Bambi 1 - Mark 0

Mark was driving to work Thursday morning when a deer felt the urge to cross the road. What I haven't figured out yet is why these animals have not evolved into safer crossing methods. Surely they must realize that when Mommy doesn't make it home, no one gets fed. I know that sounds sarcastic, but it's something I think about every time I see road kill (and believe me, there's plenty of it here in Central Ohio. As soon as Mark stopped the car, he went to look for the deer, It was gone, don't ask me how it survived, as Mark was clipping along at 60 mph and the deer left significant biological material on the windshield. yum - isn't that cup of coffee you're drinking just taste delightful now?

A few more shots:









Anyway, Mark was not hurt. Our car has $4600 worth of damage, and because Mark must get into work, I am without a car all week. Guess I'll get some quilting done

My VBFF

Twenty-nine years ago I married my Very Best Friend Forever! We had a large wedding -250 guests.

Oddly enough, that week was the beginning of The Energy Crisis and a few of our guests couldn't make the trip to Chicago for our wedding. Gas just went over $1/gallon and the cost was prohibitive. Oh, to have that problem these days

The church where we were married, St. Attracta's in Cicero, IL is no longer there. I wish I had more photos of the altar area, It was such a beautiful mosaic. I didn't want the ceremony disturbed and so instructed the photographer. I wish we had gone back in for photos. It was not possible, though, since our ceremony was at 3:30 PM and there was the five o'clock regular Mass right after.

Directly after the ceremony we headed back to my Mother's house for cold cuts and salads. All the cold cuts were donated by the butcher shop which was behind our house. Pat had known me since I was 6 and this was his gift to me. That was back in the days where you shopped locally and since we shared the alley with one of the main drags in town, it was REALLY local.

At 6 we headed to The Sabre Room in Hickory Hills IL. Ours was the first wedding held in the new addition. Just beautiful in there! At that time, many bridal couples left their reception early to start the Honeymoon. Not us! This was the biggest party we were ever going to throw and I was not going to miss one second of it. We didn;t have plans to go away, anyhow. We had decided to buy a stereo system instead. Had we gone away, I'd have only pictures. I still have that system!

Mark played 2/3 of the Reception with the Band and I circulated the room. This was not so different from what our lives were going to be anyway. It was the first time many of his relatives had heard him play.

The marriage is good and strong. To me, it's because of an old adage from my Father. One of the few he gave me:

Never lay your head on your pillow while angry. Stay up all night, if you must, but never sleep on anger! It seems to have worked




My dress is still in a keepsake box, under my bed. Someday, it will be a Christening quilt for my first Grandchild. I'm fairly certain Robin will never wear it as I was considerably shorter than she is. I'm even shorter now (what's up with that anyway?)

No, I didn't disappear

I have been so so bad about blogging. No excuses, just feeling fragmented, I guess

I'm back from Arizona and the first few days were beautiful back home. It's cold and rainy again. Come on! It's May already.. I want to be warm.

We had an awesome visit in Queen Creek, AZ Here's a photo of my brother, Dan and me


and one of my brother Tom


These pictures were taken out in "the cabana". My sister in law Donna and her dear friend Sharei have a knack for going through thrift stores and just finding the BEST things. They have made a normal ten by ten tent type cabana into Marakesh! Just by hanging old sheer curtains and then loading it up with brass and velvet pillows etc. Here's a photo of the two of them.


The weather was wonderful, needless to say. I think what I like best about AZ is the consistency in the weather. Some might find that boring, but I like knowing that the weather is not going to turn during the course of the day.

One more pic - My brother Tom and my nephew Ledain


Now THAT is some scenery!

Ah well, it's just not meant to be at this time, but it will happen when TPTB decide it's time. Meanwhile, we wait. I need to become happy here in central OH. About time, don't you think - after 8 years?

Quilting wise? Not too much happening that shows on the surface. I've been working on my Starlights quilt. It's all cut and I have spent the past week and a half putting corner squares on rectangles. 320 OF THEM?! Pretty boring, but once that part is done I can just lay out all the pieces. Then it will feel like the top went together really fast.

The frame is now set up, just have to get the gumption to load some practice muslin and batting on it and start. Maybe by the end of the week.

The Stuff of Which We Are Made

Today is moving day, kindasorta. It's been a while since I've posted so let me fill you in on some of the details.

For the past year, we had thought we would be able to move to Arizona and that Mark could work remotely for the "Huge Financial Institution Which Begins With a C". He would work from home, I would be with my brother and I would be out of this Godforsaken state of Ohio where it rains and is cloudy more than it is not. Well "The "C" has changed it's mind and will no longer allow remote workers from home. (Bastards). That dream of moving from Ohio to AZ meant that we did not do a lot with much of our STUFF, because we were going to be moving. It meant that I wouldn't buy new STUFF, because why pay to move it? It meant that not much redecorating got done until we were actually going to place the For Sale sign on the front lawn. Well that dream got thrown into the fire and life in Ohio must resume. le sigh

Six years ago we finished the basement area of the house and I had a wonderful sewing area. Bright and large, it held three tables, a large bookcase and all of my fabric. All of this is known as SEWING STUFF. But as the years have passed, my legs have been bothering me more and more and sewing down there had become uncomfortable. To the point that I would not go down the stairs for days at a time, sometimes stretching into weeks at a time.

From time to time I would have 'sewing days' at my house where Ann from up North and Margaret from Columbus would bring their STUFF to my house to sew and visit. I would get my sewing machine moved upstairs and the dining room became our retreat area. I noticed that I would get so much more done, not just for the company (which is a tremendous motivator) but because my comfort level was where I could deal with it. The only problem is my dining room became a mess. A sewing room is not a clean proposition. And then I would move all my STUFF back downstairs, only to abandon it for days again.

Fast forward to last week. I have finally bitten the bullet and purchased a Grace Quilting Frame. For the uninitiated, that's a huge system of rails upon which your sewing machine can glide and do fabulous whirly things. The frame will reside downstairs, due to it's large size and all the STUFF required for it. Got a new machine to ride the rails too - wooooo hoooo!

To make room for the frame I need to clean up the sewing area and fabric storage area. "Well, self" I said, "why not make the most of the situation?" So I am going to take over the extra bedroom and that will become the fabric storage/sewing area. This will allow me to sew without facing the stairs and yet keep my dining room for the purpose for which it was intended. Today Robin is coming over and we are going to start clearing out the extra bedroom to make room for my sewing STUFF etc.

I should add that for the past year or so, the extra bedroom has been The Tupperware Room. Yeah anyone who knows me knows I have issues with plastic food storage containers. I love them, I use them all the time and they have had the extra bedroom all to themselves. Wait! That's a lie! They have shared the extra bedroom with all the shit STUFF that gets thrown in an extra bedroom when you don't know where else to place it. All of that 'STUFF'. So the Tupperware STUFF will get moved to shelves in the garage, the STUFF in the garage will be rearranged

So you see how a simple task just snowballs until you wind up rearranging all your STUFF ?! maybe I'll take before pictures... not sure about that, though

an addendum: To read one of my favorite comedy routines click here

Oh My Stars!

Ta-daaaaaaa. I finished piecing together the Oh My Stars! quilt today. This quilt is the pattern Stars in My Cabin from Fons & Porter July/August 2006)I started stitching this one at The Retreat on Februrary 23, 2008. Not so bad, considering it's been tax season. My new regime of finishing a top all the way out to the borders before setting it aside for sandwiching and quilting seems to be working for me. That's the second one this year, third if you count Donna's graduation quilt which is still out at Ann's being quilted.

here's a close up pic of the border





so let's see.... 1728 strips plus stars in the quilt center... 750 pieces in the border.. 60 strips making up the corners.. for a total of about 3228 pieces in this baby!Is it any wonder I don't have any fingerprints left? This one is intended for Robin after quilting as I don't know anyone who loves stars more than she. After all... she is MY star! I plan on outline stitching the stars and then making three concentric circles in the area where the dark parts of the log cabins meet.

Now on to dancing through my fabric bins. I'm cutting for 2 scrappy quilts - a Double Irish Chain and another star quilt named Starlights. Been through the greens and yesterday started the purples. When I get tired of cutting, I have a few quilts that could be bound - my least favorite part of the whole process, but the one that finishes everything.

Happy Easter

The picture above is of my brother Dan and me. It was taken on May Street in Chicago, now the home of University of Illinois - Circle Campus. My Grandparents lived there before their home was torn down to make room for the campus. Oh! How I remember the cape I was wearing in that picture. I felt so very special in it. My father had been to a funeral in Mississippi. He brought that cape back, just for me! It was Navy blue, piped in red and I can see it today as vividly as I could back then.

Back then, we always dressed up for Easter. Today, Robin Mark and I have declared it Pajama Day. Mark will be in sleep pants all day, Robin in her jams. I'll probably throw on a pair of sweats, because I plan on baking today. Easier for me to work in sweats than a nightgown.





Today we're making Nancy Burgers, an old family favorite. Not your traditional Easter fare, that's for sure. We've found that non-traditional celebrations bring less sadness at being away from loved ones on Holidays. If I get a chance I'll post the recipe soon

Ahhh Spring

And in Central Ohio Spring = flooding. The top picture is taken 1800 feet West of the Scioto River. The trees you see in the background are woods that are about 200 feet deep from the River's edge. The "lake" you see is a field.

The bottom picture is taken from the bridge that crosses the Scioto River at State Route 665. You can see how close the water is to the bottom of the bridge. Scary stuff indeed! We live on high ground and are not worried for our property, however, travel becomes inconvenient.

The good news is I saw my first pair of robins today. I tried to take a photo, but they were a little too timid.

Today I am appliqueing the stars on the log cabin blocks. I'm tilting each star a little differently. It's difficult for me to do that. In my mind's eye, the stars should be straight, but I know they will appear to be twinkling if I tilt them.

On an administrative note, I've had to make those ugly little letters appear in my comments section. Some ass decided to spam my comments area and left java script which appears to have been a virus. I don't believe it was a virus, but you can never be too sure. I did an immediate virus update and ran a scan. So sad that people have nothing to do for fun in their lives but make trouble for others.