Happy Birthday, Marion!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARION...

I do sooo hope you are feeling well -- enjoying the beautiful weather in sunny Florida. Here are some pictures from our last ROAD TRIP -- and I am looking forward to our summer Midwest Road Trip...

To the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, Minnesota. As you know, Mary is in Iowa this week -- and we plan to eat chocolate cake today to celebrate your birthday.

WISH YOU WERE HERE...

PRE-BIRTHDAY WISHES...

JUST BECAUSE I CAN....and because she really might need it this year -- this is a pre-Happy Birthday Post for my friend Marion.

Mary's Visit

Today, Mary arrives for her annual visit to Iowa. We will be busy...there are some great museum fiber arts exhibits around town -- a day trip to Iowa City for some thrifting -- dinner with John, catching up with the TMBC and the old crew from Rita's Sew Fun...

We have to plan our ALL BRAND NEW SHOW for Sewing Weekend in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

So -- for the next few days -- I may be so busy living my life I won't have time to blog about it...

But -- NEXT MONDAY --  I promise you -- there will be PICTURES POSTED OF MY LAUNDRY ROOM.  The absolute, unvarnished, "before" shots.

Grandma Day

My sister Ronda lives about a mile away...and her granddaughter, Memphis, lives on the same road. We have an accidental tradition of doing something fun with "our girls" the week between Christmas and New Year's.

The way the world works -- their parents have to get back to work that week -- and -- hey -- WE ARE RETIRED. And, therefore, we have the time to spend...and we are DElighted to do it.

One year, we took them to the Discovery Center in Clinton, Iowa. Afterwards, lunch at the McDonald's playground...

This year, on a cold, bitter day -- we all ended up at Ronda's house. Memphis and Lillian picked out enough squares of flannel fabrics to make their own ragged edge blankets.

First of all, I must explain Ronda's particular "stash" mentality. I collect pithy t-shirts. My sister Ronda collects flannel fabrics. SHE LOVES THEM.  And, like all collectors, the joy is in the HUNT.  Ronda is the first one at JoAnn Fabrics at 5:00 AM on Black Friday, but the shopping goes on year around.  She discovers every 50% off coupon -- and prides herself on never paying more than $4 per yard.

She brings the flannel home, washes it, dries it, squares off the edges, then rotary cuts every bit of it into 12"squares.  She sorts it according to two major categories:  color and theme.  Then she stores the squares in clear plastic tubs.

For example, there are many "baby girl" tubs...and just as many "baby boy" tubs.  Then, there is an outdoor/green tub, and an outdoor/brown tub...some common themes might be:  solids, stripes, (all according to color); butterflies, animals, polka dots,  tie-died, pigs (own a place of honor and fill many tubs), horses, cows, dogs, fishing...well, you get the idea.

Rhonda can whip up a large ragged edge blanket in just a few days.

Sometimes, she puts them together just to have on hand...waiting for the right occasion or recipient...

But, most of the time, she is making a quilt for a specific new baby or birthday present for a friend or a grandchild...

Her signature is always one lone PIG square on the back of the blanket.

I

Lilly had a lot of butterflies and pastel colors.  I didn't have my camera with me at Ronda's house -- but Memphis picked out mostly polka dots -- and lots of brown squares...

Lilly is pointing to the ONE square that is not flannel -- but, rather -- a t-shirt that I cut up to put in her blanket.  She was not thrilled with this design change...

Lilly's Sewing Room

For Christmas, I decided to give Lillian her own "sewing room" at Grandma's house. The actual GAME I used to deliver the present will be another post...

The problem, of course, is that we live in a small house, Ross has moved back in so he can attend nursing school, and we don't have a spare room or any extra space.

So, the challenge was to carve out a little sewing room that would look like it belonged to Lilly...

I sew in a corner of our basement -- and my area is PILED HIGH on any given day of the week...ugh...

I decided to hang a curtain rod, to give the area some privacy...These two Christmas wall-hanging quilts seemed like the perfect holiday divider....

When Lilly walked through the curtain -- she saw a hot pink plastic swivel chair...sitting at a small typing table...

And THERE was the little Janome sewing machine I gave her last year (which we only used once all year because she didn't have a sewing room!)

Her chair will be right next to me.

So -- the big question is -- HOW DO YOU GIVE A LITTLE GIRL a gift that is just a space?? Hummm?? Maybe a game? A scavenger hunt? Oh, yeah -- this is going to be fun...

Random Laundry Room/Expo Pics

First of all -- I'd like to start this week off by thanking all of my friends in Sew Expo land for the emails and IM's on Facebook!! YOU ROCK -- and I MISS YOU, TOO!!

I started writing this Monday-Morning laundry blog post, and went looking for a picture of Laura (who sent me a picture of HER laundry room).

Of course, I got lost in thousands of Sew Expo photos -- and decided to post some of them -- all that great energy and wonderful sewing enthusiasm in Puyallup, Washington. I've said it over and over again -- but I can never say it enough.

WOMEN WHO SEW ARE THE BEST...THE KINDEST, MOST GENEROUS people in the entire world. You know who you are...

I have been thinking of my Puyallup friends a lot lately -- of course -- WITH SEATTLE going to the Super Bowl.  CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYBODY...(be sure they take an extra football pump)...

Once I started looking for the picture of Laura, giving me a gift -- it was like eating potato chips.  Every one of these pictures is about a woman who gave me a gift. I could not find ALL the pictures I wanted... Sorry, Chris and Judy, Joyce, Nola, Sharon, Marianne, Rosalyn, Barbara, Lori, Ann, Betty , Linda and Marilyn -- I know I have great pictures of you...but I only had an hour to look....

We hooked up with Pam and Gail AT THE PIG...you know where this is, right??

The next picture is NOT the one I went looking for -- but it is the right girl!!  Gheesh...I am getting completely OFF TOPIC...because I was simply distracted by all the recent Seattle/Tacoma emails and IM's...

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE SHOUT-OUTS....

Laura Mendoza, working with a model back stage....She was the one who called me on the carpet when I did NOT post the "before" pictures of my laundry room. We had a little exchange via email...

THEN --Laura IM'd  a picture of her own laundry room -- located in her garage.

I asked Laura's permission to use this picture on my blog...

Here is our actual IM exchange:

Laura: Here's my lovely laundry set-up. Not much better than yours. Yes, that's the front end of my SUV just a couple feet away from washer.

Rita:  GREAT pic...do you mind if I share it on my blog, Laura?

Laura:  That's fine. As you can see, I didn't even try to straighten up before I snapped the photo....lol 

Rita:  Now -- how would I know that, Laura??  I would have to bring in a back hoe for six hours in order to have my laundry room look THAT good!! 

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And, if you think I'm kidding -- you'll have to tune in NEXT Monday.  I really will post the honest, unvarnished, embarrassing "BEFORE" picture of my laundry room.