Odds and Ends

1.  When I was at Sager Brown (mission trip) I frequented two quilt shops I found locally.  Well, about an hour away which is as good as local for a quilter.  One of them was The Borne Quilter in Lafayette, Louisiana.  It's a great shop with really nice people who were outgoing and friendly.  The husband of the woman who owns it writes their newsletter - under duress I think, but hey, whatever works.  Ya'll, he writes the most hilarious newsletter every single time.  I love his sense of humor and the way he talks about quilters and the shop.  You really should go read it - I promise you'll get a laugh out of it.  Just click on the link and then on Newsletter to get his take on the Houston Quilt Market.
2.  It's a rare occasion when I can't sleep but this was one of those times.  I hate when that happens.  Anyway, I'm up reading e-mails and thinking about that fabric from Riley Blake Designs that I won...when I got an e-mail from Kimbuktu at Fabric Fascination sending me this great link from Riley Blake Designs.  Look at this cute thing!

It's a zipper flower!  And in the middle...a vintage button.  :)  Want to know how to make it?  Here's the link.  I can't wait to try this - won't it be cute on a purse?  I am loving Riley Blake Designs more and more every day.  :)  They can surely send me fabric any time they want to!  And by the way, I have an idea for what I'm going to make - it's cooking.  Not done, just simmering.
3.  I told ya'll about buying a new car a couple of weeks ago.  Love it.  Love everything about it.  Especially OnStar.  I've never had that before so those of you who have can probably tell me all the benefits (feel free to do that because I don't want to miss a thing!) but I can tell you right now I love getting directions.  We have a GPS but I hate plugging that thing in and trying to find a place to put it because it keeps falling off the windshield, but with OnStar I just call the nice lady and tell her where I want to go and she sends me the directions.  I just want to go places so I can call her, she's so nice.  I started to call her and ask for directions to WalMart but since I go there several times a week I figured if I did that after a few times she'd recognize my voice.  But tomorrow I'm going to a friend's in another town to a stitching group so I'll call the nice lady for directions.  Yes I've been there before, a time or two.  Or Fourteen.  But she doesn't know that and besides I've already told you my memory doesn't always catch up with my brain so I might forget halfway there.  It could happen.
4.  While I was on the mission trip I ate in the cafeteria the whole time I was there.  I was faithful to walk every morning and tried hard to watch what I ate.  I made it to the last week without gaining weight but then all of a sudden there were 3 extra pounds showing up on the scale.  Now that doesn't sound like a big deal but I slaved for four months before I went on that trip to lose 20 pounds and I bought new pants two sizes smaller.  So three pounds can make a real difference in breathing or not breathing in those new pants.  And here's the part that has me worried.  I can't seem to get it off.  Oh, if I were back walking every day or counting points every day it would go...but I can't seem to get back in the rhythm of that.  This is bad, very bad.  What happens when you lose your rhythm - how do you get it back?