Last night, I went to bed with my ruby slippers on in case the house fell on me.Wow-that was a wind storm. The good news-nearly all the leaves are blown away. All except those tenacious oak trees. They still have leaves from last year hanging in bunches that just won't quit. This is a pic out the port hole in my bedroom.Sorry for the quality of the shot but it's through a screen. My husband put this moon viewing window in when we built the house. It's in a corner of the bedroom and when the time is right the moon shines right through it so beautifully. At top you can see the stained glass bluebird I bought him for Christmas one year. This little quilt below is made up of hand dyed fabric that a friend gave me a while back. I made a baby quilt for a friends son and liked the colors and 9-patches so much I made extra and put this little wall hanging together for myself. There's nothing perfect about it but it is very cheery and bright. It will be coming down now so that I can put up more seasonal things. Maybe it's the artist in me but once I get the basic construction of a top done I get very slap happy about the finish. The checkerboard border didn't finish the right size because I am math challenged and I just wanted to get done so since it was not a gift for someone I just slapped that baby together. I should pay more attention but at that point my mind is raing on to the next thing to do. I think I will go out & spend some time picking up broken branches and fallen debris in the driveway and rejoice in the fact that it looks like the sun is coming out-Wahoo!! Dry air and sunshine-what a great blessing.

Just Me & The Boys & thanks

I'm home alone with these guys today and frankly they've been no help to me at all. So I left them to their own strange devices and face making and gave in to the cleaning bug....wow did I need a good dusting and frankly the carpet was alarming. Bleah. Of course this would have been a lot easier if the temp. in my house wasn't 70 degrees-It's November, isn't it?I'd be happy to have this all winter long but then I would put on the air conditioner and vacuum with wild abandon in my shorts... with a margarita(no salt). I know, there are many who say 70-that's chilly(I hear you Texas people loud and clear) but here in the northeast 70 in Nov. is just weird and so wrong...so wrong and yet so great. Trying not to bitch about the weather since that, along with bodily function complaints, are a sure sign of advancing age. I have a pot of pea soup on the stove and so the all the signs are in place for winter..but 70, hmmm.

I want to thank all you lovely ladies who were kind enough to comment and those that sent me e-mails-WOW. You guys are inspirational.I live in a house with four men. Now they are the sweetest guys you could want to know, but nevertheless typical men. Most of the time you could be laying on the ground gasping and they would look up from there assorted hobby things(books, computer games, name an electronic gizmo)and say something like "Problem, Dee???" So when I get encouragement from people I don't even know-I'm SO THRILLED. What a great group of women you all are. Take a quick bow...go ahead...o.k. Today Janet, of Just bee-cause made me laugh out loud at the crack of dawn-what a great way to start the day. Her Thanksgiving recipe is hysterical. Scroll down to yesterdays entry for a laugh. Talented lady that. Anyway it's great to be in such company. I also read Crazy Aunt Purl today and this was also laugh-cramp inducing. Not a lot of quilting stuff getting done today but a funny and amazing thing happened as I was writing this-My son came home and said he really liked the Japanese lantern quilt from yesterday-I believe he said this because it was on the staircase to be taken up to my work area and he nearly fell over it-see- They love me !! They really love me...Maybe I'll make biscuits(suckah)

Japanese lanterns & WIP wed.

Got a bunch of stuff to do right now but I'll come back later. Until then-here's a piece in progress. I started it to hang above our kings size bed so it's quite long. The lanterns look like they're swinging in the breeze. I'll post a better pic later-Just wanted to get in a WIP today...

Favorite things by talented friends

Another gloomy rainy morning around here. I always thought I could easily live in the pacific northwest but after a few of these days in a row I wonder about that. Here is a shot of some of the things that make me smile in my workspace. These are works by some of my favorite artists who happen to be bloggers too. The red shoes are by DebR of (what else) Red Shoe Ramblings-who is not only a wonderful artist but a very tlented writer as well. Visit her blog for something new and really interesting every day. She's very prolific and funny. The small piece next to the shoes is by Deb Boschert of Deborah's Journal and if you click the pic (tee hee)you can see it better. It's done on a piece of really beautiful hand dyed fabric and stitched with beads. I love her work and if you go to her blog you will see that she has written a a book on how to make these wonderful pieces. It's very inexpensive and well worth having. Very detailed descriptions and insights to technique. Go get you one! Before they're gone!!!! On the right is my latest purchase and the picture really doesn't do it justice. It's "Kimono Collage" by Gerrie Congdon of Crazy for Fiber. The whole thing is beaded on top of really lovely pieces of kimono fabric. It makes me happy just to look at it. A riot of color and beauty. I really love red and don't know why I don't have more of it in my house? The sampler above is by my cousin Susan who was kind enough to make this for my son James when he was born 22 years ago. Since he's a little (heh) too old for this to hang in his room anymore I absconded with it. What I haven't put up yet are 4 postcards, also by Deborah B. that I am having framed. They are bright and cheerful and just delightful to look at. I can't wait to get it done. These are some of the things I try to focus on when I am in a gloomy rainy mood. I hope your day is brighter. I'm off to the grocery store. Can't put it off any longer-there's nothing to eat for breakfast(it's all about me, you know!)

conspicuous consumtion and orphans

This is a REALLY bad pic of the fabric I ordered from Hancocks for my son's quilt. Sorry you can't see the spider mum fabric on the left and next to it the dragon, the leaves and watery Kanji. It's really great fabric and I'll take more pics of progress where you can see the actual details. This morning I was searching for something to post on WIP Wed, I came up with a number of things I had completely forgotten. I think that's so much fun.Like fabric archaeology. For a while, when I first started quilting I tried a number of things to see what I liked. I did a lot of paper piecing and I still do. A fascination with houses led me to make a number of quilts like that and I also tried applique. Most of the applique was done as gifts for children. Happily I found out about fusing and since my eyes are not as good as they once were-that will be the method I would use for any future applique. Anyway..here are some more houses I made while on "the great HOUSE jag. They are just so graphic and fun I couldn't stop myself. There are more houses, unfinished and found this morning. They will appear eventually. I also found 9 log cabin blocks made from the first Moda fabric I ever got. Once you go Moda-there's no going back. I really love working with that stuff. Along with all that there were a bunch of orphan blocks, some PP sailboat blocks, a few mini log cabins, a pp sunbonnet sue, some long ago abandoned pp Christmas ornaments and last but not least, a couple of tops that I had folded and put away probably for lack of batting or backing.. Lots to do....Yesterday was so gloomy and the rain and wind kept me inside instead of going to the JoAnn's sale to use my coupons. I know I will regret having to let those coupons expire because I need wonder under, backing, batting, thread and such. I spent a lazy day watching dvds and doing laundry and ironing. The best part was that the guys took pity and got take-out both days. How lucky am I??? Saturday was Chinese and Sunday was Greek. Yumm.
Yesterday I talked to my friend Trisha regarding the quilt that unfortunately went along with Max to the great beyond. She's going to make another one and I, for one, am thrilled and will post a picture when it's done. It was a reminder to take pictures of your finished work before something unfortuante happens-like being buried with a relative...scroll down and see the entry about Max if you don't know what I mean and care to.
I have to get along to the Food Pantry to pick up my mail and deposit checks and such. It's a busy time right now-everyone remembers the needy at the holidays which is very wonderful but for me it means keeping up with the thank you letters right away, lest I find myself with hundreds rather than just half that. Everyone who gives a donation get a personal thank you from me. Be it grocery food drives or checks or even kids and money from lemonade selling in the summer(very cute) It's something I have done for a while and we could (and soon may have to) print out form letters but I really hate to do that. In the past I only had to write 20-25 letters a month but now it has become a popular charity in our community and people even send memorial donations when someone dies. That requires two letters-one to thank the donor and one to the family of the deceased in acknowledgement. It has become a big job. I just finished a pile of letters last week. Often lately, I make up a letter for money and one for grocery donations and just change the name and addresses on each one, as well as, any pertinent info such as the dollar amt. I became discouraged last year when I made an error on the dollar amount and recieved a really snarky letter from the person who made the donation. He suggested that I was a moron for getting the amount wrong. Since I do this as a volunteer and I pay all postage and cost of this operation, I suggested to that person in a follow-up letter that perhaps they would like to take over my job, as volunteers are few and far between and...mistakes happen and can easily be corrected. It's very discouraging to be a volunteer and have your a__ chewed out because you did some small thing wrong. A that time we went through our records and it turned out that in nearly 1700 letters, I had made two mistakes. Figures I would get the one hump in the crowd. Further proof that no good deed goes unpunished. Have a great day-and thanks to everyone who left comments. It's a really nice surprise and fun getting to know new blogging friends.

I gotta be me...

My son was reading this and had an interesting question for me-what if the people who read this think that the picture I posted a couple of days ago is really me? I laughed and joked around and then...I thought, what if the people who read this think that picture I posted a couple of day ago is really me..NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo. James said "Mom, no one had made a comment after that post so it may be true." Let me just say..I have what might be called a bone dry sense of humor and will do nearly anything for a laugh. Also, I don't smoke. I 've been trying to find a picture of me that doesn't look like Dame Edna Everage but I'm coming up empty.
Yesterday, Roger took me out to the east end of the Island to the Tanger Outlet mall and then to lunch- We went to the Lobster Roll in Greenport or Mattituck I can't remember which, but it was fun and delicious. Not a lobster roll from Maine but delicious never the less. Then we visited friends who have a koi pond on their property. The koi had hundreds of babies. It was really neat... I'm off to finish some prep work on my son's new quilt and maybe I'll have pics on Mon. until then, have a great weekend everyone.

First you grab a bag full of squares....

Random scrap quilt for myself-Made from 5 inch sample squares from Hancocks in April Cornell fabrics. No time to be artsy. I need something warm to cover me and everyone but me has a quilt.

I'm not sure why this picture came out this way. It is revealing in that below the quilt you can see evidence of the large male pack rat that lives here. In his defence, there are a number of places in our house where he could store his paperwork if not for the fact that our son, James, has taken over with various computer and media items. What space remains is taken over my....well...me. He's a good natured spouse and so it all comes out well in the end except that there are stacks of things here and there. This quilt is one of the first things I made way back in the early '90s. It's very cheerful and bright and this part of my house is on the dark north side. We live on a large hill and at about 2:30 the sun is over on the other side of the hill and behind a forrest of trees. This works in our favor in the summer when we are glad for the sun to go away in the heat of the day-not so much in the winter. Here is a picture of what I collect other than fabric. That's a shot of half the bookshelf and on top are a couple of my husbands antique toy trains. I'd like to say that this is the whole collection of books but I would be lying-There's another bookshelf and two upstairs-all full. Hello my name is Dee, I'm a

bookaholic....The last picture is of a far wall in my livingroom where we are doing some prep-work for painting. I have removed a hideous border from around the window in preparation for new paint, coming soon. On the wall is a small piece I did using Aunt Grace repros. I had made one for my niece and liked the brightness-it's coming out wobbly in the pic but I think that's because I tried to re-size the pic. I'll figure out this stuff eventually in the mean time thanks for looking and reading and welcome to my home....Come on in, have a cup of tea and visit.

Got a Light?

Who says I can't be

fashionable?

I have several things to do today and among the most important is to buy some new things to wear. I am currently trying to walk more each day and diet(ugh!) because I have reached alarming proportions. The most alarming is that nothing I own fits me any longer. Since I live in a very damp and cold winter place, I don't hink I can wear my linen shirts and pants much longer. There's definitely a chill in the air. So, with that in mind I have to do one of the worst things-and that is buy clothes that I plan to wear only till I loose weight. It's just so depressing and should be foremost in my mind when I am thinking about what to eat. Basically I try to follow the Weight Watchers path. This is how I lost 55 or so lbs. a number of years ago. Dieting really is the worst. I just have a hard time caring that much about it. I care, but I'm easily distracted and I have friends who bake-really well. My motivation in this is that my cholesterol and sugar were above normal last time I went to the Dr. So I walk and try to be more active. Not easy for a sedentary person like me. Everything I like to do involves sitting- reading, sewing, artwork, watching dvds....you name it. We have a treadmill in the basement and I'd better get there before I find something else to distract me from that mission.

Regarding the elections, let me just say this YAHOO!!! and as an aside let me say that the people of Tenn. are so foolish as to leave me speechless.. It's not my state but picking Coarker over Harold Ford is a travesty that will cost them. As for the rest....again.....YAHOOO!! It's areal shame that it took 7 years and thousands of young lives to send a message to George and his cronies though. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Hope you have a great day-I'm going to work on my son's quilt today and then look for some material to make a Quilt of Valor.

Patience-- not always a virtue,Bob, & good eats

This is a picture of an antique quilt that my friend Rich sent me from auction he went to in Pa. Dutch country. It only had a spot or two and he wanted to know if it was worth all the money they were bidding it up to. I think it went for about $400. The best thing at the auction was a quilt that looked so blahhh that you wouldn't give two cents for it...in fact it looked like white sheeting that was stained..but wait...the person who had made it was really covering up what was inside. They had used a quilt as the batting- I kept thinking why was this quilt in this auction. It was not up to the standards of anything else offered and the quilting was horrible big stitches and randomly placed here and there. Turned out it was something called Dove in the Window inside and went for over $500.-hot stuff no???

Well, this morning was a test of patience for me. One of the most annoying things in life is waiting in a Doctor's office, especially when it 's not for me. I know that sounds terrible but I worked for a Dr. at one time and I ran that place like a very tight ship. We scheduled things so people didn't have to face insult to injury by having to wait an hour for a visit. Well, any way my brother-in-law Bob had to have oral surgery from a Dr. that we had never used before-now it all turned out great but they told us to be there at 10 so we left at 9:30 which got us there about 15 min. early for paperwork. I think they factor in the paperwork to take about half an hour because we waited 40 min. just to get in and another half hour to get finished. I read a third of a book(speed reader here) I just started, the place was really warm, and in sympathy for Bob I didn't eat breakfast(really dumb move as I am a cranky baby when I'm hungry) The reason it was so warm was that they had so many damn lights on overhead it seemed like I was in a tanning bed. They were the kind of overhead spots like I have in my kitchen which I never use in the summer because it makes it about 10 degrees hotter in an already hot kitchen. Geez it was hot in there along with being a colossal waste of energy. Anyway-Bob's O.K. and I came home and made myself something to eat while he went to bed for a rest and a Percoset. Sweet dreams Bob....

I got my fabric in the mail today from Hancocks for my son's quilt. He picked out several from the Alexander Henry Asian line that have dragons and Kanji and such. I think I will find a way to showcase the dragons by making it very strippy. Maybe long columns of dragon fabric in between long stips of Kanji and a wild spider mum in deep intense red and gold and black. I'll take some shots of the fabric tomorrow and post pics. I haven't made him anything since he was much younger and at 22 he's outgrown the kid sized quilts a long time ago. We still have them-one of cowboy boots and western theme, and one of airplanes and related items- I get a kick out of looking at them, as beat up as they are-they still make me think of how adorable he was-my blue-eyed boy....sign. He will be mortified when he reads this-of course Dani will laugh at him. When I went on vacation to Maine she had to show him how to use the washing machine(he's so full of it) and I just thanked her. I was secretly glad she did some stuff for him since everytime he gets involved with laundry something gets ruined and it's never his. Well, I picked up a bunch of shrimp and some scallops to saute with garlic and tomatoes to make a putanesca sauce. I bought a jar of Frances Ford Copolla's spaghetti sauce and it's the best and most delicious jar sauce I've ever eaten. It's very expensive but the putanesca and mamarella are soooo fresh and delish it's worth every penny. I can't make sauce better than that and I learned from a great old Italian lady. Sauce from a jar is a curse that I would normally spit at someone but this stuff is excellent for instant gratification. Never mind that you could make a whole pot for what it costs for one jar.It's light and not cooked to death and has a lot of calamata olives and sprigs of basil and good olive oil. You don't need to do anything but open, heat, add(or not)whatever, and toss the al dente pasta right in the same pan. turn off the heat and add a heap of parmigiana reggiano or something like it and grab a fork and some good brunello or a nice sangiovase..mmmmm...I'm adding the seafood to mine-somebody bring the bread-dinners at 7. Leave the guns, bring the cannoli, Do you know what movie that's from?

Dani's stars and buttons

I'm finally getting the hang it-sort of. This is the quilt I just finished for Dani, my son's girlfriend. It's not a very good picture but all of those stars are made from Bali fabrics. In between the rows are buttons in all different colors and shapes. Some hearts, some stars, some flower shapes. It was really fun to make and I had never done stars before so it was a learning experience for me. In retrospect, I wish I had amde the background out of something other than white. It's a very pretty white on white but I think it would have really been sensational in pale bali with more intense stars-perhaps in another quilt to come. I didn't mean for both these pics to be together but they are and I'm not changing it now. I'll look for some more stuff to up-load and maybe tomorrow there will be more...

being good to the muse(and me)

I've been reading a lot of different blogs for a while and I see a theme running through a some of them. Pledging to not buying fabric. It is spoken of as if it's a the road to enlightenment and goodness. It's a funny thing because it reminds me of my good friend Terry- she's another of the quilt ladies I know and a very hard working very talented person. Funny thing about Terry is that she seems to feel that she doesn't deserve to be happy. I'm not sure what happened back in the days of her childhood but I suspect that someone repeatedly told her that she was an unworthy child-unworthy of praise, nurturing, warmth, whatever. It makes me mad and sad and we have a close enough relationship that I'm happy to tell her how talented she is and that she is, indeed ,deserving of praise.Plus I can relate to the whole abuse thing. Now don't go writing me any nasty comments but I have long suspected that it has something to do with her Catholic upbringing. Even she says that. My husband, who was raised Catholic says that too. I think it had a lot to do with Sister Mary Margaret slapping her with a ruler every time she looked happy or proud.
ANYWAY...I digress. The thing about Terry that relates to the reading of some of these blogs is that I sense a theme of self deprivation when it comes to buying fabric and fun stuff. There was a whole month where people actually signed up...signed up to NOT buy fabric. Lordy, Lordy Let me grab a glass of water and fan myself for a minute on my fainting couch............O.K., better. This is how I see that. Quilting is my art, my love, my talent. Quilting is where I challenge myself to make something really pretty and pleasing to myself and hopefully, others. Why in the name of sweet Jesus would I want to rob myself of the pleasure of buying something to further that joy. I can find a dozen different ways to prove myself a strong person with moral fiber in other areas of my life-why would denying myself fabric prove anything. Maybe it's a catholic thing? Maybe we need to self flagellate somehow to feel better about ourselves? Buying fabric and quilting stuff makes me really happy. I've suffered enough in my life and at nearly 60, I'm no longer sure how much fabric buying time I have. Besides what will my friends have to fight over when I'm gone but my fabric. Lotta bitch slappin' going on there.
Well, todays entry will be short, at least for now-maybe I'll write more later. There's a video store around the corner that has been driven out of business by Blockbuster and is selling out all the stock for rock bottom prices. I'm going to take a look to see what foreign movies and other dvds they have left. Maybe I'll find a few good oldies too, not a lot of people are old movie buffs. I need to go grocery shopping too. Making fish tacos if I don't forget my list-need limes and avocado and mini corn tortillas. Maybe after that I'll get totally crazy and hit the fabric store. Maybe I'll buy something. Maybe not....whatever I choose to do, it won't be because I'm "saving myself" for fabric.......Hope you have a beautiful day

Sewing Sunday, movies and cool, cool, women

Today I actually got around to using my sewing machine and making something-well...the begining of something, after all I'm no Debra Spincic. I want to thank Debra for taking me to the Houston quilt show in her pocket and I loved the quilt she chatted with me in front of. Thanks Debra. Anyway, I worked on a quilt for....tah dah...ME. Afew months ago I bought several packets of die-cut squares from Hancocks from the April Cornell line. The colors are very springy andpretty like sherbet. Yellows and limes and pinks-polka dots and paisley and hibiscus flowers in those shades as well as pale aqua and melon. It's a riot of color, especially for me. I work with Amish brights and black a lot so this is a departure. I decided to bag the idea of doing anything fancy and instead just use the squares and as is. The only deviation from this was making half square triangles from some. Anyway-my thinking was that I would have an actual quilt for me for the winter in soft girly colors. My bedroom is very white with cherry furniture and so it is easily adaptable to most anything I like..and I likeee!
The One thing that kept me from accomplishing stuff this weekend was that I rented several DVDs-I got Elizabeth I and I got the first 3 dvds of "Big Love" the HBO show about the Mormon family with Bill Pullman who is the husband of 3 wives. The first two episodes sort of set it up in terms of characters and they're not bad at all but by the fourth episode you really get into these peoples strange lives.If any of you know who Bruce Dern is-in this he plays a role that must have been written for him. He's the Patriarch of a Mormon Poligamist family and he plays a completely crazy and disgusting human being. He's so darn good at it that it makes you wonder what he's really like. It's really good and I almost went back today to get the rest but I'll wait for tomorrow. I read a review of a new movie by Pedro Almodovar called Volver with Penelope Cruz(she's in all his movies) and I am looking forward to seeing it. I just recently saw his movie "all about my mother" which was great and served two functions-my son is taking a foreign film elective and he needed me to see it and review it for him. It was very moving and in the movie he incorporates one of my favorite old movies "All about Eve" as part of his movie. Warning-it has subtitles but I speak some Spanish so it made life a bit easier. I couldn't watch Elizabeth I (which is the reason I wnet to the video store) because I didn't realize that it was a 2 dvd set and all I got was disc 2 AGH!
Well, I suppose I should go and see how much I an get done before I slowly fade into the sunset. This getting dark at 4:30 reall sucks. I want to thank Debra for the chat in front of a beautiful quilt and Melody for just being...well...Mel. By the way-If DebR is reading go get yourself a copy of "Climbing the Mango Trees", by Madhur Jaffrey. It's a lucious book full of writing that makes your mouth water and your soul sing....see you tomorrow

best friends,mercy, and Max

Pull up a chair and have a piece of my bagel while I tell you a cautionary tale of a death in the family. Not a death in my family but the death of my friend Trisha's father-in-law Max. It's a cautionary tale because this is the kind of thing that can happen to you-SO PAY ATTENTION.
Last night I went to my Thursday night quilting with the girls. The girls are my two best friends, Trisha and Pat. Now both these women have the ability to make me laugh till stuff comes out my nose. Unfortunately, in the past few months Trisha's father-in-law Max had gotten progressively worse with a number of ailments that seemed to increase daily. It was one of those things you hear about in the news. Here's the headline- Man Never Sees Doc in 40 yrs-dies in 2 months of EVERYTHING!- O.K. got the picture? Now Max was probably in a health food store for the latest vitamin every other day and because of his(ahem)bazaar take on life, he wouldn't hesitate to tell you in detail what was wrong with your life and as an addendum, how miserable you were. Max was known far and wide in our village. He had long ago retired and only went to the Store on Mondays. I could make a list rivaling the phonebook of people who would put off going to the store until Tuesday just to Not see Max. If you went in for a specific item and forgot it was Monday-undoubtedly, you would come out having been lectured to about how ridiculous your idea was and you would hold in your hand the item that Max thought was more appropriate. Business on Monday was not brisk....For thirty years Max made every holiday miserable for my friend Trisha by initiating an argument with a random family member and clearing the room faster than a farting dog. Often after scraping his plate clean her would imperiously inform her how much better so and so's whatever was. He was as genuinely mean to her as he was sweet to the other daughter-in-law, who NEVER EVER invited him to dinner, EVER. Stay with me now.... Well..a couple of years ago I taught Trisha to paper piece. Sometime later I gave her some really special fabric for Christmas and she made, what started out to be a t-block quilt. It was really pretty and her work is always on the mark even without paper piecing. I watched her make the little blocks(many little blocks)and assumed is would be just lovely slightly larger than mini wall quilt. She picked out a paper pieced border with, I"M NOT KIDDING a million little pieces. It was very intricate. Well she decided to stretch out of the box on this one. When it was finished she had made a quilt that had all these t-blocks and toward the bottom they were twisted and turned as if they were falling out of the quilt. This was a really big stretch towards art for her. It was no less than spectacular. O.K. for those of you who have stuck with me on this journey-a few weeks ago Max finally left this mortal plane for a place where he can be a curmudggeon in eternity. Let me also add that the daughter-in-law who stayed by his bedside and comforted him was not the other daughter-in-law but Trisha. On the day he was buried, the mother-in-law asked if she could pick out something to put in the coffin with Max(you see where I'm going with this?) Trisha, being the best person in the world simply said "sure" and of all the houseful of quilts to pick from-MIL picked this one. OH!! yes!! she did! So anyway, last night at the Thursday night meeting of the quilting ladies the occasion arose to discuss someones quilt and how it wasn't done nearly as well as Trisha's. She said "you mean the one that's in the box with Max?" Now I'm not one given to throwing around colorful language(even though I find it amusing sometimes)but I yelled out in a barely restrained yelp "What the F__K were you thinking?" and of course everyone was very quiet for about 30 seconds-then we laughed so hard stuff came out our noses.....In closing let me just say that among the many reasons that this woman is a rock of a friend, after all the crap he gave her-she gave the eulogy for Max when no one else in the family was able to. As part of the eulogy she told everyone that if they had come to the store on Monday and wound up with stuff they didn't want because Max insisted he knew better-returns would be accepted on Tuesday of next week. Life is pretty damned amazing sometimes-for all the people who Max annoyed(and there are legions)over 400 people showed up at the funeral. We think some of them came to make sure he was really gone. The police blocked a main artery road so the funeral could get to the graveyard and there was a dinner at the VFW for everyone afterward. I guess that's what it means to be a part of a small town. People come to support each other and tell cautionary tales. I love this place. I will never pass the cemetery again without thinking of that quilt and hoping that Max is enjoying it.I hope it can stand up to the heat....

Catch-up

I was lost in the dust yesterday...literally. When you can write your name in it, it's time to consider a major clean-up. In my clean-up of the great dryer vent debacle on Saturday, I found that there is, indeed a floor under all the stuff in the closet and on that floor there were several bags of scraps. Now I'm not talking about big bags but just ziplocs. In the past I''ve always been excited to unearth such things. These were not the sort of thing you get excited about. Why on earth I saved bits(really little bits) of fabric that was questionable 15 years ago is a mystery. I guess back then I must have thought that I'd do do something with it someday(not)In case I forgot to mention it before, I live by the Scarlett O'Hara rules for life. Number one on that list is_ I'll worry about that tomorrow, or in this case, next millenium. Well, I am happy to report that it feels really great to unburden oneself of a lot of useless crap. While I was on a role I threw away a lot of clothes that will never in this life fit me again. I also found a bunch of UFOs that I clearly didn't like to begin with and, wait for it.....I chucked them. They were poorly done with fabric that was of a poor quality and so-out they went. Stuff that I started way back before I realised that you get what you pay for in the fabric world. I found a pretty good piece of fabric that was one of the early Asian designs with outlining in gold around the camellias and I held my breath and threw it away. Why, you may wonder?? Because I used it in two different quilts I made and after a number of (not many)washings the gold turned green and austic and actually ate through the fabric. Well all of this is by way of explaining my absence from the blog world yesterday. I am finding that it is really hard to get to the computer if I don't do it first thing in the day. I am trying to up-load a photo of the quilt that I just finished for my son's girlfriend, Dani. I don't know if it will work. Fingers crossed. If not I'll try again later. Have a spectacular day...

twofer

Two posts in one day-I'm really not getting anything done. Thanks to my friend Deb(Red Shoe Rambling) for the nice comment. Happy Halloween to everyone who cares. I do love seeing the kids in their costumes. My son and I used to dress up(yes, I did too) and walk the neighborhood. Then we would fight over the candy(Hee) Until he figured out that taking the candy into his room over night would mean having some the next day. I really developed a sweet tooth. Funny thing about that is that before I got married and had a kid I never ever ate candy. All my life I've been a meat and potatoes person. Growing up in a German household with my grandmother, who put gravy on everything that didn't move really had a profound effect on me. A profound and enlarging effect. As soon as I left home I lost poundage really fast. Then I went to weight watchers and lost about 55 pounds. Since I was in the cosmetic business I had to look good and stay that way-so for many years I was hungry-really really hungry. I have since lost that hunger and need desperately to return to WW. We live way up here on this hill and most children are too lazy to climb up here for candy or anything else so we rarely get anyone on Halloween. I can count on one hand the number of kids in the last five years. In fact, we get so excited and surprised that we probably scare them when they do jumping around yelling "Hey come look at the trick or treater" they probably have our house pegged as the one where the crazy people live. My point being-I don't need to buy candy-every year I do anyway-every year I eat the stuff myself-every year I gain more weight and every year I say I won't do it again...excuse me while I unwrap this Snickers mini. Hopeless!!!

Have You Ever?
1. Taken a quilting class
2. Paper pieced- yes-I've taught it to others
3. Hand quilted-
4. Hand pieced-yes but I wish I was more focused
5. Created your own pattern
6. Published a pattern in a magazine or book-
7. Gone on a quilting retreat-
8. Gone to a quilting convention
9. Met someone who wrote a quilting book
10 combined your quilting with some other craft
11. Done any three dimensional quilting - like fabric origami?
12. Made something using Thimbleberries fabric
13. Made something using batiks
14. Dyed your own fabric
15. Made a landscape hanging
16 Made a New York Beauty quilt-does starting count?
17 Made a baby quilt
18 Made a wall hanging
19 Made a journal quilt
20 Submitted your journal quilt for viewing
21 Made a fabric postcard
22 Made a artistic trading card (ATC)
23 Exchanged artistic trading cards
24. Mailed our your postcard?
25. Made a lap quilt
26 Made a twin size quilt
27 Made a full size quilt
28 Made a queen size quilt
29 Made a king size quilt
30 Donated a quilt to charity
31 Sent a quilt out to a quilter
32 Thrown away a UFO
33 Given away a UFO
34 Cut up a UFO and made something else with it
35 Ripped fabric instead of cutting it
36 Made a quilt exactly like the pattern, with no changes whatsoever
37 Done any Sashiko
38 Quilted your own quilt
39 Did free motion quilting- just practicing so far
40 Put any embroidery or beads on your quilt
41 Given away your quilt to a stranger
42 Swapped fabric
43 swapped blocks
44 participated in a round robin
45 participated in an ostritch round robin
46 kept a journal about your quilting
47 written a letter to someone who made an antique quilt
49 kept a blog about your quilting-this blog, although it's about a lot of other stuff too.
50 participated in a gift exchange
51 sent a quilting random act of kindness
52 joined a newsgroup about quilting
53 made a quilt using a pattern from quilterscache I love this site
54 joined an online block of the month
55 made a block of the month quilt
56 subscribed to a fabric of the month club
57 bought fabric at an online store
58 bought fabric from ebay
59 own more than one sewing machine
60 have a room dedicated solely to sewing-does part of my bedroom and part of my kitchen count?
61 hide a fabric purchase-not anymore though it's a silly thing to do since my husband collects toy and antique trains-He always says I couldn't begin to spend as much on fabric as he has on trains so no problemo.
62 finished making a holiday gift before July
63 made a landscape quilt
64 made a quilt using a book from the library
65 worked with someone else to make a quilt-baby quilt for a young woman my quilt group knows
66. joined a quilt guild
67 become president of a quilt guild
68 taught a quilting class
69 helped someone else get the quilting bug
70 taught a child to sew
71 made a Dear Jane block- no but I enjoy that site and love those blocks
72 Made a miniature quilt-that's how I began quilting by getting a copy of Miniature Quilts mag. which has unfortunately gone out of business. I have made many minis and given many away as gifts.
73 watch QNN - quilters news network-seen it a few times-neat idea
73 subscribe to a quilting magazine from your own country-Quilters Newsletter(not so good anymore, dropped my subscription and Miniature Quilts-see above
74 subscribe to a quilting magazine from another country
75 buy fabric from another country
76 swapped completed quilts with someone else
77 asked for quilting help online
78 gone to a quilt shop to ask for quilting help
79 bought fabric at a local quilt shop-wish there were more locally-I have to travel a bit to get to my nearest one.
80 travelled more than 100 miles to go to a quilt shop-my husband used to think we travelled to see the sites-now he just looks for the nearest quilt shop when planning a trip.
81 used nontraditional fabric for a quilt - something other than cotton or flannel
82 made a quilt using instructions given to you on a blog- still working on Judy's first quilt for an hour on Sunshine Quilts.
83 make comments on someone's quilting blog- yes indeed, that's how I made quilting artist friends on line.
84 meet a quilter in person after only having talked online
85 had a quilting retreat in your home
86 own quilting software-EQ-5
87 made a quilt you designed on your quilting software
88 done any quilt research - history, interviewing quilters, etc.- along with being a quilter I'm a history buff and bookaholic so I have a number of history books about quilting
89 had any quilt related subject published anywhere
90 donated a quilt to a museum
91 bought a quilt from a thrift store
92 made a quilt using fabric from a thrift store
93 made a quilt using photos-for my husbands 50th
94 made a pastel quilt
95 made a quilt using brights
96 made a quilt using ethnic fabric from another country - African, Asian, etc.-I have a huge collection of asian fabric.
97 made a quilt using leftover blocks from other quilts
98 had your quilt in a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, TV, etc.
99. submitted your quilt to a quilt show?
100. won any ribbons with your quilts?
101 had more finished quilts than UFOs
102 made a quilt using reproduction fabrics-I have a huge collection of civil war fabrics
103 took a break from quilting that was longer than a year
104 made money with your quilting
105 had a job in the fabric / quilting industry

Dumb and Dumberer

OMG I can't believe how stupid this lack of knowledge about computer-related stuff makes one feel. I'm married to a verrrry smart man and my son is a computer nut who was going to make his living with computers and as for me....well, lets just say I'm challenged. Smart cookie in many other ways but when I come up against the mighty computer gods, I shrink in horror and quake in my high heeled sneakers. I know that much of it has to do with the generation and age but up till now I haven't really cared too much. Now I would like to get into the writing and blogging and picture up-loading. One day at a time(or week, or month) Today there are a number of semi-important things I must do(cleaning,cooking,laundry,ugh) in order to get to the good stuff(blogging and sewing) SO for a little while, I'll take a suggestion from Debra Spincic(really talented lady) and just write a few posts to get the thing going. Maybe a meme or two to introduce the uniqueness of me(heh) to anyone who might be interested. I hope I don't scare anyone away. I'm a fairly honest spoken woman and I'm usually not afraid to state my opinions-that doesn't please some people but I think life is too short to beat around the bush too much...and after all.....it's my blog and welcome to it! I'm a woman of nearly 60(gad that hurt) who is passionate about books, tea, old movies, quilting-sewing-needlework, and my super family and friends. I really hate housework because lets face it at my age I've been doing it for eons and it still looks the same every morning. I live in a very big , very old house that is a rabbit warren of rooms that really need the have the walls torn out of to make larger spaces that people could live in(whew-that felt good)but there are the usual financial constraints and so we cram ourselves into teeny tiny spaces and live in an eternal jumble of stuff. I spend some of my time helping to run a food pantry in our village. It's not a place to get a cooked meal but simply a Pantry with canned goods and a freezer with some stuff that the local food establishments are good enough to donate. We have a number of excellent bakeries and restaurants and such who bring day old good like bagels ,bread, food left over from civic functions and such. Most of our clients are retired people who need to make ends meet, disabled vets from the local VA and single Moms, some with disabled kids. The Moms often have to choose between rent and food to pay for the cost of an Autistic child. There is almost nothing sadder than that. They come in and cry and visit and sometimes I think it is less for the food than for an adult human voice and some compassion. Anyway that's where I'm headed now and so I'll just leave todays post off here. I hope you enjoy reading and I look forward to any comments that friends care to leave. Thanks for the chance to chat....

Saturday with the guys

Well, here I am writing as far away from the guys(husband and son) as I can get because they are in a cleaning frenzy...shudder....They have decided to make today the day the vents for the dryer get cleaned out. Now mind you, that's an important job. It's the getting to the vents that cause me alarm. In order to get to the vents they have to move a REALLY lot of stuff like fabric and junk in the walk in closet that houses the pipe which goes up into the attic and vents the crap from the dryer. So... now I am listening to the banging and swearing and such because my BOYS are no lightweights nor are they working in a large area. Of course there is much manly bumping and clunking going on and if there is one thing I have learned over the years it's this-when the boys are deep into a project-it's best to be in a different time zone. Lord I do love those guys. The thing is that when they are sharp with each other I take it personally-five minutes later they are fine and I'm still insulted. I guess that's the way with a lot of men and their sons...I hope they finish soon. The good part is when they do I can get into the closet and start cleaning up the mess. Having a walk-in closet is a great thing but it sometimes becomes the repository for eveything that no one knows what to do with. "Oh, just stick it in the closet and I'll figure something out later." Later becomes March and then the summer goes by and here we are with crap everywhere. We are some of the nicest people you would want to know but we are all pack rats. No one wants to part with anything until it becomes the Collier Brothers all over again. The husband collects Lionel and antique trains, I collect fabric and sewing related crafty stuff and my son has a collection of video games and music and guitars and c.ds. and such...we are overwhelmed. What we need is a dumpster....hmmmm... more later.. and if you're looking for me I'll be in the closet- or in the kitchen making a fabulous home made pea soup with hambone and all-send help and bring bread. Dinners at 6:30

I may tell Debra later

Well I switched to Blogger Beta and all went smoothly-mostly because I have nothing much to move. No pictures and not a lot of entries. I think I may ask for help on Mon. Debra is probably at the BIG SHOW in Houston and I hope she's having fun....more later

favorite things well said

" It was not a woman's desire... to be forgotten. and in one simple, unpretentious way, she created a medium that would outlive even many of her husband's houses, barns and fences: she signed her name in friendship onto cloth and, in her own way, cried out, Remember Me."Linda Otto Lipsett - Remember Me