last meme of the year

Do you own a gun? No but there are days when I think one might be called for. Such a weird question.
What’s your favorite Christmas song?I have a few-It's comin' on Christmas(wish I had a river I could skate away on)Little St. Nick(beach boys) are two favs
What do you prefer to drink in the morning?-you haven't read my blog about the tea, have you? It's tea, tea, and then some tea. Strong, with milk and sweetner.
What do you think of hot dogs? I like them occasionally but I prefer some good German sausage like bratwurst.
Can you do push-ups? I suppose if someone put that gun I don't have to my head I could do one. I have disc problems in my back so it would not go well
What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?I have a few. I'm an earring and ring person. I own many beautiful pieces of both. For a while I went through a native american jewelry phase and I have a few rings and earrings of that style but mostly I like gold and sterling hoops.
What is your secret weapon to lure the opposite sex?HAHAAHA In my house-food.
Middle name?Louise
Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment:1-what's for lunch?
2. I should get to the store for leg of lamb for New years day. 3 don't forget the mint jelly.
Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:tea,iced tea, iced white tea with apple or pear flavoring. Does water count? Lots of water.
What time did you wake up today? 5:45 a.m.
Current hate?I don't usually hate anything or anyone but in this case I'll make an exception-the media and network t.v. studios for buying up all the good cable channels and putting re-runs of programs on a continuous loop and calling it programming. It's disgusting what they've done to A&E , Bravo and other stations and then to have to pay a cable compnay for that drivel. At first I was delighted by them putting on programs I couldn't stay up to watch but by the time I flipped to A&E for the same CSI-Miami re-run three times during the holiday weekend I nearly lost it for real. Here where I live there is no choice-it's all connected. DSL-t.v. etc. Also, Ted Turner bought up all the MGM old great movies and you can't get Turner classic movies without a package here. He sucks and so do the networks-don't get me started.
Favorite place to be?In my house on a snowy day when everyone is home and safe.
Least favorite place to be? Doctors office-any kind. Dentist. Grocery store
Where would you like to go?I could easily go to Hawaii again. I loved San Francisco and I loved Paducah but I was there when it was 99 degrees and I couldn't really enjoy it. So many places.
Do you own slippers? Not really. I kind of live in flip flops all year round in the house.
What shirt are you wearing?apricot linen shirt
Do you burn or tan? I would burn if I went out in the sun. I'm not a sun person and I guess it has been a good idea since my skin is fairly wrinkle free even at 58.
Favorite color(s)?Another thing I'm a real Gemini about. I love colors and yet I wear almost all beige, white,black and occasional pale tints. I adore red and in my closet of shame there are a huge number of earthy tones.
What is your favorite holiday? It's not that I don't like holidays but I think too much gets made about them and it diminishes the importance and makes people crazy with things they think they can't live without doing. I'm really always happiest when they are over and I can clean up the mess and clutter(I know, I know, but holiday clutter gets old quickly)
What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?Not a lot since I knew early on that I lived with the real monsters. Definitely snakes would be up there too.
What’s in your pockets right now?grocery list
Last thing that made you laugh?I am easily amused and childlike. Ellen had a re-run of the artwork people did depicting her-it was funny
Best bed sheets as a child? Wow, I'm with Janet on this one. I come from a far off universe where there were only white sheets.
Would you be a pirate?Probably not, I'm really a nice person. I don't think I could pillage. I do contemplate giving the odd person a good smack now and then.
Worst injury you’ve ever had?When my son was an infant I stepped out of our car onto a patch of ice and in order to keep from dropping him I fell on my tailbone. It was the begining of the end of my back.
Are your parents still together? No-Father dead- evil step father dead-mother-still living
Do you wish on shooting stars-always. what could it hurt?
What is your favorite book(s)? Oh My! Have you seen my bookshelves? If I had only five to choose-East of Eden, the encyclopedia(I know I'm weird, but I like reading them)The Gold Coast because it takes place not far from me and I love a good cautionary tale in the style of "the bigger they are the harder they fall." A couple of obscure books on the history of China and Japan which would be of no interest to anyone but me.
What is your favorite candy?You would probably think it would be chocolate but I like me a good tootsie roll pop.the chocolate ones or cherry. and I am a total sucker for the hershey kisses with cherry cordial centers. Oh how I rue the day they made those little buggers.
What song did you have played at your wedding?Both times were simple here comes the bride on the organ.Very small dinner afterwards.Second time was the charm.
How is the weather outside right now? Really warm for this time in NY
What was your first thought this morning when you woke up? It was dark and I sensed my husband was not there but I didn't want to reach over in case he was and I would wake him. So(poor me) I stayed in bed till it got a little moe light and I could see. He was already up but being very quiet downstairs.

For Debra

Hi Debra- I am happy to donate the quilt but I just feel bad that some lovely woman is going to have to quilt the BEAST. I have heard that it's a bitch to quilt something wonky and this definitly fits that pic. The size is 68x58 because I was having menopausal mania and decided at some point to make it a lap quilt for myself rather than a wall hanging for a large livingroom wall. Trouble is, I ran out of long border pieces and only had enough to do the top and bottom before I freaked out and put it away. I can easily remove the top and bottom very quickly. I do not have backing or batting, so your offer sounds great. I would be happy to send you what ever the backing costs as well as the batting which I am also out of and I will certainly bind it when done. Just one very important note-We will be gone from the 17th to the 21st of Jan so don't send me anything to arrive around that time. There is no one here to pick up packages delivered. Our mail comes to a box at the bottom of the hill and I don't want anyone to get hurt trying to get up here if the weather gets bad and the drive is not cleared. Any time before or after those dates will work great.

On a semi-related topic-in Jan. I hope to get into the closet and sort out some of the largesse that is just taking up space. Is that the sort of thing that one could post in Traders Village? If so, books, patterns, and some older fabric await some talented person who would like them.

Let me know about the quilt top-TTYL

the WIP that was-or-why the 1/4 inch matters

I like to call this my menopausal quilt. I don't really know what the hell I'm going to do with it except perhaps use it one day to illustrate to a class what happens when you don't have a quarter inch foot and you are in a manic phase. I really loved all these fabrics and made may more nine patches than appear here. There in a box in THE CLOSET OF SHAME. When I put this together, I can't imagine what I was thinking. I only know I wasn't measuring. Probably, I thought (in some parallel universe) once I got it together it would all come out right. NOT, and so it takes up a special place of honor(or horror) on the top of my list of UFOs. So much promise-so little matching of seams. One day I will take it apart and figure something out....but not today! I just want you to notice that I am, if nothing else, consistantly wrong about every measurment in every block. Thank you, thank you very much.

WOW-if you click on it it's even bigger more awful...It made me yelp! Good thing we're friends or you'd drum me out of the group!Did I mention I made this ten years ago?

six weird things

I'm a little tired today-post holiday clean-up and such. Getting ready for the 12x12x4 challenge prompted me to cleanup my so-called studio area, which is just a long wall in my bedroom that is the repositary for all the crap in my art life. I needed a big shovel and trash bag to get to the surface and that's what I did yesterday. So today I'm meme-ing and chillin'. The guys are off to work and the house is fairly quiet. Here are my six things-which will prompt a my husband to say, "only six?"

1.
I have a touch of agoraphobia-and I must force myself to go out everyday even if it means just opening the door and walking outside. Skipping a day and staying inside makes it worse the next day.
2.
Shoe fetish here-what makes it really weird is that for years I wore very beautiful and expensive high heels and now I have problems with my feet and legs so that all I can wear is flats. I must have 50 pairs of shoes and I only wear 5.

3.
I am a tea drinker and then some. I drink many mugs of tea in a day. I grew up in a house with a British step-father so I learned to love a good cuppa. I'm so fussy about my tea that I actually carry some with me in my purse so I have my own brand and not that pissy stuff that passes for tea here in the U.S. I drink PG Tips from England and my husband buys it for in in commercial service sized boxes of 500 from the manufacturer-importer several boxes at a time. Can you say OCD. I actually feel annoyed when I can't have my tea fast enough in the morning. I married the best man alive.

4.
I am supersticious about a couple of things to the extreme. Coming from a very horrifying childhood made me afraid to express too much joy out loud. I am still afraid to voice too much happiness for fear that the proverbial foot will come out of the sky and stomp on my happiness. Being a student of Asian history made me aware of certain asian principles that have translated to my own life such as not boasting or being openly too proud. In ancient times Chinese women would not praise a new-born child for fear that the gods would be envious and take the child.To some extent, this is how I feel about things that are important to me. I will never say out loud that life is good. The last time I said it out loud was Sept 10th 2001.

5. I still like herring salad

6.
Being a Gemini, I have many interests and some are polar opposites. For instance, I like classical music(Water Music by Handel, Hyden Trumpet Concerto and most things played by YoYo Ma) and even opera(Italian) but I'm happy to hear a lot of country like Montgomery Gentry's "Christmas with the family"(the funniest seasonal song ever made) and I love my Charlie Byrd retrospective and some Dixie Chicks as well. I draw the line at most rap but I have heard some I almost like though not in large doses and I have to be in the mood.

Well, if you're still with me... your really a good friend....I'll try to do better tomorrow or even later.

because this can't wait for tomorrow

http://manolomen.com/2006/12/20/dont-like-women-youll-love-our-sweaters/ Enjoy!

Big fun with the family

Merry Christmas to you all. We had the best time. A mix of fun, really good food and friends and of course loot to boot. These are some of things I got from Santa. The JoAnns cards are from my very generous and funny BIL Bob. He couldn't find any large denomination cards so he just grabbed a handful. I got Borders cards from Roger and books I wanted. There is a biography of Chas Addams, of Addams Family fame, missing from the pic since I already took that up to bed last night-very interesting. He had a very unusual life. I love me a good biography. I also got the Quilt National Book for this year which has some very unusual quilts in it by award winners. I had written these titles down wanting to go and ask my friend at the Library to get them for me from interloans. I guess Roger saw the list and smart fella that I married-he got them for me! How cool is that ? Especially since that list was laying around forever on some corner of the desk and if you could see the chaos on the desk you would be amazed too! The other gift missing from the pic is from my son. It's two DVD sets. One of Animaniacs and the other is Pinky & The Brain. I can't wait to open them and watch. When James was a little boy we watched them together and I would plotz at the dialog and music. They occasionally show them on the carton network and we still get giggles. We used to sing all the songs together(well O.K.....maybe I sang them alone) and burst out laughing. We still watch cartoons. (I know-sad...overgrown child here)

On Christmas Eve we went to our friends, Joe & Jeri's house for a buffet dinner. Our son James came along after he was finished with work. We're still groaning from too much food and a bit of drink. The table was full for hours and then... came dessert. Oink! Life is good but somewhat larger.

The weather here is very warm and that would be alright if it weren't for the fact that we are all melting in our winter clothes. Also, we know what's coming and it makes it that much harder to go from very warm to verrrrry cold!

I hope you all had a great celebration. Tomorrow I'll get more pics together of Christmas.