Coming Home

Endeavor arrived back this afternoon right before the school bus. There was weather when it was supposed to land originally, so they diverted to Texas and piggybacked it home on an airplane. I didn't get my own picture, but this one was sent by someone from work. Everyone here is bracing for the end of the shuttle program and wondering how it will impact the area. We already have one neighbor leaving, he works directly for NASA and couldn't pass up a good offer to move out of state. They have a son Ryan's age and they play well together, so I will be sad to see them leave, but I would do the same thing in their position.
We've managed pretty well in a single parent household for the week. I am so thankful that I don't have to do this alone all the time! My mom managed from the time we were all small children, and every time I try to "go it alone", I have new respect for what she managed to do.
The quilts are all folded and ready to go. I need to clean Kurt's car out in the morning so that it is ready for carpooling, and I noticed that his back tire has a slow leak, so I should take care of that. The babysitter is coming at 1:30 to stay with Ryan, Sydney and Ryan's friend Lucas. Kurt's parents will be here sometime, they are coming off of a cruise and couldn't pin down an exact arrival. I hope it doesn't confuse the babysitter too much if they show up while I am gone. Kurt will be back in the US by early morning, but has to catch a connection and won't be home before bedtime. Sunday is another doozy with Anna singing in Church in the morning, a birthday party and OM in the afternoon as well as a holiday open house that I don't want to miss. I suppose we'll do as much as we can and count ourselves lucky to have so many options.

Oh So Close

I just connected the last binding on quilt number 40. All that remains is hand stitching on the last 4 quilts and possibly some more labels. I have a sad and pitiful version I drew with a sharpie marker that is on the quilts made by the girls. I tried to whip up a quick label with clipart and microsoft word, but I am missing an eye for graphic design that allows me to come up with something I am happy with. I'm hoping my friend Meisje will bail me out, she is much better at it than me.
I've managed to muddle through two and a half days as a single parent with no major mishaps. I thought I was in trouble when the school bus didn't come this morning, but a kind neighbor gave all of the kids a lift to school so I wasn't late to work. I stayed late at school to catch up on grading but still made it home in time to meet the bus this afternoon. Sydney had a field trip to the grocery store today and said it was, "the best day ever!". Anna finished her science fair project this afternoon and is quite proud of how adorable her board is. Ryan spent the evening making pulleys out of things he found in the toyroom and then we had lunchables for dinner.
Oh, I almost forgot the most exciting news of the day. The school librarian hooked me up with books 2, 3 and 4 in the Twilight series! Both copies of 1 were checked out, but she's going to save me one when they get turned back in. Guess what I'll be doing over Christmas break? This is the last full week of class before exams so we are winding down quickly.

Repetition

I bet you are all sick of hearing the same thing by now, but here are the next two nursing home lap quilts. I'm begining to lose track, but I think these make 35 and 36. They keep coming in and out for bindings and labels, so they aren't all in one place for ease of counting. I do know that Miss Sheila picked up another kit this afternoon before I got home and after that, there are only two more kits left in the box. I think I see a glimmer of light.
I've got another half marathon in the morning. This one is in Orlando, so I have a ride coming at 5 a.m. I'm bringing a pillow in the car! I don't have a long run scheduled this time, so I can just do the 13.1 and then quit. Kurt is leaving on a jet plane at 1, and Anna has a birthday party at 2. I said I'd stay and help out, so that means everyone is coming along. Kurt had scheduled an OM meeting for Sunday, but I made him cancel it when the other coach couldn't show up either. He let me know at 4:30 that there was a work party tonight that we were supposed to go to tonight. I tried valiantly to get a sitter, but that isn't easy to do on such short notice. He went alone while I snuggled up in flannel PJs and finished my quilts. I've got everything ready to go for morning, so I think I'll call it a night. I know there is another quilt-a-thon this weekend, I won't be able to play along, but I hope some of you are.

Progress Report

I took 30 and 32 to Daisy's yesterday to work on the binding. 33 was a kit that got finished and sent out for hand stitching before I thought to take a picture. However, 34 and 35 came back to have the bindings attached. These two were made under Miss Sheila's supervision by two of our kind neighbors. I think the florals are very pretty and the workmanship is excellent.
Anna has been working diligently on her science fair project. She is testing different surfaces to see which ones show fingerprints the best. She had me bring a fingerprint kit home from my forensic science class and practiced yesterday lifting latent prints from a tile.

Deadline Nears

Last night was our Girl Scout Troop meeting. The girls signed labels for their quilts and we practiced singing the Christmas carols we are going to perform when we go to the nursing home to present the quilts. Only two weeks to go.
I thought I would get lots done on the Thanksgiving weekend, but that never panned out. Instead I got back to work today trying to finish up enough to get us to our goal of 40 quilts. The Shoofly Orphan Quilt (#30) was already layered and basted, so I used a large scale meander to get it quilted up in a real hurry. I am not exaggerating when I say I had less than 15 minutes until it was time for the school bus to come, and I was there in plenty of time!
After dinner I got the second OC Orphan Quilt (#32) ironed and went ahead and layered and basted it. Using the same big meandering idea, I finished it off right after the kids went to bed. It took a few minutes to make up some binding and stitch it on, now I can add both of those to my list! I have enough kits that I should be able to get to my goal by just finishing off the last of those, but I'm having so much fun finishing off orphans and extras. At some point practicality will settle in and I'll realize I need to finish it all off. I think I timed myself on the last kit quilt I put together and it took less than half an hour start to finish. Given that math, I have plenty of time to squander.

32 Marks the End of my OC Orphans

I'm not quite sure why I had so many extra Orange Crush Blocks. I think it was supposed to make a bigger quilt. Mine was twin sized to fit on Sydney's bunk bed. Having only 7 blocks to work with, I stretched them a bit with four patches from the leaders and enders basket. One of the blocks was sewn wrong, so I put it in the middle to make it look less like a mistake. It's not pressed yet, but I need to head in for the night. I'm getting up obscenely early to to go shopping with my neighbor Barbara.
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. This year I am thankful that my kind neighbor invited us to her house so that I didn't have to cook. We won't see our families again until Christmas this year which is very unusual for us. It might be the first year that we haven't either been either traveling or having company. It was really lovely to just be able to walk down the street carrying a few side dishes and visit with people instead of rushing around the kitchen.

31 was a Gift from Afar

One of the Girl Scouts wasn't able to make our quilting bee and asked to have kit sent home to finish later. Her mom was kind enough to send pictures of her working on the quilt. Look at what a great job she's doing!
I hope everyone is having a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving.

Number 30 was a Stack of Orphans

I had some orphan blocks from orange crush, some were extras from the actual quilt, and some were failed attempts at a combination of yellow and green that I decided against using. They are a little bit random I must admit, but they are all together now to make up quilt top number 30. I'm going running now, but I should be able to get it quilted up when I get home. Maybe some loopy flowers this time?

Long Weekend Preparations

Ryan was supposed to bring a dish to a Thanksgiving feast at school today. I volunteered to make cranberries, because I had already volunteered to bring them to our neighbors house for Thanksgiving dinner along with some pies. I really object to the "Jello" cranberry sauce that comes out of the cans and ends up slapped on a plate vibrating with the can ridges still plainly visible. Instead, I make a pineapple cranberry chutney that is really simple and quite tasty. Best of all, it does not at all resemble a can of any kind. I whipped up a batch last night after I got home from the academic team competition, before writing the binding tutorial. I like recipes with nice even number because they are easier to remember. I saw this book that had all quilt patterns using one layer cake, one charm pack and 1 jelly roll. Easy to shop for and easy to remember. I;m not one to stand in a fabric store with a list saying, "I'll have 3/8 of a yard of the blue floral and 1/3 of a yard on the yellow stripe."

Recipe for Cranberry Pineapple Chutney:
1 bag of fresh cranberries (12 oz)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 can of crushed pineapple (14 oz)
a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and or pumpkin pie spice to taste.

1. Dissolve sugar in water and bring to a boil.
2. Add cranberries and reduce to simmer for 5-10 minutes
3. Add pineapple with juice and sprinkle in spices
4. Continue to simmer and stir until well mixed
5. Allow to cool and then chill for up to 2 weeks before serving


I also got my race packet for Sunday's half marathon. My running partner was nice enough to pick it up for me from the running store. He's doing the whole marathon, so I'm going to stick around to see the end, even though I'm only running the first half. I am feeling like such a slacker, but I'm also supposed to be doing a 20 mile training run for the February marathon, so I'll see how that goes.
I just finished up the quilting on number 29. I used random loops and even got the binding sewn on! I used another method of joining the ends, so if I have time tonight, I'll put together another quick tutorial. There is a third method that I have yet to master, but maybe I'll give it a try again. I think math is required. We just got back from a department meeting at school and the kids have already scattered on various play dates. I should go hunt up something for dinner, I cooked last night for everyone else, but never got a chance to eat. I'm supposed to run tonight, but I'm not feeling horribly motivated. I need to put all the grades into the computer that I finished up on Friday. I've been giving a quiz every day just to try to keep the kids doing something before the long weekend. I don't know why I try so hard to keep making more work for myself.

And then came 29

I didn't want to change the thread on my machine until I had finished this quilt that I cut out yesterday. More of the Dresden Plate wedges, but with pink this time instead of the white. I had a mental moment when cutting the strips and made them too short. Instead of piecing them together or starting again, I just added a top and bottom border to make the size right. I guess it doesn't really matter, but I am trying to make them all about the same size. Kurt thinks it looks like a big Roman Numeral 3. I'll switch to my quilting foot tomorrow and get both of these quilted up. I'll do a quick binding tutorial at the same time, 'cause Amy is having trouble turning corners. I am now quite adept after about 116 corners on these little guys alone! I also have a nifty new shortcut for joining the ends. I'm sure someone else has done it before, but it is new to me. Tune in tomorrow for all this and more!

28, But Who's Counting?

This is Lap Quilt number 28! I stitched the binding down on number 27 last night while we corrupted the children with Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The black and taupe four patches are from Goodwill shirts, and the gold print is something I had in the donation box. Kurt suggested the gold border to brighten it up a bit. It is spray basted, maybe I'll be able to get it quilted and bound while the kids have their baths and showers tonight. I have a variegated gold thread from Connecting Threads that should do the trick nicely.
We had Odyssey of the Mind this afternoon, and since we have it at our house, I spent some time clearing the dining room out again and moving my sewing things back into the guest bedroom. My parent-in-laws are coming through in a couple of weeks on the way home from a cruise, so I'll have to find out if they are staying over night to find out if I need to move everything out of the guest room and into the laundry room where it is supposed to live. There was an option to build our house with an extra room upstairs next to the toy room. Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to have a Studio where I could leave everything on a permanent basis. Maybe I can turn the toy room into that when the kids have outgrown toys. (It could happen;-))
Today was a lovely and relaxing Sunday. I didn't run this morning, and so relaxed with the Sunday paper. We spent a good bit of time outside playing, the weather was just about perfect. The kids cleaned the toy room with a minimum of fuss and then I took Anna out to buy a couple of new pairs of jeans. It's been so cold for almost two weeks now, that they have needed long pants every day! Very unusual for us, and we just didn't have that many pairs of long pants. I went for a run right after OM ended (just 6 miles), and got back just in time to shower before dinner. We're watching Kung Fu panda again now, getting ready for baths and bed. Not a bad weekend at all.
DARN, I just looked at the quilt picture and realized one of the four patches is rotated! Oh well, it is too late now to do anything about it. I'll call it a humility patch and move on with my life. I've always found it funny that anyone would feel the need to deliberately make mistakes in a quilt. Mine have enough naturally occurring mishaps.

Getting Closer Every Day

I'm not sure yet what the magic number is for lap quilts to take to the nursing home next month. But we are getting pretty close I think. This is a stack of 26 quilts almost ready to go. the 10 on the top still need their bindings stitched down, but the 16 on the bottom are done and ready to be delivered. Now I need to decide if I'm going to find something good on TV so I can sit and do hand stitching or go finish off the next two that I have in the works. I might compromise and cut out some men's shirts blocks. I cut two shirts apart on Thursday while watching the kids play outside. Now I need to turn them into strips and squares. I've also got another pile of edge trimmings to sort through, looking for usable scraps. I'm having so much fun playing with all this fabric. Maybe it's my short attention span, but it is so much fun to be looking at a new color combination every few minutes.

Fall Festival

Today was our annual fall festival at the kids school. It is the big fund raiser for the year for PTA and everyone puts in an appearance. We gave the kids $5 each in tickets and told them we could stay until they were gone. They chose the dunk booth, hair and face painting, a couple of bounce houses, crafts and carnival games. We did all of that and managed to make it home in just 2 hours. Not bad at all. Usually it in hot and sweaty, but this year is was almost chilly, with a brisk fall feel to the air.
I managed to stay late at work yesterday and get caught up on all of my grading. I love the satisfaction of empty "in" folders! I'm not sure how I managed to fill them all up so quickly after interims, but at least I'm up to date again. Then we visited the video store and all snuggled up on the couch with the movie Kung Fu Panda.

I managed to get in some serious machine time after all of that and am just about ready to finish up my parts on the last of the lap quilts. Some of the girls' work needed some minor cosmetic surgery to seal missed seams and flatten out bubbles, so I took care of those odds and ends while I put on the bindings. Miss Sheila is still doing the hand stitching, so that leaves me to make a few more quilts I hope. I also quilted the Dresden stripes using a meander in the stripes and some flowers and vines in the white stripes. I think we are getting close to our goal. I have to find out exactly how many residents are currently in our section of the nursing home so I know what the magic number is.

Dresden Stripes

I peeled the first 15 feet off of the Dresden plates strip and pieced together this stripy lap quilt. Kurt declared it "rather subdued" compared to my recent creations and said he actually liked this one. I guess you can follow the logic about what he thinks of my recent lap quilts. Maybe I'll do something decorative with the quilting. If I keep using the same basic pattern, I should be able make about 3 or 4 more of these, maybe I'll switch up the colors a little on the others.
Today was a Daisy Day for Sydney and she decided that she needed me to be there with her, so we all sat through another meeting this afternoon. It's not my turn for chess club chaperoning tomorrow, so I might make it through a few days in a row without a meeting to which I have to drag unwilling children.
It is still cold here, but I put on lots of layers and got in 5 miles with my running partner Tom tonight. I have a half marathon on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, so I should start to think about that. Hopefully it will stay cold for a while, the last three years have been unseasonably warm. It's much easier to run a marathon in the cold than in the heat.

Slow and Steady

Sydney learned a new song in music class. It starts, "Slow and steady, always ready, I will get there some day soon." Then the second verse starts, "I'm the fastest bunny rabbit, running is my happy habit." I like to think I'm the slow and steady, but lately I've been more like the rabid rabbit.
Last night was the second quilting session for our Girl Scout Troop. We are making good progress on the quilts. I always have a bell ringer to keep the girls busy while everyone is showing up. Last night I had them work on hand sewing the bindings on the quilts we had already finished. They are all still seriously lacking the fine motor skills to handle a blind hem stitch, but they gave it a good try. It was so busy that I forgot to take pictures, but when the quilts are finished, I'll get a picture of all of the girls with their quilts. They are all pretty proud of themselves.
Tonight was the leader meeting and training for cookie sales. We don't start selling cookies until January, but there won't be any more of the service unit meetings until after then. Kurt has clients in from out of town, so he's been out with them for the past two evenings. Sydney and Ryan entertained themselves in front of the TV last night during scouts, and all three of the kids came with me to tonight's meeting. I'll have to spend some quality time with them tomorrow to make up for it, because they were all very good.
Obviously there hasn't been a lot of progress on a personal quilting front. I finished chaining together the rest of my leftover Dresden plate blades. The plan was to turn them into a couple of lap quilts, but when I finished putting them together, I stretched them up and down the stairs and there were 6 flights! I Wrapped them up around a 12 inch ruler and counted 53 feet. I guess that is a little more than a couple of lap quilts. It does demonstrate the power of leaders and enders though, all of that was "free" sewing.
I finished gathering up the trimmings from the finished lap quilts and threw everything into my scrap basket. It is overflowing with lots of good stuff. Maybe my weekend project will be sorting through and cutting some more bits and pieces. It is like meditating for me, but with pretty colors. I also ordered a couple of scrap bags from Homestead Hearth, which I had seen linked in someones blog. They had some great sale fabric and I got several cuts along with the scraps. They have been washed, and are waiting to be ironed now, so I can get them put away.
I hope you are all having a good week, there is a cold snap here, and if it doesn't end soon we may have to turn on the heat! It made me think of the snow flurries I've seen mentioned already in other people's blogs and give thanks for living in Florida where our high near 69, low in the middle 40s seems like a hardship. The kids have had to find long pants and jackets! Happy quilting to you all, and stay warm and safe.

Therapy

It was a long and painful week. I thought I might be too tired and grumpy to quilt this weekend. I was wrong. All the kids and the husband were dead asleep by 9:00 so I thought I'd just putter on the lap quilts for a bit. I had a pile of trimmings to sort through for scraps and a couple of bindings to sew down.
One thing led to another and I decided to do a little work on the teal slice and dice squares I sewed together last weekend. I think the only way to get better at free motion is just to keep practicing. I was going for a pointy kind of swirl on this one. Some of the points ended up a little round, but I'm happy with the overall effect. I am a much happier and calmer person after a good dose of quilting therapy.

Ryan had a chess tournament today, so most of the day for me was spent sitting and waiting. He had a good day, and ended up with a first place trophy in the "under" division which is for the lower ranked players. He didn't care what division it was, he got a trophy and was a happy kid.

Sunday Part 2

So much happened yesterday that I wasn't able to fit it all into one post. I forgot to give the details on the VERY LONG 17 mile run that started the day. My running partner Tom went with me, even though he had done a 15 K race the day before, he is a real trooper. I have decided that it doesn't matter how far I have to go on a long run, the last 3 miles are always painful. I did 15 miles two weeks ago and was happy for the first 12. Yesterday I had 14 good miles and then hated every step of rest of the run. So I guess if I want to have a happy marathon in February I'd better make sure I train up to 29 miles ahead of time!? Well, I was pretty tired for the rest of the day and would have loved to have curled up in bed for a power nap. Instead, I took a whirlpool bath and then took Sydney out for a special mommy-daughter lunch.
That got us back in time for quilting, which I told y'all about yesterday, it ended at 4. Girl Scout roller skating started at 4:30 and so I drove 4 singing 9 year olds and Sydney down to the roller-rink and did the usual girl scout leader supervision thing. I was mostly just hoping I didn't have to put on skates myself, because my calf muscles were still protesting the last three miles of my morning run. Miss Sheila brought her own skates, which let me off the hook for actually having to skate.
This is the first year that Sydney has been old enough to go, and she had a blast! Her daisy troop didn't want to go because they thought the girls weren't old enough to roller skate. Sydney obviously disagreed. She put on her little helmet, and borrowed a pair of my socks, and she just went to town! Whatever she does, she does it with enthusiasm. I have to give her credit for that. I was surprised that she didn't fall asleep in the car, but she was mostly passed out on her chair at the dinner table. She did wake up long enough to tell us that it was the best night of her life.
Today was a normal day at school. We are talking about hair in forensic science and valence shell repulsion theory in chemistry. Academic team met at lunch and then I came home to try to get nuts and candy sales figured out before the 5 p.m. deadline. The kids got home with reports about then ins and outs of their days, and after homework they let me have a few minutes at the sewing machine. I got three of the completed quilts trimmed down and the bindings attached. They are all looking great! Miss Sheila is going to hand stitch the bindings for me. I don't know how I'd survive all of this without her.
We had a Service Unit Team meeting for Girl Scouts tonight, and it was a potluck for which you were supposed to bring baked goods to share. Not being able to fit any baking into my recent schedule, Sheila did the baking for both of us. I've just gotten back now, and am wondering if I'll pull out some papers to grade or just collapse. Collapsing might win out, I can always power through some lab reports in the morning because Pascal, another of my running partners wants to run in the evenings this week because her mornings are too hectic. I guess I can understand how that could happen.

Girl Scout Quilting Extravaganza!!!

Today was finally the day! I had done two quilting sessions with my own girls, and we have a stack of quilts ready to go, but today was the day that I hosted another troop for a quilt making session. So, to all the Girl Scouts who gave up their Sunday afternoon to make quilts that they don't even get to keep, thank you so much for all your hard work and amazing effort! I promise, if you want to make another quilt to keep for yourselves, I'll be happy to help you do that as well.


For anyone who hasn't been with me from the begining, it all started with Christmas caroling last year. One of the moms from our troop worked at a nursing home, and made arrangements for our girls to go caroling during one of our regular meetings.

Sheila, my co-leader is always so thoughtful, and brought along a board game as a gift to leave for the residents. The girls enjoyed the experience, and we planned to return again this year. In talking to Ashlyn, one of the ladies I run with, about our caroling, we realized that we had both gone to the same nursing home to sing. Her grandmother is a resident there. And so things simmered in my head.

Trying as I do, to bring quilting into every aspect of my life, I thought about how nice it would be to bring quilts as gifts instead of a board game. I made a couple of prototypes to test patterns and sizes, which Ashyln brought to her grandmother for a "test drive".

Given that there are about 30 residents within one specific section of the facility, I thought we could try to make a quilt for each person. After bouncing the idea off of Sheila, she decided it was a great idea, and started soliciting fabric donations from ladies in her church.
The fabric began to flow in, bags and stacks at a time! I sent out word as well, and soon we had plenty of fabric to work with. I kitted it up into pre-cut strips ready to be sewn together in a quilt as you go fashion. There was a practice session this summer where we worked out the kinks and made about 5 quilts.

I've been adding to the stack with my own experiments and creations for the past few months as well. And then today, Ashlyn brought over her troop, along with her mother and co-leader, and we sewed and sewed and sewed. The girls all did such a phenomenal job! They picked up on the procedure right away, and with only a little reverse sewing, we managed to produce 7 finished quilts in just 3 hours! It was amazing. I've just got to trim off the edges and sew on the binding and labels and we will have a LOT of quilts ready to add to the stack.

Now we just need to find a date so that we can all go caroling together this year and present the quilts to the residents around Christmas time.
Look at all the amazing work the girls did! They planned out the strip placement and immediately figured out how to make the machines work. Not a single girl sewed through her fingers or stuck herself with a pin. Each of them produced and entire quilt in just 3 hours!!
So to all the girls and to all the leaders and co-leaders. Thank you so much for all your help in making this idea into something real. Check out the pride on those faces! And look at how beautiful those quilts are!! You are all amazing!!!
Tomorrow I'll update you on the Girl Scout roller skating party and the 17 mile long run I also managed to fit in today. Needless to say, I am so tired that I am in actual pain, but I am going to go now and sleep it all off.

If Every Day Were Saturday

There was a 15 K this morning that everyone was running, and I really should have done it, but Ice Skating doubled up with Cub Scouts this morning, and two parental units were needed to make all of that happen. After that, I spent the afternoon getting ready for tomorrow's big quilting extravaganza. I was afraid our troop wouldn't get enough done, so I invited over another troop to use as extra help. Miss Sheila came over after lunch and we got the backs pressed, the batting layered and the bindings pressed and ready to go. When my troop worked on the quilts on Monday they had trouble getting the first strip to lay flat and true. Hopefully the preparation will make the actual quilting go more smoothly. We'll be quilting from 1 to 4 and then skating from 4:30 to 6:30, so the afternoon should be busy.
After the prep work, I went ahead and chained through some blocks that had been laid out earlier. I got some 10 inch squares from Keepsake Quilting a while ago and went ahead and layer cut those into a modified 9 patch. I think there used to be more brown blocks, but I stole them for the OHR quilt. I'll come up with something for a border on this one and it will be just the perfect size for another lap quilt. I also put together the extra geese units from Dad's Plaids, but I won't have a picture of those until they are together as a flimsy. While watching the election returns on Thursday I was puttering around on the computer and put in an order for some goodies from Z&S Fabrics. They had some REALLY good sales going on, and I got a couple of backing lengths, but mostly half yard cuts of things that I liked. I found quite a few black and brights, but also a few Christmas fabrics and a collection that might turn into a princess quilt for my niece. I should start wrapping things up for the day, it's starting to get late and I'm feeding the neighbors dog while she is out of town for the evening. I have a long runs scheduled in the morning, so I need a good nights rest.

Wonderful Weekend

It is Friday, long awaited and much appreciated! If the week had lasted another day, I'm not sure I would have made it all the way through! And so, I celebrated the begining of the weekend by finishing off the string quilt I started on election night. Because most of it was finished during election results, I'm going to call it the election quilt (not exactly original, but its a charity quilt after all). It will go in the stack with the other quilts for the nursing home. I'm not sure how big the stack will be by Christmas, but it is looking good so far. I have a quilting workshop tomorrow with another troop of Girl Scouts, so that should help the total grow some more.
It was good to have Kurt back in town again, even though this was a short trip. We went out to dinner on Thursday and he was telling me about a poster at work that they had made from an advertising photo he posed for recently. I thought it was funny enough to see him on the company web site, I couldn't imagine a huge cardboard cutout of him! I joked that he should bring one home to keep me company when he is out of town again in December. So here are the kids posing with the not quite life sized poster which I am now calling "Mini Dad"