Birthdays Past and Future, Those Little "Houses"

Bear with me; this is going to be a long post. That's what happens when I don't post for days weeks on end! I celebrated yet another birthday this past week. It was a perfectly wonderful day; Mr. Goodneedle took me out to breakfast and then on to an athletic shoe store that generates a 3-D model of your feet for superior fitting. I tried on three different pairs of walking shoes from there and settled on these new ones. They're probably the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn right out of the box!


We had dinner out for the next two nights, too; the celebration lasted for a full forty-eight hours. Our son and his family had a special birthday dinner in my honor on the second night, complete with a beautiful handmade birthday banner and a very special strawberry cupcake!

Yesterday we made a quick trip to the Capital City to celebrate Lucy Ann's upcoming birthday this week. She'll be nine years old. We brought a furry beanbag chair for her room, I believe it was a hit! Our daughter called to tell us that long after we had left and returned back home she was still in the chair!

We had a fun birthday lunch with her (and her family who were sitting on the other side of the table).

She was delighted with a piece of birthday cake that easily fed our entire table (with some to spare)!

So, those "Little Houses" that I teased earlier weren't actually houses under construction at all. But, rather, square-in-a-square blocks. I made fifty-four of these 2" block units. Why?

To border "Frank"! Isn't he handsome? He is a door banner measuring 17" X 44". "

Frank is a Country Threads pattern that can be ordered through the hyper link here until 10/31. 

I got carried away  consumed with details on this small quilt. The name tag was created from a downloaded name tag photo which I printed out onto Printed Treasures* and fused onto his jacket. The pieced border was my own idea too. I was auditioning solid color outer borders and couldn't quite come up with anything that got me excited until I decided to piece a border using colors from the shirt and jacket, I felt it pulled the whole thing together. Yes, I can turn even the simplest thing into a career move! All in all, it was so worth it; I absolutely love the final result! As you can tell, these are LOUD colors, perfect for Halloween and October decorating; almost time to bid September good-bye. And sew it goes. 

Life is Good!

* Printed Treasures are printable, paper-backed fabric sheets. This is the product that I use to make all of my quilt labels; I buy the sew-in sheets. I heat-set mine, face down, with the iron after printing and have never had trouble with them not being permanent after washing. They may fade a bit, over time, depending on how many times they're laundered with the quilt. 

Up next: the perfect, quiet, antitdote to all that garish color overload; a low volume remedy. 

Changes Are Afoot...

... or maybe not! I bought a new pair of walking shoes. They are exactly like the pair I had before them, and the pair before that, and the pair... well, you get the idea. Change does not come easily to me. I order the same shoes when mine get broken down and worn out not only because they fit my foot perfectly but also because I can. I fear that one day they won't make this particular model of my beloved shoe anymore and I will be forced to make a change. Until that day I gleefully hit the "reset" button and order, for me, what is tried and true. Perhaps I act within my own safe zone, finding comfort in the familiar. Do you do the same thing? I also believe that this act of reordering is a time saver: I know that they fit, I know that they are comfortable and support my foot, there's no risk; there's no time wasted and no surprises. Am I missing out? Is there a better shoe out there, one that might be more exciting or one that would save me money? How will I ever know? Am I alone? Please weigh in, I am eager for input into these questions I have posed. Is this repeat behavior of mine unique?

Life is Good!

Stay tuned for my next post: "Lots of Things are Simmering"

 

New Is A Matter Of Perspective

Everything old is new again! I received an email with this picture attached touting it as the "new" bootie style, just introduced. Really? I wore shoes exactly like these when I was in college, then they were known as chukka boots and I think I wore out two pairs in two years. They went with everything. Well, it was college, all I wore were blue jeans but these went with every pair of jeans I owned! The only thing "new" about these are the tassels on the laces, these are extra fancy (and the price, that's new!)! But, I'm here to tell you... these aren't NEW at all, simply reintroduced. They're still cute though. So, what's "new" with  you?

Life is Good!

Flag-Waving Deals!

So, I've been waiting for quite a while to find my package from Zulily in the mailbox. My daughter-in-law had been singing the praises of this online, daily deal, shopping service for months before I listened and actually tuned in to what she was saying. Sign-up was free (did I really want one even ONE MORE e-mail?) to receive membership and access to the discounts. The way that this works is simple: you grab a deal while it's there (if you wait they go away, typically within a day) from new items reduced up to 90%. I had been looking for a pair of casual, summer shoes in navy blue and really didn't need another pair of flip-flops; these slip-ons looked cute, they fit the bill, and had only one pair remaining, in my size! I decided to go for it then and there as a way of satisfying my own curiosity: at $21.99 + shipping, the price was certainly right.

What I didn't know is that after the deal closes it takes a few weeks for the orders to be transferred from the merchant for bulk shipping; this wouldn't be a good idea if you were in a big hurry for your merchandise. Luckily, I wasn't, I was looking on this more as an experiment; and I am here to tell you that my own results were extremely positive! My shoes fit well and I love them (a good thing, as there are no returns but I decided the price outweighed the risk). I can take a few minutes and scour daily deals whenever I have time! The products change constantly, but if you're open minded, and don't mind waiting, you'll find great prices on all sorts of quality products, delivered straight to your own mailbox!

Happy Fourth of July~

Life is Good!

On My Feet

I spend a LOT of time on my feet... both time standing and time tending to them.  When in the studio I'm either standing at Sundance or at the cutting table or at the ironing board; okay, there is some time sitting and sewing too! As far as tending to my feet there's the daily pumice stone ritual followed by foot cream and slippers while I blow dry my hair and put on my face, by then all the lotion is absorbed. After that I choose comfortable and supportive shoes or sandals; I have to. There have been three incidents involving my foot or toes just in the last  year and a half! There was a sprained foot (in smocking class) injury in May of 2011, a full can of spray-foam bathroom cleaner slipped out of my hand (from waist-height) and landed directly onto my baby toe back in May of this year (it's still tender to the touch), and, as recently as last Friday, I tripped up two steps while running up the stairs and bent three toes backwards on my left foot! Owwww!! I need to slow down, my feet can't take much more reckless abuse.

This picture was taken last February when I took Ami Simms' String Class at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, she had this photo on her blog. What I notice most (there I am... second row from front, on the right, blue sweater) in this photo is my necessary choice of shoes: comfortable tennis shoes, no dress shoes, not even cute flats!  I'm okay with that; back in the spring of 2005 emergency surgery  was performed to bypass an aneurysm that clotted off the artery to my right foot. There were no guarantees going into the operating room that I would keep my foot; but, the surgery was successful and timely, and I did.

My toes are feeling better today, nothing was broken; I was lucky... again.

I spend a lot of time on my feet, in one way or another; mine are certainly not taken for granted!

I am grateful, very grateful, that I have two to stand on, I just need to be more careful of them.

Life is Good!

Sewing Shoes?

I love to sew barefoot. That's obviously not a good idea, there are SHARP things in the sewing room and many of them end upon the floor! Now take a look at these running shoes (yes, that's really what they are!) this might just be the perfect combination of foot protection and barefoot, toe-wiggling, comfort. What do you think?

Life is Good!

Hey, Quiltkeemosabe: these might be great for work, too!