Quilt Therapy

Ms. Donna at www.SoCalMom.net has tagged me for a meme.  She says we’ve known each other virtually for TEN years.  WOW, I didn’t even realize that!  I started working online in 1999, so that’s probably correct.  Darn, does time fly when you’re having fun!

Here’s the meme info: Donna has challenged me to come clean about myself – to be completely honest and spill ten secrets that I’ve never confessed before. Gee, is anything in my life a secret?!  I’ll give it a shot:

1. I sleep with a honey (body) pillow.  I can’t perspire because of my skin allergies, so my husband and I can’t touch while sleeping (he’s a hot-body).  So, I snuggle with my honey pillow.
2. I sleep about six hours a day, in a split-shift – about four hours at night and my two-hour nap (if I can get it) in the afternoons.
3. I prefer to blow my nose with a paper towel than a tissue.  ewwww, just like the thickness of paper towels better.
4. I work in my jammies until lunch.  Every workday.
5. I eat once a day.  Sometimes less.
6. I have blonde eyebrows – so blonde, you hardly even notice that I have eyebrows.
7. I can’t eat broccoli, eggs or fresh button mushrooms.  Ever since I was pregnant with my last daughter.
8. I LOVE making quilts, but can’t STAND to make or mend clothes.  Go figure!
9. Have had skin allergies since I was 19 years old, but never had sinus allergies until we moved to the area of Texas where we live now.  Cedar fever hits nearly everyone who lives in this region.
10. I’m obsessed with finishing projects.  If I start something, I *must* finish it.

Ooooh, now the fun begins!  I am to tag some friends and see if they’ll answer!  Naw, I’m not going to do that.  If you want to participate in this meme (HINT:  MRS. MAC), please feel free to do so – and let us know in the comments that you’ve responded!

Vicki W. from Field Trips in Fiber nominated my “Snow Smores” quilt for a Brilliante Weblog Award.  I’m so very honored, thank you Vicki {bowing graciously}!

First, I must post the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog/
2. Link to the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

Now, may we have the envelope please …… {drumroll} ……

The winners that I have selected offer quilt projects online, and since quilting is way beyond a passion for me, I must help showcase their talents:

1. Linda Pearl, director of the CottonSpice.com BOM quilt
2. Rochelle Martin of Cottage Quilt Designs, designer of the CottonSpice.com QuiltAlong Quilt
3. Linda from Gabbi Abbi’s and AbbiMays.com, designer of the super-simple Sock Monkey Flannel Quilt
4. Debi from Quilting With Debi, for her RRRR Mystery Quilt
5. Susan Brubaker Knapp from Blue Moon River, designer of House Rules
6. Laura West Kong of Quilting-Diva, designer of Quilt Charms
7. Karen Gass, editor of Cotton Spice quilting magazine, for her “Summer Quilt” in the June 2008 magazine issue (free pattern)

There’s my list!  I’m off to tell each of these quilters about their awards!  Quilt On!

I started working online 12 years ago, and started working with Home-Based Working Moms 9 years ago.  Just a bit after beginning with HBWM.com, I met Donna.  She was a competitor to HBWM, as well as a HBWM member.  At first, I was a bit leery of being pals with her, because I distrusted a competitor being so interested in what we were doing.  But, as time went on and we communicated more and more, I realized that there was room in the world for both of us.  And she was sweet and kind and had a heart of gold – who couldn’t love her?!  I’ve continued my virtual relationship with her, and even worked with her dad a bit as the years went by.  I tried to catch up with her when we were in Sacramento last year, but she left town the day before we got there – though, she did give me some great tips on what we had to see and do while we were playing tourists!

And this is how she pays me back for my loyal virtual friendship – with a meme about how weird I am??!! 

Without further whining, here’s my dirty laundry, aired for the world to see – 7 Weird and Random Things About ME:

1. If I hold my nose and blow, air comes out of my tear ducts.
2. If I hold my nose when I sneeze, stuff comes out of my tear ducts and messes up my glasses.
3. I can’t eat oranges.  I love the flavor but I cannot stand that texture in my mouth.
4. I adore Canadian bacon and sauerkraut pizza (I know that it’s weird that I can’t deal with orange pulp but I can handle sauerkraut).  Never had it?  Oh my, it’s divine!  When I was a kid in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Happy Joe’s pizza moved in town.  With my own family, if we had pizza, we had it from Pizza Hut or from Shakey’s (cause Shakey’s had a full bar, and my parents liked to drink).  Happy Joe’s came in town when I was about 13, in my third foster home.  Those foster parents liked it, and I got my first taste of yummy-on-a-crust.  The Canadian bacon is diced up really small, then the sauerkraut on top, with the cheese thereafter.  More than once, when we were in Utah, I’d take a small can of sauerkraut to my favorite restaurant and they’d make a pizza JUST for me!  mmmmmmmm
5. I’m a quilt designer, but I’m allergic to the sizing on fabric.  eeeew, it’s painful sometimes when my skin erupts if I’ve played with fabric too much!
6. I *love* the smell of coffee beans and fresh ground coffee — but, I *hate* drinking the stuff!
7. My Gramma from Tramma (maternal grandmother) was very special to me, growing up.  She had birthed 13 children.  When she was older, her bosoms were so stretched out that if she didn’t want to wear a bra, she could tuck them into the waistband of her pants.  ummmm, I’m not quite there, but after 4 kids – it’s too close for comfort!

And there you have it – am I weirder than you?  I guess I have to tag my virtual pals to find out!  I’ll tag:

1. Karen at CottonSpice
2. Linda at Gabby Abbi’s
3. Stacey at Cedar Valley Publishing
4. Beth at Boca Beth, and
5. YOU!  If you have a blog and want to play along, I invite you to do so – be sure to link to this post!

From Karen:

Question: What is your favorite book of all time? The book you’ve read over and over so many times you could quote parts of it? The book you’d never part with but you’d buy a new copy for a friend?

Plain and Simple by Sue Bender is the book for me. Sue writes a simple style, short chapters (I call this type of thing mom-interrupted chapters) and meat … yes, she really writes the meat of her feelings, something that I find marvelous because it’s not how I am.

Plain and Simple is a first-person narrative about how Sue goes to spend time with some Amish families, yearning for a simpler way of life. I grew up near the Amish in Iowa and found their lifestyle quite amazing. Through it all, Sue finds that she does prefer her own life in CA, but she also finds time to focus on the simple things, like a nine-patch quilt. The basics … this life is about taking yourself back to the basics of life and love, and growing from those basics.

I have actually loaned this book to a few friends — friends who led hurried & harried lifestyles. Frankly, they didn’t “get it.” I’ll share it again and again and again — it’s like the Bible, we are witnesses to His saving grace. I share His word over and over and over again, whether people get it or not.