Her Dad had had about 4 hours of sleep…. Friday night she had a game in a town an hour and a half away.


“ Don, just stay home, I can do this one solo. We’ll hit the craft store, grab a bite to eat and go to the game. The weather is good… piece of cake.”

“Ok – you’re forgetting the camera.”

“If I’m going alone, I’m not doing the camera thing, she can make it a week without pictures…”

“Hang on… I’m getting a jacket, I’ll sleep in the backseat on the way down…”

Yep, this was the exact conversation that took place Friday night. And that’s her dad. He photographs every game she cheers at. We sat in the front row of the bleachers. After the game, Chelsey even said, “Mom, my friends were asking why Dad was smiling and laughing…. I told them… He was watching me…”



Enough said, that pretty much sums up Friday night.

The weather was splendid all weekend---Middle to upper 60’s. I tackled the inside of the house on Saturday, Don worked outside and Chelsey worked at her job. I got my Sunday school lesson finished. How do you teach four year olds about Faith – believing in something you can’t see…? I’d like to take credit for the idea, but I got it from Tracey… We filled the pouches with flower bulbs and talked about how they don’t look like flowers and after we bury them we can’t see them, but if we have faith in the spring they come up as flowers.
You can’t see God, but you know he’s there. They had fun picking out the bulbs and making the tags. Kind of cool. Chelsey says – “Mom, they’ll never get it…” Maybe not, but maybe there will be a small message there for their parents, you never know.


Other than one chance of a freeze that didn’t happen, our fall has been just beautiful. I guess the only perk in planting your garden surrounded by trees, is that they kinda protect it. Many years, I never get full size ripened tomatoes because of the weather. There have many years, I just plant the cherry tomatoes, because at least they will turn red on the vine.
Look at the harvest this year…..

I’m going to be late for work….more later---


Gratitudes:
1. Eric’s safe travel with friends this weekend
2. A friend’s quote: “The reason we love dogs is because they don’t talk..” I must have thought about that several times this weekend when I wanted to complain---- and then I decided not to.
3. Quilting Friends, sharing the quilts they made with their own hands….

It’s the day before Friday---Hallelujah. I had a meeting at church Tuesday night; a school meeting tonight and Chelsey has an away ball game on Friday. So…I stayed home from church last night just to do some catching up. I made a Wal-mart run, cooked supper, started some laundry…. And I just needed to be in my sewing room.

Chelsey got this magazine in on Monday—I haven’t even let her look at it….
At work, I had this page opened all day to glance at while I was ”on hold” on the phone or waiting for the computer to process a transaction. Yeah, the guys at work were relentless and made fun of me throughout the day.
There was a card out of paper scraps, but they gave kudos to quilters.

Anyway, I went home and made a couple of fabric postcards. I always say, “ I need to send her a note..” but if I don’t have the cards ready the moment passes. I still have to appliqué the stem, but I think they’re fun. The fabric makes them look like real leaves with different shades of color. In less than two hours I made two… and the therapy was great. I just used pieces from my scrap basket and tea-dyed muslin on the back. I usually buttonhole stitch around the edges, but with my machine STILL in the shop, this old machine had a turkey tracks stitch and I tried it. These will be off to Wisconsin and Louisiana by the weekend.
Here’s one last photo of the leaves.
Ransom and I took this one evening.

Gratitudes:
Purple hull peas for supper (My Dad grew them in La.)
Warm Fall days
A friend’s new Grandbaby

Monday morning—Do good weekends make it easier or tougher to go to work on Monday morning????? The weekend was outstanding. Bad storms on Friday night gave way to a gorgeous weekend. Chelsey had another Homecoming Dance and Don & I worked around the house. The leaves are turning more and more every day. The photo was taken last Thursday.
I bet the color has doubled now.

I’ve got my next Primitive Garden block pattern traced. The pattern pieces are cut out and so is the fabric.
There’s a lot of work before you ever pick up a needle. This block has close to 100 pieces. I stressed a little—wanting to get “to the good part”, but I exhaled and told myself—it’s all fun.. relax and enjoy it…There’s definitely some kind of therapy in cutting fabric. I’ve got a church meeting this week but I’m hoping to start on it soon. I stitched a long over due gift and got it in the mail.

I don’t know who loves the weather more.. Ransom or me…and I’ve been pulling out the pumpkin quilts. I haven’t picked the gourds out of the garden yet. I hoping to let them grow as long as I can.

I had four kids in Sunday school this week, so they got lots of TLC…

Gratitudes---
Emails from friends
Don and I having fun watching football
Grocery shopping when the store is just about empty of customers(there has to be a perk somewhere)

My attitude wasn’t real great this morning---but I got a real attitude adjustment at about ten after six….I hit a deer in my jeep. I pulled over and after I recovered from the coffee bath that I had all over my clothes I Called Don and checked out the jeep. It was still too dark to tell much but the jeep seemed ok aside from the fur that stuck here and there on the bumper. I had the guys at work check it out and I have a cracked bumper, but it could have been so much worse. The deer just came out of nowhere.

Quilting----Don has a late meeting so here’s the block I’ll be working on before and after church tonight.
It’s my favorite block of the Primitive Garden quilt. I just love the blues and purples together.

I’m still catching up on everyone’s quilting in the past two weeks. Maybe it’s the changing seasons, maybe it’s the good weather, or maybe it’s just that there’s so much inspiration out there….. the quilted pieces I’ve seen lately are just beautiful. I always try to imagine what women from the past would say if they saw our quilts….

Gratitudes:
1. My deer accident wasn’t more serious
2. Good days at work this week
3. Beautiful Fall weather

My folks left for Louisiana yesterday. We had a good visit. It’s kind of hard when you only see your folks once or twice a year. You can see changes in them more. Lots of cooking together, card playing, and watching football. Mom and I went shopping one day. The day they left I got my plane ticket to visit them in December. It was OK for them to go home, I just wish they could come back for Sunday dinner next week. That’s the problem with living so far away.

The day I left for Wichita Don cut out this newspaper clipping.
We’re making serious effort to organize and “de-junk” our basement. He saw these wardrobes on sale. It was like he was reading my mind. He told me to go get one and we’d paint it somehow and use it for storage. I’d always wanted one. For that price I got two—and one will hold my sewing stuff. Isn’t it just the best?!?!? The wood is knotty pine; Don was a little disappointed but I think the knots add character…

When I got home I was going through the mail and got the Main Street Cotton Shop Catalog from Hutchinson, Minnesota.
If you are unfamiliar with the shop, let me introduce you----It’s the shop below Lynette Jensen’s Thimbleberries Studio. She really captures fall and the Northwoods well in her quilting.

It’s got to be a good week—The Packers won.

We went to a service last night for a friend’s 90-year-old Mother who passed away over the weekend. It was really nice. Sometimes those things are hard to go to, but when I realized how much it meant to the Mildred’s daughter that we came, I was so glad We did. When people live such long, full lives those services aren’t sad, people often smiled and laughed with all the good memories of this lady.

We’ve got our first freeze warning of the Fall season tonight. I’m going to cover my tomato plants. While I cannot avoid the inevitable, I’m hoping to put off the eminent cold weather for a while longer. Temps are supposed to rise a little after tonight.
The Garden Angel has been replaced with the ‘Knobby -kneed’ Scarecrow.
We’re enjoying my folks and plan on attending the High school Football game tonight. Eric’s called several times; wish he could be here.
The buggy is sliding into Fall in the front yard with the sign I made for it.
There are still lots of green, but the leaves are really beginning to turn.
Here is the quilt block I completed.
It’s the bird house square. I realized as I snapped the photo that I still have to add the legs of the crow. I always add them separately and it’s pretty tedious to keep them as a connected piece. The gourds are from my garden last year. Here are the long neck gourds growing this year.

Off to make a pot of coffee for my folks, and shuffle the cards for the card game.
Gratitudes:
1. Phone calls keeping Eric in touch.
2. Chelsey surviving a hand-spring gymnastic fall.
3. Ransom’s thumping tail on the hardwood floor when we walk the room.

I’m home… I’ve got a week’s worth of posts in my head. I want to spill them out in one long post, but I decided to write you a little each day for the next few days.
What did I do on my trip? I completed a 400 page novel; I completed another block on my Primitive Garden quilt. I went to 2—yes -2 quilt shops… oh yeah… and I worked too.
The day I left it was an incredibly dreary, rainy day. I was about 50 miles out of town and saw a billboard for a quilt shop I’d always wanted to see. I glanced at my watch and decided there’s no time like the present and whipped the jeep around. A charming couple of ladies greeted me at the door and from the dreary outside all they needed was a fireplace and I would have called it home.
They made me feel like I’d been shopping there all my life. It was great therapy. After my visit and small purchases I felt like I could make the trip.
OK- dorky moment. I sat by two different women on each of my flights and made them ‘ooh and ahh’ over the feel, the color and the whole idea that one day (even if it was 10 years from now) these would be a quilt.
I made friends with several people once I got to Wichita. We were sitting and chatting about what workshops we were going to and I knew Stephanie had a rental car. I got my nerve up and said, “ Hey—if you aren’t going to the workshop…Wanna make a road trip???” She looked at me out of the corner of one eye, “Soooo, where are we going??” I laughed, “Exhale; there’s a quilt shop ten minutes away---- let’s go.” The shop was like going to my Grandmother’s literally. It specialized in old kitchen utensils and 1930’s fabrics. I chose the bobbin for a memory and a couple of yards of fabric. They bragged on my choices and I felt like my Grandmother who passed away 19 years ago was right there in the room. She would have loved that place.
We’ll chat more later--- I have quilt photos to share. My Mom and Dad are expected here any minute. For the next 4 days I will have family close.
Gratitudes:
1. Safe Travel
2. Home – there’s nothing like it
3. Friends that appreciate quilts even if they don’t sew

I’d like to tell you this was the making of a great project I’m working on. I could talk about how this was the remnants of a first place quilt project a county fair, because they are popping up all over the place this time of year. But I can’t—the truth is – it’s 3 fat quarters that I’ve packed in my lunch box as therapy today. I spend a lot of time alone in a parts room, so they will be something to dream about as I work. I can’t help but smile every time I look at them.

There hasn’t been any quilting going on—sometimes life is like that. My Sunday school room, however, looks dazzling. Eric is content back at college. He’s a sophomore now, so all the first year “jitters” are behind us.

Here are two photos of Chelsey—both firsts—her first day of her senior year in High School and her first day at the community college. She’s doing a dual-enrollment thing for college credit and taking a business law course.
Were there tears as my “baby” had her last first day at home? No---I think there was an “exhale” and a feeling of success.

As quilters I think you will appreciate this:
I found out last Thursday I will be flying to Wichita Kansas for a week leaving this Friday. I was to the point of tears. It was a conference that I thought might ”just go away” if I didn’t talk about it. But it didn’t. What were my first thoughts? Was it the opportunity to meet people in my same profession? Was it learning how to handle warranty issues for Stall Warning units on 441 planes? Was I contemplating getting the new literature on a service bulletin for a fuel control unit that we have two of the shelf of???? Not a chance—The VERY FIRST thing I thought of, well- three things—were:
1. I wonder if there’s a quilt shop there?
2. How am I going to get to that quilt shop without a rental car?
3. I’ve got to get another piece of my Primitive garden quilt cut out and pressed to pack along before Thursday….

I sat back for a split second and thought I was horrible, but then I laughed and said – No, I’m not. I think I have a real good handle on separating work from home. I realize work is important but there is life after work. And I know that I’ll always have quilting—it’s not going anywhere, and I won’t always have teenagers at home so I need to value that and I won’t always have to work, but the job does support, my kids, my quilting, and my Sunday school class.

I have a shelf of aircraft parts calling my name… I better get to work…

Take Care….

No sewing this weekend. Honestly, I didn’t even get a chance to walk in my sewing room. But sometimes life is like that. I through a minor fit about it Sunday night, but I think it was more “The weekend is over” than I didn’t quilt. I made good choices and got lots of stuff done.

Don took Eric back to Ferris Saturday morning early. Eric said-“Mom I’m going to miss your lists.” When it came to packing, the only contribution he’d let me make was a list of things to pack. He gives me a hard time, but my lists have saved his “hiney” a time or two.

Chelsey and I made a flying trip to Green Bay for a Homecoming Dress. Her high school homecoming is the second week of school. So, I figured we better check that “off the list”. Our destination was Appleton, but we stopped at one store in Green Bay for a restroom break, and I said—“Let’s just check it out”. We tried on 8 dresses, with the usual-“It’s ugly”, “it makes me look fat,” Finally, I was looking for a bigger size and found a dress—“Chelsey just try it on… no comments…try it on for me…” Viola—Enter stage left—“The Perfect dress.” From tears to happiness in a matter of twenty minutes.
I guess by her senior year I have her figured out and I don’t lose my cool. We went out to lunch and went to Hobby Lobby just to wish. Scrapbook paper was 50% off. Yeah, just like Chelsey says, “Mom, all of this paper you bought looks just like fabric…” I guess I’m pretty easy to read.
We made our purchases and headed home…
I've started collecting acorns for my sunday school class. A cheap craft--- drill holes in them and the kids string them with floral wire and we add a bible verse. The seasons are really starting to change...



I stayed up late and got the weekly house cleaning done. Sunday was church and grocery shopping. Don got back home and decided to paint a room in the basement. It’s not fair to have him do it alone, so He took the brush and I handled the roller… One more coat tonight and it’ll be complete. The room used to be the kids toy room. It’s kind of grown into a video game room… but Chelsey and I have delusions of adding an opening in the wall that connects the room to the scrapbook/sewing room and expanding our territory. Don looks at me out of the corner of one eye and says, “it ain’t gonna happen…” Oh well, a girl can dream…

Gratitudes:
Everyone’s safe travel this weekend
A job to fund the weekend
A good night’s rest

It’s Tuesday morning---I couldn’t get pictures to upload so I put off posting a day---Life is not real exciting right now, so I needed pictures to help. Not as much sewing going on over the weekend, as I would have liked, but then again, there never is. I got the blanket portion of the baby quilt done and the Panda Bear.

I figure if I do a bear a night this week, by Thursday, I’ll have it ready to stretch. I’m just going to outline quilt the bears and criss-cross the blanket portion with straight lines. With any luck this time next week, it will be complete.

Chelsey flooded the sewing/scrapbooking room with scrapbook pages that were drying, so I didn’t sew last night. It’s ok, she’s cataloging her summer and it’s fun seeing the finished product.

I worked on my bulletin boards for my Sunday school class for next quarter. After promotion Sunday, I’ll just have 13 on enrollment with only 6 regular attendees. Hopefully the number will grow, but it will be a nice break for a little while. Here’s one piece. It’s for the door and the caption will read---‘Did you bring your Heart AND your Bible to Sunday school??’
The last year I have mostly recycled old bulletin boards, but I’ve got new energy in it and Got all new pieces I’ve drawn to decorate the room… fun stuff.
I better head out to work….

Just a quick post and I’m going to get busy with the weekend. Everyone is still sleeping this morning. It’s 39 degrees and foggy heading for a high of 71. No complaints, but we could sure use the rain.
Just what I needed. Remember I told you I began the Primitive Garden Block of the month without seeing the finished quilt. I just loved block one and contemplated it for about 6 weeks and dove in. Lisa Bongean as a completed photo at her quilt shop of the project now. I’m so excited—I have 5 and ½ blocks completed. As soon as my baby quilt is done I’m ready to get back in it.
This is Eric’s last weekend home, so I hope he enjoys himself.
Gratitudes:
Cool Mornings
Quilters writing through the mail
A good night’s sleep

It’s Tuesday morning. Just a couple of lines and I’m hitting the road for work. Work went well yesterday. It was busy so you don’t have time to think about what you could be doing at home. Got home,I made a fresh pot of soup for lunches the rest of the week at work. I had picked a huge bowl of green beans, so I got them snapped and cooked for supper another night. I had a cucumber for lunch yesterday, so I was motivated to do better the rest of the week. No—it’s not diet food, I’m just cheap. I’ll treat myself to lunch out one day a week. If you do it on Monday, you have nothing to look forward to the rest of the week. Plus --- that’s quilt money being wasted on food. I had eleven teenagers for Papa Murphy’s Pizza (Coupons on great!).

I wanted to thank Libby and Devliegendekoe for the Nice Matters Award. When I started typing, I had no idea the friends I would meet.

I use to stress about working, having a family and wanting to have a little time to make a stitch or two. Who am I kidding, sometimes I still do....It was great to find that there are other wives and moms out there wanting the same thing. And there’s some kind of relief to know that there’s somebody else out there that has days and wonders, “Why can’t I do it all… because I want to…” The best part about a “Good Day” is that it’s 24 hours long. The Best part about a “bad” day is that it’s only 24 hours long and you get another shot at it tomorrow. Raising kids is hard--- no if's, and's, or but's. I always tell people with young ones, “There’s nothing sexy about raising babies, but hang in there --- you can do it…”

Here is my favorite summer photo—Eric, Chelsey and Ransom.
Every time I look at this photo I want to hug their Orthodontists---excuse the bragging rights--—but their Orthodontists did a great job and it was totally worth the year’s college tuition to give the kids great teeth… There are definitely highs and lows with all three. I think there has been more this summer than any summer before, but all three are keepers.

It’s Monday morning--- rolling out of bed is tough. Five days till the weekend. I had a great weekend; it shouldn’t be so rough getting going this morning. Not as much quilting as I had hoped, but then again there never is. At least this way I don’t get bored with it.

Don and I went to see “No Reservations”, a great show. I recommend it to everyone. We went biking riding with Eric and a date on Sunday afternoon and stopped for ice cream—Chocolate Almond fudge for me. We haven’t rode bicycles nearly enough this summer. Don finished the front steps, the major project of the summer. Maybe I’ll get pictures this we to share. I transplanted the Hostas. I hope they have time to take root before winter.

On the sewing front, Eric’s boss and wife had their baby, so I need to get this quilt complete. I’ve got the fabrics pull from my stash. I think all but one are Thimbleberries pieces. I really like the combination. I started the block strips. This is about all I completed. But I have hopes of working on it tonight.

Gratitudes:
1. Buying Groceries Sunday and never having to stress where the money is coming from. I never want to take that for Granted.

2. Kind of had the blues all weekend, and usually “tough” family took it easy on Mom.

3. Ransom always being eager to head to the garden.

I’m about to head to work, but want to type a quick post. I got Chelsey's flight schedule mixed up, so she flew out yesterday. I worked a couple of hours yesterday morning and we hit the road. We did the typical teenage pit stop—--the Mall.
After we got her to the airport and watched her go through the metal detectors I told Eric we need to stay in Green Bay until she took off, but there was no point in staying at the airport.

So the next stop was Ben Franklin's, which had big signs about going out of business. I was really disappointed, but went in and checked things out. Everything was 30% off, and so I did a little fabric maintenance….

Their yardage pieces were on sale, but I didn’t purchase any.

Her plane was delayed on the ground for maintenance issues, so I told Eric we needed to stay in Green Bay—He says—“Mom, Why?!? What difference is it going to make?” So we headed to a quilt shop….Yes, he read a book in the car, but I went window-shopping. Lots of pretty quilts, lots of wishing was done… Then we headed home.

A great day I think….

Here are zinnias from my garden.

Here is a photo of labels and fabric squares that came in the mail and just the right moment from Juliann…It’s amazing how 7 pieces of fabric, no bigger that an index card can cheer up in a split second ..….Maybe it’s not the fabric…. Maybe it’s the Quilter behind the fabric….

Gratitudes:
Chelsey’s safety in traveling
Don’s safety in a maintenance outage at work
Shrimp for supper tonight

It’s Sunday night--- I’m dreading Monday morning and work already, but I’m putting it in the back of my mind….Keep thinking about the good stuff. Teenagers are downstairs laughing as I type. It’s good having everything that matters under one roof. Eric made it home from Bible Camp this morning. Chelsey doesn’t leave for Detroit until Tuesday afternoon.

Friday night I completed-----time out….

Don just came inside and went downstairs. I heard what he said to each of those kids, “ I ought to make each of you take a walk, 10 minutes ago a teenage boy, drunk, came right down the road where your Mom, your Dog and I were walking. He spun out, totaled a car, hurt himself enough that ambulances are working on him and the State Police are standing there waiting to arrest him. Our neighbor was out cutting trees and he was almost hit. Timing is everything—Your Mom and I cut our walk short tonight… wonder what made us do it?”…. Monday morning is nothing compared to this….

Back to the good stuff. Friday night I completed the binding on the Missionary quilt. Remember it’s going to Liberia in Africa.
I think it kinda has that “Look”. It’s a real light batting and the binding is pieced together pieces of the red, blue, and green. There were errors in the instructions. The blocks were supposed to be 8 X 8, but the triangle strip only came of 6 ½ inches. There wasn’t time to make new triangles so I cut the strips and made smaller blocks.


I put four labels on it.

I named it ‘Fences and Pathways’. Fences can be really great things, they protect our garden vegetables, keep our kids in the backyard safe and keep our pups from harms way.
But fences around our hearts keep us from meeting really good people, trying new things and even letting go of the “bad stuff.” What kind of fences do you have????


Well anyway, it’s boxed up to head to Liberia tomorrow. Thanks for the “pep talks”. I think others had more faith in me than I had in myself…..

Game plan for the week---
Catch up on the 365 project
Work on the teddy bears quilt
Road trip to Green bay Tuesday
Get back to my BOMS

It’s catch up time. I can’t believe it’s August. I haven’t posted as much, but I’ve been keeping in touch. The garden is in full swing. Here are zinnias that will go on the kitchen table tonight.
I got my first batch of Snapped beans cooked last night. Chelsey’s gone to Cheerleading Camp and Eric’s at bible camp. So it was just Don and I--- not a bad thing either. I was hungry for my Mom’s home cooking, but she’s 1200 miles away. I cooked fresh corn, steaks and gravy, beans with new potatoes and cornbread. It was good, and fun to do, Don walked in from work with dinner on the table, but I couldn’t help but think Don kept looking at the dishes thinking it was too much work for one meal and two people. Oh well, leftovers tonight… so it balances out.

What have I been working on? A week ago an announcement was made that a church sponsored missionary couple that is in Liberia was having a box shipped to them economically($7 a cubic foot) on August 5th. As a quilter, the first thing I think of “A quilt has to be in the box!!!!) They have 3 kids under 6 years old. I taught the wife Sunday school twenty years ago. I think people should have quilts on lots of occasions, but with work and family, I seldom get the chance to follow through. But this time I said a prayer and decided it will all come together if it was meant to be. So I went home and glanced at my bulletin board of “quilt wishes”. You know that one--- It has quilt pictures, sample patterns in the mail, magazine clippings of things you’re gonna make “one day”. Well, I saw this piece---What turned out to be the pattern from Hell.
I pull fabrics from my stash like a mad woman and went to work on it.
My sewing machine is still broken, but I pulled out my old one Don gave me for a wedding gift. I plugged it in and again, “acted on faith” that it would work. I haven’t posted about it because, to be honest, I got scared I couldn’t follow through…But Sunday night I finished piecing it. I don’t have a picture of the completed work because I immediately had to get batting behind it and get it quilted. In the grand scheme of things it would have been great to get people from church to sign it, but there isn’t time--- maybe next time, but an idea from Leanne Beasley came to me and I’m going to do some writing on quilt labels and attach to the quilt. Some bible verses, some quilt wisdom (some words of wisdom of Finn)--- I’ll post more pictures as soon as the finishing touches are done. A confession, I brought the pattern to work to study--- I even cut up half square triangle units one morning at work when I was working by myself…. All I kept thinking was “Lord, this is for missionaries… my boss will KILL me!!!. It’s your job to take care of me. This quilt has to be made.” The pattern had measuring errors in it. It turned out to be a lot tougher than intended, and I’m not real sure it’s a real pretty quilt, but there’s a lot of heart in it. Don kept saying--- “They’re in Africa Mel--- it’s hot there….what do they need a quilt for????”

I had a $10.00 coupon at Keepsake quilting. I ordered this pattern and a spool of thread. It’s hopefully going to be for Eric’s Boss. They are expecting their 4th baby. I’ve drawn the pattern and added a 4th bear, a polar bear to the pattern. The photo doesn’t do it justice, I have seen this made up and it’s adorable and pretty easy.

The last photo is some great reading.
Lots of good ideas in both magazines. Fall colors--- where is the summer going?

One last thing--- a Chelsey moment. Yes—we’ve had a challenging summer. She headed off yesterday to Cheer Camp. “Mom, have you seen the movie, “Bring it On? I’m fixing to live that movie… it’s not going to be pretty!” We’ve been having weather in the upper 90’s. They’ll be working hard, lifting each other, no air conditioning, running, flipping and having to keep a smile the entire time. Can you imagine twenty something girls like Chelsey on one team?!?!?! (Pray for the leader!!) Well, I took the chance and having her eyes roll at me (It infuriates me) and said, “Chels, it’s going to be hot, tiring, and long. But you don’t have to be the bad guy. I guarantee if you sit back and watch, someone else will beat you to it… think about it.” Well, she didn’t roll her eyes. Maybe she listened. On the road she called from her cell. And She said---- like it was all her idea---“Mom, this is going to be the worst, it’s hot and it’s only 6 am… but I’m going to sit back and watch these girls, someone will throw a fit so I don’t have to….” Smart girl……

Gratitudes:
Quilters keeping in touch with me through email
Determination not to give up on a gift
A good week at work