Sunday in the Park

It was with some measure of pride that Dear Husband and I hung my most recently completed quilt, "Sunday in the Park." This is the most difficult top I have made. As some readers may recall, this fabric reflects my favorite painting by George Seurat. 

While I did the piecing which required learning new techniques, it was quilted by my friend and long arm quilter, Jenine Brothers, owner of The Meandering Needle. As always, she did a masterful job, adding so much to the beauty of this piece.

This quilt will be displayed in our living room (as shown on the left) until the fall, when it will be replaced by another top, Florence Regal. In the meantime, we can enjoy the fantastic design, colors, and the feeling that the fabric depicts - a beautiful summer day in Paris.

There is not much I take credit for, but I am quite happy with the way this top turned out. It represents my best quilting effort yet. Of course, while I can always find some "flaws" (which I refuse to point out to any Dear Readers), all-in-all, it looks nice to me. And - most important - Dear Husband likes it. A real compliment! 

Shown below is a close-up of a section of one block. This fabric is magnificent in every way imaginable. Summer has arrived in Loomis, CA, not only in fact (it will be close to 100 degrees today), but in the scenes of this lovely representation of a spectacular painting. 

As you can see from the picture, our Collie, DeeDee, is also happy to have a new quilt above one of her favorite places to nap - the living room sofa. It's good to be a doggie in our home. 

Onward to quilt land with a sense of accomplishment. 

A New Neighbor

One of the wonderful benefits of living in the country is sights like this. Meet our new neighbor - a baby donkey who is about a month old. He is so adorable. As you can tell, he is enjoying the shade and being with his Mama. Whenever I drive to the grocery store in Loomis, I pass the field where these donkeys reside, so it's a treat to see them. Sometimes they are off grazing and out of sight, but frequently they are right at the fence by the road, as they are in this great picture, taken by Dear Husband.

Donkeys certainly don't get any cuter than this guy. What is really adorable about him is that his head and ears are very large in proportion to the rest of his body. He has some growing to do to "even" things out, but this makes him even more precious. He also has black spots, just like Mom.

I can't help but get a big smile on my face when I see him. Ah, country living at its finest! We are taking great pleasure in watching him grow. When one of us sees him, we almost always call the other person and say, "Hey, guess who I just saw? The baby donkey!"

Onward in animal land. Hee-haw!

Inspiration on the Ice

At long last! I am finally, finally, finally truly and absolutely inspired to get my "bum" out on the ice to do something completely and utterly fun - and without any fear involved. This surge of enthusiasm is the result of my lesson Thursday with Coach J.

I went to the rink knowing that I would be skating on a "half sheet, no music allowed" freestyle. There is a kids' skating camp all week, so the FS sessions have been scarce. Oh, what an ice elitist I've become!

Coach J and I plunged into ISI Free Dance. We worked through all the elements through FD5, at which point Coach announced there isn't anything in these levels that I cannot do. So-o-o-o-o, we set the goal of testing through Free Dance 5 by July 15. The kicker is that we need Coach Chris to test Free Dance 5 with me, which comprises skating a 2 minute FD program, which includes all the FD5 elements. Music is picked ("Adagio in G Minor") so that's one thing that is done.

I will test the individual elements of each of the first four levels with Coach J. It is NOT necessary to skate these in the context of a program, just to demonstrate to the judge (our Skating Director) that one has competence in these. I felt as though I could have probably done that yesterday, but the Skating Director was teaching so we couldn't interrupt her. Besides which, you have to test all the levels on the same day or else you actually have to skate a program for each of the levels. "No thank you!"

Coach J and I had a wonderful, inspiring time checking each element off the list, with high-5s all around for all the things I could do without batting an eye. She was very happy with my ability to pick up the required footwork sequences quite quickly.

My dress for the FD5 program should arrive this weekend. Can't wait to see it. I am SO excited about this program. I feel that skating Free Dance is the second best thing I've done in skating, after skating pairs. There is a lot of work to do between now and July 15 with Coach Chris, who is going to have to set the Free Dance 5 program and we'll have to nail it in testing. That gives me three weeks to learn the program and gain competence enough to pass the test. Lots of work, but the good kind.

Also worked on my jump sequence for Bronze Open program. Now a half-lutz, r-inside three, toe tap, salchow, toe loop. Finally got the entrance and exit down. Coach was happy with progress on this too. This program is coming along really well.

Coach J and I had a great time working on the Free Dance elements. I could tell she enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. It was a real partnership activity. There is simply nothing like skating with a partner to inspire one to improve and work hard.

Onward with optimism and inspiration!

Simple Pleasures and Setting the Record Straight

It really is the simple things in life that often bring great joy. Thus is the case with my little veggie and herb garden. No one who knows me would ever think that I would grow anything other than a flower bed here and there. But, this year, I decided to dive into planting tomatoes and some herbs for Dear Husband (aka Chef Ken) to use in his cooking.

I bought all the starter plants at our local Raley's store in Loomis, CA. They were quite small when I purchased them a little over six weeks ago. As you can see (I hope) in the top picture, I have - with great pride - actually grown a plant that is now starting to bear fruit (or in this instance, tomatoes). This is the first tomato I have ever grown! Imagine my glee when I walked out one morning to spy these tiny green circles on the plants. I was so happy! Such a simple thing, but this speaks to the pure joy we find in something so small from nature.

Yesterday, I transplanted the tomatoes from their original pots (which were too small) to these larger pots. They survived the adventure and this morning look even better than before. We (well, maybe just I) are very excited about having fresh tomatoes for salads and pastas. Now, how do I tell when they are ripe? Note to self: Must Google this and find out before picking.

Now, a quick note on skating. First of all, I am thrilled to report that Coach Chris and I agreed that I would work on a Free Dance program for the ISI Adult competition in Vegas. We will be skating to "Adagio in G Minor." I will be in a beautiful robin's egg blue, floaty dress, perfect for the music. Now I must test up through ISI Free Dance 5 and have two months in which to accomplish this feat. Yikes!

Finally, let's set the record straight about my attempts at an axel. On Friday, because Coach J had, without realizing it, thrown down the challenge a few weeks ago by telling me that some people just aren't ever going to do an axel (read: "Karen, you are never going to do an axel"), I announced to her that I had obtained the harness and we were going to work on an axel. At first, she balked at this idea, but after doing some waltz jumps and loops, I all but demanded that we start to work on my axel. Let's get something clear: I did not execute an axel. . . what I did was to jump off two feet, try a 360 degree rotation in the air, and come down on two feet. None of this went very well, but at least I got the feeling of the rotation. So, that is "All the news that's fit to print" on the axel. No one should be impressed by this effort. I doubt that I will ever actually execute one (Coach J says it is very, very rare for anyone over 50 to do so), but at least I proved my point to Coach.

Onward to the dentist. Ugh.

Serves Me Right

Never again will I publicly participate in self-congratulatory comments! After posting my great success with the Florence Regal top, I decided it was time to switch gears and work on a BOM quilt for a while. Supposed to have nearly seven blocks completed; I have three completed. Oops!

This one block (shown here) took me three hours to complete. It was near torture. Problem being that I first had to deconstruct another block I had already done (incorrectly, I must add) to use the frame pieces for the new block. Then - having not worked on applique for a while - I had to re-read the directions for fusible web applique.

After this prep, I was ready to sew. At last! It took what seemed like forever to make the block (before the applique was applied). I ripped out seams because I was really unhappy with the bulk of some of the joining seams (BTW, I still am unhappy about these, even after trying every which way to resolve the problem).

Finally, the block complete, I was going to applique. Ms. Perfectionist here had to take over an hour just placing the pieces of the flower on the block. Also had to confer with Dear Husband to get his opinion before I fused the design. OMG, I am so neurotic about these things.

So, you can see the picture - and remember, this is before sewing around the applique, which I have yet to even try on any of my blocks.

Note to self: Quilting is supposed to be fun, not finding a cure for world hunger (although that would certainly be nice to do, wouldn't it?). Must relax, breathe, and enjoy.

Onward, without any pats on the back.