Monday, December 21, 2009

So It's Been Awhile

Nothing in my world changes at a fast pace.... however I have been busy. Most of you know, my mom fell and fractured her pelvis..... again..... this time in the front and back and had to have surgery, but is now back at the Berkshire rehab recuperating. I have been trying to finish up alot of my projects, and all of mom's as well, so I can start out the new year a little fresher.

We... ok, Ken..... hung up some of my wallhangings I did. This one is over the piano and the pattern is called a bargello. We still have a couple more to do.


We got a dress-up doll for Kenzie for Christmas.... so I have been making little outfits. I hope she likes it cause I want to make it more clothes.... it was so fun.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Pacific International Quilt Festival


We just returned home from California and I'm happy to announce I won the blue ribbon for the Best Use of Embellishment on a Traditional Quilt. It is really fun to win things..... I'm not that accustumed to it. On the way home it felt like I had had a magical little quilt moment and now I would go home and do my regular quilts. Ken did an amazing job of keeping me company at the fair and offering thoughtful comments on all the quilts. However, he did have to call it a day when I said I was going to look at the vendors for things I just couldn't live without. He went to the motel and played his guitar. The other bonus of the weekend is Ryan flew up and spent the day with us on Sat. It was really, really good to see him.

The other pictures are a few of my favorite from the show....


You can't see it on here but the whole thing was quilted with a gold metallic tread.




This is the one I voted for..... for viewer's choice

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fall Retreat


Last week my quilt group had a fall retreat at Brenda's house. For 3 days we get together and sew, laugh, learn something new and basically make fun of each other. It is a great group that I have learned so much from, and amazingly with 30 members we have no drama among us.
This is a Mexican Star pattern that Yvonne taught us.
This afternoon Ken and I are leaving for Santa Clara, CA for the Pacific International Quilt Competition where my spirit quilt was juried into their show. I don't know how excited Ken is, but I can't wait to see all the quilts and visit all the vendors with cool stuff I just can't live without. The bonus of the trip is Ryan is flying up on Saturday to spend the day. That should be alot of fun.

Monday, September 28, 2009


Last week I went to the Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Festival and had so much fun. I took a couple of classes, attended luncheon lectures by the National Teachers, enjoyed the company of tons of people with our common interest..... got to be with lots of members of my quilt group. I will definetly go again. I'm hooked.
The bonus of the week is I won 1st place in my category of special effects. And when I was leaving I saw Melody Crust (the national teacher expert of embellishing) who is totally intimidating and unapproachable..... so I mustered all my courage and asked her if I could make an appointment for her to look at my quilt and give me feedback. Long story short..... I spent about 45 minutes with her and Paula Nadelstern giving me good ideas of how to improve it for the next show it is going to.
I love quilting.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Happy Birthday, Ken!!


Ken announced, starting today, this year was going to be all about him. Heaven knows he deserves it. However, Annie and I have been basking in the sunlight for so many years, I'm not sure the rays can glow in a different direction. I don't know what brought this on.... I suspect the previous pictures had something to do with it. But wait.... I hope that doesn't mean he won't do the vacuuming.... clean up after dinner.... share his candy bars.... or remember to water the plant out front because I always forget. So at least for today..... this is your day. Happy Birthday!!

Monday, August 31, 2009

Getting Caught Up


I'm trying to get a few of the things that I like, quilted and done. If only I could stay cleaned up. This is a quilt I did for the table. It was a technique we learned at my quilt groups spring retreat. And now it's almost time for our fall one. I even cleared off the table and bought a pedestal candle, so it would look like a grown-up house.

And here it is today. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to keep my quilting projects in one room. I hate being in my quilt room downstairs all the time, especially when Ken is home. I like to listen to him play his quitar while I sew. Don't you think that's a noble enough reason to excuse me from keeping things all neat and tidy?

Thursday, August 27, 2009

"Spirits Having A Human Experience"


I have finally finished a quilt I've been working on for 2 years. It is a depiction of a near death experience I had in 1991. I'm sure I'll still be tweeking with a few hairbows and such...

Kim's amazing ability to put form to a concept just unified the whole quilt. I love the rocky path we sometimes travel on in life.

The little Island Seas dude in blue with his dreadlocks is one of my favorite. I've worked on this for so long they all seem like people I have grown to know. Can you say I have no life????

The awesome guy in blue has a hairstyle fashioned on the doo's of Canyon & Auggie. Kenzie girl is the one in pink on the picture above this one.... and I got to style her hair any way I wanted...

Sunday, August 9, 2009


I guess I better post about our week with Mackenzie before another week goes by. She declared her terms of visitation right up front. She would not be taking any pictures (I got just a few) since she had to take soooo..... many during the wedding. She also would not be doing her hair....because Mom & Dad make her beautiful every day and she needed a break from being beautiful. So we pretty much honored her requests since we were only going to be in Gma & Gpa mode.

Keatley came down for the week and really helped our week be a pleasant one. She came over at about 9:00 in the morning and stayed until she couldn't take it anymore..... really she was wonderful and we really appreciated all the games she played with Kenzie. I loved Keatley more every morning when I heard Kenzie say..... let's play hide n' seek. Much as I love that girl, I can only take about 5 minutes of that game and she can play for an hour.

She just loves Abbey & I was amazed at how patient Abbey was with her. She considers her another cousin.

The girls had fun cooking. One night they made their own pizza's. And made chocolate chip cookies. Notice the hair in all the pictures.



Some of the other highlights of the week were jumping at the Kangaroo Zoo...... Uncle Paul hosted a campout at his house. They cooked hot dogs in the firepit, went on a hike to the waterfall, and slept in the tent trailer and went swimming at Lindon's new pool with Erica. What fun times. It is really a bonus in life to have a brother that loves kids. Thanks, Paul.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Wedding


We just got home from Maine..... where Tyler & Lindsay had their wedding. Lindsay gave new meaning to the phrase, beautiful bride. We enjoyed meeting all of her family and especially love having Lindsay as a part of our family.... she brings out the best in little miss kenziken, who just loves her mommy. Who ever dreamed that when Tyler moved alone to Maine with a bed and a TV he would return home with a family. You did good, son.



Kenzie was the perfect little flower girl and did a good job throwing out one petal at a time, even though she was "so nervous"

Ryan and Tyler. Ryan was his best man... and has been his best brother for all of his life. It was so nice to have all of our kids together.
Jana and Andrea.... beautiful sisters. As Mackenzie told Jana.... your eyes are all shiny, it makes you beautiful.

Ryan & Alissa..... just newlyweds themselves.
We all slept the day after on the way home. We will have Mackenzie for the week while Tyler and Lindsay honeymoon in the Florida Keyes.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Round Robin

This year our quilt group did a Round Robin. We had groups of five. Each person brought a quilt block that is the center..... then each month, each block would rotate to a different person who put a border around it. In five months we had then put a border on each block and we had a finished project. Most of them were wall hanging size, but some of them were a little bigger. For mine I printed out one of my favorite sayings and put just a black border around it. It was amazing how creative everyone was and I loved how mine turned out. I'm going to have Kim do some fancy quilting on it and then I'm going to frame it.
One Must Learn To Love
One must learn to love. -- This is what happens to us in music. First one has to learn to hear a figure and melody at all, to detect and distinguish it, to isolate it and delimit it as a separate life. Then it requires some exertion and good will to tolerate it in spite of its strangeness, to be patient with its appearance and expression, and kindhearted about its oddity. Finally there comes a moment when we are used to it, when we wait for it, when we sense that we should miss it if it were missing: and now it continues to compel and enchant us relentlessly until we have become its humble and enraptured lovers who desire nothing better from the world than it and only it.
But that is what happens to us not only in music. That is how we have learned to love all things that we now love. In the end we are always rewarded for our good will, our patience, fairmindedness, and gentleness with what is strange: gradually, it sheds its veil and turns out to be a new and indescribable beauty. That is its thanks for our hospitality. Even those who love themselves will have learned it in this way; for there is no other way. Love, too, has to be learned.
-– Friedrich Nietzsche

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Annie & Abbey at Silverlake

Since I hardly ever go out and have fun.... and Annie never updates her blog..... I will live vicariously through her and post her updates. Today her and Abbey hiked to Silver Lake above Tibble Resevoir. She said they had the trail all to themselves..... and when she got to the top she had a message for the member of our family who should have been a meteroligist and maybe was one in a previous life.... he has prevented all of us from getting frostbite in blinding snowstorms..... perishing in hailstorms.... drowning in tsunamis... and in general, been around to update us every hour on the hour about what mother nature has in store for us next.



One happy dog...



Sunday, June 7, 2009

Morning Glory Muffins


So Grandma has been talking to me all week about this great muffin recipe she got from Barbara and how I should make some.... yeah, yeah, I will. But apparently I didn't do it soon enough because yesterday she went to the store and got all of the ingredients..... and when Ken took her coffee this morning she told him about these awesome muffins I was going to make. Ken came home and told me.... it looks like you're making muffins today. And so I did. If any of you are persistant and stick with something until you get or achieve it.... you need wonder no longer.... it is Grandma Porter Erickson trait. Love ya, mom.
Morning Glory Muffins
Mix together:
1 Cup plain yogurt
1 Cup mashed ripe banana
1 egg
Mix together and add to above:
1 Cup whole wheat flour
½ Cup white flour
1 Cup regular oats
¾ Cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. wheat bran
3 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
Then add:
1 Cup chopped dates (or raisins)
½ Cup dried pineapple
¾ Cup walnuts
Bake at 350 for 20 min.
No wonder they are called Morning Glory…. they will make you wake up singing an aria. They are a rich muffin and very, very good. Next time I’m going to cut down on the brown sugar. Also I only cooked them for 15 min.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Summer Fun Challenge


So Jana has been making open invitations on facebook and even recruiting on the telephone to join her "Summer Fun Challenge" which works when you create a new heathy habit by doing it for 21 days in a row. Most of you know I am fundamentally opposed to trying to attain perfection.... somewhere along the line I think you need to find a balance between improving yourself and appreciating yourself for everything you've already accomplished. So, Jana, don't faint but I am joining your following. You will see the real gap between my generation and your generation of followers. I won't be doing your power 90 minute beach body workout.... or getting up at 5:00 am to do hardcore strength training or even a gentle yoga.....

HOWEVER.... I am committing to walk on the treadmill for 10 min. at a 3.0 speed which adds up to a 20 min. mile, which breaks down to walking a 1/2 mi. everyday. This is just my speed as I have bombed out on any exercise since I had that killer pnuemonia in July of 2007. In good faith I have posted my first day's time to show I think I am up to this task. Who knows where this may lead but I have had enough of my lazy little self, so I'll try it your way.....

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

First Hike of the Season

Yesterday Ken and Annie wiped the dust from the hiking books.... grabbed the sunscreen..... a leash for Abbey, donned their hiking apparel and headed out for Stewart Falls. I stayed home to babysit Grandma.... at least that is my cover story. The truth is I'm as out of shape as I've ever been..... apparently running up and down a flight of stairs a dozen times a day doesn't get you fit enough to propel yourself up the mountain trails. It looks like they had a great time and Annie took over my photography job.... the beautiful photos make for good motivation to pry myself away from my sewing machine and strap myself onto the treadmill. It's not Colorado but pretty dang close as you can get.





Sunday, May 3, 2009

Our Goodnight Song


This is a video of the song we sang to each other every night before we went to sleep.

Sleep tight, Sandman's a comin'
And he'll be here mighty, mighty soon
So if you don't cry, he'll be comin' by
With a great big lollipop moon

How I love my pretty baby
Sweet and precious little baby
How I love my pretty baby
Honest to goodness I do