Eugene Half

This past Sunday I ran the Eugene half marathon with my buddy Sarah, along with about 6,000 others! We trained for 3 months ahead of time, and are probably now in the best shape of our lives. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of pictures taken, but here is a kind of silly one while we're running and waving to Sarah's 2-yr-old daughter, Ellie, who's father took the picture:

And here we are after the race, wearing our "finisher" medals. We weren't in it to win - some crazy person ran this (that's 13.1 miles) in just over 1 hour!!! - but we did manage to beat our goal. Sarah left me in the dust halfway through and was still in good spirits at the end - what a trooper! I fell apart a little toward the end with various hurts. But I finished AND managed it under two hours, so I'm happy with that.

Taking a Break

In my efforts to revive my joy for painting I have been pursuing other creative endeavors. These are things I've always wanted to do but could never make time for. Now I realize I HAVE to make time for these other things to retain my sanity.

Of course I am rather practical in what I make, so my first thought was - who can I make what for? So my first project was a stuffed "monster" for my son. This was my second try. The first was awkward. Apparently there is a learning curve for all new things. Duh. This was a good thing for me to realize. It humbled me a bit and refocused me on why I am taking this break.

My stepdaughter, Maddie, found a very cool fabric store here in Eugene (Piece by Piece) with all kinds of to-die-for fabrics. It is generally for quilting, which is something I am looking into. I wanted to practice first with some easier piecing projects, and so for my second project I put together this bag for carrying groceries (or whatever). It is a gift (shhh). I used a very thin kind of foam (made just for this) to stiffen the sides and bottom.

This next one is also a gift (shhh - it's a good thing these 2 don't check my blog). I found a general pattern online for this one that is modeled after a plastic grocery bag.

Next I wanted to practice stitching over my pieced together squares, so I figured potholders would be a good way to go. I am finding the fabrics to be like a kind of palette of colors. And I need so much more. Screw that limited palette!

Meanwhile I am also putting together some earrings.

And in my spare time I made a few pillows.

April Fools! Well, all but the pillows I really made. Thanks for taking the time to look. : )