1/2 Interest in a Quilt ? !!

Did I buy half a quilt?
Did I buy 1/2 stock in a quilt?
Nope. And Nope. ...
I bought 1/2 ownership in a quilt machine. (heh-hemm, Ina)

I was telling my sis that I'd bought 1/2 a quilt machine and her phone cut out as I said the word "machine"! So she went around trying to think about the benefits and logistics on sharing a quilt. She said she was thinking, "Wow, that must be a very special quilt for two women to want to share it."

How funny. Like that "telephone" game where one person whispers something to the next person and they pass it along a circle and it comes out all garbled and twisted and nothing even close to the original statement!  Well, this was sort of close and definitely funny.

I'd show a photo of the machine but it is at the home of the other co-owner at the moment. I'll be picking it up next week as I have a quilt that needs quilting!

Catching Up

Oh my.... life has just been whizzing past me. No time for e-mail, no time for blogging.... until today. I even wrote 5 notes....real SNAIL MAIL notes. Jack saw my stack of outgoing mail and asked, "Why didn't you just e-mail everyone, it's a lot cheaper!"
Well of course it is cheaper. But who doesn't enjoy going to the mailbox and finding REAL mail?!

It is so worth 45 cents!

For catching up:   Dr. Suess Day was so much fun. The kids just went nutzo when they realized they were allowed to KEEP the hats. Oh my. What fun.

This is the hallway where the kids get to "Hop on Pop", which is in one of the Dr. Seuss stories.

We get a donation of bubble wrap and they hop and pop all the way down.

I have to admit that I was the first to pop any bubbles. Yes, the superintendent and some board members and other staff were all at the end of the hallway waiting for the kids when I decided to reposition myself to take photos.

Uh huh. I stepped on the edge of the bubble wrap. It popped. I screamed and jumped and landed only to pop some more. I was hopping like I was barefooted on a hot fire.

At least everyone got a good laugh from the Senior Citizen hopping on the pop!

We had Thing 1 and Thing 2....

Classrooms were filled with volunteer readers and for one hour, kids were read to by volunteers.

This the theme "Read Across America" ! I believe we had 40 volunteers. What an amazing turnout for a school of 104 kids!

T

Cutting cakes was just one of my jobs.

These Thing 1's and Thing 2's were my designs. Kids loved making them.

We made sure we thanked our volunteers with signs and cards.

Even our school cook got in the spirit.

Stripes were definitely the order of the day. Hey, I even had the white hair to go with the red and white theme!!!

And what would the day be without GREEN EGGS AND HAM for lunch!?!

Then I took a break. I got a week off to attend a quilting retreat. I actually missed 24 hours because I wanted to be with the kids for the Dr. Seuss Day events. So on to the retreat.

I've never eaten so much food, snacked on so much chocolate, drank so much wine, laughed so much, hiked so many trails, and actually sewn or cut so much in all my life. It was so much fun and very productive. Even though I have to lose 6 pounds, it was so, so worth it!

We had our priorities straight. We started the mornings with champagne and orange juice. I don't even like o.j. but with champagne, it was something to look forward to! I'm not even going to tell you how many of these lined the window ledge by the time we had to pack up and leave!

A side trail took us over a bridge and through the woods.

I am quite proud to say I machine quilted this all except for the border. Another gal laid down some printed border tape and sewed the quilting in. It was pretty slick.

You can see my stitching in this enlargement. Okay for an amateur.

And finally, some of the projects I managed to do. I cut and pieced a quilt top. Then I cut all the pieces for another quilt. (For those of you who do not quilt, cutting is a major part of the time put into quilting.) I learned how to make these cute little pouches and the stuffed bunny. I need to put some features on his face then find a munchkin to give it to.

All in all, it has been a wonderful leave of absence!

Happy Leap Year Day!

I don't kow why, but I just love Leap Day. An extra day in the year every 4 years makes it seem a bit special. I've always thought it quite mysterious. Seriously, where does it go for four years? Travel the universe and visit various places in some time warp? Hide under the Calendar-Maker's bed until s/he lets it out to be celebrated only to be hidden away again? I wonder if the Druids celebrated February 29th.... I mean who thought it up anyway? I'll be asking myself silly questions all day long just because I enjoy the mystery. Well, mystery to me because I don't want to Google it and find out the scientific earth's spin vs. our clocks vs. our calendars. I just want to have some silly fun on a day that I have deamed necessary to have fun.

So LEAP in and Enjoy the Day!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy birthday, Mom! 89 years old today and what an amazing woman you are!

I am going to celebrate all day long...celebrating the day you were born!

Since we have an added day in February tomorrow, I do believe I'll continue to celebrate tomorrow too. (I'd hate to waste that "extra" day! )

Thanks for all that you do, Mom, I love you to pieces!

(Mom doesn't know any strangers because she befriends everyone she meets.)

(And what a sport! She'll try just about anything once.)

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!

While Horton Hatches His Hooooo

... I'm busy hatching hats!

119 hats completed.

I didn't make all of them, but one heck of a lot were mine.

Thanks Sharon, Eileen, Billie, Doris, Sharstin and Laura!

Our hats have hatched in time for us all to

Hop on Pop!

(More about this later!)

Good News

I was going to post something entirely different, but this is such good news I just have to share it with all of you:

Danette just posted on her blog that Joseph's PET scan showed that the cancer is almost totally gone. Her quote was "...probable complete remission or very close.."

What a great way to start the day.

I know many of you are praying for Joseph or sending him positive thoughts and healing energy and I thank you for whatever form of love you use. Afterall, it is about wrapping him up in a blanket of pure love and letting him know he has a strong support system.

Of course, Joseph himself is to be credited. He eats whole, organic foods, he exercises above and beyond what the average person does, he meditates daily without fail and does yoga. He does everything possible to create an atmosphere for his body to do its remarkable thing and kick cancer's butt!

So with all of us doing our part, we are faced with good news today.

Hurtin' for Certain

Our schools are definitely "hurtin' for certain." They need so much and like everything else, all they can do is cut back, cut back, cut back. This photo rather sums up the situation in a visual way:

What is it, you ask?

Scroll down....

 Why, it's a tennis ball, of course!

(Yes, I'll be buying tennis balls when we go to town tomorrow!)