Risk Taking

I was reflecting on the differences between Ron and I. Yeah, I know he's a guy and I can be somewhat girlie...but what I was thinking about are our personalities...

I am shy - he never met a stranger
I often bite my tongue - he and our children speak their minds and seem comfortable in explaining what and why they have come to the decisions they have made - I need the time to reflect and often cannot verbalize why I have come to a decision - I just know it is right for me
I had a catholic upbringing - he learned to challenge authority at an early age
I was raised with a gaggle of kids - Ron spent most of his childhood with adults
I was raised in the country and a small farming community - he was raised on the beach and in a metropolitan area
I really didn't want to learn to drive a vehicle- Ron was driving before he had a driver's license (okay, okay it may be a guy thing)
I have no close friends from my teenage years (beyond my sisters) - Ron has a couple of bests from high school and they spend time catching up a few times a year
I lack a sense of humor - Ron has a well developed sense of humor
I get lost in a world of things - Ron is a people person


Our commonalities are we-
like to travel,
enjoy driving,
are spontaneous,
are not afraid to take a risk,
enjoy working with our hands,
like trying new things,
trust each other,
and at 37 years of marriage I still consider him my best friend

I'll always be glad he -
risked speaking to the "girl who brought her dad to class"
was adventurous enough to invite himself to the Denver Museum of Art with her,
was impressed by a girl who wasn't afraid to slide under the car in 20 inches of snow to be sure the shifting gear was secure, and
was not so macho he had to buy the coffee and German chocolate cake.

Embroidery and other needlework

I think my grandmother and mother taught me how to embroider. I know I learned smocking from Leona or Greta in Brownies and or Scouts. But if a kid was sick, she could be sure that Grandma or Aunt Lena would have some little needle work project to help pass the time. I never enjoyed cross stitch, but I loved the process of growing stitches. As a teenager I had bell bottoms with embellishment. I still have a red velvet skirt I made while living in Denver...

..but here is a site that I discovered about two weeks ago after that discussion in the "Artist's Statement Workshop". And this site re-acquainted me with a long unpracticed skill, embroidery. Many of you I am sure have books and magazines..but if you need a quick look and direction I would encourage you to check out this web site http://inaminuteago.com/stitchindex.html Sharon b's Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework Here is a sample of what it inspired me to do..


I have decided to retrieve the work on the skirt and re-purpose the embroidery...but this decision also comes from looking at this site,and thinking about my sisters, my daughters, and nieces...and planning for a Christmas treat so here is a tease, I still have to purchase a few yards of material...but I know what I will be doing over the next few months, when I am not working on a block for my daughter's block swap. So the July block is done, the lemonade..
and I just need to work on the exterior awnings. I washed the cloth today, tomorrow I will cut them and edge them so I can begin the "fun" work of creating gifts.
The green silk is from Kazakhstan, Ron brought it home from a trip to the East, the small piece of cream silk is the portion of left over from Anilia's wedding cape, the black corded silk (that all the material is laying on) came from a store a few blocks from Erica's home in Baton Rouge, P. Tree Textiles.

What do you do?

When the "oldbikerider" leaves for these trips, people always ask what do you do? well this year I am working on the yard, he kindly taught me how to mow, and when it's not to hot and the grass has grown, I mow.

I am working on a quilt block theme "Swelter" for the month of July. This block is the result of deciding to do a glass of lemonade, but more directly a result of a workshop I took a weekend ago about developing an artist statement. You can see Toni Bowman's work at this web site http://www.cpsvp.vt.edu/gallery-3.html. And Vikki King who is a portrait artist, her site is http://www.ebsqart.com/Artists/cmd_vikkiking_Profile.htm. But back to the block, it was the conversation
Toni had with the facilitator about her daughter's work that led to this block..and hopefully a few other ideas.

But in this time of quiet and stuff that needs to be done, there is a planning time
for other work to be done, like the awnings. This was such a success, we plan to make more for the front of the house as well. By just hanging them on the exterior we were able to decrees the interior temperature by my guess is a minimum of 5 degrees, if not more... so, Ron may be away, but there is much to be completed.

VT Hokies

Well, I could not help myself...when I saw the color layout, it shouted go Hokies, or rather Virginia Tech.