Goodness gracious--posts have been sparse lately. But things are happening; life goes on.

My most exciting recent event was a fast trip to Miami with my daughter to visit an old friend of hers (and mine). The girls were friends from 1st grade on, and have kept in touch despite numerous address changes, academic challenges, and other obstacles. I love them both so much and being all together for a weekend was the best possible gift.

I now have positive proof that those of us who live in Wisconsin are seriously insane. Miami was balmy, sunny, full of Latin atmosphere, and people in SHORTS and SANDALS. (In contrast, I'm sitting here right now in wool socks, one of the Landsend turtlenecks my daughter advises me to de-emphasize in my wardrobe, and the heaviest wool sweater I can find. Brrr!)

Our friends live right on the beach


and the sound of waves is the audio wallpaper of their lives. Not too shabby.

I got to revisit a quilt I made for Caroline's friend nearly a decade ago.


This was one quilt that got away from me before it was photographed, so I made sure to get a few shots of it.



The block was basically an elaborate Ninepatch sashed with rectangular Snowball blocks and with standard Ninepatches as corner blocks.


I'm not a pink person, but I liked the funky pinks in this quilt ten years ago, and I still like them. But hmm...what would I do differently now, ten years later? Make the blocks SMALLER, that's what.


It took me a good week to get back up to speed after the Miami trip--laundry, an empty pantry, houseguests, and Mr. Kathie's impending trip to a ski jumping tournament all have taken up precious sewing time.

With Mr. Kathie gone this weekend, I've embarked on an ambitious non-sewing project: I'm trying to organize one hundred years of family photos.


The recent pictures are fairly well organized. But I'm the repository of all the family photo archives. Until lately, they've been living in about six different places, all in chaos. This weekend, I'm determined to get photos sorted, labeled, and stored in a way that protects them and makes sense.

A BIG job.

Heading South

My big Christmas gift was a long weekend in Florida. And that weekend is HERE. I'm flying from Wisconsin, my daughter is flying from DC, and we'll meet in Miami Friday night for a weekend visit with an old friend from our Cincinnati days. Even a couple days' respite from the grind of winter will be a treat.

Trying to get my mindset away from turtlenecks and woolly sweaters, and tune in more to this sort of thing:


At least my feet are ready for Florida.



And the rest of me is working hard on it.

Back soon.

January Wedding

A friend's daughter was married on a snowy January night in a warm and elegant family-centered ceremony.

It was a bittersweet celebration as the groom's mother had passed away only last week. But doors close and new windows open, even in the chilliest season. We toasted life, love, and the happy bride and groom in front of a roaring fireplace and felt the chill melt away.

Congratulations to Josh and Michele.

Christmas week has passed in a dizzy high-caloric whirl. This above, was my actual breakfast on December 26. Oink.

New Years celebrations and a family birthday have only added more buzz to my maxed-out sugar consumption. And there's no sign of the end of festivities. Dinner with friends in Chicago is planned for Saturday night, this coming week there will be two parties and a wedding, with a big trip coming up in two weeks. When are things supposed to slow down?

Clearly, challenging times call for strong measures and self-discipline. Ha.

So. Today I backed away from the cookie platter, swallowed hard, and descended into the morass that is my sewing room. After about half an hour of digging and semi-organizing, I was able to find the work table--major accomplishment. I NEED to get sewing. The deadline for the next mini star block exchange is looming. One week to go, and there are sixteen devilish little star blocks to make.

On friends' recommendation, I bought a set of Quilt in a Day Mini Geese Rulers to help with the construction of these little blocks.


I had been making the star points with connector corners, which is an inexact method at best. But these rulers...have any of you used them? And what do you think?



I can't complain about the results--they make perfect little star points, and would also produce slick little flying geese. But I'm not sure I'm having fun. I'm doing a lot of grunting as I do this grunt work.



Maybe I just need to get more comfortable with the process; then perhaps I can crank out the little units more efficiently, without feeling homicidal.

Opinions welcome...

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