The Messiah has come...

The Messiah of SOUTHERN ROCK, that is....and he came to the Charlottesville Pavillion last night! Here is a sampling of the excellent photos my daughter took of Bo Bice from row 8 and from our run up to the front by the speakers!

more idol photos

American Idol concert pictures

Concert tickets on eBay: $200
Concert parking: $8
Snacks at the arena: $20
Program: $25
Concert T-shirt: $30
Three hours in which my teenager smiles, laughs and speaks pleasantly with me: PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunny the Wonder Dog

Photography by my daughter, who is apparently the next William Wegman (except with a coonhound instead of weimeraners!)

In honor of our new deck!

In honor of the new deck my talented husband is building, I bring you a SPIN CYCLE column from the archives, entitled:

"When home repairs are needed, it’s GoFer Girl to the rescue!"

When something goes wrong with our house – a leaky faucet, a broken appliance, a rodent invasion -- I know I’m in trouble. The room begins to spin. Gone are my weekend dreams of napping, reading and sewing. I try to adjust the horizontal. I try to adjust the vertical. Alas, it is too late. I’ve been sucked into The Home Improvement Zone.

Some men prefer to have their wives call a repairman, thus resolving home repair issues with a wave of the credit card. For my husband, Jeff, this would be the ultimate insult.

At the slightest hint of household trouble, Jeff steps into a phone booth, whirls around, and is magically transformed into Do-It-Yourself Man. He’s quite a handsome spectacle with his tool belt tugging his pants down and his Home-Depot-orange cape fluttering in the breeze.

Naturally, Do-It-Yourself Man cannot work alone. He requires his trusty sidekick, GoFer Girl. Without so much as a costume change, I fetch screwdrivers, socket wrenches, sandwiches and beer. I shlep two-by-fours, shop-vacs and sledgehammers. I cheerfully fulfill my GoFer Girl duty until the moment I dread arrives.

“I need sixteen more of these,” Jeff says, holding up a mysterious metal object that I can only describe as a “thingamajig.” I hold my breath, waiting for the other work boot to drop. “I got them at 84 Lumber.”

Now don’t get me wrong, 84 Lumber is a fine establishment, but it is clearly no-woman’s land. Unlike a bustling home-improvement center, there are no perky employees to coach you, no helpful signs to guide you, no sponge painting seminars to inspire you. Instead, there’s a somewhat grumpy-looking guy named Joe. In fact, they’re all named Joe. Always.

I arrive at my destination, approach the counter and announce, in my most confident Gofer Girl voice, that I need sixteen more of these. A slight smile plays across Joe’s lips, and I can tell he lives for these moments.

“Well, what you have here is your basic hydraulic hydro-magnetic quasi-nuclear variable-speed widget agitator,” Joe utters. Although he does not call me “little lady,” I can see it in his eyes.

Joe pauses to scratch himself thoughtfully, and I know the moment of truth has arrived. “Do you need this in high density polycarbide or with a multi-density gold-plated steel shaft?” Naturally, I do not know, so like E.T., I must phone home.

Several phone calls later, I’m headed home with the proper widget agitators in hand. That’s one trip to the hardware store down, another nine or ten to go, and Do-It-Yourself Man’s project will be completed. And to think, he does it all by himself.

One Positive Baby Step at a Time

OK, so I've signed up for the Journal Quilt Challenge and I've managed to make.....ONE. So I sign up to participate in the Color & Composition study group, thinking I can kill 2 birds with one stone and make my journal quilts part of my study exercises. Efficient, in a multi-tasking kinda way. But how can I squeeze any of this into my busy life--and still have some sort of pleasant home environment?

First, I really tried to find a self-cleaning house. Couldn't find that.

Tried to find the kitchen that flushes, but failed on that count, too.

Finally I accepted the fact that our house does require a human being to clean it more than once a year, so......

I took BABY STEP #1: I have just dropped off my house keys at the office of MOLLY MAIDS, who will come and CLEAN MY HOUSE tomorrow!!!!!!

Please join me in doing a celebration happy dance!!!!!!!!!

trauma, but only to me

I helped my daughter register for her classes for her FIRST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL.

Oh! My! God! This might just trigger my first hot flash!

I know she is smart and a good student and a good person, but HIGH SCHOOL! It's the land of boys and sex and drugs and stuff I haven't even started to worry about yet! Yikes! Maybe I'll just lock her in her room instead.

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!

Woman's Best Friend

I come from a long line of people who forget about common sense when confronted with a wet nose and wagging tail. My grandmother shared breakfast daily with her fox terrier, Snooky. Every morning MeMa dunked her donut in coffee, offered Snooky a bite, and then took a bite herself. Dunk, bite, bite, until the donut was gone.

My husband, Jeff, who had the pleasure of meeting both MeMa and Snooky, should have realized that I couldn’t remain dogless for long after our cocker spaniel died. Instead, he was surprised and furious when I committed the ultimate crime: bringing home an unauthorized puppy.

I can’t really blame him for not understanding. The problem stems from a fundamental difference between Jeff’s relatives and mine. My side of the family believes animals belong seated at the dinner table. Jeff’s family believes animals should be presented on a plate, medium rare with gravy on the side.

Our conflict began when I secretly began cruising the Frederick Humane Society the way some people cruise singles bars.

Like most women, I didn’t cruise alone. My friend, Mary, who was looking for Mr. Goodcat, accompanied me. After perusing the kitties, we rounded the corner to the doggy department and there she was, sixteen pounds of scrawny black and tan coonhound pup. Our eyes met, and I knew she could see deep into my soul.

“Look at those enormous paws -- this dog will be huge!” Mary exclaimed. “And your husband will freak,” she reminded me. But it was too late.

For those unfamiliar with the breed, a black and tan coonhound is a large, energetic, floppy-eared dog used for hunting raccoons, deer and bear. Picture Mickey Mouse’s dog, Pluto, sporting a Doberman’s paint scheme. A sensible suburbanite would have left the building immediately, dog-free, but as I’ve mentioned, I am not a sensible person.

“Jeff will fall in love as soon as he sees her,” I assured myself as I completed the adoption papers. If Jeff needed additional convincing, I theorized that a little bonus time in the marital bed would cure him.

The reality was somewhat different. Enraged, Jeff refused to even look at Sunny. He saw through my feminine ploys and stoically slept on the couch. Luckily, we love each other quite a bit, and four years later, he has almost reached the point of forgiving me for my transgression.

Despite her father’s antagonism, Sunny has grown into a good-natured 75-pound dog who loves everyone. At our house, burglars and escaped convicts would be greeted with the same joyous celebration as the president of MilkBone International.

I’ll admit I didn’t like Sunny much when she deposited a steamy, fragrant load in the back seat of my Honda Civic, or after she rolled in a rotting rabbit carcass. But overall, I’m looking forward to growing old with both Sunny and Jeff. And I’d share a donut with either one of them.

This column was originally published in the Frederick Gazette. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

a star is born

My best friend has produced a beautiful baby boy! I'm sure that I'm prejudiced, but he really is beautiful and absolutely perfect, despite what the doctors call "advanced maternal age." For those who can't interpret that, it's doctor-speak for "having a baby when you're so old, most of your friends are already thinking about having their tubes tied."

New Mom Betsy and Baby Ian are doing fine. I think Proud Papa Eric may pull through too! And soon Ian will be the owner of a very colorful, star-covered quilt (see photo from his mom's baby shower, above) that's about 500 times his size, I just need to put on the label and binding. I am really looking forward to being a crazy, doting honorary auntie!

Seeing my friends begin this mind-boggling journey into parenthood has made me think back to my own child's birth! My "baby," Caitlyn, is now 13 1/2, and just about as tall as I am, but when I look at her baby pictures, I can remember all the feelings of love and fear and joy and overwhelm-ed-ness that were coursing through my veins and dancing non-stop through my head! I think this will be the departure point for this month's Journal Quilt!

I've already begun by printing some photos on fabric. I printed out the delivery room family portrait from Caitlyn's and Ian's births, both in color and in sepia, and we'll see where that takes me!