New words for the English Language

On Sunday, I was in charge of our church's Third Annual Chili Cook-Off for Charity. The event was a big success, but by the end of the event, I had an enormous headache and was drained of every last drop of energy. I went home and took to my bed with a cold washcloth on my head. I was asleep by 2:30 in the afternoon and didn't get up until 7:00 the next morning.

Looking back on this situation, I realize that I had worn myself out exactly as my friend Suzy would have done, and in fact, has done on countless occasions! (And I've teased her about it on countless occasions, too!) Hence the following addition to the English language, in Suzy's honor:

SUZIFIED: adjective or verb; the state or action of having driven oneself to the point of exhaustion and collapse.
Example: After the Chili Cook-Off, I was utterly suzified. -or- I really suzified myself by trying to run the Chili Cook-Off single-handedly.

A related word, also inspired by Suzy:

SUZIFICATION: noun; the result of having cleaned, purged and organized an area thoroughly, often to the point of leaving the organizer suzified.
Example: After the suzification of my sewing room, I was so suzified, I had to take a nap!

I welcome anyone who reads this to enjoy using these new words! Just remember, I am a professional writer, so I can make up words. Do not attempt this yourself, it could result in personal injury, or even death.

January Journal Quilt 2006

"Their Hearts Grew Four Sizes That Day"
January Journal Quilt

This month's Journal Quilt focuses on the birth of my best friend's baby, which brought back memories of my own daughter's birth13 years ago. When I saw the delivery room photos-- their very first family pictures--I was struck by the joy on their faces and by the similarity to our photos, and to the photos of every happy family upon the birth of a child. That intense joy, those overwhelming feelings of love and pride, mixed with wonder and disbelief-- that is really what connects us a"l.

I decided to demonstrate the "connectedness" using the family photos framed by linked hearts. The heart on she right is outlined in bright pink, which is Betsy's signature color, and filled with light blue to represent her son. My heart is outlined with neon green, one of my signature colors, and filled with pink to represent my daughter. I printed the family photos on cream colored fabric and cut them out with a pinking blade rotary cutter to make them look like old-fashioned photos.

I used the raggedy reverse applique technique, which I saw on Simply Quilts. I also used scattered seed beads in pink,
blush and perriwinkle blue to convey joy and add sparkle.

Next month, I'm considering doing a portrait quilt of my husband, focusing on his love of the outdoors--and his total misery upon being trapped inside all winter long!!!!!

It's Friday and I'm officially grumpy

OK, so this is my first Friday at work after 5 years of working 4-day weeks with Fridays off. So I am officially grumpy. That's it. I just wanted the world to know.

Getting to know me....

Here's more than you ever wanted to know about ME:
Four jobs i've had: loan officer, retail clothing, ad account manager, advertising copywriter

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over: Princess Bride, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Gone with the Wind, Star Wars (with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, etc. NOT the new ones)

Four Places You've Lived: Baltimore, Maryland. Westminster, MD. Finksburg, MD.

Four TV Shows you love to Watch: House, Lost, Ghost Whisper, Charmed, American Idol

Four Places You've Been on Vacation: Disney World, Raystown Lake (PA),Ocean City (MD) Michigan

Four Websites You Visit Every Day: About Quilting forum, the Clayboard,

Four Of Your Favorite Foods: potroast with potatoes and carrots, homemade ice cream, fresh peaches, home made chocolate chip cookies
Four Places You'd Rather Be: a fabric store, the library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in bed

Four Albums You Can't Live Without: Measure of a Man/Clay Aiken, Best of Lynrd Skynrd, She's So Unusual/Cyndi Lauper, Sound of Music sountrack

Of course, I could answer all of these differently on another day!

Creating Order from Chaos

Check out my stash!!!! First photo is traditional prints, second photo is Batiks. All beautiful and arranged by color!!!!

OK, perhaps "ORDER" might be overstating it a bit, but I have started to reclaim my sewing room from the chaos. The sewing room is affectionately called "The Vortex" by other members of my family because projects go in, but they don't come out! It's kinda like a big swirling fabric-filled roach motel, only without the roaches.

I have been working on my January Journal Quilt this weekend! I sketched, enlarged my sketch, transferred it to fabric and started my stitching. The technique I am using is a reverse raggedy applique technique I saw on Simply Quilts. The quilt artist on the show used 3 layers of fabric, but I am using 4.

As I mentioned before, I am inspired this month by the recent birth of my best friend's baby, Ian. In this month's quilt, I am trying to convey the love and connection between us and our families, and the joy of that moment when a child is born. I am also trying to show the differences between our families, yet how the common experiences of becoming parent tie us together. Although I am a writer by profession, this topic makes me feel quite inarticulate!

I do want this quilt to be a literal interpretation, so I printed out the delivery room photo of Betsy's family and of my family onto fabric, then cut them out with a wavy edge rotary cutter so they look like old photos.

I also cleaned up The Vortex (sewing room), but more on that later!