Perception

Yesterday I received an email from a woman I've never met in person. We have been on various on-line lists and groups for many years. She used to own a quilt shop, she teaches quilting and of course, is interested in quilting. I am a quilting teacher, own a quilt shop and of course am passionate about quilting. Over the years we both have posted opinions, advice and general conversation. The gist of her email was that she had garnered a perception of what I looked like. I was in my mid 30's with long, dark, softly wavy hair. I was tall and thin and wore longish, dark and flowing dresses and glided or waltzed when I walked. Actually her perception of me is how I see myself:(Photo from the Internet. This is NOT and has never been me!) You can see a photo of the REAL me on the right side of my blog.

Or sometimes I see myself as a Little House on the Prairie mom:

As you can see by the above photo (also from the Internet), I carry around baskets of flowers. I don't do hard, manual labor like making candles, scrubbing floors on my hands and knees, etc. I also don't use a nasty outhouse or take a bath in a bucket.

Maybe I could be a Gibson Girl:

I love the hair, the big boosoms, tiny waist and of course, that is a bottle of Diet Coke!

How I "see" myself is somehow a combination of all of the above. How I "am" is a short, somewhat dumpy, overweight 60 year old with some gray in her short, straight hair. I love to quilt, read and breathe deeply of fresh air. I love daffodils, roses and carnations. My husband thinks I am beautiful (he's a keeper...40 years in July) although I bet he still dreams I had hair down to my tukis. I am a Child of God, a lover of Jesus. Satisfied and content with my lot in life (although I do wish all my grandchildren were a stone's throw away).

How do you see yourself?

The Egg Hunt

After Church on Easter, Mr. Scottie Dog and I put chocolate into plastic eggs. 120 of them. We also had 19 eggs that Sydney had dyed. The weatherman cooperated and we hid the eggs in the yard. We had 4 cute peeps coming to THE HUNT. The older kids got a stern lecture about leaving the obvious eggs for Hudson who is only one.

Sydney and Kaia (with new lamb in sweater...it's hard to carry your lamb and pick up eggs at the same time. She wouldn't let me put it somewhere safe during the hunt.) check out the front garden.
Emma around the house.
Hudson was certainly dressed for the occasion!

The daffodils didn't keep Huddy from his quest of eggs!
Here's our dessert table. Ramone's raspberry poppy seed cake, Ramone's chocolate cheesecake, my coconut cake & chocolate nests and Liz's Peepcicles. We certainly didn't go without dessert!

What's cooking?

I love to cook. That said, I don't actually cook much of anything anymore. When the girls were young I cooked and canned and even made my yogurt from scratch. I backed bread & bagels & rolls. I had a great sour dough starter and we ate sourdough pancakes, waffles & biscuits. Nowadays, though it's just me and Mr. Scottie Dog and we tend to eat entirely differently. I like it spicy, he does not. We like different vegetables. So usually we grill a piece of chicken or fish and we each cook our own veggies, he has a baked potato and I have quinola or a salad.

When holidays come around it's fun to take the time to make something special. Sydney is now 7 and she spent the night with us. In the morning, Gamma slept in and Gampa (alias Mr. Scottie Dog) fixed his famous blueberry pancakes. When they were finished Gamma was just waking up. "When are we going to color eggs, Gamma?" I bet she asked that question 50 times. First I had to get up and dressed. Then I cleaned up the kitchen and we walked to our friend Judy's new house just around the corner. I am so blessed to have her only a block away. She and her dog Charlie walked us home. " When are we going to eggs, Gamma?" Sydney asked again and again. ......But first we had to make the chocolate nests to ring the cake. Recipe here. As you can see, Sydney is beaming. She and Mr. Scottie Dog ate the extra jelly beans.

Finally, finally it was time to dye the eggs. We had six color mugs. Our eggs are and assortment of white, brown and green eggs. I get eggs from friends who keep chickens so we take the color we get. Always fresh, always tasty. You dip the eggs just so.

It's OK if they come out with a strange pink streak! We like variety.

Aren't they beautiful! Soft and fun colors.

This year Sydney tried to make several two colored. She did well.

Now I've got to make my coconut cake. Just like last year.

Easter isn't all about eggs and bunnies and peeps and chocolate. Easter is about Jesus and how He rose from the dead. Dying for my sins and yours. Rising and conquering death so that we can live forever in Heaven with Him. We only have to ask. Easter Blessings to you and yours.


Hallelujah! He is Risen!

National Quilting Day

I know, I know, National Quilting Day was a few weeks back. I'm just slow in posting my photos. Every day I plan to blog and every day I don't. So here I am!

For National Quilting Day our local quilt guild sponsored a 3 day sewing extravaganza! I think there were 60 of us who set up our stations with our sewing machines, projects we wanted to work on, and such. I brought my sewing rolly chair, some diet coke and some home-made hummus and veggies to share. Dinner was provide the first night and somehow food magically appeared the rest of the weekend. I missed out on breakfast at home on Sat. March 17 only to arrive at the hall to find home-made bagels and cream cheese! It was fun to see what everyone brought to work on.Here's my station. I'm working on a border of 3/4" squares for a quilt designed by Edyta Sitar.

One of the fun things we did was to have "Jelly Roll Races" to make quilts for our Community Quilts Project. You need forty 2 1/2" strips sewed end to end. Then at the count of three everyone sews as fast as you can to create this stripy quilt. Ann was our winner at about 34 minutes.
Doesn't she look happy? I never realized she was so competitive!

Some people brought UFO's to finish up. Kathleen won these blocks in the guild lotto over 15 years ago! I was the Block of the Month chairman and remember drawing out the templates for this one back then.

Robot Quilt! So much fun!


These gals were showing off the quilts they had made a week earlier in Pat Sloan's wonderful class. Love them all.


I love the younger new members and their enthusiasm. "Corde" and "Roy" showed up in different shirts (and different personas) each day. I love the shirt: "Quilters do it in the Ditch!"

And as they say, A good time was had by all!

Join Redwood Sewing Center and Scottie Dog Quilts Alaskan Quilting Cruise 2012

I am getting so excited about our August 11-18 Alaskan Cruise. We will be going on Norwegian Cruise Lines and it is going to be so much fun. Unlike most cruises, when you cruise up the Alaskan Inside Passage you have beautiful scenery on both sides of the ship almost the entire time you are sailing! Imagine seeing whales, seal lions, bald eagles, spawning salmon runs, bears, moose and more! Our sewing room is glass on two sides so the views will be spectacular while we sew. The glaciers are magnificent—-I had no idea how awed I would be sailing right up next to a blue, so very icy blue wall of ice 20 stories high! Incredible. We will be able to quilt for three days when we are “out to sea” and so you will be available to explore all the ports and take any excursions we might find interesting.
Our ports of call will be Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC with a side trip to the Sawyer Glacier. So much to see and do! PLUS you can choose three different quilting projects while we sail. You’ll still have time to see the shows, go to the spa, swim or whatever your heart desires. In port, the local Quilt Shops will have specials for us .Bring your husband, your family or a non-quilting friend as they are welcome too.

In Ketchikan you can explore the Totem Poles in the National Park.

Take a Jitney or a Steam Train Ride in Skagway.

Get up close and personal at Sawyer Glacier!

Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria anyone?????

It's going to be so much fun, don't miss out.

We have a block of staterooms reserved at very special prices. To reserve your room contact our wonderful travel agent: MJ Bryant at (800) 278-7875 or email: MJBryant@ak2travel.com

Bittersweet

Today is March 4. Thirty seven years ago today I gave birth to a lovely baby girl. Sarah Louise. Sarah warmed our hearts, brought us joy and eased the pain of losing our baby boy two years earlier. Bill and I reveled in being parents and the blessing that was Sarah filled our hearts and home. She walked on the day after her first birthday when Grandma McNally was visiting. She soon welcomed her little sis, Liz just 17 months later. Sarah always looked out for her sisters. She translated Liz's gibberish, protected her and gave her piggy rides.

When Sarah was four her baby sister, Beka arrived. Those years were full and whizzed by fast and furious.

The girls grew up and our family was bound in the bonds of faith, happiness and contentment. All too soon the little girls grew up, flew the nest and established their lives and homes elsewhere. Each of them made us so very proud. Sarah moved from sales with Sears, management positions first with McDonald's, then with Macys, finally becoming a stock broker.
At 29, Sarah left us a couple of days before Christmas. We still miss her so very much. I am proud to have been her mother. Sarah taught us many things. Selflessness, generosity and love. In the Fall before she died, she planted 100 daffodil bulbs at my house so that they would bloom and remind me of her....daffodils are my favorite flower and her birth flower. Sarah, today I see the daffodils on your birthday and think of you....actually I think of you every day. Today is a bittersweet day, but I know that someday I'll see Sarah again.