Still no camera.

So sorry -- no pictures to show. I still cannot find that stupid camera! I went online to purchase another, put it into the shopping cart and just before I hit the "submit order" button, I thought I'd take another look around. I figure that the very minute I buy a new one, the stinking thing will turn up -- probably right under my nose. I've given it a whole day to show up, but alak! and alas! No go. If I find it after I buy another, you'll hear me scream from here. (I'm such a tightwad -- hate spending money to replace stuff I KNOW I already own.)

Do scary noises in the night give you the creeps? The other night I went to bed overtired, which sometimes causes me to make awful noises in my sleep. DH said when he got out of the shower (I was in bed, sleeping), I was making such a horrible noise he was afraid to come in the room, for fear my head would be spinning around like something from The Exorcist. Well, at least I wasn't SNORING.

Speaking of snoring ... a little while back, we were talking with a friend of ours about snoring. He claims that taking garlic capsules will lower blood pressure and stop a person from snoring. The next time we saw him, he gave us a gigantic bottle of the little gems. We've both been taking them. Several times since, I've been asked if they've helped cure DH's snoring. I guess not. The other night, he fell asleep on the couch and making quite a racket.

I managed to take a flying trip to the quilt show in Lancaster. I saw lots of nifty things there and came home with a head full of ideas of what else I can add to my TO DO list. I didn't buy a lot of fabric, but found a couple of gadgets I thought I cannot live without any longer. I even resisted the temptation to purchase more rulers to add to my pile, unless you count a little plastic template that will help me make a Dresden Plate quilt from a pile of five-inch squares. I am eager to start on it, but have a feeling it will be one of those projects that begins with great enthusiasm that rapidly fades after about two blocks are completed. Nag me, will ya? Keep me on task here.

Okay ... gonna go rummage around some more in search of the run-away camera. If I don't find it before bedtime tonight, I'm buying the new one.

W.I.P.

Here's a sneak preview of the raffle quilt being made by the Endless Mountains Quilt Guild.
(Double-click on the photo to enlarge for your viewing pleasure.)

Members spent this afternoon putting the log cabin blocks together and removing paper. (It was paper-pieced for accuracy -- all batik fabrics.) I will have the privilege of quilting it once it's completed. Tickets will go on sale in May. It will be queen-size. It's so pretty, I'm now scared to quilt it for fear of messing up.

Flatten My Ass!?!

A logger was here, cutting some timber the other day. He brought the logs out thru a sheep pasture and left them at the top of the field, near the road for later collection. When I went out to walk the dog, he was trying to steady the logs and said he was afraid they might otherwise roll down the hill. He said he didn’t want them to roll over my critters. (Thank you very much.) He said, “You know how sheep are, right? If a log rolls and squashes one of them, the rest will all come running so they can get squashed, too. Then you’d have a mess of squashed sheep and one flat ass.” (No … he wasn’t really being rude, just cracking a joke – my donkey hangs out with the sheep.) It was pretty amusing to me, but HE thought he was hilarious. He just howled.
I seem to have misplaced my camera (yes, again.), so I haven’t been posting any photos. I realized today, tho, that I have a few stored on the computer from a week or so ago that I can share.

Peg's purple stars:

                                              Nancy's sampler --



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penny's lavender 9-patch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cathie's garden:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiring, all.

Honey … I’m ho-o—ome! Anybody miss me?

Actually, I’ve not gone anywhere besides up and down the turnpike a couple of times, but I’ve not posted anything here for ages. In fact, I’m the only one who HASN’T gone anywhere. It’s lambing season. Nothing new about that – pretty much the same as last year, so if you missed the commotion, you can go peek in the archives. Of course, the minute DH set off on an adventure with the grandboys, two young ewes decided to drop their lambs. They’re both like total lunatics, so I could not manage to get them into lambing pens – had to let them stay out in the main pen until DH arrived home to help. He was totally thrilled, after a long day of travel.

From the "Why Me?" Department: I needed some cash to head down to pick up the kids and for them to take on their little toot with PaPa. I was leaving too early to stop at the bank, but realized there was a new branch en route. How handy was that?!? Not very, it turns out.

I had two stacks of checks for deposit that had accumulated over about two months (lambing season doesn’t allow much time to do errands). This is a brand new branch of the bank, and can you believe not ONE of the five pens on the counter worked? One cashier told me I must not be using them correctly. Ummm … excuse me? Do I not look like I know how to use a pen? If looks could kill …

Another gal behind the counter found me a pen behind the counter that worked (I guess she caught my drift tho I uttered nary a word), and helped me by adding both sums, which was nice because math makes me queasy. On the deposit slip, there’s a line to use to indicate how much cash the depositor would like to take from the sum being deposited in cash. I wrote in my amount. The gal quickly told me she could only give over $200 in cash.

“Huh? Why?”
She said because their computers were down.

“So? Do you not have cash in the drawer?”

“Yes, but … “ and then the branch manager stepped in and said I could use my debit card or ATM and get more from the machine.

“I don’t have either of those. How about I go outside and pretend I just came in over and over, and you pretend you don’t know I was here before?”

She couldn’t do that. So I politely (I SWEAR I was polite!) told her I could not accept her explanation, nor could I leave without the needed cash. I even explained WHY I needed what they seemed to think was an excessive amount. (I had to wonder if any of these gals have bought gas for a van or gone shopping lately?!?)

Her new explanation was that it was because they didn’t know me.

“Yeah, so? Considering this branch has only been open about a week, how many customers of this bank DO you know? I’ve been doing business with this particular bank for about 40 years now. Seems to me that YOU’re the new kid on the block. So maybe YOU're the one who should be under suspicion?”

Trying to assure me that it was for my own protection got her nowhere. I simply said I reject her explanation, and would still need the cash for my trip.

She asked what branch I normally go to. I told her. She said she’d call and ask them if they know me.

Good grief! This “quick stop” at the bank put me behind schedule about 20 minutes, but I did get the money I needed and went on my merry way. Exasperated. If life is a test of one's ability to endure, I guess I've failed again and therefore will undoubtedly be destined to try again.

So … on that jolly note, let’s have a peek at something else:

                            What IS that mess? It's some of my 360 Nickel Exhange blocks cut up even smaller -- into quarters, for a quilt I am going to try to do before this year's Nickel Squares are dished out. I think these are approaching three years old. They're from the "Thirties" theme, and it took me about two years to figure out what to do with them. Now I'm going into high gear on it while other gals are here quilting.   Here's Cathie B, with one of her many creations:

A scarf of many colors ...

I guess I'd better find some new victims recipients for my handmade crap creations. The scarf in the photo is made from two skeins of Noro Silk Garden, each variegated and in a different colorway. I thought it made quite a clever-looking scarf. You can't tell by the picture, but it has stripes of many colors, ranging from the blues/purples/greys on this side to some green and rust on the other end. When I asked DH who it should be for, he answered, "maybe Joey?"

Really?!? What in my wildest dreams made me think he might say he'd like it for himself?!? Sigh.

Back-pedalling, he offered, "Joseph and the Multi-Colored Scarf." Right.

I saw a hat posted on the Yarn Harlot's blog, and found the pattern is free on Ravelry so had to try the Wurm hat. It will use up two balls of yarn from that stash -- so what's not to love?

Sue S came and quilted her very first:

Nice job, Sue.

Icy roads here caused some cancellations in the studio. So ... do I stay in and knit my hat? or do I take advantage of the time to finish up a quilt or two myself? Decisions, decisions.

And the beat goes on ...

Remember the old Sonny and Cher song?
"grandmaws sit in chairs, and grandmaws knit ..."

This is said chair in which I sit, with what will be a hat to match a scarf for one of the grands. I sent the others on before I thought to take a picture. Wool. Warm. On another blog I read, there were directions for a Dr. Who scarf. As the oldest grand is a big fan, I thought it would be a great idea to make one for him. The 12 feet of garter stitch was daunting enough, but when I went on a search for the required yarn, I caved. The cost of the yarn would have been high, but because no one place seems to carry all the colors I would have needed, I would have had to pay a ton of shipping charges. Plan B: purchase a ready-made. The kid was tickled. All is good.

Quilters seem to have a universal desire to use up their scraps lately. Gail did this, and quilted it on Monday:

Did you notice the prairie points she used to further eliminate scraps from her stash?
Here's a close-up of a block:

... and here's how it looks on the back:

Pretty cool, eh? And she's a newcomer to the longarm -- it's her first attempt at freehanding. After this one, she is pretty comfortable with the machine, and is already planning her next one. She already makes a slew of quilts -- I cannot imagine what she'll get done now.

... got it figured out, finally!

I could not add photos to the blog in recent posts, but I've finally figured it out. My browser no longer allows it, so I am using a different one. Who makes these annoying changes to the system, and why can't they give me fair warning?!? Grrr ...

So here's Nancy with her quilt I wanted to show last week:

And here is Sherry, whipping out the third quilt in a day. She did a simple meandering all over each, and got them all done in one afternoon. They'll be gifts for folks who helped Sherry's mom during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. (It pays to be nice!)

... and in the barn -- where does one end and another begin?

They are just so sweet and cuddly!

What's next ... waterboarding?

I had quite an adventure yesterday. I was referred to the local hospital for some tests. Ever had a nerve conduction test? No? Well ... it's a ton of fun, let me tell you.

First off, Miss Personality herself led me into a room and barked orders for me to disrobe and don the usual gaping hospital gown that looked as if it had been worn previously and not washed. (Try to ignore that fact, I told myself. It's just a piece of fabric ... ) She didn't seem all that accommodating when I offered the hint that if she would tell me what she was going to do before she proceeded, I'd be a lot more relaxed about the whole thing. But she did say, "We'll start off easy and see how it goes" before she hooked me up with wires and zapped me. It felt very similar to grabbing onto an electric fence.

“Good golly, Miss Molly. If THAT’s what you call going easy, you may want to call in reinforcements to peel me off the ceiling before continuing.” I guess it was actually just a chuckle that came out of her, but I could swear I heard an evil witch’s cackle. Then about 45 minutes more of that, with each zap a bit stronger than the previous, and I was the spitting image of the Bride of Frankenstein. That must have satisfied her, because she stopped and asked if I thought she should do the other side, as well. WHAT?!? I tried not to club her with the nearest thing handy and replied, “unless the doctor ordered it, I’m gonna pass on that.”

It’s very unnerving to have a medical sort of person muttering things like, “hmmmm ….”under their breath while they’re poking and prodding you, I’ve gotta say. She ripped the print-out from the machine and said, “I’ll go show this to Dr. Wubbawubba," (name changed because I cannot fathom how to spell what spilled from her mouth). "Then I’ll either be back to do more, or he’ll come in and insert a needle into your muscle." Oh, joy! Then she left me to ponder for about 10 minutes what that was going to be like. That should never happen with a person who has a highly developed imagination like mine.

Dr. W arrived, spoke at a volume that was nearly undetectable, giving me the low-down on what would happen next. (Was it just me, or does he look suspiciously like someone who practices Voo-Doo from a zombie movie I once saw?)

Anyway, jabbing the long needle repeatedly into me didn’t hurt nearly as much as being fried with electricity, but I had to wonder how many more places he could think of to jam that thing. He continued, and then said, “I have to go get some help. I’ll be right back.” Oh, Heaven Help Me! I had visions of him bringing back a crew of sadists who would hold me down so he could repeatedly stab me without a fight. As it turned out, one woman returned with him, only as a witness that he wasn’t doing something he shouldn’t when he decided to poke my spine, necessitating exposure of my underwear.

I survived. And I didn’t even cry. (Just had to throw that in there because DH said that while he was waiting for me, another woman came out bawling. He had a genuine look of concern when I emerged into the waiting area.)

I smell Easter lilies ...

For several days, every once in a while I get a whiff of the fragrance of Easter lilies. For the life of me, I could not figure out where it was coming from. Then this morning, I discovered the source. It is a new mascara I have been using! Imagine that. Odd, no?
It feels like forever since I posted anything here. Reason/Excuse? Sleep deprivation. We're knee-deep in lambing season here. Sixteen and counting ... so far. Only one black one is this group. I do the night-watch (getting up from a sound sleep to go the barn in the dark); DH shuffles sheep. I keep changing my mind about who should be pen-mates, so he has to re-arrange them every couple of days. There are valid reasons for needing them shuffled, I promise. Example: a ewe whose lambs were stillborn has milk, no babies. Another ewe has a big, beautiful lamb but no milk. Solution: put them together and hope the baby grafts on to the wrong mother. It doesn't always work, but I'm nothing if not hopeful. Then there are the aggressive hags who don't play nice with others, so they can't be left in a pen with a timid ewe who gets pummelled for merely looking at the other one's lamb. See? Real reasons for sheep shuffling. Eventually, everything gets worked out, but it takes a few tries.

Several quilters have been coming and going around here, but I've been too lazy to hunt down the camera to snap photos. I did have it on hand when Nancy C finished up this beautiful quilt. It was a BOM project. She used a simple stars & stripes kind of design in the quilting, and we both thought it came out great. Don't you agree?

Well ... I WAS going to upload the photo, but can't get this thing to work. I'll try again tomorrow, I guess.

You guessed it!

Last Wednesday, we got about a foot of snow:

... followed by another five inches or so on Thursday.
So, yep! You guessed it! Our sheep have a knack for birthing lambs during the absolute worst weather possible!

... and once it starts, it just keeps on going:

I found one of these wedged in between a barn wall and a retaining wall. How do they always manage to find a way to get into trouble at such a tender age?

And get a load of the photo on the front of a birthday card sent by my brother:

Don't ask me where he found such a thing, but we're all cracking up about it! (In case you didn't know, I got a little donkey this past summer.)

"Get a refund!"

All customer Xmas quilts were done and outta here on time, I'm happy to say. That left time for the last minute rush of quilters who needed to come and finish their projects here for their big day.

Cathy got three wallhangings finished. I don't envy the marathon of binding she'll have!

Here's Dave, finishing up two for Rose.

I am proud of him for using great restraint when it came to choosing thread. Rose is more of a "let it blend in" kind of gal, while Dave, if given a choice, would pick high contrast -- or maybe even the glittery gold! I suggested he piece a quilt for himself so that he can jazz it up any way he'd like. We'll see it that happens!

Holly came with a heap of quilts to get done, and brought a helper for pinning.

The Fusion machine she likes to work with requires quite a reach. No problem for this guy -- he's very tall, AND very accommodating to Holly. They knocked three off their list that day, but I'm afraid it was a bit much for Rich:

I picked up the grands on Friday. The load of snow gear fit nicely into the van. Too bad we're dealing with a round of colds -- we got plenty of snow yesterday, and more is coming today. We spent much of our time dealing with sniffles, sneezes, fever and other unpleasant stuff -- and playing board games.

Playing Monopoly with kids who range in age from 6 to 16 is a hoot! One (who shall remain unnamed) is a complete miser. The child refused to trade, sell, or otherwise dispose of any of the properties gathered, making it nigh unto impossible for the game to proceed in the usual manner. As if Monopoly isn't long enough to begin with! The youngest tired of the game, even though she was raking in the most $$$ due to the fact that she held the railroads and everyone else landed on them repeatedly. PaPa couldn't coax her to make a deal for real estate. Her sister knew how to get through to her. She offered her $100 and a cookie! She snapped up that deal in a heartbeat. The child loves her cookies!

I got a tip from a newsletter recently that there's a new, fun family game out. So I sent for it and we were all anxious to give it a try. It's called "For Sale," and involves buying and selling real estate. Problem is, the instructions are ridiculously lacking. We couldn't figure out how the game is supposed to be played by reading the rules, so had to make up our own. Needless to say, it was not a big hit with this family. The oldest commented that he hoped I hadn't spend much on that stupid game (implying the huge waste of money if I had). I told him that, sadly, I DID spend quite a bit for it. The youngest piped up, "Get a refund!:

Oh, hah-ha-ha ... these kids just crack me up sometimes! Makes it all worth dealing with the hacking, sneezing, nose running and everything else going on this week.

Mrs. Lynch woud love this!

I've been reading a book, Folks, this ain't normal by Joel Salatin in my spare minutes this week. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how this man has managed to suck the thoughts right outta my head and get them to land on the pages of a book! He writes about what's wrong with things in this world, particularly about how our food is produced and handled in this country.

In passing, he mentions a toilet that is available in Australia. But first, let me give you the background here. My first grade teacher was a woman I shall never forget. She was my first encounter with a terrorist. A few examples of the things she did that caused me great distress at the age of six follow.

First off, she insisted I put my pencil in my right hand. Who knew school was going to be like this?!? I had always used my left hand before, and now she expected me to give up all that was right and natural for me, and put that d@&^ thing in my other hand and try to get the business end to go where I wanted it to. What the heck?!? Something told me this was not going to be the best year of my life. I went home and told my parents what a witch she is, was scolded for saying such a thing about my teacher, and thankfully was given a chance to explain before the measuring stick of appropriate behavior was applied to the seat of education. My Dad called the school and told the Big Guy In Charge there that I was to be allowed to write with my left hand henceforth. Whew! That was a relief.

I don't know if that had any effect on The Hag's outlook on me, but I'm guessing it might have. Next thing I knew, I was allowed to write with my left hand. One hundred times. I was to write my name one hundred times on sheets of paper with solid lines and dotted lines that show where the letters are supposed to sit on the paper. Okay. I was eager to do well in school, so proceeded to complete the assigned task and turned it in with glee, expected praise for a job well done. When I got it back, it had a great big red 0 on top. Zero! Zero? Why did I get a Zero? I did my work, turned it in, and she gives me a ZERO?!? Her explanation: You spelled your name wrong. Huh? I checked it all over very, very carefully and could not find a single place where I put any of the letters in the wrong place, nor had I left any out. Oh ... help. I took it home that afternoon and asked my Daddy to look for my mistake. There was none, according to him. Next day, I told the teacher (who was built like a fireplug, by the way -- just sayin' ...). She informed me that I hadn't used a proper name. She claimed that my name HAD to be spelled J-U-D-I-T-H and that nothing else was a proper name according to her Catholic rules. Mind you, this was a public school and I was not Catholic. Oh boy, Dad was hoppin' mad about that one!

One more example, and then I promise I'll quit. She had rules. Tons of them. And as far as I could figure, she only made them to give her reasons to punish people. Just DARE break one of her rules in class -- you'd be sorry! One rule was that if you needed to use the restroom, you had to put up either one finger or two, indicating the reason for the visit. If you only had to pee, she would often deny permission to leave your seat. WHO DOES THIS TO A KID?!? I swear, she was the original terrorist! I figured out that my only line of defense was to keep quiet until I got home where I could tell my Dad on her. He was a strict parent, but would step in to stop the injustice being done. So the day I told him that Mrs. Lynch made Susie D pee her pants was the last straw. "How could she make someone pee her pants?" he demanded to know. I explained that she had not allowed the girl to leave her seat in class to use the bathroom, and Susie held it as long as she could, but cried and was embarassed to make a puddle around her feet on the floor. He blew a gasket, and at first I thought his anger was aimed at me. Was I ever relieved to realize he was planning a trip to the school to get to the bottom of this on behalf of about 25 little first-graders.

I think the tightly permed blue hair was the only thing that disguised the horns that surely grew from this woman's head!

So anyway, back to the Australian toilets ... they have one that has two flush buttons: No. 1 and No. 2 -- to be determined by the extent of business at hand. Mrs. Lynch: if you're still alive, go to ________!

(I meant Australia! What were you thinking? If she's died by now, I think I know where she went.)

Gotta get back to melting polar icecaps (raising cows whose burps are the bane of the Earth). Later, Dudes!

Oh, yeah ... I want THAT!

I was just perusing the website of my favorite yarn shop because they sent me a message advertising a sale. Yes, I confess -- I'm an impulse shopper and they know how to tease me. But would you get a load of this?!? (And don't miss the "regular" price X'd out -- it's reduced to just 29.99 now!)
:

I think I'll order several skeins and place them strategically around the neighborhood for fun. Is it just me? Or does anybody else see a skunk?

The quilters are busy, trying to get everything finished before their holiday gift-giving begins. Here's Melanie (doesn't she remind you of Bonnie Hunter?) -- note the time on the wall clock. She's winding down to the end, still with a smile on her face.

And while she was quilting, Holly was knitting up a scarf. She finished before Melanie:

On Tuesday, Nancy did another of her very large quilts:

The quilt, ready for binding and wrapping paper:

Did I show you the clever way Carla used up scraps for the backing of the "comforter/quilt" she made for her son?:

And this baby is on its way home to Ann via the Merry Mailman:

Now I've got to get back to work. Tomorrow's going to be a big day!



Work, work, work ...

That's all I ever do. But what fun work I have! Here's a sampling from yesterday:

Wanna see the back of it? Here:

This table runner is for the same customer. She had thought she'd quilt it by hand, so didn't leave any extra backing, and spray-basted her layers. It wasn't hard to pull apart, but mounting it on the frame for quilting was tricky. I think it came out okay:

Barn chores are finished, so after I have some breakfast, I'll be back at it. Ta-ta!

On opening day ...

Monday was opening day of rifle deer hunting season here in NE PA. I was busy quilting, but thought it was odd that there were no shots fired nearby. Usually I am startled half out of my skin several times when hunters fire a round not far away out in our woods. I glanced out the window, and here's who I saw:

Actually, there were four of them just outside the window most of the day, and nary a hunter to be seen.

Speaking of being scared out of skin, I just saw the funniest thing on TV. It was a prank being pulled on people in an elevator, one or two at a time. The elevator would stop, the lights went out, and when they came back on, a ghoulish little girl who looked like something from a horror movie was standing there (she entered thru a secret door while the lights were out). When the people in the elevator turned and saw her standing there, they screamed like crazy. Oh my ... it was soooo funny. I don't know about you, but if I were in an elevator that stopped and the lights went out, they wouldn't need to sneak a little ghoul in to make me scream my brains out!

I've been noticing a few trends in the quilting thing lately ...

No ... these are NOT my quilts. I just quilted them. But there's definitely a pink-and-green phase blowing through the area.

Another trend is toward the "pouffy" -- here's Carla's -- you might see the pouf better if you click to enlarge the photo:

Val was here last week and did a ginormous quilt with three (yes, THREE) layers of wool batting. Talk about pouf! She's coming back tomorrow to do another just like it. I will get a photo while she's here this time. Wait for it ...

Silly stuff ...

My new boots:

(Now hush up! They were 65 percent off, and I'll be wearing them to the barn!)

My new fabric:

(It was not on sale at ALL, and I have no clue what I'll do with it. I just HAD to get it -- to show Joey and the Grands.)

I'd better get crackin' -- the quilters are coming at 9:00 and I'm not ready. Whoosh! (Did you see that streak of lightnin' flash by? It was just me, putting it into high gear.)

I guess I'm just special ...

Mike Huckabee, Pat Boone, the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer (and why don't we call her "the Governess"?), Mrs. Tom Smith and then their daughter -- was it Kim? -- oh, there've been so many calls I can't remember. I'm really sorry I missed the call from Paul Ryan -- I really wanted to chat with him. He didn't leave a callback number. Maybe he'll call again another day?

The antics the politicians go thru amuses me. If only they'd spend as much time and energy solving problems as they do campaigning for office! One thing I noticed is that Mr. Romney never looks tired, which amazes me. Have you seen the TV clips of the Obamas running to the microphone for their appearances? Are they trying to show that they have as much energy as Mitt? Michelle even looks like she's tearing toward the finish line in one of them. Gotta wonder what kind of vacation they're going to take after the election to recoup! Golfing in Hawaii, perhaps?

Melanie (Holly's friend) came back Sunday to quilt. It's her first, and no small task. It was 112 inches by ___??? (some big number) -- all batiks, including the backing. At random, she chose an all-over leafy design which turned out to be beginner's luck: turns out the pattern is quick to stitch out, so even though it was a very large quilt, she was finished and on her way by about 3:00. If you know Melanie's daughter, DON'T tell her you saw this here: it's going to be a surprise gift for her.

And now M is working on another surprise quilt for her son. Heh-heh ... she's hooked. Blame it on Holly.

Can you see the sinister grin on her face? Or is it just me?

Go ahead, make my day ...

If you've been trying to call me today and have not been able to get thru, I apologize for the continuous busy signal. It's been a marathon of phone calls all day! Imagine my astonishment first thing this morning when I got a call from Clint Eastwood! I'm afraid I was rather rude to him (I hung up on him mid-sentence to go finish my breakfast). It's not that I don't like Clint Eastwood, but unfortunately for him, I like my oatmeal even better at 7:00 a.m. I guess he didn't take it personally, because he called back later in the day. I was much more polite that time. I just can't figure out if he's getting senile, or what?!? He called back a THIRD time and just repeated himself. DH has always been a huge fan of that guy, so when he came home I asked him to speak to his buddy and just ask him to stop calling me here at home.

When the phone rang during dinner tonight, I told DH it was his turn to answer it. It was probably Clint calling again, and it would be a good chance to talk to him about calling me so much when my husband isn't home. Well ... THIS time it was Mitt Romney calling. DH got all puffed up when Mr. R addressed him by his first name.

Oh ... and you can just keep trying if you've been trying to reach me. But it may take another four days to get thru.

Sudden Nakedness ...

The trees are startlingly naked this morning. We came through last night having been spared the wrath of Sandy. Except for blowing all the remaining leaves and a few branches off the trees, and causing the power to flicker out a couple of times in the night, we were left unscathed. Thankfully. That storm has been devastating to many in other areas. Having lived many years along the NJ seashore, I know full well how terrifying a hurricane can be along the coast, and my heart goes out to people hit hard.

Sunday was a busy day for some quilters here. Holly is really cranking out the quilts ... and every time she brings one, she names another somebody who will be the recipient. This time, she FINALLY said, "This one is for me." It's a pattern that has become pretty popular around here -- they're making them like hotcakes, in all sizes and different kinds of fabrics and color choices. At retreat last winter, many were making them into heart-shaped wallhangings. Here's Holly's, made with a Christmas theme (many of the flannels incorporated here have holly prints, appropriately enough).

Melanie came with Holly and played with the Avante in the other room, but here she is, trying to scoot sideways to get out of the view of the camera when she realized I was about to snap the photo:

We were marveling about how smoothly the Minkie fabric Holly is using lays on the back. We've heard bad things about stretching possibilities, but as you can see, there was none of that going on and it made such a scoochie quilt for Holly's niece.

When I first met Melanie, she reminded me for all the world of Bonnie Hunter. (Being a new quilter, M didn't know who I was talking about, but quickly found out when I showed her BH's Shirttails ... book.

In and Out ...

I met Marcia last month at our quilt show. We made a plan for her to come and do some quilting here. She came yesterday -- made her way through the fog (and how unusual is that in late October?!?) -- and got started right away. We loaded her first project while giving her a "refresher" on HOW TO. By lunchtime she had that one finished.

After lunch, she loaded a larger quilt. When she pulled it out of the bag, it inspired a conversation about how much we both admire Bonnie Hunter ... and how DOES that woman get so much done ... and BH would probably LOVE this pattern ... Would you just look at that border?!?

Here's what Marcia accomplished by end of day:

5:15 pm -- and she's outta here.