Actually excited to go to the gym

On Sunday, I did something radical: I joined a gym!

This is radical mainly because for most of the past 6 months, I've been almost entirely sedentary. Just walking from my desk to the copier at work was a challenge some days. Rupturing part of your achilees then developing bursitis in both heels can do that to you. *sigh*

But now... The freedom I felt to be able to go to the gym and exercise by choice, without pain, was amazing!

So far, I've been twice and have done a lot of biking. Biking is good for me right now, since it doesn't put any real strain on my heel. And, our gym (Pure Austin on Braker at Quarry Lake) has two really amazing stationary bikes. The Expresso bikes have a monitor attached where you can bike along with a course or play biking games. The bike courses are really quite interesting. The graphics aren't as amazing as some computer games, but they are realistic enough to keep my attention. The courses have hills/curves built in, which keeps me more active than in the past when I've just biked while watching TV. I also like that they integrate with a website where I can track my progress.

I took last night off from going to the gym, but hope to be back tonight. I'm trying to remember & record this feeling of being thankful that I can work out, since I'm sure in the weeks to come "getting" to work out may feel more like "having" to work out!

My feet aren't 100% quite yet. I do still have to be cautious about standing in one place for a long time - that kills my feet like nothing else (so it might be a while before I stand up thru the songs at the Deepen service on Sunday nights). And, I need to remember to keep up my stretches. But, it feels so good to be able to move again!

My most recent quilt

This morning, I blogged about my first quilt. The challenge (mentioned here) was also to blog about your most recent quilt. I'm going to cheat a bit by talking about the project I'm currently working on, mainly because I think it needs help!!

The pieces at left are sitting on our guest bed (whcih doubles as my design wall). In the end, this would be a wall-hanging. When finished, it will have a two borders (floral & brown) and red-white striped bias binding. (here's a version from the book, Charmed & Dangerous from Anka's Treasures)

The reason these pieces are sitting on my guest bed instead of being stitched together is that I'm not in love with this at all. Why finish it if I'm never going to like it?

Any ideas what I should do with it?

Here are some ideas I'm considering:

--Pull out all the light-colored prints (other than around the star, though I might change that up, too) and maybe the orange, too. I'd have to substitute with something else to finish the project (and finding more fabric in this line might be hard since I bought this stuff last fall in Houston), but I think it would help.

--Pull out those fabrics I don't like and re-arrange the rest into something else. I'd have to put on my creative designer hat, but at least I could finish the project without buying anything else.

By the way, the original collection (Cotton Blossoms, which ironically enough was designed by the person who posted the challenge) also included a bunch of teal/blue fabrics and several nice lighter prints. I pulled those out (thinking they were wrong for the color scheme here) and have already cut them for another project.

Any advice?

My first quilt

Several quilt designers posted a challenge to show your first and most recent quilts. I'm late for the party, unfortunately (too late to enter with a chance to win a prize), but I thought I'd play along anyhow.

As I referenced in my last post, quilting runs in my family. As a child, I can remember sitting next to my mom's sewing machine, looking thru the trash for scraps to sew together. Frequently, those were scraps from clothing, though later (as my mom got more time to quilt) they'd be scraps of her latest quilting project. Most of my early projects were made almost entirely out of scraps. There's a small bag I still use in my quilt closet that was actually the result of sewing scraps together.

Around 7th grade, we decided I'd make my first real quilt. I chose a pattern from a Georgia Bonesteel book, called Slanted Stars (the pattern is sometimes called X-quisite, also). It was a project specifically designed for kids. The book showed happy children with small doll-or baby sized quilts. Those were too small for me - I wound up doing a full-sized quilt.



Over Christmas vacation spent in the Phoenix area (visiting my grandparents), we visited several fabric/quilt stores where I started to pick out fabrics. The cactus fabrics (green, blue & pink) in the finished quilt came from there. Other fabrics were leftovers from mom's projects, tiny amounts purchased at other stores, and even a few were leftover from clothing.

I think my mom cut most of the pieces for me, though I don't totally remember. I do remember labeling every white square with a piece of masking tape & a number. A corresponding chart indicated exactly which fabrics should go on which numbered square. (Without a chart like that, a slated stars quilt becomes jumbled, and you can't really see the stars.)



I sat in the small front bedroom of our old house in Madison and sewed each block, referring to my chart. I'm certain my mom helped a lot. My points aren't perfect, but they're not entirely bad, either (they're not supposed to meet up along the sides).

In the end, we sent the quilt to be machine quilted. I'm pretty sure this (and the Irish Chain my mom was doing around the same time) were the first quilts we had machine quilted (my mom could do much better today!). My quilt got a squiggle design alternating with a star-and-moon design. We finished the edge with prairie points.

This label was added probably in 1998 or 1999 (when the quilt was displayed at a trunk show). But, the dates listed are accurate - counting quilting & binding, this quilt took 3 years. By the time it was finished, I think I had a different sized bed, so I'm not sure I even slept under it much!

The fabrics show their age, definitely. But, I think being a scrappy quilt with lots of white helps it stay looking somewhat classic. Considering that I did most of the design work in 1992 & 1993 (15+ years ago), I think it holds up pretty well.

Blue & Yellow Quilt from Grandma

I received a quilt last week, via one of my aunts, which was made by my grandma. She hand-pieced it, then my mom quilted it on her long-arm machine. Mine is mostly blue, with a lot of yellow, and is dated from this year (2009). Piecing techniques vary, but include quite a few set-in seams, template-cut shapes, etc. This really is all handmade (other than the sashing) - I think she even hand-cuts each piece (no rotary cutter for her). I'll have to look at it in more depth at some point to see if I can identify any of the patterns (some of which are traditional, I'm sure).

Apparently there's a quilt for every grandchild. I'm not sure who all has been given theirs yet, so I hope I'm not spoiling the surprise by blogging about this. Our assignment, after writing a thank you note (of course!) is to take a photo of us with our quilts and send them so my aunt can make an album for grandma.

I played with my camera's self-timer this morning trying to take a self-portrait (while Matt was still sleeping). I may need to enlist his help, I think, to re-do the photos later (you can see them here).

There's a quilt in the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center (or at least it was there on my last visit many years ago) which was made by my great-grandma (and I think one of her siblings, too?). My grandma quilts. My mom quilts. I quilt. At least 2 of my aunts and 1 of my cousins quilts (a few more have made a few things, but I'm not sure to the level of being called "quilters" yet). There are even some quilters in Matt's family line, I think. I have some doll quilts my grandma made for me when I was a kid (my dolls always had to have quilts on their beds!). It's nice to add another family piece to the collection.

Cornerstone Wrapup

We've been home from Cornerstone for almost a week. Unfortunately, that little thing called "work" has prevented me from blogging about the fest here. I've posted quite a bit to www.cornerstonefestival.com/blog (I'm one of the volunteers who writes content there).

Even with the other great vacations we're able to take at this season of our lives, our week at Cornerstone Festival in the cornfields of western Illinois remains my favorite week of the year.

When I explain that Cornerstone is a music festival, people generally assume the music is what makes it my favorite week. Actually, that's not it at all.

Some people wonder if it's my favorite week simply because I'm not at work. Well, after just having had 8 weeks off, that's not it either.

Cornerstone is my favorite week of the year because of friends. The music may be the outward excuse we give for driving 1000 miles one-way. But, the friendship is really what keeps bringing me back.

It was an awesome week, hanging out with friends shown in the photo. They come from Chicago, Grand Island, Atlanta, and Austin. The weather was great other than the last 24 hours or so when we had rain, but that just added to the experience. The big best show for me was one down at main stage in the rain - seeing Anberlin (and having the sound guy working in their favor this year, rather than a few years ago when it was nothing but bass). The best smaller show was probably Seabird. We picked up quite a few albums - I'm sorting thru them to find out which are keepers.

But, alas, I'm now back at work and no longer laughing & hanging out with great friends in what used to be a cornfield. Oh well... Next year, just outside Bushnell!

Becky's Shoes: a 4-part photo saga

Part 1: Despite muddy grounds at Cornerstone, my shoes held up pretty well. Why I wore perfectly white shoes that day, I don't know.

From Cornerstone 2009

Part 2: By Saturday evening, the mud had become a quagmire, attempting to suck off your shoes with each step.

From Cornerstone 2009

Part 3: Improvised booties in the web trailer.

From Cornerstone 2009

Part 4: I bet you never saw anybody using plastic bags as socks before.

From Cornerstone 2009

I think the fact that I'm posting these photos proves just how sleep-deprived I am. I'll write a real summary to Cornerstone after we get home. For now, visit the photos & blogs at www.cornerstonefestival.com

My favorite week of the year

Even with our recent trip to Hawaii, this is my favorite week of the year. We're at Cornerstone Festival in western Illinois. Matt & I met here in 1998, but that's just one reason this place is so special. We meet up with Steve & Sara (my brother & sister-in-law), Jerry (from Atlanta), Jeff (also from Atlanta, though without his lovely wife this year), Scott & Heather (from Chicago) and Brian & Angela (now from Austin, so it's not as exciting to see them). We're missing some of our group this year, but you should get the picture. This is a reunion of sorts for us.

Cornerstone is hard to define, especially during the middle of it. It's music, community, worship, arts, and more in the cornfields of western Illinois. I'll write more post-fest, but for now, check out the daily updates we're writing at http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/blog/