Seven random things

I've been tagged twice again to post seven random things - thanks Ila and Sara! This will be the fourth time I've played so I'm not sure if I can come up with seven new things. I'll give it a try, however.

1. I loved cutting out paper dolls when I was a child. I didn't play with them once they were cut out - I just loved the process of cutting. I also loved cutting pretty pictures out of magazines and glueing them into cheap paper scrapbooks. I could do this for hours. I think it really helped me as a quilter and dressmaker because it allowed me to develop extremely accurate cutting skills.

2. My sister and I loved to draw and color when we were children. These were the days when paper towels came in white only. Most of our pictures were colored on paper towels because they were always available and cheaper than any other kind of paper for drawing - or at least that's what my mother thought at the time.

3. The beginning of the school year was one of my most favorite times as a child. I loved all the wonderful new supplies - fresh crayons, a little new bottle of paste or Elmer's glue and fresh pencils. I loved choosing a new pencil box to keep them in. And I especially loved getting a fresh, new, sparkling clean and unwrinkled tabled of lined newsprint.

4. I always had a new dress to wear on the first day of school made by my mother, who sewed beautifully. And new shoes and socks. Even when they were saddle shoes - which they almost always were. Saddle shoes were cute on small feet - they just looked big and clunky on my big feet. They still looked great, however, until they got scuffed. Then I'd faithfully polish them every night before I went to bed.

5. I do not like heights - at all. I never have. Even when there is a high railing I can't stand near it and look over the edge without feeling extremely uncomfortable. Made hiking in the Grand Canyon especially difficult!

6. I am half Swedish and half "mixed breed". My father's parents came to the US from Sweden as young adults. My mother's family were Americans for many generations. When I was in high school my mother was contacted by a distant cousing who "found" our very large branch of the family. Her passion was genealogy so she sent my mother very detailed information about our family tree. Her desire was to be able to join the DAR, and figured mom would want to join also. Mom didn't, but found the information fascinating. Apparently we are somehow related to every single Hardenbrook in the country, as the first Hardenbrook came to this country when it was still an English territory. This cousin traced us back to fourteen generations to Germany (if I remember correctly), when there still stands a "castle" (really just a large house) called the "Hardenbrook Castle".

7. Even though I love books I'm not all that crazy about libraries. There is one really big problem with libraries - they make you return the books!

This meme has been circulating through blogland for some time now so I'm not going to tag anyone else. If you want to play along please consider yourself tagged and post away! Leave me a comment so I can head over to your blog to learn more about you.