What Color Are you Today?

I am participating in Maria Peagler's color of the month series. January was very difficult for me because the theme was black and white.
(although some very cute things are black and white)


While I don't dislike these colors, I have never made a quilt/project out of just black, white and neutrals. I struggled with the color choices but I ended up liking the fabrics that I picked out for the most part.
(I will share a pic after I put the borders on).


We all tend to gravitate toward certain colors and I joined this series to make myself get out of my comfort zone (and so far it's working)


To read more about colors and what they mean, check this out.

Then you can

Take this quiz on Color Psychology   

                                                                                   
                                                                             

                                                                                                                           (flickr.com) My favorite color is blue (although I like greens and purples too).
Found this tidbit about the color blue:

"While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. Food researchers say that when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose appetite."



Now you can take this short quiz and find out the color of YOUR rainbow.
(Look! Mine is shaded blue!)

Your rainbow is slightly shaded blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate friends who get along with one another. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Colors are the smiles of nature.

~Leigh Hunt

Full Moon Mania

The full moon for January is today (Saturday); the "Wolf Moon".

Have you been feeling a bit weird? A bit "antsy"?

(flickr)

Some people and even some scientists believe that the moon does affect people's behavior. 

The very word "lunatic" is from the Latin word for moon, luna.

 I know that we always blame the school kids' crazy behavior on the full moon

(and they have been a  bit loud, jumpy,and hyper this week).

(flickr)

From Psychology Today:

"Everything from increases in violent crime and psychotic behavior to stock market fluctuations has been blamed on the effects of the fully illuminated moon. In 19th-century England, lawyers used the "guilty by reason of the full moon" defense to claim that their "lunatic" clients could not be held accountable for acting under the moon's influence."
"Despite these many assertions, scientists who have investigated the matter have come up empty-handed. University of Sydney researchers found no link to the moon's cycle in two separate studies, one of violent or aggressive behavior, the other of dog bites that required human hospitalization."

And yet, 81 percent of mental health professionals, according to a University of New Orleans study, still believe that lunar cycles affect human behavior!

I know I believe...... otherwise, how do I explain my cravings for this?

" Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody."

Mark Twain

 

From It's a Wonderful Life:

George Bailey: "What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary."

You Are Only As Old as You "THINK" You Are......

My birthday is coming up so I have been thinking about age and getting older..... I certainly don't feel as old as I am..... Most days I feel at least  10 years younger than my actual age.
Hitting those "milestone" birthdays didn't bother me at all either, most of the time I have to look at the calendar to figure out how old I really am!

 How old do you feel?? This all goes back to a positive outlook on life.....  focus on finding something to be grateful for each day and make the best of each day.

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, 
and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, 
and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; 
so, let us all be thankful. "
~~Buddha

A friend sent me this video from You Tube..... She is a 92 year old grandma and he is her 29 year old great-nephew. They make quite a couple and I wish I had 1/2 of her energy!

Watch it all the way to the end, you will be grinning from ear to ear......



YouTube

Blog Hopping = Education?

SO! I have already told you how much fun I have been having on my magic carpet ride with One World One Heart......

Well, look at what I learned today from visiting my fellow bloggers on the OWOH tour.....

(Pumba)

ailurophile: (ai⋅lu⋅ro⋅phile): –noun; a person who likes cats; cat fancier.

(um, that's me!) 

(from:The Muse Factory)

Did you know that if you lived in the early 1700's and wore cotton instead of wool you might have been burned on the street? (found this tidbit here: Quilt Mom's Journey)

 

And I read a great story about the ancient spider people here.

So jump up on the magic carpet and meet some new friends and learn some new things!

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."~Eden Phillpotts

Positive Energy

I LOVE the positive energy floating around out in blog land.... If we could harness this energy we could power the world!

Can you feel it?? It's that feeling you get when you are out in a storm and you can feel the lightning in the air (and you know you had better find shelter)

Or when you know the train is coming, not because you can see it, but because you can feel  it, shaking the ground and causing your legs to tremble.

The positive energy is coming from all the participants in the One World One Heart event..... this is only the first day and I have already met some wonderful people. Please check it out in my next post and then go and get some bloggy love from the others in the OWOH party.

AND if  you would like some MORE positive energy and positive affirmations, I found this website for you:

 Vital Life Affirmations for You

There is a virtual deck of affirmations card there for you to pick from.... you will  pick the card that is meant for you..... even if you don't realize it at the time..... Great site for positive thinking and feeling!

This is the one I picked:

Told you there was lots of love out in the universe today.......

(and candy, there has to be candy too!)

One World One Heart 2010, Welcome!!

If you have found my blog through the One World, One Heart Magic Carpet 2010; WELCOME! And if you are one of my wonderful friends dropping by to say "hello", then I would like to WELCOME you as well. I am grateful that you have come by to see what I am up to today.

"Imagination is the true magic carpet"
~Norman Vincent Peale

One World One Heart (OWOH) is an annual event created in 2007 by Lisa of a Whimsical Bohemian . Her dream was to bring bloggers from all over the world together. She hoped that people who wouldn't normally meet could find each other through this event. She knew that once we found these new and wonderful people that our lives would be enriched beyond measure.

"The better part of one's life consists of his friendships."
~Abraham Lincoln

I have only been blogging a short time, but I have already met some amazing people in "blog land".  I hope that through this event that I will meet many more. Take off your shoes, get comfortable and I hope you will stay awhile. While you are here, please leave a comment and tell me something about YOU. If you leave a link to your blog, I will return the visit!

Now for the fun stuff!! As a thank you for visiting my blog during the

One World One Heart event I am having a give away!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Giving is the secret of abundance."

~ Swami Sivananda

I have made this adorable little friendship bag using a pattern from Rachel Griffin of p.s. i quilt. The fabrics I used are from Moda's Hello Betty line (designed by Chloe's Closet). I know the bag looks big in the first photo, if you look at the second photo the ruler will give you a better idea of its size.

Inside the bag are some (surprise) goodies from New Hampshire, USA. I thought it would be fun to share some of these little things so the winner could share a bit of my home. (Who knows what I may decide to throw in the bag!?)

 

(The bag looked SO big in the first photo,

I put a 12" ruler in the bag so you can see how tall it is.)

 NOW for the rules (from OWOH):

Everyone must leave a comment to be eligible to win and they must have a way to link back to them OR leave an email address so they can be contacted if they should win.(If I can't contact you, then I will have to pick someone else). ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. I will randomly choose the winner from all comments received. If I don't hear back from the winner by Friday February 19th, 2010, I will choose another name.

This give away is open to all visitors, from all over the world! The more the merrier!

The giveaway begins today (1/25/2010) and ends February 15, 2010. 

The winner will be announced at that time. 

Thank you for stopping by for the One World One Heart Event. I hope you had fun while you were here and I hope that once this event is over that you will come back and visit soon.

"Think you can't change the world? Too late, you already have. It was changed for the better the minute you were born. There are more people than you can imagine who will never be the same because they came in contact with you, if only for a fleeting  moment." ~ Gail Purcell Elliott

 

Makes Me Happy Monday

Do you want to know what makes me Happy this Monday??

MY FIRST GIVE AWAY!!!

Read all about it in the next post!

TA-DAH!

Drum roll, please.........

I have finished my project for January!!! Hip-Hip-Hooray for me!!!

This is a quilt for my dear friend who graduated from college when she was 38. She graduated from college 2 years ago!!! The quilt was almost done in time for her graduation party, and when it wasn't I stopped working on it and put it away. This challenge helped get me going again.

I knew I wanted to include this fabric from Mary Englebreit in the quilt because my friend would always joke around about being the queen of all things:

This fabric was the focus fabric that I used to help pick out my palette.

My friend also LOVES dolphins, (she even has a small tattoo of a dolphin) and when I found this piece of dolphin fabric in my stash, I just had to include it in the quilt. Luckily it fit right in with the palette:

I made this quilt from fabrics I had in my stash except for the ME fabric which I bought especially for my friend and the border fabric. (I hung it over my bird's cage to take this picture). I just did a simple cross hatch pattern for the quilting. I am not a confident quilter. I have done some free motion quilting before but I couldn't find my free motion foot when I was ready to start quilting so I just went with the cross hatch.

So now I have to see what my February project will be.

YAY!

February Friday Night Fun

Handmade by Heidi is hosting another Friday Night Sew on February 19th. I missed the last one and can't wait to join them for this one....

Vent Some Steam..... and Breathe

In my travels in blog land this week, I have found a recurring theme...... many of us have had a rough week!

Are the stars misaligned this week? Did we all get up on the wrong side of the bed? Maybe it's the El Nino effect!!
Who knows..... but I thought we could all vent a little, have a few laughs, and perhaps feel better in the process....

How about we all share our pet peeves?? Vent about your top 3 or 5 (or more??) pet peeves and then read about everyone else's.... maybe we can share a smile or two.

MY pet peeves are:

1. People who are late (ALL the time!)

2. People who block the intersection, and then YOUR light turns green but you can't go because there is a loser blocking the intersection.

3. Litter.....Why can't people just hang onto their trash till they find a trash barrel?

4. Call waiting. (DON'T even get me started on that)

5. The annoying songs that play while you wait for a person's cell phone to connect. (Instead of the ringing noise) It is usually WAY too loud....

Okay...... I feel a little bit better..... Now it's Your turn:Let me know about your pet peeves,

I'd love to know what drives you crazy :)

Fabric Friday Fun!

It's raining fabric here at my house :)

And I can't wait to get my OPAM/UFO quilt done so I can start playing with it.

From Kate Spain ( have I mentioned how much I ♥ Kate Spain?) I received this very lovely layer cake of Verna fabric:

I've paired it with some Bella Solids in Snow by Moda.

I want to use this in the Pinwheel quilt along on ps i quilt.

This white is not a really bright white and I think it goes well with the Verna.

From SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Contest I won some yummy fabrics in all of my favorite colors, and even one with CATS!! I will definitely be using this very soon.... I want to add some to my Calendar Quilt that I am making with Pat Sloan. Be a great memory of being one of the winners in this contest. :)

AND last but not least (hey, I told you it was raining fabric here). I won a gift certificate from True Up from Sweet Peas and Angels and bought this great fabric from Michael Miller. I also grabbed the Madeline Schnibbles pattern. From following the chat on the Year Of Schnibbles, I learned this was a relatively easy pattern, so thought I would give it a try. (Some of those schnibbles are a bit challenging.)

So I have added a bit to my stash this week..... but I have plans for most of it already..... and February will be here before I know it; time for project #2 in the UFO challenge and OPAM!!!

Thoughts to ponder once more.....

Soapbox time again....... You can relive the fun here and here.....

SO!!! I work with middle school kids in an inner city setting. I LOVE working with the kids!! Everyday is different and even the tough days are worthwhile in the end. (remind me later that I said that)

This Friday is the end of the 2nd quarter of the year....and report cards are out on February 1st. Due to district scheduling changes (we can talk about that in another post on another day) the kids don't have a "study hall" anymore. Oftentimes the kids don't get their homework done. (what? no way!)

This week two of the teachers I work with decided to have the kids stay after school on Wednesday and make up Tuesday's homework for partial credit. They wanted to give these kids the opportunity to avoid a zero in their average.

I am not sure why I was surprised by the parents' response to the detentions, but yes I will admit that I was a bit surprised.(I am an optimist at heart and always want that happy ending).

Parent:
"Isn't a detention a bit extreme?"
"My child won't be staying for detention (ever) he has to [FILL IN THE BLANK] today after school"
"You teachers give too much homework anyway"

Sigh.......

It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't know that these same parents will be calling in two weeks to complain about Johnny and Susie's report card grades.

Parent:
"what do you mean Susie is failing your class? why wasn't I notified sooner?"
"Johnny says he did all the work and you lost it"
"It's not my kid's fault, everyone knows the whole district is failing and it's the teachers fault!"

Responsibility??

Ownership??

Expectations??

Success??

Does anyone know what these words mean anymore?

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned,

and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly."

~ Thomas Huxley