Zooming

It's been an action packed day, let me tell you. I was up early, read my email, checked in on Facebook, did my embroidery, did some housework, and then went to work quilting the Shine On quilt. This is going to be a busy week, but it's a week I've been looking forward to for a long, long time. My friend Marei is coming to visit from California on Thursday, and so I'm getting things ready for her. We are going to have so much fun!

Marei and I first met so long ago, that I'm not even sure when it was...sometime in junior high school...7th grade, maybe? We were friends through junior high school, high school, and our first two years of college. Not too long ago, I reconnected with her on Facebook, only to discover that she's a quilter extraordinaire. You may recall that Marei has made several cute pieces for me since then. She made this little mug rug from spirit ribbons left over from our high school days.

And then, when she got wind of the fact that I'm a sucker for anything sock monkey, she went to work on this little doll quilt for me:

And then, for Christmas, she sent me this little table topper:

I told you she was a quilter extraordinaire. We've been emailing back and forth, and she has sent me pictures of some of her work. She's very good about using her scraps, and she's made some really cute quilts with them. So what do you think? Do you think we're going to have fun? And thank goodness, I've received emails from a couple of my local quilt shops advertising great sales, because I think Marei and I are going to lighten their loads of some of those sale items. So this week, in addition to trying to get some sewing done, I'm doing some cooking ahead of time so that I won't have to cook while she's here, and yet, there will still be food to eat. Somehow I have a feeling she'll get hungry with all the laughing, sewing, and yacking we're going to do.

I managed to get into the sewing room for several hours this morning and did some work on the Shine On quilt. It's turning out better than expected so far. I don't have the whole thing mapped out in my mind yet, but so far, so good. I had already decided to quilt horizontal lines into the horizontal pieces and vertical lines into the vertical pieces:

Also, I outlined the parts of the tree. I wasn't sure what to do in the background around the tree and briefly considered quilting some mountain peaks above the brown tree trunks. Instead, I quilted tree-like shapes around the outside, as a suggestion of a larger tree...or something...it's not really suggesting anything, I guess, but it works for me.

So I'm continuing on with that for another day at least. I think I have three of the five tree sections done. I'm not really sure what to do in the border yet, but something will come to me.

My little helper cat was there backing me up. You can always count on a good helper cat to keep things interesting in the sewing room. 

Before I started, I set a timer to remind me when it was time to stop because today was the day I set for myself to attend Zumba Gold for the first time, and I DID IT!! Not only did I walk into a room full of strangers, I actually did the Zumba stuff. I suppose there have been times when I've felt more klutzy, but I can't remember when. It's one of the advantages of getting older I think...one's memory starts to fail so that each embarrassing moment fades away along with everything else...like one's address and phone number and the steps required to tie one's shoes. When I go out these days, I always keep a note pinned to my shirt just in case I get lost.

Zumba: It was actually kind of fun once I got over the idea that anyone was paying any attention to what I was doing. In fact, everybody else was looking at their own feet and trying to follow along. There's no time to be looking at anyone else. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was given that it was my first klutzy attempt. I will definitely be returning. It was a friendly group of women, and I liked the instructor. And it was at a surprisingly high intensity. It's intended for older folks, so I'd hate to see what the younger group is doing.

I had to laugh because I walked out with a woman named "Pam". We were commiserating about our troublesome right knees. Mine bothered me about ten minutes in, but then it eased up, and I just continued on. She was wearing a knee brace and told me she was scheduled for a steroid injection on the 21st. And since I just went through that in December, well, we were best friends right away. And we talked about how this hurt, and that hurt, and how much fun it is to get older. Not. Well...in some ways it is...but not in the ways that hurt.

So, I think I should get a whoop whoop for that, even if it isn't a quilt. Feel free to chime in if you're so inspired.

And after that, I did my grocery shopping. Yep, I'm a glutton for punishment today, but it will mean I can do some cooking tomorrow afternoon, and I should have some more time to work on my quilt. A busy Monday for sure.

Lots of you have linked up to the NewFO party already, and I'm so happy to see all of you. I'll be making my way around the links starting tomorrow. Can't wait to see your new stuff! And so, how was your day?