Betty's quilts

  Zoey wouldn't get off the bed so I could take this picture.  This quilt fits my bed perfectly and is her oldest.  I am keeping this one.



    This small twin size one I will probably sell at the auction



   I love the one below but will probably sell it also.  I can't keep them all.   My BIL would have a cow.



   This one below I will also sell at the auction unless BIL wants it for his son.  The 2 pictures are front and back

 




           Another of my favorites she did.  I love the needle work.  It is a smaller quilt also.  I want to keep it but haven't decided.  It would be very hard to part with











            The quilt below she made me for Christmas about 10 years ago.  I love it.



        Patchwork quilt.  This one is a smallone and I will probably sell it.



         We both made one of these quilts with the nylon inside each square.  I never finished mine as it got hard to find nylons.  Keeping this one also



  Another small quilt which would look so cute on a little girls bed.  I am selling this one.



     I am saving this one for Mackenzie when she grows up.  She loves lavender and pink.



       I remember my MIL having a heck of time when she made the one below.  She said it was harder then it looked.  I took her word for it.  I will probably sell this one also.

The Ride and Betty's Quilt

 

  Bike riding tip number 1.   Never...and I mean never take months off without doing any sort of exercise and expect to ride like you used to.  Yikes.  I was sure I was having a heart attack a couple of times and we only went 7.6 miles.



         The weather felt warm until we were actually riding.  I was not dressed warm enough initially.  I needed a hat, gloves and something around my neck.  Fortunately.....well maybe not, being in such terrible shape I soon worked up a heck of a sweat. 

   Why is you always meet people on the trails when you are climbing an incline.  Gasping for breath and beet red in the face I breathlessly gasp out....to your left, and ring my bell.  What?, they ask, as my voice was barely above a whisper.  Left!, I wheeze and that is all I can manage.  With a look of alarm they leap to the side....visions of how to do the CPR they learned 10 years ago running through their brains.  I am always a vision when I ride.  Of what I can only imagine.  Being fair skinned it doesn't take much to turn me bright red.

      I am doomed I think.  Visions of climbing huge massive mountains in the black hills loom darkly before my eyes.  Why oh why did I slack off on my working out.  What was I thinking about?  Why did I let myself gain some weight back?

   Behind me Rick happily chatting away and asking me questions.  Questions.... as if I can truly spare the breath to gasp out a reply to him.  Reason number 856 why it doesn't bother me to steal the covers at night.   Darn man.

    Finally I get to the end of the trail.  Not the entire trail, just the first half.  I still have to go back.  I climb off my bike on wobbly legs which instantly want to cramp up on me.  Sadly I look at my speedometer to see we have only gone 3.3 miles.  How could this be.  How could I have slipped so far.

    I am happy to see, yes I am terrible, Rick sag to the curb and voice my sorrow.  Gee, I really let myself go this winter.
 

        Evilly this makes me happy.  I am not alone.  After all if he wasn't such a great cook I wouldn't be in this bad of shape to start with and strangely enough it give me the incentive I need.  OK I say, lets start back.  And it is time to start the gym again.  By this time I realize I will need more then riding to get back to the shape I was in.  I need to pump some iron and use that stupid treadmill.  But you know what?  I am pumped about it.  I contacted the place we are thinking of renting and made reservations.  At Forest Haven. I am not quitting.  I am going on a bike ride.  A great bike ride.




       So we rode back.  It wasn't easier, but for some reason that gave me the push I needed.  I vow to get it back.  I want to get it back.  We pulled up to the van and I felt great.  The first tiny step to going on our ride.


  Pulling up to the Lewis and Clark building where we had parked our van I even felt I could ride more.  But I am not pushing it.   7.6 miles today.  10 the next time, then 15 and so on and so on.

     Now for the Quilts.  I just don't think I can part with them.  Not some of them at least.  Let me show you one of her quilts.



       This one she quilted and needlepointed.  Have I mentioned she did that.






   But the part below is why I decided I can't part with it.  She is in this quilt.  Those are her initials.  This one stays.

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Guess what this warm weather means!

         Yup, it is suppose to get near 60 today.  Sunny, light to no breeze.  That can only mean one thing.  OK, it could mean spring cleaning but this is me we're talking about.  It means the first bike ride of the year!

        The first ride is a double edged sword.   It measures just how badly you let yourself slip during the long winter months.  Instead of having it in 3rd gear I will probably be in 2 quite a bit.  Instead of 20 to 30 miles I will probably do 7.8 on our easiest trail.  I believe in starting slow and working my way up.  However......I am going with Rick who doesn't let himself go quite so badly in the winter.  Visions of our other trail of about 15 miles is going though his head.  So we shall see.  I am also bring my camera. 

         Yesterday at the meeting we were in a building right by the river.  Dozens of geese flying all over and landing and taking off.  Sun bouncing off the water.  It was just screaming for a shot and I was stuck in a class.  Learning about how important it is to be courteous.  Seriously.....I believe it is important.  Manners matter and all that.  I didn't need a class to tell me that.  My momma taught me that.  Oh well, its over and I am free to do what I want today.

       Sunday I washed all my MIL's quilts for the auction.  They smelled musty after sitting unused in her closet for a year or more.  This is going to be really hard for me.  I remember her making most of these quilts.  I dreamed about her last night and she was quilting.  I want to keep them all.  Bury my face into their softness and soak up the memories.  Of everything in the house these will be the hardest for me to part with.  Harder even then the clothes.  These all have her little personal touches.

         I have kept some.  She gave me a beautiful quilt she worked on that I had really admired.  Got it for Christmas and just have loved it since.  My grandchildren both got quilts from her as babies.  My boys have their quilts.  I picked out a beautiful one for my granddaughters wedding day some day in the future.  Relatives got some.  I know they will cherish them.  Those didn't bother me.  Selling the rest to strangers......it bothers me.  Will they love them and take care of them?   Sigh.  This is just so hard sometimes.

    Ok, I didn't mean for this post to get depressing.  Back to my bike ride.  Hope it doesn't kill me.


 Maybe my training starts today.  Expect pictures.

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Good Morning Sunshine

          And it is suppose to be a good morning in Iowa.  Heat wave so to speak with temps in the 40's.   I slept late today, until 10 because it would have been 9.  We remembered to turn the clocks ahead.  My husband was complaining the entire time about daylights savings time and what a terrible thing it is and I am secretly, well maybe not so secretly, rejoicing because I love the longer days.  I know, I know, they aren't really longer..... but more daylight hours are a good thing.

  

         It is 6 months until my bike trip.  It will take me 6 months to get my bike legs back so I am picking a day to start my training.  Training day! Officially the 20th of this month.


     I figure I will do like when you quit smoking.  Circle it on the calendar and make the mental preparation to get it done.   Now the 20th of this month will be 6 months exactly.  Sounds like a good day to start.  Not that I can't do some riding if the weather permits.  And it sounds like tomorrow would have been a great day.  Except I will stuck in doors the entire day at that stupid class I have to take.  AARRRGGGHHHH.  But Tuesday should be good.  I have my bike ready.


       You know sometimes a potty is a hard thing to find on the trails.  But we are so looking forward to it again.


         Today I am bringing back all the things to my MIL's I didn't sell except the silver.  We decided I am not selling her good silver at the auction and let someone walk away with it for $40.00.  It is worth a lot more even melted down.  Then I am bringing the hutch back here and my desk over there.  The auction is a month away yet but they have to make a list of everything.

         It seems weird to not have my shop anymore.  It gets in your blood.  I do like not having to pack anything.  Eventually I will do some ebay sells but for now it is a good thing.  I have to find a way to pay for my marble habit, LOL.  Anyone have any they want to part with?

      Well, I have to get busy.   The days go by so fast.  Shower here I come.  Everyone enjoy their day.

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A little global warming please

   Still reminding myself of the Spring to come.  Warm breeze, sun.  Today when I woke up.....it was - 6 degree's out.  Come on already.   For those of you who still believe in the myth of global warming,  fact is this is the coldest winter we have had in a decade. 

    I heard someone is seriously thinking of suing Al Gore for falsely misleading people for the sole purpose of selling his carbon footprints thus making him richer then he already is.  Theoretically he would have to swear on a bible to tell the truth, the whole truth.  And prove it against scientists who have not been bought off by him.  It would be a very interesting trial if it actually happens.  I would love to do jury duty.

   So theres to a little global warming.  It can come any day now.  Bring it on Al.  I want my flowers back.

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Latest marble

        This is just so pretty.  Here is how it was advertised.  EARTH LUTZ MARBLE from CC marbles. This is a beautiful Earth Lutz marble. What a beauty!! There are some very nice mica shift patterns in the lutz on this one. This is a large marble that measures over an inch!! This marble is a COG (Clay Over Glass) and is the 7th marble from this cane and is numbered accordingly.

        I have 2 more coming and then have to quit for awhile.  It gets expensive getting these handmade ones but they really are small works of art.

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Stress Test

Okay, let's see how you handle stress  :) Are the images moving or standing still?

One teacher said, 'I felt like they were all moving...but slowly.
Kind of like, they were breathing.'

The pictures attached are used to test the level of stress a person can
handle.

The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling
stress.

Alleged criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly;
however, senior citizens and kids see them standing still.

None of these images are animated - they are perfectly still.

      I must be mored stressed then I thought after my long week of work. They are all moving pretty darn good.  At least I am not a senior citizen yet!