Exercise and a new Hobby
I promised my friend Angela Knight that I'd start exercising now, even before my surgery was approved. So, I called upon my friend Karen and asked if she'd join me. She too is due for a different form of surgery this fall, so I figured we could both use the benefits of exercise.
Karen is a very interesting person. She served in the military and married a man who'd eventually become that dreaded creature, a Navy Chief. Like me, she has a thousand crafts she can do, but her main focus is something I've never attempted until recently --quilting. She's a member of a Quilting Guild, and has been for 20 years. What she can do with fabric is amazing.
Anyway, Karen and I decided that walking was our choice of exercise. It's cheap, can be done on our schedule, and it's private. The idea of hauling our fat butts into a gym and being told to "feel the burn" by a skinny teenybopper in spandex gave us the willies. So, we're starting slowly and just walking around our neighborhoods. Eventually, we'll set a goal location and walk there and back. Walking to our favorite shopping, a local coffee shop, or the big Walmart. Something different to get our feet under us and prevent the walks from becoming boring. Maybe eventually we'll walk to that local gym and peep inside. Joining would depend on budgets, and right now neither of us can afford to pay attention, much less add another monthly expense.
However, we discovered a side benefit after our first walk. Karen's favorite quilting show happens to come on TV right after our walk. She's one of those folks who leave the TV on all the time. (shudder) Anyway, this particular morning, I saw a different form of quilting than making patterns using squares, rectangles, and triangles. It's called piece work applique, and it creates pictures on fabric rather than geometric designs. I wanted to learn quilting, but the geometric stuff wasn't my cup of tea. Piece work applique was much more the thing!
Turns out Karen wants to do piece work, but had never had incentive. Having a dedicated and organized chela (me) to learn with galvanized her into action. We'll start our designs this weekend, each doing a miniature quilt for practice. By Monday we we walk again over here, I'll have to set up Dante's fancy Husquevarna sewing machine on the dining room table so she can show me freehand sewing. This ought to be interesting. Nice thing about quilting is that it's done mostly standing up. Only the actual attaching fabric is done sitting. All the cutting, laying, and prep work is done standing. That ought to help keep my butt from getting a Wide Load sign on it. LOL!
Karen is a very interesting person. She served in the military and married a man who'd eventually become that dreaded creature, a Navy Chief. Like me, she has a thousand crafts she can do, but her main focus is something I've never attempted until recently --quilting. She's a member of a Quilting Guild, and has been for 20 years. What she can do with fabric is amazing.
Anyway, Karen and I decided that walking was our choice of exercise. It's cheap, can be done on our schedule, and it's private. The idea of hauling our fat butts into a gym and being told to "feel the burn" by a skinny teenybopper in spandex gave us the willies. So, we're starting slowly and just walking around our neighborhoods. Eventually, we'll set a goal location and walk there and back. Walking to our favorite shopping, a local coffee shop, or the big Walmart. Something different to get our feet under us and prevent the walks from becoming boring. Maybe eventually we'll walk to that local gym and peep inside. Joining would depend on budgets, and right now neither of us can afford to pay attention, much less add another monthly expense.
However, we discovered a side benefit after our first walk. Karen's favorite quilting show happens to come on TV right after our walk. She's one of those folks who leave the TV on all the time. (shudder) Anyway, this particular morning, I saw a different form of quilting than making patterns using squares, rectangles, and triangles. It's called piece work applique, and it creates pictures on fabric rather than geometric designs. I wanted to learn quilting, but the geometric stuff wasn't my cup of tea. Piece work applique was much more the thing!
Turns out Karen wants to do piece work, but had never had incentive. Having a dedicated and organized chela (me) to learn with galvanized her into action. We'll start our designs this weekend, each doing a miniature quilt for practice. By Monday we we walk again over here, I'll have to set up Dante's fancy Husquevarna sewing machine on the dining room table so she can show me freehand sewing. This ought to be interesting. Nice thing about quilting is that it's done mostly standing up. Only the actual attaching fabric is done sitting. All the cutting, laying, and prep work is done standing. That ought to help keep my butt from getting a Wide Load sign on it. LOL!
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