What’s In YOUR Wallet!?

What's the issue? Electronic Pickpocketing is the theft of your personal information through scanners that read credit cards, IDs, and more through clothing, wallets and purses as quickly as it takes a thief to walk past you.

Who's at risk? You and anyone with credit/debit cards, ID and passports with RFID (radio frequency identification) chips, which contain personal account information and sensitive data.

The other day, while sewing at Karen’s with Lisa – Karen told us how her hubby’s credit card had been hijacked by someone likely with a card reader in the airport, or on the plane itself. All Jim had done was purchase a set of headphones for watching the movie on the plane…

And within a few days Karen got a call that there had been suspicious activity! One of the charges? A subscription go MATCH.COM! Karen’s comment to Jim? “Honey, is there something we need to discuss??” Of course, the charge was fraudulent as were many on her statement. They were able to get it all straightened out, but at the same time it leaves a huge feeling of anger and voilation of personal information.

How does this happen? There is technology out there where someone can even scan your wallet from your back pocket…..

THIS freaks me out….I travel all the time and I hate feeling vulnerable. It seems to be more dangerous to travel with credit cards than it does cash these days! Yet, we need a credit card for so many things!

((Heck, I’m going to the SISTER’S QUILT SHOW! Do you think I’m NOT going to take my credit card?!?))

In talking with the customer service people for her credit card on the phone, Karen was told that they are now making wallets and purses with an “unreadable” lining in them. But that means we all have to buy new wallets to combat card readers?

Then the customer service guy told her that the easiest way to protect yourself is just to put your card in foil inside your wallet. Great. Now all of our wallet contents are going to look like giant sticks of gum!

But I had an idea….

If foil worked, it was WORTH a try, and it would be very cheap……

I took two hotel room keys that were left in my purse from my trip to Virginia last week, and I covered them both with foil..

You could use ANYTHING..even those fake credit cards that show up in the mail that say “your name here”. I just wrapped them as if I were doing baked potatoes. Easy Peasy.

This is my traveling wallet – Here is the other safety tip. DO NOT travel with more than you need. You won’t need your Sears card, your Pennys card, your Nordstrom card, etc – KEEP IT SIMPLE! Do you really need your Sam’s club card, your library card, your quilt guild card with you on vacation? Probably not. If anything happens…it’s easier to report 3 cards lost than 18 all-a-sundry!

I know I need my drivers license, that’s my ID for getting through the airport. It’s in the front pocket where I can get at it easily.

I stuck the foil wrapped key cards in either side of the little wallet in the side pockets. Will this work? I feel like the little kid from the 60’s trying to make the TV work by putting foil on the antennas!!

Besides my drivers license, I’m only taking 3 other cards with me – These I need for my trip. And I’ve got the numbers on a separate piece of paper, along with the emergency contact number in case anything happens. It’s as easy as putting them on the copier part of your scanner/printer and copying one side, and then turning the cards over and copying the other side. Leave it where someone can get to it at home easily should something happen.

3 little cards, and the two foil ones to keep it all pirate-free. I hope to be good to go until I can find a wallet that I like with built in security. There is plenty of room in here for some cash too. I travel with as little bulk as possible.

I don’t take a purse on the plane ever EITHER! Anything I need goes in my laptop bag, and I’ve skinnied that down to carrying as little as possible. My empty purse goes into my checked luggage….anyone checking inside my suitcase won’t find anything of value in there, but then I have it when I get to my destination if I decide I need to carry a purse.

Can you imagine the hey-day scanning thieves could have at the Sister’s Quilt Show? Not that I think any will be there, but…think about it? Traveling quilters with a need to spend….how many could be scammed?

It’s my intent to FOIL them. Literally!

Farmer’s Market, Anyone?

Yes, I’m filling up the “auto post” capability to be sure you don’t miss me too much while I’m gone! I know it will be a few days before I can post anything about the Sisters Oregon Quilt Show…..and these are things I didn’t get to post before leaving…so I’m spacing them out!

On our way home from the movies on Sunday, we stopped at the Farmer’s Market for some sweet corn. I’d never been before, even though I’d passed it hundreds of times --- it’s right off the interstate on my way to the airport and back. What an amazing place! ALL of those blue-roofed buildings were full of good stuff!

I was blown away at the wonderful array of fresh fruits and veggies-- The market is HUGE!

Of course, it was Peach and Watermelon and Corn season ----

I loved just seeing how things are displayed! There is really an art to that…..you don’t want your produce just priced right, PRESENTATION is everything! TRUE!?

Black Berries and Golden Queen Corn! YUMMY!!!

A wide array of different squashes…..aren’t the colors wonderful?

LOVE the beautiful sunflowers! I didn’t bring any home because I am not going to be here to enjoy them….but Sunflowers are a favorite!

Look at these gorgeous peaches!! Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is…I can just feel the peach fuzz as I bite into one, and wipe the juice dripping from my chin!

THIS is what we came for! I tell you, I remember buying corn in summer where it was 8 ears for $1.00 at the store. It was 12 ears for $5.00 at the farmer’s market --- but we gladly paid it. THIS was the best corn I remember having in a long long time…..the kernels were white and sweet and just popped off the cob when you bit into them.

Is there anything else that brings back childhood memories like chomping on an ear of sweet corn dripping with butter, salt and pepper? ((And put some Slap Yo Mama on it if you want a really tasty treat!))

We enjoyed the corn along with some grilled steaks, and finished up the evening with a beautiful watermelon that we had chilled in the fridge.

I’ll definitely be visiting the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market again!

Ready to Fly!

By the time this posts, I will be well on my way to the airport on my way to Oregon! It’s going to be a long day. You just can’t get to Redmond/Bend Oregon easily from Greensboro, NC!

My route? Greensboro to Chicago, Chicago to Portland, Portland to Redmond! I’ll get there around 3:45pm local time, which is 6:45 NC time! And it always takes me a couple days to adjust to a 3-hour time difference!

I’ve packed up probably MORE projects than I need to….but heaven forbid I power through a couple of them and have “NOTHING” to work on?! I’ve worked hard at kitting things up over the past couple of weeks, and several projects have some pre-sewing already done! I’m ready for machine time with Randy & Lori!

And bike rides! And early morning long walks! And ice cream down at the mall area of Sun River! I can't wait to see the river rolling by, the deer, the geese, the hawks, eagles, bunnies.....you name it. I love it there like no other place on earth. And spending it with these two gals is balm to my soul. Seriously. Oregon? I am SO ready for you! I hope you are ready for ME! :cD

This little ditty will be bound on my way to Oregon….this is the Devil’s Claw orphan that is being donated as a fund raiser:

It didn’t take long to load it in the machine at all! And I chose a design that was fairly non-descript to simply add a lot of texture to the quilt surface…..

I think you can see a bit of the quilting here --- I am one of those who likes to completely trim and square the quilt before applying binding….I love those square corners that way….

A close up of the quilting, and some of the weird and wild fabrics that are in this thing! There are early calicos in here…some even dating to the 70’s! There are recycled fabrics,plaids and stripes, some civil war repro stuff, some novelites, some batik, some 30’s….some hand dyes even, and a few solids! It’s a wild mix of what comes out of my scrap bag. All in all I think I like how it turned out!

I chose a funky red for the binding, it just seemed to add so much life to the rest of the quilt. It has black “chicken legs” on it, and the selvage said the line was called “HEN PECKED!” LOL! I have NO idea where this came from , or how long it has been in the stash, but it was a good match for this little quiltlet….

Of course, the hexagon-in-progress is ever-present when I fly…..I’m filling in HUGE neutral areas right now, so it’s not that exciting, but if I just use it as my main traveling project, it is always ready to go, and it will get DONE…at some point…right? ((At this point I’m still thinking of it as the ‘casket cover’ because it might take me until I die to finish it!))

Those of you traveling to Oregon, by plane, car, or bus….I’m wishing you safe journeys! I’m hoping we’ll bump into each other amid the throngs of show goers at Sister’s on Saturday! Please stop me to say hi if you do see me! I’d love a chance to say HELLO!

Early Morning Nature Time ---

After my extra long jaunt last week --- It did take a few days for my legs to return to normal from being jelly. Let’s just say that my legs worked a lot like C3PO’s from Star Wars! In fact, I’m laughing hysterically right now at that image, because it IS the perfect one for how it felt to move for about 3 days after that 12.5 mile walk/jog/crawl.

Thank you to those who chewed me out for going out alone! I did have my cell phone, a water bottle, car keys ---and there were park ranger types that were driving by about every 10 to 15 minutes. I did feel SAFE! But I thank you for worrying about me.

However, the buddy system does not always work while traveling, and I don’t know too many Quilters who are likely to drop what they are doing at 6:30 am and go walk/jog 6+ miles with me at a moment’s notice. And I’m not going to stop my life because I don’t have a buddy at my beckon call. Sometimes I just NEED my solitude with nature. I don’t always want someone with me. I don’t want to talk…I just want to “BE”. My independence over rides my fear, and I prefer to fill up my life with living, and be as safe as I can---singly---while doing it. I hope that doesn’t bite me back at some point in the future……but I need to LIVE.

SO This morning…live I did! I headed out to Salem Lake to see what was going on with the dam reconstruction there…

A huge storm rolled through last night..but this morning was clear. Not cool though…it was 75 degrees at 7am. And HUUUUU---MIIIIID! But look at this beautiful view. I love this lake in all seasons!

Our dirt here is about as red as it gets! You can tell where some of the road was quite muddy. I had to watch where I was running and not trip on roots, and not slide in the red clay mud still puddled with the remnants of rain. This was about mile 4!

Today there were all kinds of walkers/joggers/cyclists out. I guess we had the same idea…go while everything was rain-fresh!

Uphill is always the toughest! By the time I hit mile 5 I was only jogging the downhill bits…and walking the uphills….for a total of nearly 7 miles. It was a great morning to be out!

The rest of today was filled with getting caught up on book orders, leftover bits of laundry and computer work.

Do you remember when I went to TN and got that nasty malware that ate my pictures, etc? Well, other things needed reinstalling too…like Microsoft Word ((Why did the whole program disappear?!)) Blockbase was also gone, as was EQ --- so those are being reinstalled this evening so my laptop is ready to go with me in the morning to Oregon!

Dinner out at the Japanese steakhouse tonight…and early to bed! Tomorrow is going to be a big traveling day!

Text It Forward!

Text messages ROCK!!!

You know, I am trying to remember what life was like before text messages. I remember when the technology first came around that you could text by phone, and I just DIDN’T get it. TEXT someone? Why not just pick up the phone and talk with VOICE!

And I must say, that I was a real stick-in-the-mud to want to use text, until my KIDS converted me. What a great quick way to send a message….It was like passing notes in SCHOOL, only better :c) Text messages are great for times when you don’t want to be TALKING on the phone, like if you are in public…as I was yesterday….

After working at home most of the morning, I took off to run some errands, get some lunch, and stopped for a MUCH NEEDED pedicure. Boy did my feet and my legs ever thank me!

And being surrounded by other ladies also enjoying their soaking, massaging, buffing, trimming, and pretty-toe-painting didn’t stop me from this little interchange:

First message didn’t get through…..so I shortened it the second try in case it ALSO did not go through…lol! We’ve been counting down the days until my trip to Oregon…tomorrow morning this time I should be landing in CHICAGO and well on my way! We’ve been marking each day with texts as the days get closer. Fun :c)

I'm one of those who doesn't like having phone conversations out loud in public where other people can hear what I'm talking about. It's just NONE of their business. So I like to use text. TALK in the bathroom stall? NO THANK YOU! I don't want to hear that. They should text instead so I don't have to listen to what is going on in their personal lives AS they are also doing their personal business. Who wants to hear flushing coming through the other end of the phone? :c/

As it was, I received MORE giddy exchanges via text during the day!

Charlotte is in Shipshewana! Or, she was yesterday…and I’m stinky green jealous of course, but it was fun to live vicariously through her adventures! She hit Yoder’s, and look what she found on the bookshelf there:

This made for a very happy me as I was finishing up the quilting on the Devil’s Claw quilt, and getting the binding on!

And about an hour or so later….here came another one:

From Charlotte, who had NOW hit Lolly’s!! I don’t want to think about the kind of fun she must have had digging through the FQ’s in the boat in the basement! But she sent me this pic:

These little text exchanges MADE my day! So here is my challenge for you…..if your phone has text capability, and you have a LONG list of people in your contacts list on your phone….choose a friend. Someone you may not have spoken to in a while. Just send a text. Just a “Thinking of You.” Just a “Have a super day”…..MAKE someone’s day.

Let’s text it forward!

***Disclaimer*** PLEASE BE AWARE of time zone differences! I know from experience as I am WAY on the East Coast. There is a 3 hour time difference between me, family, and friends, and I have to make myself play by that old rule of “No phoning before 9am or after 9pm” in whatever time zone "THEY" are in. I live and sleep with my phone next to me because I don’t have a land line anymore. My phone is also my alarm clock. And texts that come in at midnight can tend to wake someone up. Be aware that even if YOU don’t sleep next to your phone, and it’s in the charger in the kitchen or in your purse where you won’t hear it if someone texts you at 2am, that the person YOU are texting at near-midnight their time zone MIGHT be awakened by the ping of your text coming through. If you wouldn’t CALL at that hour….voice call, that is….it might be better to send an email instead--and text at a better time. :c)

Juggling Time!

Let's face it --- Life is a JUGGLING ACT!

Some things just FORCE me to switch gears. One of these things was an email from a group that I had agreed to donate a small quilt to for their quilt auction as a fund raiser. I *TOTALLY* spaced it until this email showed up.

“No problem, it’s not due until August” the email reads.

Which still puts me in panic mode, because between now and August I will have been to Oregon for a week in July, Quickly throwing together a last minute project for a German Magazine by the end of July, a trip to Iowa for the Iowa State Quilter’s Guild thing in Storm Lake in July, An 8 day long trip to Alaska in August, and a Carribean Cruise in August. And all my Quiltmaker articles for 2011 are also due in August.

“No problem, it’s not due until AUGUST” Does NOT put my mind at ease!

So this is what I dug out:

Remember LAST July how I pieced and pieced and pieced piano key border, and Lori and Randy said….No….that’s not enough ---- KEEP PIECING?! And I ended up with enough piano key border for 4 or 5 quilts? ((I’m not kidding! I used it on the mini baskets, I used it on the Tumalo Trail quilt in Scraps & Shirttails II --- I “THINK” I’ve used it elsewhere also…))

I added a black polka dot inner border around this “devil’s claw” orphan block….and added a border of piano keys! It now measures about 27” square! Good enough!

Sometimes having “Spare Parts” just laying around is a definitely good thing!

I’ll get it quilted over the next day or so --- Get that binding on there, and I should be able to hand stitch the binding and sleeve down on the plane on my way to Oregon on Thursday.

Definitely no rest for the Quilty!

**Note** Must think things through better before agreeing to make quilts for organizations in the future without checking the calendar REALISTICALLY first!

….And The Winner Is:

I’ve loved reading the comments as they came in for the Mini Windmill pattern and template!! I am so glad to be sending it to someone who wants it.

And I am amazed how so many said they would use YELLOW with it! You don’t have to, you know? You could use ANYTHING…but the yellow really does make those scraps shine, doesn’t it?

I’m also one of those who can’t “WEAR” yellow. I don’t wear orange well for that matter either, but it doesn’t stop me from putting them in my quilts. I think we have this idea that if colors aren’t good ON us, that they therefore aren’t good AROUND us either! And that’s just hogwash.

I mean, look at nature! I remember being told that pink and orange don’t go well together, but just look at the colors in the garden! Do we NOT plant certain colors because we can’t wear them? Well, I hope not!

So here we go with the winner of the Mini Windmill Pattern ---

Sarah Stephens aka SoSarahSew!

Sarah wrote:

I have 20 Florabunda blocks made already. I started as soon as I saw your original post and knew I had some 2" yellow strips from another top I was just finishing. I'm searching for more yellows to make more blocks, since 20 just doesn't do it. Thanks for the give-away chance... and all your neat patterns!

I’ve emailed Sarah, she had her email address visible in her profile settings so I “COULD” get a hold of her. Sarah, as soon as you email me back with your snail mail address, this little cute pattern will be on it’s way to you!

And I think you are rockin for having 20 blocks made already --- I’ve still got….FOUR. I’m laggin way behind, but I hope to catch up --- at some point! Congrats!

And as I look around me…..there is SO MUCH STUFF in this studio that needs to find a new home, we may be doing more giveaway’s occassionally! Of course, DH is like “You mean you are paying for postage to get rid of things??” Why sure! It doesn’t make sense to him, but it does to me!

Home Improvement Weekend…..

When kids move out……it doesn’t mean they take the effects of living WITH them! Things like scuff marks and spills and stains and dings, dents, and other marks are left behind!

We’d talked about painting Jeff’s room, but it was kind of iffy when that would come about – however, after leaving Karen’s house on Saturday evening, and meeting DH at a place for dinner that was just DOWN from Lowes….a plan had evolved.

Long holiday weekends are just made for home improvement projects, aren’t they? And usually…I am a bit apprehensive because I tend to think that the project is going to overshoot our ability to get it accomplished in that time frame…which means things will remain UNDONE for an immeasurable amount of time.

For instance --- The roof has been done for quite a while now, but the sun room still needs to be re-sheet-rocked. This is something that has to be hired out and we haven’t found anyone to do the job yet. So it sits.

Painting should be a job we can tackle ourselves….so after dinner off we went to Lowes in search of paint and other accessories we would need to get the job done.

This store is a COMPLETE danger zone! I suppose a man entering this store is much like a Quilter entering the world’s biggest fabric warehouse. Am I right?

Me: “I thought we were looking at painting supplies”

DH: “Yes, but look! There is a 3 cordless power tool set for a great price!”

Me: “Uhoh!” >_< ((Yes the price of painting Jeff’s room just went UP considerably!))

It’s okay. I’ll remember this purchase, and I know I can turn it to my advantage in the future when the need arises!

We chose a color called “antique white”…..it doesn’t look white at all in this picture! It looks more like a dark sand! But that’s okay, I like how it looks in the room….what we are covering UP is that old dirty white. And let me tell you --- who ever thought cheap flat white paint was GOOD for interior walls? You can’t wash it without it coming off! Everything we have repainted, we have been SURE to use a SCRUBBABLE variety. Life is messy. It needs to be scrubbed. Nuff Said!

My job was to do all the corners and cracks with a brush so DH could come back with the roller. It might make me crazy, but I actually like the smell of new paint…it gets rid of all the other aromas that moved-out-children leave behind! A fresh and new start!

Roll those walls! We had to put primer in some spots….and some places needed more than one coat of paint to get an even look.

Just one more spot left! And then the really bad part begins….THE TRIM!

I got to be princess of the masking tape. Believe me, it isn’t as fun as it looks! But I’ve learned that a good tape job is just as important as a good paint job!

Besides, if I could tape…someone ELSE could do the actual trim painting!

We took a break yesterday afternoon and went and saw “Larry Crowne” with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. I loved it! It was just easy, fun, and enjoyable – I don’t care if it is predictable, it was as cute as a button and a great escape from the afternoon heat.

Today is going to be hot as blue blazes, and DH--glutton for punishment that he is--will be enjoying his hot sweaty afternoon out on the golf course – as for me?! I’ll be in the cool of the basement working away at this or the other!

And tonight? I’ll be drawing the winner of the free mini-windmill pattern and template! If you missed that post, you still have time to leave your comment HERE and be in the drawing!

My trim in the basement needs to be repainted too --- but after the past couple of days, I think I’ll leave that for another time. Right now? Id rather sew!