My Quilty Friends

I belong to two quilt guilds. One is local and one is online. Each offers something different. The online guild, at quiltingboard.com, is slightly addictive. There are members from all over the world who mainly gather to talk about quilting and share their projects. If you are there checking posts everyday, you get to know these other quilters. I've never been on an online anything, so what I describe may sound familiar to you.

I love it because at any time you can ask a question, ask for help on a project, or just share something going on in your life. Then you can also answer questions or comment or help someone else.

There are also areas for selling quilty stuff, sharing topics other than quilting. There are loads of tutorials written by members which are amazing!

I have learned so much from them, for example: I learned a super way to do bindings that make them look like what you see in a quilt show. I learned to starch my fabric, use templates in quilting, etc. One woman has her own way of making familiar blocks called the cutaway method--it's fantastic, it taught me a whole new easy way to make HST (half square triangles).

These quilters, I call them my quilty friends, are supportive too. When my second daughter went into labor with her very first baby, she called me at 4 a.m. to give me the news. I was thrilled, but there was also no way I was going to go back to sleep! I sat down at my computer and posted that my daughter was in labor. As I sat there, replies starting coming in from all over the world. Other quilters congratulating me, reminiscing about their grandchildren, and just saying hi. It was a warm way to spend the four hours until I had to go to work.

Right now I'm involved in a couple of projects on the board and that's what I'm working on during the vacation. On Friday I'll tell you about a major project we're doing, my quilty friends and I.

One Day to Vacation!

It's one more day of teaching and then it's Thanksgiving Vacation! I am so excited, which is why I'm sitting up at the unheard of hour of 12:30 a.m. and starting a blog. I rarely go to bed on time the night before the day before the last day before vacation. (And if you followed all those befores, you're more alert than I am.

I watched a great movie tonight, all in the anticipatory/celebratory state of the day before... Have you seen Second Hand Lions? It came out in 2003 and I actually watched it for the first time about six months ago. I ended up buying the DVD and watched it again tonight. It stars Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment (from Sixth Sense). This is a movie that is sweet, quirky, utterly adorable, and it made me cry a couple of times. But it was a good cry.

It's also a great movie for families. It's rated PG. There's no cussing, no sex or nudity, no vulgar or coarse language. It's refreshing to watch a movie that has good character development, an unusual plot line, engaging actors and story.
What a gem! You'll love Haley Joel Osment with his almost-puberty cracking voice. If you have kids, I'd say they should be 12 or older to watch to really get it. I'm basing this on my 10-year-old grandson...I think it would amuse him and he'd enjoy it, but wouldn't get the meaning.

I always love to watch movies with the family on Thanksgiving Break, so you might want to check this one out!

And so it goes....my day.....my thoughts.....