Black Friday

We survived Thanksgiving Day somehow, it ended up quite different than I had planned. First Mike and Kelly arrived with their kitty Mufasa, they were invited but kitty was a surprise. We had talked about his coming for a visit at some time, so they decided yesterday was the day. He actually did very well, and made himself right at home here. He explored every nook and cranny he could find, peeked out every window, and finally settled down on my recliner like he owned it. It was comical when Pop was sitting in it, and Mufasa wanted to sit in it also, he sort of pushed Pop’s legs aside until there was just enough room for him in the chair too.

The other unexpected guests were my brother-in-law’s GF Deidra and her son Xion. I knew Sean was coming with Pop and Arden, but didn’t have a clue he was bringing guests until they walked in the door. So we scrambled to make room for them at the table, putting in another leaf, finding two more placemats, and digging out two more place settings of my good china. I really enjoyed their visit, and hope we see more of them.

There was just enough food, which is nice, and there were little leftovers, which was nicer. Don’t get me wrong, I love leftovers, but sometimes there is just too much and it gets boring after a few days. We have enough for a few sandwiches, and maybe one hot meal, which to me is perfect.

For some reason after dinner Mike decided to go digging in his old room, which is now storage, and he found some valuable (?) treasures. He came downstairs wearing his Michigan starter jacket, and even took it home. He also found a box containing an old Nintendo and lots of games… he brought down the old gaming TV and hooked the Nintendo up in the office, and they played games off and on all night long.

It was a very pleasant day, although we really missed Jonathon and Steph. This is the first Thanksgiving Jonathon has not been home, and it was strange not having him here. There are left over croissant rolls for the first time ever!

And now it is Black Friday, I imagine both of my guys are shopping… not me, I hate shopping, and the Black Friday crowds are way out of my comfort zone. I have a new Mystery project starting today on the mystery group,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MysteriesForRelay/ so that is how I plan to spend my day.

Replies to email questions

I’m glad you ask questions, because it gives me something to write about, LOL! Right now my head isn’t functioning normally, so I need ideas.

Annie in Texas asked me what I’ve been up to, since my blog has been quite lately. Truthfully, I’m fighting a serious head cold, and haven’t been up to very much at all. When I feel up to doing anything, it’s getting this house put back in order. The sewing room is a total mess, since I’ve been working everywhere but here since I got back from the retreats, and none of the retreat stuff has found a home yet. But at least now all the bedroom stuff is out of here, so there is a little more room, very little.

The master bedroom is put back together in it’s new location downstairs, and it looks pretty good. John repainted it with a color as close to the original color as possible, so the walls look like new again. And he shampooed the carpet, so it looks pretty good too. We need new blinds, since the old ones are sagging a little, but they aren’t in the budget right now so the old ones will have to do. I might hide them behind some lace panels, LOL!.

And the office is pretty much back together again, just “stuff” to get put away as soon as I get the energy.

Kim in PA wanted to know what I do with all the quilts I make… Many are still here at home, have never seen a bed or been used, but are well traveled. They are the lucky quilts that get to be shown when I do a trunk show or class. There are a few of those who pull double duty and are used, including my scrappy stars, broken dishes, crooked squares and the sofa log cabin. The scrappy stars is on my bed right now, and in the summer the broken dishes is on the bed. The crooked squares is used on the sofa bed on the back porch, and the log cabin is on the living room sofa if anyone ever needs it.

Some of my samples I give away. As a matter of fact I just gave several to Project Linus and sent a few to a friend to quilt for Children’s Hospital in Phila.

And of course I sell some, or at least try. There are a few up for sale now at
http://delawarequilts.com/MyQuilts/QuiltsForSale.html These all benefit the American Cancer Society. When I get back from my road trip this spring, I will be trying to sell a few more, to reduce my personal collection some… I’m running out of room in the closet to store them.

And from Carla in CA who asked if there will be a new block in December… I don’t have one planned, but I might put something up, check the web site. http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs

Have you made all of your blocks of the months?

Wow, what an interesting question, and honestly I had to go look at my list and think about it. I was pretty sure that I had, but some of them I don’t remember making, so I started looking through my computer files.

Since I like samplers so much, I made a lot of the BOMs into samplers,
http://www.delawarequilts.com/MyQuilts/Samplers.html Looking at that page I realized I’ve made two more samplers which I don’t even have photos of, and of course those were all BOMs, I checked my EQ files to confirm that. I even have two samplers with blocks in them which have not been BOMs, yet!

My earliest BOMs I know I made, because I needed to test the pattern. Although when people started finding booboos in the BOMs, I realized I wasn’t really testing the pattern, since I knew what I was making I was just making them without even looking at the pattern.

A few of the BOMs I have used in other quilts, and some of them I still have laying around waiting to be used in something. I have a box with quite a few blocks in it, most of them BOMs, some on line, some not yet on line. There is also a box labeled Rejec Blocks with blocks that didn’t turn out right… I have a project in mind for them someday.

Yes, I make mistakes too. Some blocks don’t come out the right size, either too large or two small, which is why I test them to start with. And some I just didn’t like the fabrics I picked up to make the sample with, usually scraps from my scrap bin. (Those end up in that Rejec box since they are rejects)

There is one block on my BOMs list that I don’t remember making, and can’t find a photo of, and that is Next Door Neighbor….
http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/NextDoorNeighbor/index.html
Although it’s been on line for over 11 years, so I probably did, and who knows what happened to it, LOL!

Thanks for that question Dawn, it was a fun one to answer!

Local News!

Here’s one you might hear about on the news tonight, locally anyway. I heard about it last night.


Today the hospital had a horrible accident, one of the medical helicopters crashed on the roof of the hospital. There was fuel everywhere, and they had to evacuate. The blades from the copter flew in to adjacent buildings, including the one John works in. The people in the front of the building were more seriously injured than John, who fortunately works in the back of the building. He was slightly confused, and dazed.




How did I know about this last night if it happened today? It was test of the emergency system at the hospital. All a test… nothing really happened, just a lot of simulations.

They were also testing their emergency telephone system. I got a phone call asking me, well really John, if he was available to help evacuate the hospital. I answered no, since he was there and in the state of confusion.

John practiced for his role in this last night by locking his keys in his vehicle, while it was still running…. I’m sure that helped him do well in his confused simulation today.

Today is that tomorrow

Today is the tomorrow I talked about in my last post, finally! I have updated all the web pages and think I am about caught up.

The BOM pages have been updated, finishing our 2008 Samplers. The final block for 2008 is Jack’s Delight http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/JacksDelight/index.html
I posted a photo of my finished sampler at http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/08Sampler/

I posted photos of the October Retreat at http://delawarequilts.com/Retreat/October08/index.html
November Retreat photos will be posted ASAP, I promise.

Since I dislike shopping so much, especially on days like Black Friday, I will be hosting a Mystery For Relay that day, if anyone is interested. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MysteriesForRelay/

And it’s Relay time again, check out my team page http://main.acsevents.org/goto/DelawareQuilts09

Now I can concentrate on getting my house caught up. Today a new bed was delivered and tonight we will sleep in the old master bedroom then sewing room and now master bedroom again. Then as soon as we can get the office put back together, the rest of the house will follow, and this moving will be done. YIPPEE!

And then I will get back to quilting. I have five new quilts in the works, and am anxious to get working on everyone of them!



Happy Veterans Day to all, and Armistice Day and/or Remembrance Day in other countries.
Thank you for serving your country.



Here's Old Glory flying from the top of one of John's lighthouses. FYI, John served in the USAF for 22 years, and I am proud of him for that, among so many other things.

Tomorrow will be better!

I am way behind on so many things, and the emails are piling up, I thought I'd better send a message to all my friends about my whereabouts.... I am alive, I am pretty sure of that, I think....LOL!

I had been away in Lancaster PA retreating with two different groups. The first retreat I already reported on, and the second one I am still recovering from... not the retreat but the bug that I came down with while there. Sadly it hit several of us right in the middle of our Saturday night activities, spoiling one of the funnest parts of the retreat. Up until then it had been a lot of fun, and people were getting a lot of quilting and even more shopping done.

I was so sick that I had to call in a rescue team to come and get me home. Thanks to Jonathon and Steph, my friend Anne made it to the airport on time, and thanks to John for driving me home... I do not remember any of the ride between Lancaster and Newark, and barely any of the trip down home either.... as a matter of fact I don't remember much of Monday and most of Tuesday was a blurr also. (I do know we have a new president elect, 8^D !)

Today I thought I was going to resume normalcy, but fell asleep in my recliner somewhere around nine AM and woke up on my bed a little after four... can anyone tell me how I got from one to the other? I'm clueless! At least I can report that I ate something today, scrambled eggs and toast, and for the first time in a long time my system didn't reject it. Maybe tomorrow things will be better.

Maybe tomorrow I can read and reply to some of the over 350 emails which have piled up in my email box?
Maybe tomorrow I can update my BOM pages?
Maybe tomorrow I can post some photos from the two retreats?
Maybe tomorrow I can send out the patterns to those patient ladies who have paid for them? (No, I WILL do that tomorrow, I promise!)
Maybe tomorrow I can send out the email my staff partner asked me to send two weeks ago? (Sorry Laura, tomorrow I promise!).
And maybe tomorrow I can start feeling human again....
And then maybe we can finish the room moving.... remember that's still undone!