In here life is beautiful… The girls are beautiful…

I had such a busy day, I’ve completely sewn the top of the new baby quilt I started-get this-yesterday. No, I won’t post a picture of it yet, it’s a surprise gift for a friend who’s pregnant and if she can wait, so can the rest of the universe.

In lieu, here’s a picture of my sampler quilt, almost finished. I’ve done some of the quilting (and you can see my 8 million safety pins keeping all the layers together) and will finish that part on Tuesday at the workroom-my sewing machine can’t handle that kind of work. I’ve run pretty hot and cold on this project, but seeing it together in one giant lump makes me pretty happy and proud. And desirous of a new sewing machine, for real.

As for the three blocks that I haven’t posted yet, top left is called drunkard’s path, top middle is an appliqued block and bottom left is a pinwheel or somesuch. The dark pink between all the blocks is the top edge of an old sheet, the pink floral is the same sheet, the white with light pink and dark orange is ikea fabric. You can see the batting pinned in the middle, that’s the cream around the edge, and just a peek at the back, another old percale sheet. It’s soft and heavy and I can’t wait to snug up under this while watching a movie.

All I have left to do on it, after the quilting, is the edge. Woo!

And on the table. These arrived this morning from my valentine.

Nothing like cut flowers!

I went shopping today because I needed a new self-healing cutting mat to slice up fabric for a new quilt I am working on. I wound up buying more stuff than expected-a set of sheets for our bed for example-but I also came home with three cutting mats instead of one. Oops. Whoever was stocking the shelves at the store was lazy and didn’t open the bag of three, leaving it as one big pack on the shelf. I didn’t notice ’til I got home.

The sheets are bright salmon/orange and I like them a lot. And for $25, I can’t complain. I also got lots of bright thread for quilting with, new blades for my cutting jigger and a bunch of gymnastic suits for Ari because they were on sale for $5 each, cheaper than Meijer even. Huh.

My final quilting class is this Thursday, I’ll post a picture then of the silliness I made. Seriously, it’s totally over the top.

That’s me in the middle looking worried. I wasn’t worried, it’s just that in the olden days we were forced to smile into direct sunlight to create a ‘good’ picture. I don’t know who that baby is. Just some baby. We’re at Fort George. Maybe.

Oh, and ps, the Werewolf movie is good in a silly way, I had the giggles all the way through, thinking about SCTV with Marty Short as Scott Baio as TeenWolf.

As it goes every year, I made my way back to Windsor on Superbowl weekend. It’s a good way to reconnect with my Windsor girls, I love them all so much and miss them like crazy during the rest of the year. The weekend was spent largely getting to know Ruby who’s 15 months old and smart as a whip.

And she wears a pirate shirt.  I have a healthy respect for that type.

We went shopping stateside at my beloved Target. Of course. And we also went to Meijer, where I’d never been before. I love it there too. The fish were friendly.

We also went to a cool Michigan hunting store but I didn’t take pictures there out of fear. But I loved the store and I wish I lived near it.

After shopping we came home and went for a walk. What an adorable family, eh? Ruby wore her new dress that Libs made.

And I went bowling with my girls last night. That’s all, 2 nights really isn’t enough, not to see everyone and not to do everything you want. But it’s a good time to spread love! Right Kum?

I’ve been working on being extra healthy this winter and so far, so good. No colds or flues to mention-yet. Part of that regime was inspired by Karyn, the owner of the workroom where I am taking my quilting class. One evening she was making herself dinner, and it smelled so good I knew I had to replicate it at home. And it IS so good.

Yes. I put my lunch on the dirty floor to take a picture. Here’s what is in my bowl:

1 can chicken broth + 1 can water

2 tsps grated ginger

1/2 tsp chili and garlic sauce

1 bundle soba noodles

1/2 a zucchini very thinly sliced

2 baby bok choi, stems and leaves separated

And I boil the broth with the ginger and chili sauce, toss in the noodles to cook for 4 minutes, adding the zucchini and bok choi stems after 2 minutes and the leaves at the very end. If I’d had cilantro, I would have thrown a lot of that in. Ditto sliced mushrooms. And I drizzle a tiny bit of sesame oil after I dump it into a bowl.

Oh. Yes, it’s delicious.

At the gym I’ve been working very hard. A year ago I felt enormously accomplished when I could finish 20 minutes on the stationary bike without dying. Now that’s my warm up, then I do a bunch of weight lifting (not heavy but repetitive and fast), like pull downs and crunches and stuff, there’s 6 different things I do, then I either jump on the elliptical for 5 minutes (but I could do more, we only have an hour total at the gym) and today I RAN for 5 whole minutes! And I felt fine! It’s great, feeling the change in my body, even just since the new year. I haven’t lost any weight, darn it, but I am getting stronger and my stamina is amazing, even to me. I’ve never been able to run for any length of time, even in junior high I was just a sprinter (just? I was pretty darn good at sprinting).  And I do this workout three times a week.

After March break I will be joining Ari’s gymnastic gym and doing the adult’s gymnastics class on Wednesday nights. If anyone who reads this and lives in Toronto wants to join too, PLEASE DO. It will be fun and silly and wonderful.

Being new to the iphone sphere, I’ve been immersing myself into the podcast universe. I’ve found plenty I like a LOT but I know there must be more out there that I am missing. The nice thing about the phone is that there’s the notes feature so I have been keeping a list of my preferred podcasts, making it easy to go back and look for more. I wish there was a recommendation feature too (as in, you liked this, you might like that sort of thing) and I also with there were more podcast review blogs that were current. Anyway, here’s my shortlist of (free) podcasts I enjoy:

1. The Moth
2. Storylife
3. This American Life
4. The Spark
5. DNTO
6. PRI: Selected Short Stories
7. CBC’s Laugh Out Loud

I’ve also enjoyed some Harry Potter stuff (mostly at night because it’s pretty boring and long winded and puts me thoroughly to sleep).  The CBC really has a million different things, I’ve also listened to  Vinyl Cafe and Wiretapped, both are good, and I’ll probably get lots more different stuff there. Like The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (Oh! Strombo!).

If anyone has any further ideas for me, I’ll gladly take any and all advice.

One would think that living as close to Value Village as I do, that I’d spend a lot more time there than I do. But I don’t. It’s quite possibly the grossest VV I have ever had the misfortune of shopping in-all the clothes, literally, ALL the clothes are disgusting, dirty, ripped, full of crotch rot, bally sweaters, busted out shoes, I could go on and on. I don’t know what anyone finds there that’s worth it. And overpriced? Heck, yes. So when my inner VV clock started ticking on my way home the other evening, I knew I had to listen. It almost never makes a noise anymore. I went in thinking maybe yarn. Maybe.

But I did much better than that. First there was a bunch of my favourite kind of bedding, vintage floral silliness that you’d have found at your grandma’s cottage in 1978. It’s very specific, heavy, soft cotton that’s perfectly worn in. Score 4 pillow cases and a flat sheet that will potentially become patchwork quilts. Maybe.

And this, a perfect Spirograph kit. And to my extreme surprise and pleasure, it was absolutely complete, including the original pens (which, to be fair, don’t work anymore), all plastic pieces, instructions and a pad of blank paper. Amazing!

I did a couple the minute I brought it home. Ari’s quite intrigued, but I’ve made her promise to not touch it without my supervision. All this for $1.99 and that’s what I mean by good score.

Since I was tagged twice to do this, I figured I’d better get the ball rolling. Mostly I feel like my life is an open book so there won’t be much new stuff in here or any real surprises to anyone, but I’ll try.

(And the description of the process, from Ashley’s blog to help us understand:

“Shipley has hit honoured me with a blogging baton award.  Ms. Ship has a great blog herself where she often tells hilarious family tales and shares pictures of her gorgeous baby (who I am desperate to meet before she goes off to college).   Honest Scrap is blogger pat on the back by a peer or quite possibly it is the “friendship cake” of the blogosphere.  And I have given out my share of friendship cakes, let me tell you.

Now I get to share with you ten things you may not know about me, and nominate some other bloggers who I lurk, who will in turn do the same.“)

1. It looks like Shannon and I just might be allowed to get legally married. While I don’t want to actually start planning and be hideously disappointed yet again, it’s exciting to know that the ball that had been sitting in someone else’s court for years has finally been put back in motion. I have a huge file of pictures of pretty dresses and cakes and stuff to inspire me so I might start looking at those again soon.

2. I no longer have a best girlfriend. That long term relationship ended almost a year ago for a bunch of sad, silly reasons. We haven’t done the return of borrowed items yet (and I think we’ll just cut our losses) I can’t see it ever going back to the way it was, not even remotely. I used to be sad about this but now it’s gotten down to a weekly blip where I think, oh, I should call her and…nevermind. I miss the comfort of it, the familiarity, but I don’t miss the last little while where I felt judged constantly.

3. I have pretty good health over all and for that I am grateful. I don’t rock the boat by taking vitamins or anything, but I do exercise twice a week. And when I am stressed my body does do fun stuff, like seriously twitching eyelids. My ex would notice my eyelid dancing and he’d back off out of fear.

4. I get migraines. I think half the time they’re stress related and the other half they’re…just bad luck. Sometimes I get one because there’s a neon light flickering and I look at it the wrong way or it could be a very bright light, the sun suddenly in my eyes or a camera flash. My migraines don’t actually hurt, but I get a weird visual effect that means I can’t read or watch tv or do much of anything. Usually a couple aspirin help it go away and laying down in the dark helps too.

5. I am a technophile. It’s taken me a long time to realize and admit that, but it’s true. I love all my tech toys and my fingers itch to fiddle with my iphone, looking for new podcasts to download. I also love my sirius radio, kindle and ds. These are the things I pack on every trip I take.

6. For years I kept my hair short and bleached it blond. Now that it’s long, I like it much better and I can’t remember why I had it short for so long.

7. The last opera I saw live was a performance of Turandot, almost 4 years ago. I miss live opera very much and I see it as an extension of the years I spent going to rock concerts weekly.

8. The older I get the less likely it is that I will ever have a baby and I’m mostly ok with that inevitability.

9. I think about our trip to Panama every day and fantasize about living in the Kuna Yala territory.

10. My secret career goal is to become an ornithologist but I have no idea how to begin that process and will most likely keep it filed in my dream category.

Nothing profound, sorry. Now I pass the torch on to Shannon, Jana, Corrie and Ryan.

It was exciting, at Ikea the other day, to see new balls being delivered to the ballroom. An old friend of mine worked in the kid’s zone at Ikea a number of years ago and told stories about children too excited about the balls to bother getting out to go to the washroom so finding POOP in them was very commonplace. Apparently each store has 2 sets of balls, one that’s in use, one that’s being cleaned.

Still. Gross.

Did you know the Big Bop is closing it’s doors? I guess it is.  Old news, for some, but I hadn’t really clued in until this past Thursday when I was waiting for the Bathurst streetcar and saw the sign.

Looks weird, stripped down like that. I never really hung out there much, not even in my 2 concerts/week heyday. But still. RIP, Big Bop.

The moon looked great the other night. Round and bright.

Then, because I had my camera-ok, my phone-out, I took a picture of the strip club/church around the corner from my house. I love it.

No, wait, I hate it. There’s always someone outside the church handing out tracts. I find them strewn all down Bloor Street. I hate litter, and it’s his fault.

I had some narrow strips of fabric left over from my log cabin quilt block, so I sliced them in half lengthwise and sewed a miniature log cabin block, then made it into a pin cushion. Stuffed it, sewed it shut and embroidered my initials on the back, then I attached a little crocheted strawberry that’s been lumping around in my crochet case for a year.

Cute.

I also got a bunch of new yarn yesterday, for xmas. A ball of mini mochi that is so soft and nice (it’s #111, aka babyface), I’m making it into yet another  scarf. Should be lovely. And a few skeins of sock yarn, plus 3 balls of sari silk yarn.

Lunch tomorrow, Jana?