Blog move

I've had to move my ramblings to a new page... You may now find me at:

http://merriequilter.blogspot.com/

Sorry for the inconvenience...please update your bookmarks!

Karen

Think...think...think...

Apparently I have reached my limit for photo space on this blog. I even deleted a couple of things that I had started--like the quilt show photos blog that had over 400 pictures on it--but it didn't change the amount of unused space. Sucks. Now I have to figure out what to do with my blog and the business blog.

Think...think...think...

Kelly got me a new tape thingy that connects to my iPod so I can play music in the car. My car was one year older than really fun stuff like iPod docking stations and stow-and-go seating, so we have to find new and creative ways to make the iPod work and to manually haul the seats out of the car to pick up furniture. Unfortunately, about ten seconds after I put in the new tape thingy, a wire shorted in the cord, so the sound is mono. How very '70s. In the meantime, I've taken to burning CDs of my favorite songs so I can listen to them good-n-loud in the car (after I drop the kids off at school). I guess I'm going to have to return the tape thingy and see if they'll replace it.

The camera is still broken. Sometimes. Occasionally, I will push the button and it turns on and works fine for a few minutes. However, it's usually short-lived and shuts itself off. I can't return it, apparently, and it may cost more to send it back to Nikon to fix it than to buy a new camera.

Tomorrow we're going to begin building a yurt. Or two, actually. Our friends, Darby and Jen are picking up the lumber for both of us and we're going to be cutting it into 3/4" lengths and drilling holes in them. Then we'll have to tie them together, although I'm not quite sure what we'll be using to tie them. This is going to be phase 1 of the building process...the khana, or walls, of the yurt. If I figure out how to post more pictures, or if I transfer my account elsewhere, I'll let you know.

K

I've Been a Walk!

The Seattle Great Strides Walk was today. We invited many people to join us, and as has been usual for the last couple of years, had just the five of us for our team. We had been able to fund-raise a bit more than $400 over the last couple of weeks, which is good, but we've had much better years. I just get tired of asking and getting so little response--and I understand there are a lot of people who are in a tight spot for money--but other teams have a dozen or more family members and friends attending, dressing up in costumes, raising thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, and we didn't even have the enthusiasm to find the bunny ears this year.

It started with a little carbo loading--free bagels and cream cheese! Ben was demonstrating his bionic strength, being able to easily rip the bagel in half with his bare hands! Bwa-ha-ha! They also had free Starbuck's coffee (not very appealing to our crew), bright orange jump ropes, coloring pages and crayons, flexible frizbees, band aid containers (useful for the Girl Scout first aid kit!), and T-shirts if you raised more than $75 or $100....I didn't pay attention to the cut-off this year.

Saying hello to the dogs before the walk was an essential part of the event. Cammie and Ben can't pass a dog without saying hello...this one was particularly interested in Cammie's bagel.

Cammie got her face painted.

After watching an interesting show about

Seattle's failing infrastructure, I was drawn to the state of these crumbling piers. You have to wonder how often these things are looked at--sure, there are dozens of logs holding them up, but how many of them are still intact underwater? How often are these replaced? What's the life-span of an underwater structure like this?

The band that played at the walk was called the Copper Kings--they were actually quite good! I'll have to look into their music.

I took a few artsy photos of the area, but I'm having trouble loading them now. I'm very rapidly running out of space on this server, so I may have to change something very soon.

Isn't she pretty!? It's amazing how fast she's growing up. We took a wander through the Seattle Pacific Science Center after the walk. Since we have a membership there, it didn't cost any extra to venture over there. If we'd had more energy, we might have stayed there longer, but we were pretty beat. That last hill is a doozy.

More later,

K

Quilt done!

OK, still have to put on the binding, but it was ready to show at the meeting last night. The quilting took a total of about 8 hours, although I didn't do it all it once. I needed to take several breaks. It was killing my back and neck from the tension. It takes a lot of control to follow such an intricate pattern, and doing that many hours at once is not possible. In all, it was on the frame for just over two days.

Yesterday's guild meeting was a trunk show from Virginia Anderson, who has become the "teapot quilt" lady. She showed a number of quilts that have been featured in books and award-winning quilts that were shown at Paducah. It was interesting, but I'm getting a little tired of going to guild meetings where there are just trunk shows and no hands-on stuff.

Now that we have the kitchen done, we need to do some work in the bathroom. We have a chunk of granite left over from the kitchen project, although we don't necessarily want to have the same granite in two rooms. We're going to try to swap it for another piece, though I don't know what color or type. More importantly, the vinyl is bad (ruined from overzealous splashing) and the trim work is ruined from water (it's not wood--it's some kind of cheap paperboard). We're thinking about tile floors with the heating thingie underneath.

My next knitting project is to make scarves. I mentioned in the previous post that I'm making at least one scarf for Kelly, but first things first...I have to have a pattern. OK, yarn...and a pattern. The yarn has been ordered and I received a notice that it has already shipped. I looked at the pattern from the chart that I mentioned earlier, but it lacks the "Seattle Sounders FC" banner across the Space Needle, so I went to an already created scarf (commercially made) and decided to chart that out. I'll have to make up a test swatch to find out if my stitches with the fingering weight will be the same or close in size to the original.

Wednesday Progress

I've been making progress on the blue and yellow sawtooth star quilt for myself. I finished up two quilts for Donna first, so I felt I could mix it up and do something for our collection. These blocks were from a swap with my online friends that we did several years ago. I've been carrying these around in my collection long enough--it was time to get these into a quilt top, and after a couple more months, it was time to get it quilted up. It's 105" square, which should be big enough for our king size bed--there are times, however, when even something that big gets fought over in the night. Maybe it's not the size of our bed, but the size of our butts....

The quilt pattern I chose is much more complex than I've done in a long time, but it really spoke to me. Each repeat is approximately 6 1/2" tall. Now I'm regretting this choice, since it means that I'll have to do 16 or 17 repeats of this rather intricate pattern. What was I thinking? I've finished about 12 or 14 of the repeats so far, so I'm very nearly finished--I figure I have about 3 more to go. When I get this one done, however, I know I need to do some adjustments to the poles, particularly the unfinished top pole; the fittings on the ends have gotten loose, so they're spinning freely on the frame and not keeping the tension as they should. Maybe I should put a drop of glue on all the nuts on this thing; they've all wiggled loose over time.

The kitchen remodel is now complete. The tile guy did the grout today, and now I get to do the clean-up after the tile guy. He was fairly good at what he did, although I could see a lot of inconsistencies in his work and I'd have preferred a perfectionist, but it's done. I can hide a few of the goofs behind appliances or decor. I'm very glad we were able to do this--it should make the resale value go up, should we find it necessary to move. Not that we're planning on it, but we're just thinking ahead.

Kelly and his soccer buddies have come up with a name for their band of ruffians, and I offered to make a scarf for Kelly...and possibly one for myself...and if I really get some requests/bribes, four more for the rest of Gang Green. I just ordered some yarn from Knitpicks.com to work on this over the summer and fall--I don't expect to have it done this season. It's possible, but not likely. The yarn is Palette fingering weight in "blue" (23722) and "edamame" (24257), and black & white. I'm going to borrow some design elements from this blogger, who charted up the Sounders logo and has invited people to use it freely to create more Sounders gear. Challenge accepted!

But for now, I'm ready to lay my sore back down and get ready for a full day tomorrow. I hope to finish the last few passes on the quilt in the morning so I can take the quilt to the meeting in the afternoon & evening.

K

He sweeps, he scores!

Ben has decided that he doesn't like setting the table and has volunteered--without asking or being prompted--to sweep the kitchen. I'll take that! I even got him to mop the floor a bit with a swiffer covered with a wet washcloth. Buying those ready-mop disposable things doesn't seem to be worth the money, but an old washcloth with good ol' soap and water seems to do the trick.

On Friday, the kids and I went for a horse ride--the last of the birthday gifts, which means we may have to figure out how to budget more riding lessons or wait until the next birthday. Upon arriving, they always go over to the pen nearest the parking lot and visit with the ponies in there.

They've really enjoyed riding and have learned a lot about care and tending of these large creatures as well as increasing their skills and confidence riding. I, myself, was able to finally balance in a trot and post on my horse, Kidd, without holding on to the saddle horn. This is a remarkable achievement considering I lose my balance walking on a treadmill. We followed up the ride with a sushi dinner at a restaurant about half-way between our house and the farm, meeting Kelly there. YUM!

Saturday was the long-awaited MLS game between rival teams, Seattle Sounders and Portland (Oregon, of course) Timbers. The game didn't start until 8 pm, so we knew it was going to be a late night, but we got the kids set up with food, set the parameters for bedtimes and TV viewing, and left Emma in charge. She's proved herself to be a very responsible sitter and thought we could extend the time away for our date night. Our phones were charged up and she knows to go to the neighbor's in case of emergency. We arrived in Seattle just an hour or so before the rain started...and it POURED. All. Night. Long. There was a serious, and remarkably intentional, design flaw with building the Seahawk stadium--there's a superstition that no team in an enclosed stadium has ever won the Super Bowl, so therefore, they didn't want to build a covered stadium in the rainiest city in the country. Good goin' guys. To further inconvenience the viewers, the stadium has built shelter to cover less than half of the attendees. The cheap seats (where we are sitting) get wet when it rains.

So, not realizing that it was going to rain (it was a nice day so I hadn't even thought to check the weather report), I hadn't prepared for the weather. Luckily, the Sounders store (which is labeled as the Seahawks store...why they don't change out the sign seasonally is beyond me) had these lovely "rave green" birkas for sale for about $5. They're cheap enough to use once and throw away if you really don't want to carry them around, but I'm more frugal than that, so I hung it up to dry and will fold it up and stick it in my purse for next time. It folds down to about the size of a cell phone and is in perfect condition...so why not? I also indulged in a plaid scarf to wave around.

A week ago, the Sounders played in Ohio against the Columbus Crew (where it was also about 59 degrees and it also rained buckets), and there is a distinct difference between fans in the Midwest vs. the fans in Seattle. If you watch this link--and you don't have to watch all of it since it is more than 7 minutes long--you can see that the measly 7,148 people who showed up are barely filling 1/4 of the stands, and they're all *sitting*. The game last night, however, was played in front of 36,600 screaming fans--hardly an empty seat in the house... OK, that's technically wrong, since the fans at Seattle STAND for the whole game. So there were NO butts in the seats, but if everyone sat down, there wouldn't be many empty seats. You know what I mean. And the Timbers have a very loud (and I will say "awesome") fan club called the Kings of Cascadia that came to the game, filling an entire section in the stadium, and they were LOUD. I couldn't even hear our own crazy section over their chanting and singing. They have one that is a variation of a Russian song they call the Tetris Song.

The game started with this fabulous flag-raising in the Sounders "crazy" section, seen here. Even the opposing team members admitted it was a pretty awesome sight. In all, the game was fun (albeit wet) and the teams ended the game with a 1-1 tie.

Today we took Ben and two friends out for a birthday celebration, along with Cammie and Emma. We started with pizza at Round Table, then went to Build a Bear where they each selected a bear and outfit, then ended it with ice cream at DQ. It was a great day with some great kids!

K

Fearless Leader awards!

I finished a few things before the quilt guild meeting on Monday. I got three blocks done for the Friendship Block program and finished the moon fish on the Pirate Round Robin. My theory is that if the compass doesn't work, you can ask the fish for directions...

just like Marlin and Dory did.

On the way out of town, the camera worked for just a moment so I could take a picture of one of my favorite houses in the historic part of Bellingham. Some old-timers might not recognize it since it used to be completely covered with trees and shrubs and ivy. It was really a diamond in the roughage. They hacked back all the greenery and gave it a very nice paint job and it really shines now!

Girl Scouts sponsored a program through our service unit to honor leaders who got involved in activities within the service unit--the Fearless Leader award. I was able to accumulate enough points through attending meetings, having joint meetings with other troops and participating in sponsored events (like the bowling activity that we did last week), and more to receive all four patches from the Service Unit at the meeting last night. I was one of four people who achieved this top honor.

However, there was a strange kind of bonus contest based on the number of points earned--anyone who earned 80 points or more got to "bid" their points on these three baskets that were donated. One basket had smelly bath stuff and chocolates, one had gardening things with seeds and gloves and things, and the third was an unusual collection of camping goods--duct tape, band aids, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, Ben Gay, etc. This wasn't a lottery or a raffle, it was a silent auction, based on how many points you had earned. One lady had 120 points. One had 85. I didn't catch how many the third person had, but it was more than me. I had the least amount at 80. They each bid the max on one basket, and I had no chance of winning any of them. It was a little weird that they had four people and only three baskets.

How would I have done it? Simpler. Four leaders who achieved this honor--have four baskets. The one with the most points gets first choice. Second-most gets second choice. Third-most gets third choice. Fourth person gets the boobie prize. Or maybe that fourth basket would have been a scaled-down version--small basket (from Easter clearance table) with a bag of green and white M&Ms or some inexpensive art stuff. In any case, I walked away without a basket, but I'm OK with that. I got the four patches (or three patches and a pin), so I can put those on my vest and be proud of the accomplishment.

Cammie made this felt "button blanket" at school during a Native American study they were doing, however, they didn't have any buttons to put on it. Buttons are expensive! They used some kind of white paint and a circular stamp. Unfortunately, the circles didn't show up very well. She and I were talking about making one of these with red and blue quilt fabrics and sewing buttons on it, marrying the old world with the new world...or Native American art with European art. In any case, I'm sure it'll offend someone.

Yesterday was a lovely day--the skies cleared, the sun appeared, and it actually got warmer than 60 degrees. Today is more of what was before--grey skies, rain. Certainly not Hawaiian weather...wish I was there! Hopefully we'll get some counter tops soon today! They're expected to arrive here sometime in the next hour. Until then, it's just a little easier to get a fork from the drawer, but more difficult to do any food prep.

Update:

The granite guys were supposed to be here around 9, then they called at 9:30 to say it would be closer to 11. At 11:51, they called to say that they still needed another hour. I made sure he understood that I have to leave at 1:30...he better get here before then or they'll be sitting in my driveway. Heck, I have waited for them for four hours, they can wait 20 minutes.

K

Birthday & Mother's Day

On Friday, Ben's school hosted a Moms & Muffins breakfast, so we headed out early to the school for a little starchy goodness. We were only able to stay for about 15 minutes before I had to take the girls to school (Emma was sitting on the other side, but didn't get in on this picture...).

This was the beginning of a whirlwind weekend...and it really won't be over until Tuesday!

On Friday, Cammie and I went to a Girl Scout event at the local bowling alley with two of her friends and many many more girls from other troops. They got to bowl one game (or more, if time allowed--but our ball return machine got jammed a few times, delaying the game) and got free soft drink and a patch to sew on their uniforms. Afterwards, we stopped to get a sandwich at a major chain of sub shops--I'm really into the flatbread they've got there, along with their chipotle sauce. Yum!

We hit the road and headed up to meet up with Sharon, who was taking Cammie in for an overnight and birthday party for her daughter, Miss O. We met at a Mexican restaurant--they had the BEST carne asada ever! I thought I'd just pack up half the dinner and save it for lunch, but the meat was so good, I couldn't help myself. After dinner, I hit the road back home.

Ben's birthday was yesterday and we did a fair bit of celebrating. We started with the four of us going to lunch at Bob's. They have wonderful burgers and generous portions of fries. We mentioned that it was his birthday, so they brought him a big bowl of ice cream, whippy stuff and five or six cherries. It was enough to share, so we all had a few spoonfuls.

Then we headed over to an indoor go-cart racing place. Emma and Ben raced around the tracks. Emma was getting really good behind the wheel, and we picked up some information about the advanced races for ages 11 and up. Ben had a few crashes while he got used to braking and steering, but after five minutes or so, he was also getting fairly competent. Mind you, I won't be getting him an off-road vehicle of his own anytime soon, but we might take him back for a tour around the track again. The downside is that these were gas-powered vehicles at an indoor track--it was ventilated, but still became a little overwhelming.

Afterwards, we went home for a few minutes, then headed up to meet Sharon & the girls at a Japanese restaurant to take Cammie back home. They went bowling for Miss O's party, and apparently Cammie was the high scorer of the group...and even "helped" another bowler in the next lane when her aim was a little off. Luckily, the man was very understanding about it, and picked up the spare for his last frame.

We got home, had some cake, opened some presents and cards, and then headed off to bed.

Mother's Day is today, and I would like to say happy mother's day to my own Mom--she's really an amazing person and I love her so much!

Kelly and the kids left me cards and small gifts. I am so lucky!

Today and tomorrow I will be working on several quilting projects that are due tomorrow night, so I need to get working!

K

Frustrating

I tried to return the camera that I got for Christmas but Kelly bought it online and no one carries that particular camera now...hell, that was last month's model! We couldn't possibly still carry that! It's the S8000, and now stores carry the S8100. To make matters worse, we can't return it to the online store because they only have a 7 day return policy. It worked for the first month or two, but then it started freaking out. Heck, most people wouldn't be able to return it since it has to be mailed, tested, and responded to within 7 days. What a scam. Our only option now is to send it to Nikon for repairs, which may end up being costly. Pretty frustrating. I also can't find my daughters' cameras to fill in until I get it fixed/replaced, so I'm still relying on my phone's camera, which is just a pain in the patootey. I'm tempted to just go buy a cheap digital camera to replace it.

I did a dye experiment with shallot skins. I took the dry skins from two shallots and simmered them in a pan with alum and cream of tartar (about a teaspoon of each). After about 15 minutes, I added a small sample of wool yarn and another of bamboo crochet thread. I let them simmer for about 15-20 minutes and when I took them out, the wool was a very pretty butter yellow and the bamboo was a sunny yellow. This picture is rather blurry. :(

Of course, then I decided to make hard boiled eggs, so I put 15 eggs into a pan with water and turned the stove on...and promptly forgot about it. An hour later, I hear eggs popping and it's starting to smell funny in the kitchen. Doh! Time to buy more eggs.

I've been watching Extreme Couponing on TLC and after some preliminary investigation, discovered that this state is LAME. No one, that I can find, doubles coupons in this area, so there's no hope of ever getting $1000 worth of groceries for $5. It seems to be common in the midwestern states but not around here. I'll have to keep shopping around and asking managers at different stores, I guess. Looking for usable coupons is another frustration--most of them are for big name brand (expensive) items that even with a coupon are more than their generic counterparts, or a huge quantity of coupons for items I never use--cat litter, dog food, contact lens solution, body washes...these things have no value to me. I'll keep collecting ones for the few that we DO use, like the Party Pizzas (the kids would eat those daily if I allowed them), fruit cups, and laundry soap. Even a few bucks a week is a bonus.

Gotta go clean off the countertops completely...we're laying out a little piece of Brazil in the kitchen...and I'm not talking about Kelly's friend...

A Real Cut Up

Most people will be blogging about the activities of yesterday's raid and ridding the planet of the biggest, baddest terrorist in history. I won't. But I will say, thank you, SEAL team 6. You're my heroes.

I'm still folding and sorting the fabrics from the stash. I have been setting aside smaller scraps (fat eighths and less) for cutting into smaller squares for scrap quilts. I have lots of bits to trim up now, so it'll be a long while before I'm ready to do a serious amount of sewing. Eventually, I should have enough to grab a couple of baggies of cut squares to take to a retreat or sewing day and just start putting 16 patches together. Of course, with these scraps, I'm cutting them in 1/2" increments--starting at 2" and going up to 5 1/2". That means that I may not be able to mix and match as much, or that it will take many more times as long to collect enough pieces to make a single quilt. I'm not that concerned...I have TONS of scraps.

Kelly and I celebrated his birthday by going to a Sounders game on Saturday. I really enjoyed watching the high-action shut-out game. I always enjoy seeing the fans in the "Crazy Section"--sections 121-123 at Qwest Field. Their formal name is the Emerald City Supporters, who gather downtown a few blocks away from the stadium on the day of the game, and then march in with a band and sing songs in support of the team. The songs and videos taken of the fans singing can be found on the web site, so you can learn them and join in. Their songs can get a little inappropriate for all ages, promoting the drinking of beer and some violence against their opponents, but is good adult fun. We know someone who comes down from Bellingham to most of the games (about 90 miles) and sits in the ECS section--we tried looking for him Saturday, but couldn't find him. We'll have to see if we can find out exactly where he sits so we can get together before or after the game.

Last weekend, Steve Zakuani had his leg broken in a slide tackle at the game against the Colorado Rapids. There are videos out there on YouTube, and if you really want to see it, the video is here. Warning: it's very graphic and they show it in slow-motion. There are some things you can't unsee.... Since this was the first home game since the accident, every attendee got an 8 1/2" x 11" card with the number 11 (Zakuani's number). At 11:00 on the clock, we held them up while the ECS crew yelled "STEVE", and the rest of us answered, "ZAKUANI!"

This couple sitting behind us thought it would be kind to offer an alternative for the injured player. I don't know if he'll take them up on it, but one of the Gang Green (Kelly's group of fans) is actually neighbors with the player. That would be pretty cool to be able to go next door and say, "Hey, wanna kick the ball around?" Well, maybe not NOW, but soon.

After the game--a shut-out win for the Sounders against Toronto--we walked a couple blocks away to a brewery/restaurant for celebratory drinks with Gang Green members Brandon, Daniel, and Jose, as well as one of Kelly's friends from High School, Achal and three of Achal's friends in his group. When they closed, we had to find somewhere else to go. Their last call was at 10:45! Daniel said, "Wait...it can't be last call...it's not tomorrow yet!" We found an Irish pub a few blocks away and continued the birthday celebrations there with Car Bombs and Harp. A Car Bomb is a half glass of Guinness, a half-shot of Bailey's and a half-shot of Jameson--you put the half-shots into a shot glass and drop it into the Guinness. Since I was the designated driver, I opted out of this delight...but maybe next time. Daniel doesn't remember how he got home. I conclude that he was the one that was bombed, not the car.

K

Great Wolf Vacation

Kelly decided that with his work bonus, he wanted to take a couple days and do something fun, so we went to Great Wolf Lodge for a night. This indoor water resort is closed to the public--only hotel guests may play in the water there. This helps keep the numbers of swimmers under control and really keeps it fun rather than stressful. Kelly's brother in law, by chance, was having a conference there this week, so we arranged to be there at the same time, and Kelly's sister and niece were able to come stay, too. Aurora (who we saw at the Easter egg hunt), is a year younger than Ben and they have a great time together.

The main part of the water park includes this giant bucket at the top of the structure. It fills up with water and when it gets full, it tips to dump about 1000 gallons of water on people. You learn pretty quickly where not to stand since it dumps about every 2 minutes.

I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth the money, but Kelly took advantage of a special they were running that included several activities for the kids including a Build-a-Bear type animal, a t-shirt that you can color yourself, a free reusable drink container with a drink, a potato snack (not exactly chips, but not quite fries...), an interactive scavenger hunt throughout the hotel, a glittery temporary tattoo, and tokens to use at the arcade. It was a fun-filled, action-packed stay.

We both took turns riding with the kids on the slides, which were awesome! This pool was where two of the medium size slides emptied out. These are one- or two-person slides that use the smaller inner tubes. There were two much bigger slides--one of which did not allow kids under 48" tall, so Ben and Cammie were not able to ride that one, but the other one was OK as long as an adult went with them. We went on the biggest one with Ben a couple times and there is nothing like watching Ben get a thrill out of the slide--he was laughing and having such a great time. I wasn't sure if Emma would go on the big rides--she's not much of a thrill-seeker--but she did and enjoyed it, so she kept getting back in line. Her favorite, however, was the wave pool.

At dinner, the kids all received these ears to wear. Once Emma got hers, she didn't want to take them off! She put them on over the sparkley hat, which just looked silly and fun! So grown up, but still so much of a kid on the inside--she loves her stuffed panda bear (which she gave some Asian name; I thought she said "Chi Sing" which means "crazy" in Cantonese). Ben got a dog (looks like a yellow lab) that he named "Mozart"...as in WOLFgang, and Cammie got a spotted dog. I forget what she named him.

We had some time to kill early on Tuesday afternoon before our room was ready, so we did the build-a-critter activity and got a scoop of ice cream. There weren't a lot of places to sit down, but the little guys found a nice seat with this bear in the cupcake hat. Seemed like a good place to sit...

Overall, we had a great time, but the cost makes it prohibitive to stay more than one night. Good thing you can do just about everything in 24 hours and still get plenty of water time. I'm only disappointed because they had several things that they had run out of--the wolf at the build-a-critter (lots of other animals to choose from, but they always run out of wolves...wonder why?), certain flavors of the potato snacks, and they didn't have any pillow cases to color (in lieu of the t-shirts, it was given as an option, but when we go to the location, they said that they didn't have any and they could be mailed).

And now...back to the usual routine and more spring cleaning. I cleaned out under my Creative Space table and vacuumed, but still have to move a lot of things around to get to the rest of the carpet. I hadn't realized how dusty it had gotten in here, but with all the sewing that goes on, it makes sense that the lint goes to more places than just the bobbin case. So...back to work!

K

Post Delay

Yeah, I know I've been on a posting hiatus, but without pictures, it's hardly worth writing. There's lots of stuff we're doing, but since my camera is still on the fritz, all the pictures I'm taking are with my phone. But then my phone isn't communicating with my computer, so again....no pictures available. I can post the pictures to Facebook, so I try to download them, but it doesn't usually turn out right...occasionally they do, so I'm going to keep trying.

I've been spending a lot of time lately folding fabrics in my bins. Not terribly exciting. It was a mess, then I folded them and tucked them neatly into the bins. Whoopie. I know, you're so excited. However, it has been an eye-opener to discover that my fabric collection has now gotten to the classification of SABLE...Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy. I plan on sorting through it and giving away lower-quality fabrics and things that I don't have a use for to my MIL (mother in law) whose church quilting group makes quilts for 3rd world countries. They usually cut the fabrics into squares or rectangles and tie the quilt tops.

We spent the Easter weekend at Kelly's parents' house and went to the local Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt in the park. They had areas roped off for the various age groups, and Ben was in the 5-6 group with his cousin, Aurora. In this pic, they're standing next to each other--and you can see how 5 1/2 year old Aurora is taller than nearly-7-year-old Ben. The funny thing is that the park was set up a couple hours ahead of time and the weather was sunny and warm...causing all the chocolates wrapped in foil to get nice and melty.

Kelly's dad took us for a walk through a park the Lions Club is building in town. It's a rather large conservation project and park through a few dozen acres in the middle of the city, right off Liberty Bay (formerly known as Dog Fish bay, named after the small shark that lives in these waters. The loggers fished for them for their liver oil which was used in log skids during the early days). They are taking out non-native plants and replacing them with native ones, building boardwalks and trails, and buying educational signs for the paths. Several local Boy Scouts are doing Eagle projects there as well, making lots of improvements for this new park.

We came across an old homestead in the woods--the house was gone, but there were several fruit trees, flowering trees, and a giant elm that is damaged, but still climbable, as Ben demonstrated. I was a little afraid that he was going to fall or not be able to get down, but he didn't fall...and he climbed down by himself. Oh, me, of little faith.... He takes after his father, I am assured by his mother, and he did survive childhood.

Liberty Bay...with a heron (that you might be able to see with a magnifying glass since this image decided to be tiny). Eventually the Lions Club would like to build a boardwalk along this coastline from Poulsbo to Silverdale...which is quite a long ways, but would be a fantastic bike ride on a sunny day!

Hopefully the weather will continue to improve so hikes and outings in the area can be more frequent. As one friend said, "I can't wait to start complaining about how hot it is."

K

Spring Cleaning

I don't have much in the way of pictures right now. My camera is on the fritz again and because Kelly ordered it online with some company, we're not sure if we can return it. I thought about taking it to the nearest Fred Meyer and seeing if I can return it there since it *was* a gift and I *technically* don't know where he got it from...but I don't know if they'd take it or exchange it. It wasn't the camera I thought I was going to get, since we looked at several of them last fall. I don't remember this one being a contender...

Anyway, yesterday I spent some time shoveling off the counters in the kitchen, gutted the junk drawer (I think I found 25 screwdrivers in there), and we tossed some stuff that had been collecting in the drawers and counters--about a mile of medical tubing, power pluggers for electronics we don't own anymore, and other weird stuff. Then I went into Emma's room and disassembled her old loft bed. She got it when she was about 8 or 9 years old, and now that she's 13 and over 5'3", she's just too tall and grown up to have a loft bed. We bought her a new IKEA bed and mattress, which has been set up for some time, so we just needed to move it out.

Today I found a new home for it--new friends Jen and Darby have three kids, one of whom is ready for the transition to a big boy bed, so they're playing musical beds and putting the oldest into the loft bed. She also has the smallest room (and is the only girl), so she'll have a nice play area under the bed. I drove it up to their place--about 25 minutes away--and we spent some time talking about events and building yurts. We're thinking that if we join forces, we can get materials much cheaper in bulk, and then we can have a work day where we cut all the timber and drill all the holes.

I also got an offer from a local SCA person to borrow her pick up truck to take a load of stuff to the dump so I don't have to cram mattresses and box springs into the minivan. I don't know when we'll do that, but I have her number. We'll have to take care of that very soon--all that stuff is taking up too much room in the garage!

Tonight, I started folding fabric to begin an overhaul in the organization of my sewing area. I really need to file paperwork and put tools into the sewing tool drawer. Overall, it's been a productive few days although it feels like baby steps...

K

Keeping busy...

It was brought to my attention--thanks to my Dad--that I'm always busy. If I'm not up to my eyeballs, I find something else to do. It's not a criticism, he says, just an observation. Usually this is my response to stress. When I get bad news, I decide I need to make a bunch of beads. When a deadline approaches, I start a new knitting or quilting project.

Yesterday I got a double-dose of bad news. That means I need to start a BIG new project.

First, we went to Ben's quarterly appointment and discovered that his small airways are still suffering--he went from 56% to 50% when it was much closer to 80 or 90% a year ago. Despite the use of medications and adding the acapella, he is still losing lung function in his smaller airways. For the last three years, we have been asking to add a Vest (airway clearance therapy) but the doctor is not convinced that it will help. We have been doing clapping and acapella every day this last few months with no improvement. Instead, the doc decided to add two new medications--inhalers--to reduce the inflammation in his lungs. Maybe she'll decide it's the next step for his next appointment in June.

After fighting that uphill battle, I went to pick up the girls. I stopped in the office to let them know that Emma has a doctor appointment in May, and spoke with Miss H, on the admissions committee, to ask about Ben coming to school there next year. Once again, they have denied his admission application. I am really frustrated with their decision and their lack of research. They ask the teacher to fill out a form that asks "from a scale of 1-5, how does this student: behave in the classroom? perform at tasks? etc." His teacher found it very difficult to fill the form out--to put onto paper how he does in these individual areas, when overall, he's a good student and a good kid, just has some trouble in a few areas (like needing reminders to keep his hands to himself). But without consulting his teacher via phone or having Ben come in for the "interview", they just decide he's not ready for private school. He's finished the 1st grade sight-word list and is half-way through the 2nd grade list. He's doing great on his spelling and math, and understands some 3rd grade math concepts (like multiplication).

My reaction to all this bad news? I want to build a yurt. I started one about four or five years ago, but I stumbled on some confusing instructions. Now my enthusiasm for the project is renewed. I even found a Yurt Mistress to help me walk through the process. In order to better accommodate our growing family, we need a bigger tent for camping with the kids. Yurts can pack down small, do not necessarily need a center pole (although many people use them for set up, and occasionally leave them for extra stability--especially larger yurts), and since they're basically made of a big baby gate with a door that closes, it keeps kids inside at night, and keeps (larger) critters out. It has a smoke hole on top, so you can cook inside, and with extra insulation, can keep you pretty snug, even in the coldest camping weather. I need to buy the lumber for it (3/4" x 1" lengths and some boards of planed timber), but it looks like something you can build with minimal tools and beginning woodworking skills. I am up to the challenge!

Frustrated and needing some time together, Kelly and I went out for Date Night last night. We tried an Italian restaurant (not Olive Garden) that is in the neighborhood. I got a gorgonzola cheese sauce with penne noodles and chicken--it was awesome! The service was great--she was really friendly and on top of things. They are also kid-friendly with a kids menu and paper on the table for coloring (we didn't get any crayons, though...). We'll definitely have to go back.

I spent a bunch of time today making moonfish for a quilt top. Our quilt group is making Pirate-themed round robin quilts. This is a fun project--each person participating makes a block, puts it in a plastic bin (Rubbermaid or Sterilite style). We get in a circle and pass the bin one to the left. We take this new one home and add to it. At the next appointed time, we get together in a circle in the same order, and pass it again to the left. Continue until you get your quilt top back or until they're just too big to go on. This is the first exchange of the center pieces--Linda's "Davy Jones's Locker" quilt, she made this beautiful Mariner's Compass and I decided to add fishes to it. Of course, I was watching "Finding Nemo" with Ben and really enjoyed the moonfish that were giving directions to Dory and Marlin, and thought this would be a good addition (especially if you have a compass that doesn't point North). I had cut up all the bits to make blocks to go around; it was in a big jumble of pieces and I wanted to get all the blocks together in order to have them ready for assembly later. It's not actually due until next month (it was originally supposed to be exchanged this month, but due to extraordinary circumstances, it has been delayed for a month). I have 16 fish assembled and now I have to figure out how to lay them out. Flat? On point? If I do it on point, it'll require a lot of triangles...flat will need just a few 2 1/2" rectangles.

Tonight, Emma is staying the night with friends, Ben's out playing with his buddy "J", and Cammie & Kelly just came back from a soccer game where the Sounders won 2-1. Cammie got her hair done up at the game (and has since washed it out) and decided she wanted to make her own dinner tonight.

Hopefully next week will be filled with better news.

K

Anniversary Party & Quilts!

This weekend, Kelly's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! In about 1960, Karl was a new teacher in a small farming community. A few months later, he begins dating a young lady who was also at the school. Shockingly, as a student. Yup. What could get him fired and thrown into jail today was perfectly acceptable back in the day. In fact, he took her to prom.

They married on April 1st, 1961 (April fools!) and began their life together. They moved around a little, from one farming community to another, having children along the way, eventually settling in Vancouver, WA, and then flying across the world to live in Hong Kong. A job that was supposed to last a couple years turned into 20.

They retired a few years ago and live in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula where they are active in community events and charities. They are two really remarkable people and I love them dearly!

Kelly's dad has three brothers (no sisters) all all four of them got together at once and we got a group picture of them four. From left to right are Don, Gary, Lowell and Karl.

For the kids, it was an opportunity for the cousins to get together. I have no pictures of Ben with Aurora, who took off at 2:00 and didn't stop running until we left at about 5:30 pm. Cammie, however, was found in the library with Nate, her cousin of about the same age. These guys are the best of friends and now that they're living closer together, we can get together more often.

It was raining all day, but the daffodils were in full bloom. SO pretty!

The hall was sparse, but easily decorated and came together beautifully. There was seating for 50 people, which was filled and may have had ten or so more. It was a great party--lots of food, lots of friends, lots of stories!

Before leaving for the weekend, however, I spent a little time working on a couple of charity quilts. This one was pieced together into 4-patches before I took it on, and I turned the blocks to alternate darks and lights to make a chain. Then I added the purple blocks around the edge to make it more like a lap quilt and less like a table runner.

This set of blocks is not for charity, but was put together using fabrics I had leftover from a fabric swap. This is a fun and easy block with lots of options.

First you make a 9-patch in two colors--of course, it works best if you use a light and a dark to have good contrast. Then you slice the block in the center vertically and horizontally into four equal squares. Then you can spin the pieces to create new designs, like this...

Or like this! There are several more that you can do to create secondary patterns or fun block and sashing patterns.

The big news for today is that Ben had his fifth surgery in his six short years...this is the third go at removing nasal polyps that continue to grow back. It was quick and easy, and after taking a long nap, he's up playing with his new Legos that Pauline went to get while we were at the hospital. He LOVES legos! (Like father, like son, apparently.)

I'm getting down to the last 1% of space for photos. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I run out of space, or if it'll start deleting pictures. Any ideas what is supposed to happen?

K