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On this Memorial Day I remember all the solders that have fallen in battle throughout the history of our country, making sure we will not lose the freedoms we cherish.I also remember family members - I miss them so very much:My father Joseph, who died in November, 1977. He was a tall silent Swede - a good husband and a good father. Because he was so quiet and undemonstrative I didn't realize just how much he loved me until I was grown and away from home. What I remember most about him was the way he would come home from work, wash, change clothes, shave, and then come out to kiss all his "girls". I remember the feel of his smooth cheek and the wonderful way he smelled after he shaved. He was a sheet metal mechanic who literally made entire kitchens for public buildings. He was a true craftsman. I have a cooking fork I cherish that he created from a scrap of sheet metal.My mother Florence, who died on Christmas eve, 1991, at the age of 84. She was always a stay-at-home mom. She was very intelligent, creative and loved to sing. She taught us to use our imaginations. We were never bored. We read a lot and watched TV only a little. When I was grown I learned that the things she did for us as children were unique and so enriched our lives. When we were children we thought everyone did those things. "Hidey sack lunches" stand out in my mind. She would make us sack lunches then hide them - outside in nice weather and inside in the rain - and we got to eat after we found them. We loved this game, and thought every child played it with their mother. We were very poor, but we didn't realize it. We thought everyone drew pictures on paper towels - that's what we did. When I made and sold teddy bears as an adult she knit countless sweaters and crocheted countless hats to dress those bears in so I could sell them for more money. My sister and I were the most important people in her life.My brother Russ, who drowned in a diving accident in 1987 when his diving equipment failed. Russ was adopted when by my parents when he was 5. He was a very difficult child who'd been taken from a neglectful mother by the court, adopted twice before and brought back as uncontrollable. My parents fell in love with him and were determined to keep him no matter what. For years they struggled to raise this son who gave them nothing but grief. He did unmentionable things - many I know I never knew about. He ran away from home when he was 16, lied about his age, and joined the navy. I was two at the the time, and I remember nothing about him until he showed up at our house with a new wife when I was about 12. For 10 years my parents didn't know whether he was alive or dead. He was brilliant and self-educated, and got his GED in his 40's. He finally came to terms with his problems after a failed marriage, the loss of his children (courts didn't give visitation rights much back then), and the loss of a successful company he'd built from the ground up. He stayed sober the last 15 years of his life, took very good care of our mother, and built up another very successful company from nothing but his sweat and hard work. He was very generous to both my sister and to me, and though we didn't see him that often as he lived 4 hours away from us here in Vancouver, we got to know him as the wonderful adult he finally became.My sister Paula, who died in February 1995 from a brain tumor. This was the hardest loss for me, as Paula was younger than I and I always thought we be there for each other. She was also the last one left of my immediate family. As I stood by the grave where we placed her ashes on top of our father, and looked at the next plot where my brother's ashes rested on top of my mother, I felt so alone. My husband and children were around me so of course I was not alone, but the severance with my childhood was acute. My sister was always my best friend. She was brilliant, a genius, with an IQ off the charts. She was a geologist with graduate degrees and an executive position with a branch of Standard Oil. She married at 30 but never had children, so she doted on our kids. She was such a kind, loving person - everyone adored her. She could do everything better than I could but that didn't ever bother me. I think trying to do things as well as she did made me stretch and reach heights I never would have reached on my own. After graduation she lived in California, so we saw each other only now and then. Nevertheless, she was always my best friend and I miss her dearly.Finally, I remember all my beloved aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents who are no longer with us. We were a very large family, but now everyone in my parents' generation is gone. So are many cousins in my generation. I thank God daily for making me part of such a wonderful extended loving family, and I cherish the memories I have of each and every one of them.
This has been a non-quilty week for me since I last posted. I don't do so well when I can't do a little something quilty almost every day - quilting relieves the other stress in my life. Challenges at work got bigger each day, and came to a head on Friday. The result was that I stayed 5 hours later at work on Friday than I originally planned, and I brought work home that I must do today. I refused to let that put a damper on my weekend, however.Saturday we celebrated my son's 30th birthday, which really is today. I can hardly believe my youngest is now 30! And he really is, as he was born at 2:45 in the morning. We spent a lovely day with them and our daughter and her husband. He says his new job is fine. He drives to a park-and-ride less than 10 minutes away, and then has a 40 minute bus ride to downtown Portland. His new company pays for half the monthly bus pass. That saves him at least $175 a month in parking, plus the cost of gasoline. His co-workers are a quiet bunch, but so is he so he fits right in. It's just so good to have him employed again - even if it's not at his first choice of careers.
In spite of having customer quilts to do and documents to write for work, I was determined to do quilty things this weekend. So Friday I started prewashing my fabric gifts and purchases from the last few months, including a bunch I bought for my medallion quilt class at the retreat in March. I spent the evening pressing them. On Saturday morning I washed and pressed the rest. Here is a basket full all ready to take to class next month for her "yay" or "nay". I'm eager to see how much I've learned by her going through the other students' fabric. I know I have a bunch on my shelves that should work also, so I'll pull those before the next class. I hope to have my center block finished by then also.
Yesterday I caught up on email and blog postings, and then loaded my friend Kathi's quilt. I must have this done by tomorrow as it is a graduation gift for her niece (I think). I'm having fun doing this one, as it has a lot of "scope for the imagination" as Anne (of Green Gables) would say. I'm almost done with the stitch in the ditch - the hardest part. Then I'll start really having fun doing leaf veins, flower tendrils, trellises in the sashing and ivy on the outside border. I have a top from another friend that I need to baste for her for hand quilting, but I probably won't get to that today. So much for having time to do my own quilts! Oh well, cash coming in to support my habit and pay for Gandalf is always a good thing.
Yesterday I slept in very late so got a late start on the day. I guess I just needed the sleep. So today I was wide away by 4:30 a.m., so decided to get up. I can't start quilting until Fred is up, as the quilting machine is right over our bedroom and I don't want to wake him up. So this is a perfect morning to catch up on posting and reading the new posts on the ring. If he's not up by the time I'm done I may be forced to start on the work project, which I'd rather save for after I finish Kathi's quilt.************Gratitudes:1. Hot tea with milk for morning sipping.2. My big board, which makes ironing fabric and quilt tops SO much easier.3. Our digital camera, which makes sharing pictures so easy.4. The sound of a well-oiled, cleaned longarm machine5. My loving family************
Several readers wanted to see the patterns I bought on Saturday, so here they are. I scanned them all yesterday, but three of the four scanned as "tif" files instead of "jpeg", and are way too big to load. Not sure what I did differently - I'll have to try again."A Fall Gathering" is the one I bought wool, homespun and fabric for. I just love the beautiful hand dyed wool fabrics - if I were independently wealthy with lots of extra room at home I'd collect lots and lots of those for use in quilts, rugs and other projects. This will look fabulous on the couch in the living room in the fall.I started sewing the binding on the charity quilt last night, so I should be able to finish that today.************Gratitudes:1. Ready made food from Costco, allowing more time for quilting2. A four game winning streak for the Mariners3. Internet shopping4. Rain5. My pendant lamp for hand stitching************
I planned to spend yesterday quilting with Gandalf - and that's what I did. However, as I was finishing the stitch-in-the-ditch stabilizing on my quilt I decided it just wasn't that big, and I figured I could finish it by the end of the day. Next weekend it a long weekend, and as long as I get Kathi's quilt to her by Tuesday she'll still have almost two weeks to get it bound. So I spent yesterday doing my own quilt - an old teaching sample from the very early 1990's. I did a lot of "playing" on it - drawing with my "electric needle" and just having fun. I got it all finished except for a small part of the border, which I'll be able to finish easily tonight. I hope to get the binding stitched on by machine also so I can do the hand stitching at quilt group on Tuesday. That will be a true UFO that I can cross off the list. I won't put a label on it as I'll give it to our guild charity group. I'll post a picture as soon as I've finished the binding. I'm very happy with the way the machine quilting turned out - I'm getting better with each quilt that I do!
Sometimes I can get the pictures to line up beautifully on the left side of my entry, but now and then they won't no matter what I do. So after two attempts to fix things I give up - life is too short. I apologize for the big spaces between the words. At least I was able to post pictures. When I first wrote the post this morning Blogger was refusing to post pictures at all.
I've had very little time for quilting lately. Other than some handwork at Tuesday quilt group and on the plane to Texas I've done nothing in the last few weeks. Yesterday I did revisit a primitive quilt shop I'd been to once before. Our dog groomer moved out to the same 
town so I'll be there about every 6 weeks with 90 minutes for amusing myself. I'd been there once before last fall on opening day and was very disappointed. She had very little stock, and nothing new. Since I had 90 minutes to amuse myself while waiting for the dog I decided to make a second visit. Big mistake! She's added so much more since fall, and has started printing her own patterns. I loved almost every one of her patterns. I was in the shop for 20 minutes - 20 danger-filled minutes - and came out with a large sack full of three patterns, an EQ5 CD of blocks from 
The Civil War Diary Quilt, and some homespuns, prints and hand dyed wools for on of the patterns I bought. I went right back to the parking lot of the farm store to wait for the dog. I decided it was much safer sitting in the car reading a book than shopping. And to think I'll be out there about every 6 weeks now!Yesterday afternoon all the kids came over for a belated birthday celebration. We played lots of game, including a round of miniature golf at a 
fairly new course we've been wanting to try. We had dinner at Applebee's, then came home for "birthday cake". The traditional "birthday cake" 
at our house for 
almost 30 years hasn't been cake at all, but a Fudge Nut Round from Baskin Robbins. The birthday person gets to choose the flavor. I chose Peanut Butter and Chocolate with fudge frosting and chopped nuts on the side. It was heavenly! And of course they took out all the calories because it was a birthday cake.Since I've done almost no quilting I took some pictures of the flowers in our yard for your viewing pleasure. I tried to avoid taking pictures of the weeds as much as possible. Seems like it's been months since it wasn't raining hard on the weekend or way too not. Both conditions make it impossible to get out to pull weeds. It doesn't help that our soil is heavy clay. I've put additives in it - compost, grass clippings, manure and gypsum - for 32 years and it's made very little difference. Every weed needs to be dug out with a fork and hoe - even after a heavy rain. The water 
just doesn't soak into that clay much at all. I swear we could make bricks for a house from it. It's very discouraging for a gardener, but I keep trying. Our spring flowers are the prettiest of all so I love to take their portraits.I have a customer quilt to do today - a rush job - so I'd better get busy! I'm so glad the weather has cooled.************Gratitudes:1. Baskin Robbins Fudge Round "birthday cake".
2. Having all my family around me for a day3. Discovering a new quilt shop all over again4. Two Mariners wins in a row!5. Hot tea with milk on a cloudy morning************
We received some wonderful news late this afternoon. I'm doing the happy dance and thanking God for answering our prayers.Those of you who've been reading my blog for awhile might remember me posting about my son and his job troubles (March 5th post). He's been unemployed for over a year because he took a buyout with the software company he worked for instead of a mandatory transfer across the continent to Florida. This afternoon he called to tell us that he has a job and starts work on Monday. It is a software development job - not the police officer to be position that he wanted - but at least a good paying job with benefits. He is ranked number 26 with the Vancouver, WA Police Department so that still might happen for him in the future. In the meantime we can stop worrying about him and his wife.So that's my biggest gratitude for today - a job for Jeremy.
Tuesday night at Tangled Threads we celebrated my friend Peggy's and my birthdays. We were late because of my being in Texas and because Peggy doesn't get to meetings very often any more. The cake was Seventh Heaven from JaCiva's - incredible! (Click on "Cakes and Tortes", then click on the fourth cake down in the right column of cake pictures.) Just looking at the picture will make you drool! Chocolate cake with white chocolate cream filling. To die for!We've been giving each other fabrics for birthdays for many years now. It's supposed to be a yard, but lots of people go overboard. I asked for "spring fabrics". Isn't it interesting to see how they interpreted "spring". The bottom row is "Rites of Spring" by Jan Patek - very pretty for those who like primitive but not at all what most people would call "spring. The next row up includes five fat quarters of florals. Very pretty! The next row up is soft pastel florals and prints - this person must have looked into my head because that's what I was thinking of when I made the request. (I'd just completed my shopping spree with Cher and had brought home a whole collection of soft pastel fabrics.) The next group is two half yards of wonderful bright stripes. The top collection is florals and prints that make me think of Monet - all in blues and yellows because that's her favorite color combination. Every group different - I think that is so interesting!Our weather has cooled just a little - high 80's the last couple days. Today it's sunny and beautiful again, with a high of 80 predicted. Tomorrow starts cooler weather with some showers predicted - so much better. It doesn't take much to dry out my webbed feet! I guess I'd better head to the shower. I went right back to sleep after I turned off the alarm this morning - I guess I was really tired. So I'll be late to work. Not a problem, thank goodness, as I've been putting in some LONG hours since getting back from Texas.************1. Cooler sunny weather2. A slice of Seventh Heaven with very rich vanilla ice cream3. Unexpected visit from all our kids yesterday.4. The new Quilt Sampler magazine - a winner!5. Our neighbor's golden chain tree in full bloom outside the computer room window.************
I can't believe I forgot to post my gratitudes! I leave for 6 days and I forget what I'm supposed to be doing!************Gratitudes:1. Safe plane trips to Dallas, Texas and back. I may be getting used to flying after all - something I never thought I'd say.2. A wonderful, productive conference - ASTD 2006 International Convention3. Renewed enthusiasm for my job4. New shoes and a box of fabric waiting for me when I got home.5. Mockingbirds singing every morning outside my hotel room.6. Cool weather in Washington with little or no humidity!7. Fondue restaurants8. My own comfortable bed - and a dog and husband to share it with9. A very capable "other half" at work so I didn't have to worry about my department while I was gone.10. Beautiful rhododendron blooms outside my kitchen window.************
Even though I've been home for two days I've had little time for anything quilty. I did some applique while watching the Mariners-Angels game last night, but turned off the television in disgust after the Seattle pitchers walked in two or three runs and then gave up a grand slam, making the score 12-5. I have my nose to the grindstone typing up all my notes from the conference. I took 12 information-packed classes in four days, and I'm so afraid I'm going to lose some of the info I stuffed in my head before I get it all down on paper. I have two more classes to write notes about, and then I need to start setting goals and objectives for my department. I'm really surprised and amazed - it's been a LONG time since I've been excited enough about my work to actually spend weekend time on it.Since I've not done anything new to show you I'll post more pictures of our April quilt show. I'd just started posting pictures when our motherboard cocked up its toes, and I've never gotten back to post more. It was an incredible show, and I have lots of pictures I've not shown you yet. The first quilt is called "Chickadees Rule". As you can 
see there are three chickadees but only one squirrel - hence the name. The second quilt is a scrappy batik with a piano key border. Well, blogger is eating pictures again. I got these two posted but all the others are disappearing in cyber-space. I'll try again later.
I haven't even started to catch up on all my email from my online quilt groups or read what everyone's posted on their blogs when I left. I hope to at least start that sometime this weekend! I so want to catch up on what all of you have been up to!
Just a short note to let everyone know that I arrived home safely yesterday about noon. I had an incredible conference - more wonderful than I could have ever imagined it would be. I've come back totally rejuvenated about my job, which is something I desperately needed. I didn't have a moment to think "quilty" while I was gone as we were kept busy from "dawn to dark". Today I have to catch up on things at work, and then get everything from the conference that's in my head down on paper so I don't forget it all. I hope to have time for a better post this weekend.
Sunday is my 59th birthday. Birthdays are special family times for us. We get together with our children, have a wonderful meal, and play games together a good share of the day. However this Sunday I'll be hundreds and hundreds of miles away from my family. Tomorrow at 6:05 a.m. I fly out of Portland, Oregon to Dallas, Texas for a conference for work. I come back on Thursday. I had no idea how much it would bother me to be gone - after all, does it really matter which day I spend with my family celebrating? Apparently it does, because I really wish I weren't going. There will be about 15,000 people at the conference - but there won't be anyone who's special to me. Once I get there I'll be with two colleagues that I see three times a year at state council meetings - women I like and enjoy. But they aren't my family. I'm feeling a big emptiness inside knowing I'll be so far from everyone I love. Once I get there I'm sure I'll be fine - I'll be attending seminar sessions morning, afternoon and some evenings - but right now it feels very lonely.I'm taking several appliqué blocks for keeping busy on the plane and at down times in the hotel. I'm not one who enjoys sitting around a pool and sunning - I'm much too conscious of the dangers of skin cancer. And I hate hot weather! My northwest-grown webbed feet start to dry out! I hope I have enough blocks prepared. I think that's the worry of any quilter who's going on vacation - do I have enough prepared to keep me busy until I come home?I'll miss everyone when I'm gone, and will have a lot of catching up to do when I get back. Unfortunately I'm sure I won't be able to visit any quilt stores in Dallas - especially as I won't have a car.
Many readers have commented that they don't know how I get some much quilting done when I work at a demanding full-time job. I've been thinking about this question, so I decided to post some of my thoughts.My children are grown and have homes of their own. As yet I have no grandchildren. That makes a huge difference. To those of you with children I can only say this: Enjoy every minute you have with them. They grow up much too quickly. You will have lots more time for quilting when they are grown.My husband has interests that keep him busy. He plays golf at least twice a week. That is his passion. He also loves hockey, so we got him the hockey package on cable. The time he spends watching hockey plus the time he spends on the golf course means I have a lot of "me" time for quilting.I don't watch TV much at all. Just baseball in the summer and DVD's. I never sit down to watch something without handwork - either appliqué or hand quilting - in my hands. I can't stand to sit with nothing to keep my hands busy. Better to quilt than chew on my fingernails or pick at hangnails.I received a VERY strong organizing gene when I was conceived. My sewing room is neat most of the time, and I can find whatever I want. Recently I labeled every drawer showing what is inside. I have something ready to pick up if I have even a spare 10-15 minutes.I have three hobbies that I love - quilting, reading, and gardening. However, I find I am usually focused on one of them while the other two take a back seat. Right now it's quilting. Instead of sitting with a book all evening I read only before I go to sleep at night or when I'm waiting for something like a doctor's app't. My flower beds desperately need attention. There have been years where all I've wanted to do is read or garden, and those years I didn'tt' accomplish very much quilt-wise.We all have the same 24 hours in a day. I believe it's all a matter of making choices. When we have active families obviously our children and spouse must come first. One's job must come second if one must work. After that it's up to you how you choose to spend your time. If you want to get more accomplished quilt wise then plan for it. Don't sit in front of the TV doing nothing. Don't be without some handwork in your purse. I have an online friend who even works on her appliqué at long red lights! Her latest tale was about sitting on the gynecologist's table stitching away while waiting for the doctor to come in to do her yearly exam. Believe it or not she kept stitching - even when she was on her back with her feet in the stirrups!************Gratitudes:1. A venti decaf Americano with a fat inch of nonfat milk2. Fridays3. Comfortable new sandals that fit my feet beautifully4. Dress down days at work5. Lori Smith, Jan Patek, Jo Morton, Alma Allen, Barb Adams, Cherie Ralston and all the other marvelous quilt designers who enrich our quilting lives************
I finished my friend Kathi's quilt. I got a little carried away and put a bit more quilting on it that she probably intended me to, but that will be fine with her. I tried sewing flower tendrils but they looked stupid - I guess I'll have to look more closely at what they actually look like! I really like how it turned out. I sure hope she'll be pleased. My back, hands and feet sure hurt - this took half of yesterday and most of today to do. Hopefully I'll start to get faster at this one of these days.
I also finished the work for work that I brought home to do this weekend - at least everything that I'm going to do tonight. I have one more thing to create - a "contest" to provide and incentive to read the other documents before 
Thursday. I'll do that as soon as I get to work tomorrow. 
