and so it happened again

this time, the right shoulder without another adult living in the house... 

 

I look better than the first time around.  surgery was quite a bit more extensive than anyone expected and I've been immobilized for 2 1/2 weeks now.  waiting to hear from my ortho on Wednesday if i'm cleared to start physical therapy.  where the fun and pain begin in a whole different way than i'm currently in.  ugh...

I've had a QOV at the longarm quilter for 2 months now.  starting to get really irritated at this woman, who won't respond to me.  i'd hoped to have this one done and sent to the navy before surgery and get the next two tops out for quilting during my recovery.  I need to cut backs and then request my quilter still.  boo's QOV is in this stack.

that's my summer this year.  not at all what I had planned... there were supposed  to be road trips to state parks and geocaching, visits to the museums, time at the beach and pool... oh well...

a finish to share

so I've been quiet... I'm sorry dear readers, if any of you are still there.  last year's divorce is still dragging on in regards to the house and settling a few things and the guarded, yet friendly, terms we had been on just turned sour with some new discoveries.  BUT I did finish my beef quilt that the ladies of the group helped contribute their love and strength into blocks for me to snuggle under.

I adore how "strength" is the biggest block and dictator of the size of this quilt.  it's what I needed most...the strength to pull up my big girl panties and keep on moving on.  and I did.  I knew my strength was there - it always has been, but I was so broken-hearted for so many months that it was hard to see staring at me every morning.  calm...calm is what I don't have yet, but I am working on it. 

last weekend, my good friend and dance partner came over for dinner.  he's quite an animated person and that's part of why we're such good friends.  boo would look at him making faces and burst out laughing.  which caused me to laugh.  the hilarity of dinner conversations made me laugh harder and more genuine than I have done in well over a year.  thank you. 

and I continue to persevere through it all.  time is flying by this year, where it dragged on last year.  but time is also needed for the strength.  it's needed for your faith to be renewed and restored, even if it's not the same faith as before.  i'm thankful for my family and the friends who have seen me through it.  they have allowed me to grow and shown me my smile again.  so, while I am starting to play and have bliss in geocaching with boo, i'm finding all the things I need.

 

 

I backed the quilt with a vintage sheet I found at the salvation army.  it reminded me so much of some of my childhood sheets and is super soft.  doesn't quite work with the polka dot binding... but who cares?  I like it.  I tend to wrap myself up in this quilt every night at least once since I finished it last month.  I'm channeling the good energy from this quilt and the love and hug from my other quilt as often as I can. 

 

so here is another HUGE THANK YOU!!! to all the ladies who helped me with this quilt.  I couldn't have asked for anything more or better.

art bringing awareness

next week, i get to help be one of the lucky people to work on this fabulous art installation here in houston and galveston.  the houston portion was started yesterday and going on today, but i'm at work and it's during the day when i can't leave the office...  so i'm headed back down to the island next saturday bright and EARLY to paint trees blue.

how can you not fall in love with the way this looks?

not only is it a gorgeous art installation, it brings awareness to the changes in our climate, natural disasters such as drought and hurricanes, and that we need to protect our trees and replant for the future.  houston was severely affected by the drought in 2011 and galveston lost the majority of their century old oak trees it was famous for.  galveston is going through a fantastic replanting process this last year and it continues.  houston is still cleaning up the dead trees.

i'll post some pictures next week.  i have to remember to stop every now and then and take a picture.  i'm going in the first saturday shift, so we'll see how much is done friday before i start working.

adventures in geocaching

geocaching... something i've wanted to do for a few years, but didn't actually start until this past fall.  it was talked about, apps downloaded, apps removed off crappy phones, apps added back to X2's phone and looked at online.  then everything happened and we didn't do anything.  my brother's been doing it seriously since the late spring/early summer and he's a wee bit obsessive about it.  my sister-in-law goes and so does my mother, who learned to cache by my brother during their visit to michigan this past summer.  so boo and i finally started and we love it. 

 

 

i'm still sewing and quilting with fewer finishes right now.  this is my quick fix lately.  boo and i have hidden one cache now and planning our next hide.  the picture below is from the night we hid our cache and one of the sculptures nearby the cache site.

 

 

 

i have a habit of caching in heels.  and often a dress AND heels.  i like to go at lunchtime if i can for a bit of a break and some sun.

 

 

 

this is what happens when you go out on a dinner date with a friend who knows your wierdness.  and helps you look after too much wine and rain.  mud on the heels...  at least i was in pants that night.  and no, we didn't find the one that was near the restaurant and i haven't gone back for it since then.  i need to though. 

 

 

my geo-family is searching for a ridiculously difficult mystery/puzzle cache that's located somewhere close to where i work.  i've done most of the legwork in looking for the cache that has not been found in 3 years.  2 weeks ago, my brother and sister-in-law came down to help me try and find this stinker.  

 

 

we didn't expect the cache to be in this tree, but my brother hauled himself up and out on a limb for a potential.  plus, the bottle hanging from the string was bugging all of us.

 

 

 

earlier that day, i was out walking some trails during a scout class at the arboretum.  i did do some caching at the arboretum that day too and was snagged by thorns through my new jeans.  nasty little buggers.

 

but i've learned to soak up sun when i can during lunch when it's too cold in the office.  it gets me moving (oh!  and i am participating in a research study on geocaching for exercise and activity for texas a&m), helps clear my mind from all the ridiculousness that i have going on still, it challenges the brain and it's fun. 



 

 

some days, you discover little gems you didn't know existed.  like this spot on one of the small lakes by my office.  it was quiet, no one was there and i will definitely be back to visit with a sandwich.

 

 

this past friday was the start of spring break.  boo had a half day of school, so i took a half day of work and we set out to galveston island for a few hours of fun.  i hadn't been down there other than dickens on the strand in december in a couple years, so we had a grand time.  i planned out caching on the historic east end and the strand area so we could park and walk, then grab some ice cream.  

 

 

there was actually a teeny tiny geocache in the phone booth.  he couldn't reach it, but i barely was able to. 

 

so folks, this is what i've been up to other than trying to save my house and sanity.  it's become "our thing" between boo and i.  gives us something to do that is just a mother/son time where we include a bit of family every now and then. 

an off-the-topic question

alright... so i know i haven't posted again in a while, but i'm taking a lot of "me" time and slowly working on things.  i have been sewing and quilting and just shipped off two QOVs to the navy last week.

BUT here's my off topic question since most of the people reading this are women.  do i have something across my forehead stating i'm looking for older/old men to ask me out to dinner, dancing, etc?  and what is it with men and younger women?  really?

i'm 33.  i'm usually told i look younger and am carded constantly.  even if i'm at the grocery store with my 10 year old.  no, i am not his older sister.  although, a little girl at his school asked that in the fall when i came to eat lunch with him on his birthday.  :)  so...why is it i have been asked out several times now by older men?  and by older, i mean 50+ and some have kids in college or out of college.  i'm not against a few years older than me.  putz was 4 1/2 years older and the biggest age difference in someone i've dated after him was 6 years my senior (he and i are still very good friends).

what happened to the younger ones?  i think my limit would be around 40.  maybe 41/42.  where are the ones around my age?  i know they're out there!  and no, i'm not online dating and can't see myself doing that.  right now, there's no need for me to date.  i have too much on my plate as it is.

another catch-up post... dr. seuss quilt

a long time ago... i preordered some new dr. seuss fabric for boo.  i thought he needed a new and bigger dr. seuss quilt than his previous one (which he still loves).  the fabric arrived just as i had scheduled shoulder surgery and i was already in so much pain i could barely move.  so i knew i'd work on it after my shoulder was healed up.

of course, i didn't quite expect to be in a sling for 4-5 MONTHS, not weeks.  with more months of rehab.  slowly, i started working on it and then i came across the cat in the hat center panel.  i had to get that to include in the quilt for christmas 2011.  but then i saw there would be a line of the lorax fabric to be released in the early spring along with the movie.... sigh... another delay in the boy's quilt.

so, the lorax fabric arrived and i had a few pieces together.  it would be his birthday present....i had lots of time for that.... but then a few weeks later, the bomb dropped in my house and i didn't touch fabric for quite a while.  fast forward to me picking up the pieces and the little boy wasn't gone on weekends for 2 months and i couldn't work on the quilt.  then came week before christmas and i finally got to steadily work on it after i came home in the evenings.  i really had 5 days to piece, baste, quilt and bind.  oy vey!

but i got it together and started quilting in swirls as fast as i could.  

they're not as pretty as the swirls on my low volume bed quilt, but they're heavily done and the quilt is lovely.

boo came home at lunch the day after christmas with a really high fever.  he barely wanted to open his gifts and the excitement i hoped for was small.  but opening a quilt made with love came at a perfect time since he could go lay down and snuggle under it while watching t.v. and me nursing his fever.

matisse also made a great nurse and babysitter.  she missed her boy as much as i did and kept watch over him.

a new year and i'm still here

just very delinquent in posting... i've barely read other blogs i follow, let alone think about posting one of my own.  the past year has taken it's toll on me and i had been doing a decent job at paying attention to the little redhead and to myself until the last day or so.

ok.  where to start to catch up?  one post or a few to separate?  maybe i'll do a few and spread it out for everyone.  let's see... i think i'll start with some steampunk!!

2X introduced me a little more to the victorian era that never was.  it's perfect for me.  i love period novels.  i love mystery.  i love science and everything quirky, so really, it's completely up my alley.  the husband of one of his high school friends does a lot of cosplay of various sorts.  i'm not usually the type to do these things.  i'll watch others and have fun people watching, but after we decided the three of us (at least) would go to a local festival in costume, i was hooked.  still am.

i spent hours upon hours pinning pattern pieces and cutting.  in just over a week, had the jacket finished, minus light embellishment and chains.

the i set out to make the skirt.  oh my gosh.  there was 6 yards of fabric to make up the skirt (that's a lot of skirt!) and 9 (yes!  NINE) yards of fabric to make up the pleats at the bottom of the skirt.  i never thought i'd  finish the pleats.

but i did.  just not the bustier/corset top... bad pattern... and after losing 31 lbs, i wasn't quite the size i thought i was anymore.

i got myself a lovely little steampunk beauty mark of an actual watch gear.

i walked for 14 hours in new boots while wearing a corset.  i sat down 3 times, no more than 20 minutes.  i loved it.  my "character" is a seamstress.  i had patina on bobbins hanging from my chains, along with victorian styled swan scissors, vintage buttons, gears and a big needle.  my jewelry was made up of zippers and vintage buttons. i did have the required key and gears. :)

my picture was taken constantly.  with and without 2X and his friend.  i drank a lot of guinness.  i danced the waltz with a stranger.  an old friend met up with us and hung out off and on through the night.  i've never worn so much brown at one time before!!

it was an awesome day and i look forward to doing a few events a year if i can.  i've got more outfits planned and in production and 2 more corsets in my stash...one brown with zipper trim at all the seams and one in a bright lovely teal to brighten up the brown.