The Close of a Weekend

It was great to have a 4-day weekend. Now it has come to an end, and I wish I could have another four days. Is that greedy? I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do. However, I had some good times, and I'm thankful for that.

After Thanksgiving I enjoyed a nice car trip and conversation with my sister who I don't see very often. It was so great that she got to come to Thanksgiving this year. We found out that our niece got engaged Thanksgiving evening! We're very excited, and we really like her future husband. He's great!

I got only a token amount of sewing done this weekend. I finally got the binding on this quilt. Darcie quilted it for me quite a while ago. Now it's ready to go. Hooray!







Today I worked on a doll quilt. It's for a specific doll, but it looks ridiculous with her, because I made it way too big! So I'll have to do another one.

Back to work and the same old rat race tomorrow.

I'm A Lucky Great-Aunt

We had a nice family gathering of 33 people for Thanksgiving. My sister worked really hard to host all of us, and it was delicious and fun. These cuties are my great-nieces, playing inside...



...and my great-nephew, outside, playing football with the Big Guys. How's that for adorable?

The Case of the Exploding Purse

One of the door prizes at our weekend retreat was this Bag O' Scraps. I won it, full of scraps. My mission, should I accept it, is to make a quilted something out of the scraps. Next year's winner gets what I make. Want to see a purse explode?

Here it is, full of scraps.



Here are the scraps, released from inside the purse. They exploded into a pile twice the size of the purse!



Here is the lovely item that I won... last year's Bag Lady made this purse out of her scraps. Wonder if I can make anything half as cute for next year. You have 11.5 months to wait and see!!! :-)



This message will self destruct in 15 seconds.

A UFO Bites the Dust

This quilt top is another I finished on the weekend retreat. The Stack n Whack blocks were made in my previous lifetime. Then they sat around for ages. I finally got them put into this setting and am sending it on to a machine quilter. Hooray! It's done and off my list (and will soon be on its way to a deserving someone)!

Emmy and the Lost Quilt

Hey, with a cool title like "Emmy and the Lost Quilt," I could turn into a mystery writer! Or maybe I could just write the titles, and someone else write the books.

Emmy is the little Sweet Pea who endured major surgery ten days ago. At the time, they thought she would be in the hospital perhaps as long as until today or even longer! However, she fooled them all and bounced back very quickly, was able to go home in just under 48 hours. She is back to her spunky self! This news was fantastic for her family, as she had previously had difficulties and setbacks with other procedures. They needed a happy experience like this one, and they got it big time! Hooray for Spunky Emmy! And thanks for your thoughts and prayers for Emmy and her family.



The Lost Quilt has nothing to do with Emmy. I just happened to find it today and finally decide what to do with it (donate it to Wrap Them in Love). This is one of my early quilts. I was in a block swap and got the birdhouse, the cow, the baby carriage, and the tree with no trunk from other people. I made the rest of the blocks. I always really liked this quilt top and had a hard time parting with it. But... today while cleaning I ran across it again and decided it was NOT worth having this top sit around unused for over eight years. I have to get this quilt into circulation with some little cutie pie... so off it goes to a machine quilter and eventually to Wrap Them in Love.



Here are the blocks I made that I was so pleased with... and the reason it was hard for me to give this quilt away. After eight years, I believe now I am ready to part with it.

Retreat! Fall Back!

A quilt retreat is the perfect time to sew your little heart out, at all hours. That's what I did this past weekend. I took Friday off and spent two and a half days sewing, along with a couple dozen other ladies from my guild. We always have a great time. (This was our 5th year of retreating.) When I wasn't sewing, I'd fall back on the bed and read a good book... or take a nice nap.

I got a lot done! It feels great. I would have liked to finish more, but after all, my time was finite.

Now I wish I had another day or two for catching up on home stuff. But.. duty calls. Tomorrow morning it's back to work.

Some of these I made from scratch... others were in progress, and I finished them. I got started on some other stuff, too, so luckily, I won't run out of things to do.

Sometimes I Finish a Project!

Here's a finished quilt! A table runner that someone is getting for Christmas. I am 99.999% sure whoever is going to get this under the tree does not read my blog or know it exists. My co-worker bought this (yes, paid real money to Little Old Me) for a Christmas gift. I hope the person likes it - just in case you are thinking, "ew, I hope Carol's co-worker isn't giving that ugly thing to me!" - I should tell you that the colors and quality are a little off in this picture. In real life it is MUCH prettier than it appears here. You know how it is ... when it comes to quilts, a picture is only worth 47 words.



I received my squares for the Spare Change swap. Aren't they fun? Already they have become another NESY (not even started yet) or PIG (project in grocery bag). This one actually is a PID (project in drawer). I have so many of all those things:
NESY
PIG
WIP (work in progress)
UFO (unfinished object)
Stash
half-baked ideas
and Scraps!!!!!!!!

If I live to be 109, I'll probably still have that many quilty things to finish. I hope my descendants like UFOs!

I'm thankful for...

Join Kelli and friends in celebrating Thanksgiving. She's even giving away some prizes!

I have been blessed with many things to be thankful for:

1) my husband. He is such a nice guy and loves me even though I'm half crazy. He is my best friend!

2) living in Minnesota. I love this state. It's beautiful and varied and has lots of lakes which I LOVE.

3) my job. I am so lucky to work for a city school system. I have learned so much from my students. I've had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. I am honored when they share their life stories with me.

4) quilting. I love making quilts! It satisfies my creative urge and has led me to meeting very interesting people and making new friends.

Minneapolis Skyline

I found this at YouTube and just thought it was cool. Even though the view never changes, the view changes a lot! Watch and see what I mean. (click on the words YouTube, not the photo.)

Finally, a Quilty Post

Yes, I still make quilts! I was starting to wonder myself. This weekend I had NO obligations and used the time to get some sewing projects done, and others started. (There is no end to UFOs in this household.) I had a blast!

I think I may have shown you this pink/white/black crumbs quilt before. I really like how it turned out. This year I have concentrated on crumb blocks quite a bit, and still have quite a pile of them. I have made 13 crumb quilts this year! Along with the pink one, these are my most recent.





This is the back of the orange crumbs quilt. I got this fabric at a going-out-of-business sale. Isn't it adorable?




This novelty quilt is in a box to send to Betty for quilting.


I finished a red/white quilt! This one is going to a local 5-year-old boy who has leukemia. I'll give it to a woman in my guild, and she will deliver it. I still have some red/white blocks and will be able to make one more top. That will be a total of six tops from my recent red/white challenge. Thanks for your generosity, everyone!



Recently I bought a couple of UFOs at a local quilt shop that is going out of business (same sale I mentoned above, on the orange quilt backing fabric). These will be quilted and sent to Wrap Them in Love. The pink/blue one below was only $10!





Tonight's supper is cooking away in the crock pot and it smells SCRUMPTIOUS. It's a meal I got at Let's Dish. That place is a godsend for someone like me!

Win a Beautiful Quilt!

Three gorgeous quilts are being GIVEN AWAY at Old Red Barn Co. Check it out! Just leave a comment (there, not here) and you'll be in the drawing for a quilt. Wow.. this is so generous of Old Red Barn Co.!

Friday Five

I don't even know what Friday Five is, but my friend over at Walk a Mile is posting it (joining her other blogger friends who do it, too), so I'm going to join in and just pretend I know what I'm doing.

Carol's Friday Five:

1. I'm sooo excited to have a weekend in which I have no obligations... no meetings, no appointments! I get to stay home and do home stuff!

2. Tonight Walk and I and Walk's youngest DD went to a pow wow at Indian Magnet School. The dancers were fun to watch, and the regalia is beautiful. I took these pictures to remember the pretty colors and think about making quilts with similar colors and/or patterns.







3. The tiniest dancer at the pow wow, who appeared to be about 2 yrs old, was a little pistol and super cute. She reminded me a LOT of my own daughter when she was about that age. (Mine is now 28.)

4. My friend's baby (Sweet Pea in my previous post) went through surgery today, and from what I know so far, things went really well. It was a 5-6 hour surgery, shorter than they had expected, and all the reports that I'm aware of seem very promising. Sweet Pea will experience some pain in recovery, so keep her in your prayers, please.

5. This week Father-in-Law received a pacemaker and seems to be doing OK with it, from what we hear. (No news beyond the first day is good news, we hope.)

And that's it for my first-ever Friday Five!

Where to begin.......

I wonder where to begin my ramblings. Seems like lots is going on, but I don't know what it is. What is keeping me so busy these days?

Work is really a zoo. We are so swamped and understaffed. It's ridiculous. On the other hand, we have all risen to the occasion and are doing the best we can without complaining (most of us). So that is the good news. I am really lucky to work where I do.

I have been trying to catch up on quilty projects, but of course that will never happen. Right now I have a bunch of bindings to put on, and that always slows me down. I love getting the quilts finished, but making bindings is so boring that it just about drives me insane (or more insane than I normally am).

Church has been busy lately. I've been working harder at being involved in stuff and really dedicating myself to it -- putting more thought into what I do and why, and trying to be a 24/7 Christian and not just a one day a week pew sitter. I've always been involved, but maybe not so much with my whole self like I have been lately. Our new minister and my new friends at church are challenging me and helping me grow.

Please pray for this little sweet pea, Emmy. She is having major surgery on Friday, Nov. 14. They are anticipating ALL day, perhaps 9 hours for the surgery. Her poor mommy is beside herself with worry. We hope for a happy and successful outcome, but with a very long day of worry for her parents. The more prayers and happy thoughts, the better.

Indecision

Here are two kid quilts that I don't know what to do with! I bought this first one at a church bazaar. It is very soft and cuddly. I am tempted just to keep it at my house for that Some Day in the future when and if I ever have a baby (a grandchild?) visit. But how silly is that? I already own one quilt that I made for that Some Day child! There are no grandchildren even in the works. If I'm not careful, I'll have a good dozen quilts piled up waiting, and who knows if I'll ever be a grandma! So I should give this to someone who is on this earth and needs a quilt now. I don't lack for places to send it; I just love how cuddly it is and so I want to keep it. (I never used to feel this way. I used to love to give them all away. What is happening to me?)



This second one is a quilt I made from scraps. It's too small for the place I usually send them - so my options are Project Linus? Rosebud? a family at church who just had a baby girl? I bet all three of those options would appreciate the quilt.



What to do, what to do........... sometimes I can be so indecisive.

Lotto Blocks

I made these liberated log cabin blocks for Sunshine... and one star to give to the Lotto winner. Usually my blocks just go to Sunshine, and I don't play the Lotto part. I thought I could help sweeten the pot, though.



Tonight I went to a great speaker: Eboo Patel. I bought his book, _Acts of Faith_. I look forward to a good read. There is so much to learn and do in this lifetime! It's just exciting to be alive, don't you think?

Watching the Returns

This was the line we saw when we arrived at our polling place at 7:20 a.m.



It went pretty fast, and a half hour later I was done, back outside, and there was no more line.



This is youngest daughter of Walk a Mile..


...voting by button until she can really vote,


and this is Walk a Mile.


Now I'm eagerly watching the returns.... holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed!

Later:
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO! VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a thrill to be alive in this historical moment!

Picture Yourself Voting!

Take a picture of yourself after you vote, and I'll post it here! (jpeg please, no bitmaps). This is Stillmeadow Quilting who voted early.... I like who they voted for. :-)

I am cautiously gleeful about a good outcome on Tuesday!!!

Funny Signs

The quilty stuff will come at the end of this post. First I wanted to share with you some of the funny signs I found while moving around the city today. Some are funny, some are just - unique. One I didn't get pictures of!

The one I didn't get was a guy selling some Obama stuff on the side of the road. He had a lawn sign that said "Geezer/Dingbat." Mean, but I must say it gave me a giggle.

Here's one that puzzled me. What the heck are the quotation marks doing there?? I used to follow a blog called : The "Blog" of "Unneccessary" Quotation Marks. This sign would have been a perfect photo for that blog. (Sorry for the rotten quality of the photo - I was hurrying because I was on a busy street shooting out of my car.)



This is a typical November 1st activity.. after a Halloween bonfire in my town, the firefighters are on duty the next day making sure it doesn't flare up again.



Whoever drives this around must be very disappointed. He/she started out with great enthusiasm... click on the photo to read the signs.



Here's an Obama sign...



And here is someone's Peace sign in their front yard (taken through my car back window so you see the de-froster lines).



I am once again experiencing the absence of a lawn sign. I have had two of them stolen now. I don't get this! Aren't both sides in favor of free speech? Aren't both sides against theft and vandalism? You don't find me out there stealing or defacing people's signs, no matter how much I'd like to have them change their minds. (Like my neighbor whose sign reads "Democrat for McCain." That one blows my mind - but I'm not stealing it!) I know, it just takes one rotten egg to spoil the batch.. I'm not meaning to paint a broad picture. Just bummed (and flabbergasted) that it keeps happening.

As for quilty stuff, I made this top in a flash.. the crumb blocks were already made. All I had to do was cut the orange to the right size.



Then I made two Lotto blocks for the Yahoo Lotto group I'm in... plaid one is for November. I do not own any plaids, so I was lucky to scrounge around and find these three. It's all I'm making for November because of my paucity of plaids. So I went ahead and made a December block. This one took me ages! It's called Linda's Star. Pattern is at quilterscache dot com.





I'm feeling waaay better today, just a little sniffly, AND I'm thrilled we get an extra hour tonight. I'd say an extra hour of sleep, but... as my husband reminded me, I rarely use that hour for sleep. I plan to do more sewing! Fun, fun, fun!