Rollerwriter

FIRST AND FOREMOST you should know that I mark my items sent when they are finished and packaged for the post office. However I am a homebound quad and rely on others to do my mailing. That means that it is possible others may not be as careful or urgent about getting things shipped as my recent and only 3 will attest. I will also admit to not being good enough to get things done very early. I do the best I can. I think I send off a good package.

A big thank you to anyone who sent cards and packages to Margaret-her dementia has progressed to the point that getting mail from people she does not know or remember is upsetting to her. Before this stage it was the highlight of her day to go to the mailbox and read through her cards. Your kindnesses will not be forgotten.

I am the mother of 3 grown children, the aunt of several others. One of my big goals in life was to insure they were all crafty - and they are. This allows for lots of family days and nights that revolve around creativity.

I am vegan/gluten free for both health and political reasons. I strongly oppose factory farming. I fully support local farmers being paid a living wage for what they sell and do whatever I can as a chef to encourage the purchase of local goods.

Another big reason I have chosen this diet/lifestyle: I feel like I have found the fountain of youth! Since giving up dairy & gluten I have more energy, look younger, lost weight naturally.

I enjoy shopping for vintage and going thrifting. I look at everything I buy and immediately want to alter it. I have dozens of projects going at once (good thing those craft days prompt me to finish the demos or nothing would ever get finished).

I love fabric, trims, cool paper, and I want to learn how to do every handmade craft there is(I seem to have no talent for jewelry but I keep hoping). My house is mostly decorated in red and yellow to keep my eclectic taste in check. My bathroom however is a homage to watery blues and greens, very peaceful.

I have to relearn many of the crafts I once did thanks to a patch of black ice and a poorly made car. I am a C7/T1 quad. I hope to write a book about crafty alterations made so others will feel like they can pick up those lost parts of their lives. I have finally gotten up the courage to start a blog about these issues, hoping it gets me back writing my book.

So here is another step in channeling my mother - today is a chance to be a better person than I was yesterday.

*Julie & Julia *500 Days of Summer *Rachel Getting Married *Up *Star Trek (Really!) *Valentino the Last Emporer *Troubled Water

I am a big fan of French cinema, both vintage and current.

Spent another vacation at the Traverse City Film Festival watching many amazing movies! So many of which will never see wide release, especially the documentaries (a horrible shame!!!!). Some of these movies should not be missed: 2009 "The Garden" "Herb and Dorothy" "A Matter of Size" 2008 "Theater of War" "Body of War" "Captain Abu Rayd" "Hamlet 2" "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" Try to see one documentary that looks like something you would never go see at least once a year Movies are one of the shared passions between hubby Richard & I.
A big recent favorite: "The Visitor" And films we loved at previous festivals that we still think about: "Grace is Gone" "Once" One that our whole family loved(remember our youngest is 23) "In Bruges"

Always Favorites: "Room with a View" "Rocky Horror Picture Show" "The Thin Man"

And just a note, the next time your're considering a girls night in, get your hands on a copy of the original "The Women".

It seems I am always finding something new to obsess over. Lately it is vintage sheets. I love the old, crazy soft vintage sheets in a floral fabric. I especially love the ones with lots of white and pink or yellow or blue. Love the pillowcases too! Can't wait to cut them apart or use them whole for the backs of quilts! Especially love the prints from the 50's, 60's and 70's (80's are good too).

Making softies Any excuse to use fabric Embroidery Creating bags Knitting with a loom Scrapbooking Quilting Just bought a Cricut for papercrafting The stuff that you can use around the house or gifts like inventive picture framing & gift wrapping I have been trying my hand at "art"-sketching, watercolor pencils, chalks-no sign of talent yet but I feel drawn to keep doing it!

I recently attended a workshop at Bouchercon that was led by a writer of genre mysteries: knitting and murder. It caused me to pick up needles for the first time in 7 years with success. Right now it is 6" of scarf, but it is working! No sign of cripple hands causing me to toss it away.

My craft book library is more extensive and varied than most book stores. I also have filing drawers full of project ideas from years of magazines and other sources.

Have several once destined for destruction library books that are beckoning me to create. I'm thinking notebooks or boxes or repurposing them as rotating scrapbooks. So many ideas!

Went to Bouchercon where I listened to and met dozens of new mystery writers as well as became reaquainted with Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. My stack of new mysteries is very tall, but Paretsky is an extrordinary woman and I am now planning to reread everything she has written. Lucky for me that the 30+ years of work is reasonable. She appears to be as careful a writer as she is a person. Excited to revisit her work.

Richard Russo speaks to me with Bridge of Sighs & Empire Falls. He liked to use Paul Newman in the film adaptations of his books-could that be part of the appeal?

Animal Vegetable Miracle-changed our lives (really!)

I continue to try and alternate books with one of Graham Greene's books. For years I would hear my favorite authors claim he was one of their favorite authors and now I know why.

The Twilight series-not particularly well written, but compelling

Finished another Elizabeth Berg book - The Pull of the Moon which is now a big favorite. With Open House and The Art of Mending she may be a new favorite author.

For mindless fun, the Stephanie Plum series by Evanovich.

Desert island book, The Four Agreements

Basics, anything by John Irving, Amy Tan, Nick Hornby, Anna Quindlin.

Love to read craft books like they are novels.

My random list of likes and dislikes in an effort to perfect such a list in case I am ever on "Inside the Actor's Studio": LIKES *Stuffies *Vintage stuff that can be used to make something new *Vintage sheets (florals) *Children's books with great illustrations *Buying fabric knowing I'll figure out a way to use it *Gardening *www.wherethehellsmatt.com *www.makingfiends.com *Playing games- board, card, party, outdoor - like them all *Words *Thrift stores, library sales, flea markets *Kitchy beach stuff, shells, driftwood *Colors found in nature (which is of course almost all of them) *Blank books and fun writing instruments *Art *Zines *NPR especially Vinyl Cafe, Prarie Home Companion & Wait, Wait DISLIKES (I don't care to make these generalizations since almost everything has a version that I like but maybe if I changed the title of this part to "THINGS I TEND TO AVOID") -Goth -cutesy Japanese toys -florescent or very bright colors -jokes about old women, man bashing or bathroom humor & any joke that relies on someone being hurt -horror films -Battle fields, miltary museums, war movies

Never been comfortable with Wish Lists but I am doing it anyway: * Small pieces of driftwood *Acorn caps * Felted balls *Heirloom or regional plant seeds *Vintage sheet - pieces/scraps *Children's books with great art (not a snob-some of my favorites come from little paper back books that originally sold for less than $1) *Coloring books with great art-especially alphabets

Dala, Plain White Ts, Rosemary Clooney, Regina Spektor, The Beatles, Rick Springfield, Marc Cohn, Paul Brady, Elvis Costello, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Indigo Girls, Yoyo Ma, Swell Season, The Delicious, Bare Naked Ladies, Lyle Lovett, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Alison Kraus, Green Day, Dala

I spend a lot of time on my blog. Consequently I have become a big blog reader. If you have a blog you enjoy-pass the intel on to me.

I do a lot of my shopping online. I try to buy directly from crafters/artists. If you know of a great website (I am an Etsy fan), let me know that too.

Hey I will even take info on good wheelchair chat spaces.

I love fabric. Wonderful printed flannels now seem to come in such great graphics. Japanese prints are joyful. Velvets, linens, well, I could go on but I would just be revealing more of my addiction.

I enjoy reading about crafting so I have a very extensive craft book library. I have loads of patterns. I would like to learn about most crafts, but fabric crafting is my first love.

My favorite colors are red and yellow. I also love the colors of the beach-sand and the whole range of dusky blues. I am really enjoying shades of green.

I have a large box of vintage embroidery and quilt squares-my Mother, who passed away, was an amazing crafter and a fabric hoarder. I have hopes of working my way through most of this either by passing it on or completing the projects floating around in my head.