The Rootin' Tootin' Janome HD1000

Imagine the scene. A wife comes up from behind when her husband is on the Internet. He quickly tries to hide the screen, but it is too late. She saw. She saw that her husband was trying to surprise her with a new sewing machine!!!!!

We got a ton of Amazon points from our China plane tickets. Ernst wanted very much to get himself a PS3, but instead he decided to get me a new sewing machine. I think this is mostly for his own sanity, he must be tired of me complaining and fussing as I tear out seams.

What was so cool about ruining the surprise was that I got to pick out my own machine. The mid-priced one I wanted was not offered on Amazon, and rather than go cheap, we kicked it up a notch. I am now the proud owner of a Janome HD1000, the HD standing for heavy duty.

When I say Janome HD1000, I like to use a strong southern drawl, and of course the emphasis goes on the 1000. Like a farmer bragging about a new tractor, I just love saying it. Let's hope it sews as well as it rolls off my tongue.

Squares cut out for a memory quilt

The down side? There will be nothing to blame my mistakes on now. It is all on me, this is no excuses sewing. The pressure, the stress, the high expectations. And to think, I once started making quilts to relax!

I am currently sewing up the Buddy Quilt for Homeward Bound, and then comes this memory quilt. It is shaping up to be a really pretty shabby chic look with lots of pretty blues and pinks. Not to mention lots of denim for the Janome HD1000, yes sirree Bob.


Janome HD1000 Heavy-Duty Sewing Machine with 14 Built-In Stitches

FM 104.7 Radio Romanian

We just had our District Convention this weekend. Ernst and the Romanians are still at it, partying and dancing, but I am beat and got in my PJs as soon as I got home. The extrovert in me is just dying to be missing the party. We have friends from Portland, Seattle, Anaheim and Arizona, they are doing gypsy Romani dancing and I am missing out on Moldovan food. Molly got attacked by a skunk again and our house stinks, so it is a double bummer to be at home missing the fun.

Many of us wore Romanian, Moldovan or Romani costumes today. It is a hoot for me to finally have a "culture" even if it is adopted. People would come up to introduce themselves today, and I would say, "Sorry, I'm American, but I can introduce you to some Romanians!"
Here are some photos of the weekend.

 

It was so very exciting for us, we got all the new releases in Romanian too! What an unexpected treat.  Now, if you don't want to see one of the new releases, just stop reading right here. If you want a peek, scroll down.
















OK, so you really want to see? Last warning.

The New YPA Book!

This is our son, the one who grew in my heart!

Cow Palace Memories

The Cow Palace. Home to monster truck shows, gun and doll shows (at the same time), tattoo conventions, music concerts, the circus, Grand National Rodeos, horse shows, dog shows, political conventions, and most important for us, District Conventions.

Who names a building the Cow Palace? We all got so used to saying it, it just rolls off our tongues. Flashback to when they were naming the place, what titles were also in contention? The Pork Pavilion? The Mutton Mansion? Hog Hall? But there it was each year, you will be having your convention at...The Cow Palace.

I have been attending DCs for 35 years or so now, in various venues.

Oakland Coliseum
Candlestick Park, San Francisco
Cal Expo, Sacramento
Arco Arena I
Arco Arena II, both in Sacramento
Reno, NV
Green Bay, WI
Kiev, Ukraine
Budapest, Hungary
Frankfurt, Germany
Nuremberg, Germany
Leipzig, Germany
Imola, Italy

We would have to bring sun umbrellas, rain umbrellas and seat cushions. One thing we can say about it, the Cow Palace was inside and those seats were cushy. Leaving meant walking into a wind storm, but at least it was comfortable inside. I don't know how many conventions we attended at the Cow Palace, but there were a lot, because even when we went to one in Europe, we still attended the English in San Francisco. Lately we went from Thursday to Monday because of sound department servitude volunteering.

Even with all my preparations, we never could seem to have a seamless time of it. Lost badges, lost parking tickets, forgetting which hotel we booked (!), dropping off our dog at the Tuchakovs and no one is home and Kodie is attacking their chicken and we just have to get out of town, vomiting the last morning away because of my inner ear problem - even without kids we were just never a good photo shoot for pre-convention joy. But as much as I complained about going to SF, about having to clean the Caucus Cafe (re-named by the sound department the Carcass Cafe) of rat poop, the gobs of money we spent on hotel rooms and eating out, sitting in traffic on Friday night etc., I sort of miss the place.

Now the Sacramento Convention Center is wonderful, easy, convenient, safe, cheap for us, all one level and clean. It is fabulous. There is a Starbucks in the building for Pete's sake. But what will this crop of kids have to look back on for their conventions? "Man, we had to walk like 3 blocks, dude. That Starbucks was at the FAR end of the building. I once saw a dust bunny under my seat, it was gross." No, these kids just won't know the excitement that went along with a convention at the Palace of Bovine Wonder:

If there is an earthquake, will the giant disco ball suspended from the ceiling come swinging down, and if so, what would be the trajectory?
Have those drapes been cleaned since the Nixon years, or ever?
Will we get pigeons on the stage this year?
If people are barbecuing in the parking lot, why am I never invited?
Where exactly is the Round Up Room, and will I meet cowboys there?
Will people ever stop parking on Geneva Avenue?
What time of day will that eerie shaft of light go through the coral colored seats?
Will children ever stop falling through the gold colored seats?
Will they ever just call them what they are, yellow and orange seats?
Will the Artist Formerly Known as Prince be here?
Will we be here next year?

I wish I had known in 2009 that it would be our last year, at least for now, at the Cow Palace. I would have liked to say a better good-bye.

Definitely a Glamour Shot of the Cow Palace

Summer Didn't Get the Memo

 Sacramento Valley Weather Forecast 

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Low near 50.
Wednesday: Showers and possible thunderstorms. High near 64.
Thursday: Partly cloudy. High near 71.
Discussion: Staying cool with increasing clouds and rain Wednesday. By afternoon scattered thunderstorms will likely start popping up in the valley and possibly in the foothills. We catch a break from the rain Thursday and Friday then more moves in for the weekend.

This is the forecast for the first week of June 2011. I was pumping gas today in jeans and a t-shirt, silly me. The wind was blowing, it was raining and I was freezing! I actually took a bath this morning just to warm up, got another one planned for tonight, and then into some warm jammies. I had to take the laundry off the line and use the dryer today, the clothes were soaked. We have yet to turn on the sprinklers this year, and I think I heard the tomato plants whimpering.

The best part of this weird weather

Teeny Weeny Zucchini

Even with our cool and wet weather lately, our garden is showing signs of life. We have the cutest little zucchinis and cucumbers popping out. The tomatoes are finally blossoming, and I picked some radishes for a salad. Some strange volunteers have also appeared. I picked a potato (didn't plant them), there are two tomatoes growing where they ought not, and we have peanuts popping up in the compost pile. I don't think you can grow peanuts in Northern California, but there they were.

Squash vs. Snails, squash winning

Baby grapes!

Apples, thanks to the bees

Our yard has been a work in progress for 3 years now. Between Ernst's heart attack and dealing with getting the inside of this house in shape, our yard was the least of our worries when we moved here. It was one huge mass of knee high weeds, a few trees and bushes, and that was it. It had some great brick borders, but nothing in them but weeds, weeds and more stinking weeds.
My sister Janice helped me pick out some bushes to purchase and plant, and then I just got a bunch of freebies. I am great at "appropriating" plants. Agapanthas? From a dumpster. Pink geraniums? Um, well I kind of snipped a few from a business down the street that has since burned down, so really I was saving them from being charred. A great red flowered geranium that is spreading? From geocaching in Santa Barbara after Becky H's wedding.
The rest of the yard is donations. My friend Cindy says it wasn't her, but I KNOW it was her, anyway Cindy gave us a huge amount of iris rhizomes when we moved here three years ago. They are purple and spectacular and make the spring garden look fabulous. I also got some bulbs from our neighbors that came up so pretty this spring. I am a firm believer in the cheap packages of flower seeds, the miser in me wins out over the impatience I usually have for instant results. The death of a plant is easier to take if you aren't still paying off the credit card bill from Home Depot.

Geraniums that I unknowingly saved from getting torched

Smuggled home after Aaron and Becky's wedding

Gotta love those seed packets

Not quite there, but the Battle of the Weeds is winding down

Free flowers, the best kind

Doing her part to beautify the yard, Molly, the Dog with OCD

From Spanx to Sewing Machine Angst - Post One Hundred

When I started this blog it really was just to document and promote my quilts. My husband thought that since I was on Etsy, it was a good idea to add a blog for more oomph.

Here was my first post - Diving Into Etsy

Last night I posted my first quilt on Etsy. Is it even called posting? Comparing my page to others, it is really embarrassing. Apparently one needs to create a really interesting and unique banner that goes on top for the title. I thought all I had to do was create really interesting and unique quilts, but alas I was mistaken.

This morning was spent cutting out the squares for the new quilt, which I will post to make my shop have the whopping number of two items! I will need to sew it, then of course think of a really interesting and unique name for it to stand out from the rest. Who knew a job in marketing with IKEA would be required to sell quilts?

Since then I have made and sold a quiverful of quilts. So happy I came up with the idea of naming them Romanian girls names, I can remember them well because I try to match the colors and the style with the personality I associate with the name. I sometimes sit at meetings letting my eyes wander over the girls, seeing who I could make and name a quilt after.

The blog has been full of lots of "unquilty" things too, such as:

Spanx swimwear (huge Google traffic on that one, if only I had monetized!!)
gardening
Moldovan weddings
cleaning closets
our trip to China (most diverse Google traffic from post on climbing Mt. Tai)
vegan eating
quick builds
Team Panda
dogs, past and present
fender benders
learning Romanian
not learning Romanian
and lots of Ernst, but there is a lot of Ernst to cover

I used to think that to have a blog, one needed to have a really interesting life, involving living in a far off land, running triathalons, or having identical triplet boys. I don't come close to any of those descriptions. But a blog is such a cool way of actually doing something with our photos, finally keeping a journal and a great way of staying in touch with friends. Even though I don't allow comments on the blog, very often I hear from old friends via email about something I wrote, it has been a great way of keeping in contact. (No, I don't do Facebook.)

Some posts have been extremely therapeutic. By far the hardest one to write was about my Dad's death 20 years ago. It helped so much to get that down in writing, it really was a good moment to hit the Publish Post on that one.

So All Squared Up has been good for the quilts and good for me. I blog, therefore I am...ready to get on to whatever is coming next.

Some possible topics for future posts?

 Elliot Eats a Golf Cart

Working Out, Chinese Style

 World's Best Book Study Group

What a Week it Was

Woman's Best Friend

Being Ernst

The Importance of Being Ernst

A Big Fat Moldovan Wedding - Part Two

You may recognize Jason and Micah in the conga line, they work with Sergey. They are loads of laughs, and we were seated at their table, which is a guaranteed good time.





Notice that only young people are dancing to this really fast one. I usually wait to hear which Moldovan song it is before I commit to a dance, some are just plain dangerous.




The little squirts look forward to ice cream as the night goes on. These are my little buddies, they help me with my Romanian, and if they think I am stupid, they sure don't let on, they just smile at each other.

A Big Fat Moldovan Wedding - Part One

Our sweet friend Sergey married his adorable Dorina last night. As usual, the dancing and the food were wonderful. Each of these over-the-top Moldovan weddings are unique and fun.

One of the games we played at this one: get 4 couples (us included) and take the wives away. Put a sheet over the heads of the guys, and poke only their noses through small holes. The wives have to identify their husband's nose. Easy you might think? I thought they were playing a joke and they had put in 4 different husbands! The bride was convinced she had picked Sergey, but by then I was pretty sure that nose belonged to Ernst. Wish I had got some pictures, it was quite hilarious.

Since Dorina's whole family is back in Moldova, Sergey walked her down the aisle. It was so sweet and pure, it brought tears to my eyes. Their ceremonies are very simple, but their receptions are crazy fun. Fortunately, her family got to follow the whole day live, captured on an iPhone.

Sergey and Dorina

Are you ready for some dancing?

Fruit anyone?

Yeah, it's really a watermelon

I have seen Moldovan kids eat lots of fruit at parties before. But take fruit and make it into cute shapes and put it on sticks? No problem getting them to eat their Five a Day. Between the kids and the adults, this whole table was almost gone in an hour.