Quilter's Nail Polish

It's what all the cool quilters will be wearing this season.

This just in....

My quilter friend Rosemary at The Knitting Quilter kindly nominated my blog for a "Liebster" Award.   I'm not sure where or when this award began, but the story that goes with it is this:

The Liebster (German word meaning "favorite") award is given to recognize your favorite blogs with less than 200 followers so that they may be discovered by new readers.  When one recieves the award they are supposed to do the following:


     1.  Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog.
     2.  Copy and paste the award to your blog.
     3.  Present the Liebster award to 5 other blogs that you think deserve recognition.
     4.  Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
     5. Have faith that your nominees will continue to spread the love.

Okay, number 1 is easy.  Thanks very much, Rosemary!  I appreciate the thought, and am so happy to have you as a friend.

Number 2.  Also easy.  See "Leibster Blog" image above. Done.

Number 3.  Now it gets a little bit hard.  I read tons of blogs.  In my opinion, they all deserve an award.  I tried to come up with 5 blogs who could use some new readers, who blog fairly regularly, and who haven't already recieved a Leibster award.  So here  they are, in no particular order:

Carol at Quilt Fever.  I found Carol's blog when she and I were both making Kaleidoscope blocks, and have continued to enjoy her boundless creativity and style.

Susan at Starwood Quilter.  Susan has the been the lucky recipient of her grandmother's diaries and she shares excerpts from the diaries along with a quilt block that ties in.  Fascinating to read.

Jenny at Jenny's Doodling Needle  Jenny is a longarm quilter from Washington who shares pictures of her exquisite custom quilting.

Deanna at Wedding Dress Blue shares her progress as she makes beautiful scrappy quilts and is kind enough to post tutorials too.

JoAnne at The Patriotic Quilter is a military wife and a thoughtful quilter who makes (and finishes!) beautiful quilts.

Whew!  That was hard.  I hope I have introduced you to some new quilters who are generous enough to share their talents through their blogs.

Now I am off to complete step number 4!  Oh, and for step number 5...this isn't a chain letter so don't feel any obligation. 

-Auntie Em

The fine art of Persuasion

The following conversation took place in my house recently,
 between myself and my very observant son.





Son:   I noticed you've been knitting lately.

Me:   (surpressing mild shock)  Oh?

Son:   I was wondering if you'd knit me a sweater.

Me:    (aghast)  What?  Really?

Son:   Yeah.  I've always wanted a hand knit sweater.

Me:   (squirming)   But, I already knit you a sweater.

Son:   Um yeah, but I was still in the womb at the time.  I've grown a little bit since then.

Me:   (adamant)  Still counts.

Son:   Come on, Mom.  You're a really good knitter.

Me:   (on guard now)   Sweaters are really hard, and take a loooong time.

Son:   But you knit a whole afghan in just a couple of months..  How hard could a sweater be compared to that?

Me:   (trying to dodge a bullet here)  But, a sweater is more than just a big rectangle.  A sweater has to FIT.

Son:  I'm sure it will come out just as nice as the afghan did.

Me:  Did you take a close look at that afghan?  Besides, afghans stay at home.  Sweaters are worn in PUBLIC.

Son:  I promise I'll wear it, no matter how it turns out.

Me:   (trying another tactic)  I don't really know why you want a hand knit sweater anyway.  You have plenty of sweatshirts, turtlenecks and polar fleece tops to keep you warm.

Son:   Because having someone knit you a sweater makes you feel really special, and wearing it is like wearing a hug.

Me:   What color would you like?

Silly on a Sunday

Am I the only one who walks through the Men's department and envisions quilts?

Seasons change and so do I

When I was a kid, there were two seasons of cleaning:   Spring Cleaning and Fall Cleaning. Now, don't ask me if I still adhere to such fanciful thinking, but I have been doing a little more than just dusting and vacuuming in the sewing room this past week. You see, we are having the windows replaced in that room, and all my sewing stuff is right up against the window.

In order to have access to the window, we have to move my sewing cabinet and all the lovely things I had stashed behind it, (and under it) ...bags of scraps, bits of batting, leftover items from my garment sewing days, cross-stitch patterns, embroidery floss, and a few linens given to me for safe keeping when my parents downsized.

Of course, a good cleaning means sorting and cleaning out everything else in the room, right? So this week I have been going through the heaps of fabrics that needed to be put away, the books and magazines that needed filing, the gizmos and gadgets that cluttered up my cutting area and the assorted stuff that ends up in the sewing room.




Also being cleaned up and sorted was the tree that fell outside our house during the storm last week. We had to have a crew come with a crane to take down what was left of the tree. It's not often you look out your second story window and see this:

Of course, Toby wanted to see what was going on too:

But Shorty couldn't get up high enough to get a good view.

Not to worry! There's always an alternative:

We are nothing if not resourceful around here.

Mother Nature's Trick or Treat

I had this cute photo of Toby in his pumpkin costume all set to display on my blog on Halloween, and then Mother Nature sent a freakish snowstorm our way and knocked out my access to the computer.  So here he is, better late than never...

Trick or Treat!

We were very fortunate that we did not lose electricity like so many did in our town and the neighboring towns.  However, we did lose a large tree which fell down next to our house and took along our Internet, cable and telephone service wire with it.  No fun to look up and see this:

At least the sky was blue!  In fact, the day after the storm was a gorgeous clear sunny day.  Looking around at the snow on the foliage was odd, but also quite pretty.

We went to church on Sunday and learned that they had lost their electricity.  We had Mass just the same in the cold, dim church lit only by candles and whatever light came in through the stained glass windows.  With the sun and the snow outside, the colors in the windows were practically glowing.   I snapped this pic quickly with my cell phone as we were leaving just to remember how lovely the stained glass was.  It's quite overexposed, but it gives you an idea.

We also found that the grocery store had no electricity.  We stopped in to get a few things and were surprised it was still open.  A store clerk told us that they had generators for the most important things:  the lighting, the refrigeration, the cash registers and .... the time clock!  No sneaking out in the dark for those employees!

Speaking of employees, I'm very grateful to all the state, city and utility workers who put in so many hours to help get the power restored.  The majority of things are back to normal, except for the sound of chainsaws as people all over clean up after the storm.  Lots of wood for the fireplace!

Vintage “Glee”

I have been watching the show “Glee” on the Fox network since it debuted this Fall.  It’s brought back a lot of memories about my days in Glee Club when I was in Junior High School, and although some things remain the same, other things are TOTALLY different. 

 Our Glee Club director was the Music teacher at the school.   She was very strict with us.   It was rumored that she had spent many years in the Army because of the way she ruled with an iron fist.  I'm not sure if that rumor was ever verified, but sometimes Glee Club felt like Boot Camp!

Each year, all the girls had to try out, and if you made it into the club, you received the following letter on a mimeographed sheet of paper.  (Remember mimeograph paper?  It had a distinctive smell, and the print came out colored purple.)

CONGRATULATIONS!  You have been accepted as a member of the Girls’ Glee Club for this year.  Rehearsals are held on Thursdays from 11:10 to 12:00 in Room 28, with an occasional rehearsal after school.    You are expected to attend all rehearsals.   It is your responsibility to find out whether or not there is a rehearsal scheduled.     Attendance is taken at rehearsals, and no one is excused from rehearsal if they are in school.  Too many girls will be waiting to be placed in Glee Club, if you skip rehearsal to do homework, study for a test, etc.

You are expected to keep all music in a folder, which may be purchased in any stationery or drug store for 12-15 cents.  I prefer the folders with 3 metal rings attached, and the color to be medium blue.  If you forget your folder, you  DON’T  report to rehearsal. Take a zero.

The rule for dress at assemblies is as follows:
- a long, black maxi-skirt (which our girls usually make themselves)
- a white blouse (long or short sleeves – ruffles, etc.  something feminine looking.  I’m sure you have such a blouse in your wardrobe at home.)
-dark shoes – no sneakers!!!
-various colored scarves- orange, brown, gold, yellow for Thanksgiving, red or green for Christmas, red or blue for Memorial Day  (These scarves are worn at the neck of the blouse to add a little color to the season.)   
   

We have some exceptionally fine singers this year.  It is a very large club, and as I said previously, many girls are on the waiting list.  Don’t make it necessary for me to ask you to leave rehearsal because of whispering,  chewing gum,  poor attendance,  forgetting music and other silly reasons.  I don’t want to replace you, unless you leave me no other alternative. 
Let’s have a successful year!      
                                                        Mrs. Baker


I think you can get a feel from reading this letter just how "no nonsense" Mrs. Baker was.  Kind of funny to lay out all these rules and then end with a cheery "Let's have a successful year!"

I love how it is implied that every girl had the ability to make herself a skirt!  Of course, back then sewing was still taught in Home Ec classes.  I also love how Mrs. Baker was so sure that we each had at least one white, feminine blouse in our wardrobes, along with an array of colorful scarves.


Other than the dress code, what strikes me as the biggest difference between Glee Club then and now is that it was considered a privilege to be a part of Glee Club, rather than the way the TV show depicts Glee Club as only for outcasts and losers.  Maybe it had a lot to do with the way Mrs. Baker treated it.  (Quite frankly, I'm not sure there ever really was a waiting list of hopefuls just waiting for one of us to snap our gum too often, or forget our music enough times to get kicked out so that they could take our places in the Club.)

The other big difference is that the boys had their own separate Glee Club.  No Co-Ed singing back then!!!  Oddly enough, I remember being part of a singing group in grade school that included both boys and girls.  I guess they figured that the younger kids  still looked upon the opposite sex as something they could catch "cooties" from, but by Jr. High those "cooties" were darned magnetic.

Here’s a grainy photo of some of us onstage, in our “maxi-skirts” and "feminine" blouses:

 Instead of the colorful scarves, Mrs. Baker had us wear pastel colored blouses for this particular Spring concert.  Don't we all look like Marcia Brady?

This is Mrs. Baker receiving a bouquet of roses after a performance.  (She's the one in the floral skirt.)   There were so many girls in the Glee Club, that we couldn't all fit on the stage.  Some of the girls had to stand on the stairs leading up to it. You can see them to the left of the flag.



The funny thing is, nowadays I’m a member of a community chorus and what do we wear for concert attire?  White blouses and long black skirts! 

The really funny thing is that back then, when most of the girls' skirts were homesewn, mine was store bought due to lack of sewing skills, but now, when most of the women in my chorus buy their skirts, mine is homesewn!

Bad news, Good news?

There are dust bunnies in the corners.

The laundry is piling up.

The refrigerator is bare.

I really need a haircut.

But......

My quilt is finished!!

What is it that they say?....The only place where housework comes before quilting is in the dictionary!!

(I'm currently unable to post pictures.   I am in the process of upgrading my antique computer and my equally antique photo software is not compatible with the new operating system. )

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

I'm really at a loss for something new and quilt related to blog about because I'm STILL machine quilting.  So here is a little challenge that I was tagged to do on Facebook, and I thought I'd share it here.


Pick your favorite recording artist.   Using only song names from that ONE artist, cleverly answer the following  questions: 


1. Are you a male or female? I Enjoy Being a Girl
2. Describe yourself: A Cock-Eyed Optimist
3. How do you feel: I Whistle a Happy Tune
4. Your family: My Favorite Things
5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: In My Own Little Corner, (or Bali Ha’i, if it they ever discover it.)
6. Your favorite form of transportation: The Surrey With the Fringe on Top
7. Your best friend: Maria
8. Your favorite color is: Impossible
9. What's the weather like: June is Bustin’ Out All Over.
10. Favorite day: Some Enchanted Evening
11. If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?: Climb Ev’ry Mountain
12. What is life to you? A Puzzlement
13. Your current relationship: I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy
14. Looking for: All or Nuthin’
15. Wouldn't mind: A Hundred Million Miracles
16. Your fear: I Cain’t Say “No”
17. What is the best advice you have to give: Shall We Dance?
18. If you could change your name, you would change it to: Edelweiss
19. Thought for the Day: Something Wonderful
20. How I would like to die: So Long, Farewell
21. Your pet: You've Got to be Carefully Taught
22. Your motto: I am Going to Like it Here
 
Anyone else like to give it a go?  I'm going to tag Shirley and Lane because they are both doing Blogtoberfest and need to come up with something new to post everyday in October, but feel free to give it a try. If 22 questions is too many, pick just a few.  There are lots of artists out there with lots of songs to choose from.  How about Elvis?  or Madonna?  Garth Brooks? How about Andrew Lloyd Webber?  Please leave a comment in the comment section if you do, so I'll be sure to stop by your blog and read your version.  

Preparing for the winter

Everyone prepares for the winter in their own way.

Here's a little fellow who's winter preparations include building up his store of  fat.


 I've been industrious as well, doing a marathon of machine quilting.  Hopefully, I can take a lesson from the chipmunk and keep my shoulders relaxed while I quilt.  The lesson I don't want to learn from  him is how to build up a store of winter fat!  ;-)