Quilter's Head Hurts

My head hurts.  Wanna know why?  Because I did not fix my hair, today.  Since I was too lazy to do that, I put on a hat.  Then, I got "hat hair" which was worse than my hair before putting on the hat.  Now, it is 9:14 p.m. and I have had this stupid hat on all day.  My head hurts. Vanity, thy name is "Dianne."

Hmmmm

"Early" is looking like a dim memory........(I am not even out of my jammies)

Headin' to Texas on a Quilt Train

O.K, so we only have an engine, a caboose, and a one track mind, but our destination is in sight-- Jefferson, Texas, and the "Quilts on the Bayou" show.  Of course, our departure is set for early, but, that is always flexible.  Early is relative. I mean, right now is early.  It is eight minutes into Thursday.  So, wish us a smooth journey, a sunny day to set up, and lots of shoppers with lots of enthusiasm.  This is one of my favorite shows thanks to the terrific folks who put this show on.  If I do not get a chance to add a thread or two over the weekend, please rest assured that I am thinking of you, and even feeling twinges of guilt.

A Quilter's Birthday Thoughts

Today would have been my sister, Debbie's, birthday.  All day, yesterday, I tried not to remember that...funny thing, the harder you try not to remember, you remember all the more.  My birthday wish for you, my dear sweet Deb, will remain just that because, selfishly, it is my wish to hug you.

So, instead, I am going to do my best to think of us in Rome, remembering our fabulous laughing until we had to raise our skirts and pee in the street because we could not find a bathroom.

Quilter's Dread

Groan.  I thought I would try to muster up some sympathy.  I have a dentist appointment in an hour.  Enough said??  I am in Misery from "Open wide," to, "That comes to...oh, look, that just happens to be the same amount as our next mortgage payment for the new office...what a coincidence!".

Worn Out Quilter

I am t-i-r-e-d.  Hello, hubby was home the entire weekend.  As you can see by the date, no chance to write since last Thursday.   Busy, busy, busy.......how about you give me a few seconds to reflect........o.k., just a few more seconds to get the smile off my face........sigh....O.K., the truth is we did spend a good bit of time cleaning the garage.  Hey, I can smile about more than one thing, can't I?  I am now including this picture of the two cars in the garage mainly to prove to myself that we actually did get it to the point that both cars were in the garage at the same--I cannot even remember the last time that happened.

  And, lest we forget -- THE book sitting beside our Walk The Three Day For the Cure donation jar.  You do not even have to chose.  You can do BOTH.

This Quilter is NUTS

What was I thinking????  I was looking over my schedule for the first half of the year and looking at maps, and....I have us scheduled to be at a show in Dallas one weekend then in Lancaster, friggin' Pennsylvania, the following weekend.  One and a half days to get there AND set up??????????  Dang, my Learjet is in the shop. 

Wanna buy my book?  call me at 318 243-2983 or 318 247-9725.  You will be soooo happy you did, heh heh.  I know I will be.

Cutsy Quilter

Definitely harder to be "cutsy" these days.....

"I don't know who is shooting those arrows of grief, but they have a lot of them, each one an alchemist turning the initially happy golden thought into leaden grief in an instant"

My brother is so amazing, so eloquent.  He wrote that line in an email expressing his difficulty getting through parts of his day these days.  It so sums up how I feel....our sister's car is now in our driveway making the big reality harder to cover up with one of my imaginary quilts.  No quilt is that big.


The good news is that I am back from the Martha Pullen Show in Orlando, sleeping in my bed.  The better news is how well received the book was.  The best will be when the weekend comes and not only will I be here with the knowledge that the book has had a great start, but, TOM will be here, as well, sleeping (maybe not so much sleeping?) right next to me......


The return trip from Orlando went fairly smoothly except for just a few itty bitty bumps.  Jeez, the biggest bumps were in the road, itself.   I had heard several years ago that Louisiana was voted "worst roads in America" by 18-wheeler drivers.  Hurmph. I do not think those guys were delivering in Florida.  I would need new teeth if I were a regular on that pavement.  The other "bumps" were gas and cell phone issues.  (Are they putting gas stations further apart these days?)  Hell-o-o, girls....


Brandy and I were frantically looking for the next exit-with-a-gas-station while the indicator needle was playing pat-a-cake with the light on the gauge.  We had been deep in conversation for hours, playing with ideas of how to pack the car in less than 6 hours, how to stop being the very very last one to finish at every show, when..uh-oh.....  What happened to the cars with the audible warnings????  Don't you think we should be able to carry on a simple conversation w/o having to check the gas gauge every few hours?!?!?!   Wait, an exit with gas...more uh-oh's...going too fast to turn...o-o-o-o-ops, I recognize that sound--more accurately, lack of sound--we are, officially, out-of-gas!.  Luckily, we had that container for emergencies just like this.  We put some in the tank.  BE-U-tiful.  The car started right up.  The problem?  We were just past the exit.  So, I took a page from Mother's Convict's Book of Driving, and backed that baby down the interstate, onto that errant ramp, and GAS.  No worries.  Back on the road to home.  It could have been so much worse.  


About 30 minutes later,  I start to give Tom an update on our whereabouts.  Crap. Where is the phone?  Hmmm.   I do seem to remember a certain noise as I got out of the car to get the gas.  I thought it was the seat belt hitting the door frame.  Do you wonder why I do my best NOT to think???  I used Brandy's phone to call mine and I get a very deep, very Southern, "Hello?" 


"Who is this?" I ask.
"Someone who found this phone," he responded.  Then, he added, "It ain't purdy, but it still seems to work!"  


Amazing.  That thump had been my cell phone falling out of the car. Even more amazing, I had apparently run over it with my car. 

I would not make a very good hunter.  I gave that phone a direct hit---still keeps on ticking!  The guy was right, not purdy, but it still works.  I am headed to the ATT store and see if they want me to do testimonials--after all, if I have to replace it, this will be my 7th phone in less than two years!


One thing before I close this lengthy, long overdue conversation.  Thanks to all of you for your grrrreat support, for continuing to check in to see if I am still in the "weee-e-e-e-e-e-e" of my life.  Love to each and every one.

Such a Good Quilter....

Yesterday, as Brandy and I headed out to Orlando, we had just a few stops to make on the way.  First stop, the bank.  Second stop, FOOD.  Third stop, Dillards. What happens so frequently is that I will find a great color lipstick only to find it is discontinued when I go to purchase more.  This time I decided to buy at least a couple more tubes of the same lipstick, right away, before they even have a chance to discontinue it.  I mean, I just bought this baby a week ago. 

Uh-oh.  Just as we got through the door of Dillards, there, on sale was a rack of great shawls.  How can one pass up a fifty dollar item now selling for 16 bucks???  I bought two.  My first Christmas presents for 2012, done.  I am good.

 I told Brandy, "Hurry, let's get over to the cosmetics counter.  We are already running hours late."

Oh-oh.  Look at those coats.  Look at the price!  Now I am going to be very good.  I passed on not one, but two beautiful coats that fit perfectly and looked great.  There is a special place in Heaven for me.

"Hurry, Brandy.  We really need to get out of here..... "

Uh-oh.  More sales in the Misses department... o.k., now I am getting past good to gr-r-rreat.  I resisted so much -- I bought just one teensy weensy blouse and one really cute skirt.

"Brandy, really, we are in such a hurr ...ohmygosh -- Major UH-OH...the shoe department is right next to the cosmetics counter!  And look, that awesome pair of black boots are on sale--the ones the saleslady told me just two days ago that NEVER goes on sale....jeez, they have my size.  Heaven can wait.

 Finally, to the cosmetics counter.  The lipstick?  You guessed it, discontinued! 

And the Quilters are Off and Running...

The Plan:  trailer packed by Wednesday; clothes packed by Saturday; depart by 8 a.m. on Sunday.   Reality:  trailer still not completely packed (partly because we forgot to take the final photograph of the newest project which, of course, was one of the first items packed in the trailer so we would be sure not to forget it -- therefore, the trailer was unpacked on Saturday night); clothes? jeez, it is difficult enough to have to decide what to wear today, let alone what to wear each day for an entire week, puleeeze; and depart by 8 in the morning????  Get Real.  When have we ever gotten our sh#$%&$## together in time to leave before lunchtime!!  Who made out this plan, anyway?  Oh, yeah, heh heh, I did.  I knew there was a reason I liked Fiction.  In my life, Fiction is Reality.

If you live in the Orlando area, I hope you will stop by this weekend for the Martha Pullen Show, come to our booth, give me a hug.  One can never have too many hugs......

This Quilter, Daughter of a Convict

Mother is apparently feeling more like her old self, again.  She decided she wanted to drive to the beach house for our family Christmas and was not in the least bit interested in having assistance, or even company for that matter.  We felt like this was a good sign since she has been so depressed, mainly because she is old, that she has not been interested in doing anything--not even shopping.  Of course, when she drives she does a lot of what she calls "exploring."  This means she takes a lot of wrong turns.  She arrived in Gulf Shores in one piece.  So far, so good. On the way home, she did some exploring.  Half way up an exit ramp, she realized that she did not want to "explore" that route, and, instead of simply continuing up and then back down the next ramp, she decided to drive down the ramp, backwards.  Surprise, there was a police officer just waiting for his next ba-a-a-d boy or girl and Mother was being bad, very very bad.  So, one ticket, one towed car, and one call to the husband, later, the "convict" arrives home, again, in one piece.  So far, not so good....

Quilter OOPS

Hmm. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to try my best to add to this Thread each day.  So much for that Resolution...I missed by day five.  No excuses.  So let's start with TODAY.

THE BOOK IS HERE!!!!!!!  I love this whole process.  What also arrived, today, by FEDEX no less, was a copy of the book signed by the wonderful folks from AQS.  How totally thoughtful is that???  So, guess what I am going to be doing for the next hours before we leave for Orlando-- Writing labels, stuffing envelopes, and going to the mail box. So, later, gator, unless you want to come for a quick visit and stuff envelopes, too.  I would make some GUMBO and homemade bread pudding.  Wait, I think that sounds so delicious that I am going to let someone else make that gumbo and bread pudding.  I am gonna wash it down with some Champagne!!!

Happy New Year from this Quilter

I have this friend, Becky, who I have known for many years.  She is incredibly bright and has talents that she takes for granted.  One of those talents is writing poetry. What I mean by "taking it for granted" is that she says that what she does is not a gift--she thinks anyone can do this if they just try...ha ha ha ha.  My gift to you is that I am going to re-gift and share her talent with you:

Happy New Year

What a difference one year makes - what difference just one hour.

What an amazing world this is - what magnificence; what power.

How fortunate we are, indeed, to have the chance to live.

What an opportunity - the chance to love and give.

Since Christmas last, what times we've had - so hard to see our way.

Yet we knew we were richly blessed - far more than we could say.

And so we were; and still we are to have a better measure

Of our worth; the way we live - that is our earthly treasure.

Our lives are filled up to the brim with a wide variety - 

Smiles and tears; hopes and fears; need and prosperity.

And great the stage we are placed upon; great the writer/actor's lot

We have the power to write our lines, the power to set the plot.

So here is where we all are "now," and "then" is where we've been.

If only we had considered "now" before we determined "then."

What would we have better said? What would we do different then,

If we could write all our lines from "end" back to "begin."

So very easy it then would be to stage our annual play,

Having looked further down the road and planned the things we'd say.

Let's plan it all back from the bow! No, from the curtain's fall;

Back through the long stem rose we wave; back through the curtain call.

Back to our fellow actors - those whose hands we hold,

Who share our stage - hands lowered, raised - we chose, when truth be told!

Let's make it those we hold most dear with whom we take the bow.

With all our days so busy, it is best to plan that now.

As we write the lines we've said, as we act each in reverse

It will be easier to remember with less need to rehearse

Precisely we then hit our mark, working toward the curtain's rise!

How easy are the laughing lines; how simple are the cries.

When we are sure that all ends well, what fun the butterflies.

When we know the accolades will come, what's a little stage-fright?

How easy then our costumes don, how quickly do our make-up.

How easily we get a goodnight's sleep, right after we wake up!

As we back up to the present, we are nearing "now" at last.

So much of our success rides on the choosing of the cast.

Yet, if the audience is to proclaim our play "all the rage"

We must yet take most special care to select the proper stage.

Yes, what a difficult task we face as we start each New Year,

 What kind of play will we produce?  Will it be met with cheers?

So now we have the empty page and now the pen in hand
And now the motivation:  let's make this one grand!

Happy New Year!

 

Quilter Quandry

Peas, Lobster, Carrots???....

The old saying goes that you should eat black-eyed peas for good financial luck throughout the coming year.  So far, that has not been very successful for moi.  So, I am looking for some new suggestions.

First, I asked Connie, a delightful friend for advice. She hates peas. She told me that she had asked another friend in Atlanta if she had eaten the peas.  She said, "No, I had lobster.  Po' folks eat black-eyed peas and stay po'. Rich folks eat lobster and stay rich."

Next, I asked my son, Chris, if he ate peas.  He also hates peas, and he is a student studying Oriental medicine/culture.  He said, according to Asian belief, one must eat something orange for 28 consecutive days to get financial bliss

Now, I have just two questions before I begin--does Lobster sauce count?  and, what about orange Peeps? Jelly Bellies?  Candy Corn?


Suggestions? 

Home At Last

We are finally home.  Wow, if I had known how much mail I would be facing, I would have run back to the beach house where we spent Christmas.  Of course, if running away made icky stuff disappear, I would have done a marathon this last month, that is for sure.

Guess what?  "THE" book is in from the printers and on its way to me!!  My goals are modest--I just want a few things...(1) I want my book to set the record for the most quilting books sold, (2) I want it to set a record for the most $$ made, and, (3) set a record for the most reprints. It this asking too much?  Don't answer that, I prefer my delusions to reality.

Many many thanks to those of you who continued to check in on me, to those of you who wrote, sent the beautiful, thoughtful cards, the prayers.... 

a belated Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year