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2010: Life, Love & Laughter

...everything in between and what happens after."  Donavon Frankenreiter I am so happy to see a new year roll around!  Not that the old one was bad; but I sense a corner turned, a new chapter beginning. ...and I love new beginnings of any sort--even Mondays.  The end of the old year and start of a new one has always held a special place for me.  I much prefer to stay in and quiet, eat good food and be contemplative rather than take in parties or fireworks.  What I loathe is starting a brand new year with a lack-of-sleep-hangover--no alcohol required.  Yikes. --Not that I'm opposed to alcohol--but let's make it good stuff and imbibe early :) In retrospect, some of the highs and lows of my 2010: High:  all the quality AND quantity time I got to spend with my daughters, sons-in-law and eight grand kids! Low:  all the time spent apart from Randy last year. High:  my trip to Cambodia by myself.  Amazing and empowering.  Low:  Working my way through the Hormonal Uphea

A Very Merry Mongolian Christmas

Yet again, it's been soooo long since I've blogged.  Last week I even debated continuing to blog or not and came to a decision:  my target audience will be my family and close friends.  Period.  If others take a peak, they're more than welcome, but my primary goal is to share my life which is so far away from home with the people who matter most to me.  Whew!  This decision has taken a great deal of pressure off me for some reason--after all, it's not like I have a huge blog audience just waiting for my next post.  Anyway, I do enjoy the technical challenge and creativity involved.  So, all that said, grab something warm and yummy to drink 'cause there are lots of pictures. Here's a peak at my December in Mongolia.  Expats start leaving the country en mass to their home countries for Christmas.  This year I decided to stay and keep Randy company--though I have to admit I wasn't very good company as I tended to mope much more than I should have.  However, t

My Guy's Birthday

We just celebrated Randy's birthday here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia--I believe the 7th that we've celebrated somewhere in Asia.   --Don't miss the truly Asian sentiment on the gift bag :D Anyway, his birthday wish was for a nice, quiet day.  So, in honor of that wish, he got a birthday breakfast complete with real breakfast sausages!  They're produced here in UB as a joint venture with New Zealand and are free of MSG and a whole bunch of other stuff.  They tasted great  (they ought to for what we paid for them; hence saved for a birthday breakfast!)--not as fatty as US sausage.  ...hmm...amazing the things one gets excited about in a developing country... I had brought back this great Turkish robe from Land's End; perfect fit!  So will monogram it soon.  Let's see, we enjoyed a yummy lunch at a newer Thai restaurant, then home for his annual cheesecake.  This year is the traditional New York recipe with a crust made from a cookie-dough batter--a recipe that orig

Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

I'm so tickled to be a part of this year's Bloggers' Quilt Festival !  My entry was done in Outer Mongolia (literally!  --read on).  This quilt is one of my favorite recent projects that I named "Renegade Geisha's" --renegade because two of the geisha's don't conform to the rest (mainly because I ran out of coordinating fabrics!).  Can you find the two renegades?  ;)  The quilt incorporates fabric origami and the quilt itself is from  Fantastic Fabric Folding  --many projects from this book were a big hit with the Mongolian class pictured below. Due to my husband's work, we live in Mongolia; and I was privileged to teach classes at a local quilting studio.  I've included a picture of the class where we were working on the geisha blocks.  The students spoke almost no English and I speak what I call Monglish--a lot of English sprinkled with Mongolian.  Regardless, we all had a blast!  ...and, I'm very pleased with this quilt of mine!

Little Wings...Not!

I was actually listening to "Little Wings" by Kris Delmhorst (amazing song; a current fave of mine--check it out!) and so the title for this blog...but these pics are from the Eagle Festival I got to attend last March outside of UB--not a "little" wing in sight. Since it has been ages since I blogged, I figure I need to start (again) somewhere. So, since Life prevented me from blogging these great pics, I thought I would start here. One pic of of my dear friends....no longer here; sigh. Their absence is sorely felt. Back to music...how did Ingrid Michaelson get into my head? Those of you into lyrics (my husband believes that 70% of the population is not--?!) will enjoy "Maybe." Or maybe not--may be where my head/heart is at these days. So, on a really positive lyric note (? ;) I'm also loving "A Crooked Road" by Darrell Scott. ANYWAY...aren't these creatures amazingly beautiful?  Took my breath away. 

Still Stitchin'!

 In response to my daughter Nikki's blog--always an inspiration!  Check it out: fancythat.blogspot.com . I too have been sort off line when it comes to sewing. Living out of a suitcase has its challenges. Plus, it just seems to take me longer to accomplish anything these days--and there has been PLENTY to accomplish this summer. ....but sewing is still something that gives me great joy and and allows my mind and body to just go, "ahhhhh." So, I have been scheduling in my sewing time--yep, putting it right there in my planner. OCD? Perhaps; but it tends to give it the importance it deserves! Anyway, here are a few recent projects: the sewing machine cover (great pattern I've used 3 times!--find it here:  spoolsewing.com/blog/2008/07/25/sewing-machine-cozy   ) Some aprons off of these great fabrics, and lastly, yesterday I started a quilted cover for my cedar chest in my bedroom. I'm aiming for a slightly Asian look in my bedroom; nothing too over the top,