Pittsburgh

Ame, Tracey, Tiffany and me
The whole group, I am over on the right side somewhere.
Ame, Tiffany, Brother and Sister Beck, me, and Tracey

I was in Pittsburgh September 19-21st for a YSA conference and I finally got the pictures I wanted from Tracey so I can finally blog about it! The weekend was amazing- the spirit was really strong and I met a lot of really nice people. On Friday night, we heard from Brother Gay, an area seventy. He and his wife had just returned from being mission president in Ghana and his talk was really neat. On Saturday of that weekend, Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President, spoke to the YSA in the morning, which was really wonderful. They enjoyed our luau afterwards, too (they roasted a whole pig!). Later that day we broke from the conference to go to the two Relief Society meetings she was having in the Cranberry chapel (half an hour away) so we basically spent the day with the Becks. They are wonderful people and also very cute and funny together. It was neat to spend time with them and we had fun chatting and joking around with Brother Beck. They were sweet to pose for a picture. It was a really great day.

During the three meetings that day, Sister Beck basically answered people's questions. With the YSA, she talked about the three things that hold us back from having our own families: 1) a lack of faith, 2) a decrease in social skills and 3) the lack of moral strength.

She also talked about how we can't wait around for conditions to be perfect "for our life to begin"....this IS our life! That is a good reminder to me. I have a tendency to put off my happiness because one thing or another hasn't happened. She also encouraged us as ysa to use our time to serve others. She reminded the sisters that we were not promised a perfect life, but an experience to help us learn and grow. Everyone's experience is different. Experiences are for our good, we don't understand all that God has in plan for us.

Many of the things she talked about in the Relief Society meetings helped me in my role as YW President, and I was thankful to hear them.

I also watched the Relief Society broadcast last Saturday and it was great to hear from our leaders. I especially liked President Uchtdorf's talk about creativity and compassion. I identified a lot with what he said about creativity.

Camera

I started getting sick on Tuesday with a really sore throat, cough, runny nose and fever and yesterday was just awful. I didn't want to go anywhere today, but I had to turn in this:

This is my wire project for 3-D art, you had to recreate an object and imply volume. I'm pretty pleased with the results, it was a lot of work. I had critique earlier today in class and it went well. My teacher liked it. I chose a camera because 1) I'm a photographer, 2) I collect antique cameras and 3) the structure lent itself well to a linear project like this (other people did stuffed animals which would be hard to do with wire). I tend to ask myself this question when deciding what to make: What do I want kicking around afterwards when it's all done? Hmmm...a camera.

Quiz

Angela sent me this e-mail questionairre and I think the questions are different from what I've posted before. Here's the answers:

1. WHAT TIME DID YOU GET UP THIS MORNING 6:40 a.m...time to get ready for school!
2. DIAMONDS OR PEARLS ? I kind of like both!
3. WHAT'S THE LAST FILM YOU SAW AT THE CINEMA. Wall-e...it was great
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? How I Met Your Mother...I love the characters and that's the same place in life that I'm in (trying to find Mr. Right)
5. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? Often I have a quesadilla...I prefer warm food in the morning and they don't take too long.
6. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Erin. My dad had my name picked out before he ever met my mother!
7. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? Angela, how can you hate swiss cheese??? Swiss cheese is divine. I HATE oatmeal, spicy food, green olives,and the like.
8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CD? I like too many, but I love my 80's mix cd.
9. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE ? A '95 white Jeep Cherokee
10. FAVORITE SANDWICH? Gotta go with a BLT!
11. WHAT CHARACTERISTIC DO YOU DESPISE? Being inconsiderate of others.
12. FAVORITE ITEM OF CLOTHING? I like the new shirts/jackets I got for my birthday.
13. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? I'd love to see the things I see in Art History classes...Mayan Ruins, the Pyramids, etc.
14. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHROOM? Ugly beige wallpaper with a floral border that came with the house- who wallpapers a bathroom?
15. FAVORITE HOLIDAY? Christmas and Halloween.
16. WHERE WOULD YOU RETIRE? in an old house with a fab garden in a po-dunk town
17. WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY? Probably my 25th- Stef and I went to the butterfly garden and the next day I had a really great party.
18. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Ice skating or gymnastics during the Olympics
19. FURTHEST PLACE YOU ARE SENDING THIS? Washington
20. WHO DO YOU LEAST EXPECT TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I don't know.
21. PERSON YOU EXPECT TO SEND IT BACK FIRST. See #20
22. FAVORITE SAYING? "Hilarious!", "Wicked Awesome!", etc.
23. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? July 21st
24. ARE YOU A MORNING OR NIGHT PERSON ? Total Nightowl
25. WHAT IS YOUR SHOE SIZE? 9 1/2 or 10
26. PETS? Yes! Six cats: Cindy, Missy, Zeb, Midnight, Spice and Tabitha, Dogs: Hank, Lars and Mariah (and I guess Laura's guide dog in training Cody counts too). Laura also has a fish, Rainbow.
27. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? Hmmm...no. You have to have exciting news to share it and I just don't.
28. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE?a Disney Animator
29. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Tired. But that's nothing new.
30. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Reece's Pieces or a Milky Way Dark bar
31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? Roses... they're classic. I especially enjoy pink or white ones.
32. WHAT IS A DAY ON THE CALENDAR YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO? Dec 2008, my friend Marji will be home from school!
WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME Elizabeth Erin Chaney
34. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A fried egg sandwich on wheat
35. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Yep.
36. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Periwinkle!
37. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Warm and sunny, gotta enjoy it before it snows
38. FAVORITE SOFT DRINK? Orange soda, though I don't really drink much soda.
39. FAVORITE RESTAURANT? Chili's
40. SIBLINGS? One, my younger sister Laura
41. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR. Probably Halloween or Christmas.
42. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Teddy, he looks very loved
43. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer- it's too cold here during the winter!
44. HUGS OR KISSES? Who are they from? That could be a deciding factor. I think I'll be safe and go with 'hugs"
45. COFFEE OR TEA? Neither
46. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate
47. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO EMAIL YOU BACK? Sure, if they want to.
48. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? During spiritual meetings at the Pittsburgh Conference.
49. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? Plastic bins of shoes, loose shoes, dustbunnies.
50. WHAT FRIEND HAVE YOU HAD THE LONGEST? Stefanie- we've been buds since seventh grade...1993!
51. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Went to FHE in New York State, came home and embroidered and ate dinner. Am I turning into a grandma or what?
52. FAVORITE SMELL? Vanilla
53. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Dying alone? Heights? Being the victim of a brutal crime? Stuff like that.
E54. SALTY OR SWEET? Both.
55. HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR RING? Six.
56. HOW MANY YEARS AT YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS? A year and two months.
57. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Thursday- the week's winding down.
58. HOW MANY TOWNS HAVE YOU LIVED IN? Oh gosh, counting the mission... 8? Something like that.
59. DO YOU MAKE FRIENDS EASILY? If I'm not too antisocial, yes. I'm pretty easy going.

Relief

I am happy to announce that we finally got power back on Wednesday afternoon, and that life has been easier since then. Hooray for civilization!

Bad Week, the sequel

So I recover from last week...the car, my mom's eye, the mean comments, etc and was really hoping that things could settle down...but no. We had a major windstorm on Sunday evening and lost power around 9 p.m. And it's stayed off...for three days. There are wires down in two places on our road. Penelec, our power company, promises power tonight, but I don't know if I believe them. They broke their earlier promises. This is the same company that didn't have one single roll of electrical tape between the two large trucks that came to fix our wire when we dug and damaged it in June(they had to leave to go get it and tried to bill us for that hour! As if!).

At least things aren't quite as hard compared to when we had no power in Enumclaw...everything was electric there so we were without heat, stove, water, etc when there was no power. The mobile that is on the back chunk of our mobile has a generator attached to it, so we go down there to shower. We have a wood stove and our stove here is propane so we can warm/cook for ourselves. We had to ferry our food from the house's fridge to the mobile's fridge. I am thankful for these amenities because otherwise I would be one stinky/hungry person!

So it's been kind of a crazy, stressful week. There are still trees down everywhere in the area (we lost two that we know of) and there were trees down on our road on Monday- I had to find a different route to school. I haven't gotten much sleep due to the craziness and I'm tired. I went shoe shopping yesterday after school- why go home to a dark house?

In better news, I'm going to Pittsburgh this weekend (first time!) for a big YSA conference. Julie B. Beck, the General Relief Society President, will be there in person and speak to us on Saturday. I'm excited for that. I'm going with my two friends, Tiffany and Ame, from my YSA group here. I hope it's a good weekend!

Cute, too

This fabric from Purl is way cute too... I want to buy it all!

Ahhh!

It's been a rough 24 hours. It all started when my car broke down yesterday- there was this huge puddle under the car and antifreeze puddles under the hood. My dad thinks the water pump blew, very likely as a result from hitting the deer a few months ago- everything in the front of the engine got a bit squished. Dad came from work and picked me up- we left the car in the lot at school and it was towed today. When I got to school, someone had stuck a McDonald's bag under the wiper on that Jeep's windshield! Gross!

Yesterday my mom was mowing and something hit her in the eye. It kept bothering her more and more until she needed to go to the ER at 4am this morning. They told her it was scratched and gave her antibiotics but it was still really red and painful. Her eyelids were all puffy and swollen. So they took the one working automobile to take her to an eye dr first thing this morning. The dr was able to help her out better than the hospital did, and she'll be fine. Not a whole lot I could do about all this, so I took the car when they got back and I was really late to school. My 3-D art teacher was demonstrating wire techniques that would have been nice to see, but we talked afterwards. I felt really bad for missing so much of class, but he was nice about it (I had called him beforehand).

I think the worst part of today was that I stopped in the gallery where I have photographs (and there's a few other artist's things in there as well) and people had written really rude things about the show in the little comment book that I had left. And to add insult to injury, they stole my pen. I was really upset this morning about it, but I'm better now. I've seen some bad exibits in that gallery, but I would never be so mean as to write it in their comment book! I wasn't as proud of these photos as others, but I didn't think it was that bad. Sometimes it's hard to know what to put out there. I was really unsettled this morning.

Things are going better now, I just needed to vent.

Butterfly fabric

How cute is this? If I had my dream craft room, I'd use this fabric from Keepsake Quilting to make curtains and throw pillows for it. Much of my craft stuff would already go with this!

Sparty Fair

We went last night to the Sparty Fair, located in our little town of Spartansburg, PA. It's a small fair- very doable in an evening, but still pretty fun. I had fun looking at the photos entered and the quilts. Also gotta love the fair food! Here is the Main Street of our little town- don't blink or you'll miss it!

Spartansburg PA (usually there are Amish buggies going thru!):

We saw a draft horse obstacle course- like dog agility but for horses!


Acres of tractors:
We watched part of an antique tractor pull:
Cute quilt, eh?
And kitties, too!
Does this bunny have a spider named Charlotte?
Baby bunnies!!!!

The fair
Me on The Scrambler (I used to run the one at Enchanted Village!)
I like taking pictures of rides at night:

In all, a fun evening!

Project Wire

For the first project in 3-D art (basically a beginning sculpture class), we are recreating a three dimensional object out of wire. I am planning on making an antique camera. But first, we had to make four practice pieces based off of artwork or photos in books. Here are my pieces- I like the lone butterfly the best. Working with wire is trickier than you might think. We are spending the next few weeks making the real project, and I'll show that when it's finished.

Butterfly (of course):

Lighthouse:
Butterfly with a Pansy:
and a Carousel Horse:

Redneck Pickles

On Tuesday night we had fun making pickles outside! We grew cucumbers in our garden and have been meaning to make pickles for awhile now. We used our big campstove and the truck tailgate and it was fun to do. The campstove heated up the canner really fast and there was less mess cause it was all outside! My mom and dad want to build an outdoor kitchen for doing stuff like this. We alternated the yellow and green cucumbers to make pretty jars. Making pickles outside? Yes, we are down home country people!

I love my redneck family ;) 

Antique Quilt Top

As I mentioned earlier, my mom and I purchased this antique quilt top from an antique store in Erie a couple of weeks ago. I just had to talk more about it. The pattern in called "Autumn Leaves" (I was so excited when I found it in a quilt book!) and it became popular in the '30s and '40s after it was shown at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. This quilt top is from that time. It is a delight to behold in person- Mom and I just couldn't walk away. It's in really great condition. The workmanship is absolutely incredible- every stitch is hand sewn in perfect, tiny stitches. The mitered corners match up perfectly. Nearly every leaf is of a different fabric (only one or two are the same). I cannot imagine the hours spent on this.

Which brings up the question...who made this? We'll never know. The woman who had it in the store bought it a long time ago at an estate sale in the area and didn't know very much about it. One also has to ponder why it was never finished into a whole quilt. What we do know is this: whoever made this quilt top was very talented, both at sewing and at putting colors together. There is no area that looks "off" or out of place. The colors are well balanced. All the principles of design apply here.

Mom and I are doing our homework- how should we finish it? The quilt top is made for a Full bed, we will probably add a border or something to enlarge it a little to be Queen sized. There are several independent fabric stores around here that carry reproduction '30s fabric that we will have to go see. We need to find a backing fabric, fabric to bind the edges and perhaps fabric to make a border. We also need to figure out how to actually quilt it too- where should we put the stitches? Is there a design we should use? It'll be an adventure.

I know, I know- I really don't need any more projects...but I couldn't pass it up! It's funny that I like this quilt so much since I am really not a "yellow" person, but for some reason I love this quilt! It cheers me up.

Everytime I see it, it makes me happy!

Whoever you were who made this quilt top, thank you!