March 5, 2010 – Mammogram Day
This morning I went in for my yearly mammogram. It was a simple, quick procedure, fully paid for by my insurance company. It took me just one hour, from when I left my house to when I left the medical building. My sister was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 42 , she opted for a full mastectomy. She is a survivor, now 56 years old. Ever since her diagnosis, I have been diligent about getting my yearly mammogram.
In the past three years I have had three close friends diagnosed with breast cancer, they all underwent various different surgeries, chemo, and hair loss, but so far, all have survived. All three women were under the age 50. I hope that this means that women are not getting cancer at an early age, but that they are being vigilant about getting their yearly mammograms, and that we are catching the cancer earlier, when there is still time to fight it and win the battle.
I generally reward myself on Mammogram Day by taking myself out to lunch. Today’s appointment was early in the day, so I stopped off at the local food store, and treated myself to some of my favorite comfort foods! That works for me.
We all need to learn to take as much care of ourselves as we do the rest of our families. So if you haven’t done so yet this year, make your appointment today.
Happy Quilting,
Betty Dietz
February 5, 2010 – Go Red For Women – National Wear Red Day
The National Heart Association is asking everyone to wear RED today, to spread the word about the dangers of heart disease in women.
Click Here to sign in at the website GO RED FOR WOMEN for a free red dress pin and more information on how heart disease effects women. Did you know that over 450,000 women die of heart disease each year? It is the number one killer of women!
The website has information on your risk factors and how to improve your lifestyle to reduce your risks. You will need to sign in to the site to get access to their recipes.
I know that I have to work especially hard to stay heart healthy. My family history is so against me, my father had his first heart attack in his fifties, and all the members of my mother’s family died of heart disease or stroke. My mother’s brother died of a heart attack at 44 years old, and we had a cousin die when he was just 34. So I have been aware of the danger for a long time.
Remember that it is the small choices that we make each day that can improve our heart health. One trick I use is to park farther out in the parking lot, so I squeeze in a small walk before and after I do my shopping. Also, my washing machine is on the second floor, and my sewing studio is in the basement, so I run up and down two flights of stairs every time I put another load of wash in or switch it over to the dryer. Last Christmas we bought a Wii game system and I try to work out using the Wii Fit at least three times a week. This system tracks the amount of time I put into my workout and also my weight. It allows me to set and track simple goals. I eat fruit and granola for breakfast, instead of chocolate chip muffins. I use olive oil instead of butter, when I cook. I drink lemonade instead of sodas. And I serve and eat good, fresh vegetables with every evening meal.
There is still more I can and should be doing, and I strive to get more exercise and healthier meals into my daily life. Once you become aware of the danger, it becomes easier to make healthier choices.
So, Go Red For Women and “celebrate the energy, passion and power we have as women to band together to wipe out heart disease and stroke”.
Betty Dietz
January 14, 2010 – Just Do IT!
One of the quilt bees that I belong to is named the Worker Bees. It’s a great name because we do a lot of projects. We trade blocks, or fabric, and work on quilts for our auction. Any member can propose a project, and the members who want to join in, just sign-up. One project we are working on this year, is a 9-patch block exchange. For the first six months we exchanged 9-patch blocks made up of five dark colored patches and four cream colored patches. Each month we made blocks of a different color way following the ROYGBIV rainbow scheme from red to purple (we combined indigo and violet into purple). This year we will be exchanging 9-patch blocks made up of five cream colored patches and 4 dark colored patches. Again following the ROYGBIV color scheme, one color per month. There are about 7 of us in the exchange, and we are making two blocks per month for each person, plus one for the auction. So I had 16 blocks to make. At the end of six months I should have 84 blocks. I will combine them with the ones from the first 9-patch block exchange into one large quilt. I can not wait to get started.
This month we are also exchanging “ARROW” blocks. Only four of us are participating in this exchange. It was initiated by a member who wanted finished blocks for her daughter’s graduation quilt. The arrow is a simple paper-pieced arrow made up of 4 pieces. We are making up 4 blocks for each participant and each of us got to decide on our color way. My colors are road-sign yellow for the background with black arrows. I think after I get my blocks together, I will embroider messages in the arrows, like “EAT YOUR PEAS!”. I had 16 blocks to make.
The deadline is this morning 10AM. I worked hard yesterday to get the 16 blocks finished for both exchanges. A total of 32 blocks. I have learned from past experience, that missing the deadline, just means getting myself into trouble. More projects will pop up next month with new deadlines. And it just gets harder to get it all done. I am proud of myself for finishing what I signed-up to do, on time. And so my motto for this year is “Just Do It!”
Betty
January 11, 2010 – Freedom Star Block #2 – Forever Friends
Filed under: Block of the Week, Free Patterns, quilting, resolutions
Today’s Freedom Star Block is named Forever Friends. It looks complicated, but is really very simple. I have done the math for you as to how many and what size squares to cut. Just follow the simple directions and you will have your block made in no time. Look for the complete directions under the Tab at the top of this page marked Free Block Patterns – 2010 Block of the Week “Freedom Stars” or just Click here
Here is a picture of the assembly process:
Forever Friends Star Block - being assembled
We haved moved around the country a lot with my husband’s job. I think this is the fifth house that we owned, and I lost track of how many apartments we rented. In every place that we have lived, I have been fortunate enough to make a few good friends. Quilting helps, as there is always a local quilt guild and other friendly quilters. Some friends become more like sisters and stay in touch with you after you have moved. It reminds me of the old Brownie Girl Scout song “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold.”
This year I am working harder to make new and lasting friendships and also to foster and keep the old. So I designed this Freedom Star Block – Forever Friends to honor all of my friendships.
Betty
January 10, 2010 – New Beginnings
This weekend we took down our Christmas decorations, carefully wrapped up all the ornaments, and put the trees (pre-lit artificial) away for next year. This time of year used to make me sad. But now, I view it in a different light, as a chance for a new beginning. After the trees and the rest of the clutter is put away, and after I run the vacuum and dust the mantle, I take some time to reflect on the coming year.
It is believed that the month of January got it’s name from the Roman word for door – janua. January is seen as the door to the New Year. It’s a chance for a do-over. If you were not happy with yourself or your life-style in the past 12 months, January gives you a chance to wipe the slate clean and make some resolutions and commitments to do things better this year. I like this idea. On Friday night we watched the movie “In Pursuit of Happyness” featuring the very talented Will Smith and his son. I had seen this film before, but loved watching it again. It is based on a true story about a man who is struggling to better himself and make a better life for his son. It is a story about hope and success. A story about never giving up! This story makes me so thankful for all the blessings I have been given in my life. I never had to worry about whether I would have enough food for dinner, or a roof over my head, or a dollar left in my wallet at the end of the day.
So this year I resolve to give more of myself to others, by continuing and increasing my charitable contributions to local food banks, by working even harder on the Soldier Quilts that we make in our guild and by taking time to give someone a ride to a meeting, or a call to cheer them, or by just rembering their birthday. January, the month for deciding to do better in 2010.
Betty
January 8, 2010 – Frame it on Friday
I am a topper. I love the creative part of quilting, designing quilt blocks and sewing them together into tops. My current UFO List includes twelve tops that need to be quilted. So, this year one of my New Year’s resolutions is to “finish what I start”. To accomplish this lofty goal, I am designating Friday as my day to put a new quilt up on my machine quilting frame.
For many years I have been machine quilting using my conventional sewing machine. I would baste my quilt sandwich together, then by rolling up half the quilt I could maneuver the quilt section by section under the needle of my machine to get it quilted. The first quilt that I machine quilted was a gift to my husband, a wall-hanging made of blue and brown birds-in-the-air blocks, that I finished in 1990. And my latest quilt was a double bed size quilt “Everlasting Hearts”. You can see a photo of this quilt on my Workshops page. As I get older, it is getting harder for me to push a quilt of this size around under the bed of my standard sewing machine. By the end of two hours of quilting my shoulder and hands ache.
Sock Mokey Quilt - Full Size
So I have purchased a wonderful Grace quilt frame, a GMQ Pro and I have it set up with a Brother PQ 1500 .
The PQ 1500 limits my quilting to just about a 6″ space, I am learning to quilt in this limited area. Using this system I have finished a double bed sized dorm quilt for my daughter. This quilt was made from Jelly Rolls of Sock Monkey Fabric set in Log Cabin Blocks.
Each Friday I am going to choose one of the quilts from my UFO pile and set it up on my quilt frame. The set-up takes me about an hour, if I do it right. The frame saves my back as I get to skip the basting stage. Then all week long, I plan to put whatever free time that I have into quilting that top. Quilting on a machine frame is a totally different experience than quilting under the needle. Your hands move in a different way, and I think it is a bit harder to control. It’s gonna take some serious practice until I get the results that I want. But if I do not start the process I can never get to the end of the journey.
So I am off to the studio to get going.
Betty
January 5, 2010 – Time to Quilt
Our youngest turns 20 today. Amazing. Where did the time go? She is back at school in NYC. We celebrated her birthday this past Saturday with a great crab dinner. Lucky girl! Our son is catching a plane today to head back to Houston and his graduate studies in Computer Science. His expertise helped me set up this blog, and I am grateful. At our house, the Christmas holidays do not start until both kids are home. Then we decorate the tree, make cookies, wrap presents, play cards and put together puzzles and wait for “Santa” to come. After Christmas we get together with family and friends and celebrate the New Year. We really enjoy spending time together as a family. When the rush is over, and everyone goes back to school and work, our house gets very quiet.
For these two weeks I have not touched a single quilt project. I have not even ventured into my studio. I was too busy enjoying the laughter and excitement of the holidays. But that all changes today. Now I have my to-do-list in hand. My UFO’s are calling. Top of my list are finishing up the nine Habitat for Humanities quilts to get done by January 16th, when they will be presented to the families moving into their new homes. Most of them are finished, one needs a binding, one more needs to be quilted and bound. Somehow they will all get done. On my list I have two sets of blocks to make for a block exchange, a quilt to be finished and photographs taken to enter it into a local quilt show, lessons plans need to be made for a series of six applique lessons on EQ6 that I will present to our EQ CLUB, and so much more. It’s time to quilt!
Betty
January 4, 2010 – Making Cheese
Like so many others, my first New Year’s Resolution for 2010 is to “Eat Better”. In November, I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and I was inspired to be more careful about where the food on my table comes from. This year I vow to become more of a Localvore, buying my food locally where possible. It’s hard to do in the middle of the Winter, with our local temperatures in the mid-twenties…all of the fresh food items shipped to our groceries stores come from other parts of the world. The energy expended to get these items to our table is phenomenal. Come Spring, I plan to check out the local Farmer’s Markets in order to get more fresh veggies and fruits into our diets. But for now, I’d like to take some time over these Winter months learning how to make my own cheese. I want to try a simple 30 – minute mozzarella recipe from Barbara Kingsolver’s book.
It was recommended that I buy the citric acid and rennet needed for the process from an on-line cheese making site. In keeping with my efforts to become a localvore, I wanted to first check out the local stores. I went to Safeway, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Wegman’s…not one of those stores carries the items needed for making your own cheese. When I found cheesecloth at Wegman’s , I hoped that they would have the citric acid and rennet, but it was not to be. So I will be ordering my supplies on-line. It is sad to think that as Americans we have come so far away from our farm roots that you can not even get cheese making supplies locally.
I suppose I will have to read a classic or two (resolution # 6) while waiting for my cheese making supplies!
Betty
January 3, 2010 – New Year’s Resolutions
BRRRR. Today is so cold and windy. We were almost blown away, when we took our daughter to catch the bus to head back to college. Now I am back home, thankful for the warmth and security of our cozy den. Since I love football, I am in my element today.
At 3:30 AM this morning, I found myself wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. Thoughts were racing through my mind, so I pulled out a notebook and started to write up my New Year’s Resolutions. I decided on twelve things I need to improve, some are monthly goals and some are weekly goals. They range from eating better to finishing what I start (mostly quilts). I have decided that I am a quilt topper, I love to make new tops and this year I am going to concentrate on getting those tops made into finished quilts!
The things I want to work on this year are:
1. Eating better
2. Exercising more
3. Write, write write.
4. Finish what I start
5. Volunteer
6. Read some classics
7. Get published
8. Learn to make cheese and bread
9. Manage my time better
10. Make new friends and keep in touch with the old.
11. Update our wills
12. Work on our money management to prepare for retirement
Follow my blog pages as I post notes on my progress. I hope to share recipes and helpful hints along the way.
Happy New Year!
Betty