Does this dress make me look fat????

Yes, I've been under a lot of stress with this move since October of last year. My hormones are fluctuating. I have entered the land of hot flashes and night sweats. I'm on medication for this,that and the other thing. I left a strenuous physical job of massage therapy where I burned so many calories a day....to starting a life of traveling and teaching where people feed you and you feel like you want to partake so you don't offend anyone. I admit that part.

I've put on about 20 lbs. I admit that. But what really hurts is when someone has to comment about it in my guestbook? What's that about? "I didn't know you gained so much weight, WOW!" Is this something you say to someone to their face?

The whole weight issue has me so depressed as it is, and this is supposed to help me...how?

Why are we so judgemental about weight? I have a good friend who's daughter is dealing with anorexia. Her whole self esteem is wrapped around her size and weight. She took her scale on vacation. She eats lettuce with ketchup. I don't know exactly why, but is our weight so important, a number or size so important, that we can look past the person inside to judge them by their outside? We judge people if they are too skinny. We judge people if they are too fat.

How about we judge people for being cruel for judging others. In other words, I might be able to change my weight, but to the person(s) who commented on it, can you change your personality?

I love Tricia Yearwood. She has a song that rings so true to me:

don't buy the lines in magazines
That tell me what I've gotta be
Don't base my life on a movie screen
Don't fit the mold society
Has Planned

I don't need to be 19 years old
Or starve myself for some weight I'm told
Will turn men's heads, been down that road
And I thank God I finally know
Just who I am

I ain't a movie star
May never see the view from where they are
And this old town may be as far as I'm goin'
But what he'll hold tonight in his hands
He swears is so much better than
Anything this old world
Can show him

Cause I'm a real live woman
In love with this man I see lyin' here next to me
Lost in the way that he's holdin'
This real live woman
In the arms of a man where I'll fall asleep knowin' there's
Nothin' on earth he loves more than
This real live woman

I work 9-5 and I can't relate
To millionaires who somehow fate
Has smiled upon and fortune made their
Common lives a better place to be

And I no longer justify
Reasons for the way that I behave
I offer no apologies
For the things that I believe and say
And I like it that way

Cause I'm a real live woman
In love with this man I see lyin' here next to me
Lost in the way that he's holdin'
This real live woman
In the arms of a man where I'll fall asleep knowin' there's
Nothin' on earth he loves more than
This real live woman

How Many is Enough?

I'm trying to figure out how many books I should start with when the book is released from the publisher in September. I want enough on hand to travel with, and enough to sign and mail to you if you want them direct from me.

I have put a poll in the side bar, just to help me with an idea of a count, would you mind clicking?

Thanks!

Time Zone Challenged

My body clock still says I am on West Coast time. It is so stupid! I feel like a zombie all morning..and then can't get to bed at night at a decent hour. I suppose that's okay...I leave for Denver on tuesday, and that is half way back to the west coast, I may as well stay screwed up until I get back?

Lori sent this funny picture of Lucy and I after the quilt show. We'd taken her whole family to the swimming pool in Sun River and went swimming, and lounged around. (Oh get this, I didn't have a swim suit, so we ran into Ross and I bought one off the rack without trying it on. It looked fine, until I tried it on at the house, and the cleavage went WAY down. I wore a tank top over it..*LOL*)

So tell me why Lucy looks so gorgeous and refreshed and glamorous in her silk dress, and I look like road kill?




Here are a couple favorite photos from the show. This was about 8am and the sun was just coming in from the east. Look how the quilting detail shows up when the light is just right. Yummy textures! Lots and lots of baptist fans caught my eye. Just never get tired of them. EVER.

Isn't this the most WEIRD feathered star you've ever seen? I'd love to figure this block out. It's one of those things I'm in love with but will probably never do. Being a scrappy girl, I think I would die if I had to piece a whole quilt of just red and muslin. Seriously. Please don't make me, don't make me, I can't do it! But I love them. That and blue and white. Classic.

Today I have GOT to stop running around and clean house. Top to bottom. What day is it anyway..thursday? Sheesh..I leave tomorrow evening for Durham. I've got to get myself together!

From the Show!

It's a beautiful drive to Sisters from Sun River. Very high desert....lots of sage brush! I like seeing the ranches out in the middle of nowhere and imagine what it is like for that person living there, what they see as the seasons change and life goes on.

We arrived in Sisters early! Friday night, we kidnapped a very special guest (who will be revealed later) and she spent the night with us while we left her 4 kids and hubby back in Bend at the RV park. It was good to catch up because I hadn't seen her in person in a year, and she hadn't met my other friends, though they knew about her by how much I talk about how wonderful she is :c)

Oregon is COLD in the mornings...and there we were with our sweaters and sweatshirts leaving Sun River at 7:15am.....and by the time we got to Sisters, it was warming up and we could leave the jackets in the car.

The first thing we did was hit the BEST antique vendor there. The photo ops were wonderful! I'm setting these on "small" format, so be sure to click each one and enlarge them to really sewe the brilliant colors and patterns.


I've decided that I get as excited about fabric as a kid dose about a new box of crayons....open the lid...see all those wonderful colors....it's the SAME feeling! I think it's the "possibilities" of what we can do with all this color and pattern that just makes me feel like a kid in a candy store (Or with a new box of crayons!)

We spent a LONG time in the antique vendor's spot! They had racks and racks...boxes of pieces and parts, tables piled high, and two antique bed frames for us to lay things out on to get the FULL effect.

Take a close look at the two ladies looking at the quilts on the rack! The one with the short blond hair is my friend Lori. She lives in Madras, not far from Bend. But wait....who's that bending over looking closely at the stitching on that quilted beauty?? Does she resemble anyone you know?!

If you don't recognize her, I can confess to you that someone ELSE did! It's our LUCY! :cD In fact, a complete total stranger came up and asked her right out....are you LUCY!?? And you should have seen Lucy crack up. Here she thought she was so incognito! It was so fun. Lucy and her Family came to the states to visit, and we were able to work out seeing each other for the Sisters show. We had a lovely time! I'll get some more pics as soon as I can get copies from someone else's camera....


I was also blown away by people who walked up to me and said things like "Aren't you Bonnie Hunter?" Boy does that feel weird! Randy was such a ham, she'd ask people if they wanted to have their picture taken with me and she'd be the photographer. Pfffttt...Silly girl! She also said later "sheesh, we can't take YOU anywhere!" What a kick, huh? It would only happen in a group of quilters. Anywhere else, I blend in fine,believe me. (and I like it that way) This is randy with the gorgeous curly hair, the tan, and the tank top! She's digging through the quilts! I am extra lucky because Randy is going to join me in Colorado next week for the Colorado Quilting Council retreat thingy I'm doing there. She's my helper and partner in crime! We are going to hit the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum while there, and we also have a lunch date with one of my editors from Quiltmaker magazine along with a tour of CKMedia. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone IN PERSON!




There were SO MANY PEOPLE!! I even got calls from some friends from SC who were up there, but we never did run into each other. We missed phone calls and left messages, but by the time they caught me, we were shopped and showed out and ready to head back to Sun River.

I took close ups of lots of antiques. I want to show you them, but I'm going to do it more slowly so you don't get overload. Believe me, I still feel overloaded! As for the quilt show showing me new trends? I'm not a new trend girl. I'm just happy playing with my scraps and shirts, didn't see a lot else that really intrigued me other than the antiques. That ought to tell me something :c) I didn't even buy anything at the Stitching Post. It was too cram packed, and I really didn't need anything. That was probably good because I found these two goodies in quilt shops HERE in Winston Salem!! (trying the camera video again,it's like a new toy!)

Look at this little machine! Isn't it SEW cute?! I saw the little case with the singer logo buried under a bunch of stuff in a booth in the antique mall. I lifted it and it was HEAVY! I had to put down my other stuff to see what was inside. I snatched it up quickly...what a find!

I also snatched up this gorgeous Christmas Rose Applique....and have found that it is better to upload videos to You Tube..the size is better, and it doesn't take as long as blogger to upload. Plus it doesn't hog my picasa album space because they are BIG files. Just in case you wanted to know! Plus all my videos will be in one place for me instead of spread out willy nilly through my blog. Not that I'm sure what I'm going to do with them yet!Okay. It's 11pm. I'm still on west coast time zone....I need to TRY to get to bed at a decent hour....NIGHT!

This is a Test of the Quiltville Video System!

My sister Joy posts the cutest videos of her kids on her blog! I emailed her last night and asked how she does it. My digital camera also has video with SOUND! Did I know this? NO. Duh. How stupid is that! But this is something I want to do more of in the future.

Here are my first two samples. Grainy. yes. Dark. Yes. Content....ehhhh...and you know what? I hate listening to myself. I sound just like my MOM! I don't realize how bad my Minnesota accent comes through until I listen to myself! (Oh you betcha, oh yahhhh, don'tcha know!!!)

I did my first test on Jeff...playing video games. And Sadie wanted right in the action.

Last night I hung the quilt I got in Sisters on this old rake I found in a 1/2 price booth at an antique mall yesterday. It will look better when the walls aren't so stark white I think. The hooks came from Joann Fabrics at 40% off in their garden stuff. The rake is cool...it's ancient. The tines are hand whittled. Cool quilt rack, huh? This inspiration came from my friend Mary in Asheboro. I consider her my Home Dec Advisor!! (*waving* Hi Mary!)

For a link educating you about the ancient symbolism of this block design, click here. There are Fly Foot quilts (would that be FLY FEET if there are more than one?) way predating WWII. I think it is time we quilters stop having to worry about offending someone because we want to rescue a beautifully made quilt that happens to resemble something distasteful. Likewise....we aren't going around pointing out that the 50 stars on the USA flag are all PENTAGRAMS are we? :c)

From "Quiltmaking & Quiltmakers" by Marilyn Lithgow, 1974:

---Surprising to contemporary viewers, the swastika is a good-luck symbol that is frequently seen in old quilt designs. It is a graphic symbol found in almost every ancient and primitive culture all over the world. It appears in both North American Indian art and traditional Pennsylvania-German folk art where it is often used as a decoration although outsiders have misinterpreted it as being a "hex" against witches. As a symbol the swastika represents the movement and power of the sun as related to the poles and the four cardinal directions, but it has lost its ancient significance and would be of little interest in the modern world had not Hitler used it for the flag of the Nazi Third Reich on the advice of his occultists. The swastika design used on old quilts was variously named "Crazy Ann," "Follow the Leader," "Twist and Turn," and the "Fly Foot," the latter name probably being derived from the "fylfot fret," a decorative detail based on the swastika shape and widely used in colonial architecture.---

I know I have to upload the sisters stuff. Oh..I'm choking myself for not doing some of this in VIDEO!!! But I'll hopefully remember that in the future...

This morning I'm running Jeff to the motorcycle place..his scooter was having some engine work done. I'll probably have to drive him into school. Luckily he is only there for 3 hours. It's too far to want to drive back home and go back out again with the way gas is, so I'll toodle around town doing errands a bit until he calls me to come back and pick him up.

TONIGHT I'll post some of the Sisters stuff. Believe me.....most of my pics are of the ANTIQUES!! They were fabulous! :cD

Off to the shower....

Sisters, Sisters, There were never such devoted Sisters....

Has anyone seen that duo in "White Christmas" singing that song "Sisters"? It's what comes to mind when I think of the name "Sisters, Oregon". This first pic is an arial view of the 3 sisters mountains. And yes there is snow on them in July! There are snow capped mountains surrounding the whole area. It really is breath taking flying into Portland and seeing these from the air.

I had a WHIRLWIND of a time! I flew out last wednesday. I drove to Charlotte, (about an hour and a half) Found the long term parking and made it to the terminal in plenty of time. I brought one bag to be checked, and one carry on. So far Delta isn't charging for the first bag you check. I was good to go.

I met up with my friend Claire in Portland, and we drove to Sun River....after a stop at Fabric Depot! (I bought two backing fabrics, one at $2 a yard,and one at $2.50 a yard)


We got to Randy's house about dinner time. She and Lori had been sewing up a storm for a couple days already! NO FAIR! Never mind, it didn't take me long to unpack and get going myself. I had a bunch of 3.5" squares to sew on to some pieced units, and I got a whole top center done. I still have borders to do,but I am not sure what to do there yet. Isn't this arial view from upstairs looking down great? Can you tell we were BUSY BUSY!? :cD

Randy and Claire and Lori and I go back over 10 years. Not that anyone is counting! But it is always fun to get together!


Sun River is just gorgeous, and we did our best to eat right (except for the fact that the loaves of artisan bread seemed to multiply on their own in their corner of the cupboard!) We couldn't resist the yummy breads and it seemed there was at least ONE new variety with every dinner! We also were proud of ourselves for getting up early enough to power walk at least 2 miles every day. These pictures were taken on my walk. It was just BEAUTIFUL. After living in the South I forget how it cools down at night in the Pacific Northwest. One morning it was only 38 outside! That's brisk! It didn't take long to warm up to near 100 every day, but the other blissful thing is that it cools down nicely and quickly after sunset. Perfect for eating alfresco on Randy's patio! The deer thought so too....one evening a deer just walked right through the middle of the yard, not caring that we were there at all. I guess she felt she should have been invited to the BBQ too.






My second project was to inset those words into that border of the string star quilt with the half-done applique border. I really LOVE how it turned out! I can now finish the applique in just a few spots in the vine borders, and add a couple flowers and leaves here and there in between the words and call it good. You know what? I think I like it even better than if I *HAD* done all 4 corners the same with the appliqued pots. It's more personal this way. It's more me.


And this is getting long already, so I'll post about the show tomorrow, breaking this up in stages! See this squirrel? Sun River has the biggest squirrels we've ever seen. Lori was commenting that she thought she saw a racoon, but no...it was a SQUIRREL. I swear it was as big as a house cat. They must feed them well in Sun River! And the racoons are pests too...they know how to undo the bungee cords on the trash can! Needless to say, we were about as pooped out as this squirrel by the time sunset arrived! We sure enjoyed that patio, the dusk, the cool air, the smells of fresh mown grass and pine and the sounds of the summer nights.

I'm Packing....

But I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head..or leg...or wing...or other part cut off. I start something, go onto another, get way-laid by another something. I should make a list and stick to it.

Isn't this a funny pic? Jeff had to take pics of me for the book wearing a large shirt..actually this is an XXXLG and it's HUGE! What a great load of fabric in this shirt..but this whole "what to do what to do" feeling is what's going on here today!

Speaking of the book, I am OFFICIALLY done writing! I sent in my bibliography and resources pages yesterday. I'm done! Now I don't know what to do with myself, when there is too much to be doing??

So far this morning I've:

Had a phone conference recorded with an interviewer in Australia, it lasted almost an hour and a half! We talked about the book, my quilting life, my home life, etc.

I've invoiced out and boxed up customer quilts that need to be mailed today.

I've started laundry, started packing.....still ongoing...

I've pulled a couple projects to work on at Randy's house. We will be retreating through the week and doing the Sister's Quilt Show Thang on Saturday. I am doubting my projects. I have a great idea to NOT applique the top border of the string star I showed yesterday...what if I were to piece words there instead....around the top two corners..and then just added a few applique flowers and leaves for accent? So now my mind is running on that instead of the original project list. Of course it all depends on what I can fit in my suit case. Yes, I'm checking a bag. A quilter has to bring what a quilter has to bring! At least Randy has a spare machine for me to use.

I got back to cleaning the kitchen....remembered I have a great recipe to share with you, only I don't have a PICTURE because when I lifted the tin foil this morning there was only ONE PIECE LEFT! I guess that means it must be really good.

The other day DH and son were about to toss out TWO frozen loaves of bread because they said they were crystalized and hard. What does a quilter do with non-fresh bread? Bread Pudding! Here is our favorite variation even tho it's summer, not winter:

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

INGREDIENTS:
• 8 ounces French bread, torn into small pieces, about 5 cups
• 2 cups half-and-half, or half milk and half cream
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• cinnamon sugar, optional
PREPARATION:
Butter an 11x7-inch baking dish. Heat oven to 350°.
In a bowl, cover the torn bread with the half-and-half; set aside.
In another bowl, combine eggs, sugars, pumpkin, cranberries, melted butter, spices, and vanilla; blend well. Pour pumpkin mixture over soaked bread and stir to blend.

Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle top with cinnamon-sugar, if desired. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until set.
Serve with a vanilla dessert sauce or brown sugar sauce, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.
Serves 8.

I used less sugar, substituting 1 cup of the splenda/brown sugar blend for what is listed above. My bread was whole wheat. I used regular 2% milk instead of the cream or half & half. I omited the cranberries because I didn't have any. I would have substituted raisins, but I didn't have those either! It's just as yummy as can be served with ice cream.

I better get back to packing! I promise to take lots of pictures on the road!

And They're Off!

My traveling trunkshow is on it's way to Florissant Colorado! Because I'm going by plane, I have to ship a partial trunk show, bring SOME with me in my luggage, and do the remainder by power point presentation. You can really call me a nervous nelly right now. But the gal at my mailing spot is SO great! I asked her what was the best way to ship these, crates, boxes or what....and she asked what I usually did to get them around. I told her about the extra large military duffel bags, aka...body bags....and she pulled out these sleeves that they usually put over items like golf clubs, etc. PERFECT! I was able to leave the quilts in the duffels, slide them into the sleeve and voila! I don't teach in Colorado until July 24, but if I wait until I get back from Sisters to ship them, I won't have enough time to get them there I don't think.

When I get back from Sisters, I have 3 workshops to give before I head out to Colo, but I kept the workshop samples here with me, and THAT part of the trunkshow will go with me on the plane. It's comfusing trying to keep my ducks in a row!

And Oh Yeah! Something I forgot was on my camera....ahem...When Charlotte was here she broke in my new ironing board cover! *LOL* I guess she was so awed by the gorgeous woodsy view out of my quilting room window that she forgot she had the iron down. What a hoot! I made her sign and date it as a remembrance of our fun weekend. Gotta love friends! :c) Now I'll smile every time I see it. I think it looks much better this way than new anyway.

My guild meeting was tonight. Very fun time Lisa Alley gave a hilarious presentation on "Its not a blanket, it's a QUILT". I think we all needed depends by the time she was done. There were many oohs and ahhs over the show and tell, especially the items the vendors brought to show, and we coined a new phrase.

Instead of calling it eye candy.....it's QUILT P-ORN! *LOL* I think we were all drooling madly, and having hot flashes. I guess this is when you know the show and tell is really good ;c) (who needs a man???) *giggle* What a fun evening. I'm really enjoying getting to know the ladies here.


I've been faithfully hand quilting on my Charlotte's Baskets quilt...I've got 1 1/2 blocks left to quilt,and then it's just the borders folks! I know it's like a snail trying to show you progress when it's hand quilting that I'm about,but I've tried to keep going on the hand quilting progress. I'm switching gears at dinner time, and everything after dinner is HAND WORK. I'm even going to take out my long time unfinished applique bordered quilt and work on the applique and get it done. Silly me...I should have put the applique in the two opposite corners of the borders, but no.....I did two consecutive corners so now I've got to do ALL FOUR!!This quilt is one of the first 'shirt fabric' quilts I made, and it is about 10 years old now. Will it EVER get done???

July 4th At Home Retreat!

I've had company the past few days and it has been WONDERFUL!

Charlotte and Jerry came up to visit. While I worked on projects here, Charlotte took up residence right next to me and was able to complete a few of her long time UFOs into completed tops. There is just something about sewing with a friend that can help you push through those "I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS" or "I DON'T LOVE YOU AS MUCH" projects. She finished a couple long timers while working on a gorgeous yellow/blue jacob's ladder variation as a leader/ender. I even caught her sneaking yellow and blue 2" squares out of my box there to include in her quilt ;c) Okay...actually I was begging her to please use some of mine in her quilt! My last few projects have been string pieced, (or wonky log pieced) and I sew several blocks at one time always using the last block as the leader ender for the next set, so those squares have been untouched for a while.

4th of July evening we went out to Prissy Polly's BBQ in Kernersville. What yummy BBQ and a fun time...they had a bluegrass band playing and the music was wonderful! I just wanted to dance and clap my hands. I checked their page online and they have live music weekly it seems, so I'll be going back. I love how Bluegrass music makes me feel like a kid inside. It's just happy :c)

After dinner we came back here to the house, watched some TV with the guys and we girls did some hand quilting just to give the "impression" we were socializing with everyone instead of holing ourselves down in the basement studio ;c) TNT had a Law & Order marathon going... [insert sound of gavel clanking]

Saturday we ran a few errands, sewed a lot, set up a sandwich bar for everyone for lunch (trying to keep things as easy as possible...just say no to cooking!) and sewed a lot more! A plan to hit an afternoon matinee at the movies turned sour, when we got there it seemed as if everyone and their extended relatives thought the same thing...the line was longer than long, and we bagged that idea and went to Captain Tom's fish restaurant for dinner. They have the best seafood for reasonable prices!

Back home again, we sewed a bit, and then had a fun evening of playing "hand and foot" card games while a storm raged through. We thought the power would go out, so I even lit an oil lamp. It felt like "old days" with the TV off, no electronic games or cable tv or anything. Just sitting around the table, playing cards and talking and laughing.

Charlotte and Jerry headed back to Columbia this afternoon. I crashed for a nap, and here I am! It was a wonderful visit. I'm really glad they came to spend some time with us.

Wednesday I head off for Sisters Oregon! I'm really looking forward to this trip. I'll be retreating at my friend Randy's house.....I've got a few projects I'm bringing. She's got an extra sewing machine for me. There will be 4 of us at her house,oh fun! We will retreat through the week and finish off with the Sister's Quilt Show on saturday!

Oh....no more bats, no more snakes...all is good on the wildlife department here in Wallburg NC...just in case you wanted to know!