March Take It Further Challenge

March TIF challenge is challenging to me. It's "Detail" this month. There's a lot of crazy quilters on this list (okay - quit smirking - you know what I meant!) And I know what detail is involved in crazy quilting, but that didn't thrill.

Well, I looked hemmed and hawed and whined silently to myself about the theme but the month was flying by. I told myself that I didn't have time for this - there was so much stuff going on in my life this month. Then it dawned on me - that is "detail". We've all heard that Life is the journey - let's take it further - the detail is what makes your life. The "to do" list. The treasures you surround yourself with. The friends you spend time with and the activities that are important to you. Details all! I have my design and hope to "detail it out" this weekend.

I told you that we were remodeling the spare bedrooms and my sewing room is in one of them ... Well, no more! I have cleared it out - okay, almost! It's amazing how many boxes are marked "sewing room". My DH asked me where all this stuff was coming from - it was the smallest bedroom! Then he got cranky about it - muttering about how crazy I am!

The other thing was how dusty the room was! Okay, confession time. How many dust and really vacuum their sewing rooms on a regular basis? I straighten and vacuum the middle of the floor - but not the edges. The dust bunnies have been having a party on those edges! I'm allergic to dust and it's amazing that I could even work in there! Behind every box, storage container, under every shelf, behind every piece of furniture ... DUST and cobwebs!

I've got to figure out a way to keep it from happening again! Suggestions welcome!

February Take It Further Challenge

Well, I've turned into a procrastinator! This postcard has been sitting around, the design done since the middle of February. In my own defense - it's been a heck of a two weeks! Still fighting the knee - and it's been fighting back! We're getting ready to have the bedroom level redone - paint and carpeting. That's 2 guestrooms and the sewing room. OYE VAY! So I have been cleaning out and reorganizing and of course, it looks worse than ever! I go back to work part time next week and I'm not even half way thru the list of things I was going to get done! I have been know to be over-optimistic about what I'll get done. But still!

The TIF challenge was "what I'm old enough to remember". I'm pretty old! But the biggest change I think has happened is 'kids in summer.' I remember the endless summers and all the free time we had. We got up in the morning, did some chores and then we were literally thrown out of the house for the day! Told to "go play!" We did have lunch, of course, but no matter how much we begged to play inside during the HOT afternoons - nope, we were told to sit on the cool garage floor and play cards!

Here's what I remember about those glorious - unplanned - summers: riding bikes everywhere. building forts in hedges; under the slide; in a fence corner. Setting up elaborate doll villages and playing there all day. Climbing the apple tree and sitting up there discussing the world as we knew it! Laying on the side of the hill, watching the clouds and making up pictures we saw. The summer reading program that we finished in 2 weeks - not 6! Neighborhood vacation bible schools - everyone wanted to take a friend or two - we probably went to 2 or 3! Summer playground at our school with four-square; arts and crafts and that stick hockey game in the wooden frame! Swim lessons and how cold the pool was the first week. Outdoor movie theatres and cook outs. Playing jacks on the garage floor. Hours of "Authors" or "Old Maid" card games in that same garage. Clover necklaces. Lightening bug rings [ick] Gunny sack swings. (softer than a tire swing and not as hot!) After dinner games of hide and go seek in the dark. Even the smell on your clothes after a long hot day outside! A cool bath before bedtime and we got to do it all over again the next day!

Yes, we have 3 Pay It Forward winners!

Just waiting for the snail mail addies at this point. Thanks! It's safe to comment now!!!

Ran into yet another knee problem-blip on the road to recovery - and I'd so counted on this knee going smoother!!! Won't bore you with the details - I'll just let you know when it's solved!!! But it makes for one cranky doni - who doesn't blog unless she can "not whine!" And I'm pushing that limit right now. :> What I really need is quality time in the sewing room - wish I felt like it.

Spring MUST be coming - please!- Yesterday birds woke me up. They were just grackles - not pretty bird song, but still - it's a first. DH said they were yelling at each other about who's bright idea was it to come north this early! And it does kind-of sound like that!

Been working on postcards lately - something to do with my attention span! But when friends were visiting this weekend I made them help me frame and pin baste a small wall quilt. My designated UFO for March! Now it's ready to quilt at will!

Finishing up my Take it Further challenge this week. Hope to have pictures for you this weekend. I loved this theme - "what are you old enough to remember?"

I'm old enough to remember:
black and white television and it took FOREVER to warm up!
watching American Bandstand and being my teenage sister's practice partner!
TV test patterns - yep, there used to be hours in the night that nothing was on tv!
the FIRST MacDonalds built in Lincoln - 4 blocks away from my house
Penny candy at the stores
The first manned space shot - we watched it in the auditorium at school
Cars without air conditioning - they had vents!
Walking home from school for lunch
and lots more that "I remember" but just not this minute!!!

My TIF piece is about what I remember about summers. Coming soon - watch this space!!!

February's Take it Further Challenge

Sharon has come up with another winner for February. For the whole challenge explanation go here.

The question is "what are you old enough to remember?" Of course, there is a problem, as we get older - we remember less??? Or maybe that's just recent stuff we can't remember.

I'm old enough to remember summers filled with "play without appointments". Yep, you heard it here. Our mothers used to get us up, feed us breakfast, make us do chores, and then shoo us out of the house to "go play". We weren't supposed to come back (bother her) until suppertime!!! Okay, we were allowed to have lunch at home, but generally, we took turns eating lunch together at each other's houses.

It was really fun. We climbed trees, played with Barbies, rode our bikes, skated (with clamp-on skates with skate keys!) When it was too hot to move, we'd come back home and BEG to come into the air conditioning. NOPE! So lots of afternoons we sat on the cement garage floor and played Authors! It was surprisingly cooler - although harder - to sit on the cement. And after dinner we all met again to play Hide and Go Seek until bed time! WOW! Those WERE the days!

In winter I remember being so proud of ourselves! We stood on the bus stop corner and "smoked" candy cigarettes! By the time we got home, someone had already reported me to my mom!!!! SCORE! It didn't take much to convince her I wasn't really smoking! We were so excited that we tried it again and again - but the neighbors were in on our game by then! But still!

Hmmm - post card size isn't going to hold all these memories! I'll have to pick my favorites!

Take It Further Challenge

January's TIF challenge was "who you look up to"; "who you admire", "a trait you admire" or a color combo.

I took it literally - "who I look up to" - from a hospital bed. This month I elected to have my second knee replaced. I replaced the first one last January and as Dr R said, "It must have gone well, or you wouldn't be back."

I'd been seeing Dr R for 10+ years and we kept putting surgery off - til I got "older" !:>! Two years ago in Sisters I went down with no warning. That was the turning point - if they weren't reliable ... it's time.

You really put your life into the hands of a surgeon ... well, it's not to be taken lightly. Dr R is calm, reassuring, has a great bedside manner - no question is unimportant. He'll call you a wimp if he's disappointed in your progress. But also takes pride in your abilities.

Challenge: I decided to work in postcard size this year. And I've never done a fabric "portrait" before. I took a graphic off the web. Polarized it in CorelDraw to bring it down to basics. Created it in fabric. I was surprised how little room I had on the pc size. I'd planned an xray box and overhead spotlight. Let's just say that math isn't my strength!

I free-motion loop-de-looped some quilting on the scrubs and hat. I couldn't find the perfect eyeglass treatment. And of course, here I am on crutches in the middle of winter ... so when it shows up I'll update the pc.

Thanks for setting up this challenge. I look at some of the other entries and I'm overwhelmed by the artistry. Mine is pretty darn simple. But I stretched to get that far and I'm looking forward to the next 11 months.

I just got sent to my room - tee hee!

That's right - DH just sent me to my room! I think he forgot the computer was up here! I haven't been sleeping lately - probably worried about the knee surgery in 13 days. [You think???] Had my Ortho appointment yesterday and everyone agreed that those were ugly x-rays! Nice to have a consensus!

My son, A, is flying back home tonight for a weekend wedding. He'll be home for dinner tomorrow night and that may be the only arranged time we see him. Besides giving him a ride to the airport on Sunday. Oh yeah, he wants to go to the campus computer store and see what software I can buy for his new computer!!! Boys and toys - they don't grow up - they just get taller!

I have an idea for my "Take it Further" challenge. Subject: Someone we look up to; someone we respect. How about a surgeon who is replacing your second knee? I think Dr R fits the bill. And that's timely for my January. For ideas I looked up ortho surgeons on the web - (ooo ick!) But I think I know what I want to do. Now we'll see if I can execute it. Wish me luck!