Where do I begin?

In my last post, I told you I was taking a break from posting about my vacation while I had my granddaughter here for part of her Easter break....and I showed you a wall-hanging she was very happily making with me for her room. We finished it and it is hanging on her bedroom wall now...and we had a few fun days of baking and going to the movies and all that fun "grandma" stuff.  But....I still can't get my head back into posting about my vacation and here is why.....

The day before we took Jessi home, a 32-year-old neighbor of theirs (who was a doctor) was shot and killed in the parking lot of their complex.  This is a very nice apartment complex in a very nice area of Voorhees, NJ.  (The news media actually described it as an upscale area.)  It turns out the killer was another doctor who held a grudge against this neighbor.....believing the neighbor had caused him to be dismissed from a medical residency program.  Of course, that isn't true.....the murderer wasn't doing well in that program, but he was looking for someone to blame...and this unlucky doctor was "it".  (Additionally, it turns out the shooter also murdered his girlfriend in NC a few days earlier.)   As you can imagine, this was all very upsetting to anyone even remotely acquainted with the man who was murdered and it is very sad that he left a young widow and an 18-month old child.  If there was any luck at all that day, it was that the neighbors were quick to react and got a description of the shooter's vehicle and a license plate number.  He was caught a mile away from the scene and....when the police approached the car and told him to get out, he took that same gun and turned it on himself and he died a short time later in the emergency room of the very hospital from which he had been dismissed as a resident.

When we took Jessi home and watched her the next day while her mom was at work, we witnessed the raw and heartbreaking grief of the young widow as she stood in that parking lot and sobbed and cried as her family was overseeing a moving company remove her furnishings from the home so she could go elsewhere and get away from a place that will forever hold such painful memories for her...and as family and friends set up a flower memorial in the parking space in which that young doctor was murdered.  At my age, I have witnessed many grieving people...but this was the first time I was exposed to the grief of someone who lost a loved one in such a violent (and premeditated) way.....and it was absolutely bone-chilling.  I am still trying to grapple with it all in my mind.  To compound this is the fact that my daughter had walked to her car to leave for work at the very moment the killer was sitting in that parking lot waiting to commit that murder of her neighbor.....and I realize if the timing had been different, my daughter could have become an innocent victim of this crime.  I also realize how....in one instant....so many lives can be changed forever.

So...please excuse this post for not having any pictures...and please excuse me for needing a bit more time to get back to talking about my happy vacation.  I can't quite do much with "happy" right at this time.

What a dog!!!

As you can see, this post has nothing to do with quilting or crafts, but I saw this dog awhile ago and had to take a picture.  His name is Diesel.  I thought of a couple of cliched sayings when I saw Diesel....things like "He has a face only a mother could love".....and "He is so ugly that he's cute" and even "That face could stop a clock".  LOL  Diesel was very happy to pose for a picture, though....once his owner said his name and promised to give him some cheese!!!  He had the most crooked teeth I have ever seen on a four-year-old but he was a very friendly, gentle boy!  What do you think of Diesel?

A chance to win a sewing cabinet.....

For any of you on Facebook, Arrow (who makes some really nice sewing machine cabinets....some are pictured here) is trying to reach 1000 friends on their Facebook page. Once they reach that number, they will give away a sewing cabinet to one of those 1000 people. If you are interested, click HERE and it should take you to their page where you can click "LIKE" and have a chance to be that lucky winner.

Sew Cal Gal has a Christmas Quilt Show going on at her blog. I am hoping to post something tomorrow about that as I am starting to see a lot of great quilts from that "show" on blogs I'm following!

An interesting lunch.....

Each Columbus Day weekend, in a beach town near to us, there is a gathering of MANY rescued greyhounds and their "people". I have come to know a few of them. Some of them arrive a few days ahead of time, so earlier this week, hubby and I met up with some of them for lunch. The weather wasn't so great that day, but we found one of the restaurants with a covered and heated patio and LARGE picnic tables. We enjoyed a nice lunch there and had a really fun time. It was hubby, me, all these people and all these dogs (some greyhounds and a few not). Now...tell me THAT wasn't an interesting way to eat lunch!!! (Yes...there were 12 dogs there!!!)Lucky us...we have a wonderful gal in the neighborhood who is willing to move in and house-sit for us so we can go away!!! That is terrific as we don't have to worry about mail piling up or plants going unwatered. So....we are taking advantage of this and will be going off for a few days to see some fall foliage down by my good quilting/blogging friend, Tonya!! We are going together to a HUGE fabric store in NC.......MaryJo's....can't wait! I hope to be able to post photos from NC...we will see what happens. I won't be online as much while we are away, though, so if I don't visit your blog over the next several days, you will know why.

Isn't this nice???

Look at this quilt...and then read about it below the picture......
About 3 -4 months back, AQS asked on their Facebook page for their FB friends to tell about a special quilt that was given to them. Many told about quilts made for them by relatives (as wedding gifts, housewarming gifts, etc.) I mentioned that up to that time, I'd never received a quilt as a gift. Within 10 minutes, I got a message from Renee (in Louisiana....I don't think she has a blog) and she said she'd like to make me a quilt and give it to me. THIS is the quilt I got from her in the mail late last week. I am so touched that she would do that for a complete stranger. It is very snuggly, too, as it has fleece on the back...and she even quilted some butterfly shapes into it. If you look closely, you can see one on the back where I folded it so you could see the butterfly fleece backing fabric. I really appreciate this gift from the heart. Thanks, Renee!

Updates on a couple of things: I am still struggling with the Curve Master foot. I do well until about the last half-inch. I am using the special tweezers I got with the foot that are to be used at the end, but I am all thumbs with them! I am hoping I can improve or else this foot might be up for grabs for a cheap price for anyone who wants it! LOL I am hoping my friend, Sherry, who bought the same foot at the show, might learn how to master it..and then she can help me. If not, I'll just go back to pinning my drunkard's path blocks when I sew them. Since they are cut on the GO cutter, they go together easily..but I was just hoping to avoid using pins (as everyone else seems to be able to do with the Curve Master foot).

A couple of weeks back I wrote about a packaging error on Kraft cheese cubes in 100-calorie packages. I did contact Kraft and have been advised that they are sending me a check for the cost of the bag of cheese....so that is nice of them. They sent an email explaining how this might have happened. I told all of you I'd let you know their response......and this is certainly a fair response on their behalf.

Soon I'll tell you about the fabric I got for the brown bag project that many of us bloggers are doing. I have big plans for my fabric, and I have already started working with it....even though our deadline isn't until sometime in March!

TIME OUT......

Time out here for a bit of a "vent". Those of you who follow me know from my blog title that this isn't all about quilting...and today surely isn't. Take a look at the photo below. Take a really CLOSE look at it. In fact, a blogging friend in NJ....Barbara....taught me something new...that many times you can click TWICE on a photo to see it really close, so try that with this photo, okay? I'll wait while you do that....You're back? GOOD...did you look carefully? Did you click twice so you could see really up-close? So....what did you see? Did you notice that these are both marked as 100 calorie packs of Kraft cheese cubes (cheddar and Monterey Jack)??? Did you notice that one has only 6 cubes of cheese in it and the other one has 13??? And did you notice that neither one of these is opened yet??? What is up with THAT???? Which one is really 100 calories??? (Of course, I, the trying-to-stick-to-a-diet person, would like to think the one with 13 pieces is 100 calories but I fear neither one is...and the right answer is somewhere in between.....like maybe 9 or 10 cubes!)

I bought a big bag of these 100-calorie cheese packs at BJ's Wholesale Club and now I am hesitant to buy this again, because I can't be sure if the serving size IS what Kraft says it is.....100 calories. I am going to dump out what is left of the bag and check it out. I believe I am going to write down the identifying numbers on these baggies and on the big bag (in which they came) and contact Kraft. I know...I know...it seems like a small, inconsequential thing in the grand scheme of life, but.....I want to know the story on this...because something is, obviously, wrong with this picture, literally and figuratively...and it makes me wonder if other single-serving, 100-calorie products are mis-packaged/mis-labeled, also.

Okay....end of "vent"! (I'll let you know if I ever get a response from Kraft about this.)

Bits and pieces......

Here are a few bits and pieces of my life recently.......first, some of the pillowcases I have made for ConKerr Cancer...an organization that distributes bright pillowcases to children in hospitals battling cancer. I try to make some in various holiday prints so that, maybe, I can put a smile on the face of a child who has to be in the hospital on a particular holiday. I am sure that is NO fun for a child!Next is a photo of country singer, Reba McEntire. Her tour is in our area this Saturday night. I had wanted to go but dawdled around about getting tickets. Late last night (shortly before midnight), there was an online special lasting just until midnight and I got two tickets at a very good price, so hubby and I are going. He said,"Who is she?" (and he was serious) DUH......but at least he is willing to go with me. I'm really excited about seeing this show! (I have it on good authority that she puts on a very nice stage show!!!)Next are a few random photos of the granddaughters from when they were here last week / weekend. Here is Jessi ....proud of her cake-baking and decorating skills.Jessi and her mom on the shuttle bus heading into Rehoboth Beach.Me with Jessi and EmilyMore photos of their activities in the next post in a day or two.....

Oh, my......

Today is a "banner" day.. of sorts. Today is the day of my first Social Security check. (I am one of those who chose to start receiving it as soon as I am eligible.) I face this day with mixed feelings.....glad for a tiny bit of "extra" money, but.....wondering how the years passed quickly enough for this to be possible!

So....here is a little a sneak peek of Jessi's sewing project in progress. I will post the finished project in another day or two. (It's further along than these photos show, but not far enough for me to show it completed.) She seems to love using the sewing machine. I have it on the slowest speed and she has done well keeping a 1/4 inch seam using my foot with the guide on it. She has learned where to stop to pull out pins and also does a nice job of using the needle down/up button! Her project is going to be a small table topper....Halloween fabrics on one side and a fall print on the other side. She picked the fabrics from my stash and cut the pieces on the GO cutter!

Giveaway entries to date......

Here is a report on the GO! giveaway entries so far.....89 total entries as of the time I am preparing this blog post. Of those, 10 already have a GO! cutter and are hoping to win more dies for it. The remaining 79 entries do not yet have a GO! If you are reading this and still haven't entered, there is still time. Look at the right sidebar on my blog and click on the giveaway icon there. You will then be taken to the post with the rules and that is also the post where you should make your comment if you are entering the giveaway!

When you read this, it will be July 20 and it will be the day of a big event in Nebraska at AccuQuilt's headquarters....the unveiling of the top 2 quilts in their barn quilt contest. How I'd love to be there for the fun today! I hope some of you live close enough (and read my post about it last week) and might be going....so you can report back to me how it was....AND include photos, too!
Now, on a more serious note, most of you know our dog, Pepi, had to be put to sleep on July 8. The above photo shows a lovely sympathy basket we got a few days later from the vet along with a nice note (which is shown below). I thought it was a kind gesture for them to do this. There were 4 small pots of African violets in the basket. I have now taken the pots out of the basket and hope to keep them alive and thriving for many years.

Blogging can lead to some unique opportunities...

When I began to blog, I hoped to meet others with similar interests and I have succeeded beyond my expectations. Little did I know, though, that blogs are researched and read by professionals in other walks of life and could lead to other interesting happenings....until two days ago! At that time, I was contacted by a west coast publicist to talk to me about the first-novel of an author for whom she is working. The author is Irene Latham (HERE is her website) from Alabama. She has written a book aimed at young readers (ages 10 and up) that I would classify as historical fiction.....based on the now well-known Gee's Bend quilting community and life there in the early 1930's. I have been offered the exciting opportunity to read the book (title is Leaving Gee's Bend....see cover photo to the right) and to talk about it afterwards on my blog AND to have the author do a guest post or an inteview on this blog for me and for all of you. This book is now in print and has received some very good reviews, so I am quite enthusiastic about being a part of this process. If the book is as good as I expect it to be, I will be happy to "tell the world" (or at least my blogging world and my quilt guild) of a book that contains a heartwarming story of a young quilter leaving the security of her close-knit community for the first time. I anticipate receiving my copy of the book in about a week, so keep looking here for further updates about this and...down the road a bit.....an interview of some type with Ms. Latham. This is a unique opportuniy and I embrace becoming part of helping Ms. Latham to market a book that will give young people a glimpse into the calming, restorative effects of quilting. I'm sure you agree with me that the quilting legacy needs to be cultivated in our young people so it can live on after we are gone. I hope you will join me on this journey and, perhaps, along the way, you might want to get this book and read it, also.

Having a little photo fun........

We've been told to expect a "winter event" tomorrow night and through Saturday..UGH...enough, already! Let's break the winter "blues" here by having a little photo fun. If you have photos online by any kind of date, go back 5 years and go to your 5th folder of photos and then click on the 5th photo (follow that??) and post it on your blog. If your photos aren't quite that organized, then just go to your saved photos and find the 5th photo in your 5th group. AND...if THAT won't work for you, just go back and find a photo that is at least a few years old and post it on your blog! Here is what I found in my 2005 file of photos... in the 5th folder (which was labeled Bird Feeder in Yard) and this is the 5th photo in there. AHHHHHH......love this reminder that nice days will be here again in a few months!!! Can you see the pretty goldfinch? Click the photo if you want to see it close-up.

PENGUINS.....

Did you know yesterday was National Penguin Awareness Day? I didn't, but Tonya was kind enough to inform me. (She knows...as do some of the rest of you....that I am a penguin "nut"!!!) Even though I have many penguins in the house I could have put here, I found this online and thought it was too cute not to share. So.......even though I'm a day late, I hope I did my part to make you more aware of penguins!! LOL

No picture today....sorry!

I have been battling some kind of upper respiratory "issue" for weeks now....started late November / early December when I was in the handbell concert. I kept myself on Day-Quil and Ny-Quil so I could get through that. I presumed I had a cold and it would work itself out in a week or so. It has progressed to a bad post-nasal drip and horrid cough that won't quit. I was, like most of us, "too busy" to do anything about it and now it is really catching up with me. While I made it through all the church music and Christmas day (and the snowstorm in NJ by the daughter's last weekend), I am really very worn down and not feeling well at all. I suspect this has become either a sinus infection or bronchitis...and am hoping it's not pneumonia. So please forgive me that I must delay the posts I wanted to make....telling about our church music on Christmas Eve and about Christmas day. I'm just not up to that kind of posting and getting photos embedded in the post, etc. If I don't have a miraculous recovery by tomorrow morning, I do need to see the doctor as I am not getting any better and have steadily gotten worse. I'll post as I can as I do have some fun things to tell you....but they have to wait. I hope all of you are well and happily enojoying a nice Christmas weekend.

Look how CUTE.........

My fondness for penguins seems to be well-known in the blogging world! Look at these two photos that Lola took for me when she went to a Christmas display in Portsmouth, VA, recently with her grandkids. How SWEET that she thought of me and took these to show me. Thanks, Lola. (And click HERE to check out the post where she showed these and see some of the other photos she took there that day.) I love the guy pushing the snow cubes in the wheelbarrow!!!
Heading to Dover (the "big city" for us) to do some shopping today with hubby. Joann's and maybe the Amish quilt shop will be on my list of stores to visit. We'll also stop and have lunch somewhere...kind of a fun day for us.

The handbell concert.....

If you click on the the photo above, taken before we began the handbell concert, you can see we look rather apprehensive. We WERE......I'm 3rd from the left in this photo and here is why we were looking so serious. We had an absolutely terrible run-through before the bell concert. We were all nearly in tears as we had practiced so hard for months and knew the songs so well...but we fell apart on the run-through. It left us very nervous for the actual performance. The performance, however, was much better than the run-through...thank goodness!!! The audience seemed to like it. While we all made mistakes, luckily we didn't all make them at the same time...so maybe it wasn't all that noticeable to the audience. Hubby took a few snapshots and one small video. With any amount of luck, I have managed to put the video here and you can turn up your volume and play it by clicking on the black arrow in the bottom left-hand corner of the video. The photo quality isn't so great and the music is slow starting...about the first 20 seconds is us getting ready and the count being given to us by the director. Then you will hear a tiny bit (about 34 seconds) of one of the songs. It is called Fanfare and is a very fancy version of "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful". I wish you could have heard the entire song, but hubby's camera can only do videos of a certain length. I think I can hear someone singing softly along with the bells....so at least folks recognized the song!!! That's a good sign, right? LOL I am the 2nd person from the left in the video....with short dark hair...next to the gal wearing the red vest. Enjoy!!! (We wear gloves so the metal of the bells doesn't get all smudged with fingerprints as the bells then look nasty!)

A cute cottage block.....

Here is a photo of the December cottage block (from the swap I'm in). Isn't it cute? And do you notice me....the ANGEL....peeking out of the cottage window? hehehe

And.....a stitch report, for those who asked me to provide one. They are all out now, but it was weird....they had such a full house there that I was put in the doctor's office and not one of the treatment rooms.....and he had me lean close to his desk lamp to remove them. He said he wants to see me in 3 months, but he can forget about that. There would be no reason for him to see me....didn't have to be seen 3 months post-op after my previous skin cancer surgery. This guy is a plastic surgeon and I'm sure he'll be wanting to try to convince me to let him do cosmetic work to minimize the scar and that is why he wants to see me in 3 months. NOPE...not interested. The incision is on my forehead and I always wear bangs...and I don't care about scars anyway! OH..yes...did I tell you I found out the charge for this little surgery (which took a total of maybe 25 minutes in his office last month)??? Well...hold onto your hats, but he charged my insurance company $4,000! Isn't that totally crazy? I mean.....it was in his office and no "extras" were needed (like an anesthesiologist). Of course, the insurance company only pays a "reasonable" fee and the doctor isn't getting nearly that much...but I nearly fell over when I heard the amount he was charging. YIKES!!! Cross your fingers for me today as the handbell choir I'm in is having our first concert at 3 p.m......all Christmas music. I hope the audience enjoys it!

The new fridge......

Be sure to read what is at the very end of this post as I will be linking you to a Thanksgiving post from yesterday that I found to be exceptionally nice. So...here we go.....inquiring minds have asked to see photos of my new kitchen fridge (and the small one in the family room), so......here they are. The kitchen fridge is 26 cubic feet....old one was just under 22 cubic feet, so this gives us a lot more room. (If a larger one would have fit, I'd have gone larger, but this is as big as we can get here.) First photo shows the fridge with the doors closed. We didn't go with the fridge that has the water and ice dispenser in the door as I like to have as much shelf space as possible on the doors inside the fridge...so we just got the icemaker in the freezer compartment.Now we see the top half (the fridge part) with the doors open. How much easier Thanksgiving dinner preparations were with a large fridge like this! See the wide drawer under the two veggie crispers? That is as deep as the fridge and has a separate temp control and is great for deli items, cheeses, etc. They call it a pantry drawer and I am already loving that feature!
And here is the compact fridge/freezer that is in our family room. It is good for holding cans of soda and extra food and desserts on special occasions and for parties. It's tucked away in a corner next to my computer armoire....the most out-of-the-way corner in that room, actually. (Gotta get hubby to neaten up that nest of wires and that surge protector!!!)
Now...as I mentioned, I read a post on a blog yesterday that was very nice.....took a LONG time with all the photos she put there......but I found it very touching. Her hubby had some serious heart issues over the summer and I know she is very thankful for his recovery, but she really let us share in her happiness about her whole family...complete with photos. Pop over there (by clicking HERE) to see that post.

What a day!

Now...here's a story with an unexpected twist. How many of you have ordered some large item for your home....furniture....a major appliance......and sat around waiting for the delivery? Usually they tell you it will be there during a particular time frame and they always seem to come near the END of that specified time. Well...yesterday we were expecting the delivery of two refrigerators...one for our kitchen and a compact one for our family room. Monday evening we were called and told to expect delivery between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m....that was our delivery "window".

We borrowed an extra couple of coolers and planned to empty the fridge about 10:00...figuring they'd probably not show up until closer to 3. (There was nothing wrong with our other fridge but the design of it wasn't right for us and our lifestyle.) ANYWAY.......much to my total shock, the truck arrived at 9 a.m.....a full TWO hours before the start of our delivery "window". I never had that happen in all my years.....an EARLY delivery of something!!! (Have any of you ever had that happen???) Well.....we scrambled to empty the old fridge while the men unboxed the two new appliances. They discovered they had to remove the handles on the new fridge AND take the storm door off the house to get it inside. I then held my breath that hubby had measured correctly. The fridge just fit.....barely! I love it, though. I finally got the fridge I'd been wanting and this will probably be the last one I buy....so I'm happy I got what I wanted.

The rest of the day was spent setting it up (as well as the compact one in the family room). I had intended to do some sewing while waiting for the delivery, but that never happened. I did do some cutting early in the evening......below are the photos to prove it. The first photo shows the pieces for another block in the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt......and the second one is just half a basket of 1 1/2 inch strips that I'll need for a pineapple quilt a group of us will be making online starting in January. I probably need a full basket of strips, so I better get moving. With the kids/grandkids coming for Thanksgiving, I'm sure there won't be much sewing here for the next few days....but that's okay....we'll have a fun time with them visiting us!

A no-picture post.....SORRY!!!

No pictures today...sorry about that! Anyway...today will be a busy day. Tomorrow I leave with 5 other gals (quilters from our neighborhood, mostly) for a 3-night stay in the town of Bird-in-Hand in the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania. We chipped in and rented a house and expect to have a terrific time. There are lots of quilt shops in that area and we'll see as many as possible...also some charming gift shops and lots of other nice things to see there as well as some very good restaurants. (We decided we are NOT cooking!) The countryside is beautiful and very peaceful. It will be nice to get away for a few days. I am not taking my sewing machine....just some hand sewing (haven't decided on which projects yet to take....better do that SOON).

This morning is quilt guild. We will reveal who our Secret Sisters have been over the past year. I really have a lot to do and would probably not even go today, but I don't want the gal who had me as her Secret Sister to be disappointed....so I'll go. I've gotten some nice gifts from her and do want to thank her in person today.

Loved this bag, but.....

See this gift bag? It started out as a plain brown one and I used fabric (and instructions from a class) make it look this nice. I really did love it. I gave it as part of the gift to a quilting friend I no longer see very often. She did seem to appreciate it and I hope she kept it...as it was a LOT of work. Too much work to want to make another one (although I've been tempted).......LOL (MIGHT have shown this before on the blog....can't recall. If so, sorry for the repeat.)

A few updates.....Halloween here was quiet...not a single trick-or-treater. We don't usually get many (only 2 or 3 here) but this year, we had to be out for a church commitment from about 3:30 and didn't get back until 7:30.....and it was a tiny bit drizzly then. That's okay......I taught elementary school for years and between that and having kids, I saw more than my fair share of costumes. In NJ, we got tons of them and usually ran out of candy before we ran out of trick-or-treaters! I like that some groups are now doing the "trunk-or-treat"...safer, too, I think.

Granddaughter will go back to school Monday as it looks now. I hope her immune system is strong enough to fight off germs now. I'd hate to see her have any kind of relapse. Thanks for all the kind comments on her pictures posted here yesterday!

Baby Maddy is still in the NICU but wearing regular clothes now and her mommy and daddy have been able to hold her....all steps in the right direction. Keep the prayers and good thoughts coming for her, okay? AND....lastly.....did you remember to turn your clocks back an hour last night here in the U.S.A.? If not, then you are reading this an hour EARLIER than you think it is! hehehe