contrasts in style

At left my wedding quilt---Mom had started this top as a pass around project with the small quilt group in her town. I believe it was in the late 90's as I made a couple blocks for her after we moved south to Alabama. Not being able to find the pattern name or source, we named it "Fall City Baskets" after the one we saw in an antique store while visiting my grandmother who lived in Fall City, Nebraska at the time.

I have probably told you this story before but my husband and I were a couple for a very, very long time before we got married--one of those "are you sitting down?" moments when informing my parents. This top went to the hand quilters soon after my call. When we traveled back to Illinois to visit some months later, my family gave us a wedding reception and we were presented with the quilt and a trip to Sea Palms Resort on St. Simon's Island, GA. What fun! I love the quilt as it uses my beloved 30's prints, some real ones and repros. Mom has since replicated the quilt for herself--only fair since she gave us the original one.


So what should I see at the quilt show a couple of weeks ago? This one---wider handle, less "petals" in the arc. I believe that the owner/maker? said that the pattern was found in a magazine. Close but not quite it. Mom drafted hers up from the picture of the one we saw so that might account for some of the variances. While I like the scrappiness of the one at the show (and I am a nut for yellow fabric), I think mine is prettier and not as clunky looking.

I haven't even touched the machine in two days. I guess I have still found a way to wait till almost the last minute to work on that round robin after all. Two blocks are done, one is just barely started and I need 5 of them.

So what have I been doing instead? A big chunk of one day was spent getting an upgraded tracfone coded in over the phone and then adding the phonebook to it while deleting the numbers from the old phone. I guess the system in my area is switching from the old analog type and that would render the old phone useless. I didn't have to pay for it except for the time involvement. I kept messing up the text for the names and it was taking way longer than it should have to teach this old broad some new tricks.

Yesterday it was uploading some CDs into my music software and re-loading the MP3 player--twice. Danged error messages were messing up the works and only half of what I wanted got added due to some snafu or another. How could I upload to their software and it not recognize the format I used??? Annoying and again, time consuming.

What I DID get done instead while I watched the computer screens was some more knitting rounds on my headband tube to cover my ears while I walk (the ear muffs are pinchy and my hat makes my head sweat too much). I think I am about halfway there. I told Cher the other day that I would be lucky to have the thing done by spring but perhaps that was an exaggeration, LOL. Great ambitions to knit up some mittens from the same "Lipstick" Red Heart yarn---now that probably WOULD take till spring. DJ said I could make him some new headcovers from that pretty yarn---yeah, right! Two sets of those was enough, thank you very much.

On the trying to get fit front, this week I've added an afternoon stroll up and down our little lane a couple of times--a bit of an incline on both ends to boost the calorie burn but still haven't started my strength training though I have my ducks in a row. Definitely getting the 10, 000 steps thing in--more, if I have errands to run. I sometimes add an extra lap around the park as I did this morning making it 3.08 miles. My neighbor's are having a garage sale and have a bike for sale---I have considered it but then think of the added expense of a helmet, bike rack and probably will pass especially since I won't even get on DJ's exercise bike and pedal to nowhere. Keep walking for now.

So back to the machine with me and some stuff I have taped on the DVR--have my own little "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace" marathon this weekend.