Too Much Pressure!

Oh. My. Lord.

I've been working on this blog update for the past HOUR and with a simple graze of my hand over the touch pad while I typed caused it to highlight and disappear all my work.  Gone.  Now I have to start all over and I don't know if it'll measure up.  Gaaah!!

OK.  Deep breath.  Try again.

There have been a lot of deadlines that I've been trying to meet and the pressure to get things done on time has been building...now that a bunch of those deadlines are rapidly approaching and things are coming together as they should, things will calm down...but not until probably mid-May...or June.

Add to that the new pains I've been experiencing in my feet--that plantar fasciitis has developed into heel spurs.  Yey.  This is basically a calcium deposit on the underside of the heel, and are caused by strains on the muscles and ligaments and repeated tearing of the membrane that covers the heel bone.  The doctor calls it a "baby bone spur".  If that's the baby, I don't want to meet its daddy.  First it was the left foot, but since I've been favoring it, now my right hurts, too.  Sigh.  Week after next, new orthotics and cortisone shots.  I need to wear my night boot and do stretches and take anti-inflammatory meds.  I'm trying, but the boot sucks.

I have been working on a pile of quilts--six of them--for a quilt show coming up next week.  Things seemed to be going along well enough, but over the past few months, my long arm machine started having speed issues.  Either it would go a zillion miles an hour or go painfully slow, and this became a big problem recently.  I milked it along for a while and took it in for servicing after I finished the Civil War quilt.  It went in on a Thursday and I got it back on Tuesday.  Besides the usual lube-oil-filter deal and replacing a couple of encoders, they had tethered the cables down so that moving the handles from one end to the other, as it was designed to do, was impossible.  I snipped four of the zip-ties and moved the handles to the aft end so I could drive it following a printed pattern with the laser light.  I loaded up and started working on the Modern Jelly Roll Race quilt.  The machine worked for all of 30 minutes before it started going glacially slow again.  Nothing I could do would fix it.  I also had issues with tension--first too tight, then too loose--so I called the shop again.  I took it in on Thursday and got it back the next week, on Good Friday.  It turns out there was a long hair (human) caught in the motor sensor.  Hmmm.  Where would that come from?  Sigh.  Tara suggested I wear hair nets while quilting. :)  At least I can get back to work now!

I finished up the Modern Jelly Roll Race quilt.  I just need to put a binding on it and it'll be ready for the show!  There are a couple more quilts that need to be bound and one that needs to be quilted and bound, but now that the machine is working again, I think I'll be able to meet the deadline by Thursday.

This weekend, besides being Easter, is the annual Sakura Con at the Seattle Convention center.  This is a celebration of anime and Japanese culture.  This is our third (or fourth?) year attending, this time as a whole family, although we only had four badges, so I wasn't allowed to go into the restricted areas, like the merchants' room and the panel discussions.  Not a problem--we figured we could take turns going around with the kids.  I wanted to find a place to sit down for just a few minutes, so I wandered about looking...not a lot of options.  I decided to go into one room where they were having a demonstration of how to wear a kimono.

It just so happened that I was WEARING a kimono-like garment!  I was happy to see that of the 60 or so chairs in the room, almost all of them were unoccupied, there was no fee to sit and watch, they encouraged taking photos, but if you wanted to try on a kimono, there was a $5 fee.  Since I was already dressed, I opted to sit in the back and enjoy the show.  A few minutes later, Heide came and joined me and we chatted for a bit and caught up.  Eventually, we headed out to enjoy some of the convention and catch up with Brian and Ash, who was dressed as one of the Dr. Who characters.

We weren't able to get the special teeth Emma needed for her costume (or one of her costumes--I don't know if it was this one); she is a character from the show "Free! Iwatobi Swim Club", as is Miss E, on the left.  They ran into several other members of the Swim Club at the convention, greeting each other like old friends, as is the tradition at these conventions--high fiving or hugging perfect strangers.  They got photos of one of their members...a young man dressed in only a Speedo.  (Maybe he was European?)  A very confident young man.

Cammie plays the younger sister to Emma's character.  I spent a day looking for pieces for her costume, which I was able to find at Goodwill for $20.  The wig was extra--I think we paid $30 for it online.

Ben dressed as Sgt. Frog, a Japanese cartoon for children.  I made this costume for him back in October for Halloween, but going to the carnival at school and door-to-door trick or treating led to cocked heads and quizzical looks; no one knew what he was dressed as.  At this event, however, more than a dozen people yelled "Sergeant Frog!" and a few took pictures of him.

One of the things that Ben wanted to do was meet Todd Haberkorn, the voice of Sgt. Frog, who was at the convention, doing panel discussions and signing autographs.  Kelly took him off to wait in line, and when he finally got his turn, Mr. Haberkorn signed his photo:  "Benjamin--Thank you for being my favorite Pekoponian!"

While Ben was off waiting in line, the older girls were off doing their thing, and Cammie was with me.  We went back to the kimono room to watch them getting dressed again.  I moved to the front row to get a better view and take pictures of the assembly process, and the Sensei (teacher) of the dance studio that was sponsoring the activity, saw my outfit and said that I had wrapped it wrong--it's supposed to be left over right.  I had it right over left, which is reserved only for the dead.  Yep.  I dressed like a corpse.  I started messing with the layers and eventually they said, "come here...we'll dress you up!"  It was rather slow at the moment, so they were happy to keep themselves busy fixing up my gear.  The Sensei came over to admire the fabric of my yukata and asked me where I got it.  "A quilt shop!" I said gleefully.  "Oooo...very nice!" she said, fondling the fabric.

Went out for dinner afterwards at our favorite sushi place.  We ate too much and took a nap right on the bar...just kidding.

Tomorrow is Easter.  I have to hide eggs and pack baskets.  G'nite.

What's up Wednesday...?

Just a few pictures to test the upload features on this blog...things changed a little bit since I started the other one.  Unfortunately, there are a bunch of pictures in my computer that uploaded funny and duplicated themselves in this era of cameralessness; the phone uploads things but it seems to grab pictures from all my FB friends' profiles and makes multiple bad copies of the originals, so I don't know which one I should post.  I don't know why.

This is me and Bekah at the very rainy Sounders game a few weeks ago.  The bright green rain coats were cheap but durable, so they can be used again later, if necessary.  Bekah and I look like we could be related, don't we?  In case you can't figure it out, I'm the one on the right.  Looks like Kelly and I might be going to the Whitecaps game, which should be FUN!  The Vancouver team is new on the MLS roster this year, as are the Portland Timbers, and they're not the best team on the coast...in fact, so far, they have a total of 9 points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 for a loss) to the Sounders' 22 points.  Sounders are in 3rd place now--the top team has 29 points.  There's still quite a few games left in the season, so anything could happen.

Emma in her pink kimono.  I made this for her math fair, and I later added an obi (wide belt) that completes the ensemble.  She has indicated that this is now her chosen SCA costume.  I'll have to make some in other colors and make some appropriate undergarments for Japanese women's costume as well.  My next costuming project is a commission for a middle school friend that I recently reconnected with who joined the SCA a few months ago.  He has asked for five or six tunics in linen, but the first of which is a muslin mock-up that I will have to mail to him to try on before I start chopping into some more pricey linen.  I may make him a tunic in wool, too, for the winter months.  Since he lives in the midwest, heavy tunics are not a requirement for camping as it is here on the coast.

Let's see...what else...I read a book.  My Dad recommended "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein.  It takes place in Seattle, and the story is told from the perspective of a dog named Enzo, owned by a race car driver.  It's very good, funny, but sad at times.  I loved it, although I'm not really a dog person--I mean, I LIKE dogs, but I don't want to own one.  Ever.  I grew up with dogs and have fond memories of them but I know how much work they are and I really don't have any interest in taking on the expense of vet bills and all the extra cleaning that goes with dog hair and poop-scooping.  Also, I just found out I'm allergic to dogs.  Oh well...the book is great!  Highly recommended!

My girl scouts are now Juniors!  They had their bridging ceremony last week, and it turns out that all but one of them wants to continue...the one sitting "Billy Bob Joe", is the only one who is not continuing on.  Also, I found out that three other girls in their grade want to join.  We've gotten two of the three applications back, so we'll have an even dozen girls in the troop next year.  I don't know what we're going to do--they're changing almost everything and the handbooks don't come out til September, so we're joining to have a steep learning curve at the beginning of the school year.  

Also, we're making progress on the yurt.  So far we've cut a big pile of 3/4" sticks out of 2 x 2 stock, and we're starting to drill holes into them to make the walls.  This lattice is called the khana, which is essentially a giant baby gate.  We also have to finish cutting the rafters for my yurt (Jen and Darby have cut theirs already).  After that, we have to build the tono (the roof smoke hole that connects to the rafters), which may prove to be the most difficult part, and the door frame and door.  Then, finally, we have to sew the roof canvas and cut the wall canvas to length.  We're hoping that these will be done in time for camping in mid-July, and then taking it to Pitt camping in mid-August.  

I'll keep you posted on further progress on this and other stuff.  Happy Wednesday!

K