Celebrating my birthday with Mickey Mouse

Yes, we are at Walt Disney World.  Having a nice time.  Eating way to much.  Walking a lot more than I'd like.  Enjoying some relaxation from the stress at work and in the political scene in Louisiana. 

May your day be magical!

Rush! Rush! Rush!

The last few weeks have been more about running to catch up with myself than I might like.  Somehow my calendar has gotten over-filled and I have been crazy.  Haircuts, grocery shopping, working out, cleaning the car, cleaning the house, doing laundry, scrubbing bathrooms, setting TV shows to record while we are gone, attending guild meetings, obligatory visits with family........Aaaahhhh!  It's been too much.  Can't wait to be on vacation where absolutely nothing is expected of me.
Have spent a bit of time this week trying to get the house whipped into shape.  I hate leaving to go out of town and leaving a dirty house.  I want to be able to enjoy myself when I am gone and also be able to look forward to coming home to a nice clean house.  It's been hard to concentrate on it, but it'll be worth it when I return.

Today I was looking in the closet thinking about what I might bring on my trip and the next thing I knew I was organizing the closet....all the short sleeve things together, all the long sleeve things together, all the pants together.  I guess the cleaning has sunken in and now I want everything to be orderly.  Never did pick out anything to take with me.  On the other hand, maybe it is an avoidance technique.  I'm really good at those.  Need to break those habits!

Need to find some habits that help me accomplish something in all this running around.

Frustration!

I was on a quilt retreat this past weekend.  I don't know about you, but where I live, we have small group retreat of 6-10 people.  We all work on our own projects and we share the chores of making meals.  It's a great way to get a lot done and we have a nice time getting to know each other and trying to out do each other on food.

This weekend was rather frustrating for me because my ankle kept swelling up.  I had surgery on my Achilles Tendon back in August and the doctor told me at the time that the recovery period would be 3-5 months because of the extensive nature of what he had to do.  When the doctor says 3-5 months, you want to think that you are in great shape and that you know your body better than he does and that it can't possibly take as long as he thinks.  Well, believe him!  He actually does know what he's talking about. 

I was doing fine up until last month when it was 5 months out.  Then the day before my January retreat, it swoll up like a sprained ankle.  I spent my whole weekend at retreat sewing a while and laying on the couch with ice for a while and sewing for a while.... you get the drift. 

It was really frustrating for me in that I was not able to get much done.  At each retreat, I was able to pin some things while I was laying on the couch, so that time was not totally wasted.  I only wished I had something to bind so I could justify my time.  The other part that was frustrating was that everybody kept coming to check on me and I was making them worry, which distracted them from their own projects.

I remembered something the physical therapist said "it's the muscles in your leg that pump the fluid out of your foot".  It only makes sense that if I'm not doing anything that I can't expect the fluid to go away on it's own while my foot is hanging down.

I think I have finally figured out the problem. On my normal days at work, it swells a tiny bit, but nothing like it did at retreat. At retreat, I sit a lot and at work, I do not. I think that the next retreat I go on in May, I'll have to set a timer and get up and walk around in the house or down the street every 30 minutes or so and see if that doesn't help.

Design Wall Monday ( a little late)

This 2007 Thimbleberries Mystery Quilt pattern (don't know the real name) is what was on my design wall.  I was at a retreat this past weekend and I managed to get the center of the top made.  Now, I just have to figure out how I want to do the borders and finish it.  It was simple to make, but it is quite striking.

I inherited this fabric and some of the 9 patch blocks from a friend of mine who died last year.  This will be a nice rememberance of her.

Ricky Tims Super Quilt Seminar

What can I say?  If you ever get a chance to attend, run, don't walk, to sign up.  It was such an enlightening experience! 

The seminar was in New Orleans, so we were driving back and forth about 75 miles each way. There were 4 of us riding together so the time passed quickly and seemed a lot shorter than it was. If we had looked closer at the agenda sooner, we might have decided to stay at the conference hotel on Friday night after the concert. That was a late night followed by an early morning.

Ricky is a very charismatic speaker.  He's entertaining and he just seems to know how to explain things so that they are very simple.  He just opens your eyes to the concepts and shows you that things are easier than they look.  He doesn't just want to sell you a pattern to ake a quilt exactly like his.  He's about teaching you the concept and process for designing your own.  He gives you the tools to make it your own and frees your inner designer.  It's mentally exhausting, because you are so full of ideas and so intent on trying to remember everything you hear.  Thank goodness you get a seminar workbook to take home.

Alex Anderson doesn't look a day older than when she was on Simply Quilts.  And Libby Lehman is very entertaining as well.  She is a fountain of jokes and her quilts are absolutely fabulous!

And if you've never heard Ricky play the piano or the Native American Flute, then you have been missing something.  What a multi-talented individual!  Artistic.  Approachable. Entertaining. Enthusiastic. Enthralling Storyteller. Friendly. Open.  I can't say enough.  I enjoy him over and over listening to my CDs in the car.

I am so glad that I chose to attend the seminar.  I'd do it again and I'd recommend it to anybody out there.