RETREAT!!

This weekend, I was finally able to cash in my birthday present (received last spring) by going to my first-ever quilt retreat!  I signed up several months ago and had been mentally preparing for it.  A week before, I had a Pirate retreat at my house where friends came over to work on their respective projects.  In attendance were Sharon, Linda, Michele, Jean, KayLee, and Lauri.  Retreat is a loosely used description; I'm not sure if we're actually retreating if we still have children underfoot.  Miss O arrived with Sharon, and Mr. L. arrived with Lauri.  Of course, the kids ran upstairs with my kids and we didn't see hide nor hair of them...except at mealtimes.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures...again!  We all worked on our various projects.  I was happy to have been left with three quilts to work on from Lauri, Sharon, Michele and on Monday, got a quilt from Donna.  I've got a couple more quilts in line that I have to finish so get caught up!

I spent most of the Pirates weekend and then the following week prior to the retreat chopping up scraps and fabric remnants into squares for a scrappy 1930s project called 'Merry Go Round' from the February issue of the American Patchwork & Quilting magazine (the one on the cover).

Friday after hubby got home, I loaded up the car and headed out.  What I thought was going to be 30 minutes up the hill turned into an hour, but I finally arrived at retreat center.  I quickly settled into the room, grabbing the bed behind the door.  By "settling in", I mean I just tossed all my stuff on the bed and left for the main hall.  I hoped my roommate, Mary (a woman I never met before), didn't mind.  [This photo was taken the next day, after both beds had been slept in.]

Arriving at the main hall, there were 36 tables set out in groups of six.  Not knowing very many people, I figured I'd just choose one at random, in the middle of the room [my seat is just beyond the garbage can in the middle, there].  I unloaded the sewing machine & all my supplies on the table, plugged in, and introduced myself to the two ladies nearest me.  I ended up sitting across from an author, Terry Martin (who is hilarious!) who asked if I was immune to raucous laughter and borderline humor.  I told her that I was the daughter of a Navy man and she'd have to try really hard to offend me.  She warmly welcomed me to the group and I set up my gear.  I started sewing all those half-square triangles together...

Aaaaaaaaaaalll those half-square triangles.

So hours and hours and hours later, I finished sewing 60 pairs of 5" squares and 60 pairs of 3" squares...then it was time to square them up.  I cut them 1/8" larger because no matter how hard I try, they end up lopsided and, far too often, too small.  SO...I squared up all those half-square triangles.

Aaaaaaaaaaaalll those half-square triangles.

By then, it was Saturday evening.  I spent all Friday night and all day Saturday making these things.  120 half-square triangles.  That's a lotta triangles.

In between sewing and squaring, there was fantastic food:  salmon & wild rice for Friday's dinner; scrambled eggs, waffles & sausages (and probably the worst-tasting vegan meat substitute patties ever...a cross between grass and cardboard) for Saturday's breakfast; homemade bread sandwiches for lunch; spaghetti with three kinds of sauce and fresh rolls on Saturday evening; fresh baked cookies; ice cream with all the fixings, and many other lovely things!

There was a block raffle underway--each person makes one block called Road to the White House in red, white and blue fabrics (appropriate for an election year).  When you finish your block, you put your name in a baggie and the name pulled out of the sack wins the pot!  The drawing was scheduled for Monday, and I wasn't able to stay that long, so I'm not sure who won.  My block is the brighter colors, on the right.

Saturday at dinner, we arrived to find a new book at each place setting from Martingale (donated from an employee at the company who was attending) and some other little gifties.  I got one called "Another Bite of Schnibbles" along with a pen, a pencil and pocket notebook.  Then after dinner, there was a raffle of all retreat attendees--everyone got a number and they were pulled out of a baggie and more than 40 gifts were given out...I only got one, a packet of fat quarters (from at employee at Clothworks Textiles), but most of the ladies got two prizes.  Ah well.  My number was being elusive.

After dinner, I was able to start sewing all the large half-square triangles into pinwheels!  Each one measures about 8", and there were 36 of them in total.  Or at least there was when I sewed another 12 into half-square triangles...I had used the directions from the magazine rather than my modified numbers.  Just about everything I do ends up King size, and the directions in the magazine were for a queen.  Luckily I still had lots of 5" squares left over to make up the difference, and I still had lots more after that.

The pack of fat quarters that I won was from Clothworks' highly-popular Paisley Denim series--it was released in September and sold out in two months.  I hope they do a re-print, since I *love* it!  The paisleys have some periwinkle in it, and the colors just make me so darn happy!  I'd like to make a quilt for my bed with it someday.  I chopped up the fabric into some 4" squares and made a laptop satchel.  OK, I have a bunch of work left to do on it, but I have the liner cut out which needs to be quilted and the pockets need to be added inside it for cables, mouse, papers, pens, or any other bits that I need.

I got to bed by 1 a.m., but I didn't sleep as well.  The bed was very firm and, as you can imagine, I was uneasy sleeping with an almost complete stranger in the room.  Turns out my roommate was sewing in a different room than I was (along with three or four other ladies, even though there was plenty of room in the main hall), so we never really got to know each other except in passing in the morning and evening.

On Sunday morning, we woke to SNOW!  Most people across the Midwest would say, "Yeah?  It's February.  What did you expect?  Yogurt?"  But no, it's unusual that we wake up to snow out here...then I realized that we might be a bit further up the mountains than we usually are at the coast.  Looking up the elevations, it says that where we were had an elevation of 420 ft.  My home town is about 350.  Doesn't make sense, does it?  Maybe it's just because it's further inland.  No idea.

I toddled off to breakfast a little after 8:00 only to realize that I had missed the breakfast service--which must have been at 7:00 or 7:30.  I never did see a time posted anywhere that told us when meals were served--I just followed the crowd at chow time.  Of course, I wasn't following anyone at 7 a.m...just dreaming about Lady Gaga...can't explain that one.  I got a cuppa tea and ate a breakfast cookie I brought with me.  Thankfully, they had fresh coffee on all the time, and a hot water spigot so you could get hot drinks round the clock, which I totally took advantage of!  I brought a box of my favorite tea and refilled my mug several times over the weekend.

By noon Sunday, I knew that I was going to have to wrap it up and head home eventually, but I wanted to get all the blocks sewn with the outer strips and small half-square triangles before I left.  As it turned out, it was a good goal--by 4:00, I had finished all 36 blocks!  I had wanted to add the sashing strips and cornerstones over the weekend, but I forgot to bring the extra white fabric with me, and I didn't have enough time anyway.

I arrived home to real life...and by that, I mean a dirty dishes, heaps of laundry, and no dinner plans.  I picked up steaks on the way home and they were magnificent...and it was wonderful to be home.

Long Waits...

I know it's been *ages* since I wrote on this blog.  I just have been quite busy and have been on my toes all week.

My Darling Son was "excused" from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills for lack of ability to withstand the long minutes--about an hour at a time, but up to two hours a day--of testing.  The first test he tolerated for most of the time, but near the end, he slumped in his chair, slithered onto the floor and was a royal disruption to the class.  It was recommended that since this is only 2nd grade and not required state testing, that perhaps it would be best if he were excused for the hours that they will be conducting the tests, which is mostly in the morning.  It gives the other students the opportunity to concentrate and is easier on the teacher, too.  After Monday's adventures, he stayed home all day on Tuesday, was home for the morning on Wednesday and today, and will not need to be at school until a little after 11:15 tomorrow.  Just what I wanted to do...make extra trips into town and have to put off running errands because I have a child underfoot.  I wanted to finally get a chance to go to the GS store to get badges that the girls have earned, but it's too far to go for a quick trip, he'd be bored, and it doesn't open until 11.  Lame.  I was hoping to have the badges on hand for Tuesday's meeting, but I'm thinking that I'll have to postpone it until late February.

However, on the bright side, we have had an opportunity to spend more one-on-one time with him, and today Ben and I picked Kelly up from work and went to have lunch at a sushi restaurant.  The little Japanese ladies there were impressed that he wasn't one of those chicken-nugget-and-soft-drink kids; he ordered the five-piece sushi lunch, miso soup and tea.  He ate all of the sushi--salmon, tuna, red snapper, albacore and shrimp!  Three ladies came over and talked to him about his choice of lunch and thought he was charming!  He was, of course, very charming... :)

We go to get sushi fairly often--a couple times a month, if we can--the kids love it, especially those conveyor-belt types.  We have a big stack of plates at the end, and in this case, Emma ate half of these. She joked that when she starts to date, she's going to have to go out with someone who can afford to feed her.  Yeah, she's not one of those salad-eatin' chicks.  We went on to say that besides screening them for genetic mutations, we'll also have to do a credit check to ensure that they can afford her.

Last week Thursday was our Girl Scout event, World Thinking Day.  Now, traditionally this is held on February 22nd, but apparently it can be held at any time during the month of February, as our service unit has proven.  Ours was about three weeks early, was not as heavily attended as last year, but our girls looked fabulous, were gracious hosts, and had a blast.  Mrs. C. dressed us up with clothes from her closets and a few borrowed pieces from friends.  Cammie and "Mini" (kneeling in pink) wore saris from our collection, which Mrs. C. carefully and expertly pinned and wrapped around the girls.  We had a bonus troop member for the evening--the littlest girlie in brown, Miss S.  Now you can see why I didn't know how to answer the question during the interview: "What will you do to encourage diversity in your troop?"  This looks like a Benetton ad, doesn't it?  We can't get much more diverse.

Tara's last Packer quilt came off the frame recently.  I'll be handing it back to her on Monday.  I understand this is the last of the late Christmas presents that will be mailed off to the grandkids.  This picture, of course, is the unfinished quilt; I have to take pictures of the finished product yet.  I have another of Tara's quilts on the frame now, and have two more waiting in the wings.  I miss being that productive--I've been in a slump these past few months, focusing on other projects instead.  This weekend is the next in the gathering of the Patchwork Pirates...the Pirate Retreat commences and I hope to get a bunch of 1930s pieces cut out for the big retreat the weekend after, and maybe start sewing them together.  I'm hoping that over the next two weekends I can get a lot done.

I really should look at my box of UFOs and see if I can get one or two of those finished and ready for the summer quilt show.  I have enough UFOs that I have taken to calling my closet "Area 51"...time to clear out some of these aliens and make more projects that I can show off as Stuff I've Made.

I did finally complete the bulk of the Retro Girl Scouts book.  I have a little more space to fill here and there, some clip art to tweak, spell and grammar checking, as well as a final once-over for layout, but this 225 page magnum opus is ready for print and limited distribution.  I will be making copies for all the girls and we'll be working from that more than the Big Purple Binders that came out this year, or from the lame "Journey" books that they're also selling.  Apparently I am not alone at thinking this massive change was a huge fiasco--not just that it took too long for the binders to come out, but they have little substance for the expense.  It seems more and more that GS USA is in the business of selling books, clothing and trinkets and raising a new group of activists rather than being a group dedicated to teaching girls to be strong, independent, adventurous contributors to society.  To learn and grow within themselves is not as important as "changing the world."

Dad's surgery went fairly well--he ended up with a triple bypass and was sent home after five days of recovery.  It's been a long uphill battle with his home recovery, but it's not easy having your chest cracked open and put back together.  Love ya, Dad...get well soon!  The view from his hospital room was quite nice, though.  It was a lovely sunny day when I came up to visit. The skies were mostly clear, you could see the river and the heart of downtown from up on the top floor.

K

On Health Care

It was said to me once, during an online debate on a social networking site, that Obama's health care system is a great idea and we could have a working system just like Canada!  I said that the Canadian system was not that great, and they countered that I didn't know the first thing about Canadian health care, so how did I know that it was so bad, and free coverage for everyone is a good thing!

Well, first of all, it's NOT free.  Working people are taxed heavily for it.

And secondly, as it turns out, I know a fair number of Canadians in my circle of Medievalists, so I sent out a questionnaire to them, asking, among other things:
What do you like about your health care system?
What do you NOT like?
Have you ever required treatment in an ER?  How long did you have to wait?
Have you gone to a Walk In-type clinic, and how long did you have to wait there?
Have you needed to have surgery, and how long was it before you were able to get it?
Have you ever needed to see a specialist, and how long was it before you were able to see one?

Overall, the answers were fairly consistent:  they liked that there was no worry over having to pay a bill, but *didn't* like that it didn't cover dental, required long waits to see a doctor, longer waits to see a specialist, and sometimes months or years to get surgeries that were needed but not life-threatening.  One lady said she moved to a new city four years before and was still on a waiting list to get a General Practitioner assigned to her--none in her area were taking new patients.

This boils down to money.  The way it works is, they collect taxes on working Canadians to pay for the health coverage.  If you are NOT working, you not only get health coverage, but it's free.  There are lots of welfare programs, so if you're the kind of person who doesn't want to work, it seems easy to skate by--free food, free housing, free health care.  I know several people who are "disabled" (in both the US and Canada--so don't think I'm just bashing the Canadians), who are "unable to work" but can play on Facebook or WOW for 10 hours a day, or sit in a chair watching TV doing embroidery all day.  If you can sit in a chair for that long, you can do data entry or answer phones instead of killing orcs.  It's not that they *can't* work, it's that they haven't found the job that can accommodate their physical limitations.

So, anyway, there's a limited amount of money collected from taxpayers and it has to be spread around to everyone who needs to see doctors.  When they run out of money, there's no more paying doctors, paying for medical equipment, paying for medications, etc.  They have to cancel non-urgent surgeries, which is why you have to wait 18 months for that hernia operation.  With fewer doctors on the payroll, fewer appointments are available, so you might have cancer, but the next oncology appointment is in six months.  Sorry.  Hope you survive.

This week that we got to see, first-hand, the chaos of the Canadian medical experience.  As you may know, a close family member was admitted to the hospital after a stress test led to further testing, resulting in disturbing results from an angiogram.  They wanted to admit him that very moment, but he didn't have anything with him for an overnight stay (PJs, toothbrush, insulin), so he came back the next morning and was checked in.  They put him in a small private room that was built in 1959 (and seemingly not updated since).  It looked very much like a concrete version of Lower Highland hall--small closet, built in drawers, very plain-jane.  Not a big deal, but there was nothing state-of-the-art in this room.  With the exception of the small flat-screen TV that they brought in (which had to be rented, along with the phone in the room), it still looked like 1959.  They wired him up with a heart monitor that had a hand-held size receiver on it that fits easily into the pocket of a pair of sweat pants, and told him to rest and they'll schedule him for surgery.

In a week or two.

Not satisfied to wait for surgery and hope that the ticker held out, my sister and I began helping him source other options.  In order to do so, we needed to get a copy of his records, so we called and eventually visited the Records Department.

This records room looked like a scene from Harry Potter--the Hogwart's School of Recordkeeping.  First of all, it was not in the 1959 building...it was in the original hospital across the alley, that was built around 1906.  Once in the front doors, we descended down what I believe may be the oldest elevator in operation into the basement...what was the morgue.  We followed the long hallways and all the asbestos-wrapped pipes to the very end where the only room still in use was filled with disgruntled workers.  These people looked like wizards trying to dress as muggles.  There were no computers that I could see.  The files were in stacks and piles and assorted clusters in yellow expand-o-files the likes of which have not been seen since the advent of the Rubic's Cube.  They were clearly the Keepers of Knowledge and were not prepared, nor willing, to give any of it up.  And certainly not in a timely manner.

The logic and reasoning that these people were operating under is nothing short of asinine.  Circular.  Impossible.

We can't get the records until he's released.  He can't be released to a new hospital or doctor without the records.
We can't give you any records of anything that was done before or during his stay.
Change that--we can't give you any records of anything during the stay, but can from before he was admitted.
We can't release the records to another doctor unless he has an appointment with them, but can't get an appointment with them without sending them the test results.
He needs to sign the paperwork to release his records.
I mean, he needs to have his signature witnessed.
And by that, I mean that he needs to have the people at the records department witness his signature, so he'll have to descend 10 flights of stairs, go out of the building, across the parking lot, down the ancient elevator, follow the long hallway full of asbestos to our office so we can witness the signature.  Even though he's a patient in the cardiac unit and he's not allowed to leave the floor.
Oh, and he needs to write a letter indicating what he wants the records department to do with the records once we've located them.

Oh, and it'll take 4-6 weeks.

Long story short, we were not allowed to have the records.

Luckily, we figured that the nurses on the floor where he was housed would more than likely have his current labs and test results on hand, so we were able to obtain them to send to any other doctors we wished.

In the end, the point was moot.  He got the surgery two days later and is resting in the hospital bed, recovering, and thanks to the system, he isn't going to be forced out too soon like our Drive-Thru-Medical style in the US.  I am, however, a little concerned about the state of cleanliness in the facility--there are signs everywhere telling you to use the alcohol-based hand rub, but the floors don't look clean enough, the furniture is filthy (in the lounge, especially), and there are computers in the hallways that are covered in grime.  I'd love to see what a health department worker would find.

Do I think the US has problems with health care?  Definitely.  Do I think Canada's system in the answer?  NO.  Take the broken bits of the US system and fix *those*.  Don't replace a broken system with another broken system.

If I were Queen of the World, here's what I'd do:

• Get the insurance companies out of the decision-making process--the doctors need to tell the patient what to get done, and the insurance companies should pay for what they say they will cover without pressuring the doctors to avoid certain procedures or push certain drugs.
• Insurance companies should cut their premiums in half.  At least.  They're spending big bucks on buying stadiums and sports teams.  They clearly have too much income.
• Make a basic health insurance plan cheap and easy to get.  No one should go broke due to an unforeseen disaster, and if you're generally healthy, that's really all you need.  The more people that pay into it, the cheaper it is.  This is Econ 101 material.
• Seeing a doctor for 10 minutes shouldn't cost more than going to a movie.  If all you need is for someone to look at your finger and say, "No, you don't need stitches.  Keep it clean and stop juggling knives," you don't need to pay $150 at a walk in clinic.  
• Everyone who has a job should have some kind of medical coverage.  Part time employees should get at least disaster insurance.  3/4 to full time should have full medical benefit options.  These benefits should be written into the employment contracts so that businesses cannot hire you as "full time" and then reduce your hours down to less than full time to avoid giving you benefits...when you are hired as a full-time employee (whether it's for a large corporate bank or a burger joint), you keep your full-time benefits until such time as your contract is satisfied or a new one is signed.  
• Disabled and unemployed (but actively looking) should also be covered as part of their unemployment benefits.  All veterans should be able to go to any vet hospital & get treatment.  I think that's already the rule.  People who are just lazy and sponging off society I have far less sympathy for.  Sorry.
• The ER is not a walk-in clinic.  If it's not an emergency, they should be referred to (triaged to) the walk-in clinic next door, which should be open 24 hours.  People cannot be turned away for inability to pay, but should be turned away for inappropriate use of the facility.  Just like calling 911 for non-emergencies...if someone with the flu feels icky and uses the ER instead of a walk-in clinic, it means that the guy who broke his foot falling off the ladder has to wait longer in agonizing pain.
• Stop advertising prescription medications on TV, on radio, in print.  Tell the doctors what you've got to offer them and let them decide what medications to give their patients.  THEY have the knowledge to make an informed decision about whether a medication is right for you.  Save the money for research.
• There is a difference between *necessary* or *recommended* surgeries and *elective* surgeries.
• Simplify the billing system.  Anyone who has had hospital stays will know that you end up with three or more bills, many times without details printed on the invoice.  I got one that was 18 months after service.  Any longer than 6 months should be treated like a stale-dated check...not honored.  

If I were Queen of the World, that's what I'd do.  These are just a few off the top of my head.  I'm sure you could think of some, too.  

Melting, but still trapped

The roads continue to be treacherous and icy, causing chaos and slippery conditions, ice falling from buildings and bridges, cars and trucks flipping over, and schools are still closed.  Our 3 day weekend turned into a 9 day weekend.  A few neighbors, however, decided to take lemons and make lemonade.  I thought they could have done well by offering rides to the grocery store for supplies.

So in the meantime, I'm working on Ithra, Girl Scouts, and generally just goofing around.  I need to get some quilting done.  I'm not inspired to work on the project that I have on the frame, but I need to write to the owner to get a replacement backing--I just can't use the 100% polyester made in China bedsheet on the back of an antique quilt.  I can't let that happen.  I wrote to the owner and begged her to give me something different or let me use something from my stash.

I was also looking through my old emails and found that pictures were posted for Grace's Hogwarts birthday party that Cammie went to a couple months ago.  There are lots of great pictures and great party ideas for future parties!  I was going to post a bunch of her pictures, but figured that all the descriptions of what's going on is so much better and my attempts would not only use up a lot of valuable photo space, but it would pale in comparison.  Read and enjoy...and now I want to make cauldron cakes!

Now for some less cheerful news.  Dad had a stress test yesterday and had some rather disturbing results, so is going in for an angiogram today to let him know what the next step is--could be bypass surgery.  Pray, if you're the praying sort.

Enjoy your weekend, stay warm, and have a hot cuppa...

Snowbound

The weather has grown steadily worse and we were threatened with up to 12" of snow, which is what we heard at about midnight last night, but then the morning reports of where the heavy snow was going to fall drifted further and further south until the worst of it was going to fall almost 100 miles away.  We still have more than six inches of snow on the ground and the roads are caked in ice (untreated in this neighborhood means that I don't drive when the roads are bad), and schools all over the western half of the state have been closed all week.  

We're starting to get cabin fever, which is a concept that Ben is having trouble understanding.  He and Cammie watched Muppet Treasure Island yesterday and asked a couple dozen questions...how you catch it?  is there a cure?  can you die from it?  I explained a couple times that it's just a figure of speech.  Later, at dinner, he said that he didn't understand a joke in a book about how it's impolite to go to a party in your birthday suit.  I know the wheels are turning, but I think they're oval.

I finished up a project in a day.  This was an experiment to see how this pattern would work and is a shorter 2 yard piece that I am going to donate to the Shire for a prize.  I'll have to tweak the pattern a bit to see if I can do it with fangs and a tongue, but I'm not sure it's possible.  After showing this to friends online, a high school friend asked if I could do one in anchors.  I can, but I don't know how to make it as wide as he needs without distorting the shape.  I'll work on it a bit more...

Then I found another pattern in Robin & Russ's book and warped it up.  Unfortunately, I warped it upside down *again*.  It looks cool on this side, but it's much smoother on the other side.  This is a color combination that was requested by a fellow artist in the SCA who wanted something in green, purple and white.  I used the fourth color, like the pattern called for, but I don't really care for how it looks.  The fun thing about this side is that in the center diamonds the way the warp & weft come together, it says, "HI".  (It's upside down in the pic.)  It's a very friendly piece.

Here's the front side.  Much prettier, but I don't care for the black.  It looks out of place, doesn't it?  Maybe I'll do it again and replace all the interior black bits with white and the borders with purple.  Her Lord wants a piece as well, but in his colors, which I think is red, yellow and blue.  I also have a piece I wanted to do for myself in Ithra colors.  Maybe I'll do this pattern for in various colors.  I know I'm going to go through the heraldic colors fast, so I placed another order today.  

I've been working on the Retro Girl Scouts book today and have gotten quite a ways into it.  Still have about 70 pages to go (finished 229 already, plus a section that I skipped ahead to).  I did about 55 pages today, so I could have it done before the next scout meeting...possibly.  I'm having trouble with editing as I go, having to omit outdated technology, adding new terminology (email addresses and web sites) and looking up information to see if stuff still exists.  Like the GSUSA address is now on 5th Ave, not 3rd; Rockwood center is no longer owned by GSUSA (sold to Maryland's parks dept. in 1979), and I thought I'd add in all the local campgrounds.  

School is cancelled again tomorrow, so I think I'll do some quilting and get some projects finished.  Stay safe & warm!

Resolving to Have Resolutions

This year I decided to make a couple of resolutions.  I have struggled with my weight for years and decided that I would make a couple of simple changes that I hope will have lasting results.  Of course, those are the very simple changes of diet and exercise.  Easier said than done.  However, breaking the resolution does not mean an end to the effort--I have cut out virtually all bread, rice, potatoes, and noodles.  I have also made an effort to go out for a couple of 30 minute walks a week--so far the weather has been cooperative.  I also purchased a new pair of headphones to go with the iPod for those walks.  In the first week, I gained a 1/2 pound.  Sigh.  Hopefully the coming weeks will have more desirable results.

Last night I finished the Khabeelah weave for Molly.  I will be taking it to Ursulmas to hand over to her for my first weaving sale!  I'm going to write to a merchant and see if he would like to sell some pieces for me on commission.  So many of these woven pieces I've seen online, like on Etsy, are asking between $35 and $125 for 2 yard to 4 yard pieces.  I can't imagine charging that much for weaving.  What is that--$15 to $30 a yard?  Crazy.  While I'm sure that someone will be crazy enough to purchase trim at that price, I cannot imagine charging it.  So the question is, what is a fair price?  $50?  Calculating yardage of string, it's about 520 yards for the warp, and maybe another 50 yards for the weft.  The price for the materials isn't high, but I figure it takes 10 hours or more to weave the thing, and no one wants to pay $9 an hour for a piece.  I guess I have to pick a price that's competitive with the market, but what I still feel comfortable charging.  

I started a new piece for Emma--black & white & red using a pattern from Robin & Russ Handweavers' book.  On the first day, I'd started weaving on it twice using their directions, making changes, and starting again, turning the cards backwards and forwards, flipping the cards to and fro, and it didn't look like the picture.  I knew I'd have to mess with it a bit more to see what the heck's going on.  I suspected that I had it upside down again.


After some investigation, I realized that once again, I threaded it onto the frame wrong.  I need to remember to start with the end of the pattern (card #25) and work my way back.  It was on the frame upside down.  Once I took all the threads off, and put them back on in the correct order, the pattern came out perfectly.  It's weaving up very quickly--in a day, I'd woven almost half of the piece.  I will have it finished by the week end, even if I take time to quilt up a few pieces for Tina.

We have some new members of our family.  Apparently the rest of the humans missed having tweetings and chirpings, so we now have Midori  (which means "Green") and Tsrelkjmrsgmr.  OK, I can't remember it, but it rhymes with "Chewbacca."  Tsubaka or something.  It's Japanese.  I know.  Shocker.  I guess we need to explain to the girls again that the birds are native from Australia...  They're settling in nicely, getting used to human hands and starting to feed out of our hands.  The kids (and Kelly) love them!  I admit, I like them, too.

It's a busy week this week.  Monday was guild meeting where I met up with 80 or so friends (and a relative) for a surprisingly short meeting.  We did a fun ice breaker called "Quilting Speed Dating" where we formed an inner circle and an outer circle, and filled out a chart, similar to a Bingo grid, that includes statements like "Quilted for 15 or more years", "Has more than 75 UFOs", and "Has a long arm business".  You ask questions of members and see how many of these squares you can fill in. With the first 10 people, we swapped 5" charm squares.  Since I'm trimming my scrap bin into squares ranging from 2" to 6" (in half-inch increments), this will be a welcome addition to my collection of squares.  After that, it was a free-for-all and you kept going until the time ran out.  At the end, myself and five others had finished all the squares.  I think there is going to be a special drawing for us, but it wasn't disclosed what that would mean.

I brought Tara the second Packers quilt that I finished for her.  While this isn't an amazing picture, it's the only one I have.  I meant to lay it out and photograph it, but here it is.  

Tuesday was a Girl Scout day.  I gathered my materials and arrived at the school...only to realize that I had forgotten the copies of the Retro Girl Scouts section I had just completed on First Aid.  We did a long first aid discussion, which was made longer by all the stories and comments that the girls wanted to share.  It was "This one time when we went to..." and the 30 minute discussion turned into more than an hour.  We also got our cookie-selling stuff...cookie selling starts TODAY!!  If you have need of a few boxes, please let me know!  $4 a box, just like before, and the Lemon Chalet cookies have been replaced by a powdered lemon chip cookie called Savannah Smiles.

Wednesday I volunteered at school to help serve hot lunch.  It's a couple hours of work and it's fun to hang out with a couple other moms.  I got to play with one mom's baby, a little 10 month old boy.  He was very cute and we entertained each other between packing bins for the classrooms.

Thursday was going to be a day of rest, but instead I drove over to Avelyn's (about 40 minutes away) and met her quilting mother-in-law, as well as her FIL and sister-in-law.  They were there only an hour or so before leaving to go tour the flight museum.  Avelyn and I walked with the boys over to Burger King and met up with her hubby on his lunch hour.  They have a surprisingly good grilled chicken salad.  We had a great discussion about SCA stuff--heraldry, shire and barony politics, rubbing elbows with Powerful People, etc.  After a short walk back to the house, I drove back homeward to get the kidlings from school.

Today was the marathon doctor visit at Children's.  No surprises all the way around...both kids need to increase the frequency they do their breathing treatments, Ben needs a round of antibiotics to help clear the goo in his lungs that is rattling around, and he needs to increase the calorie and fat intake.  We need to try to add supplements like Boost and high-cal "energy" bars, as well as ice cream and any kind of high-fat foods we can find.  The trick is to get him to EAT it.

I got a few fun things from Amazon the other day which arrived today!  Harry Potter's Unofficial Cookbook, which includes some delights like Treacle Tarts and Steak & Kidney Pie.  I also got this candy mold to make Chocolate Frogs.  I'm going to have to make some of these very soon!  Yumm!  I also got a DVD copy of "Lost in Austen" which I have taped on two different occasions on TiVo and watched dozens of times, but I hate having to forward over the commercials.  It was in the $7 range when I ordered it, although now on Amazon, it's closer to $9.

This weekend has some lumpia in store for us!  Avelyn has been promising to make us this Asian delight for some weeks as a thank you to Kelly for his assistance in building the yurts.  Other than that, Girl Scout cookies are selling now!  Want some?  We know you do...everyone is doing it.  Just one (box) won't hurt you.  :)

I still have a lot of work to do...six or seven quilts to finish up...some weaving...some classes for the Ithra catalog...  The deadline stress is getting to me.  I'm starting to get a kink in my neck.  Hope to have a relaxing weekend.

K  

Christmas to New Years

Our Christmas holidays have been harried and included putting about a thousand miles on my car.  We started with a Christmas eve at home.  My family traditionally had meat and cheese fondue for Christmas Eve, but not having a fondue pot, I decided to just do a tenderloin dinner.  The local grocery store sells 4 lb. tenderloin for about $5/lb., so I picked up one of those and cooked it up.  Awesome!!  I also made a winter salad with feta cheese and cranberries.  We finally got to use the Christmas dishes (which had to be washed first--they were really dusty).  Unfortunately, one of the salad plates got broken after dinner.  Now I have to replace the Second Day of Christmas plate.

After dinner, we opened up most of the presents--another family tradition, probably handed down from the German side.  It looks like a ton of presents, but the younger two just stacked them up to make it into "Christmas Town", and some of them were for other families.  Cammie gleefully tore open the gifts with great enthusiasm.  They all got PJs, coats, games, and will share a couple movies.  I got a pair of earrings from Mom & Dad and an IOU (home made gift certificate) for a new box loom for weaving that Kelly will make.  

Christmas dinner was also at home--we made a traditional turkey dinner with roast potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce.  I was going to make rolls, too, but I just ran out of time to do that.  The turkey was a little undercooked in the dark meat areas, so we set that aside (in the freezer) and made a casserole a couple days later.

Early in the morning of the 26th, I got a text from my sister that her best friend, Linda, had passed away.  They met in first grade and have been inseparable since--despite moving to another state.  Tara had flown out to be with her in her final weeks and although it was very sad, she was glad to have been there at the end.  She was the weirdest person I ever met, but as you know, I love weird.  We'll miss you, Linda.

On the 26th, we began our traveling, which was more extensive than usual.  We started with a day and night at Kelly's folks' place, visiting with in-laws and their kids, so the cousins got to play together a bunch.  

On the 27th, Kelly and I took the girls for a southern drive, leaving Ben with his Grandma & little cousin, Princess Aurora (named so for her love of all things Princess-y).  We arrived at Heide's for a day and night of visiting with her family.  It was a lovely visit and the girls got to play and talk anime and draw.  We enjoyed a little curry and a little drink, and a whole lotta laughs.  Thanks so much to Heide & co. for their hospitality.  

The next morning, we drove a little further south to Portland to visit with Jeff and Sharon in their newly-renovated house.  The main floor is mostly finished, and the upstairs is still under construction.  They are undertaking the monumental task of removing all the white paint that was on the woodwork throughout the house.  This includes heat guns, chemical strippers and dental tools.  We got to meet their parrot, Mia, who apparently likes cheesecake.  Sharon took me for a tour of the house, including her "work" room where all her lovely fabrics are neatly folded and on shelves.  What an inspiring sight!  

After visiting with Sharon & Jeff for a couple hours, which included a quick trip to one of the most wonderful places on earth....Fabric Depot....we headed just a bit further south to Mike & Laura's.  Mike has the most eclectic decorating taste...his house, also, is undergoing a transformation, although it's taking years to complete it.  They're doing a much more time-consuming DIY restoration.  Given the current economic climate, it's slow going.  We went out to an authentic Cantonese restaurant (which wasn't as good as the last time we went, unfortunately), although Laura opted to stay behind.  Her food sensitivities limit the things she can eat, and the holidays always make for challenging diets...after having over-indulged for several weeks, she had to get back on track.  We exchanged gifts and got to spend a few minutes together.

We were going to stay in the area for the night, but didn't have anywhere to stay, so we headed back north to the in-laws for the night.  We arrived right around midnight and curled up for the night.  In the morning, we packed up the troops and headed back home.  We were only there for one night before hitting the road again...

A quick break for art stuff...

Before I left, I finished the Birka tablet woven trim.  It came out quite nicely, although if I were to do it again, I'd get some kind of spinners to untwist the work without having to re-tie the warp three or four times during the weaving process.  What you can't really see is that the weaving is half as wide as what you'd expect with so many cards, and twice as thick as other weavings due to the way it's woven.  

While we were at the in-laws, I warped up a new piece in red, orange, black and white.  I was able to work on it a little bit while on the road, and finished it up at home over the next couple of days.

On the 30th, we had a plan for going north for a funeral and visit with folks.  I had the address for the wake and some vague directions, but forgot to check what the cross streets were, so we drove around a little aimlessly.  We finally arrived at about 1:30 for the wake for Amanda--she was cremated more than a week ago and her ashes will be scattered later this summer, so this was an Irish-style wake with stories, singing, and laughter.  We ended up leaving before the party really got underway, but we were able to speak with her daughter and extend our regrets and love, say hello to a few friends, and then head back down to Mom & Dad's.  We went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and then spent the night.  The next morning, Mom, Cammie and I made a trip to Saree shop to look for Girl Scout gear for world thinking day.  Based on what I was looking at on the internet, the guy gave us a good deal on the sarees, and I assume that we'll sell three or four of them after the event, but Cammie wants to keep this one.

The kids and I worked together to finish this set of place mats for Mom.  Each place mat is unique, different scarves, some have buttons and some don't, and some are facing left instead of right.  It was a fun project to do and I finished it at the 11th hour (or 12th hour, really) before we headed to Mom & Dad's.  I hope that it stays together during washing...I might recommend heavy ironing first, then washing by hand.  Just sayin.

I finished up the "Hugs and Kisses" weaving after we got back, and I started warping up the loom for a piece for a friend, Molly.  She wanted something in her household colors; orange, green and purple.  I had accidentally swapped a couple of the cards on the right side, so the green and purple were swapped in a couple places, but I fixed it by turning the cards so the threads were in the right position and kept on weaving.  These weavings are getting wider and wider, though.  This one is 4 cm wide using 32 cards...I think I'm just about maxxed out on the number of cards I can effectively weave with on this loom.  The loom is really starting to show some wear, too--the new box loom is going to arrive just in time, I think.  

After arriving home and settling in for New Years, Blue died.  We discovered him late at night on the 1st laying on the bottom of the cage.  We didn't know he was sick, although he had been cuddled up to the fuzzy yellow thing a lot more lately.  I don't think we'll get a new bird for a while.  Maybe we need to read up on parakeet care a lot more and be able to recognize when there's a problem.  We are pet-free for now.

Here's to a new year!