The Reward for Exercising

I enjoy my morning walks. Getting out of bed way too early. Fighting off teary eyes and drippy noses from allergies. Tripping over my own feet. Sweat. Steep hills. Sharing the mornings with a friend...a friend, I knew there was some reason I liked to walk.

During the summer, my walking partner is young. After the university classes begin each fall, I walk with her mom instead. They are my neighbors and my friends as well as my exercise partners. I enjoy each of them soooo much. It's our combined senses of humor that binds us together as much as the walks. We all like to laugh, and I admit that I love to let loose and be outrageous when I'm with them. It's nice to shed my polite teacher persona and let that mouthy, sometimes bawdy, broad take over.

We hike in all different directions to keep the walks fresh. Fortunately we're near the edge of town--we've seen twin fawns near the river, quail in the scrub and bunnies almost everywhere. We've met lots of new puppies with their proud owners. Sometimes we'll reverse a familiar hike and are amazed at the new things we'll notice just by changing the perspective. Summer walks are different from autumn hikes. Hills challenge different muscles than speedy flat walks. Tuesday walks keep us scanning our environment, because Tuesday is trash day and there's no telling what treasures we might encounter. I'm always amazed at what people will throw away rather than donate. Their loss, my gain.

Like my clematis trellis acquired from a garbage can last year. Someone's castoff curtain rods became some fancy bronze fleur de lis plant stakes this summer. A little vision and they regain their usefulness. The pickings are definitely better in the warmer weather though, a fact I was bemoaning just last Tuesday as we set off. The Trash Fairy must have heard me because on the way back, hidden behind a trash bin, were...

Ta-da! Not one, but two, perfectly nice pots. I love the whitewashed terra cotta look. They are five gallon size and my patio looks much classier with the newest blueberry bush ensconced in my treasure instead of the black nursery pot. Thank heaven they're lightweight plastic because hauling them home would have been a challenge otherwise. Two walkers, two pots, two saucers--perfect! I'm delighted with the whole Green Movement because it puts a whole new positive spin on my dumpster diving repurposing.

Tuesday was also an early release day at school so grabbed my list and headed out run errands that afternoon. Two hours and four stores later I straggled in empty-handed, grumbling about how Joann Fabrics bums me out and wondering if I was the only person in the universe who can go to Home Goods and not find anything. Then it hit me--my day wasn't a waste at all. I had two new wonderful pots and I didn't have to pay one little cent for them. See, it pays to exercise!

Vintage Addiction

The quilts and crafts and friends are all delightful each year at PIQF. The icing on the cupcake though is a visit to my all-time favorite store in the Bay Area--My Friends and I in teeny, cute, downtown Niles. It one of those stores in which I can always find ornaments/collectibles/kitchen utensils/decorations/linens/etc. at reasonable prices which seem to make spending money there effortless.

Join my friends and I as we enter--see my skinny friend (I like her anyway) in her snazzy slim jeans checking out their always inviting and creative front window display. Girl Friend, you look amazing!That other jacketed lady just unsuspectingly walked right through my shot. Sorry, lady.

I could have sat right down in this corner filled with green glass and been happy for the rest of the day. You know me and my apple green obsession this year. (I didn't check my photos before we left so, sadly, the poor light does not do justice to the vintage beauty of this glass.) Can that little green juicer right up front come home with me anyway?

Another booth, this one filled with delectable silverware. Food just tastes better on pretty silverware. Girl Friend has started collecting butter knives and I was determined to get some for her. As I hurried ahead, at a brisk pace unlike my usual saunter through this store, I scanned every bunch of silverware and picked up all the butter spoons. Somehow GF found some butter knives anyway...but that's how I discovered that she likes the little flat ones best which helped me eliminate several before I snuck up to the cashier and paid.
Love this bony little felt punkin man--if I didn't already have so much Halloween decor I would have brought him home with me.

While I was sneaking around buying butter knives, Girl Friend was surreptiously paying for this little lamb.Guess whose flock just added a new member! Isn't this the sweetest lambie pie ever?

My friends and I'll be in Niles again next October searching for our next treasures from My Friends and I!

Spooky and Savory

My creepy-crawly spider jack o'lantern

Witchypoo pumpkin

I remembered to bring the pumpkins in off the porch the day before so they could warm up before I carved them (which is pretty organized for me). But they sat on the counter until late Halloween afternoon when my sweetie began giving me grief about always waiting till the last minute to carve them every year. Who me? Waiting until the last possible second?

And of course this year I found all our patterns but couldn't locate the pumpkin scoop and saws anywhere. So I winged it and picked two simple patterns, eyeballed the shapes, drew them on the pumpkins with a Sharpie marker, grabbed a paring knife and started carving. I think they turned out amazingly better than I expected. (I made a giant mistake on Witchypoo version 1.0 but it's hidden on the backside.)

The carving went so quickly that I had time to wrap our tree in eerie purple lights, rake the leaves into faux grave complete with skeleton bones peering out, a tombstone and some dead flowers. I've always dreamed about talking one of the kids to hide in the leaf grave and grab a trick-or-treater but my kids have better things to do on Halloween, I guess.

Pre-9/11 we had well over three hundred kids come by, then only eighty in 2001. This year we had less than thirty kids come by. (I have a very sad look on my face just thinking about it.) I loved, our whole neighborhood enjoyed, having hundreds of children come by; Halloween used to be an Event in our neck of the Haunted Forest. They were thirty very cute kids though. One little panda bear, who couldn't have been more than two and a half, roared at me VERY LOUDLY after getting his treats. I didn't know that pandas could roar that long with that much volume.

For the first time we had two dogs come by: a mad scientist in a lab coat and a skunk. They must have known that we always have homemade dog treats around and both left looking very satisfied. Maybe they were the start of a new trend. You heard it here first, folks!

Then the next morning all the spooky Halloween decorations disappeared, both inside and outside, and the Pilgrims and cornucopias made their appearance for Turkey Day.

Yesterday I popped the jacks into the oven. Tonight we supped on Pumpkin Soup made from our jack o'lanterns. Think gingery, spicy, rich and delicious. It wasn't quite as good as the pumpkin soup I fell in love with at Buenos Grill, so the search goes on for the perfect soup recipe at Allrecipes.com.

Fortunately I have five more cups of pumpkin puree to experiment with.

And did you know that dogs like roast pumpkin almost as much as they like watermelon rind? Omnivores, both of them.

Apron Mania and Other Excuses

I always have extra energy after our annual quilt show and sleepover party because my friends are so talented that they inspire me. Thanks, ladies!

And with the weather being so gorgeously gold and blue this week, I've been using all that energy to sew aprons, blanketstitch doggies, rake leaves, train the doggities, muck out The Big Guy's room, and generally catch up on housekeeping that I let slide for three weeks.

Blogging dropped low on the to-do list, alas. You know it has to be bad when housework takes priority over Internet fun. I feel like I've caught up so now I'm back. Coming soon--photos from my favorite vintage store in Niles as well as this year's pumpkin masterpieces. Right now those masterpieces are roasting in the oven to supply us with pumpkin muffins or possibly the new (healthier) pumpkin pie recipe I've been itching to try.

I'd better get my camera batteries all charged up so I can share the results of my apron-making frenzy. And the latest finished projects. And the Thanksgiving decorating.

A Talented Group

Those of us who gather each October for PIQF are a fairly talented group of crafters. Some are a little more into it than others. Someone might be obsessed enough that her daughter had to buy a new suitcase just to hold the craft supplies needed on the flight up (you know who you are). And some craft with the group just to be nice. Most of us tuck our crafting into the crevices not filled by our jobs.

But one of us oozes creativity day and night, and my camera batteries happened to be fully charged when I arrived at her house. She not only has great ideas and follow through, but her color sense is spot on. (I'm also in awe of her ability to finish projects, since mine can hang fire for years before they're completed.) Each year I anticipate discovering what new accomplishment she'll display. Quilts? Gift cards? Purses? Jackets? Floral arrangements?

This year brought glass tiles turned into necklaces with the help of some diamond glaze plus graphics cut from magazines.

This is just one of her amazing magnet boards. I took this photo inside at dusk, but you get the idea.Each one has a different theme--from sophisticated to simple, from trendy to classic, from subtle to outrageous. Each comes accessorized with magnets: some spell l-o-v-e or h-o-p-e or l-i-v-e (which I rearranged to spell L'vie because I can't leave well enough alone) or fit the theme (food, cartoons, puppies). These magnet boards are selling like hotcakes and the craft fair is weeks away. I'd be surprised if she has any left by then.

Her sweetie is a woodworker and a thoroughly nice guy and her house is filled with lovingly built furniture. These hand-carved wooden ornaments exhibit another of his skills.I can't decide whether I like them wooden or painted better. These mini masterpieces would be the first things I'd buy if there were extra money. Dratted depression.

In her free time, when she's not crafting to add to the girls' college fund...she's been busy quilting some graduation presents too--from wild to demure depending on the lucky recipient.
I just enjoy soaking up her creativity. And quite honestly it's nice to chat with someone else who shares my passion for trying something new.

Pacific International Quilt Festival Favorites

Quilts I loved!

This little piggy has personality plus...it's amazing how a mischievous twinkle can be captured in fabric. He puts a smile on my face!

I loved these Mary Englebreit-style flowers on a quilt sent from Japan (because it is the Pacific International Quilt Festival after all). I plan to use this idea in a Spring/Bunny/Easter-ish wall hanging sometime. This whole quilt was unique because many quilters contributed a small finished block of any size or shape that was then assembled into a large creation celebrating the beauty we find in our daily lives.
Which certainly sounds wonderful on a day like today when my job satisfaction has plummeted and I need the inspiration. What would we do without the arts to enrich our lives?!

Goldfinches, or wild canaries, are a favorite in my garden. This little guy is perched on a thistle for a good reason--they don't mate until the thistle down is available as nesting material.

An interesting but fairly useless fact I acquired this summer.

I loved the animal quilts. This almost has a southwestern feel with warm vibrant colors.

Traditional pattern with a colorful twist.

A family tree quilt.

Knowing the revisions that went on our own personal family tree displayed at our family reunion this summer due to various divorces, I can't decide to laugh or cry over the time to embroider names that might later be somewhat unwelcome.

Yummy delicious texture--I love quilts that are almost colorless so you can appreciate the quilting pattern and stitches. Especially if it's hand quilted!

Way too many machine-stitched quilts at quilt shows nowadays (IMHO). I know time is precious but it seems to me that piecing the quilt is only half the equation--the quilting itself is equally as important. Or maybe I've just seen some quilts that were machine quilted to death.


My favorite flower in any flavor...these are Rocky Mountain columbines. They remind me of the ones we saw blooming just below tundra line at Rocky Mountain National Park. Awesome!

Of course we have the real thing blooming in our garden each spring.

Love the overall flow of a good scrappy quilt.

Or the wonderful use of color and design.

But this little border collie had to be my very favorite this year.
It was a wonderful quilt show and it's probably lucky my camera batteries died or there's no telling how many photos I would have on my hard drive right now!

Sadly I'll never show a quilt at PIQF. I'm not quite that creative and definitely not that motivated. My little creations are solely for my own delight; my own personal little quilt show. I'm inspired by all the fabric artists each year though. I owe them a thank you because I know their influence enriches the projects I embark upon.

Tradition

I say I go to Pacific International Quilt Festival for the quilts and the vendors, but I really go for the friends I've been meeting there for eighteen years. It wouldn't be fun without my "peeps". We are so lucky to have two families open their homes and hearts to our huge group (California, north and south, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho and Nevada). See those smiles on our faces? Cheese ravioli with a savory topping that is still stimulating my tastebuds a day later--onions and Italian sausage and ??? I need this recipe!
Some friends have four legs, lots of toys and would rather sniff my shoes than play. I'm always eager to see Toby's new tricks.

The babysitters from eighteen years ago have become young mothers. The babies of yesteryear have grown up through the babysitter stage to the young lady stage. Fortunately a new generation is making its appearance. Last year she was a baby, this year a toddler at play. She'll be one of the babysitters before we know it.

(She's already learned that shopping is serious business. Check out her pink sparkly purse in motion.)

Coming tomorrow: quilts worth writing home about.