Awesome MQ Quilts, 2

the background is cross-stitched




the quilter used a picture of her grandson.. adorable, n'est-ce pas?





I loved this simple concept yet awesome garden quilt



made by a 12 year-old! I'd be pleased with this one myself!

made by a 9 year-old! She "found" this girl while working with strips.. do we have an accomplished designer in our future?

made by one of the show teachers

a beautifully embroidered all-wool quilt.





I like the free piecing in this.. notice the lace along the bottom of the middle part



made by a member of my local guild.. either Doris K. or Sandi I. .. I can't remember which.

This is going to be a raffle quilt, but I can't remember by which group.

Awesome MQ Quilts, 1

Recently I attended the annual Minnesota Quilters quilt show. It is always a fabulous show. The quilts are breath-taking! I took a bunch of pictures before my camera battery died. I will share some of them with you in the next couple of days.

After my battery died I kept finding more and more quilts that were even more impressive; I was so disappointed I could not photograph them all. I wanted to figure out names of these quilts, but was not able to without a show program, which I failed to purchase. So I know very little about these quilts. What I do know I will list here for you. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the show. I'll post more tomorrow.









Best Machine Quilting, large quilts







Best of Show, large quilts

An L Book

an exhibit at the museum in Pierre, South Dakota

I read another great book. This one is The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living by Joseph M. Marshall III.

As the title says, it is stories and lessons.. and it is full of wisdom, compassion, humility, and generosity. The author tells stories from the past and uses important cultural attributes that exemplify the strength of his Lakota culture. He applies it to modern times and shows ways these lessons of old are still relevant.

I as a white western-style thinker need those modern examples to make it more understandable. I wish my brain would work in the way that could use stories such as fables to learn life's lessons... it's hard for me to think that way, so I really appreciate this book which makes the ethical lessons clear.

I highly recommend this gentle and uplifting book!

A Flattened Farm: A Quilt

tornado damage in Iowa, found via Google images

A woman I "sort of know" is going through a very rough time. Her name is Kandee. About a week ago Kandee's entire farm was flattened by a huge tornado. And in the recent past, Kandee's husband died. She was already struggling with that adjustment. Now she has nothing.

Kandee is a quilter. She and I were both members of a Yahoo Block Lotto group for a short time(wich is how I "sort of know" her). The group folded about a year before the tornado disaster. I didn't know Kandee was its victim until I saw her on TV news. I knew she had to be the same person.

Kandee and I have a mutual friend, KT. Through KT I offered to make a quilt for Kandee. According to KT, Kandee is too overwhelmed with how to pick up the pieces of her life to be able to make any decisions about what sort of quilt she wants. So I made a decision, and I have a pdf file showing the block we can make, and the color specifications.

If you are interested in helping, please let me know. I will email you a copy of the pdf file so you can get the block stats. If you can't make a quilt block, can you lift up Kandee in your prayers?

Thanks for caring! [P.S. I'll have sporadic internet access starting Sunday, June 27 for about a week. If I don't respond to your request right away, please be patient.]

My Lazy, Lumpy Day

I've been doing a good job of keeping pretty regular sleeping hours since I retired. I don't want to throw off my rhythms by letting myself stay up too late at night. I'm glad for that small success.

Today I had my first lazy, sit-on-my-butt, do-nothing day. It hasn't been fun! I don't want to make a habit out of days like this. Uffda!

I got up, thought for a while about what to do... told myself "you should go to the Y right away." But first I wanted to eat breakfast. Once I ate breakfast, I wanted to wait a little while so I wouldn't be working out on a full tummy. A while came and went... I made a couple of quilt blocks. And for the rest of the day I have been vegetating in front of the computer screen!!!!!!! Ickypoo.

I made a list of errands I need to run and a small grocery list. I was about to go out the door when I thought that first I should change my clothes and maybe check my email. So I sat down at the computer.

From that moment on, I was a goner. I had some stuff to organize, some stuff to photograph, write, and send. Some blogs and Facebook to read, some time to waste. It just spiraled into a big ol' waste of time and lazy, lumpy, dumpy day. I didn't go to the Y (yet.. and if I'm being honest, I probably won't today). I didn't run any of my errands. I made and ate lunch and that's about all I did that was productive.

This is a good Lesson Day.. Don't Let My Retirement Turn Into Lazy, Lumpy Days!

An I Book and a P Book

Summer Reading - Photo by me in summer, 2007

You can tell that it's summer: I'm reading more! Recently I've read two "just for fun" books. One was an I book.. which I thought I needed on my A-Z challenge list, but discovered I had already recorded an I book. Oh, well. I read them both, so I'm going to list them both!

This I book was The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman. It was an interesting book; I liked how it started. I wasn't as fond of how it developed in the last half, so it didn't make my "favorites" list. While I visited my mom recently, we both did a lot of reading. I was sick, so couldn't do much else. I spent my time on her sofa, reading. She read The Inn at Lake Devine in a day, and when she finished said in a pleased voice, "interesting!" I think she liked it better than I did.

Today I finished a P book for my list: The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber. This book actually is not published yet! My sister, a bookstore owner, gets advanced copies which she shares with our mom.. and Mom recommended this one to me. This one I liked better than The Inn...

The Personal History... (now I'm quoting the back cover): "tells the little-known story of African American pioneers and gives voice to an extraordinary heroine who embodies the strength and spirit that built America." It was a well-told story, and it takes place in South Dakota near the Rosebud Reservation which I have been to, so I can perfectly picture the terrain and some of the weather patterns. I do recommend this book. The publication date is listed as August 2010. It's worth a read if you can purchase one or get one from a library.

I love reading in the summer! Now... which book will be next?

Thanks for Visiting?

photo by bertyuanlim.blog.friendster

Went to visit my mom and spent most of the time on the couch. I wasn't as sick as this picture implies, but I wasn't of much use, either. I felt better in time to come back home! Sorry, Mom. (I think it was something I ate, so hopefully I wasn't contagious.)
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no work outs for a couple of days because I felt lousy

Patches and Scraps

I am on a roll! I got my quilting mojo on, and it has been FUN! Zoom, zoom.. I just kept going all weekend long.

I have been playing with blue scraps. At least they're supposed to be blue; some other colors sneaked in there. And I'm playing "Copy Tammy's Borders" with the border I have in progress.



I'm also playing the "9-Patch Project" game. Make one 9-patch every day during the summer. I have finished all 30 for the month of June. Here they are - ta-da!



It was a lovely Father's Day- beautiful weather, a laid-back day. Hubby and I did our thing, individually.. sounds crazy, but we are within shouting distance of each other, especially when I'm standing at the iron, so we still get to talk, even though we're operating in different rooms.

He does computer stuff, and I sew. We're both happy.

He went to visit his dad this afternoon. I waved at mine who is up in Heaven.

So far it has been a sew-sew summer (translation: GREAT)!
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Today I walked 2 miles.

Blocks, a Bag, and a Book

I spent today making blocks for Sunshine's Block Lotto. I do enjoy making blocks, because then I have a hand in creating a quilt, but I don't have to do every step. When I need to do the whole process it goes pretty slowly. I like the creative process that comes at the beginning (the blocks), but am not as fond of the finishing steps that are at the end. So making blocks is a lot of fun. The woman we send these to (hi, Tammy) is sooo creative and makes them into gorgeous, cuddly quilts! I'm one of her many fans.

June blocks: pink and green

July blocks: novelties (Can you see the construction trucks and hard hats?)

For those of you who may have contributed to my retirement gift certificate, I want you to see what I bought: this rolling bag. I love it! It is designed to fit a Featherweight (FW) sewing machine, plus a little extra room for fabrics. It has lots of pockets and is easy to roll around. I don't own a FW, but occasionally I borrow my mom's. And this will come in handy for all those quilt retreats I intend to frequent now in my free time (retirement). If I'm not hauling a FW, I can still fill it up with my projects and get them to and fro very easily.



The front pocket opens all the way so one can easily slide a FW in. That stretchy holder in the back will hold a small cutting mat.

What a pretty day we had today! Not much sun, but it was comfortably cool, and I sat on our deck in a nice little breeze, reading a good book. It was cool enough for no bugs, and I was not hot and uncomfortable sitting outside. Heavenly!
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Today's workout? So far, nothing! Yike-a-doodles!

Sneak Peek at Quilts

I spent the day at the Minnesota Quilters' annual quilt show. It was great!! I took a bunch of pictures, but my battery died. Too bad, because there were still a zillion more fab.u.lous quilts to see. What talent!

I'm not going to post my quilt pictures yet. I want to find a program book and see if I can identify who made them.. give credit where credit is due. I foolishly neglected to get a program book when I was there. But you do get a sneak peek at some of them in these photos of people.

My job today (self-imposed) was to photograph any members of my local quilt guild that I ran across. My gosh, we were everywhere! And again, I missed some, because my battery died. Apologies to J., S., L., who I missed photographing, and possibly even more than that!

J. and R., mother and daughter, with ?? (a cousin, I think?)

C.. I caught her in a rare serious moment

B., sorry I wobbled terribly on this one!

M. and K.

J... walking around on her new hip!

Back: me, P. Front: R., JL, M., K., JR

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Unofficial work-outs today included some housework that got me huffing and puffing and walking all around the quilt show, plus 4 blocks from my car to the show and back. I should have worn my pedometer!

Leslie's Challenge

Leslie at Sunshine challenged us to make quilts from our scrap bins. I followed the rules, halfway. All the blues in this quilt are from my scrap bin, but the yellows are from my stash.

It's blue 4-patches (4.5"), and yellow rail fence (2.5 x 4.5 inch strips). I played with the placement of the yellow blocks and liked this one the best.

It's on my design wall, waiting for me to finish assembling it. Right now I have about 3 rows sewn together.

My work-out today was to mow the lawn.

Binky Blocks

I made another 21 blocks for Binky Patrol. The current color they want is red, white, blue. So far I have sent them 43 blocks (including these). These will go out in today's mail.

Today I walked 2 miles.

A Good Tuesday

friends enjoying a long lunch and lots of chit chat

Life has been busy, even though the school year came to an end. My summer is jam packed with events, so it'll probably be this way for the next couple of months.

Today, however, is a take-it-easy day. Feels great! I am trying to be sensible right off the bat. I went to bed and got up at my normal times. I could SO easily slide into the habit of staying up until 2:00 a.m., but I don't want to do that to myself. We'll see.

After I got up I kind of dawdled around, wondering what to do.. so I decided to clean the kitchen. Then I went out for a walk. I hope I can convince myself to do this kind of routine regularly. I am going to post my daily walks or work-outs here, in hopes that it helps me stay on track. (I've done this before, and it didn't help. Maybe I'll turn over a new leaf.)

Over the weekend I was busy spending time with my Georgia pal who surprised me and showed up at my retirement party. That was sooo nice, and fun to see her again. On Saturday we went out for a late lunch with mutual friends, and stayed at our table chatting for four hours!

Sunday I had church, then attended a retirement party; enjoyed some fun laughs there. And on Monday it was more time with Miss Georgia and other friends. I was lucky to have so many social events over the last few days, drawing out my celebrations and joining in with others. It has been a blast.

Now I'm going to do a little more diddling around the house, will do some reading and some sewing! What a great Tuesday!

Today I walked about a mile and a half.

I Put On My Slippers

gorgeous flowers from my lovely daughter

Friday: last day at work. We had a picnic for all our students. It poured heavy rain in the morning. We were a tad worried, but went ahead with it, and ta-da! The weather cleared up for the right length of time so we could enjoy our outdoor picnic. It was lovely. Students had a good time, we handed out diplomas and said little speeches about the graduating students.. very nice. At the end, when it was clean-up time, it began to rain.

I went back to the office for last-minute desk clean-out. I turned in my keys. What an odd feeling! I gave a few hugs, said a few goodbyes, and LEFT!! I felt happy and content.

I was officially retired! Got home, took off my wet shoes and put on my slippers. Then.. my first official act as a retiree: I took a nap!

Saturday: I'm still feeling exhausted from all the events and the excitement over the last couple of weeks. I woke up with a headache. Hope it goes away soon. Today I get to have lunch with a couple of cool ladies.

Tomorrow: 2nd Sunday Sewing for Sunshine. I hope to spend some time sewing! I do have one more retirement party to attend tomorrow, if I can muster up the energy to go. Not sure about that at this point. I'm really feeling ready to crash and catch up to myself.

Ode to a Career

I was hit by a lightning bolt, and that is how I became a Sign Lanugage Interpreter.

It wasn't real lightning. It was in 1974. I lived in a place similar to a dorm, alongside several Deaf college women. I didn't know one single sign, but I had seen it around me and thought it was beautiful and "musical." I awkwardly began learning a few signs from my dorm-mates.

I had never heard of the profession of interpreting, but I attended a dorm meeting, and there was an interpreter, signing the goings-on for the Deaf women in attendance. That's when the lighting bolt hit.. "I'm going to do that!" I thought to myself. And I kept that dream firmly in my mind until I FINALLY got to start in the career 9 years later.

Back then, interpreter training had just expanded from a six-week program to a six-month program. Nowdays that is a laugh. Our local program will soon be a four-year degree program. I got into the six-month program and loved it. Finished the course and immediately got a job working in a high school. Who knew I would stay with that school district for 27 years and retire from there?? Certainly not me. I thought I'd eventually get a "real" job and move on from educational interpreting.

Guess what... I loved educational interpreting! It IS a real job! It is very demanding, exhausting, exhilarating, fun, varied, energizing, amazing, and unpredictable. I loved it for those reasons as well as the following:
1) I got to be in on everything, yet not be in charge.

2) I was in the presence of so much amazing information, cool people, and awesome language.

3) I never knew where I would end up or what might come up and where I would need to go to do the interpreting. I was in classrooms, offices, clinics, theaters, athletic fields, locker rooms, government agencies, buses, airplanes, business meetings, IEP meetings, staff meetings, medical appointments, swimming pools, universities, on TV, bowling alleys, bathrooms, tournaments, demonstrations, hallways, closets, corners, stages, in the presence of famous people... on and on and on.

4) Interpreting keeps my brain active.

5) Interpreting is always a huge challenge and almost always loads of FUN, too.

6) Interpreting seems impossible... and yet we do it, everyday.

7) I have worked with teachers, principals, secretaries, social workers, psychologists, audiologists, landlords, occupational therapists, intervenors, advocates, parents, siblings, guardians, police, doctors, guest speakers, mechanics, postal workers, physical therapists, lawyers, bus drivers, janitors, the students' peers, theater directors, dance instructors, musicians, actors, ski instructors, coaches for just about every sport, referees, TV reporters... you name it.

8) I met students who blow my mind. They are highly intelligent. They struggle to understand basic concepts. They are curious. They have language delays. They are wise beyond belief. They are tall, short, skinny, fat, athletic, multiply-physically-challenged. They are from the town where I live and work. They are from another state. They are from other countries. They have no one at home who can use their langauge. Their whole family knows sign language. They are ASL experts. They are strong, independent. They live amidst chaos. Their lives are stable. They are happy, sad, wise, beautiful, shy, confident, maturing, questioning, struggling, discovering, figuring out the world, living, and dying. I love each and every one of them.

My heart has been broken umpteen times. I have interpreted through difficult situations, held it together, and when it's done, burst into tears. I have cried while interpreting, fallen asleep while interpreting (seems impossible, but yes, I did it), giggled while interpreting, farted while interpreting, and had bodily fluid emergencies while interpreting (TMI? Sorry). I have experienced and witnessed joy, laughter, boredom, sorrow, fascination, anger, angst, worry, empathy, exhilaration.

I wish I could name for you and show pictures of all the fabulous students I remember, but I can't invade their privacy. It was always a joy to watch them learn and grow, make decisions, and become such wonderful adults with families, jobs, degrees higher than my own, or none of that, but still they are fabulous.

I have been extremely blessed to have spent a career in this wonderful field of interpreting, working with this beautiful language which I still consider "musical", and working with so many awesome students.

Here's the great news: I don't have to totally leave! I will be working, very occasionally and when I choose to (that's the FUN part), as a sub, still interpreting in a high school.

So, life is moving into a fun and exciting chapter! I'm truly blessed.

Wow! People Came!

What a blast! My co-workers threw a retirement party for me today. It was so much fun! I was amazed at how many people came. I was thinking, in my self-deprecating way, that no one would show up. I was wrong!

In fact, I had a big, happy surprise: my best pal from Georgia showed up! Wow! She's so nice to come, and I am honored that she came in the midst of her own busy and complicated life. Friends are fabulous gifts!

Everyone went together and got me a very generous gift certificate to a quilt shop.. ooohhh, I'm going to have some fun!

me with family (hubby's parents)

me with pal from Georgia! She will be here for six days!

Oh, I Hope Not!

I went to a meeting tonight, and someone said something like "what you find fun when your time is limited turns out to be not fun when you have all the time in the world." I hope that's not true!! Do you think it is??

I've loved quilting for eleven years now, and don't see myself changing that. I've also continued quilting like a fiend during the summer months when I had more free time.

Now that I'm about to retire, is my love of quilting going to stop just because I have "all the time in the world?" I hope not! I hope she's wrong, at least about me.

Four days left! Wheeee!

...working on the nine-patch challenge.. making one per day all summer long. I'm a tiny bit ahead of the date, because I know there will be days I can't do it. I've decided to make these out of "adult" fabrics, more or less.. we'll see how it turns out in the end.

our nephew and his grandparents (hubby's parents) on his high school graduation day

He and his sister are both members of the Class of 2010.. he from h.s., she from college.

Binky Blocks

I'm helping get a new Binky Patrol chapter up and running. Not as an administrator but as a contributor of quilts and blocks. This chapter is in central Ohio, and its organizer, Lisa, wants to concentrate on getting quilts to foster kids in her area. I'm all for helping with that.

I sent her two completed quilts, and now I am helping stock her collection of blocks. She is asking for certain colors every month. June is red/white/blue. Here is what I made:

8 pinwheels, 12 4-patches



and 2 of these babies, for a total of 22 blocks. I can't promise that many every month, but today I felt motivated.



Hey -- can you believe how close I am getting to retirement??

Treats

We have a staff meeting every Thursday, and we take turns bringing treats.. usually donuts or bagels. The woman whose turn it was this week just moved and has a lot of work to take care of at home, so I volunteered to bring treats. I decided since it was one of my last staff meetings, I'd like to bring some home-made stuff as a thank-you to my colleagues for being such a great team to work with.

I made cinnamon rolls tonight but kind of burned them. Rats! I might make a frosting to put on them to hide the burn. Do you think that will work??

I also made a pan of pecan bars. I'm lucky they are not burned to a crisp, because I forgot to set the timer and let them sit in the oven way beyond what the recipe said. They look fine... I don't know.. will they taste strange?

I plan to get up tomorrow morning and make a batch of muffins. Maybe they'll still be warm when I get to work.



Later tomorrow, when I get a chance to dash to the post office, I will mail these two quilts to New York. They are for a program that is providing quilts for formerly-homeless people who are moving into a new home. You can read about it on the Bumble Beans Basics Quilt Gather button on my sidebar.