Mother Bear

I believe in letting kids learn. At times that means letting them get little hurts, to learn to avoid the big hurts. Every responsible parent will relate to this - it's harder on the parent watching their kids 'learn a lesson' than it is on the kid.

Someone went after my kid recently and I thought I was going to come out of my skin and rip his obnoxious freaking face off his skanky smarmy body. Oh. My. Goodness. I had to fight the tidal wave of 'protect my kid' and remember that she's a big girl and "don't interfere - she can handle it herself and she'll be stronger for it" but it was bad.

After a week I calmed down enough to write a very specific and to the point letter of complaint to the company that this man belongs to. I had damned well better receive satisfaction or all hell's gonna break loose. Stay tuned.

We both received acknowledgement of our experience, with apologies for any misunderstanding, along with some fabric. We'll give the fabrics away and move forward with a positive attitude.

Appreciation and Age

I reminded myself of how wonderful it is to be almost 50 years old. I was on an airplane, squeezing my size 14 rear end into a size 8 chair and I looked around me. I saw young mothers and mothers of teens and I said a few words of Thanks. It went like this "I am so grateful that I don't have to struggle with a baby, entertain a toddler or reign in a teenager while stuck on this miserable plane ride".

I have had to do all of those, plus put up with a grown man (I think you know what that means) so I sat back in my chair and got as comfortable as I could and went to my happy thoughts of how pleasant my trip had been, how much I looked forward to being home again, and how peaceful it is to travel alone. Time flew.

Spring Quilt Market 2008 Portland, Oregon

I have been going to Quilt Market for 9 years and I have never seen so many small pattern designers pay thousands of dollars for travel, booth expenses and more and then sit on their asses in their booths and talk to their best friends while the business people they seek just walk on by. It was disgusting.

I was not the only buyer to walk away from Market saying "if I wanted to see quilters keeping their chairs warm I would have gone to a guild meeting".

I walked, talked, photographed (with permission) and posted to my new blog "Quilt News" just about anyone who got up or was already standing and gave me or my daughter a greeting and told us about their product or service. Good luck to you gals, you were working the show and making your investment pay off.

If you had a booth and were:

• sitting and eating
• sitting and chatting with your pal
• sitting and staring at the passing throng
• sitting and checking your email on your laptop
  
• sitting and looking at the Quilt Market Buyer's Guide

then you and your booth are NOT on my blog. I wanted to take pictures of you idiots but I didn't want to ask permission.

Several booths were doing a good business and we didn't want to interrupt them, so they are also not listed on the blog - not being listed doesn't mean you weren't doing well, but if any of the above strikes a chord, stay home and save your money. You're not a serious vendor.

Bad Quilting Videos

Some so bad all you can do is laugh! A few really, really good ones too. Just a few.

My friend Judy used to tell me that I had better change my ways or I was going to hell. I responded that I've had a reservation in hell for so long that I can't believe I haven't been sent for yet. It's true.

I found this place called Vod Pod. I don't understand what it's all about but that doesn't stop me from using it - LOL! I typed in quilting and got thousands of videos on quilting that are hosted on several sites. Neat. I've spent about 10 hours looking at them (and a few of their related websites, but that's a whole other story!) and making comments about my impression of the video.

I am opinionated and, just to clarify, I never intended for my comments to be seen by anyone except a pal of mine. When I logged in 26 people had already viewed my snide remarks. I really only intended my comments to help me learn what not to do.

My Newest Heartbreak

10 bunnies are dead. The woodshed that they burrowed under collapsed upon it's supports and crushed them. We moved out all the wood and pulled up the pallets and found them. We are heartbroken. Those rabbits are one of the few things that can make me laugh anymore and I worry so much about them. I hate that we were unprepared for this tragedy.

My rabbits.

I had 21 or more, plus the spoiled furball that lives with us, and today we counted 7. We aren't sure where the rest are. I hope they come home soon.

In the photo from a few months ago, the smokehouse is on the left, where we smoke our fish in the summer and the woodshed is on the right. The section in the back is the one that collapsed. In the center back you can see the feeder that Tom built for them, to get their food up off the ground and protect them from predators while they are eating.