Random Catching Up

Time for one of those rambling posts covering all sorts of stuff you aren't interested in....

1.  Still waiting to hear from my boss about work next summer.  As with the past several years, I'm also curious about a couple of parks that are within a day's drive from here, because....

2.  We will be interviewing 'certified waiver option providers' for the boys next week.  Letting go is hard.  It will be a good thing, since DH and I will get more free time, but handing the boys over to strangers is still scary.  Wish the fam and friends would get certified....



3.  Trying to get some sewing time in.  I'm doing a free quilt-along block of the month (heretofore referred to as either the QAL or the BoM for you non-quilty types).  The BoM is a free class from Craftsy.  My first blocks are done, and I'm quite pleased.  The plan is to do 2 new blocks each month, and ending up with a lap quilt in December.  I'm using up Christmas stash, and am making 2 blocks of each type.  Depending on my mood next December, I'll either make one giant quilt or two smaller ones.  If I do that I'll keep one and donate one to the Whitehouse Library for a fund-raiser. 

Anybody else doing this one?  Nice instructor, easy directions, cute project.  And FREE!  (Thanks to several of you who suggested links for me.)

I also signed up for a mini-quilt swap this morning, thru The Quilting Gallery.  I've never done this before, but I've seen what so many of you are doing with swaps, that I thought I'd try it.  This is a one shot deal, so if I don't like it, I'm done, and if I don't have time this summer, no one will be disappointed.  Any body doing that one?

January block 2

January Block 1

New organizing idea.  Each quilt or project is now in a zippered bag from which linens come. This is the Christmas stuff.  Since I had to buy all new linens for the boys, given that we upgraded them from twin beds to fulls, I had lots of bags.  I've also been stashing them, knowing they were too good to pitch, but having no idea what I'd do with 'em.  Now I know. Win.

4.  I dug thru my patterns looking for the new doggie coat one I just bought. You'd think it would be on the top of a heap since it's brand new and with several other patterns (yeah, 99 cent patterns at HoAnnes a couple of weeks ago), but noooo, I can't find the damn thing for the life of me.  By the time I do, my neighbor's doggies won't need the coats.  I did find a table runner pattern, one of a yearly series.  I decided to do the February one, and set to work.

Lemme tell ya, the directions sucked.  I'm so glad I didn't pay full price for the pattern.  Good thing I knew what to do, otherwise I'd have a huge mess on my hands.  I did get one finished.  Now I'm curious to find the couple of other patterns in the series that I own and see what kind of mess those will be.  I'll post a pic soon.  It's okay.

5.  I made a mess of mug rugs that I'll give away at Girl Scout Service Unit Meetings. Why, do you ask, would I do that?  I got suckered into being the Training Consultant (a volunteer) for my local Service Unit--the Little Turtle unit of the Maumee Valley Region of the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio.  I'm the training nazi now.  My job is mainly to be sure as many our our volunteers get trained as possible. Turns out in our SU it's pretty easy.  Yeah.

Part of the reason I'm doing this is. . .

6.  My word of the year is Mentor.  As in "to mentor" and "be mentored."  I have talents I can share, and things I want to learn.  So there ya go.

7.  Found a couple of other random pics I wanted to share.  This is one is the sum total of wrapping trash we generated at home this year.  I make super-simple bags out of Christmas material, and in the past 15 years or so, I've amassed quite a collection.  So much beautiful fabric, so few places to use it.  The bags satisfy my love of new fabric, and solve a ton of other problems.  The best thing, and one that I didn't anticipate is that they are sooooo quiet!  Easy to wrap without having to be quiet and thus detected by the snoopers, and so quiet to open.  Since FTD has big time noise issues, it's also a bonus.  In the past, I've given away bags for fun.  Lots of folks have asked me to sell them, but I'd have to charge so much it'd be silly.  And then it would be work, not fun. By the way, the bag shown here is only about half full. There is cardboard, but that all goes into the recycle bin. Win-win.


The other pic is of a really cute thingie DD made at school.  I've seen this before, but never got around to making one.  

  How's that for random?