mental exercise


I am a daily crossword puzzle solver. And I'm picky- I only like the United Artist puzzle. The LA times one comes daily in our local paper, but is too hard for my brain. My parents do the same puzzle. My dad (poor baby) does not like the way his pencil (pen?) makes a hole in the newsprint:::sniff sniff::: Can you hear the violins??? So he makes a copy for himself and one for my mom. THEN (the stinker!) writes at the top of my mom's copy *her name* and on the top of HIS copy, he prints *APPROVED SOLUTION*! Like HE is the only one who could EVER have the right answer! ROTLF Ilike to play this little game when I visit, for he makes ME my own copy with *my name* on the top of MY copy. (I would be JUST as happy with the newsprint, thank you very much, but I have not been offered that option yet). I usually finish MY copy FIRST (when I visit their house in a different state), so I put MY copy on TOP, with *my name* crossed out and *the ONLY solution* penned in, in RED ink, if possible. If Mom has finished hers, I put her copy under mine, with my dad's on the bottom with *APPROVED SOLUTION* crossed out and *his name* , in red ink. :::grin::: OH...I didn't tell you the last snippet: ALOT of the times, all the squares are filled in on his copy, but most times there are ERRORS! ::::gasp:::: I knew that would get you!






Now..to the brag of this post...yesterday, I did the United Artist puzzle (all of it), AND I got the Jumble (I have good and bad days at this. I usually can get the 5 letter words, but the 6 letter and the pun I'm not so good at)..all the words AND the pun...AND! ::::Drum roll please::: I got the WHOLE (not just part but ALL ) of the Los Angeles times puzzle too! Boy! my brain must have been on overdrive! I do use the dictionary at times. I see it as a vocabulary learning curve. I only used it twice on the LA Times one yesterday. I bet today I won't get ANY of them! used up all my brain cells yesterday!


This is my brain on puzzles:








THIS is my brain on QUILTS!

I think I really see quilts as puzzles. I love grabbing a piece of paper and figuring out a pattern. Or how someone has used color to change the look of an old pattern to make it their own.

I should be back later to show you my choices of fabric for Judy's BOM that is starting August 1st. I did all my quilty 'chores' yesterday: I finished quilting a small corner of a quilt I did last FALL. I had to pull out some nasty stitches. I labeled a gift quilt ..and I loaded a scrappy bargello with a scrappy back before I went to bed last night. I am *allowed* to start piecing the 2nd block for the sew along. It is my intention to show you the top with fabric requirements by Monday. I will give you 2 weeks to stash dive to find your colors with a tentative start date of the week of Aug 4th. If you choose to do this quilt a different size than I'm offering, I can probably help you with block requirements, but you will be on your own on fabric requirements.

Comments

Love your brain on quilts. Your Dad sounds like he's a funny guy. My Dad always cracked me up when I was growing up. Sarcasm was his middle name. Ergo....ME!
Congrats on the big completion of all the puzzles!
Jeanne said…
Good for you, Beth! Jim and I like to do crossword puzzles, too. He is much, much better than I am, but I enjoy it anyway.
Bethany said…
ROTFLOL. Your dad is a hoot.
I like to do crossword puzzles too. I don't know which one our local paper runs, but I do know that Monday is easy-peasy, Tue is a wee bit harder and so on until you get to Sunday when it is so hard that I usually only get about half of it!
Leah Spencer said…
Yes! This is how I feel about quilts. I don't like crossword puzzles, but I love word searches, sudoku, and dabble in unscrambling.

I'm also very well known in my family for my packing skills. Nothing is ever "too much" for me to load into the car. My husband still doesn't fully grasp at my abilities, but is more than happy to let me pack the car up. ;) In my brain, it's just a giant puzzle with random pieces.

So, like you, I have no trouble figuring out how patterns work, how to copy a traditional quilt from just a picture. I'm not great about matching up colors (hence my love of scrappy) or blending fabrics together (think watercolor stuff?), but that's just fine with me! :)
Deb A said…
Love the puzzle story! My parents work the same puzzle in the paper.... my Dad fills things in... sometimes wrong... and Mom goes through after with white out and 'fixes' it! I prefer the sodoku puzzles myself.... numbers are easier for me than words.
Look forward to the August 4th instructions.
Tanya said…
My mother is a great crossword puzzle lover. She does not get the newspaper but she has a friend who cuts out every puzzle in the newspaper and when there are 10 will mail them off to her. My mother too says this is keeping up her vocabulary and staving off the forgetfulness of age. She can do crossword puzzles but she still can't remember if she's taken her daily medicine...

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