KING OF BLOGS

Monday, November 2, 2009

Cancer is a word, not a sentence.

Each year that I have done the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk I have made a quilt to honor the survivors and memorialize those who have lost the fight with the disease.

Quilted into each are the names of loved ones, friends, and acquaintances who have had breast cancer.

The quilt becomes the property of one of my sponsors. Any donation to the cause gets a chance to own it.

I made the blocks for this year's quilt at a workshop with Bonnie Hunter. Her pattern is called Star Struck.

Contact me through my profile e-mail for further information. I will happily make another for a major donor.

Old Rusty Cars on a car cemetery # 9 - Båstnäs

Flag nr. 150 - Cap Verde

Today I can present my first visitor located in the island country Cape Verde located off the western coast of Africa, opposite Mauritania and Senegal.
The largest island at Cape Verde is Santiago. The island was discovered by António da Noli in around 1460 who built a garrison in Cidade Velha which was then known as Ribeira Grande. Transcontinental slavery made Cidade Velha the second richest city in the Portuguese realm. Portugal was unable to protect its colonies because the English, Dutch, French and Spanish took over the slave trade and the island was later raided by pirates. Sir Francis Drake distroyed Ribeira Grande in 1585.

The 10 stars on the Flag of Cape Verde represent the main islands of the nation. The blue represents the ocean and the sky. The band of white and red represents the road toward the construction of the nation, and the colours stand for peace (white) and effort (red). The yellow colour, circular formation of the stars, and dark blue field show similarity to the flag of the European Union.

In 2006 I painted a football player with the Vålerenga letters on the jersey, and used the player Freddy dos Santos as model. Cape Verde is the country of origin of Freddy´s father.

Odd Shots on Monday--It's a whatsit!

So what do you think?

It was at the park.

Please visit my yesterday post and come back later today for another.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

So here is my reflection and the incentives and a plea.

There is something to be said for not trying to take these kinds of pictures.

First of all, there was not a mirror in the house where there would be enough light to take a picture without a flash, and you know what would happen if I did the flash.

And there was not one with space enough to actually back off and get the picture.

I think I need to redecorate.

So the mirror went outside temporarily. I had to stand on a stepstool to get the apron in the picture. And I am sure anyone who passed by thought I was totally out of my mind.

But don't you just love these cute aprons?

This picture turned out better. I'm not quite so cockeyed,and most of the mirror is in the picture. But a piece of cardboard backing on that old mirror slipped out the back and the wind came up and the apron started blowing. And as short as my hair is, it is blowing, too. The wind kept blowing for the last of the reflection pictures, but at least you can finally see the whole antique mirror (even though it is hanging crooked.)

So, those are the promised reflections. They are also some of the promised incentives, because I will send one of those aprons to anyone who will sponsor my Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk for $25. It's next week, and I am way behind on raising the minimum I need to participate.

Here are some more pictures of the aprons.

The floral one in the lower left is reversible, and the colors are more accurate in the reflection shots. Don't see your color? I hope I need to make another half dozen of these at least. Let me know what color you would like. Here are some detail shots.

Cindy sparked the run of apron making by giving me this one she had made. A lot more detail went into this. (All the pinks in these pictures are showing up awfully orange. They are not.) Can we have a bidding war?

Okay, I think I will wait and post quilt pictures tomorrow. For a sneak peak, click over to my 365 blog--link on the sidebar.

Weekend Reflections is sponsored by James at the Newtown Daily Photo Blog. My reflections are not quite what he had in mind, I would bet.

For more information about the Breast Cancer 3-Day, click my 3-Day Online Ambassador badge on the sidebar. To sponsor me, click my shoes. To understand why I am so passionate about this cause, visit my ABC Wednesday post for O.

In my first 3-Day my family and my school family came through for me, and I exceeded my goal shortly after walk weekend. In my second 3-Day, my quilting friends really came through for me. Both of these groups are still strong supporters, but I wonder if the bloggers can outdo them this year.