be one of the winners! Geta has so many beautiful designs. I bought her <a href="http://www.romanianquiltstudio.com/english/flower-sphere-quilt-pattern.htm">Flower Ball</a> and <a href="http://www.romanianquiltstudio.com/english/flower-power-quilt-pattern.htm">Flower Power</a> quilt patterns a while ago <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{which I will eventually get to}</span></i> and recently, <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/04/amelie-x7.html">I made some bags</a> from her <a href="http://www.romanianquiltstudio.com/english/bag-patterns.htm">Amelie pattern</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWq2OblepSt0ajvinKqu0w5FnG5sqeBqF7ZK7iDidou1AKSnLYxI86mx8Y2A5Bk0vfTrAo9t5DaUfwgy_iB63FCuFG05kOA6otRH-ktozJilFakPusAab15lXOU8ZJ-LKdlprFk1uMYCK/w958-h719-no/Lineup+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWq2OblepSt0ajvinKqu0w5FnG5sqeBqF7ZK7iDidou1AKSnLYxI86mx8Y2A5Bk0vfTrAo9t5DaUfwgy_iB63FCuFG05kOA6otRH-ktozJilFakPusAab15lXOU8ZJ-LKdlprFk1uMYCK/w958-h719-no/Lineup+1.JPG" height="314" width="420" /></a></div><br />
While I was perusing her fantastic patterns trying to decide which ones to choose, an idea began to hatch. What if I were to use part of my giveaway winnings as a giveaway of my own? The Amelie purse was so fun to make and everyone who has seen it loves it. I've received lots of compliments on it. The mother of one of the girls I made one for loved it so much that she even ordered the pattern!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNo6Vfg_jY3XlufyexJmYSfytW5tM_ahlWMdgUvlaHJltx6oBN2T7bYNKOQOxxwi5uu0qHbrMroIdoGxNsJHjWv4iW8C4kPLNtVNwlfDyRJYD_SiT4BTRLhyphenhypheneyKFqufJ37DxwylUar75Q/w958-h719-no/Names+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNo6Vfg_jY3XlufyexJmYSfytW5tM_ahlWMdgUvlaHJltx6oBN2T7bYNKOQOxxwi5uu0qHbrMroIdoGxNsJHjWv4iW8C4kPLNtVNwlfDyRJYD_SiT4BTRLhyphenhypheneyKFqufJ37DxwylUar75Q/w958-h719-no/Names+1.JPG" height="314" width="420" /></a></div><br />
It has tons of pockets and would look fabulous in an infinite number of fabrics and colors.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8wrj-RghS0t5ZDibbetYkeHlq_poXJGGaE9wpgeOzT9XLCkeESglRQX7gxisBzJsILgAAB9n7H-eaC3TUi3Wtnw7Lmj1LJO605cy-Gc1XE9IP4ATYSgTBUTalGE5dZSHtQgGgE_KVPI2/s766-no/Inside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8wrj-RghS0t5ZDibbetYkeHlq_poXJGGaE9wpgeOzT9XLCkeESglRQX7gxisBzJsILgAAB9n7H-eaC3TUi3Wtnw7Lmj1LJO605cy-Gc1XE9IP4ATYSgTBUTalGE5dZSHtQgGgE_KVPI2/s766-no/Inside.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
So, I asked Geta if I could use one of the patterns I won from her as a giveaway on my blog and she kindly consented. I'm so excited to share an Amelie Purse Pattern in PDF downloadable format with one of you! I would like to send a huge thank you to Geta for her generous giveaway! And for those of you who can't wait for the giveaway or want to try one of her amazing quilts, her patterns are on sale for $5 each for two days only, through May 28<sup>th</sup>!<br />
<br />
<b>The Fine Print:</b><br />
• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me something good that has happened to you this week. Or just leave a comment. Whichever.<br />
• One entry per person, please.<br />
• Non-blogging/non-Google users and international entrants are welcome.<br />
• If you do not have a Google account, use the name/url <span style="color: #7f6000;">{url optional}</span> commenting option and make sure you leave your e-mail in your comment in the following format: address (at) domain name (dot) com.<br />
• Comments with no contact information will be deleted.<br />
• Duplicate comments will be deleted.<br />
• Comment moderation is on, so don't panic when your comment doesn't show up. I'm notified of new comments and will approve them periodically each day, after which they'll show up on the post.<br />
• The giveaway will close at 10:00 pm MST on Friday, May 30<sup>th</sup>. The winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified by e-mail and announced here by 8:00 pm on May 31<sup>st</sup>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Good luck!</span></b></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-89788421073741050012014-05-26T07:25:00.000-06:002014-07-05T13:15:52.721-06:00Same Familiar Packaging with New and Improved Functionality<span style="color: #990000;"><i>"This is the cabin for Hypnos, the god of sleep," Annabeth said.<br />
<br />
. . . Soft violin music played from somewhere. The air smelled like fresh laundry. The cabin was so cozy and peaceful that Jason's eyelids started to feel heavy. A nap sounded like a great idea. He was exhausted. There were plenty of empty beds, all with feather pillows and fresh sheets and fluffy quilts and—Annabeth nudged him. "Snap out of it."<br />
<br />
Jason blinked. He realized his knees had been starting to buckle.<br />
<br />
"Cabin Fifteen does that to everyone," Annabeth warned. If you ask me, this place is even more dangerous than the Ares cabin. At least with Ares, you can learn where the land mines are."</i> –Rick Riordan, <b>The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero</b></span><br />
<br />
I am beginning to wonder if I am a child of Hypnos because a nap always sounds good to me. But since that is probably not the case, I had a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septoplasty">septoplasty</a> <span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>{warning: link contains gross photos}</i></span> with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinate">turbinate</a> reduction, which probably isn't the most logical choice of treatment but let me explain. For as long as I can remember I haven't been able to breathe well through my nose. I couldn't breathe out of my right nostril at all. And I clench my jaw while I sleep, so I wondered if I might not be getting enough air at night, which was causing or at least contributing to poor sleep quality. I never wake feeling rested and refreshed. As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to wake up. Most mornings, I push the snooze button a few times and then turn the alarm completely off and go back to sleep. And no matter how many times I tell myself that I will get up when the alarm goes off, my mornings pretty much always go like that. Obviously, I don't make good decisions when I'm asleep.<br />
<br />
When I finally do wake up, I feel like I have to take several minutes to breathe deeply enough to re-expand my lungs and come to my senses. The coming to my senses parts takes about a half-an-hour, at which point, I start scolding myself for sleeping past the alarm again and promising that tomorrow I will do better.<br />
<br />
Whether or not there is any real correlation to my hypothesis, I went ahead and made an appointment with an ENT about a six weeks ago. The PA asked lots of questions and then she donned a forehead light and took a pair of cross-lock tweezers, stuck them up my nose and expanded my nostril so she could have a look in there. She told me that it looked to her like about an 85% blockage and explained that to repair it the surgeon would remove the cartilage from my nose, shave the bones spurs from it, smooth it out, make it nice and straight and put it back in. Easy peasy. She said it was a very non-invasive procedure <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{which is kind of debatable in my non-educated opinion, because they go right up your nose}</span></i> and a quick recovery. She made me feel very confident that it was a good option and would be less than a minor interruption to my life. So I signed up.<br />
<br />
Cut to Thursday-before-last. Mr. Bug and I had to be at the same-day surgery center at 8:45 am. After we checked in, the nurse led us back to a little room where she gave me a lovely lilac-colored paper gown about the same weight and feel as a reusable grocery sack and a pair of large and unattractive boxer shorts of the same material, for which I was very grateful. I supposed that in the event they needed to open my chest from my collarbone to my navel, they could get those babies off and out of the way in a jiffy and in the meantime, I could keep from hanging the moon on my way to the bathroom. It was a win-win situation.<br />
<br />
Then they started explaining the procedure in more detail. That's when I started to worry. The anesthesiologist came in and explained how the anesthetic would work, which didn't worry me <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{<b>sidebar:</b> my first c-section, which is major surgery, was a semi-emergency but by the time we got to that point I was so tired I didn't even care and just wanted a nap, although they didn't put me under. I breezed right through the second c-section. But when I had a bunion removed a few years after that, the thing that worried me the most was the anesthesia. What if I never woke up? Of course I did, and I was really annoyed that they wanted me to leave the blissful and best sleep I'd ever had so soon after I arrived there. After that, I wasn't worried about it anymore, and kind of looked forward to it when the opportunity arose. Weird, I know. But sleep and I have a long and complicated history.}</span></i> What did worry me is all that they told me about after-care. Namely, that there would be swelling, bleeding and crusting. And I was not allowed to blow my nose. That was a deal breaker and I was ready to get out of the paper gown and go home. Fortunately for them, they had powerful sleeping agents at their command and before I could make a break for it, I was under.<br />
<br />
I have to add that when the surgeon came in to talk to me between the anesthesiologist and the surgery nurse and the guy with the drugs, I was working on one of the embroidery labels for my <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/08/south-for-winter.html">Patriotic Sampler</a> quilt. I put it on my lap while he went over what he was going to do, but I saw him look at it several times as he was talking to me. As he was turning to go, he hesitated and then asked what I was working on. I showed him and he studied it for a minute and then complimented me on how precise my stitches were and said something like, "you could do surgery."<br />
<br />
I don't remember much of the afternoon after my surgery. I think we were supposed to start at 10:00, but they must have been running behind because they didn't wheel me out until 10:45. We made it down the hall and around the corner and I was out. They told me I'd have to move from one bed to another, but I don't know if that even happened. The next thing I remember was trying to wake. My lungs felt heavy and it was difficult to breathe. Then I was in a recovery room and the nurse brought me applesauce, pain meds and soda. Mr. Bug hung out and read and I slept. About 2:45, it seemed like the nurse kind of wanted to shoo me out the door. She brought in a nose sling, which wrapped over my ears and had padding across my cheeks and then a plastic strip under my nose, which you placed a gauze pad on to catch any blood that might be dripping out. Up to that point, my nose seemed pretty clear, but when I stood up, it started to drip. It was uncomfortable, but not unmanageable. And according to the nurse, it wasn't a lot of bleeding. So I got dressed, they trundled me out to the car in a wheelchair and we went home. I slept on the way. When we got home, Br. Bug set me up in a comfy chair <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{they recommended sitting up, or lying at an incline}</span></i>, I had a popsicle and watched TV for about 10 minutes. Then I had another nap. One of my kind neighbors brought dinner, after which I'm pretty sure I had another nap. And then Mr. Bug and the kids came in to watch TV with me and I dozed in and out and went to bed before 10:00.<br />
<br />
At about 2:00 am, I woke up and wandered into the kitchen to get some more pain meds. I decided that a popsicle would be a good idea, too. It took me about 15 minutes, and the whole time I stared at my sewing table and seriously debated about doing a little something. In the end, I decided it was too much effort and went back to bed. I got up a few times to use the bathroom or get pain meds, but mostly I slept until about 1:00 in the afternoon. I set up camp on the living room couch and trimmed frayed threads off the cut edges of my latest fabric acquisitions fresh from the wash <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{<b>sidebar:</b> I used to serge the cut edges but quit doing that and instead I wash on the "hand washables" cycle, which is very gentle. I get about a fourth of the amount of frayed threads than with a normal wash and because there are less stray threads, there isn't a tangled up rat's nest that has to be sorted before the fabric goes to the dryer. I figured that the time I spend trimming that off is about the same as the time it takes to serge the edges, but saves on thread and wear-and-tear on my machine.}</span></i>. The rest of the weekend was spent mostly sleeping interspersed with saline flushes, pain meds and popsicles, alternately. I wasn't in too much pain following the surgery and after the first few days Tylenol and Advil did the trick.<br />
<br />
Resting was nice, but also difficult. I have kind of a hard time sitting still <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{another sign that I may be a demigod and that Hypnos is indeed my father}</span></i> and am always working on something. I almost never sit and veg in front of the TV, but I did a lot of that because I was so tired. I <i>wanted</i> to sew, but it seemed like too much effort. I had four whole days off and all I managed was one set of four blocks for the <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-signature-block-resolution.html">signature quilt</a> I'm making.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGVSrMgmgDWYsE3i7FY8aaKANuSdT_boAW50rICVc6cRoK4zuV_PvHIo9n4LkMgkd_oA4hx5wJJ2swdafz4PwJ7QrRsNOHtKLiL3TIztyJhVXViFaYGLt05Wa_Ch4ld4ZZlqVgbDNA5ws/s1600/Block+1b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGVSrMgmgDWYsE3i7FY8aaKANuSdT_boAW50rICVc6cRoK4zuV_PvHIo9n4LkMgkd_oA4hx5wJJ2swdafz4PwJ7QrRsNOHtKLiL3TIztyJhVXViFaYGLt05Wa_Ch4ld4ZZlqVgbDNA5ws/s1600/Block+1b.JPG" height="420" width="420" /></a></div><br />
Four blocks. That is all. Admittedly, I pressed 3 yards of pink Kona and 2½ yards of white Kona between naps. But four - 5" blocks seems like nothing for a four-day weekend. OK. I did get all of my stash fabric washed, folded and put away in rainbow order. Some of it wasn't as recently acquired as I may have previously led you to believe. Some of it has been sitting in my laundry room since last July. So, that is a good thing.<br />
<br />
I other happy news, after the first few days of crustiness and several dozen saline flushes, my nose functionality has improved. And so has my sleep. This was recorded by my sleep app <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{Sleep Cycle for iPhones and Sleep as Android for Android}</span></i> just a few days after the surgery. That has been my best day so far, but I've moved from the mid 70's on average into the low 80's on most nights, which is a step up from a C to a B- and I'm encouraged by that.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2znpcP30PwOfTmRQ4iz2_b0FjMOJ4NNn2FxDxgbpGjmb4BX8pTRMNDyktcZyJ71xRYrY_M6b02URF4ADpcGMHTkXgdat_g0KO9UkbqUu5qQKoqlPatRCGM4LKvJ92srUhvkZAb5hukDu/s1600/Sleep+App.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2znpcP30PwOfTmRQ4iz2_b0FjMOJ4NNn2FxDxgbpGjmb4BX8pTRMNDyktcZyJ71xRYrY_M6b02URF4ADpcGMHTkXgdat_g0KO9UkbqUu5qQKoqlPatRCGM4LKvJ92srUhvkZAb5hukDu/s1600/Sleep+App.PNG" height="400" width="390" /></a></div><br />
I'd planned to go back to work last Monday, but by the time I got up and dressed, I needed a nap so I worked from home. Tuesday was much the same, except I had a popsicle for courage <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{don't ask me why, because I don't really know}</span></i> and actually went to work instead of working from home. Wednesday morning I had a follow up with the PA, who again donned the light headband and armed with the cross-lock tweezers and a suction tool, went up my nose and cleaned it out. At one point, she got a pair of tweezers and pulled something out—I didn't look—and went back to suctioning. I wonder if she goes home at night and says to herself, <i><span style="color: #990000;">"best job ever!"</span></i>? She told me that the doctor had used the word "severe" in his notes in reference to the deviation of my septum. Part of the reason I put off going for so long <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{I've been thinking about it for a couple of years now}</span></i> was because I was afraid I would get there and they would say, <i><span style="color: #990000;">"nothing is wrong, you big whiner, so quit whining."</span></i> It was a relief to know that there really was something wrong and that it has been corrected.<br />
<br />
The PA noted that there was still quite a bit of swelling in my previously good nostril <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{the left one, in case you were wondering}</span></i> because that was the side that the surgeon went in on. She told me that the swelling would go down, and after about four weeks I would be better than ever and I would wonder why I had put it off so long. That put me at ease, because on my way in I was wondering if the large chunk of change that was our portion after insurance had been worth it. I felt even better on my way out because I noticed a huge improvement from the little vacuuming job she did. Also, I was cleared to blow my nose. In the past week, there have been several times that I have noticed that breathing is a lot easier for me. I even woke up one night and realized that both my nostrils were open and that I had a nice flow of oxygen going there. I settled back to sleep with a smile on my face.<br />
<br />
I constantly marvel at the amazing-ness of the world we live in. Sometimes, when I'm cooking up something yummy in the kitchen, I wonder if they had simple, ordinary, commonplace ingredients as readily available a century ago as we do now? Could Laura Ingalls stop at Olsen's Mercantile on her way home from school and pick up some chocolate chips? Or did their <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/08/c-is-for-cookie-and-d-is-for-dairy-free.html">Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies</a> just have oatmeal in them and she didn't even know to imagine chocolate chips and coconut? What if they wanted to have a curry? Did Nels stock <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garam_masala">Garam Masala</a> <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{sidebar: I made the MOST FABULOUS <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/bean-curry/">Black-Eyed Pea Curry</a> last night. You seriously have to give it a try, and make sure to add some cauliflower to it.}</span></i>? What if the reason Nellie was so cranky is that she was lactose and gluten intolerant? Diagnosing that would have been next to impossible and changing her diet would have been entirely impossible. What if Ma had trouble delivering Carrie? Doc Baker couldn't give a her an epidural, let alone begin to imagine performing a c-section. There wasn't an outpatient treatment center for when Albert was hooked on morphine. He had to go cold turkey. And even the fancy doctors in Mancato couldn't have done my septoplasty.<br />
<br />
We live in an age of abundance and modern convenience. This fairly non-invasive surgery <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{which will <b>not</b> result in my nose caving in. I asked.}</span></i> has the potential to improve my quality of life on a very fundamental level. Or at least I am hopeful of that. I'm already feeling better. If my sleep doesn't improve to at least a B+ average, I'll pursue other diagnoses and treatments, which will involve gadgets and gizmos and tests the likes of which Doc Baker couldn't begin to fathom, even in his wildest dreams. In the meantime, I will continue to marvel at the technology that made my little modern miracle possible.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-63085998962646325572014-05-25T08:04:00.000-06:002014-05-25T08:04:00.116-06:00Mormon Messages: The Other Prodigal Son<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Someone or something is forever telling us we need to be more handsome or more wealthy, more applauded or more admired than we see ourselves as being. We are told we haven’t collected enough possessions or gone to enough fun places. We are bombarded with the message that on the world’s scale of things we have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.<br />
<br />
No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. He loves each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all.</i> –Jeffrey R. Holland, <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/04/the-other-prodigal?lang=eng"><i>The Other Prodigal Son</i></a>, April 2002</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kz8oNXJ6Cl0?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-90012005781058688232014-05-18T08:11:00.000-06:002014-05-18T08:11:00.642-06:00Sabbath Songs: Abide With Me<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #990000;">I need thy presence ev'ry passing hour.<br />
What but thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r?<br />
Who, like thyself, my gtuide and stay can be?<br />
Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;">–<i>Abide With Me!</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"> text by Henry F. Lyte, music by William H. Monk</span></div><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/e1ar9gjIrEQ?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-61971987057744399732014-05-14T21:50:00.000-06:002014-05-25T22:04:36.966-06:00Sleep: There's an App for That<span style="color: #990000;"><i>I wonder why I don't go to bed and go to sleep. But then it would be tomorrow, so I decide that no matter how tired, no matter how incoherent I am, I can skip one hour more of sleep and live.</i> –Sylvia Plath, <i>The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath</i></span><br />
<br />
It's been an interesting week around here. Yesterday LadyBug and I went to the dermatologist for our semi-annual skin check. It's one of those necessary evils, but it is never fun to strip down to your unmentionables and lie on a table covered in a paper towel while the doctor shines a bright light on you as he checks your skin for "interesting" moles. It's especially uncomfortable when you forget to shave your legs and underarms. LadyBug had three removed and I had one, we went for a brownie afterwards and that's over and done with for another six months.<br />
<br />
Yesterday evening it was on to the next adventure—prep for a colonoscopy this morning. The procedure itself was a breeze. I slept right through it. But the prep was horrible. The solution was completely vile, I slept very little and 10 years will not be long enough for me to forget that process. This was a follow up to my <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/search/label/Gluten-Free">giving up gluten</a> almost two months ago. I went to see the regular doc and he referred me to a GI doc. They did blood tests and other kinds of fun tests <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{including testing for giardia, which I thought was hilarious}</span></i> and when they all came back negative, a colonoscopy was the next step. In the category of finding nothing wrong, my large intestine is squeaky clean and a-okay. They even gave me a souvenir photo, suitable for framing.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to tomorrow's stop on my whirlwind medical tour; a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septoplasty">septoplasty</a> with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinate">turbinate</a> reduction. You see, I haven't been sleeping well. Do you want to know how I know? Well, there's an app for that. This is where we jump to backstory.<br />
<br />
Sometime last October, Mr. Bug downloaded an app on his phone that uses the accelerometer to detect movement and then gives you an output of how well you're sleeping. Sleep and I are old nemeses. It seems like I toss and turn and I never wake feeling rested and refreshed. I figured, what the heck? It would be a fun experiment, so I downloaded a similar app <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{his is for Android phones and mine for iPhones}</span></i>. I've used it almost every day and the results are in. I am not getting a good quality of sleep at night.<br />
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The app is pretty cool. It gives you an analysis of your sleep every morning and keeps track of various aspects of your sleep in charts and graphs. This graph shows my overall sleep quality. You can see that I hover in there right between 70% and 80%. If I were getting a report card for sleep quality, I'd be getting a C. I'm an overachiever and that's really not acceptable.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwB9PnAMz3WmSJaKxiuw0M8ihxrWacjUQGdHBZNdy6PLgR1xR01wt68seZzTKxaPZNFf__FrJyXWP5ESVgRrBGOoDqyJgrHDjIGQ7G42jGkpWLmUX5YW3jhHP8_uNMOUIfLwDOyqF4vVd/w958-h639-no/Sleep+App+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwB9PnAMz3WmSJaKxiuw0M8ihxrWacjUQGdHBZNdy6PLgR1xR01wt68seZzTKxaPZNFf__FrJyXWP5ESVgRrBGOoDqyJgrHDjIGQ7G42jGkpWLmUX5YW3jhHP8_uNMOUIfLwDOyqF4vVd/w958-h639-no/Sleep+App+1.PNG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div><br />
This chart breaks it down and shows my sleep quality by day of the week. I used to kind of make a game of it and on those days where my sleep quality was lower, I'd make an extra effort to go to bed a little earlier, clear my mind, relax and let the day go, to see if I could improve the graph <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{see also, overachiever}</span></i>. All I really managed to do was to swap Tuesdays for Wednesdays.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQY5tY5TK2lpD3Ph121IhwSlB3xZWIhgH_PSaUNh8Br6wAOXx-P4dUoHdKRbd7kEIUhTtGXbx62LOi0ltJnj26EkMunyeHqnikqr-VqhQbzj-SU_iHOGWyJuVrF3So46eJ__55GEJL_acR/w958-h639-no/Sleep+App+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQY5tY5TK2lpD3Ph121IhwSlB3xZWIhgH_PSaUNh8Br6wAOXx-P4dUoHdKRbd7kEIUhTtGXbx62LOi0ltJnj26EkMunyeHqnikqr-VqhQbzj-SU_iHOGWyJuVrF3So46eJ__55GEJL_acR/w958-h639-no/Sleep+App+2.PNG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And here, you can see I'm squeaking by on about 7 hours of sleep a night most of the time. If we were to put this in a report card, I'm getting about a B+ in time asleep, but the quality of that sleep is a C. After watching my charts and graphs for week after week hoping that things would improve, I decided that something more than hoping had to be done.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3eNKUr4QlWw4lrQfJJiTqivpGvKbhcV3nrSAh9ErnIIUZOuk2LCfegxsnGu2ppql6Eaix9TYRDRbGuNBl8bSYaPTN7tzgvhd3iOZiARBGhptAB89mZHwNVDiXNXPzzAAZvTsvhK5CLqu/w958-h639-no/Sleep+App+3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3eNKUr4QlWw4lrQfJJiTqivpGvKbhcV3nrSAh9ErnIIUZOuk2LCfegxsnGu2ppql6Eaix9TYRDRbGuNBl8bSYaPTN7tzgvhd3iOZiARBGhptAB89mZHwNVDiXNXPzzAAZvTsvhK5CLqu/w958-h639-no/Sleep+App+3.PNG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Back to the present and my <strike>impending</strike> upcoming surgery. I've suspected that I have a deviated septum <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{the cartilage in my nose isn't straight}</span></i> for a number of years. I don't breathe very well through my nose. The right nostril always seems blocked up. And I clench my jaw while I'm asleep. Putting the two together, I am guessing that some of my sleep trouble is that I'm not getting enough air. I never made it a priority to get checked out, but after downloading this app and seeing how crummy my sleep quality is, I started thinking of it more and more. Even so, I put off calling an Ear Nose and Throat specialist to make an appointment. I mean, what if I got there and there was nothing wrong?<br />
<br />
Then that would be a waste of time and money.<br />
<br />
Recently, I've decided that is a silly way to think and I've decided to be more proactive about my health concerns <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{see also, colonoscopy}</span></i>. I made an appointment at an ENT practice and the PA I saw said that my septum is definitely deviated and that I have about an 85% blockage in my right nostril. That means that it is operating at only 15% capacity, which is something like a T <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{for Troll}</span></i> on my report card. I chided myself for waiting so long to get this checked out, because something <b><i>is</i></b> wrong and it <b><i>can</i></b> be fixed.<br />
<br />
Of course, it was a different story when the hospital staff called to do early check-in and said that the estimated cost of the procedure was 15 bazillion dollars and 50 cents, which had been submitted to my insurance already for preauthorization and my portion of that was 15 bazillion dollars. And it kind of dawned on me that if care goes beyond the initial office visit, the cost of the thing skyrockets. I'm going to have to visit a therapist next, to work through the anxiety all these medical bills are creating.<br />
<br />
In other news, if we have not yet met the out-of-pocket/deductible max for our entire family for the year, we will shortly. This means insurance will cover any and all procedures for the rest of the year. I should have scheduled a mammogram for Friday to round the week out.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-90228238708475982392014-05-13T23:50:00.000-06:002014-05-14T00:06:32.134-06:00The One Where I Went Rappelling<span style="color: #990000;"><i>The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.</i> –Al Neuharth.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Saturday, May 11, 2014</b></span><br />
<b>7:00 am:</b> Why do all adventures have to start so early?<br />
<br />
<b>7:52 am:</b> Why am I always late? I was supposed to be there 7 minutes ago. It's a good thing we all run on <a href="http://www.mormonjargon.com/mormonstandardtime.html">Mormon Standard Time</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>8:16 am:</b> I wasn't the only one who was late. But we are on our way. It is a 2½-ish hour drive. Good thing I took my Dramamine and brought a project to stitch on. And I'm so glad I'm not driving.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd4PFJ45ycN6llyPtvLJwNHlxwF4-K3N-C2MkiBaJhCHdfXmo1JLmfGyYB0iUIhR-VcSBYLMf3jw5G5Ve0RajxwaN9Gsp2x4ldM9u-B2LlifSJJPxp9QAvnvso6rk5_dn44wCsKyBl8bUk/w650-h754-no/Map.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd4PFJ45ycN6llyPtvLJwNHlxwF4-K3N-C2MkiBaJhCHdfXmo1JLmfGyYB0iUIhR-VcSBYLMf3jw5G5Ve0RajxwaN9Gsp2x4ldM9u-B2LlifSJJPxp9QAvnvso6rk5_dn44wCsKyBl8bUk/w650-h754-no/Map.PNG" height="400" width="343" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{The blue star is our starting point and the blue dot is the destination — <a href="http://www.utah.com/hike/black_dragon.htm">Black Dragon Canyon</a> in the San Rafael Swell}</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>10:48 am:</b> Rest stop. One thing I really dislike about Nature is the lack of flushing toilets. But an outhouse is better than going behind a bush. I guess I'll take it.<br />
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I've been working on the labels for my <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/08/south-for-winter.html">patriotic sampler</a> and have made a lot of progress. I would like to get this quilt finished in time to display this year, but it will be July before we know it.<br />
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<b>11:13 am:</b> Girls Camp isn't until June, but we're here to fill the High Adventure certification for the 4<sup>th</sup> year girls <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{age 15}</span></i>. The activity is for all the 4<sup>th</sup> years in the <a href="http://www.mormonjargon.com/stake.html">stake</a>, and arranged by the Stake Young Women leaders, but I thought it was important to come and show support to my girls. I'll admit that I was a little hesitant to give up an <i>entire</i> Saturday to go rappelling. I'm not a big fan of dirt. Or heights. Or non-flushing portable toilets <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{although I have to admit that the set up here is nicer than the pit toilet we stopped at earlier. The girls had some funny name for it, but I can't remember it now}</span></i>. But it really is beautiful here and I am glad I came.<br />
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A kind, grandfatherly gentleman is our host for the day. Oliver has been teaching the girls in our stake to rappel for years. The basics are these: the ropes are certified up to 9000 lbs. but don't step on them, and don't drop the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabiner">carabiners</a> and <a href="http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/techtips/figureeightlockoff/">figure eights</a>.<br />
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This is where we are rappelling from. It's only about 140 feet. No biggie.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6HddrQ9nUvgCP7vGw95NyzPNRgfyed3Y_37eyUyxFZnJxPt8ZFHtKopbSbQ5F-RI2kiiiAIyzoBOP1KgZ4jmgkZITg37lde9wWiUhKFmCGbRZtcXromJXU-LXqUxLbJz8yny7BfvdVedd/w808-h809-no/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6HddrQ9nUvgCP7vGw95NyzPNRgfyed3Y_37eyUyxFZnJxPt8ZFHtKopbSbQ5F-RI2kiiiAIyzoBOP1KgZ4jmgkZITg37lde9wWiUhKFmCGbRZtcXromJXU-LXqUxLbJz8yny7BfvdVedd/w808-h809-no/" height="420" width="419" /></a></div><br />
<b>11:27 am:</b> In order to get to the rappelling point, we have to scale an only slightly less steep incline than the face we will be rappelling from. I *huff* am *puff* so *wheeze* out *huff* of *wheeze* shape *huff*.<br />
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<b>11:49 am:</b> Surely the elevation up here isn't that different from where we were standing on the ground, but I'm feeling a little light-headed. I'm not so sure this is such a good idea.<br />
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The girls are starting to gear up. Oliver's granddaughter is helping them get their harnesses on correctly.<br />
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<b>12:03 pm:</b> The ropes are tied to hardware anchored in the rock. Oliver's son and grandson are harnessed and the ropes pass through a figure eight attached to their harnesses by carabiners. They serve as a back-up should the anchors fail. At the bottom of each rope is someone on belay who only has to exert about 10 lbs. of pressure to stop your progress down the rope. Good to know.<br />
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<b>12:19 pm:</b> These are my girls. Aren't they beautiful?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8EqPcC2_Z2wOl7V6zMsbIVx6fA9FxmIV3YJD3VEEzBPpZ9hlHhiUzcnH5UydXmUJMwubRvkjmPE7chyP76Bgyus5w43sFlCVtYnbcFjFKmSkL4yRXpCtl5Ix3FNPuOH9GQfNyOWmxjF-/s809-no/Rappelling+Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8EqPcC2_Z2wOl7V6zMsbIVx6fA9FxmIV3YJD3VEEzBPpZ9hlHhiUzcnH5UydXmUJMwubRvkjmPE7chyP76Bgyus5w43sFlCVtYnbcFjFKmSkL4yRXpCtl5Ix3FNPuOH9GQfNyOWmxjF-/s809-no/Rappelling+Girls.jpg" height="420" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{Top left: Serina<br />
Middle left: Kali and Oliver<br />
Bottom left: A cactus patch growing in the middle of the sandstone<br />
Bottom center: Kristina<br />
Bottom right: Jehni<br />
Group shot: Kristina, Kali, Serina and Jehni}</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>12:42 pm:</b> Quote of the day from Cami, a girl from one of the other wards, to Oliver and his family: <i><span style="color: #990000;">"you guys do this for fun?"</span></i><br />
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<b>1:19 pm:</b> It is my turn. I can see what Cami was talking about.<br />
<br />
I've been watching Oliver coach each of the girls in turn. Keep your legs straight, keep your feet shoulder-width apart, lean back into the harness, keep your eyes on your feet and where your next step will be but don't look down, breathe, yell "help" if you get into trouble and the men on belay at the bottom will stop you.<br />
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Oh, look. There are grooves in the figure eight where the rope passes through. Interesting.<br />
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Time to go. *Deep breath* I can do this.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8_kHNqyHA74NSsZTTviCJH_h0SjcMNGvzDkp4uqiGI6GAOm-f_vPD6fS6B7olRYN11AEg_LiNalKytx0dEEnruxF_a4JOaajzQC1ng70FxNc7oWFEwYifDHNwjpUm1wSuwSpSZFzTmpW/w958-h639-no/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8_kHNqyHA74NSsZTTviCJH_h0SjcMNGvzDkp4uqiGI6GAOm-f_vPD6fS6B7olRYN11AEg_LiNalKytx0dEEnruxF_a4JOaajzQC1ng70FxNc7oWFEwYifDHNwjpUm1wSuwSpSZFzTmpW/w958-h639-no/" height="280" width="420" /></a></div><br />
This is what it looks like after you go over the edge. It's really not so bad. Just put one foot behind the other, don't bend your knees, trust the equipment and don't look down. My partner, Lizzie, is from another ward, but I adopted her for the day.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2aUDVoFgsfRhkg6vmEU8ecd_1ShHrOACBeQ5MycxhMvNBuxzPJ5Cu2jU5XKvEjS9krCjo8ziQ4y8yqu_-ubUHuYEWRmXh4p6htGG__R9PnI6dBgkCTJsARBuCC8BnA8NEULQHUOOrYj8/w958-h766-no/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2aUDVoFgsfRhkg6vmEU8ecd_1ShHrOACBeQ5MycxhMvNBuxzPJ5Cu2jU5XKvEjS9krCjo8ziQ4y8yqu_-ubUHuYEWRmXh4p6htGG__R9PnI6dBgkCTJsARBuCC8BnA8NEULQHUOOrYj8/w958-h766-no/" height="335" width="420" /></a></div><br />
<b>1:31 pm:</b> That was fantastic! What an amazing experience. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out. The hardest part was kicking off the rock as it curved back and letting myself dangle in open space. But when I turned around and looked around, it was awesome. I live in some of God's most beautiful country.<br />
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Now for some lunch. I had a hard time deciding what to bring. Eating gluten and diary free on-the-go is a hassle. In the end, I decided on a <a href="https://www.jimmyjohns.com/menu/#/">Jimmy John's</a> unwich. It is a little bit soggy, but not bad.<br />
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<b>2:27 pm:</b> Oliver said that you should go twice, because the second time was more fun. It was pretty fun the first time. Maybe I should go again.<br />
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<b>2:51 pm:</b> That hill is a doozy to climb. I'm not sure that going a second time is such a good idea. I'm tired. What if I drop myself? They guys on belay at the bottom will stop me, of course, but still. I could get scratched up pretty badly.<br />
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<b>3:13 pm:</b> The second time was not as much fun for me. I was too tired. And I looked down. I'll remember that for next year.<br />
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<b>3:26 pm:</b> The girls are having so much fun. Jehni has been six or seven times. She rappels down and runs right back up to the top to go again.<br />
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<b>4:18 pm:</b> The wind has really picked up. I have sand in between my eyelashes. We're going to pack up and go up the canyon a little further, where there is shelter from the wind to eat.<br />
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<b>5:05 pm:</b> Oliver talked for a little bit on his experiences over the years and drew some parallels between having faith in God and having a safe rappelling experience. He gave each of us a carabiner and a bookmark with the comparisons he made on it.<br />
<b>Be Strong</b><br />
<b>S</b>tay firmly anchored to the mountain (<a href="http://www.mormon.org/">gospel</a>).<br />
<b>T</b>ie the right knots (good friends and family).<br />
<b>R</b>emember, your life hangs in the balance (eternal life).<br />
<b>O</b>nly use the best equipment (scriptures and prayer).<br />
<b>N</b>ever step on your rope (sacred things).<br />
<b>G</b>o with faith (in the Lord).<br />
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<b>5:45 pm:</b> Dinner was good and now we're on our way home.<br />
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<b>8:11 pm:</b> It got too dark to work on my stitching project about an hour ago. I have sand in my ears. I am so ready to be done. The drive up didn't seem this long. Just a few more minutes until we are home.<br />
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<b>8:21 pm:</b> That last 10 minutes nearly killed me. I can't wait to hit the showers!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-77540973733008828492014-05-12T17:49:00.000-06:002014-05-12T17:53:29.953-06:00A Stitch In Time: April Finishes Giveaway Winner<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Time is free, but it's priceless.<br />
You can't own it, but you can use it.<br />
You can't keep it, but you can spend it.<br />
Once you've lost it you can never get it back..</i><br />
–Harvey MacKay</span></div><br />
Time. The one commodity that we all have in equal measure. Even though I try to spend my time wisely, I often find myself wishing for more time and kicking myself for wasting time. Still, some of my "free time" <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{if there is such a thing}</span></i> each day is allotted to sewing. When I only have a few minutes to spend it's frustrating. Progress is barely perceptible at that pace. To keep from getting discouraged, "just keep stitching," has been my motto over the last several months. I've tried not to let time, or lack thereof, be a deterrent to working on something, no matter how small, every day. It finally paid off as I finished <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/04/amelie-x7.html">seven tote bags</a> this month, which I worked on a bit at a time every day for about seven weeks. I felt like I crept along at a snail's pace. Or maybe it was a tortoise. In either case, there were some days I just wasn't feeling it because I knew I wasn't going to finish in the amount of time I had to spend. I tried to keep things in perspective, though, and I used what little time I had each day to work on the project. And when it was all said and done, having seven finishes at the same time was really awesome. In addition to the bags, I finished two <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/search/label/2014%20Finishes">journal <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{Personal Progress}</span></i> totes</a>. It was a good month for finishes for me. And now I begin the process over again. I won't have much to report in the way of finishes, but I'll just keep stitching until I do. But enough about me. Let's get on to all the amazing things you finished and announce our winner for the month of April. LadyBug drew the winning number — number one.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/dottie-charm-pack" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank" title="Dottie Charm Pack"><img alt="Dottie Charm Pack" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrTspBfj15j8XL3QXn6gFVmy9GIRK50CIWUNOba8Vv6Yt3Q2tn9lnUBjGFT2LGyWqGVL3gi-KCCtJx3ptIV2EpSH_KQJ8lnqRojqA1nZn6qDigrYiOm0JvssObnc4Xj6D7ZdLP47F5AGbT/s459-no/Dottie.JPG" width="150" /></a> </center><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Congratulations to</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=":partytime:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAUujoQypCofBxlBh6AlMY8dQSk74HBpb0Zzg7iih0LkI_RfYg2FQQsNHPrTCbUtXAoPQwUXyOvFyioIAWedfer1v3aEPNHF2bJhBBfX8_VWAtmokkwcIoTZVHhBWwl34-1UhIAhIEv0K/s41/Party%2520Time.gif" title="Party Time" /> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Kathy</span></b> <img alt=":partytime:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAUujoQypCofBxlBh6AlMY8dQSk74HBpb0Zzg7iih0LkI_RfYg2FQQsNHPrTCbUtXAoPQwUXyOvFyioIAWedfer1v3aEPNHF2bJhBBfX8_VWAtmokkwcIoTZVHhBWwl34-1UhIAhIEv0K/s41/Party%2520Time.gif" title="Party Time" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">at <a href="http://www.new2quilting.blogspot.com/">Kathy's Quilting Blog</a></div><br />
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Kathy will receive a <a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/dottie-charm-pack">Dottie Charm Pack</a> by Moda from <a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/">The Fat Quarter Shop</a>, which I'm sure she will put to good use. In addition to the awesome <a href="http://www.new2quilting.blogspot.com/2014/04/friday-finish-4414.html">scrappy quilt</a> that was pulled out of the drawing as the winner, she also finished a really fun <a href="http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-triangle-qal-friday-finish.html">triangle quilt</a>. There were lots of other great finishes in April, too. If you have a minute, check some of them out. I'd recommend Carin's <a href="http://ullhrvan.blogspot.se/2014/04/friday-night-sewing.html">Garden Fence Table Runner</a> or Cynthia's orange and grey <a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/2014/04/scrap-palooza-quilt-4-finish-part-three.html">Scrap-a-Palooza quilt</a>.<br />
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<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=230513" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
The <a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-stitch-in-time-may-finishes-linky.html">May Finishes Linky Party</a> is open, so you can link up as you go throughout the month. Remember to include the May Finishes button <i><span style="color: #7f6000;">{code found in the May post}</span></i> somewhere in any post you link up. Code for a button for your sidebar can also be found at the bottom of the May post. The giveaway this month, sponsored by The Fat Quarter shop, is a <a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/30s-playtime-charm-pack-23084">30' Playtime Charm Pack</a> by Chloe's Closet for Moda.<br />
<center><a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/30s-playtime-charm-pack-23084"><img alt="30's Playtime Charm Pack" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODPCDqaE5HF8gxbWMCn6hVYZOZU2xsiG-gD-RZJtJnkai4bgA9-CNiWv4r45giQ4mPCv7LWTDJOHUYSnK_fjzyiVLWZc_4FhjiOH9dYtEm4L4YK7aOCeZGOu7TI_lOHaCwsJC4xYPWQ6T/s460-no/30%2527s+Playtime.JPG" width="320" /></a> </center><br />
<center>Today's post brought to you by:</center><center><a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZA5G-lgDIdp7ZwQ3p6BH5ZKtrL04O5DLQbKVYn6wR7c532W-R4RYmLU3VCW_1ikkJrITBa3wAgpKmlajzh_eobe4UyorVUWBN2aAd8qWdZTBldU5Sph-8-KH0nsvW9p4-fDqF2zo3uXiU/s180-no/FatQuarterShop-Circle-180x180.png" /></a></center>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-23442403008578280462014-05-11T15:41:00.002-06:002014-05-11T15:41:26.784-06:00It Was Mom<span style="color: #990000;"><i>God chose mothers to bear the responsibility of providing physical bodies for His children through the miraculous process of pregnancy and birth. Being a mother means participating in the miracle that is God’s greatest work. Thomas S. Monson, a modern-day prophet, said, “One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.”<br />
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The divine role of motherhood is exhibited in all women, whether they’ve born children or not. It is important to remember that the call to nurture is not limited to our own flesh and blood. Whether it’s an aunt, a teacher, a friend, or a community leader, we are all deeply indebted to the moral, steadying influence of good women in our lives.</i> –<a href="http://motherhood.mormon.org/?cid=HPTH050814094"><b>Mormon.org</b></a></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GQ4TPn8hjxI?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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With much gratitude in my heart, I wish my mom Happy Mother's Day!<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/itwasmom">#itwasmom</a>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630979976490932348.post-76582000452779415942014-05-04T12:49:00.000-06:002014-05-04T12:49:27.214-06:00Sabbath Songs: The Mission/How Great Thou Art<i><span style="color: #990000;">When thru the woods and forest glades I wander,<br />
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,<br />
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur<br />
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,<br />
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Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,<br />
How great thou art! How great thou art!</span></i><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">–<b><i>How Great Thou Art</i></b>, text by Stuart K. Hine, music arranged by Stuart K Hine from a Swedish folk melody</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CHV6BjuQOZQ?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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From The Piano Guys<br />
We've set an ambitious goal to film in front of all Seven Wonders of the World. We started with the <a href="http://youtu.be/NCaH-qqTWpk">Great Wall of China</a>. As our tour of Brazil approached we set our sights on our next Wonder: Christ the Redeemer. This incredible piece of art soars 10 stories in the air, stretches 100 feet wide and weighs 1.4 million pounds (630,000 kg). But even more impressive is that it was built in the 1920's on a peak of a sheer 2,300 ft. (700 meter) cliff overlooking Rio de Janeiro. <br />
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Not far from this inspiring statue are the Iguazu Falls — a natural Wonder of the World. Made up of 275 waterfalls that stretch across 1.7 miles (2.7 km), to match the amount of water that flows down these falls you would need 2 million people to each pour a quart of water every second. <br />
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As we considered what piece of music would be worthy of such incomparable locations we looked to songs that have been composed or used to praise Jesus Christ, for whom the statue was built and who billions believe created all the natural wonders of this world. We wanted to combine the melody of the heartfelt hymn of praise "How Great Thou Art" with one of the most beautiful melodies ever written — the theme from the movie "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Mission</a>" ("Gabriel's Oboe.") "The Mission" is a movie that powerfully depicts the lives of men that lay down their lives for others. It was also filmed at Iguazu Falls. "How Great Thou Art" praises God and all that He has done for His children on this Earth. The two harmonize so beautifully with each other, both musically and thematically. As we played these pieces in front of the Christ Statue and Iguazu Falls we felt an overwhelming sense of wonder, peace, and joy.<br />
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This music video is not meant to exclude anyone that does not believe in God. We hope that it instead promotes spiritual feelings that can be felt by all — gratitude for a beautiful Earth, for life, and for joy.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/374225.Lowell_C_Bennion">A wise man</a> once said, <i>"If we thought of life as a gift, we might not demand nearly as much from it. And if we lived more graciously, giving of ourselves more freely to the well-being of others, many of our personal concerns would disappear, and life would become easier for all."</i><br />
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We respect all beliefs and opinions, but we hope that in the comments everyone can set aside religious differences and instead focus on building each other up — through gratitude, inspiration, kindness and mutual respect. <br />
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Thank you so much for watching! We are grateful for you!<br />
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Credits<br />
"The Mission," also known as "Gabriel's Oboe," (from the soundtrack of the movie "The Mission") written by Ennio Morricone<br />
"How Great Thou Art" is a Christian Hymn based on a Swedish folk song<br />
Arrangement produced by Jon Schmidt<br />
Arrangement written by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson<br />
Mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios in Utah<br />
Performed by<br />
Jon Schmidt: Piano<br />
Steven Sharp Nelson: Cellos<br />
Video produced by Paul Anderson<br />
Video filmed and edited by Shaye Scott & Paul AndersonElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07980461113595763030noreply@blogger.com1