Quiet Evenings...

seem to be the "norm" for me these days. The silence is broken by Ebby, my new friend. She wakes up every time I get up from my chair. She's sure I must be going to the kitchen to give her a treat...sorry Ebby..isn't going to happen. Our unseasonal warmth seems to have come to an end. The 59 degrees of yesterday has given way to a shocking 12 degrees and I think Ebby and I will both enjoy that electric blanket tonight. None of the predicted snow has come, but I understand other parts of the country got plenty the past few days.
I had dr. appointments both yesterday and today, and tha sure does "shoot" the middle out of a prefectly good day. Between the getting ready, the driving time and the actual "waiting" time...so much for that day. But this is the end of the appointments til the 12th of Dec...*VBS*....hurray for days of un-interrupted time. That's one of the best things about being retired. I can sew or do whatever any hour of the day and night.
I've been slack in the sewing department, but am anxious change that...starting tomorrow!!
I had fresh homemade bread and turkey noodle soup tonight...perfect for a cold winter evening. It's still 22 days til winter solstice, but with these icy winds, you could fool me. I have more soup in the frig and several slices of Jean's good bread in case you want to drop by for lunch tomorrow...*VBS* Bring your stitching!!!

Something You Haven't Seen Before...

Ebby laying on her side..*S* Which probably seen a strange thing to take a picture of...much less share on the web. But it's a HUGE break through. If today is the 28th, she's been here two months. What has changed?? Well, lots of little things, but this is major. What magic did I perform...*VBG*? I put the electric blanket across the foot of my queen size bed. I'd been sleeping in a twin size bed since I sold my house. Back in April I bought a queen size bed. My twin size EB won't do exactly the same duties, but is still useful. My feet were cold Friday night after my drive home, so I pull it out and put it across the bed, sideways,Ms. Ebby discovered it and I found her sleeping stretched on her side. From whisker to tip of tail...one long, stretched out cat. You can see she has white on her belly. Actually she has two almost perfect white circles where a bikini top would be, and a nice white V down lower. I still chuckle at Susan, from Patchwork Reflections say, "an overweight black cat in a white bikini"..LOL She definitely is that!
I've just left the blanket on low for now, and I must say that she is one very relaxed, happy and sleepy cat.

The Loot and The Plans....

this is the box of scraps that I brought home on Friday. It's many, many more than the
appearance indicates. They are fairly small pieces,
stacked fairly dense. Needless to say,Finn is as happy as a cat in a sawdust pile *VBG*
Here are 3 specific blocks that I will be cutting for:


This block is called Depression block. It's from Quilter Cache(http://quilterscache.com/). I made a few last April and knew it would be ongoing project. The second one is the "Whatever" block from Linda J's blog (http://catsnqlts2.blotspot.com/) I began my set of blocks with kids prints.
The third block is one that I had seen at Quiltville(I think). A simple block, made with HST's and a couple of squares. It's almost a Hovering Hawk, but not quite. I really like it for whatever reason, and
be making a whole quilt of them...*VBS* What I will be cutting is 2.5" squares, 2.5" X ? rectangles(lights only) and some 3" squares to be split to make triangles. I also will cut 4" squares to make triangles for the Depression blocks. I'd like to handle each of these scraps just once, so it's good to know what I am cutting for. Beyond that, I'll cut what is left "size appropiate" for other quilts from Quiltville( in progress). Including the very scrappy "everything goes" broken dishes. Those need a 6" square. I didn't get all my chores done yesterday, nor all the errands run. Sooooo today will hold some of "those" things, and if I get at them I just may be able to sew this afternoon.
I went to friend Jean's house last evening. We had supper and then I wrapped meat as she cut up the 2 deer her son had shot. I've never been involved in "processing" a deer. Can't say I mind having missed out on that...LOL, but, in friendship we often do things we don't know much about, and are richer for the time and the experience. We worked from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. The last packages were wrapped and in the freezer. The loose meat will go for processing into hamburger tomorrow, and as time allows, Jean will cut up the de-boned larger chunks into strips for jerky.
I do have to say, I really dreaded going and helping, but I had offered. So I went, knowing the blood wouldn't bother me, but the "smells" would. It was ok... she deliberately turned off the heat, so the kitchen was cool, and that helped at many levels, including smell.
And so, as of today, I can add "Deer Camp Experience" to my list of accomplishments.

JOY...JOY...JOY...

Joy in my life is like scraps of my favorite fabrics.
Many sizes, shapes and colors..*S* Thanksgiving Day
was one of many blessing. Of family coming together, either with us, or with loved ones from the other partner. The blessing of well bodies, love for each other, healthy children, and comfortable means. Any suffering is so minimal as to be insignificant. We are well blessed. And I give thanks for that. My 5 little "imports" have spread out in many directions. All are either married or have been. Not all have children, but I am blessed with 8 grandsons and a very sweet special granddaughter. The picture if of my youngest son(he's 30), his roommate and his two sons. DJ is 7, and little brother Nate is 3. They were able to join myself and my very dear oldest daugher and her DH for dinner yesterday. The weather was mild and partly sunny. The temps hung in the mid 50's all day, and a walk to the park was in order and greatly enjoyed. The food was good and plentyful. Lots of laughter and hugs. I stayed overnight as DD had Friday off from her job in a County office. That's a perk of working for the County! If the holiday falls on a work day OR a weekend, they get a regular day off as well. It's a salaried job, so it all worked out.

Ages and ages back, my DD was working on adding fabric "touches" to her stamping projects. Over a period of a few months, she collected bits and pieces from my stash.
Her interest in that was replaced by something else, but the scraps stayed in the box. Yesterday, she dug them out and I was amazed at how many "old friends" were in that pile...*VBS* I like seeing those pieces that I haven't see for the last 6 or 8 years..*VBG* So they came home with me and I now have a new play project as I look through them and decide what I will cut some of them into. I'm thinking maybe HSTs for that Depression I showed way back when, and some of the bigger ones split like an X, for broken dishes.
I have a few errands this morning, and some binding to machine stitch onto a baby quilt, but then look out!!! Finn has new scraps to play with....*VBG* Hope you all had a wonderful turkey day.

Turkey Time....all across the USA, Alaska and Hawaii. It's turkey time even if you are having duck, roast beast, vension, or tofu. One special day in November to give gratitude for our freedom nd abundance. Most of us are so far removed from poverty, that we consider soup kitchens for the homeless to be the "extreme". And of course, it's not. But that would be another whole post, and I've misplaced my soap box..*VBS* I have few Thanksgiving decorations. My Harvest welcome, a ceramic pumpkin candy jar that comes out at Halloween, and stays awhile. Salt and pepper shakers(also ceramic and made by me) that look like Indian Corn. And this one wall quilt. I think almost EVERYONE has made this Country Threads pattern. I was given mine, as a pieced top, for my birthday many years ago. It sat around for awhile and then I machine quilted it and got it bound. It's nice to hang it up in November..*VBS* In about a week, I will replace it with Christmas. I'm wishing everyone who celebrates, a happy Turkey Time with family and friends...*VBS*
I snapped this one just a few minutes ago. This would be the "why crocheting takes time" photo op. My sweet Ebby, who obviously didn't get much play as a kitten or young cat, has become a
monster about things that move across the floor(or chair, bed, lap, table top, pretty much anywhere). She's decided every single one of them is a ssomething I am dragging around for her amusment!! And she's fierce about it!! She was frustrated because she has no claws, but quickly learned she could nab the cord with her teeth. And nab she does!!! And often walks away with it in her month. I know not to pull, don't want her to lose any of those nice teeth! She has been know to actually "bring" me a string or cord. Just drags it to where I am and drops it at my feet, so I can play with her. Help!!! I've created a monster!

The Road To A Friend's House....is never long. And this is my house, created in fabric by my friend Betsy in October of 2002. I had sold my house in August, and was moving into a one bedroom senior
apt. I suppose one of the things we worry about is "will my stash fit?" And maybe alittle about "where is home?" Betsy made this for me and on the back it says "Home is where your fabric is", and she is right about that. I know the quilt looks very Freddy Moran, but Betsy has been doing these kinds of quilts all the way back to her beginnings in the mid 1980's. Her favorite color has always been orange..*VBS*..and she loves brights. I can testify that she does NOT own even one piece of BROWN fabric...LOL. And she has a HUGE stash...!
On a completely different note, I wanted to mention that our friend Paula of http://thequilter.blogspot.com/ is having trouble with Bloglines. It's not listing her posts and she hopes you will drop by and see what she is up to, even though Bloglines would have you believe she hasn't posted...she has!!
Today is a "run errands day" for me, and try to think about what comes next. I haven't been doing anything very exciting, just working on the blocks for my butterfly challenge..hope to have it done by next week. Well, the top, at least...*VBS* See you all later !

A reality quilt...

Pieces Of The Past.......reality X's 2. I'm not sure why I've waited so long to share this quilt with you. The block pattern is a simple one, Four Patch
variation, from the book Pieces Of the Past by Nancy Martin. Lots of history and traditional quilts in that book, and the second one, Threads Of Time. The 2nd one has more applique.
The reality is, this quilt, which I call "Crossing Over" is my divorce quilt. All the pieces are scrap. The scope of the time they cover is huge. I cut all of them by hand, with a scissor, after tracing around the template on small scraps. I worked in the evening, alone at the shop(on the kitchen table..*S*) for a great deal of 1988-89. I should have kept going, but I was tired of it, so it's not quite double bed size...even with two borders. The nice thing about marching to your own "drummer" is that you can call it finished when ever you want. Then I began to quilt it. I had been married to him for almost 30 years at that point, and he told me the summer of 1988, he didn't want to be married anymore. But....he didn't leave. And I had no intentions of leaving and making it
easier for him. I will say, on my behalf, the quilting is really good! *VBS* I look at it now, almost 20 years later, and I am proud of my hand quilting. I wish I could still quilt like that, but I can't. So I do what I can do. All of the large triangles are quilted inside 1/4". I ran the diagonal down the centers of the small squares, but only the one direction, following the barn raising look. The borders are quilted as one, in clamshells. It's bound with the same fabric as the inner border.
I called it Crossing Over, because each evening after supper, I walked across the side yard from where we lived, to the house that was my quilt shop. More "stuff" got worked out while I pressed scraps, traced, cut and sewed, than in the actual "crossing over"...but the title seemed to fit.
One divorce quilt wasn't enough, or so it seemed. It took from 1988 til 1994 for him to actually "leave" the marriage, family and job in that small village. The 2nd quilt is still only a top and was pieced in the "anger" stage of the separation. It's a nice top. It's the red and white picket fence that I've shown when I first began blogging. I think I will send it out for machine quilting. The 3rd one is also a top, but not even a finished top. I looked it over last month, and decided to donate it to Linda J's Bama Belles, and see what they could turn it into. That seemed appropiate 12 years later....LOL
Probably you are wondering, do I mind being divorced at 56? Well, it's not what I thought was going to happen to my life. But it's not all bad. A period of adjustment was needed, but that's normal. I'm happy and content with my life. My golden retriever, Dakota filled the void for almost 10 years until his death in 2004. That spot stayed empty and lonely for 2 years, but Ebby is doing an excellent job of becoming my companion....and I love it

Season's Greeting....and welcome to my house *VBS* After this next week, or maybe I'll wait til Dec. 1st, the Snowman makes his annual appearance on my front door. In my first senior apt, all of our front doors opened onto a common hallway, and you could decorate both the door and the walls next to your door..*VBS* It was great fun, and I always had several quilts hanging in the hallway that I changed from season to season. Now I only decorate the door. Altho I loved Libby's use of the fence outside her window..*S* but that CA and this is WI, and it's not a good idea for me.
Spent a nice Saturday with Ms. Betsy, yesterday. First day of deer hunting and her DH was out doing his "guy" thing. I got to play in her scraps again, this time finding bigger bits to add to my butterfly challenge quilt. And she donated some long scraps from backings to my "rug" project. After a great lunch of fresh homemade bread and a black bean soup, we headed to a small town about 14 miles from here. The Windmill Quilters put on their bi-annual quilt show. It's a group of about 25 women, and altho it's modest in size, their show covers quite a bit of ground. There were quite a few that were handquilted, lots of "project" types: mystery quilts, fire quilts, small quilts, ugly fabric quilts, etc. Those are always fun to look at. There were four vendors there, which suprised me(It's a small show) .The gal from Stillwater, MN was there, Carol, and it sounds like she moved the shop to a new location? I'll have to look at what she was handing out. I've never been to that shop, but one of these days I'll make..*S* Betsy bought a few of half yards, but I stuck to me "no or low" fiber diet..*G*. In reality, there just wasn't anything that appealed to me.
Watched the most of the Michgan/Ohio football game and worked on the latest rug.
Today promises to be in the high 40's or low 50's, so I'm going to take advantage and get my recycling and a few other outside chores done. Sooner or later, winter will wander in and stay! Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Fabric Hugs....not a very good picture of this quilt. It was taken as a snapshot(pre digital) in early Dec. of 2004.(I had just moved into this townhouse..this is the guest bedroom.) Then the quilt winged it's way to southern WI to a very dear old
friend. My oldest friend, in fact, I've know her since I was 7 years old. She is about 12 years older than me, and was dating my Uncle Jim, when I was a child. We re-connected in 2004, and she gave me a box of pictures she had taken of my sisters and I as children. A priceless gift....*VBS* The quilt is snuggle size(about 45" X 60".) It's Christmas scrap 4 patches, set in a double 4 patch setting. I used Christmas flannel on the back and tied it. Her birthday is Dec. 17th. She actually waited and opened it ON her birthday...LOL.
I want to thank you ALL for such lovely comments about my Scrappy Christmas Shoo Flies..*VBS*. In my opinion, my scrappy quilts are nothing special. They only seem to work for me occasionally, but they are almost ALWAYS fun to make. I love having the connection to those women who went before me, doing what they could, where they were, with what they had. To me that reads as perservence,commitment,dedication and love. In my mind it takes courage not to be sidetracked by the circumstances.
I so admire what many of you are doing. I love, love, love the wee quilts that Lucy makes from the tinest of scraps, and the wonderful things that happen when Fiona, and Bonnie, and Linda J. get going with "what's at hand".
That certainly doesn't mean that I don't love the quilts of others of you gals. Knowing what you need or want for a certain look, and going out and getting it, is just another route taken to the same destination, in my opinion. The main thing is that we are doing what we love to do, and there is room for everybody and everybodies method of getting there.
And the fabric hug part? I told my friend Lorry, that every time she uses HER quilt, it's a hug from me..*VBS*

Pieces From My Past...small triangle scraps, trimmed from a guild friends snowball blocks. Always a tease, she left them, in the wee small hours of the morning, tucked under the arm of my sewing machine. It was our guild retreat in Osceola, WI.Many years ago in Nov. I knew it was her as soon as I saw them. "What can you make from them?" she asked. So I had to go home and try..*VBG* First I sewed all the triangles in HST blocks. Then I decided
Shoo Fly block. I felt they were too much like my big christmas table cloth that is shoo fly and 9 patches. So I added the extra triangles to make them a square in a square. But I didn't like that look either, so I laid them out on point, and filled in by cutting some blocks in half for the setting triangles. It's a long ways from where it started, and I have laughingly said "I re-invented the wheel". I seem to have a great ability to turn something very simple into way more work than it should be....LOL
You've seen this quilt in the background of some of my pictures and now it's got it's own "post"...*VBS* I'm thinking about Judy's Gratitudes this morning, and I may just do it in Christmas scrap. I found the container in the sewing room while cleaning..*VBG* 

In the beginning...

...there was Darcie who showed us a rug she was making from her hand dyeds. I was hooked(more ways than one *G*). Here is the start of my FIRST rug(see post of August 5th for more details). I work on these in the evening because I don't need to "see" much.

Rug # 1 finished ( see post on Sept 2nd) Since finishing it in early Sept, I've gone back and add another 3 rows of dark green around the outside, and Ilike it better.

This is the SECOND rug, (not shown until recently). It began as a joke, with a small pile of selvedges cut from fabric. I used a smaller hook and the rounds are only about 1/4" to 3/8" high. It's slow going and a WIP.

This one is the THIRD rug and is still in progress . This one was shown in my post on Sept. 12th. Since
then it has more white beyond the rose and I am now adding a varigated mix of blue scraps beyond the white. Not sure how big this will get, it's in the 30" range right now.
Hope this helps some of the newer gals who have been wondering. If you are looking for some of my Orphan block quilts, see the post on Sept 8th. That was their second appearance. And if it's my utility quilting, check out Sept 24th..*VBS*
Big shopping trip with Jean late yesterday. Laid in lots of "stuff=groceries" and some things from Fleet Farm where Jean was buying a new vacuum. Ebby gets one tsp. of "wet" cat food each morning on a saucer, and then her squirt of hairball stuff. Her 1/2 c. of dry is "on demand", and always in her dish. The former Mom was using Friskies(sliced in gravy), which is fine, but I decided to try the HouseCat line of Science Diet. It's only pennies more a can, and one small can lasts her for a week. Hopefully there isn't as much "filler" in the SD wet food. Of course she'd gobble up a whole can if it were offered, & she LIVES for that 1 tsp. each morning. She begins letting me know about her food somewhere around 4 to 4:30. Needless to say, she doesn't get it til I'm up around 7. She's good about it, just coming back to the bed and purring up a storm til I actually agree to get up.
Amy at Calico Cat, and a true cat lover *VBS*, asked if Ebby meows much. Actually, no. She doesn't. She has a whole range and lingo of "chirps and trills" that she uses. All kinds of different tones, from greetings to please play with me. The only true MEOW I've heard from her was when she was let out of the pet taxi, and knew she was "lost". She did that for a few days as she explored the house, and I haven't heard it since. Other than a siamese kitten we had years ago, I've never heard such a lingo as she has...LOL. And she has an opinion about almost everything...*S*

Over the River and through the Woods...it's nearly that time again in WI. Deer Hunting....commom to this particular month, and widely practiced here in
midwest. These hunters, on that long ago day, are family. My family.
My Dad was born third into a family that eventually had 4 boys and 3 girls. He hunted in Northern WI with his Dad and his brothers for years before he married my "city gal" mom. She went up to the north woods accompanying a friend of hers who had married the oldest Smith boy. That is where she met my dad. I actually don't know the year of their meeting, but I think it was 1934. She was 19 and he was 23. He always said "I didn't get my deer, but I got my dear" that year. They married in August of 1935. After the honeymoon they settled into a very small log home in that area. Minong, Trego, Lampson..all small towns within a close circle. They lived there until Sept of 1940. They moved to her home town of Chippewa Falls, WI and I was born a month later. They never left, living there the rest of their married lives. In the picture are way too many deer for the few hunters shown.
Every year my dad saved a week of his 3 vacation weeks to use during deer season. Once he no longer lived up there, he'd catch the north bound train from Chippewa and often come back the same way, with a deer in the box cars. All of his brothers had sons, and they joined the hunting party as they became old enough. I suspect that accounts for the deer in the picture, as well as the fact that some of dads brothers in law, hunted with them.
It's an odd topic I know, but deer season opens this next Saturday a.m. at first light. And in my rural WI home, you hear the shots ringing out in the woods that still lie between the small towns. Cars full of goofy guys in bright orange become the traffic jams and the bars and resturants do a booming business feeding them.
This all continues until a week after Thanksgiving and then it's over. And peace returns to the valley. The moving shadows once again become the magic of deer in the moonlight. I understand the need to control the size of the deer population. And I would rather see them harvested than killed on the highways. But I don't like guns...period. And I will be glad when it's behind us again. 

Scrap bag bits and pieces..

Picture pieces from my scrap bag on this cold November Sunday....my newest friend who is becoming my faithful feline. We've finished our
sixth week together and are beginning to understand what each of us expects and is all about. I'm adjusting my life to fit hers and she has begun to see me as primary human. It feels like she has stopped waiting for rescue by her former owner. She still jumps when I sneeze, but has gotten past my coughing and movements. I talk to her in a soft voice that I use for "sweet talking" to animals
and babies. It's low pitched and sound similar to her "talking" sounds. It's neat that when she's not around and I say "Ebby?" and she answers me from where ever she is and comes running.
Right after yesterday's pic of the old quilt, I plopped a couple of more quilts on my bed. Look who found a nice 4 quilts pile to kitty test..LOL I'm quite sure she hasn't been raised with quilts to sleep on, but she's
getting the hang of it quite ...*VBS*
This picture is my 2nd rug. For this one I've used a smaller I hook and the very narrow odds and ends of fabric, including selvedges. Some strips are only 1/4" wide. It's a slow go as I mostly hand sew the stripes together as I crochet. It's up to 27", and coming along.
This last pictures is a "gift of time" from my dear friend Jean. She's a friend of many years and I taught her to quilt back about 2000. Both she and the friend who is staying in Betsy's guest house were students of mine the same summer. And they went in completely opposite directions. Which has this quilt teacher scratching her head...LOL I told each the same things, gave them my five cents worth of reasoning and history. And off they went. Jean became a very traditional quilter, who hand quilts and uses scraps and fabric marvelously. G. went into the "accquisition" mode, and zeroed in on batiks and never looked back. She had quilted one quilt with regular tread and a small needle, one with perle cotton and then bought a Juki and quilts everything by machine. She joined a fairly "elite" group of the quilt police and has developed a bit of sneer at the scrappy, wild stuff Betsy and I do...*VBG* If it's not batik, it's not ok......ya right!
I don't consider either students leanings a failure,but I am perplexed at how differently it turned out. I had given each of them a stash start...several grocery bags each of some of most every color, both FQ's, yardage and scraps. Jean is still using hers and it has multiplied beyond belief, as has G's. (The stashes that is)I love seeing my scraps in Jean's quilts. G returned the bags to me last fall. A few pieces taken out, but for the most part, just as I gave them. I don't think I've ever gotten a gift back before....it's an interesting experience.
Anyway..long story. But the basket of rag(fabric) balls were a gift from Jean last evening when we had supper together. She had taken several bags of my torn strips, sewn them together, trimmed them and rolled them up for me to use...*VBS* The basket is one I got from a guild member friend years ago. She made it for my birthday. Jean works full time in activities at our local nursing home, and the rag balls really are a gift of time...and love. And such gifts bless both the giver and the receiver.*VBS* The background behind the basket is Ebby's sheepskin in one of my chairs.

SURPRISE ! We may have had balmy 72 degrees in WI on Wednesday, and a mild 55 degrees on Thursday, but this is what we got up to Friday morning. Felt like we went from Sept, to Oct, to Dec in 48 hours! This morning brought us 20 degrees and the promise of more snow. But we were the lucky ones! About an hour south of me, Osseo, WI got 16.5" on Friday. Glad I live in the Valley...*VBS My car was in the shop Thursday and Friday so I stayed home.While I was out in the garage tying those quilts, I dug out a few more that I haven't shown here in Blogland. This is an "oldie" but goodie..*S* I purchased the top(as almost a twin) for $15 from an older lady who lived across the street from me. She had hand pieced it in her later years. Pretty much anything goes in this one, but I love it. And I hand quilted it with a thin batt, just quilting the diagonals in both
both directions. I was really "into" the "make do" mentally at that time, connecting with all the women who went before me and worked with what they had. I happened onto this backing fabric at a little antique store. Small evenly spaced holes told me that is had been a backing for a tied quilt. I washed it up, mending a couple of tears, patched a bigger hole, and used it for this trip around top. When I was done quilting, I took an older black cotton skirt of DD#1, discarded because it had washed out to a VERY soft black, and used it for the binding. Stella(the neighbor) passed away a few years later, and I was so glad she had parted with this top. She had also sold me a log cabin top, almost double, which I quilted and gave back to her for her birthday. It was the first hand quilted quilt she had ever owned...I was so proud to be able to do that for her. I still have one set of log cabin blocks that she made and just gave me, in thanks for returning her quilt top, quilted. No matter what you give someone, the true gift is the one your receive, the gift is in the giving. Think about that..*S* 

Somewhere...over the quilt frame....
that's where you'll find me today. Not as much fun as "over the rainbow", but it gets the job done.
Yesterday was spent setting my frame up in the garage so I could tie a couple of quilts.
Back when I had my quilt shop, Quilts on Main, I could set it up in the center of the shop. As long as the two long tables weren't set up there..LOL. Those days are gone now, and in my new, small town house, I mostly use the one car garage. Which means I need nice weather..*S*. We hit the mid 70's here yesterday...unbelivable for Nov. 8th.
Today they are only saying mid 50's, but good enough for me to finish the second quilt before the snow come in later tonight. Yes...snow flurries overnight after a 70's yesterday. It's Wisconsin. And in case you are wondering about the picture.....I'm the one in the red shirt..*VBG* See you all later after I finish.

Finn sez..."you know you're a quilter when you sit down to eat freshly buttered toast....and glance down as you bite....and there's a thread on it."

November Notes..............a day of counting. Do you ever think about all the ways we count? All the tally sheets, time cards, calendars, score sheets, census, head counts, roll call, check book balances, sick days left, months til vacation, or birthday, or Christmas, or a loved ones return? So many things to count. So many things to tabulate a number of, for, about. It's November 7th. Veteran's Day is coming up in just a few more days. But today the counting is of votes. Tallies on slips of paper, check marks on a long form, or electronic blips on a new computerized voting machine. I voted in my local and state elections today, including two referundums. Amend our State Constitution to indicate that marriage is only between a man and a woman or don't amend. And Re-enstate the death penality or don't. We voted for a governor, and a whole flock of people to help him run the state and spend our tax dollars. So many serious things to think about and to count on a cool, gray, semi-rainy day in Wisconsin.
Counting is important. Counting counts, both literally and figuratively. It seems as if anyone with reasoning ablitities and self awareness can or could...count. I'm all for counting...in regard to issues, political races, days til Christmas and the like. Not so much for the "counting" that includes you by color of skin, ethnic origins, personal preferances, or sets rank according to what you "have" or what you drive, or the clothes you wear. I have little use for that kind of counting. I'm glad today is over now at 10:43 p.m. The election results will rule the airwaves for one more day, and then disappear, I hope.
So here's my two cents worth.
Friends Count...
You have such a special way about you...
a way of knowing just what I need
to make me happy...
and nothing makes me happier
than being friends with you.
Hugs, Finn

Remember this picture from yesterday?? It was the first that Ebby has sought one of my quilts to sleep on. I was thrilled that she liked it, but also that she's
making herself more at home here. We've finished wk. # 5, and each day it gets better and better. At the beginning if I walked past within 5 feet of her, she ran for cover. This morning she was "watching" from the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom, and I actually stepped over her and she didn't move...*VBS* But back to my reason for this post.
Can you imagine my surprise and delight when I walked into the living room last evening and found this????????
Yup, it's the hand quilted star quilt that shows in the upper right of the Ebby on Ugly Quilt. She's learning fast!!! Amy from Calico Cat asked if she "catches" the fabric strips she chases with her "hands"(front paws). Yup Amy, she does, and is fierce about it. Of course with no claws, I can pull it aways so easily, that she has already learned to nab it with her teeth and hang on...LOL If I pick up a fabric strip and begin to walk with it, she absolutely cannot resist chasing it....*VBS* It's a good game and gives her the muscle workout that is so good for her to get. My vet was soooo pleased that she had good muscle-lation(?) at her check up. Vet said "good, she's NOT a couch potato". And I've been having such fun teaching her the kitten play games that she seems to not know. I suppose it's possible to raise a kitten without playing with it, but I can't imagine doing that. It's one of the best parts of being owned by a kitty...*VBS*

Once Upon A Time....long, long ago, I had a booklet by Mary Ellen Hopkins. It had a quilt pattern called Pioneer Braid. It was scrappy, I loved it. I followed the directions and made up the vertical rows. One side darks, the other, lights. How can you go wrong? You trim off the triangles edges, you line up the rows and presto...it all works. BUT it didn't. What should have gone up and down like a nice WWW, didn't match up. It zigged and zagged. I was angry. I was
frustrated...I threw it down in disgust. I walked away.
When I finally came back to it, I took the long sections and cut them all into 6.5" squares..now, by golly, things would match one way or another. I didn't take time to see if I would work out a design or pattern, I just joined them up and sewed them. I don't hate the quilt...but close. In my opinion, the only redeeming factor is that I love the borders I used. Gone were any of the "shoulds" or "have toos"..I cut strips and I bordered it. It's pretty wild...and a little outrageous. The binding is equally without order or reason.
Looking at these pictures I took yesterday, I see a couple of possible layouts I had never considered. I guess we do learn as we go...*VBS*
I did hand quilt it with perle cotton, but it is a quilt that rarely sees the light of day. Definitely an UGLY DUCKING of a quilt.