Sunflower Vogel Pattern

There are mathmatically figured out equations/patterns for things I think are beautiful.

Color and trees...

This fabric is in our bedroom curtains, behind our bed. Leaves are turning colors outside. I think I am a seasonal decorator, ready for color changesinside. People think painting is such a big job--it's not. It is the prep and the cleaning up afterwards that is the hard part. Moving furniture, protecting surfaces. Every morning for a week I've made a list of current room colors and how I would change them, if I could do anything. No limits on paint price or effort changing or guilt that you just painted that room once this year...

Playing lacrosse at Sunset Beach!

This was a FUN room to paint. Finished yesterday, so most recent mural on this blog. John jokes that I would pay people for the privileage to paint for them! I need more blank walls! Perfect base-coat color (happy yellow-orange--the parents let their daughter pick the color and then we went one step lighter and I promised to add lots of orange). Ceiling painting makes all the difference, makes the corners disappear and the room expands! Plus easier to cut in, if you are the painter. Over the 3 days I painted I came home itching to paint my house in brighter colors! I loved being in this space.
Clouds are satistfying to paint! It takes some muscle to do ceilings, and moneky-prowess on the ladder.
John took one look at this tree and said, "That's a $500 room!"

Before top clouds added--view of sunrise/sunset.
After top sky clouds added, first lavendar, then orange and gold on top.

The pink band of color completely surrounding the room was a stroke of inspiration, solved my cohesive problem, making things merge, look right. Praying helps.
Reason for the room. In 2 days after paint cures, the green field can be used as a chalkboard.
Dolphins on the way to the bathroom.

Can you find my signature and the year?

Thinking about siblings...

We haven't been together for awhile. Weddings, funerals. Thanksgiving. Holidays are coming, and I am thinking about where everyone is today. What has changed. Who looks different?

If you click on Music Man Bob & Lu link and look at their Utah trip...Roxie matches cousin Olivia! Same dress. Love brown clothes! Roxie wore it to Church once, and just put it in the too small pile. Will Olivia have a little sister who can wear hers and Olivia wear Roxie's? We had lots of matching clothes growing up, thanks to a sewing mom...

Double Wedding Rings

 
Not an easy pattern. I cut out more than I could sew together. I didn't get very far, so this is a baby quilt, nephew Gabriel McCain (vote!) has it. We were talking last night about how Uncle Lee could gather some pretty cool signage during the campaign. We had a "STEWART" sign from somebody in Provo running for office. I cut out the un-needed parts and put it up in our Stewart's room.

Favorite wontons+soup + Favorite living composer: Jon Schmidt

We love "Welcome to Midori" on route 1, Balimore, best crab+cream cheese wantons, ever.

  Whenever I see a reclaimed Taco Bell establishment, I am likely to stop. This place was in Delaware, same architecture,and I had the best soup in my life: chix stock with pork+shrimp meatballs and noodles and cilantro, 1 egg, no flour. Perfect! I am making it tonight.
 The Alzheimer quilt bins filled the car--the reason for the trip, to drop them off.
  Jon Schmidt. He was in town for a homeless shelter fundraiser concert. He wrote a song for our graduating class, Highland High'84. I remember Dad solemly writing a check for $75 after he played at our wedding reception. It has been almost 20 years, and he is still playing. I asked him if I could take a picture of him for my blog (had to step outside of the chapel) and he gave me a big hug (surprised me!)He spoke at the "Why I Believe" fireside and played his arrangement of "All Creatures of our God and King" and "Onward Christian Soldiers" JRR Tolkein inspired, and his wife's favorite "Beaches" and "Waterfall" my all time favorite! The most inspiring thing he said: everytime he gets ready to compose, he says a prayer. His hero is Minerva Tiechert who would pray every time she picked up a paintbrush, and when she ran into artistic problems painting the Manti temple World Room, she would climb down from the scaffolding and get down on her knees and ask for help. So I've been trying it, too, with this current mural. A solution I never would have thought of on my own is the result. Pictures coming tomorrow...

Happy Birthday Brother!

Carolyn opened the pillowcase and started pulling out your quilt, and asked, "Does this belong in a quilt show? What is this?"

She could see the faded applique, falling off, rough stitches coming apart. I reassured her that was the back of the quilt and to turn it over.

She took great delight the rest of the show white gloving (that means she could touch the quilt) and showing the back side and telling the story about it being nailed to a pallet in a Good Will thrift store. The polka dot fabric is strategically placed to cover holes.

I didn't repair the applique, so if it keeps coming off, that is okay. Things unravel. We are mortal.

The more you wash it, the softer it will become. I am glad you could laugh and see the pun humor in it. Use it and love it.

Know that I love you. All of you, front and back, high and low. I made this quilt thinking of you and praying for your happiness.

You were all 5 of your sisters baby to play with and practice on before we birthed our own, so there is a place carved in our hearts with your name on it. You taught us how to mother. We needed you and still do!

Michael's office

The gold paint=Ralph Lauren, wonderful stuff to play with. This was a huge job, fun, intense, late night in Salt Lake City. Mom brought me a sandwhich to keep me going...Painting vacations are my favorite kind!  

Quilt portfolio continued...

The squares are grommeted together so I can keep adding to this, each block telling a story from The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ (when I made it I was thinking of how to divide quilts among children, who gets what. There is a block for each of them now, but I have more images, thoughts to add and the fabric ready and waiting!).

I gave the round robin group I was in the theme of "Love at Home" and they each made me a strip. Included the 8 houses from my siblings, each creating their dream home icon. Great Grandma Billie has said this is her favorite quilt of mine.  

I run across old quilts in archives...Made this 4 years ago. Gloves spell out sign language message...

Wish you had been there...

I had this huge life event, big show. I was disappointed that friends didn't come. When I have a one woman show, I hope they do.

Here is Gyleen's quilt--I have two blocks in it, the black haired lady in the window and the 2 kids washing dishes blocks...I am published in her book, too!

Priming

John taught our family home evening lesson on how we prime our minds. First he gave us a list of nonsense sentences and asked us to make a sentence from each group:

Him was worried she forever
From are Florida oranges temperature
Ball the throw toss slowly
Shoes give replace old the
He observeses occasionally people watches
Be will sweat lonely they
Sky the seamless gray is
Should now withdraw forgetful we
Us bingo sing play let
Sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins


Then he told us about a study discussed in the book "BLINK: The Power of Thinking without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell.

The above scrambled-sentence test list made people walk away slower, hunched, acting like old people. Why? They were primed by the words, things that made them think of old people...


Another study using words of patience, kindness, politeness, waiting, rest, yield, considerate, courteous, peace, etc influenced a group to wait without interrupting while the group primed with aggressive, bold, rude, bother, disturb, intrude, infringe. "The people primed to be rude eventually interrupted-on an average after about five minutes....but the people primed to be polite, the overwhelming majority-82-never interrupted at all. If the experiment hadn't ended after ten minutes, who knows how long they would have stood in the hallway, a polite and patient smile on their faces?"





"Priming is not, it should be said, like brainwhashing." and "once you become conscious of being primed, it doesn't work" but how we think matters!

Another experiment in the book takes two groups of students to answer 42 demanding questions from Trivial Pursuit. Half were asked to take 5 minutes to think beforehand about what it would mean to be a professor and write down everything that came to mind. Those students got 55.6% of questions right. The other half of the studnest were asked to first sit and think about soccer hooligans. They ended up with 42.6% right. The professor group didn't know more than the soccer group, they weren't smarter or more focused or more serious. They were simply in a smart frame of mind, and clearly, associating themselves with the idea of something smart, like a professor, made it a lot easier, in that stressful instant after a trivia question was asked, to blurt out the right answer.

John asked us about the words in our home. He asked us about the words in the dinning room. I told him there weren't any, they were in the kitchen! I had forgotten about the table.

Recipe for table:
bleach wood, taking out stain color (packages at Home Depot for this purpose. Wood Bleach)
use white school glue to write words
re-stain table
scrape off remaining glue that acted as a resist
polyurethane, or experiment with resin (but tape edges of table first--I didn't know to and it was disastrous. I should have just polyurethaned like I know how)

Purple Patches for Alzheimer's

Excerpt of letter to Ami Simms, curator of the 52 nationally travelling quilt show we are hosting this weekend at Harford Tech.

Here are photos I shot today at the close of the show--before I talked to you about trying to get an action shot with the pinning happening. It seemed to be a spontaneous, sweet gesture of true emotion and honoring the memory of these loved ones. I was fascinated by which quilts were pinned--it wasn't every one--and of note, it was only on the interior ones, the last 27-52 ones, which are more enclosed. The bench in the center and alcove feeling was safe-feeling, secure, not exposed to rest of show, more private perhaps? Or maybe after seeing rest of quilts emotion had built up.

I am planning on gathering the left-behind tokens and making a little quilt with them and sending to you....soon.

There were several people who would read one quilt, go away, and then come back to see the next one. They told me they needed to rest their heart. Get control of their emotions.

As people approached the table I would ask them if they had a family member or loved one with Alzheimer's. This is what the 2x6 purple patch pinning invitation said:

To Honor & Remember
Think of a loved one with Alzheimer's or a related dementia.
Write their name on a Purple Patch.
Wear it to honor and remember the 24 million families coping with Alzheimer's.

I laminated it and will take to Delaware to see if they want to use it at their show. It was a good way for us to reach out to viewers, find out tidbits of their stories. I am intrigued by the need to share, to tell why they are there, who they know with it. It was like a reception that way, and the TACTILE is a big deal. Something to touch--they are allowed to touch that fabric (not the quilts!) and I think it really helps them.

I am not explaining this as well as I wish I could, but it really impressed me, affected ME. As a way to reach out to viewers, share with them. Give and take. I was enriched spiritually and emotionally today, crying with them. There were a couple of ladies that came out sobbing and all I could do was give them a big hug and hold on and listen when they were ready to talk. I know you warned us, but wow, it was very intense. And the patches helped.

Helpers--teach them while they are young and make it fun...

I'm not playing by the rules, but was intrigued with the instructions "Write six random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself."

1. When I am stressed I like to paint. Painting is relaxing, at the same time as EXCITING! I love seeing new colors on the walls. Outside the library is a free box of magazines, and I picked up an October 2008 Cottage magazine that had some delicious colors. All Martha Stewart Valspar ones, not a brand I have used, but wonderful and tempting to try out here! You can always paint over paint. So I am thinking colors. Not that I have time to do anything about it this week. Quilt show preparation is taking all my energy. Maybe next week, after I mop the floor (it has been awhile). Painting day is on the horizon! Sam rolling...Roxie rolling...



2. I fear dogs. I am convinced they are all going to try and eat my face off, no matter how big or small they are...
3. Working as a waitress for 6 years spoiled me---I am super picky about service when we go out. The good ones get tipped well, and even the bad ones get money on the table. I've been in their shoes.
4. I love lotion. Love how it smells, love how it feels.
5. I prefer dark woods, dark floors, painted ceilings...
6. Dirty ears gross me out.

Small Exchange

I stumbled across this photo from an old file--it is a paper-pieced tiny block I did for an internet exchange group, the Lassies-Fair. Round Robins in quilting cirlces are a fun way to sew, each participant adding something to the project. This is for Lynne's quilt (she lives in Florida).

Happy Birthday--Tis Love Brings Us Here!

These are my favorite 2007 beach photos of Mom and Luanna. She is probably the most like Mom in many ways--a natural peacemaker.


L=lovely
U=unique
A=artsy
N=nice
N=natural
A=alive!

We grew up singing a 2nd verse of the traditional "Happy Birthday" song. It goes like this: 'Tis love brings us here (repeated until almost the end of the song when you sing "Happy Birthday to you!" with the last phrase. My married family has adopted the tradition. All our kids know to wait to blow out candles until the very end.

'Tis the physical love of your parents that helped create your body.
'Tis love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has for us--creating this world, the Great Plan of Happiness for us to come here with bodies to live and learn and love.
'Tis love for YOU that we gather and sing (even virtually).

Welcome Home

The front screen door slams hard, CRASH, and you know someone has walked in. Or escaped. I'm not a cow-girl, but this rusted relic reminded me of western roots, and it helped disguise the scary curly screen that I would remove except it helps keep the screening from being pushed out. I am ready to change the door, thought I should show the before picture. Turquoise and brown floor mat from Target.

Sibling Circle

I had company over and realized I did not have current pictures of kids up. I am never thrilled with the school ones--I like the candid real-life ones much better.

This is one of my favorite poses with all 6 kids. I lie down on the ground and have them cluster together. We will try another one at Christmas time when Emma is back home to visit! I want to do an Eternal Family portrait, too, white background, white outfits, everyone happy and loving. How many family shots are half of us grimmacing and my mouth is open because I am yelling at everyone to SMILE and they all want to be done already.

We did this for Father's Day 2008.

And this photo was few years ago at the swimming pool (Sam is pretty modest all the time)...

Food Storage Salsa

I advertised it as a gathering for Mexican "food snobs" and they came. Chelsea from Arizona taught us how to make this great salsa, from ingredients off your shelf (plus cilantro--fresh is best, worth the splurge). Instead of using fresh tomatoes--which makes homemade salsa very VERY watery, canned tomatoes solve the problem. I was surprised at how good this was!

1 large can whole tomatoes
1 small can whole tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion chopped
2 4ounce cans chopped green chilis
1 bunch cilantro
2 TBSP jalapeno juice
5 pieces of sliced jalepeno (I watched her: she pulled out one big jalepeno, chopped it up. The finer you cut it, the hotter the salsa--spread out through sauce)
1 tbsp lemon juice (I only had lime, so she used that)
salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder (we used fresh) to taste

Blend tomatoes and cilantro leaves in blender, until smooth. Pour into bowl and add the rest of ingredients except spices. Stir, and then add enough spices to meet your taste. (I knew it was going to be good when she took a chip, tasted it, and said, "MMmmmmm!") Allow flavors to mix for at least an hour for best results. (We did not wait an hour!) If you like spicer salsa, add more jalapenos.

Luanna's List

Max and I winning the Twist dance contest a few years ago (and many inches of growing ago! He towers over me now!)


Is this a timed thing? Do you write the first thing you think of or ponder it for awhile? I am sure this would change day to day. John keeps trying to encourage me to start sentences with "I WANT..." instead of "Do you want to...." Affirmative language. Good goal.

I am: thankful for general conference weekends
I think: all night long about colors and things I could change as I drift off to sleep...
I want: truckloads of topsoil for the backyard to cover tree root barrier and a beautiful backyard garden! I want flowers everywhere, pathways, places for kids to run and play, a refuge, a sanctuary, a place to sit and talk and enjoy the beauty.
I have: many children! Much fabric. Many talents, many responsibilities.
I dislike: sticky weeds, mosquitos, sirens, traffic, stress.
I miss: the mountains out west, naps, the trees in Forest Hill
I fear: evil, crime, greed, selfishness, laziness
I feel: happy and content most of the time
I hear: John's voice in living room, EQ presidency meeting, cars going by open window
I smell: fabric! Surrounded by sewing room smells by computer in "guest room"
I crave: chocolate most days. Chocolate with nuts. Chocolate with nuts and caramel.
I cry: when I feel the Spirit strongly, when I hear beautiful music, during sad films
I usually: make dinner for everyone. Mop kitchen floors when sticky, not on schedule.
I regret: being impatient with anyone. Grouchy hungry grouchy tired moments
I search: for scissors and needles. Still looking for my sewing/applique black case.
I wonder: where our kids will live when they grow up and what they will do for jobs.
I love: pb cookies, meringue, dancing with John, cool autumn mornings, holidays, quilts, babies, Mr. Potato head collection, peonies, hot baths, good architecture, ergonomically designed furniture, art on non-white walls, email.
I care: about people, who wins this next election, cross-walks, litter, peace.
I always: write 3 morning pages. Scribble write thoughts from night, dreams, plans, sketches for projects first thing in morning in a plain notebook-can't re-read for 6 weeks, not a journal, just a safe place to dump thoughts.
I worry: about the safety of kids, family. Praying helps worry go away, but I still think about them.
I am not: petite or POP-U-Lar, good at remembering names, clingy, boring or un-hinged, clinically crazy.
I remember: smells, colors, visual descriptions, book covers, where I have put something and can find it in dark...
I believe: in marriage, families, repentence, beauty, truth
I dance: private belly-dancing for exercise, salsa with help, Saturday Night Fever style when I vacumn, copy the actors while I am watching Bolly-wood films, foxtrot and cha-cha with John, not enough!
I sing: every Sunday with Primary kids, hymns in evening with family here at home, and when I am alone playing piano after kids go to school. Someday I would love to sing the National Anthem before a game/event. Just once.
I don't always: floss. Deborah says I will only keep the teeth I floss.
I argue: rarely. Hate fighting. I probably argue the most with myself, trying to do more than I can.
I write: every day email/blogs/morning pages/Night Notebook with John
I win: ordering best-tasting dish at restuarants. On dates we try each other's order, see who "wins" ala Demetter date idea.
I lose: less than I would like to on scale each week...
I wish: gas were free, I had better soil for garden, unlimited energy, extended family lived closer or there were a faster/cheaper way to travel back and forth!
I listen: to voices for emotion, less for words said. Tone, cadence, feelings behind the words.
I don't understand: economics. Politics. Harsh people. Sarcastic humor.
I can usually be found: at the library, in the kitchen, or sewing room or bathroom.
I watch: birds, squirrels, rain fall. No tv connection here at new house, so lots more reading time.
I need: a professional organizer for sewing room. Stretches of un-interrupted time. A professional landscaper for backyard. A FENCE for backyard so we can put up trampoline for kids. Bigger oven to fit my cookie sheets. More light in basement so I won't dread going down stairs.
I forget: how blessed I am, how my "needs" are met, the important ones. Reading over what I wrote for what I need, I don't lack for much. I am spoiled by blessings of comfort.
I am happy: today! Happily married. Happily mommy-ed. Happily-busy and bursting with ideas of things to do each day.

That is it? Good list of questions. I think introspection is good, looking inside, asking self how you really feel, what you really need. Thanks lucky Lu for list!

Grandma in HER dress!

Grandma Carlson's favorite dress

After Grandma Laura died from breast cancer, Mom gave me two of her favorite dresses. I inherited my narrow shoulders from her, and the dresses were tiny at top, room at the middle (another inherited trait, nice Scottish sturdy mid-section with all our weight up front) 100%cotton. Perfect for making quilts. I cut carefully and made 8 blocks to give to each of her children. Some aunts framed theirs. Don't know what happened with the rest, but that is the nature of a gift, you give, and it is gone.
Same dress fabric-just another stripe with different colors.
They would have looked good all together in one quilt, but then who gets the one big one? Easier to share. I have made several Memorial style quilts for grieving families.
What favorite article of clothing of yours would remind your children of the real you, if it were cut up into a quilt like this? I have a uniform look, includes my bright green crocs that I wear everyday. A favorite t-shirt. My black and lime green house dress pj cover-up. My favorite black jean jacket. I should ask Roxie what she thinks is my favorite dress, she what she says.
We are using this quote in the quilt show above the Children's Quilts: "Blessed are the children of the piecemakers (another name for quilters), for they shall inherit the quilts!"