Time of my LIFE!

I have never been on a zip line though I've seen photos of a number of my friends who did the zip line canopy tour in Costa Rica.  And I really want to do that some day.  So when a friend of mine mentioned she'd be in the area and they were going on a zip line canopy tour, and invited me... I GOT EXCITED!

I couldn't decide which gadget to take.  The phone that takes fuzzy photos if I'm jittery (and I was sure I WOULD BE jittery) or the old unreliable camera that I wouldn't mind loosing. 

My hostess, one of my very best friends in college.  I haven't seen her in approximately 17 or 18 years. 

We started the course with a little training session and some fun little obstacle course type things. 

Jody was getting ready to fly, that's me behind the guide in yellow.

Two of the best guides ever, these two were amazing.  We were laughing the whole time!

Me on top of the world.  I was terrified but they didn't give us time to stop and think about anything, just move, move, move.  And it was SO exhilarating! 

This just goes to show that there was never a serious moment, the whole time.  He was a RIOT!

That's me showing good form.  I'm not spinning, which means I'm doing a good job steering.  That hand in the air is ready to brake if I started coming into one of the bases too quickly.  And I won't tell you how  many times I was yelled at for doing it wrong but it didn't matter.  Your body has instincts that aren't consistant with good flying form.  So... I did learn how to do it and I was pretty pleased with myself!

That's me flying.  I can't begin to describe what a rush that is!

They called this one "The Step of Faith."  I figured that each time I'd stepped into thin air up there in the sky I was making a step of faith.  I was up there on that platform in the sky, and I stepped off that platform like it was the most natural thing in the world.  Did the falling and the landing quite nicely.  Actually, they thought it would be fun to dangle me while the guy at the bottom spun me.  I was laughing so hard I could barely yell "Hey, don't mess with the white girl!"

View from the top.  When I look at this photo I can almost feel that platform swaying under my feet and the wind in my hair and that exhilaration feeling I had up there.  I still can't believe I did it, I was certainly scared.  But it was SO MUCH FUN!

One of these days I'm going to do that canopy tour in Costa Rica!

If you ever get the chance to take a zip line tour, do it!

Living full tilt and loving very moment,

-Carmen Rose

My Fairy Godmother (or is that Fabric Godmother)

Waved her wand over my house yesterday! We are all grinning like crazy around here! I walked in and saw these two boxes sitting on the office chair, the return address said Melody Johnson and I about fell over! They are SO BIG, and THERE ARE TWO! I lifted a corner... they were HEAVY! I instantly knew that both were full to the gills of fabric! I had to finish my work before I could open them, but it really made me work hard and fast, I was sooo excited!


I had to clean an area on my sewing table and hubby was watching and laughing. “I can’t believe you don’t have that box open yet!” He was picking on me cause he knew I was barely containing my excitement. I opened the first one and upended it on the table. I was digging through it like a kid! Then I started stacking that stuff aside to make room for the second box. The second one didn’t feel like an upending kind of box, so I put it on a nearby chair and began to excavate its contents. I think hubby laughed at me all evening. I brought all the pieces out, examined them. I often carried over an especially pretty bit and exclaimed about it to him. He smiled and went back to his work. I marveled at something else, he kept smiling and kept working. Before it was all over I had spread out the contents of these two boxes over the kitchen counters, the ironing board and the dining room table! WOW!

Want to see the beautiful loot??


Ok, so there are the serious colors. And there are sooo many with different textures and patterns! There are some especially pretty bits in here. And I think these colors would work great in my Mom’s house and I have a few other friends that these seem to match quite well. I’m going to buy some Wonder Under and see if I can fuse up some things for me and for gifts. I think it would be fun to try some landscapes with these. There is a color for every palate in this collection! I can now make ANYTHING!


This is what started to pile up as I started separating the serious bits from the bright ones.


THEN I started finding quilt blocks already made! (More happy dance and going to show hubby, more hubby grinning) And strips pieced together already… I am SO inspired to make something with these. Hmm… whether to finish the frog quilt or work on this instead….


Then I started going through the bright rainbow fabrics. Mercy, I don’t know when I ever had this much fun! Melody must have some incredible fabric stores in her area, these rainbow colored prints are SO MUCH FUN! And I had just started a black and white collection to add contrast to my work and here are a bunch more for my collection.


Santa Melody Johnson, you rocked my world! Thank you SO MUCH! It never ceases to amaze me how people have reached out to bless us in this adoption process. Our kids have friends around the country, people who have sent money and now fabric. It is blessing me down to my socks! Thank you Melody!

Now go visit the amazing, generous and talented Melody Johnson at her blog and look at her spectacular print parade series. #2 was my fav until I saw #4, then there was #5 and it just keeps getting harder to choose a fav!

Inspiration

I saw this and was instantly smitten! I have already been through my fabric stash and since I've got leftovers from a ton of other quilting project, I have pretty much everything I need on hand. Including some white fabric and good silk dyes... Presto! I'm thinking WINTER PROJECT! Yummmmmmmm! Thank you Kathy York, this is one great inspiration! Quilt is 96 x 95 inches and titled "Little Cities." WOW!