Tagged! Getting to Know Each Other

Brenda tagged me recently and gave me some questions to answer about myself. In turn, I am going to tag five people who have commented on my blog, asking you to answer these same questions on your own blogs.

Here are the rules, as stated on Brenda's blog:

Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Now the questions:

1. What was I doing ten years ago? Oh, I remember that summer very well. For about ten years before that, I had been working in our school district's Title I program, doing one-on-one instruction in reading and language with at-risk kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders. I worked only when school was in session, thus giving me every summer off. In the fall of 1997 my son started attending a private university here in the St. Louis area. I learned that they offered full tuition benefits for the children of employees so I applied for and got a full-time secretarial job. Therefore, in June of 1998 I was working in the summer for the first time since 1973! Let's just say it was an adjustment! Also, the AC on my car wasn't working.

2. What 5 things are on my to do list for today?

Help DH cut down and bundle dead branches on trees in our yard.

Join blocks of I Spy quilt into rows and then join the rows into a top.

Hand quilt on teddy bear quilt.

Return video (The Bucket List--very good!)

Laundry

3. What snacks do I enjoy? I'm trying not to think about snacks! But since I must--I love chocolate chip cookies, Cheez-It crackers, raw veggies and the dip I make with fat-free sour cream and Lipton Vegetable Soup Mix.

4. What would I do if I was a billionaire? I would buy my husband the "hobby farm" that he has always wanted, with one normal horse for DH and two short, slow-moving horses for my daughter and me! I would make sure that it was within easy driving distance from our two granddaughters so we could introduce them to the horses and country life.

I would also research charities and donate money to the ones who used their money the most efficiently for causes that are meaningful to us.

I'd make sure that both GDs had college funds that could send them anywhere they wanted to go.

5. Where have I lived? I was born in Chicago. We moved to Calumet, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula when I was four. When I was in first grade we moved to Centralia, Missouri, where my mother still lives. I lived in Columbia, Missouri, when I was a student at the University of Missouri. After graduation I moved to the St. Louis area and have lived in two apartments and two houses here. (I met DH here.) We have lived in our current home for 30 years! (Amazing!!)

Now...I'm going to ask Debi, Texas Jan, Myra, Jeanne, and Peggy to answer the same questions. Tag, girls, you're it now!

Designer Flipflops

This isn't the first flipflop quilt I have made with this pattern--in fact, it's the third. The two previous quilts went to the hospital where I volunteer and according to the Child Life Director, they were very well received.

One day about a month ago I was looking at the ads in the Sunday paper and saw an ad for fancy flipflops. These weren't rubber shower shoes! Oh, no, they were embellished with sequins, beads, flowers, and all sorts of things. I thought--with all the novelty fabric I have, I should be able to design some very cool flipflops. So this quilt was born!

I'm almost out of the applique background--it's a sandy beach dotted with little shells. I need some more of that!

Here's the story of the last flipflop quilt I donated: A mom was in her 17-year-old daughter's room at St. John's Pediatrics floor, very distraught because the daughter had been in a car accident and was in a coma. The Child Life volunteer showed her three quilts and asked if she'd like to pick one for her daughter. She chose the flipflop quilt because her daughter lived in them all summer and had a pair to match every outfit. The mom wrapped herself in the quilt for comfort. Fortunately, the daughter awoke and her mom gave her the quilt!

With that in mind, I will happily deliver this quilt on Friday and set it free to do its good work.

Tired of Thunder!!

This afternoon another big, nasty, window-rattling thunderstorm passed through the St. Louis area. Man, are we ever sick of this rain! I think I heard that we have gotten over 12 inches more rain this year than we usually do. Everything is so soggy, and when the sun does come out, the air becomes steamy. I guess by August we will be wishing it would come back--oh, no, there goes the weather alert again! (I call it "The Squawker". It's a radio tuned into the National Weather Service. I would love to bash it some nights!!) Another line of storms is headed our way tonight.





Meanwhile, another UFO has bitten the dust! If this looks familiar, it's probably because you saw it on Planet Patchwork. It was a Block of the Month series called "Galactic Twinkle". I ran out of twinkle in September of that year! While prowling through my UFOs, I found 8 blocks and the 9th one cut out but not sewn. (The brights are all Fossil Ferns.) Those blocks became this quilt for Project Linus, a quilt that I think a boy would like. There's nothing sissy about it!

Back from Branson

Hmmmm....I wonder if anyone will read this, since you have all probably given up on me! We returned a couple of days ago from a vacation in Branson, Missouri, the entertainment mecca of the Midwest in the Ozark Mountains near Tablerock Lake. We went there on that particular week because the Silver Dollar City theme park was hosting their annual Bluegrass and BBQ festival. We got to enjoy 6 bluegrass groups and eat a wonderful beef brisket lunch.

When traveling I always carry a bag full of applique projects, and this trip was no exception. I finished Block 5 in Susan Guzman's free block of the month series as well as several daisy blocks for a quilt for our second granddaughter, who will be born in about two months. I'm also making flip flop blocks. They're going to be "designer flip flops" because I'm using my novelty fabrics to make each one different--animal print flip flop, western flip flop, ladybug flip flop, etc. You'll see!

Another of my favorite things on the trip was getting to see Yakov Smirnoff, the smiling guy on the left. Yakov is a comedian who immigrated from Russia at the age of 26, having little money and knowing no English. His perspective on American life from the immigrant perspective is insightful and hilarious! (He has made a darn good living with it, too!) We went back to the theater another night to be in the audience for a talk show pilot hosted by Yakov. We got to give feedback, and I really hope that his show will be picked up. It wouldn't be all comedy. Two years ago he earned a Master's degree in Psychology from Penn, and he is very interested in using it as part of the show.

Finished Some Stuff!

I just finished the binding on this quilt last night during "Desperate Housewives". (Is it just me or does Justine Bateman look really old all of a sudden? Oh, well, so do I!) This quilt will go to St. John's Mercy via Project Linus. The pattern is by Sindy Rodenmayer, my favorite applique designer. I enjoyed dipping into my stash of "food fabric" to find carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and radishes for the bunny to snack on.

This is the April row from Debi's BOM. It is starting to get a little ahead of me--I didn't get finished during the month it was issued. Now I am already behind on May's row!

If you are making this quilt, would you tell me your plans for setting the rows together? Are you going to put strips of sashing between the rows or just sew the rows together? (I was thinking that the sashing would prevent having to match up a lot of seam lines.)

Yee Haw!

After getting the link for this free pattern from Debi on the Quilting Passion forum, I knew exactly which fabrics I would use to make it. I've been looking for just the right way to use some cowboy fabrics since buying them on the shop hop day of the DFW Gang's get-together in Dallas last fall.

It's an easy pattern, and I want to use it again. After quilting it, I want to donate it in memory of Jan Jackson to the Texas Project Linus chapter in her area. Jan and I were shopping together when I bought two of these fabrics, and I think a little cowboy in Texas would like it, especially since one of the fabrics has the word "Texas" all over it! (That fabric was a gift from our hostess, Debi.)

It also reminds me of all the cowboys I did not see in Texas!! LOL

Funky Fish for Project Linus

Here's my most recent quilt made from Sindy Rodenmayer's patterns. I'll be donating it to Project Linus in memory of Jan Jackson, a quilting buddy from the Quilting Passion Forum.

The two turquoise fabrics have an interesting story. In 2002 the public relations guy at the university where I worked asked me if he could do a little story and picture in the employee newsletter about the PL quilts I was making and donating. After publishing it there, he decided to send it as a news release to the local community journal paper. They published it on the front page.

A retiring fabric salesman (who represented the Alexander Henry line) saw the article and called the university, asking for me. He offered me his sample books! These are pretty good-sized pieces of fabric, showing all the colorways. When I tore apart all of the sample books, I had a pile of fabric pieces about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide!

About half of these fabrics were inappropriate for children's quilts. Many were dark florals. I posted about my good fortune on the QP forum, and a woman from Hawaii answered, saying that she collected those dark florals! She owned a quilt fabric shop and offered me a trade for new fabric! What a deal! I packed up a huge box, which cost me over $50 to mail to Hawaii, and she let me choose an equivalent weight in fabric from her website. The two turquoise fabrics in the above quilt were part of that deal. Amazing!! I got fabrics I could use for Project Linus, as the salesman had intended. (An additional note: I got $25 of the postage by making a talk about PL to a civic group. They also gave me thread and fabric!) I have received so many blessings through Project Linus work.

Mail Call! Fabric for Granddaughter's Quilt

The mail carrier just brought me my order of Country Essentials Spring fabrics from Connecting Threads. I'm really excited to get this because tiny granddaughter #2 is going to be born in three months! The fabrics shown are (from left): the backing, the outer border, the inner border, applique backgrounds, and assorted fabrics for 9-patches. (The colors are much truer on their website.) The bundle in plastic is a jelly roll of every fabric in the collection. My first jelly roll! I plan to use some of the strips in the jelly roll to add variety to the 9-patches--it has to be scrappy, or it wouldn't be from this Nana.

The plan is to make an applique center, set on point, with the baby's name, and then surround it with alternating 9-patches and daisy appliques. It will be similar to DGD #1's quilt, but with a different color scheme. I used butterflies for that one rather than the daisies.

DS told me the name they are planning to use, but I won't sew it on the block until she is born and officially named, in case they change their minds! I love the name and hope they don't decide on something else.

In case you were wondering, these fabrics are very nice quality IMHO for $5.96 a yard. I really had my doubts, considering the price, but they are good stuff. (No connection with the company, just a satisfied customer. I also didn't have to pay shipping because my order was over $50.)

More Kitchen and SuzGuz4

This week I made Block 4 from Susan Guzman's 2008 BOM series, and here it is. I've been told that it appears to be looking at you, and I now realize that it does look like it has nine eyeballs on it. Oh, well, I'm not doing it again! It will only be one of twelve blocks.

Here's the final side of the kitchen that you haven't seen yet. There are a few crumbs on the table, but you can't see that, right? I used to have small quilts hanging on that wall, but they just didn't fit with the new look. I plan to make a table runner soon. We can't have this room going "quiltless"!

The Kitchen is Finished!

As promised, here are some pictures of our finished kitchen "spruce up". I can't call it a remodel because we didn't change the cabinets or floor. However, we are very pleased with our new counters, back splash, wall color, and valances.

I am most proud of this part of the room. (It's directly opposite the sink wall.) We used to have double ovens on this wall. My dear husband did all the carpentry work to make the platter rack, microwave shelf, and storage drawer in their place, as well as installing our new oven. I think he's amazing!

That's the pantry on the right. The opening to the dining room is on the left.



Here is my new desk area, with its new counter top and tile. Now it's my job to keep from piling up any junk on the desk--very challenging!

In my next post, I'll turn the camera another way and show the table and far wall of the kitchen. (First, I have to clean all the mail off the table!)

What's on your wall?

There's a place on the wall at the top of the stairs where I hang seasonal quilts. Here's the one that is hanging there now. It was made from a Country Threads pattern, but if I remember correctly, I didn't make the whole pattern, just selected the elements I liked best. Actually, it should have some squirrels on it, because our back yard is full of those little frolicking critters this week. I think young squirrels' fancies have turned to thoughts of love!

What's on your wall?

Big Teddy--for Jan J

Wouldn't you just love to hug this big guy? Hopefully, that is what some sick child will do, and it will make her feel a little better.

(The bear design is by Sindy Rodemayer at www.fatcatpatterns.com The border is part of my effort to beat my stash into submission. Some of these prints are from the 1980's!)

The members of Quilting Passion Forum have been grieving recently because of the loss of a dear member, Jan Jackson of Texas. I just met her in person last December, at which time she seemed quite well. and I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with her. Her illness was short but devastating. Our forum is making and donating quilts to Project Linus in her memory, and this is one of them. He is going to the hospital with me on Friday to do his good work. I think Jan would like that.