No worries!

My alter ego, aka The Quilting Crusader, has been battling a bad reputation for the past two months. Google has been warning people away from my site, telling folks I could harm their computer, and Firefox was calling me "an attack site." However, The Quilting Crusader has won this battle, and come out on top, with a shiny needle and sparkling clean thimble!! In other words, I (with the help of my kids) have finally figured out the malware code that was lurking on my site and removed it. I am in no danger of doing anything bad to anyone and you can surf on my site with no worries.

I spent part of this holiday weekend with my extended family. So many things make up the fabric of a family. I am lucky enough to have 18 first cousins. We grew up together here in Pittsburgh, celebrating birthdays together (with 19 kids in the family, that means we saw each other almost every month) and visiting one another's homes during summer vacation. We had our phone numbers memorized and my cousins were the first people I called on Christmas morning to share what we got from Santa. There was always an annual Christmas visit (to see your decorations and play with your new toys) and we rang in the New Year together, banging pots and pans. We visited Kennywood each year and experienced some of the most fun moments in my childhood. I can still hear the clickety-clack of the Jack Rabbit, as every year, the youngest cousin would take their first ride on the roller coaster past our picnic pavilion. My grandmother would make iced tea and buy baked goods at Jenny Lee and we would run all day long. My cousins were my playmates and my best friends.

Each of us has a unique position in the cousin relationship, and we range in age from 62 to 24. My position as fourth oldest in the family allows me to see the dynamics in an interesting light. There were 3 born before me (2 of whom are my sisters) then a five year gap before I was born. After me, a child was born almost every year until 1970, when there was a small pause until 1974, then again until 1985. I am part of the "younger" set, but because my sisters were 2 of the 3 born first, I was privy to the older set also. I knew all the "secrets" the older kids knew, and was able to watch most of my younger cousins grow up. Age gaps that seemed large when we were little hardly matter now. We have relationships within our relationships. We've lived with one another, worked with and for one another, and as adults, shared grief and sorrow with one another. Our parents are the thread that tied us together.

As the genealogist in the family, I try to be the one who keeps us connected to the past, as well as the present. I collect addresses and phone numbers, keep track of people marrying into the family and babies who are born so I can create family trees that show how far we've spread over the years. And, of course, I take photos, whenever we're together, of the children, the families, and the cousins. We had one special occasion when 17 of us were in the same place at the same time. I corralled everyone to take a group photo (which wasn't easy). I added my other two cousins to the photo with digital technology from photos taken later that summer. Two of my most prized possessions are a collage I made of my cousins in 1975, when many of them were little, and the photo I made in 1995 with all 19 of us. One hangs in my sewing room, the other is in my living room.

Amazingly, even though there are so many of us, we are all still very close, and keep in touch in various ways, with phone calls and email, and most recently through Facebook. It's an interesting change to our relationships, that keeps us in touch without really conversing, but knowing what's going on by seeing photo updates of our lives.

I always count myself lucky to have such a wonderful extended family. It overflows with aunts and uncles and cousins who have enriched my life in so many ways. As our parents get older, and our own families grow up, the opportunities to see one another are less frequent, but I hope we never lose the ties that bind us.

A Duel?

I think it's odd that so many people are writing about Michelle Obama's arms (here I am writing about it, too) and how she should cover them up. Any woman that has arms that are as beautifully defined as hers are, should show them off as often as possible. Please, all you critics, don't try to tell her how to dress - she knows what she looks good in and doesn't need your help. There's no reason to cover her arms unless she's cold. Personally, I admire her style and think she looks great!

In reading other people's answers to the SewMamaSew stash questions, I was surprised by how many people don't iron their fabric, even when they're into their project. Personally, I think it's so essential to iron your fabric - having everything crisp makes the seams match so much better, but that's just me.

I've been registering my blog on a variety of blog sites in the past few days. I am totally amazed at how many names are out there for websites, in addition to how many bloggers are out there. My own name, The Quilting Crusader, was one that my kids came up with when they were little. The idea was that I was a Super Hero Quilter. We came up with names for all my trusty sidekicks and my adversaries. As I was searching I came across a site called The Quilting Pirate. It's a very nice site and well done. But I gotta tell you, I laughed when I read the name. I could just picture her Pirate and my Crusader in a duel. "En Garde!!" We could cross needles with one another, but who would win?? Of course, I have the shield of my thimble, so I think I have the edge. To my fellow quilter out there -- "Arghhh!"

BlogHer.com

I'm officially part of the BlogHer network now. It's a blogging community for women on the Internet on all different subjects. They have more than 13,000 members and over 10,000 blogs on their blog list. And now, I'm on that list (under Quilting Crusader, of course). Hopefully it will drive more traffic to the site.

We're watching the Steeler game right now - yeah! we just won!! Speaking of the black and gold, at my sister's suggestion, we're all taking our Terrible Towels to Iceland with us so we can have a photo op with a glacier in the background. Pretty cool idea.

We took a drive to IUP today to visit my son at college - he's 20 years old today. How is it possible that their lives fly by so quickly? Although I miss those childhood years, I enjoy my sons so much right now. They are such interesting individuals and such nice young men. I was reminiscing today about their childhoods, wishing I had taken the time to enjoy it more. I was so busy taking care of them and rushing here and there to games and practices, helping with homework or making dinner, and doing laundry and picking up toys, I forgot to stop to enjoy how cute they really were. Today those years seem like such a fog. Does that make me a terrible mother? Or just a typical one?

Happy Birthday Zachary.

mjs

Getting Ready

My youngest son, Zack, and I have been working hard today to get the website ready to "go live." I can't believe how much tech knowledge you need to have a website. There's so much that goes in to the actual creation of the site (Zack did all that) and then you have to figure out how to host it and who should host it, and then how to publicize it and make it accessible to others. I missed my calling - I should've been a webmaster in another life. I'm hoping it wil be live this week, and then you can all see what we've been working so hard on.

It's almost a month since I started this blog. I was uncertain at first as to how I wanted to record my thoughts. Did I want the blog to be only about quilting? Should I avoid controversial subjects entirely? Do I run the risk of being too personal? I think that I started out wanting to relate each day's topic to quilting somehow. I realized that would be too difficult and tried to find a way to be true to myself and still not alienate readers. I am actually glad I started the blog first because it enabled me to find my voice. Although the Quilting Crusader is my business website, this blog is about me and my life and my reflections on the world and my place in it, and I can't hide who I am by not mentioning things that are very important to me, even if it is politics.

Oh, and by the way, my oldest sister, Chrissie, my bird expert (not really, she just knows more than I do about it), confirmed that the little birds on the shore in the photos are indeed sandpipers.

Have a great day.

mjs 9.22.08 10:18 pm