Monday, April 30, 2007

Monday Musings....

What a weekend!!! Saturday afternoon, Don and I headed to Columbus to visit Half Price Books and to venture in to Target for a toy for Alexxis's first birthday. It was a stressful trip for me as we had some more repairs made on the old Jeep earlier in the week... new tyrod {sp?} and universal joints, checked the fluid level in the transfer case, and supposedly had the stabilizer bar look at and I had assumed fixed. It turns out that, nope, still have the same problem... between 55-65 mph, hit a good size bump with both front tires and the entire front end begins shaking vigorously! It is enough to scare me to death, I just Thank God that Don was driving! It stops shaking after you break and don't even attempt to set the cruise control. We made out to St. Rt. 23 and just over the St. Rt. 95 overpass when it acted it AGAIN! Dang it! We just can't win with this vehicle.. Had I been driving, we'd have done a U-turn through the median and came straight back home but you cannot tell a certain someone anything and he insisted, "it'll be alright!" so I sat on pins and needles the entire trip down and back. Finally, sensing my stress, he slowed down and did only the speed limit. I just don't trust this darn Jeep and having been in one too many car accidents, well can you blame me? I did however try to find some bright spots in the day...

It was a gorgeous Spring day, lots of sunshine, not too hot, not too cold; not a lot of traffic. In Half-Price Books, I browsed and found another book by J. Marsh Michler, Crazy Quilted Heirlooms and Gifts. At $5.98, I purchased it. There were a lot of books on quilting that I would have like to have been able to browse more through, but Don was beginning to feel ill and started looking like it, too. A couple of college girls were also in the 6'x8' space where these books were; one sitting on the floor while her friend sat on a chair looking through and discussing some home decorating options for their dorm, I assumed. I sort of felt as if I was invading their space, so we made our purchase and headed across the street to Target. While in there, Don began looking weirder... a yellowish cast to his tanned face and I kept asking him if he felt alright. Of course, he trying hard not to ruin my day just because he feels bad, so I hurried up and made a couple choices as to what to purchase for Alexxis. I opted for a 3 pc. light-weight pj's set and an 18 month T-shirt because I couldn't decide on what toy to purchase and figured maybe it would be best to wait until after her party on Sunday to see what she gets from every else. Anyways, we headed back towards home, stopping only to get me a sandwich. By the time we arrive home, Don is not feeling too good, is running a fever off and on, and chilling' so straight to bed he went, laying under three covers trying to stay warm. It seems there is this awful flu or virus going around and it is effecting everyone a bit differently, but its signature mark is a intermittent fever, chills, and terrible body aches. So while he slept, I curled up on the couch and read my new book before heading off to bed myself.

On Sunday, I hit the ground running again, making preparations for Alexxis' birthday party. I whipped up some macaroni salad for Chris's mom, a jug of iced tea, packed up tables chairs, tablecloths, and a variety of other things for taking over before stopping at the grocery store and spending a quick twenty on some additional items. I arrived at Gary and Nancy's shortly after 3:30 and Amber and I began setting everything up and completed the simple decorations. It turned out to be a beautiful day for an outdoor party and the kids seemed to loved it as much as the adults did. Overall, I guess there were about 20-25 people there - parents and children together. Alexxis had a wonderful time, although I think she's still not quite back to her normal self. She seems a bit tired to me but gained energy and momentum as the day progressed. Possibly from her first sugar buzz of having a piece of cake with icing, LOL! I took a good 25-30 pictures... the cakes Nancy made and decorated, the decorations, the guests, and of course, lots of the birthday girl herself! I haven't transferred them to the computer yet as I was one tired grandma when I finally arrived back at home around 9:30. Around 11:00 p.m. I headed to bed, only to awaken feeling waves of nausea --- coming and going most of the night. Great! Finally, around 6 a.m. I went back to bed and slept wonderfully. {I browsed online for over 6 hours, blog-hopping, reading, following one link to another.... soaking in some eye candy, feeling inspired but no energy to do a darn thing with it...} This morning, I am feeling better, no nausea, no fever... I thought for sure, I'd end with whatever it is everyone else seemed to be getting. Thank God! I don't do "sick" very well... not that anyone else does, LOL! Anyways, I just wanted to "check in", say "HELLO!" and I'm still kicking it!

I'm itching to get back to work on my Crazy Quilt throw soon. I've been thinking about it more and more... wondering if I should add more color to it, some silk, what about that velvet? Perhaps? I haven't decided so I'll probably just keep using what I have on hand already. I am also thinking about some "soft" embellishments for decorating it. Soft, because it is for use in the studio's leather recliner. I don't want to leave impressions in the leather from beads, sequins, etc. Laces and trims would work wonderfully and once I get it pieced together and actually start stitching it, I'm certain it will begin to start taking shape. I have no idea on what batting or what I'll add to it for a quilt backing. Call me insane, but I'm thinking it would be wonderful to CQ both sides of it... unfortunately, I doubt that I have enough fabric to do that. I do need to decide soon, so that I can purchase more and add some of those fabrics in, if I'm going to. I thought a nice cording would look wonderful for the binding edges but quickly realized I'd need a lot of it, regardless of what I purchase. Hmmm, decisions, decisions... I just had another thought, since this CQ throw is being created in a darker color palette, what if I just finish it like a quilt using regular cotton for the backing after it is bound. Couldn't I create another large piece later, only using lighter color scheme? Warm vanillas, off-whites, softer, more muted reds and greens and add it on the back side at a later date? I'm thinking that maybe this would be a pretty mixture of light and dark; making it reversible for use throughout the year and seasons. The lighter side displayed in Spring/Summer and the dark side for fall and winter. I think it would be beautiful once created; draped softly over the warmth of the sable color in the leather recliner with its folds demonstrating the stark contrasts. Something to consider and think about..... but I need to finish this side first, LOL! I still am desiring to add some applique pieces to some of the quilt blocks and after browing through Marsha's book, I considering adding an odd number of quilted fan blocks just to break up some of the blocks and to provide some additional visual interest. I can see it in my mind's eye... creating it is going to be something else entirely, I'm sure! {smiles}

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