Randy Andy and the Ethiopians

And what's not to love... It's hard to believe that as a lamb he was so timid and when someone said "Boo!" he ran to hide behind me... Of course since then I learned the you never make a pet of a ram lamb as they'll never take you seriously..

Once all that testosterone kicked in I never turned my back on him because he'd lower his head and knock me down... and what does he do when I'm down... he runs over and nuzzles my hair and expects his chin scratched.... To him it's all a game... He's so heavy now that he can push me over by leaning against me to get his ears scratched.

But last week he really scared me... I put him in a small gated area while I moved the ewes to the old greenhouse for lambing (like every spring). Suddenly Andy is loose and ramming the door of the greenhouse and is enraged at being separated...ramming everything including walls and benches.. I ran to the house to call for help to get him corralled again.. By the time Wil came Andy had broken open the greenhouse door and destroyed the gate inside the greenhouse and had all the ewes back with him in the pasture... It took the better part of the morning to get everyone sorted but he had destroyed part of a fence, 4 gates and two 4x4 posts. Wil helped me with repairs.

Not many people in this country even like lamb and no one I know eats mutton but the Ethiopians here in Spokane do.. They will gladly come and slaughter an older sheep, butcher it and use every bit of it.. So now when I feed him in the morning I remind him I can easily get the phone numbers of the Ethiopians and he'd better behave.

"Seams Only" blocks return....

My own blocks from this RR returned during the preparations for Cathy's visit and the envelope just went into the mail basket. Finally today I got around to emptying the basket and opening the envelope...This block was done by Cathy Labath and she did motifs generally oriented towards a seam... It's delightful and I'll do something special with it... I kept turning and couldn't decide which side was up but it perfect on point and I'll use it that way...Thank you Cathy for all the special work you put into this block... and daffodils and hummingbirds are my very favorite.

My plan in the beginning was to use these blocks on a jacket to wear to CT but that was before all the button-painting stuff... The other "Seams Only" blocks were actually "seams only" and extraordinary seams at that... I can hardly wait to try some of these now that I'm in my seam mode... In fact I'll use them as samplers to try the seams on my suffrage blocks.

These blocks were done by (starting on the left) Jeanne Gagnaux, Ritva Peltola, and Helina Penttinen. All these ladies are "seamers" I greatly admire and I'm about to start another RR with Ritva and Helina.

Maire Courtney used to be active in RRs and I haven't seen her name for a while but Ritva's seams remind me of Maire's....so delicate, almost ephemeral. I've decided I'll stitch a few floral motifs in these blocks at some point...

Here's how I often begin....

I always see pictures of other people's sketchbooks and art journals where they tidily record their thoughts and ideas... It's not that I don't have such journals and sketchbooks but they're never around when I am having an epiphany...but pads of good old sticky post-it notes are everywhere in my house.

So that's what I use and so I wouldn't lose them by putting them away, I'd stick them on bulletin boards, walls, door jams etc... and even then I'd lose some.. Now instead of sticking them on walls I scan them into my computer and make notes while my thoughts are fresh and put them in a file on the computer.

After I posted about doing a piece for the Alzheimer's Quilt Project I started thinking about it after I went to bed and finally had to turn the light on and grab the pencil and post-it I keep on the bedside table.... Not that all my night time ideas are brilliant but if I don't write some things down during the night I forget them by morning...and I'm doing a piece about memory loss?? Right!! LOL

I cannot begin to tell you how much I adored my little MIL.. She was totally sweet to the core...truly a gentle soul. She used to come visit us every summer and loved to sit and tat by the window watching all our birds... She'd ask me names of all of them but as the years went by and her mind faded, she stopped asking and ALL the birds became just "canaries". At one point she had to stop coming because the flight was confusing, stressful and scary.. Thinking of her always brings warm and loving thoughts...

So in doing a charity piece for AAQI, it had to be about Mary and the birds... After she passed away I did this watercolor with her recipe for sour cream rolls and a couple anecdotes about her for my husband.. It is framed and hanging in our kitchen... I later made copies for siblings, grandchildren and great grandchildren...

Near the end of her life DH went back to ND to see her and they had a really nice long visit... As he rose to leave she said "You're such a nice young man... Is your mother still living?"

AAQI is a worthy cause... check out all the options they have to offer to raise money for alzheimer's research. Doing a hummingbird on felt is a good "on the plane project" and I can fit the flowers right in with Allie's workshop in CT...

And off it goes!!!

Well for better or worse it's off in the mail to the Alliance for American Quilts Fundraiser... It is hard to photograph all the black on black texture on it.

This is the first of three charity pieces I intend to do this year... I also want to do a wall hanging for the CQI cancer project and one for the Alzheimer's charity quilt project that Kerry has posted about... I'll have to check the deadlines before I decide which to do first.. I have both of them pretty firmed up in my mind...




This is the back of the piece with lace on the rod pocket for hanging. I included my artist's statement (75 words or less) on the back.. Allie was a big help and answered a lot of questions... It's going off in a pizza box. It will be in a lot of quilt shows around the country as part of a traveling exhibit and then they are auctioned on e-bay in the fall with the proceeds going to AAQ.





ps.... I have not been overrun with suggestions or names for the little clip I'm searching for...

And I need a name again....

This thingy came at the end of a retractable badge holder. The little metal bar in the center slides either way so you can release either end... It is 1 3/4" long...not very big... It is perfect for attaching small scissors to things and easily removing them... With no avail I have been searching google images using keywords....

lanyard clip

lanyard attachment

retractable badge attachment

clip with slider I want a LOT of them...

Does anyone know a proper name for it and if not suggestions for keywords to use in searching..

Also anyone trying to reach me through my gmail address is out of luck because I cannot access my gmail no matter how I try... it used to at least give me the html option to enter but that is gone now too... Please use olderrose@yahoo.com. This happened once before and lasted for several months and then one day I clicked it and it was back....