Protective Headgear

Well, you have to look sideways at this one - I turned it right side up in Photags, but it's not working for the blog.

I am in a study for protective headwear here on campus.  This "cap" is supposed to protect from concussion if I fall.  I get to wear it for 3 full days.  The next model is going to be more airy - but one of our residents said she can't wear her glasses with that one.  Ah, well - we get $50 for being in the study, so I guess I can give it a fair trial.

This is one of the quilts that I thought I could finish before the end of the year.  All it needed was to be bound and washed.  Since I hadn't washed any of the fabric before I pieced it, I used Retayne and cold water to wash it - blacks/reds and white.  You can almost tell the border is a dark red.  It is 69" square.

I bought the fabrics on one of my Central California Quilt Runs - fat quarters when possible and 1/2 yard if they were pre-cut.

Pouring down rain here.  The dogs and I went outside this morning [just cold, not wet] and JoJo did not like the cold.  I have a sweater for him that he will have to wear tomorrow since I don't want to carry him again.

Thanksgiving

Off to Morro Bay, CA for a weekend of beach and food!!

I finished the quilt for my great-granddaughter, Keeley [she likes giraffes].  It is 72" x 84" and has the green fabric on the back. 

The next one is for Carter Joseph born in mid-September.  It just kept growing and is about 42" square.   It has the purple fabric on the back.

On the way home I drove from the coast to hiway 101 along hiway 41 and found this scarecrow by the mailbox of a farm

I even went to the Cotton Ball quilt shop in Morro Bay for a piece of yellow fabric so I could make and sew on the label for the baby quilt.

As I passed it the first time I thought, "oops, the scarecrow fell over".  Hah!!

It was a great weekend - lots of food - 22 folks at the dinner table.  I haven't been to a family dinner that large for probably more than 30 years.

Shuttle Endeavour

On Friday, October 12th several of us went to see the shuttle Endeavour.  It was parked in a commercial parking lot just outside the Los Angeles, CA, airport.

That's me in the wild t-shirt.  We couldn't go up to the shuttle but we were not very far back from it.  Even though the news media had announced that there would be a lot of security it wasn't very restrictive.  The people were moving all the time so the "crowds" were not bad at all.

Here are the "crowds".  People kept coming and going since the shuttle wasn't moving so there was no great mass of folks.  The only time it got crowded was when a schoolbus would let of a crowd of kids - but they were there and gone within a short period of time.

If you enlarge this photo you can see the news vans parked around the outer edge of the parking lot.

We did not get to see it move through the streets [we had to be back home before it started it's trip] but it was fun to be a part of the excitement that day.

Cleaning [ who? me?]

Still here - although not very verbose lately.

I cleaned out my closet by my front door [it's a full closet filled with "stuff" including 2 giant tubs that have been there for over 5 years].

The above photo is "BEFORE" - can you wonder why I never knew what I had?

Here is "AFTER" - so much fabric.

The hanging clothing and shoe holders are just perfect for fabric [and some shoes]

I found some little homemade dolls [purchased] that will sit and guard my 'stash'

Just to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking [well, walking anyway].

Twenty of us residents and 5 administration got to eat lunch with Huell Howser about 2 weeks ago and here's proof!

I'm also still quilting like a fiend - making a large quilt for our annual live auction at our Cinco de Mayo celebration and a smaller chili pepper quilt for our silent auction.

I had to have Chico euthanized this last November. His kidneys finally gave out with all his medications. He was 13 years old and I had been his Mom for 11 of those years. While I was sorry to see him go, he also had arthritis that made it difficult to put on his harness for walks and I felt guilty leaving him at home.

Little Bit and I will check out dogs later this summer [I have a friend who works at a vet's so will have and "in" with rescue dogs].

I'm baaaack! I was in the Duarte 15th annual Route 66 parade on Saturday the 18th of September. Got to ride in a '58 Corvette with a nice man as my driver. You can't really tell it's me, but it is - hat and all.

The bus from Westminster Gardens was also there with a 3rd vehicle [an old truck - sorry, don't know the year or make or model] with one of our couples sitting in the back.

I went to Asilomar for the Empty Spools Seminar in June with Louise [she wasn't in my class] and Marie W. and Sandy [who were in the Dear Jane class with me]. Fun week with lots of food, walking and just plain fun! The teacher, Brenda Papadakis, was fun.

Yes, I've been quilting all this time. Among other things, I've completed a bed quilt for one of our residents, a lap size quilt for the home office [SCPH] annual golf tournament, and several tops for assisted living. Each incoming resident to assisted living gets a quilt when they have their "welcome" party.

I'm going to try to behave this year and post at least weekly on the blog.


Our mini-group has decided to swap pairs of 5" blocks this year, with each month being a different color. With 11 ladies in the group - and 3 different pairs of fabrics from each one - that is going to be 396 pairs of fabrics at the end of the year [totaling 792 5" squares]











We started with orange fabrics - and here are a few of the sets. There wasn't a single one that was a duplicate - what fun!







Then I started playing with scrap fabric from my stash to see what pattern I think I want to work with for a year. My first one was Crossroads to Jericho - but using 4 different fabrics in each block meant that I was going to have to wait 4 whole months before I could make blocks from my swap fabrics.














The next trial was this Tripel Four Patch block. I will use 2 different patterns - one with just 3 fabrics and one with 4 fabrics.

I think I like the 4 fabric one best, at least in these colors.

For those of you who were following last years blog - our quilting group on the retirement grounds finished 31 quilts [well - I did 27 of them] and we gave them to the residents of our assisted living lodges at their Christmas party. They still comment on them [favorable] and there were extras to be given as new folks either moved in permanently or temporarily [for illness].

I am president of our resident's association this year and have been attending a variety of meetings outside the campus - along with Westminster Garden Board of Directors meetings. This, of course, meant that I had to find some "presidential" clothing [so far a suit jacket, light colored sweater, black pants that are actually dressy jeans, and black shoes that are NOT tennis shoes]. I've picked up a couple of tops to wear under the jacket, and will look for some scarfs [scarves?] to dress everything up.