Ready, set, SEW!

I'm afraid that not only have I been under the weather the last few days, but our internet provider has been having some serious problems as well.  After much trouble shooting and pulling of hair, DH finally called them last night, and they told us of the problems.  Sure would be nice if they sent us an email, 'ya know...  The main problems is uploads, so I shrunk all of my pictures WAY down.  So far, so good!

I spent much of last week making up some Kindle covers to try to sell on Etsy.  Here's one of my favorites.  I also finally figured out how to put buttons on my blog (yippee!).  The Etsy button on my blog is a link to my Etsy shop, and right below it is the "Fabric Tuesday" button that links to Quilt Story's blog that features a "link party" with all sorts of neat fabric items every Tuesday.  I'm hoping to redo my blog once the internet issues are resolved.

I also started sewing together my fun-a-day quilt, and suddenly realized that it's going to involve a LOT of hand sewing.  I'm not too crazy about that.  I'm kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants person, and only skimmed through the quilt as you go methods before I started.  But, I think it really is the best method for this quilt, so I'll be on the couch recovering and hand sewing for the next few days.

Here's the back of the first row after I sewed it all together.

Finally, I just am mesmerized by all of the different forms of ice.  When we lived in Northern Michigan, it was snow, snow, and more snow.  We got tons of it, almost daily.  Here it's very cold, but also very dry.  The arid climate makes things freeze and thaw, freeze and thaw.  The sun plays a much bigger role, unlike in Michigan, where we'd rarely see it for months.  I took this picture of ice crystals on our deck railing this morning.  Amazing!!!

Winter Olympics

I LOVE the Olympics!! These Winter Olympics has me thinking not of the nearby Vancouver BC, but of Northern Michigan!

I love both the summer and winter Olympics, and even competed and closely followed gymnastics as a kid. But after living in Northern Michigan, I've been favoring, more and more, the Winter Olympic sports. And curling is a sport that the town of Lewiston, where we lived, is well known for. Right there in town is one of the few curling clubs in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the Lewiston Curling Club. Unlike gymnastics, the sport of curling can be played well into adulthood and even well into the senior years. I joke that I have gills behind my ears, since I grew up in Louisiana, but my boys both definitely have what I like to call "ice legs", after spending a big chunk of their childhood in Michigan. They're not alone. Many of the Winter Olympic athletes I've been watching on TV are also from Michigan. With a winter season that is so long, it's no wonder. Hockey clubs, ice skating and local ski hills are sprinkled liberally all over the state. We learned to love all winter sports while living there, and I sorely miss them now. Oregon does have some winter sports, but in no way does it even come close to matching the ease and accessibility they have in Michigan.

Curling involves "throwing", or sliding a large granite rock towards a target on a sheet of ice. It reminds me of shuffleboard more than any other sport. Team mates sweep a broom in front of the rock to help control it's speed and direction. Oh, and did I mention that the curlers wear a special shoe on one foot that actually makes them slide EASIER? The ice is specially prepared, and is different than traditional ice rink ice. It is finely sprinkled with water droplets and the stone actually rides on top of those ice beads. What I don't know about curling is far greater than what I do know, and as I watched my son practice, I started gaining a finer appreciation of the sport of curling. I would be leaving out an important aspect of the sport if I failed to mention that the sport of curling has to be the most social sport of any winter games, if not summer as well. Loaded with all of this relatively new information and appreciation of the sport, I'm a bit let down at how little coverage it gets on TV.

I always wanted to try curling, but didn't grow up with "ice legs", as my kids did. I took so many nasty falls on ice just trying to get across the parking lots. It took a real effort on my part, as an adult, to learn even how to walk on ice... taking those tiny "shuffle steps", keeping an eye on the ground, carefully looking for that bit of snow or sand to step on to provide a bit of added traction. But I knew that it was the perfect time to get my kids involved in these sports. My oldest was able to take a few months of curling lessons, and both kids learned how to down hill ski while we were there, at the local Treetops Resort, near Gaylord, MI. I even mastered (ha!) the "snowplow" on the bunny hill and am still incredibly grateful for my son's school teacher for teaching me during the school's "ski club" outings, in exchange for chaperon duties. Both boys and I really want to learn how to snowboard, and plan to maybe next winter when we hopefully have a bit more flexibility in the family budget.
So what about you? What are your favorite Winter Olympic Events?

What's your sign?

We have DATES!! I can now say that things HAVE fallen into place. Chris will be moving into our house in Pendleton by the end of this week. He should be pulling into town some time today. Closing will be later this week. Then he plans to drive back (ugh!) in less than 2 weeks to help me and the kids move out. So, our last week here in Michigan will be the last week of October, and we hope to be all be in Pendleton by Nov. 1st! It's SO NICE to FINALLY have a date!!

As I get closer to our move date, I've been thinking about all of the things I'll miss about Michigan. Of course we'll really miss our friends and neighbors, but there's other things too. My friend Laura's recent post (Laura's Simple Pleasure, on blogspot) inspired me to take some pictures and write about all of the cabin and lake house signs that are abundant up here in Northern Michigan.

When I first moved to Northern Michigan, it was one of the first things I noticed. Every driveway seemed to have a sign of some sort, near the main road. Sometimes they're by the mailbox, sometimes not, some are plain and simple with only a number or a name, and some are quite elaborate. Some are very colorful, some quite rustic. Some have one fish, some have two fish, some have red fish, some have blue fish... You get the point.

These signs have always amused me... they are SO not my style, but never the less, there is something appealing about them. I have always loved anything and everything that is hand made. That IS my style... food made from scratch, quilts made by hand, furniture crafted by a loved one. I think that's one reason why I'll miss these signs. They are all so unique, as is anything made by hand. I don't know if it's a Northern Michigan "thing" or more wide spread. Chris says he's seen these lake house signs in Wisconsin too. Oregon doesn't have as many of these lake houses. In fact I think there are very few places in the US where people can still afford a lake house. Maybe that's why I see these here and not anywhere else. Let me know if I'm wrong... But anyway, I took some pictures of my favorite signs along the road I drive almost every day. Enjoy!