It is update time again

Today is the last day of Relay For Life 2011.  I am proud to say that the Delaware Quilts team raised $11,640.76.  Tomorrow morning we start a brand new Relay year, my 14th and the Delaware Quilts team’s 12th year.  Joan has informed me that we must beat last year’s $ so the challenge begins again tomorrow.  Thank you to everyone who donated and/or helped in any way! 

The BOM for September is Jack in the Box, which was also our summer mystery.  So if you missed out on the summer mystery here is the block pattern. 

http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/JackInTheBox/

All fall retreats are full once again and all retreat payments are due now.  For those who are wondering when next year’s retreats will be, I have added the dates on the retreat page.  http://delawarequilts.com/Retreat/  If you are interested in attending one of the 2012 fall retreats, I can add your name to the waiting list now.  After the 2011 fall retreats are over I will announce open spaces. 

Two other announcements… today is the Move That Bus day just down the road from me.  ExtremeMakeover: Home Edition did a build for the Dunning family and the Jusst Sooup ministry.  I am happy for the family and extremely proud of the community for its support! 

But even more exciting than that, my baby and his sweetheart are to be married in just 17 days!  Mike and Kelly will tie the knot on the beach on September 17th.  So don’t look for much chatting, sewing or anything else from me until after the wedding!

OK you caught me....

A couple of “friends” said they “saw” me on Facebook over the weekend and again this morning.  Guess I got caught… 

Yes, I am back on Facebook and let me explain why.  Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is doing a build here in Lewes.  I know of the family and am extremely disappointed that my health won’t allow me to be a part of the build.  I can’t stand for more than ten minutes, and if you ever saw that show you know the volunteers stand around a LOT! 
 
I have quite a few local acquaintances who are volunteering and one of them told me that I could keep up with the build on Facebook… so I checked it and found out I could see a lot more if I signed in to Facebook.

Over the weekend I watched the local news on my lap top from upstate.  They kept referring to messages on Facebook, so I checked it to keep better track of my community during the storm.  Again, I could see more if I signed in.

I thought I quit, but guess what… quitting on Facebook is pretty much the same as logging out… when you go back everything is still there, friends, messages and all the crap that I was trying to get away from.    Yes, I have found Facebook very informative and helpful during the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build here in Lewes and in keeping up to local news during Irene. 

Yes, I still do not like Facebook.  Some of the stupid things I read during hurricane reading were unbelievably stupid..  Like “when will Irene come to my city?”… Like that person was expecting Irene to knock on her door and say “Here I am!”  Like “How come you don’t talk about my town?”  How many thousands of little towns are on the Delmarva Peninsula and you expect them to mention every little town? 

Because I was not in my home and away from my hometown, I greatly appreciated the coverage WBOC gave on their on-line broadcast and on Facebook too.   If only you could weed out the garbage and stupidity on Facebook. 

That I could not read these things without everyone in the Facebook world knowing I was on line irks me… can’t a person lurk in private?

Home at last

What a weekend, one for the record books for sure. First, back to Friday. As you may know I did not want to evacuate, I wanted to stay home in my own home and ride out the storm. I’ve been riding out hurricanes most of my life and had no intention of doing otherwise for Irene.

My boys had different thoughts. Jonathon started nagging us on Wednesday to come up to his place in Newark and Michael joined in on Friday asking us to come to Maryland. Then the governor ordered evacuations for everyone 3/4 of a mile from a major waterway… which did not include us they nagged more. Then he changed his orders to 1 1/2 miles, and although that still did not include us, the constant nagging of the boys got to me. We packed up important papers and life time memories (small binder of old family videos) and packed the car. Last things in the car were computers, Mufasa and finally us. We headed up Route One along will several million other people, or so it seemed from the traffic, making a normal 1 1/2 hour trip take 3 hours. But we arrived safely which was what counted.

The next day we were pretty much glued to the TV watching coverage of the hurricane. It didn’t start raining until after dinner time, and although it was windy, it was hardly what I considered hurricane force winds. We were very prepared for what the power companies had told us would be up to five days of power outages… we had two generators, about five days worth of gas for at least one of them, and lots of food, including our favorite snacks. Steph and I did a lot of talking and John and Jonathon spent a lot of time preparing the thousands of gallons of fish and corals for the outage.

At 1AM power was still on and Irene was just leaving Virginia. But I couldn’t keep my eyes open so I went to bed. Two and a half hours later Mufasa woke me up and when I reached for the light to see what his problem was I figured it out… the power was out. The guys were checking the tanks, they were running safely on battery, so they decided to wait until daylight to turn on a generator, which I’m sure the neighbors appreciated. About 7 Jonathon went to check the tanks and the basement was wet… the tanks were good but their basement’s sump pump didn’t have a battery back up and it wasn’t working at all.

So one generator was turned on and the sump pump hooked up to it, then fish tanks to save the batteries, then the frig. Then a neighbor knocked on the door, they had two feet of water in their basement and were carrying it out in buckets, could they please hook up their sump pump to the generator, then another neighbor.

While this was all going on, I was on the lap top keeping track of the storm via the local Philadelphia CBS affiliate, and our local CBS affiliate here at home. That and frequent calls to John’s Dad and Arden kept us up on home and the rest of the world. Power came back on around 1PM and the clean up began. Steph crashed from exhaustion sometime in the afternoon and napped for a few hours, as did John. Jonathon kept sucking up water with the shop vac and keeping the sump pump going, then finally fans and the dehumidifier to try to dry things up. Finally we all relaxed over dinner and sat down for some good face to face chatting. We all went to bed extremely exhausted and thankful for a safe Irene adventure.

FYI, power never went off here at home, not once. Michael and Kelly in Maryland lost power early Saturday and still didn’t have it when we talked at 9PM last night. As we drove home this afternoon I saw very little damage until we turned off the main road. First sign was one of those HUGE rolled bales of hay parked on someone’s front lawn on the opposite side of the road from the field it belonged in. Then more and more trees down, some pretty large ones too. On the corner to our street there were missing trees, broken branches all over the yard.

Neighbor's damage, click to enlarge

Our neighbor across the street had a tree split right down the middle… I was terrified of what I would see when I pulled in our driveway….

Nothing. Just a few small branches on the lawn. The spot on the back porch that ALWAYS gets wet when we have a strong nor-easter was dry, and there was nothing out of the ordinary here at all.

Our home from the end of the driveway, safe and sound!

Yes, we could have stayed home. Yes there was no damage. But I know for a fact that the Miller family whose home was hit by the tornado that touched down a few miles from here said they were glad the governor had ordered evacuations. And I know that my boys were thankful we were not home when that tornado went through with Irene, and they didn’t have to worry about us. And I know that Jonathon probably could have handled the mess they had in their home without his Dad… but having him there made it a lot easier.

I hope that like me everyone else was only inconvenienced by Irene but made it through with just stories to tell.

will be home shortly

We made it through the storm at Jon and Steph's and will head home shortly.... I will report in soon
Marge

Tornado

So the other day after the earthquake I said I could never live where the tornados were common occurrences. Hurricane’s give warning, time to get ready. We’re ready. However earlier I saw Lewes, along Route 9 to be exact, was under tornado warning. That was cancelled, and now another one.

We are safe in Newark. I hope we stay safe, as well as the family and home back in Sussex County.

Copied from facebook

"As Hurricane Irene arrives, federal disaster officials have warned that Internet outages could force people to interact with other people for the first time in years. Residents are bracing themselves for the horror of awkward silences and unwanted eye contact. FEMA has advised: “Be prepared. Write down possible topics to talk about in advance. Sports...the weather. Remember, a conversation is basically a series of Facebook updates strung together.”

Worried less

We're worried less now that Irene has been downgraded, but still hanging on.

We're still waiting

All is well, we're ready for Irene to visit.

55 to 65 million people will be affected

Yes, I know I live close to the ocean, 5 miles as the crow flies.  Yes I know the winds will be very high, up to and over sustained winds of 110 mph.  Yes I know we will lose power. 

Evacuation orders say. “locations within three-quarters of a mile of a major waterway in eastern Sussex County, including Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, Rehoboth Bay, Indian River Bay, Little Assawoman Bay, and Pepper Creek.”  That does not affect us. 

Where should we go?  To get totally away from this storm we’d have to go to west, and to go west we would have to cross huge bodies of water.  I heard on the radio that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge will close early today.  I also read on the Del.gov web site that the canal bridges may close. 

Jonathon is north of us, and even to get to him we have to cross water.  He is under the same threat as we are.  However, at this time, we are considering going to his townhouse in Newark.  We will decide for sure at noon today. 

I also know that once I leave this house, it could be up to a week, perhaps more, before I can get back here.  I don’t want to leave… but

test

From my Windows phone just incase!
Marge

Preparing for Irene

Our local TV station has a Hurricane Emergency Check List:

MUST HAVES
Battery powered TV… check but it will do us little good, we probably will not have cable
Battery powered radio … check
Flashlights … check
Battery Lantern… check
Extra Batteries…. check check and check, we have plenty
Lighters / Matches …  check but for what? 

WATER minimums 

7 gallons per person.. check
2 gallons additional water for cooking and sanitation per person,, check for clean water and check for flushing water, no electric means no pump and no flushing
Portable water filter…check
Ice chest and bags of ice for storage of food… check but we won’t need it, frig will be on generator
 
FOOD
2 Weeks of nonperishable foods.. we have generator to keep foods safe and to cook
Snacks that do not increase thirst….check, and double check
2 Weeks of pet food… check and kitty litter too!  You don’t think I would forget Mufasa do you? 

There is more, but that’s for people who are evacuating… we will not.  We are not in a flood zone and should be safe.  If everyone who is in the path of this storm evacuates there will be over 55 million people on the road.  55 million people all trying to go inland.  We feel our safest place will be here at home. 

Still shaking

Not really, but I sure am sensitive when anything even slightly moves.  Last night John rolled over in his sleep and woke me up.  I knew it was the big one and we were floating out to the ocean.. it took me over two hours to get back to sleep… I’ll admit it, I’m a wimp when it comes to earthquakes. 

I went back to my quilting this morning, and I actually finished quilting and got the binding on another retreat sample.  I love the way this one looks… might just have to keep this one for someone special someday. 

Friends and family keep calling me about Extreme Home Makeover… the build is going great.  No I have not been there personally, but I don’t have to.. I have people who are reporting in daily, LOL!  Believe me this is going to be a terrific show… they are building more than one building, had an earthquake and now are getting ready for a hurricane!

 

I felt the earth move under my feet

OMG… At first I thought I was dizzy from too much quilting and then the chimes started ringing and I KNEW something was happening…  rolling feeling and my head started spinning and then it was over. 

Did I imagine it?  I called my in-laws, they didn’t answer the phone…I called John and he didn’t answer and then I called the non-emergency phone number for the county…  it didn’t answer either.  So I turned on the TV… sure enough the local news had broke into the program to say an earthquake had been felt from VA to Mass… 

Back to quilting!  Beautiful day here, windows all open, and a nice breeze.  Earthquake over so back to sewing. 

hmmmmm  and I always thought California would be the first to go.

Nothing's working....

I had to go get my blood drawn this afternoon for a Dr’s appointment on Friday.  It took four stabs before they got any, and then it was barely enough to fill the two little tubes they needed.  I had plenty of water today…  so guess my blood flow isn’t working.

Came home from there and the cable and internet are off.  I waited a half hour and then called.  After 15 minutes on the automated system while the nice sounding machine asked me a billion questions it finally said that I needed to talk to a representative, and transferred me.  Then I got the music… and ads… and more music… and more ads… and more music and finally a real person, 27 minutes into the call.  She sounded as mechanical as the machine did and I wasn’t really sure she was human.  She asked me pretty much the same questions the other machine had asked me…  what was wrong, had I checked this, did I check that and finally hold on… 

More music and ads and music and ads and then she’s back.  Yes, there is an outage in your neighborhood and it should come back on eventually.  But in the meantime, can I offer you an up-graded cable.  For only $7.95 a month I can get free movies. 

Hold on… I’ve spent almost 40 minutes on the phone and now you are offering me free movies for $7.95 a month?  She said politely, yes… and I said if it costs $7.95 a month it isn’t free then is it?  And besides, what good would it do me, I have still no cable or internet. 

Oh yes, but when it comes back on you can watch free movies.  And I said to her, Look, I know you are just doing your job, but do you know how dumb that is… free means no cost.  You want to charge me $7.95 so it is not free and I still don’t have cable or internet and I am already paying over $100 so I am not interested in paying more money for nothing. 

The one night I really want to watch local news, for Extreme Makeover Home Edition news, there is no cable. And I can’t check for updates on the web sites either…. Sigh… 

Obviously this will be posted later… when I get cable and internet again.  (which happened finally at 8:20 tonight)

Wonderful!

Jusst Sooup Rev. Dale Dunning Picked for Extreme Makeover

Jusst Sooup Ministry has been chosen as the lucky recipient by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to get a larger facility built for them on Route 9.

The co-host of Extreme Makeover, Ty Pennington surprised Rev. Dale Dunning this morning.
TV crews made the announcement at the Rehoboth Presbyterian Church.
The site for the new build is on Route 9 in Cool Springs; it’s a 6-acre lot that Schell Brothers donated to her earlier this year.

Practically right next door to us!  I think EMHE made an excellent choice on this build!

I'm stuck

Usually in the summer I start working on next year’s BOMs, picking the blocks, sewing the samples, writing the directions and finally the web pages.  This year I started in June and made two little quilts using what I thought would be the BOMs for next year… then I decided I didn’t like them.  Some of them are OK, and I will be using them in projects, but they are not good enough for BOMs.  

I’ve looked in EQ for ideas, I’ve looked on the internet to see what other people are doing and I just can’t find any blocks that are calling to me for next year’s BOMs. 

No, I am not in a quilting block or slump… I have plenty of ideas, just not BOM ideas. 

And next year is getting closer every day… 

Any suggestions? 

I do not like TV

I’m not much of a TV watcher… I like Extreme Home Makeover and some of the HGTV shows and Project Runway and that’s about it… except when Survivor is on, I watch every episode of that.  Usually when John is watching TV I am sitting on the computer surfing, blog hopping or even playing cards. 

When Mike moved out of the trailer he asked us to keep his wide screen TV inside so it would be safe from the heat and whatever else might happen to it in storage.  So we stuck it in a corner of the living-room out of the way.  And there it sat until last night.

Mike and Kelly are here for the weekend.  Yesterday afternoon Mike and John did some brew tasting… well Mike tasted, John drove… choosing brews for the reception.  (Four weeks from yesterday)  After dinner and after putting together 23 centerpieces for the reception we were having a little chat here in the living-room when Mike asked why we hadn’t hooked up his TV.  John explained the cable was on the old TV and it was hard to get at…..

Before I knew it the old TV was pulled out of the cabinet and the cable unhooked, and Mike’s TV was connected…  And there it sits… connected….  Look how the “men” left it…

 

 It is out of focus, we don’t have the right cable service for it, and it is too blank big and it is ugly and it is obnoxious. And I’m stuck with it

I do not like TV and I really do not like this one!

A new blogger friend

I got an email the other day from a sewer asking permission to use some of my BOMs for a quilt along on her blog.  She included her blog address so I checked her out.  She’s a young military wife with two small children who quilts in her free time while her husband is deployed.  Reading her blog and emails has brought back many memories of my days as a military wife and as a mother of two small children.  I feel a bond with this blogger that only a military wife would understand, and a quilting connection too!

Unlike Katie, in my 22 years as a DW (Dependant Wife) I was rarely separated from John.  We were so fortunate in that, something we were extremely thankful for.  John went to basic training alone, the longest nine weeks of my life.  He called me often, but I missed him so much.  He kept telling me he was going to be stationed right there at Lackland AFB but it wasn’t official so I couldn’t join him until it was official.  One day I got tired of waiting for it to be official and packed up the car as full as I could pack it with “things” including our two cats.  Then I called John and said I am coming and hung up, locked up the house and got in the car and started my drive to Texas.  He was pretty mad at me when I called him that night from Virginia to tell him where I was, but there was no turning back… I made it safely all the way from NJ to San Antonio and only got lost on base trying to find him. 

There were schools he attended, I stayed home and worked and they really weren’t that long.  One school was almost three months long and one of his sisters moved in with me to keep me company, so time went faster.   When he went to OTS (Officer Training School) I was lonely without him, but managed.  I drove down from Delaware to San Antonio for graduation.  The next separation was school for his new job in England, but this time I had to stay home, we now had two little boys who kept me busy.  When John went to another training session of some kind for eight weeks before we moved to England, the boys and I visited family in SC and DE.  In England he was home most of the time.  In Germany at first he was working long hours… war time.. then he was home but we couldn’t bother him as he studied for his masters degree.  But he was home with us.  Our final assignment before retirement was at the Pentagon and the only thing that kept us apart was traffic and we waited dinner for him every night. 

One of the main reasons we retired when we did was to stay together.  After 22 years in the Air Force and not one remote assignment, we knew it was coming.  We either retired or were separated, so we retired.  Yes, I was a very lucky DW unlike so many DWs these days, whose husbands go off for years at a time.  I admire those families, I know how hard it must be.  I thank each and every one of the men and women who serve our country.  For those who are active duty now, and for all those who served before them, I can not thank them enough.

And Katie, thanks for jogging the memories. 

WOW what a morning!

First, I had a horrible headache last night so I took a double dose of Tylenol PM.  It worked, headache gone and I slept well. 

However, what a morning I had.  I was visiting someone in a hospital somewhere when the clouds rolled in.  I said it looked like a tornado so the cloud turned into one and took away the neighboring building.  Then I looked out the window on the other side of the building and there was a funnel cloud headed towards our building.  I ducked down and when it was over my cell phone and glasses were missing.  (The rest of the building too but that wasn’t what bothered me)  I looked up and there was another funnel cloud coming and I decided I’d had enough so I woke up. 

I will tell you that I am very thankful I do not live where this is a common occurrence.  I am terrified of tornados, and know that I would never live comfortably where sirens went off all the time warning of them.  We lived in Texas in the early 70s and I spotted funnel clouds several times, but fortunately none that ever did any damage.  (One time one hit a runway at Kelly AFB but did little damage, the weather man reported it did a touch and go) 

I believe my tornado dream/nightmare this morning was due to watching the news about school starting in Joplin.  It is heartbreaking to see the damage tornados did there and elsewhere in our country this year.  I sent quilts to a military internet friend in Alabama who is living in a church hall with her four children.  Her DH is deployed and they lost everything in a tornado.  Last time I heard from her they were moving home to Washington to live with her parents, and her DH was coming home sometime this month. 

Fortunately it is a lovely day here in Delaware.  I don’t have to worry about the weather and my headache is almost gone.  Believe me I will be more careful when lowering my tailgate for now on!

What I did today:

I drove downstate, down to lower lower slower Delaware and sewed and talked and sewed and talked and sewed.  Then we went out to lunch where we talked some more.  Then back to the condo for more sewing and talking and sewing and talking.  Then I drove home to upstate lower slower Delaware. 

Thanks for a perfect day Denny

I was M.I.A.

That's Missing In Action if you didn't know, but there wasn't much action going on. 

I didn’t post yesterday and yes it was a result of the bump on the head.  I guess I had a slight concussion as I had some blurred vision and a headache to end all headaches and well… one does not function well under those circumstances.  The computer screen was way to bright to look at so I did what any decent quilter would do… I sewed. 

No cutting necessary, the blocks were already made so I didn’t have to worry about making mistakes, so it was an easy job and even out of focus I got it done.  Good thing there were only 16 blocks, because by time I finished that headache was worse and I quit… for the day. 

Headache is barely noticeable this morning, so I think I’ll  go see what trouble I can get into on the sewing porch. 

Ouch!

I went grocery shopping this morning, and when I got home I tried to knock my own head off….  I was unloading the back of the car.  I had something in my left hand, and reached up to close the back of the car… dropped something…  looked down to see what and knocked myself on the head with the point of the tailgate.  Now I have a goose-egg and a headache and that means no sewing, at least until this headache goes away!
 

“Are you a gambler?”

That question came from a reader who follows my blog… good one.  I replied to her, “Yes, I think all quilters are gamblers.  We never know 100% for sure how our quilts will look when we start them, and sometimes even not when we finish them, LOL!  But we keep making quilts don’t we?  I certainly do, even though once in a while I make one I’m not happy with, I just start another one and move on.”

She replied to me…  “I was referring to your stop at the casino yesterday”  

OH!!  LOL!  Yes I guess I am a gambler that way too.  No I don’t go often but most of the time when I go I have an enjoyable time, if I win or not.  I love people watching as long as I am not surrounded by them, and the casino is a great place to people watch.  Most of the time the crowds are quite mixed, those who are serious gamblers and those who are just there for fun, like me.  Yesterday was no exception, it was a very mixed crowd for sure.  But there seemed to be a fun atmosphere yesterday, I didn’t really see any “grumpy gamblers”

I have a routine when I go, I walk all around watching people and looking for fun machines.  I’m not one to just sit down at a Lucky 7 machine and spin all my money away… I want a game.  I always look for a quilt related theme, like Lucky Diamonds, which wasn’t so lucky last night, so I moved on.  I always try a fish related game, for Jon the fish guy in my family, and I tried a Builders Bonus yesterday for Mike, it didn’t build me any bonuses.  Then I let John pick a machine… what he picked wasn’t lucky for me, or interesting. 

In the next row of machines I saw Lil Ladies, themed with lady bugs.  Sort of cute, so I cashed out.  My $20 was down to $3 so I hoped those Lucky Ladies would pay off.  I put my slip in and then realized it was a $1 machine.  Whoops… I usually limit myself to between a penny and a quarter.  But my slip was in and I had $3 so I made a $1 bet.

I won fifty cents, and ten free spins.  OK, not bad… then the machine changed screens and started spinning all by its self.  OH… one of those kind of free spins.  So I sat back and let it go.  First spin I won my $1 back, second spin it doubled, then again. Hey, I was going in the right direction for a change.  It kept spinning and I kept winning.   When it was done spinning my $3 was up to $40.15, so I cashed out. 

SYNC my Garmin

Yesterday John and I headed to Maryland for another bridal shower for Kelly.   He was my driver.  We knew pretty much where we were going, at least we knew how to get to Annapolis, but needed guidance from there to the party.  No problem, I have a Garmin.  And I have SYNC on my Escape.  Should have been plenty of help.

Should have been…. The Garmin wasn’t working at all. Oh it knew where we were, but there was no way to tell it where we wanted to go.  When I pushed Address it told me No Data Available.  That meant the only places I could go were those saved in my memory, and where we were going was not one of them. 

 So I tried the SYNC, which I’ll admit I have not tried since I got the car 14 months ago.  Everywhere I’ve been I knew how to get to and from so I never needed it.  Fortunately it worked, great, and we found our way to the party.

While I was at the shower John went off and did some shopping.  He called me when he got back into the neighborhood so I knew he was done and could leave when the time was right.  However that meant his phone was the one SYNCed and when I got back in the car and we headed home I could not SYNC and John’s phone was not on the Directions part of the SYNC, and that had to be done on line before he could use it. 

However, despite the lack of anyone telling us where to go, we made it home safely after a detour.  NOT because we took a wrong turn or anything, just because we decided at the last minute to stop into the Casino for dinner and a little fun before coming home.  We went in with $40 and played for an hour, then ate dinner, and then played a few more minutes before leaving.  We left with a little over an hour’s worth of fun and full tummies AND $21 in our pockets… not bad I think. 

I made a huge mistake….

Nothing to do with quilting, don’t worry.  My mistake was leaving the security of my home on a Friday in August.  Traffic… 

I turned right out of my driveway, then right at the end of my street.  1/4 mile down the road there is an intersection, the other people had a stop sign, I did not.    Apparently the idiot who was coming past that stop sign did not realize I did not have to stop and he did, despite the big RED sign he drove right past.  Fortunately there was no one behind me so I didn’t get rear-ended when I slammed on my breaks to avoid broadsiding that idiot. 

I blew on my horn out of frustration, and then followed the same idiot three miles down the road.  Excuse me, my mistake, I didn’t know that little ole men driving tan mini trucks were excused from stopping at stop signs, because he went right through the next one too, almost causing another accident when the people who didn’t have a stop sign almost broadsided the same idiot.  And that person was almost rear-ended by  another little old man driving another mini truck… perhaps he was trying to catch up to the other guy? 

So I made it safely to the post office, in and our real quick.  Then to the bank, only 2 miles away.  I witnessed another idiot running a red light, lady this time driving a nice white caddy…  and then that same lady turning into a store without using her blinkers and cutting off another lady who was talking on her cell phone, illegal in Delaware. 

Then on to Route One, surely nothing could happen there.  After all I was only going 5 miles an hour.  Except the lady who was in the left lane wanted to be in the right and the lady in the right wanted to be in the left and they met in the middle… right in front of the State Police Barracks.  How convenient. 

I made it to the bank safely, and then had to pick up John’s laundry.  Got it and started home.  Only traffic on Postal Lane was backed up all the way to the golf course… it took me almost 10 minutes to drive what can’t be more than a half a mile.. 

I was never so happy to be home… I think I’ll hide my car keys from myself so I don’t attempt to go out again this weekend.

21,300,00?

I’ve never been one to follow crowds, I avoid them as much as possible.  To me 25 is a crowd.  I’ve never been one to follow a fad either, I do my own thing.  But to find out that I am one of 21,300,00 quilters in the country did not surprise me.  I kind of thought there were more of us out there. 

Quilting is a part of life to so many of us, I’m guessing they missed a few when they counted.  They were out shopping, or at a show, or at a retreat, or too busy to answer the door when the quilt police came by to count them.   Is there a box on the census under occupation that says “Quilter”? 

If so, did many of the quilters in America just put it down as a hobby?  Quilting is much more than a hobby.  Quilting is a way of life.  A way of creating, sharing, giving, learning and so very much more.   
 

More sewing, sort of

Yes I sewed today, a whole seam.  I was squaring blocks and found a pinch I’d sewed in a seam, so had to rip it out and sew it back again.  Well… sew it without the pinch that is.  When I finished that I went back to squaring blocks again. 

Except my rotary cutter wasn’t working well… leaving way too many un-cut threads so I had to change the blade. 

 
Except when I put it back together it didn’t look right, so I came in to look on line for the correct way to reassemble a rotary cutter. 
 
There were several emails waiting to be answered, then a few dozen more to send out, then replies to those to reply to, then some accounting to be done after I got the mail, then more emails to be sent to let ladies know their checks had arrived, more email in and out. 
 
Then someone emailed to ask if I had a certain gadget I could sell her at the retreat, which meant a trip up to the sewing room… and while I was there I got to looking at my stash…. Something was calling me and of course I had to answer.  So I brought a pile of fabric back down with me.
 
Then I replied to the retreater who asked for that gadget and a few more emails that came in, and all of a sudden it is past dinner time and I haven’t had dinner, let alone finish squaring those blocks.

I am still sewing

I am still sewing and working up a sweat while doing it.  This heat is just slowing down my creative hours… it is too hot to sew on the back porch, the summer sewing room.  I went out there and sewed for about twenty minute first thing this morning and quit when the sweat started rolling down my nose. 

And it is too hot to sew upstairs too.  I could turn the fans on upstairs, but do you know how hard it is to sew when your pieces are blowing around.. almost impossible.  So back to creating and writing new mysteries and BOMs.  Thank goodness for EQ!

Extreme Home Makeover is coming to our area!

This is exciting to us because we are huge Extreme HomeMakeover fans.  John watches it every week and watches the reruns too! 

Will we volunteer… I doubt it.  I for one do not tolerate crowds well… honestly, not at all anymore.  Just the thought of the build site gives me the willies. 

We will just wait patiently for all the local news and then eventually one Sunday evening we will watch the show. 

 I can hardly wait!!

Happy Birthday Son!

29 years ago I was blessed to have a son… It seems like yesterday.

Lazy Sunday

I didn’t do any actual sewing today, but I did do some quilting work.  Still working on those retreat projects.  Today I was doing some EQ diagrams.  But my work was interrupted by Mike and Kelly who had more important work… working on the centerpieces for their reception. 

John and I were tickled watching them… so serious about the look they were creating.  At one point he asked me what our table centerpieces were… I replied… did we have tables? 

Mufasa was happy to see them… 

Unexpected visitor

Early this morning I heard the back door open… there’s a bell hanging on the door knob that alerts me when anyone opens the door.  I thought to myself John is up… then John moved next to me.  I said loudly, “John someone came in the back door, WHO IS THERE?”  We weren’t expecting anyone and we thought the garage and back door were shut… 

I heard someone say hi in kitty talk, and then “It’s me”   Mike!  He came to visit for the day while Kelly was out with some friends in Ocean City.  He had some wedding work to do and a golf date with a friend this afternoon. 

The wedding work was a sign to help everyone find the wedding location… here’s a preview.   It says Happily Ever After Starts Here

Catching up

Yesterday I had to run downstate to pick up more T-shirts.  On the way home I stopped in at Serendipity Quilt Shop and bought a few yards of a bright fabric to add to my Ugly quilt sample.  When I got home I tossed the fabric in the washer and then dryer and then cut some squares and made some blocks.  I have 16 partially made blocks waiting for me to get back to them. 

In the late afternoon we went upstate to visit the almost birthday boy and take him out to dinner.  We had a very nice visit, although way too short.  On the way home I realized how much I miss having the boys stopping in and bothering us.  Yes they text me and email me and even call me, but it just isn’t the same as an in person conversation.  Seems like just yesterday they were babies and now they are all grown up and out on their own… totally.

This morning was settlement on the trailer.  Huge financial relief and a mental strain over with.  Was it a good thing buying that trailer… you bet it was!  It gave me the peace and quiet I love so much, and prepared me for this final move away from home that both boys have made, practice for the empty nest so to speak.  And it especially gave Mike practice on being on his own, taking care of his own home, and a small step out there into the independence he now has. 

Next big step, marriage… soon for Mike and Kelly, and soon too (I hope) for Jon and Steph.  

Sigh….

Sewing again

I made a whole block yesterday, and today because it was much cooler, only mid 80s outside, I sewed some more.  I made 16 blocks and sewed them together into a small quilt.  I will admit, it is far from pretty… it’s actually plain ugly.  But that is what I need, a pure ugly quilt. 

The next one I will make will be prettier… I hope.  These samples will show that ugly is ugly, but can easily be made beautiful with the right fabric… 

I hope

Newest project

This is another retreat project.  The idea popped in my head while I was looking through my BOMs… I was actually trying to decide what to do for next year’s BOMs and when I visited this page (secret for now) I saw a whole new project and one that we could use for our Ugly Fat Quarters at the retreats. 

I will share this with the whole WWW after I’ve used it at the retreats, and probably as a BOM for 2012. 

Now if it wasn’t so darn hot I would go sew a sample up!

One more thing

And August is the end of the 2011 Relay For Life year, and a new year’s starts next month.  Our new fundraiser T-shirt is selling well so we are off to another good year. 

Funny note, it seems that old people like this T-shirt better than the young ones.  Seems some of the youngsters think it is crude.  It gets our point across; we want cancer done away with. 

I want to thank every one of you who donated to the 2011 fund drive.  The Delaware Quilts team is at $11,610 as of today, a new high for us.  That just makes us have to work harder next year to pass that! 

Thank you all again for making it happen!  Together we will find the cure!

August update

I posted updates early, but guess I forgot to put them on here.  Shelly reminded me by email.  Funny, I thought she was a member of at least one of the groups, but it appears she’s just a blog hopper.  Thanks Shelly.

The BOM for August is Dove in the Window

I am announcing that I have room for TWO quilters at the November Retreat. I have gone through the waiting list and there were no takers.  Well... I had an opening and it got booked then someone else backed out and one more person booked but that leaves still table space for two more. 
http://delawarequilts.com/Retreat/2011/November/index.html

I had a pitiful quilting month in July, but still updated my UFO list.  http://delawarequilts.com/UFOList.html  I added another quilt, but since I didn’t finish it and have moved on to another project, it’s a UFO and is on that list.   It was just too hot to even think about quilting... but I did think about quilting a lot. 

Yes, I’ve started another project, another sample for the fall retreats.  All I’ve done so far is cut some squares, both sewing rooms are a bit hot.  I sure wish I would win the lottery so we could afford to build a new sewing room… I have a dream room now, and on these hot days I sure hope that dream room will have proper AC and heat!