Knitters Greenhouse

I've been sewing. Now I have packed up all my equipment and have these finished projects:

I call this one, "RED baby blanket". I embroidered the little doggy figures onto the stripes and machine quilted in wavy lines. The entire thing is cotton flannel.









This one is, "Kikar Rag Quilt," - see the little cars?










Next is a simple, single-layer fleece, edged with satin blanket binding.















I tried a new pattern: Attic Windows, and I backed it with "minky" - which I love using. I used cotton flannel for the batting, making it a nice weight with the minky.



















Not everything is for the new baby in the family. I made this for Arya. Made of corduroy that I got on clearance, and I made size 1/2, lengthening it a bit. Arya is almost 3.

Labels: baby blankets, corduroy, flannel, quilts, sewing

My kids danced at Phil's wedding, and he brought in his new wife, Emily, at the end. Here you have their own version of "Total eclipse of the heart." There's Karen Karki, Phil Boltz, Liz Boltz Ranfeld, and Sara Meyers, and at the end, the star of the night, Emily Sanders Boltz.

On this blog, which was primarily for my family, I have in the past two years or so, had more than one inquiry about my and Ray's personal life. Up until recently, when Ray officially came out, there was no need to say anything publicly. I have now gone more public, in an effort to provide support to other people in similar situations as me. The new blog is here:

http://myheartgoesout-carol.blogspot.com

Lance Armstrong is coming back to race in pro cycling! It excites me, and Liz asked if I'd bought a ticket to France yet. Sure, I should never even consider returning to France. BUT, if you asked me if it would be thrilling to cheer for him one more time, then, yes, yes, yes.

Now, who would I really want to win the 2009 TdF? Hard call, but it would be Floyd Landis! Here is a picture of our banner from 2006.

Labels: Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

Conversation between Arya, Karen, and me, in my car, on the way to meet Sara at the Daleville McDonalds. Here's the story:

Karen bought a used puzzle at a rummage sale, and Arya carried it into the house. The pieces fell on their front deck, and one of the pieces fell right through the gap in the boards. Gone. Too bad.

I told Karen about deck in Florida, the one on the main floor. Since the house is on pilings, it's up high, and there is a screen right under the boards. You can see things that we've dropped for years, but they are unreachable. One of the things is a kitchen knife.

Arya heard us and said: Knifes are for cutting things.
Me: Yes, that's right.
Arya: But not for cutting pets.
(she has a video about pets, and she had brought along two "pets" - a stuffed dog and a stuffed cat.)
Me: Yes, that's right, not for cutting pets.
Arya: Otherwise, we'd have to eat them.

Our neighbor's garage has an room above it with a window that overlooks my back yard, the patio, and the pool. Sometimes the 18-year-old practices his music up there, and I hear his drums and the guitars rocking away. It makes a nice addition to my music exposure. However, the recent exposure was something that surprised me.

About 8:45 as Karen and Rajeev were inside the house searching frantically for their car keys, I was watching Arya and checking my plants on and around the patio. Suddenly I heard, "Oh, ****!" and I looked toward the voice, which came from the neighbor's garage window. I saw an alarmed "zip" of pants, and various, loud, embarrassed expletives. I began to laugh, since I realized someone (this person) had been pee-ing out the 2nd floor window.

My house EASILY views all the the back of this garage. I have a deep property, and I live in a rural neighborhood. It's not city, but we ARE outside plenty. It is not at all private enough, nor was it dark enough to think that pissing off the back of a garage would not be seen.

Fortunately for MY memory bank, I saw nothing. But I sure wanted that young man to THINK I did. When I heard him say, "I guess that wasn't a very good idea," I replied, "No, not a good idea," saying it plenty loud enough for him to hear, and chuckling to myself. I brought Karen and Rajeev to look and I pointed up to the window and laughed when I said to them, "I saw NOTHING!" That made it even funnier. But don't tell that kid!

This week I participated at the United Methodist 2008 General Conference in Ft. Worth, Texas. A combination of medical issues have put me in a "rest mode," causing me to leave for home a couple of days early. Since then, I've tried to catch up with the events taking place. In my searches for relevant blogs, I came across this video, and it sums what I think about as I go about life. It means a lot to me to become a caring person, and I think we all need to "Get Service."

Here is the video: