Sopping Wet Birders, No Extra Charge

We've always opened our home to birders, butterflyers, dragon and damsel flyers, moss experts, orchid geeks, and various other ne'r-do-wells.  Last night was the annual Owls of Oak Openings field trip by the Toledo Naturalist Association, and even though the weather sucked, 18 people drove and trudged around the park calling owls.  Alas, none were to be found by the hardy and/or insane birders.  They made our house the last stop, hoping to get the Great Horned Owls we've been hearing.  And since they could stand on the front porch or back deck to call for them, and stay dryer, they were all for that.  And the Big Bonus was our heated indoor-working-plumbing.  They couldn't believe we'd let all those soaking wet folks in.  Hey, that's why God invented those fantastic laminate floors.  Today the puddle marks don't even show.

And they loved the yellow spots I painted all over, trying to chose a new color for the dining room and foyer.  And today, Jason Tansel of Blue Jay Painters was here and got the first coat completely finished!  It's awesome!  and it's really Yellow! Pics tomorrow.. er, later today, I guess.

And a quick note, the Ranger Anderson Auction has ended.  I'll fill you in on that later. But for now I can say that I am truly blessed and humbled that anyone would pay anything for the quilts I made.  Holy cow.

Happy Thinking Day!

Today, February 22 is Girl Guide and Girl Scout Thinking Day, a time to learn about Scouts from around the world.  In lots of new troops, girls receive their WAGGGS pin, which is worn about their country's pin. For many children this is their first in-depth look at children in another country.  A great tradition!

In other news, my quilts in the Margaret Anderson Trust Fund charity auction on Ebay are going through the roof.  For the winner of the arrowhead quilt, I've also made a pillow that is similar, along with 4 matching mug rugs.  The Madison quilt winner will get a poster of OF from the WPA Ranger Guide series.


I am truly amazed at the prices being offered for the quilts.  I thought maybe maybe maybe at least one of them would fetch $50 (and if it didn't I would buy it back).  Holy cow.


So you have a day and a half to bid on these and many other way cool items.  The auction was organized by rangers at Grand Canyon National Park so there's lots of good Arizona stuff to check out.

Bid early, bid often!

Done! FTD's Log Cabin Quilt!

Check it off the WIP list!

The only thing left to do on FTD's log cabin quilt was the binding....  "just the binding."  How many quilters have these creatures sitting around because they "just need the binding."  Sheesh.

I asked my friend Lindy to come over and help feed the dang huge thing thru my machine.  DH has helped in the past, but he has all sorts of 'suggestions' on how I could do it better.   Since he retired 10 years ago, he's had all sorts of ideas on how I could do things better.  Pretty tired of it, I gotta admit.  Anywho, I asked Lindy if she had some free time and we had a wonderful afternoon catching up and sewing. And I totally missed that this was Friday Night Sew In day--we had an afternoon Sew In!

Did you know that having an extra set of hands makes mitering your corners easier?  And I got sooooo lucky when the binding fit perfectly at the end.  And it only took me one try to get it right!

So I sewed the binding to the front, pressed it flat and then also machine sewed it on the back.  There's no way you'll catch me hand sewing a binding.  Nope, not gunna happen.  (Ergo, I'll never be entering any quilts in contests....)

After all the heart and soul I put into this quilt, I'm very, very content now, knowing that it's on FTD's bed and will keep him snuggy warm for years to come.

Charity Quilting Time

I posted a while ago about the Ebay auction for Ranger Margaret Anderson's children.  I did get my quilt done, and the auction is now up and running.  They had a few glitches with travel certificates, apparently Ebay staff wants a bigger piece of that action or something, but all is good now.

And, since we're such good friends and all, and since I've just gotta tell somebody else, my Madison Junction Tree quilt is now up to $51.00.  I prayed and prayed it would go for at least that, and if it didn't I would buy it back for at least $50.  Whew.  But here's the news that brought me to tears last night.  My arrowhead quilt is up to $200.  I was in my crafty corner in the basement when I saw that, and couldn't catch my breath.  There's no way in hell it's worth that, so I'm making a pillow and some mug rugs to go with it.  Sorry for the hubris here, but holyshit.  Just thinking about it makes me weepy in an odd way.  Happy weepy that so much money is going to the Trust Fund, and also happy weepy that well, just because.  Also sad weepy that we have to be involved in such an activity.  I would much rather have made something for a birthday or anniversary or something.

Now back to the real world.

Anybody get engaged for Valentine's Day?  Need a minister?  Call me!  I'm all good to go.  Even bought a nice new, dressy black suit.  For me to spend any quality time in a department store is a Big Deal.  Not a shopper. . . .  but I like how it looks.  Anywho, it's been interesting having discussions about marriage and weddings.  I'm a believer in it myself.  Marriage, that is. Damn hardest job I've ever had, and also the most rewarding.




What the hell was I thinking when I bought iron on quilt batting?  Yuck.  Sadly, I have 2 queen size (I think) rolls of it.  I'll use it up for mug rugs and stuff, but blah.  Back to Warm and Natural for me!

Next up, the invites for All Things Danny Day are out.  It'll be Sunday March 11.  And of course, YOU are invited!  Oddly, he didn't want to invite any of the kids from his class.  He's all about grown-ups.  I think he's figured out that most of them have the skills to figure out what he's talking about, whereas kids, especially other kids with special needs, don't get him.  More about this later, speaking of rites of passage.


We finally got some snow--including a whole one and a half inches for Winterfest!  We only had half as many participants this year, but it was also a whopping 15-20 degrees with 10 to 20 mph winds.  I wasn't able to get any pics, but when I do, I'll share them.

Last up for random stuff, I'm boldly going where I've never gone before.  Sorta.  I'm going to put colored, yes colored paint on the dining room walls!  When we built the house, we had everything done in an nice white.  Crisp and clean.  And that meant we could put crap all over in various colors and it all worked.  So now I'm trying something new.  Actually, we painted FTD's room in 2 shades of green, and the master bath has 2 pale shades of yellow, green, and blue all blended in.  But the yellow we picked for the dining room is bold and warm.  Sheesh.  And we're gunna pay to have it done.  None of that being on 17 foot tall scaffolding for us anymore.  DH didn't even argue the point.  Well, he did, but only because he's programed to say it.  I just looked at him and grinned.  Silly old man.

Let's see... he can be outside playing with my chain saw or inside painting.... no contest there.

Ranger Auction Begins Today!

Get your PayPal ready!  Today is the first day of the auction to benefit the children of Ranger Margaret Anderson who was killed in the line of duty on January 1, 2012.

There's lots of cool stuff so check it all out.  And most importantly, remember that all the proceeds from the auction will go to the trust fun that has been established by the National Park Foundation to help support Ranger Eric and Margaret's two beautiful little girls.

 http://stores.ebay.com/rangeranderson

So why are you still reading this?  Go!!

Turning 21 and Other Life Passages

My baby, my special delivery,  turned 21 this week.  He ordered himself a video game.  He asked to go to Friendly's for supper.  He asked me to make him cake and get ice cream. 

That's all of his wants.  At least that's all that I can tell he has, or that he can verbalize.

The kids at school all told him happy birthday.  His FB friends and family wished him well. 

FTD sitting on the shore of Lake Eire, enjoying the solitude.

That's all he needs to be content. 

It seems too little somehow.  While I'm glad he didn't get tanked on his 21st, I'm saddened that he has no friends with whom he just hangs out.  He still has 2 good buddies from his academic high school, but they are both in, or trying to earn the money to be in, college.  They still come over and play Pokemon and Zelda and something else.  They still engage in "parallel play," like toddlers do.  I want so much more for him, yet if he's content, what should I be wanting for him?


We've also discussed the concept of leaving him here this summer (but haven't even made a peep about this to DD, who will blow a cork), instead of dragging him to which ever park I land in.  DH and I discussed the pros and cons, and simply put, there are many more pros to him staying here.  My nephew will live here again, and with a certified waiver option provider hanging with him a couple of days a week, he'll be fine.

But will I? 

All moms know that their kids are going to leave the nest some day.  Okay, we're leaving him in the nest while we boogey, but still.  He doesn't get home from school until 4:30 and by 2:30 or so, I'm really missing him. How will I manage for 4 months?

I will be coming home for my BFF's daughter's wedding in mid-July, so FTD and I will have at least a couple of days together.  And DH will likely stay until Memorial Day, since DD says he wants to hang around until the end of school this year, since it's his "Senior" year and last at the academic HS. He'll attend the vocational HS where FTD currently attends next year, as will FTD, who'll only be there for the first semester, as he will age out next February.  So if this plan goes, I'll be driving to my park, and living alone for nearly a month.  Good news, bad news that.

DH was making squawky noises about how since we leave all summer he doesn't get anything done around here.  Um, he doesn't get much done when we are here, so that's a moot point.  I also cannot imagine ever again spending a summer in the heat and humidity and mosquitoes and ticks of NW Ohio.  When I'm too old and decrepit to stand for the 8 hours my job requires, I'll come home and sit in the air conditioning and look out my windows, but until that day, I'm outta here in the summers.  Folks around here who have never been able to escape in the summers don't realize that there's nice weather to be had in other places. 

Speaking of which, one of the other parks at which I applied isn't hiring any new staff this year.  It's a perfect location for a summer gig (even tho they have black flies).  I'm going to screw up my courage and call the other park to see if I've got any chance up there, too.  The calls are hard to make because I don't want to appear to be pushy, but I really need to know sooner rather than later.  And of course, my back up position is Yellowstone.  How blessed am I that that is the case.

If we do in fact leave FTD here, it opens the potential for a move to Old Faithful, if if if the one and apparently only 2 bedroom apartment is available.  I haven't been in it, but I hear it's smaller than our Madison apartment.  But being at OF means DD can actually get a paying job.  And DH can volunteer pretty much when ever he feels like it. He's not so interested in committing to a schedule, and um, well this is embarrassing, but even tho it's a volunteer job, some volunteers get free or reduced housing out of the deal.  We did in North Dakota and it was fabulous!  He was the Campground Host, so we got to live in the little cabin in return for him working at least 32 hours a week, which was a breeze and he loved it. (We'd so do that again, if the cabin were available.) 

Boy Scout Troop from Toledo raising the Flag at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota.  Our camp tender's cabin.

Our YNP apartment on a beautiful May day.

The housing situation for volunteers in YNP has been interpreted differently, so it seems that his working wouldn't be compensated.  Yeah, we know it's volunteering but the fact that some volunteers 'get paid' and some don't is kinda tricky.

Well, it's after 1 p.m.. Time to make those phone calls.....

Ranger Margaret Anderson Ebay Auction for Children (New pics 2/9/1

As you know, Ranger Margaret Anderson was fatally shot and killed in the line of duty on New Years Day, 2012.  Her friends, her Church, the National Park Foundation, and others have created a trust fund for the care of her two darling daughters, ages 2 and 4.

Next weekend, these same folks are sponsoring an Ebay auction site to help to continue to raise funds. I'll be donating a couple of small quilts.

Here's the link at ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/ranger-anderson?_rdc=1

Items will go up on February 14 and remain up until the 23rd of February.

You can also look at the FB page/event to show your support.

So I'll donate one of these:

The top quilt, as you may recall, is the motif that is on the Madison Historic Trailside Museum at Yellowstone National Park, now the Junior Ranger Station and Information Station.  It's an exact size copy of this:

Isn't is just the cutest thing?  I usually only make these for the super-coolest folks who have served at Madison Junction, but for Ranger Eric and his little girls, I'll donate one.


And here's the new one:

Arrowhead Quilted Wall Hanging 

So mark your calendar and get your PayPal ready!  I've also seen a few of the other items that are being auctioned.... the really, really cool stuff!

Certified Waiver Option Providers

That's a whole lotta government speak.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we would soon be interviewing folks to serve as our sons' certified waiver option providers.  Here's the back story.

About 10 or 12 years ago, a friend asked if our kids were on The List.  I said I have no idea, what's The List?  This, said she, is The List your kids with special needs must be on in order to get care (a place to live) when they become adults.  It was her understanding that in order to get services you had to be at the top of The List (TL).  So.  I said how do we get on TL?  She said call your case manager at the County Department, which in our case is now called the Lucas County Development Disabilities Board (LDD.)   I remembered that long before that, we had contact with LDD, because our kids are adopted through another county agency and they connected us.  At least I think that's how we met, but it might have been through the county's special ed pre-school program.  Quite honestly, those days are a blur now.  There's no learning curve for this.

I spoke with caseworker Susan, who said that TL is indeed the roster of folks who need various support services, either as children or adults.  Our kids lived at home so for the time being that aspect of their lives was okay.  But what if?  we keel over and die? we are medically incapacitated? we just plain get too old to care for the boys?  Then what do we do?  Enter Certified Waiver Option Providers.

Lucas County Children's Home

In the long ago past, children with special needs were shipped off to homes, usually before they entered school.  Parents were told that it would be best for the child and best for the rest of your family.  This was the norm, and was considered the Best Practice of its day.  But its day came and went.  Many brave parents took a stand and said, "We know how to best care for our children, and that means they should stay at home with us."  A radical concept 50 years ago.  Children with special needs were 'out of sight, out of mind.'  My very best friend had an older brother in this situation, and we were BFFs for 4 or 5 years before she told me about him.  How unimaginable today. The other part of that story was you had to disown your kids when they turned 21 in order for them to receive any services and they had to go to a Home.  Talk about adding insult to injury.

But then how to care for your children at home presented its own set of problems.  Lots of problems.  Every thing from school to babysitters to diet to medical supplies to diapers to transportation, you name it, it was a problem to over come.  I thank God everyday that other brave parents fought those battles and came up with creative solutions.  And if not solutions, then at least systems to work out the problems.

For us the problems that remained were school and transportation. (The alleged director of special ed in our district was known as Cruella deBeck.  It's the perfect mental image of the witch.) Our school battles were legendary. Our battles have helped some of the kids who are coming up now, although since every child is different, there's no "one good solution".  We still hear from families who are struggling, trying to squeeze out every bit, every minute of good stuff for their kids, while they can.  I could write for days about our school struggles, which continue to a lesser extent these days.  Lesser because we're getting tired of fighting the system. Sad and true.

Transportation is our other problem.  While there are services available, we live 30 minutes from anywhere.  So that's a minimum of an hour in the car, with two screaming kids with autism.  It simply wasn't worth it to put up with that, in order to see someone for a 15 or 30 minute appointment.  The payback just wasn't there.  And to do any of that after school was totally out of the question, because our kids used up every molecule of 'good' that they had at school.  By the time they got home, their 'good' supply was completely depleted and they were running on fumes.  Add to that, our kids were always the first kids on the bus and the last ones off.  Not a good situation for anyone.  Even now, FTD gets on the bus at 6:35 a.m., and home at 4:15 p.m..  How many able-bodied and minded adults can stand that kind of day?

Back to our story.  When I spoke with caseworker Susan those 10 years ago, she said yes, both boys are on The List.  I said so what now?  She explained that all of the folks who might need services, who are known by the LDD, are placed on the list, taking into consideration the child's age, severity of need, and parent's ages. So our kids are lower on the severity side of things, but DH and I are way up on the age side.  As I was talking to Susan, she said, "Some of the parents of our clients still have their adult children living at home and the parents are in their 60s!"  I said, "Um, DH is now 61 and I'm 47, and the boys are 10 and 12."  She said, "Oh, honey, you just shot right to the top of The List."  Whew, the safety net was out.

And now here we are, ten years later.  The boys made it to the top of the list.  (Bittersweet, because it means someone who was receiving services has passed away.) And given that our current alleged governor is trying to get rid of Big Government, he's eying the services for people with special needs.  Jerk. Our new caseworker Bill is pushing us to get lined up with services, in case Gov. Asshole gets his way.  We're hoping that folks currently receiving services won't have those services cut, which Gov. A-hole also suggested.  Jerk.

So now we have to make some decisions.  None of these are binding for all time, but if we can get a good fit now, it will give the boys long term stability.  We worked with Bill to create profiles and current needs of the boys to give to providers. Several have responded to our inquiries, and we've interviewed a couple. 

So to make a short story long, we're hoping to find 'friends' for the boys at this stage of the game.  More on that later.  Gotta go pick one up from school now, he says he's sick.  Tired and weary is more like it, I imagine.

(P.S.  I'm not using the real names of caseworkers and providers.)

Little Birds and Big Fabric

The past couple of days I've been messing with the little birds, primarily pine siskins, and big fabric.  I also spent hours on the phone and found out that I do in fact have a little unemployment compensation coming, which translates to a trip to the long arm quilter (LAQ).  Yea!

Sneaking up on the siskins out my bedroom door.

Just a few of 'em.

A little chicka dee dee dee stops in to visit, but he was kinda camera shy.

And a Tufted Titmouse, posing for Bird Butz Bob and Loopy Dave.

See, he does have eyes.  Love the black black black eyes of titmooses.

In honor of this week's Squirrel Appreciation Day, here's one of ours.  Damn pesky squirrels.

The Pine Siskins are a Big Deal for some folks.  Around here, they're just another winter visitor.  They breed up north, and come down south here for the winter.  Lots of folks get all excited about the 3 siskins at the Window on Wildlife or at their feeders.  We had 65 of the buggers on our CBC count day!  We haven't seen numbers like that since that day, but we do run 20 to 30 anytime there's thistle seed out. And dang those buggers can eat a lot of thistle.  And given that they show up right outside my bedroom windows, I can retain my title of World's Laziest Birder.




Since I got the word that I'd have a small infusion of cash, I've been busting my hump to get some backings lined up for UFOs.  I'm not really fond of working with big stuff, which is why FTD's log cabin quilt is still over there on the sofa, not on his bed.  Arg.

So sit back, get a cuppa and enjoy my little tour of current/UFO projects and other stuff.

This is the fabric I'm using for DD's bed skirt. He wanted plain black, but I wasn't up for that.  Late late late one night I remember that I bought this at a shop hop, not knowing what I'd use it for.  Ta daaaa!!  But, as you have figured out, I didn't have enough.  A frantic web search turned up 2 vendors with some in the shop.  I chose the cheaper one, and of course, she didn't have quite enough either, but I said send what you've got.  I also picked up some Lionel train fabric, a bison panel, and the most adorkable Moda Christmas panel.  Check out NUTS AND BOLTS Fabric shop in Edgemont, South Dakota!!  I ended up piecing some pieces for the bedskirt, and cut and sewed the muslin for the part that goes between the mattresses. Got it done late tonight, and DD is sleeping on it even as I type. I hate sewing big stuff.

Random pic out my window.  No snow.  Sigh.

The ages old Badlands Quilt in front, FTD's log cabin quilt in the back.  I got the backing cut for BL quilt and will take that over to the LAQ as soon as the check clears.  I have no idea how to have this one quilted...... I'm leaning towards over all stippling.  Whatdoyathink?  Honestly, I need your opinion!  I hate cutting big fabric.

Lessee... these are for which project?  ...oh, yeah, the stripy quilt. That will to to the LAQ, also. That will get what ever stitch is cheapest done for the quilting. I hate ironing big fabric.

 And now for a cute surprise!!

BadAmy and I hit the antique shop a few weeks ago, because I needed a small table for FTD's room, so I could move the one from his room to DD's.  BadAmy was looking for..... I don't even remember what.  But look what jumped into my basket!!

It's so freakin' cute!!!! Seriously, it's called Thread-a-matic!

And it works! So if Mr. Ritis (you know, Arther?) ever deems my old hands worthy of hand sewing again, at least I'll be able to thread the needles.  And it was sooooo cheap!  Score!  I did find a table and also scored a hat box from the store where DH used to work.   I have a few hat boxes, all from stores in the Toledo area.

What is this for?  Dang, I can't remember a thing lately. . . I'm sure it's for something big, and I hate sewing big bindings. Oh, yeah, FTD's quilt.  At least I finally picked out the fabric and got it cut and sewed.

Next, I love the bags bird seed comes in, and wanna make grocery bags from them.  Any idea what type of needle and thread I should use?  They're so purty. I've seen them on etsy, but really have no clue what to use.  I did think about colored duct tape....

So there's my life this week.  I wish it were really this simple, but in fact we have a couple of extended family things we're working on.  The good news, I have a wonderful extended family.  The bad news, we all suffer from illness, bad fortunes, and general malaise that comes under the heading "Shit Happens."   The good news, we have birds that sing and warm, wonderful quilts to snuggle up in. Life is good.

Random Catching Up II

More randomness . . .  and wondering why my pic on the side bar grew 4 sizes when I changed it the last time.  That's totally over kill. . .  

1.  I'll be starting physical therapy to see if I can get my left Achilles tendon back to normal.  Apparently I messed it up sometime either late last summer or early in the fall. . . but when I went to the otho-surgeon in early November to see if some miraculous procedure has been developed to fix tarsal coalitions (no) he mentioned that it looked like there was long term damage to my AT.  Crap.

I went for a little walk in the snow today, across from our house, feeling the need to test out my ankle again.  Not a great snow, but at least it's snow.  We got maybe an inch, with maybe 3 more expected over the weekend.  We need to get some, so folks get excited about Whitehouse Winterfest on Feb. 11.  We have several entries for the Snowy Night Light Parade, but no sleds yet.  Drat.  Maybe this bit 'o' snow will help.

3.  Remember this mess?  I made these strips from a batik jelly roll that I won at a retreat.  I'm not much of a batik kinda girl, and I thought these were just so-so, but hey, they were free!  I used the stash from the Three Bears Quilt to add enough material for a single size quilt.  I took the strips to YNP with me, thinking that if I needed a break from Parkadise, I could just idly sew the strips together.  I had interesting projects to sew, so I ended up bringing the strips back.  Yesterday, I sewed them all up in no time flat (I mean really, really quickly!) and now it's ready for the long arm quilter (LAQ) over in town.  I had planned on using a sheet for the backing, but have since found out that sheets are made quite differently from sewing fabric and it boogers up long arm machines.  Okie dokie.  Anywho, this might end up being a charity quilt, since the only cost I'll have in it are plain muslin backing, batting, and thread, and of course the quilting. I spend a ridiculous huge amount of time deciding which strip should go where last spring.  Then I stacked the strips and rolled them up.  When I sewed them together I just sort of when willy nilly... sheesh.  Anywho, it looks okay.

4.  More from the crafting-kids corner. FTD's class made these for presents at school--how cute is that?  He said he hand sewed the tubes closed, and I'm guessing he helped stuff the them.  I'll have to do some dissecting to see how long the tubes are.... talk about cute and simple.







5.  But here's the real goodie!  I've had this old chenille bed spread since one of our Mom's passed away, so it's been quite a while.  Every now and then I get an idea of how to use it, but don't have the time or energy to pull something off.  Yesterday, it all came together in the cutest dang pillow ever!  The design is the part that would be on top of the  bed pillow, so there's only one of these motifs.  The other motifs are bigger, and will need more finessing to fit a standard pillow.  I might just cut it down and sew a new back to the chunk that's left, to make a mini-quilty thing.  We'll see. 

6.  Lessee, today (well, last night as I couldn't sleep due to a mini-head cold) I remembered that I have some black train fabric, which I will use to make a bed skirt for DD's new bed.  He wanted straight black, but I wasn't quite ready to go there, even tho I did get him black sheets (and grey flannel ones).  I don't have enough of the fabric of course, so I spent a good while trying to find some online.  It's on the way, but there might not be enough, since the shop I found was nearly out.  Crap.  I did find one other shop with some, but it's $2/yard more. Drat.  I hope this doesn't end up being a really long term project.  I want to get it done before March 11~~All Things DD Day!

7.  I also finally picked out and cut fabric for the binding on FTD's quilt.  Tomorrow is FNSI, and I'm hoping my niece can come over and help me shove it thru my machine.  If not, another girl friend can come over next week sometime. Yea.

8.  Other project yesterday and today was putting the holiday stuff away in the basement, knowing that All Things DD Day is only 6 weeks away.  Most of the party will be in the basement, so a-cleaning we will go.  Since the Man Cave isn't done, or even close to it, there's all sorts of construction crap all over the place.  Maybe DH will get a wild hair and do some more work on it . . . .  and if there's a miracle, he'll clean up the mess he makes, too.  If that actually happens, be on the lookout. . . .

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? 

And We Go On

Services for Ranger Margaret Anderson will be tomorrow afternoon.  I've had a weird sense of euni since her murder, partly because I'm so far away there's nothing I can do, partly because I've been re-winding all the times that DH or our family were in some type of real or perceived danger, and partly because life goes on for the whole rest of the world, while it screeched to a halt for the Anderson family.  After my Mom died, I was pissed/annoyed/dismayed that the rest of the world didn't come to a halt.  The whole rest of the world remained the same for those folks.  Seeing people do normal everyday things irritated me.

And yet, here I am, doing the normal, everyday things of our life.  Very unsettling place to be emotionally.

So the normal stuff I've been doing includes a sort of clean out--the Living room is almost back to it's wonderful serene state, and most of the Christmas things are being put away.  I have a bunch of winter stuff that I leave out.... snowmen, cardinals, several sets of lights in funny places.  Okay, not so funny, but still up for us to enjoy until we start enjoying those longer days of spring.

And for many, many folks in our neck of the woods, the total lack of winter so far has left everyone off kilter.  We're all waiting for winter.  We're currently in a stretch of 50, yep 50 degree days.  It should be 25 or something.... yuck. I must say the only time I didn't complain about it--in fact appreciated it, was yesterday, when we took down the train layout at the Toledo Zoo.  My son, DD the Younger, is a rabid rail fanner (even now, he's watching train cams, and plotting which model train engine he should buy ~~read Mom buys~~for him. ("Mom," says he, "it's a limited edition!")

So here are some pics of train layouts and displays from this winter.

The magic starts here, at the WPA built Museum of Science at the Toledo Zoo.  As well as the Great Hall, where we set up the trains, there's a balcony meeting space, and a fantastic auditorium.  It's a marvelous building.

 Entrez vous

Part of my section (on the top) that I call "Silent Night, Holy Night."  The Star-on-a-Stick is new this year. I really like it.

Three of my 6 churches I used this year.

My little Polar Bear family.

Da bears.

These are some of the folks who make up the O gauge division of the Swanton Train Club.  Dan C., Kurt B, Larry W,  the O gauge 'suprintendent', Jerry, and DD the Younger.

A view from the balcony.

Bird's eye view.  We run 6 tracks on this layout.  I think it's 12 by 26 this year.  We'd like to make it 8 feet longer!

Behind the scenes.... time to put stuff away...... it takes 5 people 5 days at 6 or 7 hours a day to set it up.  A day and a half to take down....

You should see all the wires underneath. In addition to the wiring needed to run the trains, nearly each building on the layout has it's own plug.

Heavy duty transformers, called ZW's run the tracks.  We use one for each of the 6 tracks.

The skeleton of the section I help decorate.

Ron M. is the Chief Electrician and Bottle Washer on the crew.

And now, I'm just sitting and enjoying our tree with just the lights on it.  The sun is shining brightly in the windows surrounding it, so it rather glows all by itself.  We'll take it down... soon... and put it on the back deck for the birds to use for cover, as they hoover up the seed we put out for them.

So if I neglected to tell you before, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!