M is for merry.

Cheery, happy, merry I am. What made me merry last week is finding out, after a CT scan, that the meds I’m taking are working on tumors in my liver. For what more could I be merry?!!!! A high school class reunion!

Ever the procrastinator, I waited until Friday, July 08, to start on outfit to wear to the class picnic the next day. Did I say “ever?” Yup, I’m a dawdler from way back when. Here’s how the sewing went:

2:05 p.m. ~ Before I could even start, I had to clear the deck. I dumped WIPs from the tabletop to the couch (ouch!). Included in the dumpees were Zentangle placemats started in my fiber arts group meeting last month, yarn I bought last week to crochet a summer topper, a fabric and paper collage started in February, "prompts" that I've been gathering since the fall of 2009 that are waiting to be painted onto popsicle sticks, and beads and a bracelet pattern that's been sitting around since the summer of 2007.Yikes. Dumped the stuff onto the couch in the family room (another ouch!). Changed to a new needle, loaded a bobbin with orange thread, changed from a zigzag to a straight-stitch throat plate, slipped on a patchwork foot, and even did a little D&C on the lint from the last project (D&C? dusting and cleaning!). ~ 2:15 p.m.

2:20 p.m. ~ Started this blog post, then cut out the skirt panels ~  2:39 p.m.

3:47 p.m.~ Four of the eight skirt panels are hemmed. These are yellow and orange synthetic gauze fabric, and I turned under ¼" twice and topstitched, starting at the waist and going all the way around to the other side. Changed to lime green thread for the hems of the last four panels (and remembered to change throat plate to allow me to zigzag stitch. I’ve broken many a needle, and after umpteen years, I guess I’ve learned something!) These are pink and lime green sheers that were hand-rolled as I went to make very narrow hems, shown in this photo. Stopped for dinner. ~ 4:52 p.m.

7:37 p.m. ~ Finished the skirt. ~ 9:16 p.m.

10:05 p.m. ~ Thought I should keep on goin'. Pinned first piece of the blouse pattern in place to the pink linen. Cut it out. Use thread tacks to make the darts. Been up since 4:30 a.m.—off to bed! ~ 10:12 p.m.

 

Saturday:

7:47 a.m. ~ Cut out rest of blouse. Used pin tacks (much easier than thread!) to mark remaining darts. Ran out of fabric. Cut the sheer fabric from skirt for pattern piece 8, the sleeve facings. Breakfast time! ~ 8:53 a.m.

9:04 a.m. ~ Sewed blouse fronts and back wrong sides together. “Unsewed” the seams. Tried again. Success! With a quickie lunch break, finished up just in time to hurry and get pretty. ~ 2:01 p.m.

3:06 p.m. ~ Leaving for the reunion. Cute outfit, huh?!!! I'm holding my 7th grade and my senior yearbooks. Honey Bear, my "Velcro" dog, is never more than a couple of feet away from me.

The pattern is the Fun Skirt, pattern 414, by McPhee Workshop.

3:38 p.m. ~ Reunion time!

The four us in this photo (me at left, Dave in the middle, Debbie at right, and Renee in front) were in Mrs. Murphy’s morning kindergarten class at Secrest Elementary. The only vivid memory I have of kindergarten was when my mom, who was visiting with our Avon lady Mrs. Case (who happened to be a classmate’s mom), FORGOT to pick me after class. I remember sitting just outside the classroom door waiting and waiting and waiting. I wasn’t so merry then!

But I sure was merry on Saturday while visiting with my “old” Arvada High School chums.

My sweetie (in the middle) graduated from the rival Bear Creek High School, but Arvadians let him join in the merriment too. 

 

Being merry is awesome!

L is for light hearted.

I’m not scared of the “fun police.” They are like the tooth fairy, Santa, and other such nonexistence nonsense. So, any time there’s fun within my reach, I grab it!

Here’s just a few of the enjoyable stuff I’ve done the past year—ones that I have photos to prove I was having fun!

On May 23, 2010, I had fun making my Panda and Grizzly pose on the table at my favorite campground on McClure Pass in Colorado. 

That night, we enjoyed a campfire with new friends from British Columbia. It was such great weather that we sat out until about midnight.

I wasn’t so light hearted when we woke up to snow the next morning.

In August of 2010, I had fun riding a horse at the Pipefitters Local 208 picnic. 

So, who has the biggest behind, me or the horse, and who has the prettiest ponytail?

That same month, I had fun swinging in the park at the annual picnic for members of Colorado's BMW Motorcycle Club.

I had fun taking a photo of the ranger and his rescue horse Boomer as they traveled through the Bonita Canyon Campground on December 24, 2010, at Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona.

It's December folks, and see all the green leaves? We came home a few days later to snow and 20 below.

During my birthday camping trip, I hiked to Zapata Falls on May 1, 2011, and had way-cool fun sitting on the ice flow. 

The falls are just outside Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.

A few days later, I cooled off again as I had fun running through the sprinklers at the Fruita Campground in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.

And, the latest thing to bring light-heartedness to me is my little Honey Bear (aka Hotstuff), just adopted on June 20. Her and Panda are BFF!

Being light hearted is zany!