Sunday Snapshot #5

So here I am - about to run my first ever race!  The Community Fund Run 5k to help raise money for the local non-profit organizations.  It wasn't too hot and there was lots of cloud cover, thankfully, but there was lots of humidity - not so good.   Most of the groups benefitting from the Run set up tables about themselves - you can see ours here too! 

I ran most of the race, only walking a bit here & there, and was quite proud of myself for making it through.  I guess it was inevitable that I finally sign-up for one of these races as D&M have run several marathons.  I thought I had a good time considering I didn't really train for this specifically and it was my 1st race.  5k in 35:57 minutes!

I open at the close

I'm still a bit amped up from watching Harry Potter 7: parts 1 & 2. That should quickly wear off, but oh was that awesome!  It's been awhile since I'd seen part 1 so it was nice to watch that again on the big screen.  Also, it helped build some of the anticipation for the final installment - which did not disappoint.


There weren't a whole lots of costumes that I could tell - mostly HP shirts and scarves and similar accessories instead.  My favorite was the family with a 5 yr. old boy dressed as a house elf!


Part 2 picks up just where we left off and is a wild ride from start to finish.  I mentioned I'd been to almost all the movies at the midnight showing and was so glad I could do it one last time to finish it out right.  It's a bit sad to know the movies are finished.  That the years of waiting for the next book, re-reading while waiting for the next movie and the progression of both the characters and the actors, is over for this series.  Watching it on screen makes me want to re-read the books again because that's where the story can be relived over & over.  If you wussed out   ;)    and couldn't go see part 2 tonight/this morning, get out and go once you have the time because it is awesome!


I'd love to hear your thoughts after you see it!

news notes

With all the wacky weather going on around the country, it's only fair to mention that it is HOT here in west KY.  The last couple days started with a heat advisory and quickly went into the red zone with excessive heat or dangerous heat warnings.  Our highs hovered around 98 degrees and then with the heat index added in we hit 113-115 degrees for several days.  I was glad I worked inside those days and not under direct sunlight because it was not pretty. Just walking from the car to inside was more than enough to set you thinking of pools, ice cream, frozen drinks & cooler temps.  We've had some storms move in and that has at least broken up the high heat temps. a bit so that's a giant plus in my book.




As a follow-up to the last posting, I managed to reach my summer reading goal and stopped by the library to turn in my paper for prizes.  I read 13 books (and 1/2 way through another) and earned 2 points for attending an evening lecture which was interesting.  So I won a notebook, t-shirt & tote bag for my efforts - go team!




Le Tour de France is in it's 2nd week of racing (out of 3) and has earned the nickname tour de crash for this year.  It's been a messy 1st week of crashes and lots of riders have withdrawn from the race due to injuries.  Tomorrow starts the mountain stages in the Pyrenees and it'll be fun to see how that shakes up the standings.  So far it's been a joy to watch the sprint finishes and cheer on American Tyler Farrar & the fastest man Mark Cavendish.  Thanks to Versus 7 NBC for the evening replay/recaps so that us working people can watch the stage & the always exciting finishes each day.  :o)

I'm super excited because tomorrow is Harry Potter day!  I'm going with L & some friends to the double feature here - 9pm #7 part I followed by the midnight showing of #7 part II.  Should be pretty awesome and I was thrilled the ticket for both only cost me $12.  I've been to almost all of the midnight shows for the HP movies so it'll be a nice way to finish 'em out.  Can't wait!




Lastly, some of you may be shocked at this:  Saturday, I'm running (run/walking) my first 5K ever.  Ack!  It's finally happened, after watching dad run races & marathons and then suck mom & J in too I guess it was inevitable that I participate too.  It's for the local Community Fund Run and sponsors non-profit organizations here in town & helps them raise some money too.  Will be a fun event for sure and stay tuned for details about that!

Cheers!

summer reading

Okay, show of hands - how many of you dear readers participated in the Sneaks summer reading program as a kid?  *raises hand* I'm pretty sure I did for as long as I can remember.  I recall watching the Sneaks video in library class at school (always a highlight), keeping lists of completed books, trekking to the library to collect each prize and diving into more books & far-away plots than I could possibly count.

I even spent a summer as one of the kid volunteers for the program & got to pass out all the prizes & clues to the young readers. Now that you know how much of a dork I was......here's the point of the story!

Imagine my thrill when I discovered that my local library is sponsoring an adult summer reading program titled Novel Destinations!  Sweet! 

apparently this isn't limited to my library - it's out there for adults at other libraries so check it out!

I got an official book tracking list and gleefully started in on a stack of books.  Each book is worth a point, and there are even several prizes to earn along the way. 

        5 books/points  = a notebook

       10 = t-shirt 

       15+ = tote bag 

So far I'm up to 12 books and still have a week to go before the deadline! It's fun to track my progress & feel like a kid again.  :o)

Quilt Camp

best. job. ever. Seriously.  Each year at work, around the end of June we hold Quilt Camp for kids.  Obviously this falls into my job description and I spent several weeks looking for & deciding on projects for the kids, choosing & prepping materials, registering kids, gathering volunteers and working with the sewing machines to gear up for camp.  Then it was time for camp itself where I got to teach kids how to quilt and work on sewing projects for 2 weeks straight.  So fun!  

Here's the breakdown:

 Each session lasts 4 days, meeting each day for 2.5 hours and along with the sewing, it includes a snack and forays into the galleries for inspiration & a stretch break.

Week 1 - mornings - Beginner ages 5-10  - 20 kids

               afternoons - Beginner ages 10-17  - 7 kids

Week 2 - mornings - Intermediate ages 10-17 (learning to rotary cut)  - 9 kids

               afternoons - Advanced ages 13-17  - 5 kids

Beginner

It was difficult to decide on projects since each level (Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced) works on a different project with different skill sets.  I pre-cut the pieces for the beginner kids, so they just sew 'em all together and pillow-turn to finish their quilts.  This sounds easy, but with 20 kiddos it can get complicated really quickly. They made snowball blocks and sewed 'em all together into scrappy quilts.

For the beginners, I cut a total of: 250 - 8" squares, 1240+ 3" squares, plus backing & batting times 20.

Intermediate

The Intermediates learn or refresh their rotary cutting skills, so they get to cut out their own pieces, sew them together, quilt them and attach binding. This pattern is called 'Pave the Way' designed by Karen Gray and shown in the Spring/Summer 2011 Quilt Sampler Magazine. 

 Our Advanced campers also get to cut, sew, quilt & bind their pieces, but are usually working with more complex designs/patterns/techniques.  This year we paper pieced a star and then set it on point.

Advanced

It's so great to see what color combos the kids put together, how they choose their fabrics and to watch them create a quilt of their very own.  By the end of the week, it tends to be a race against the clock to get that last border stitched in place, the final turns of the binding completed or the label attached & signed.  In the end, as the parents are trickling in to pick up the happy campers, we're working to get everyone to smile for a group photo before they all head home with quilts in hand and smiles on their faces.

*the photos are my samples of the projects - I should have some of the kids' work coming soon!

I've cut more fabric, wound more bobbins, threaded & re-threaded the machines and switched the feet more times than I can count in the last 2 weeks.  Today was the last day and it was wonderful to see all the finished products from these young quilters.  It was just as wonderful to know I had made it through my 1st quilt camp successfully and had loads of fun doing it!  :D

Sunday Snapshot #4

I had a fantastic time last weekend back in MD as a bridesmaid for Liz & Dan on their special day!  It was great to see friends again and be apart of the celebrations. 

Congrats!

The Mass was beautiful, the weather cooperated and we had a grand time taking photos (in spite of the bugs) and partied it up at the reception!    

Here's to the newlyweds!

I was able to pack in a lot during my stay and amongst all the wedding festivities - bachelorette, nails, rehearsal, hair, wedding, reception - I was able to spend some time with the brother & other friends as well.  So good to see you all - let me know when you're coming to visit KY.    ;) 

Flood 2011

In January of 1937, the Ohio River flooded across several states - including the city of Paducah.  At the time the only barricade was a levee that couldn't hold back the river, which eventually reached 60.6 feet.  Buildings downtown have markers that indicate how high the waters rose as it flooded the streets.  Afterwords, the flood walls were built to protect the downtown from future floods and has done that job well. Although, up until this point; the walls have never been tested with this much water.   <--yikes!

closing up the walls

With all the rain we've had in the last several weeks the river has pushed into the major flood stage and currently several counties are in a state of emergency, bridges are closed, roads are flooded out and people in outlying or low lying areas have evacuated. The annual AQS Quilt Show had to move to several other venues in town once they closed up the flood walls last Monday- the Convention Center is on the river side.   *oops*
Interestingly, the walls don't get closed very often; some co-workers say maybe it's happened once in the 10 years or so they've been here. The predicted crest is for 55.8 feet by Thursday and the forecast has little sunshines in it for the next several days - hooray!  Right now, we are at 54.7 feet and so far it seems flood 2011 will be the new 2nd place holder for highest crests.

Yesterday the Corps of Engineers blasted out some areas of the earthen levee out at Birds Point (South-east Missouri) to divert the water into the floodway fields/farm land.  The initial blasts shook my apartment enough that I had to turn the news on to figure out what it was.  This should help keep the river from getting up to 58/59 feet and will help keep it out of towns on the Mississippi & Ohio rivers.  Several businesses on the way into work are on lower ground at the edges of the walls and have water in the parking lots, car dealers moved their stock to higher ground and lots of dirt has been trucked in to build some berms to help stop the water from spreading.  

We took precautions at the museum and moved all the quilts in storage off-site to our backup higher ground location.  Putting boxes into plastic bags & loading them on & off some vans/panel trucks.  Boxing up quilts that need to go into storage and placing them on the higher shelves in the vault; reviewing how to take down quilts in the gallery in case we need to grab & go made for an interesting week so far.

all closed off - apparently the seepage is normal

I'll leave you dear reader, with the link for the city flood wall cameras that give a good view of the water at the walls which has been fun to watch over the last few days!  Flood wall camera views.  Usually there's a road there so you can drive alongside the walls and view the river - pictures from earlier posts about the rising river were taken in that area!