Men are IDIOTS

This blog is called Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

Recently the bike part is severely lacking unless you count the time I spend with the Altitude Simulation Training.
The Quilter part - well happening, but not as much as I would like
The CRAZY part -oh yeah - in SPADES!!!!!   And yesterday (Sunday) was NO EXCEPTION.

While at the bike show a couple of months ago, I ended up volunteering for the Toronto Marathon. Initially I was going to be a marshal on my bike. Why not - volunteer on my bike. Could be fun and I would get some bike time and volunteer at the same time. Then during the conversation, I mentioned that last time I worked one of these events, I had driven a truck for them. OOOPS - now I am driving a truck. Seems lots of people DO NOT want to drive a truck.

Several weeks ago, the organizer of the marathon and his logistics guy drove me around to show me where we would be driving. No problem - got that down pat.

Oh yes - I have changed the names in this story to protect the idio---  I mean INNOCENT!!!!


I arrive at Queen's Park at SIX AM!!!!   OK - I'm tired already!  Now we have to wait - well there are four trucks in all. The first two take off pretty much right away as they are fully staffed (two per truck) and they have the first pit stop stuff. Yes - that is what we had in the trucks - tables, chairs, gatorade, and other supplies. I am the last to leave because of the location of my stops. But where is my co-pilot?????   Some idiot man did not show up. No problem - I am OK to drive the truck myself.

I arrive at the first pit stop - right outside the Hilton on University Street. Lesson learned - that little strip of rubber off the back step of the truck is NOT sturdy enough to support me. For some reason, the very FIRST time I get out of the back of the truck - I GRACEFULLY fell right onto University Street - right outside the Hilton. You are KIDDING ME!!!!!!  

Thankfully I fell into the curb lane as there were cars coming - oh crap, but I hopped right back up and said "I'm OK!!!!!" even though there was no one to hear me. Thank god I did not have a co-pilot. Didn't appear to be any damage except that the fleshy part under my thumb was sore. Well no time to waste - let's get this truck unloaded. Fortunately the pit stop people were waiting by this time and they helped unload the truck.

Then off to the next top which was down by the Humber River foot bridge. The pit stop was in a park several hundred feet off the parking lot. There was a wide enough path to back the truck down and since I had time - I backed the truck down. Unloaded my stuff and off to the next stop. I was "fortunate" enough to get my co-pilot at this stop. A young fellow who was attending school to become a fire fighter.

We dropped off the rest of the stuff and all was very uneventful. Then we headed up to the beginning of the marathon (Mel Lastman Square) and started to pick up the stuff that had been dropped off.

Now if any of you have participated in a marathon, you know that people tend (especially on a cold, rainy day) to dress in layers and once they start running - they shed said layers. There were HEAPS and HEAPS of clothing at the start and for several kilometers - right on YONGE STREET. Anyway an organization was supposed to pick up the clothing, but they did not arrive - probably because it was raining. We each had something we were picking up - I got gatorade tubs - yeah - nice and light. But we helped each other. We were going to put the clothing (WET) into bags and drop them off at a shelter. FORGET THAT. It was a disaster and it all went onto the garbage truck.

This is our convoy. Now I have to tell you about my co-pilot. Although he was a good worker, he spent an enormous amount of time on the phone with his girl friend. And he got all soft and mushy when he talked to her. Yes - he was HEN PECKED!!!!   At lunch he opted to get a ride back to his car and go home because she wasn't feeling well. Good grief!!!!!   So yes - I was now by myself again. And I was OK with that.

Unloading the garbage truck 

Everything was going merrily along. We zigzagged across the city picking up clothes, garbage, tables, chairs, gatorade tubs and various other stuff. We unloaded the garbage truck and THEN we arrived at the parking lot which had the pit stop 200 meters off the parking lot. I suggested that rather than taking all four trucks down that path - that we take ONE truck down - load up all the stuff and back out. However remember that I was the ONLY woman on the truck crew and the other drivers and co-pilots were IDIOTS - I mean MEN. The guy with the empty truck went down the path and the others decided to follow. I WALKED. I grabbed my three gatorade tubs and walked back to my truck. I waited - one truck backed down the path, the second truck backed down the path and the third truck decided to TURN AROUND on the SOGGY GROUND.

Yep - you can guess what happened!!!!!

The STUCK truck - I am in the parking lot

How many men does it take to determine that the truck is NOT going anywhere without a tow truck?????

NOT going anywhere!!!!

I watched the scenario from the parking lot. And I was yelling at the idiot who got stuck!!!!!   Now we had radios in the truck and the poor fellow (idiot!) had to call our head guy who was somewhere else on the course and tell him that he was stuck!!!  I thought I was going to die LAUGHING!!!!!    Especially since this particular person said right to my face - OH NO PROBLEM - I can drive in there!!!!   I thought I was going to have to use the porta potty. Anyway - after sitting in the truck yelling - I TOLD YOU SO and thinking it would be insulting to walk down to the stuck truck - I couldn't resist. And you bet I had my camera at the ready!!!!!   Ended up that the idiot had to wait for a tow truck - a BIG tow truck while our poor leader was incredulous that a truck had got stuck there, especially after I had been warned and passed on the warning. Apparently this guy has a reputation for having a mishap with trucks in the past. I wonder if he will drive the next year???????

Do you know how many Gatorade tubs I picked up??????

A LOT - they go all the way to the front of the truck!!!!

After arriving back at the finish line (all the runners were long gone by this time). The drivers hung around and tried to get things cleaned up and vehicles returned to the rental company. Now the race gets a lot of donations for the bags for the runners. And they had a lot of leftovers. So I was offered a box of chocolate.

A lovely box of chocolate

 Then after hanging around a bit more - I got offered more chocolate

FOUR more boxes of chocolate

 Then after hanging around some more (hey - I was busting my butt hauling stuff from place to place and getting a set of keys that someone lost - no time to waste here). Anyway - I was offered EVEN more chocolate

ELEVEN more boxes of chocolate

Each box had 7 bags of chocolate

And it is YUMMY!!!!!!

So if you get chocolate from me in the next couple of weeks - you will know where it came from.

I also got a huge box of Vector cereal, and two other boxes of stuff - cold compress bandages and some vitamins or something.

Cereal boxes

All the loot

Overall it was a FUN day - a LONG day and a PHYSICALLY exhausting day. My poor arm was pretty sore for a couple of days after the fall but seems to be OK now. I was VERY lucky that nothing broke!!!!


Just another chapter in the crazy life of a cyclist that quilts!!!!  

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!!!

Coming out of my shell!!!!

My goodness - it appears that Blogger had a few problems this past week. They had to take all the posted blogs off from Thursday - I see it is back on now and then I could not get into Blogger to post. And all likely because someone was bored and decided to hack the site. I mean really - why can't people find a hobby these days!!  A USEFUL hobby.

I am happy to report  that I am losing that lazy feeling and actually getting back to work. I don't think it was just me - there seemed to be lots of people afflicted with the same lethargy. At least - I just laid around - I didn't do anything destructive.

Well how are those hearts coming along????? I managed to get TWO more done. Only SIX left.

Yes - there are THREE hearts here, but the green one was already stitched down. 

And yeah - I finally finished that second to last block for The Patchwork Sampler. It is a big one - 12 inches square and lots of fiddly pieces.

Block Number 44 -The Patchwork Sampler

You know what this means - there is ONE block left to piece. The pieces have all been cut for a long time, but when I went to lay it out this morning - I don't think my brain was working properly as the colour contrast of some pieces is NOT good. I have to recut a few pieces. Hopefully by the end of this week I will be done. Then trimming a bunch of half square triangles - well let's just say the end is in sight!!!!!


Then I had to get my butt in gear to work on my finishing project for this month. My Group of Four is meeting on Monday night and I had done NOTHING. Well that is not true - I had got out the project - I had even put it on the design wall and was trying to figure out what to do with it. After counting blocks and shifting pieces everywhere and opening up EQ7, I resorted to what I had originally planned to do even before we swapped the blocks.

9-patch

Hopefully none of them will look at the blog this weekend. Gosh - it is getting tiresome  - all this working on secret projects and not able to reveal any of them. Anyway a group of us exchanged 9-patches (6 1/2") in brights and also 6 1/2" plain squares - also in brights - although there are one or two in this quilt that really do not qualify as brights. After tossing and turning the blocks, I tried to go for blocks of colours. Wasn't easy and isn't perfect, but I'm quite happy with it. Had to cut a few extra plain squares, but that allowed me to keep the colours the way I wanted. It is very easy and quick (thank goodness) to sew together. Found a decent fabric as the setting triangles and away I went. Got to figure out something for the borders and get it done for Monday.

Yesterday was my last sit n sew day for this season. Yes - once I get the rest of the money sitting here in the system - I will have successfully raised all my money for this year's fund raisers!!!   $2,500 for The Ride to Conquer Cancer and $1,500 for The Healing Cycle. Thanks to everyone who participated in my sew days.

I have to show you this quilt that Gail was working on. She made it from the batik strip exchange that we did several years ago. I just LOVE the quilt. Hmmmm - I still have all those strips ........

Double Pinwheel - Eleanor Burns

I should have taken a better picture, but it is HUGE. I made one of these quilts as one of my first quilts. But my strips were MUCH wider and I did not need so many blocks. Let's just say that Gail got her money's worth with the pressing at the sit n sew day. I was pressing ALL day for her. Daphne was busy with pillow cases and placemats and I did NOT get any pictures of them.

Marilyn worked on a number of small projects and got them all complete.

Envelope bag

She made a couple of these envelope bags (which reminds me very much of the pouch I used to have - and I dug out because I would like to remake it!). She also worked on another cool little bag which I did not get a picture and something else - oh dear I have forgotten already!!!!   Now I know why I take pictures of everything.

Well it is time to head out for another crazy day. High Altitude training - up to 50 minutes at 12,000 Feet!!!!! Yep - let's just dive right in. And then TWO machine quilting classes.


Have a great day!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!

Mystery and Mystique

The retreat was definitely filled with LOTS of mystery and mystique.

After cramming the car full of sewing supplies (mine in the trunk) and Mary's in the back seat - the bike strapped on the back and we were off. We chatted all the way there and in NO TIME (well it seemed like no time) we had arrived. So nice to walk into the EMPTY house and see it fill up with all our goodies.

My STUFF - well part of it. It seemed that both Mary and myself kept adding just ONE MORE PROJECT

It was nice to see everyone together. Although we all keep in touch, we rarely are all together at the same time. So lots to catch up on.

Now we did go to the retreat to sew, BUT..........  a lot of other things happened........

The field trip out back to find a small yellow violet that Mary got excited about. 

A fridge CRAMMED with food

Lots of eating all that food (we were VERY HEALTHY in our meal choices). They hate me for nagging, but they just like to bug me. I think they are all appreciative of the better food choices!!!!

Geocaching - in a cemetery!!!!!

Geocaching by the river - AT NIGHT!!!!!

Lots of chatter!!!!

Reading magazines

Flo CRUSHED by the bag of GIANT marshmallows found on one of the many trips to the small general store!!!!

Those marshmallows are HUGE - a meal by itself!!!

Lots of relaxing

More relaxing!!!

Relaxing in the sun!!!!

There was some running happening and I went out twice on my bike. 35K and 45K. Did I mention that there are a LOT of hills in that area. Holy cow and with a head wind - well the mountains will be NO CHALLENGE to me. OK - let's face it since I have not been out much - I was knackered after those rides!!!!  Oh and let's not forget the trips to the quilt stores and did you know they DELIVER - in case you get back and those who did NOT go shopping want more of what you bought!!!!   Excellent service!!!

I know - you are asking yourself - did anyone get any work done?????   Well - yes they did.....

Sharron - quilting

The dining room people!

The kitchen people!!!!!

 In case anyone was keeping score - the Dining Room people did WAY MORE than the kitchen people!!!!

Lynn busy tracing a pattern

Linda - adding BLING!!!!!

I know you see these people at their machines, but did they actually produce anything?????   Well here is the problem. We are working on a round robin and it is secret!!!  While we can see the other quilts - we are NOT allowed to see our own. So NO PICTURES!!!!!   And most of the seven quilts were worked on during the retreat. I CANNOT post any of the pictures!!!!   DRAT, and from what I saw at the retreat - I really really really want to see what mine looks like because the rest of them are AMAZING. And yes - I know you are asking how could they work on each other's project when that person is there????   Well I was away on my bike a lot, there were shopping trips, people sleeping in and outright BANNING them from one room or the other!!!!!

I spent a LOT of time working on a project. Do you want to see???  NO WAIT - it is a mystery quilt and I am under STRICT orders - NO PICTURES until the reveal in the fall. DRAT!!!!!!!!   Can't I post anything?????   Oh Marian was working on a quilt. WAIT - that is a challenge and not to be revealed until later this month. OK - isn't anyone working on something that isn't a SECRET???????

Linda and her Christmas Tree quilt. There are lights to go on the border

Mary's City Quilt (contemporary quilt)

Mary  - lap quilt

Flo - table runner and placemats

Linda - quilted and bound this cute little wall hanging

Pauline - finished piecing this gorgeous quilt from orientals!!

And me????  I made SEVENTEEN blocks like this. Yep - that's it!!!!   (Well besides that mystery which took a LOT of time)

And now back to reality. Yikes - I was really liking that retreat thing!!!!!

And I started my high altitude training this morning. Essentially you wear a mask (that crushes your face!) and you control the oxygen content of the air you breath. While you do this - you are riding a stationery bike and every once in a while, they check the level of oxygen in your blood. Eight minutes breathing oxygen depleted air and then two minutes of regular air. Did this for 38 minutes. The first time they checked my oxygen levels, he decreased the amount of oxygen in the air. Came back later and decreased it AGAIN!!!!

After I was done, he said I must have some level of fitness for them to decrease the oxygen so quickly. I think tomorrow will be a different story!!!!   It was easy, but because it was still early in the morning, I was tired. And through it all - I listened to my audio book - appropriately enough a story based in Tibet!!!!   Where oxygen levels are considerably lower than here!!!

Oh yes - I have to tell you about a first at the retreat - I was EXHAUSTED. Must have been a combination of the cycling and the release of the quilt show. I could NOT stay awake. Thank god - no one thought to take a picture!!!!!   Anyway - had a good catch up of sleep. And ladies - who STOLE my pink Sponge Bob PJs???  Must get my sleuthing abilities out and found the culprit!!!!


And speaking of sleep - I see it is time for bed!!!   Yep - no time in the mornings this week to blog.

Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!

It was ONE of those days!!!!

Ever had one of those days - come on - we've all had them. I (like most everyone in this area) is absolutely tired of the rain. How do those who live in the wetter areas survive?????   With that tiredness comes a bit of fatigue, lack of energy - well you get the picture. Plus it was the first day after the show where I didn't really have anything to do! I mean - something specific.

However I did manage to get lots done, but not what I wanted. I tidied up more stuff for the quilt show, worked out at the gym even though I DID NOT WANT to. Was not my best work out. Errands (how can one spend so much time on errands!!!!!)

Did a lot of cutting and prepping for the retreat. Yes - I am leaving early tomorrow morning for a four day retreat. I can't wait! And as I am cutting, marking, prepping - I'm thinking - would it not be nice to just sit and do hand work for FOUR days. Well - I might just do that. However I have spent a lot of time prepping for the sewing parts. And NO none of the projects are new!  These are class samples that never got finished and my mystery quilt.

Here is all my stuff ready for the weekend. OH - I should rephrase that - this is all my SEWING stuff. I'll pack the machine and clothes later!!!!

Projects packed and ready for the retreat!!!

Had to stop at Micheal's for some supplies. And look what I found to cheer me up!!!!!   They are fairly big and now I have to find a home for them. I had two coupons for Micheal's. A 10% off entire purchase and a 40% off one item. As I was standing at the cash wondering which one I could use - the cashier informed me that I could use BOTH in the same transaction. How civilized is that!!!!!!!

No - I have not had a chance to look at the photos of the quilt show. We had the most amazing display of mini-quilts for raffle. 22 on day one and 21 on day two. There were embroidered ones, pieced ones, arty ones, traditional ones. The quilts were so appealing that the girls were making up new sets of numbers as quick as they could because they ran out of numbers!!!!!   Of course - I had to buy tickets - I wanted to add to my collection. And I did win!!!!   Here is my new addition. Oh - I should take a picture of all of my minis - well I will do that another day. Not a lot of time this morning as Alwin has roped me into going to the gym again this morning!!!!! How did that happen?????

Mini quilt from Brampton Quilt Show.

 And while I have not done any more sewing on this - I thought I would show you the final arrangement of blocks. I have to be wide awake to sew this, but I really like the quilt and I am missing ONE block. Rather than fussy cut my last piece of fabric and not have ONE lone cube, I am trying to match the green - boy that is hard. That is what the hunk of green is hanging off the bottom right.

Thanks to Ronda for helping me load my GPSs (yes TWO of them) for the weekend. No - not in case we get lost, but in preparation for geocaching. Haven't done much and should be fun.


Well that is it for me. Hopefully next week, I will get back in the groove! and I should have LOADS of show n tell from the retreat.


Have a great day!


Ciao!!!!!

What a QUILT SHOW!!!!!!!!

Wow - it is hard to believe that all that planning and the show is now over!!!!   What will I worry about - what will I do with all my spare time????  JUST KIDDING!!!!!   Although I did NOT sleep well last night. Too keyed up about the show? Too excited about Monday Motivators? Too deep into the novel I am reading??  I do not know why, but it was a bad night. I decided to get up and read. Here is something to think about if you use an electronic reader. You will be temporarily BLINDED when you turn the darn thing on in the dark!!!!!

Thanks to all the people who stopped by to see the show. If I did not get a chance to chat with you I apologize. It was a busy show right to the end and I tried to at least say hello. It was so nice to see so many people I haven't seen for a while.
Thanks to my guardian angel (Ronda) for bringing a HOT Timmie's tea to me. (The arena was a tad cold) The tea warmed me up.
Thanks to my impostors for bringing a HUGE smile to my face - those two should NEVER be left alone.
Thanks to the guild members for doing some OUTSTANDING work. It was beautiful, varied and MANY MANY surprises.
Thanks to the Team Canada Kendo Club for helping out with the show and to Blanca and her family who helped make that happen.
A SPECIAL THANKS to the committee members. You helped put on a beautiful (almost flawless - there always has to be a glitch or two) show. And more important you made it look so easy as you all took charge of your specific area.. Would NOT have been a successful show without your inputs.


I will have to sort through the HUNDREDS of pictures I took and post a few - sorry - my brain just isn't working this morning.

But in one of my moments of going CLUTTER FREE, I decided to bring home all (well most of them) the bins from the quilt show so they could be sorted. You know how it is - things get left in a box. The helpers don't want to take responsibility of throwing things away so I decided to go through it all.

The one thing I have to say about my car - you can put a LOT in it. As I was loading it - I thought - don't forget I have to put all my quilts in the car as well!!!!!

Back seat

BAck seat

Front seat (yes - there was room for me!)

Trunk

Oh yes - I will miss this car when it's time is up!!!  And I will be hard pressed to find a new one (cubbies in the front area are critical!!!) but I digress.


Anyway - got home unloaded it all and sorted through all the odds and ends!!!   Oh yes - I was on a roll. Now I have the aftermath to deal with - writing up recommendations, suggestions, blah blah blah. And the best news - I WILL NOT be doing the show in two years. Someone has stepped in to replace me - so I can sit back and relax!!!!   This was my third show in a row that I ran!


It is amazing how long it takes to get the show up and looking just right (about 8 hours) - well from the time I arrived. Taking down - well in just under TWO hours, I was leaving the arena.

Quilt show GONE!

In case you can't read that clock in the background -

ADIOS!!!!  (and in record time)

I really really want to thank the Team Canada Kendo Club for ALL THEIR HELP in helping to tear down the show. With those extra sets of hands that show was down in RECORD time. Can they come back in two years??????


Do you remember a couple of weeks ago - I talked about Lisa and her beautiful basket of fabric beads. And what was she going to do with them????   She made these gorgeous bracelets!!!!!   They are awesome Lisa.

Lisa's bracelets

Lisa's bracelets

 Oh yes - the arena was coolish!!   OK - it was cold. We hold our quilt show in an arena - it is a very inexpensive way to get a lot of space. The only problem is that the ice has barely been out of the arena and that means the "cold" is still in the building. There is NO HEAT in this part of the arena. I wore wool socks both days with running shoes and my feet were nice and toasty. However look at this cooler that had ice. This was the last day of the show and the ice in the cooler still had NOT melted!!!!!   Pretty cool - literally!!!

Ice bucket - DID NOT MELT

Look at Little Sammy - peering through the stairs.

Am I going to get a treat?????

That is it for me for today. Oh yes - I have a note to those impostors and this was brought to my attention by Judy (a TRUE friend). the orange scarf is MY TRADEMARK and those impostors - well there is some copyright infringement going on!!!!   Should I sue????    I'll contemplate that!


On that note - I'm out of here. See if I can survive the day without a nap.


Have a great day!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!

IMPOSTERS!!!!!!

We had a lot of visitors yesterday (hope to see more of you all today!!!) and it was so much fun to visit with everyone. Wow - and I did get some time at the end of the day to actually look at the quilts. This is a TALENTED group. There is such a variety of work - again - I am really proud to say that I am a member of the Brampton Quilter's Guild.

Show time - 10 -4 (Sunday - May 1)
Jim Archdekin Rec Center
292 Conestoga Blvd
Brampton (Heartlake area)




The show opens today at 10 AM (lots of door prizes available). There is a mini-quilt raffle (and ladies - the quilts today are as nice or nicer than those from yesterday!!!! and NO I did not win anything!!! - got to buy MORE tickets today!)

The vendors all had wonderful things for sale. I did put a bit of a dent in my little cash stash!!!  The members boutique has great magazines, books, LISA's jangly bracelets - ooops - I forgot to take a picture of them. I'll do that today. Quilts, luggage tags, and many other goodies - you must come to see!!!!   And bring MONEY!!!

The challenge is great fun to see what each person did with the same fabric, community projects has a great display of their work, plus what is being shipped to Japan and in honour of that display we had a number of guests in attendance.

I will NOT get the names right, but the two gentlemen in the front are from the Team Canada Kendo group. The coach on the left and one of the team members on the right. Blanca holding court with her family members in the back!

They were the most wonderful people to chat with and I learned a lot about the uniform they wear and the "sword" (I think that is what it is called). 

Being a martial art - there is a lot of ceremony and respect in the sport. It was intriguing to listen to them chat. And in turn - they learned a thing or two about quilting. Blanca made a quilt as a fund raiser from the cloths (I will get the name) that they wear under their helmet. 

In full uniform. It is quite imposing with the wire mesh mask and thickly padded shoulder guards.

And will you look at this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMPOSTERS!!!

Who needs enemies when you have friends like this?????   I can't imagine which of them instigated this little "scarf" incident. You see when they read that I would be the one wearing the orange scarf - they thought they would have a little fun with it!!!!   Oh yes - my friends!!!!   Never a dull moment to say the least. And did you note the BLACK CLOTHING!!!!!   The little buggers!!!!!   Marian NEVER wears black!!!!!  or yes - and that is Carol on the left!

Anyway - there is lots and lots to see at the show. It closes today at 4 PM. Make sure you get a chance to get out and see it. Bring your camera!!!!!

I recently bought a new camera which I am trying out this weekend. And I just found out that the camera has a REMOTE CONTROL for taking pictures. How cool is that. 

Camera remote control

No more setting the self timer and running like mad to get in the picture!!!!   It works up to 5 meters away. Hmmmm - got to find some good use for that!  

Well on that note - I must don that ORANGE SCARF and head out to the show. Got to take lots of pictures and lots of notes today for future shows. 

Have a great day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!!

PS - Started to sew that One-Block Wonder together today and crap - I had to rip out most of what I had sewn (just one row). I think I managed to turn every piece around and upside down. I guess I wasn't quite awake yet!!!!!