Blogger's Quilt Festival

My entry for this Spring's Blogger's Quilt Festival is this baby quilt that my friend Patty commissioned me to make for her soon-to-be grandson Eli. I was a bit apprehensive about making a quilt for someone and being paid for it, I had never done that before, so of course I was more than nervous. What if she didn't like it? That is always in the back of my mind whenever I make something for someone, which in every case up until now has always been in the form of a gift for that person. Somehow, being paid just upped the antey...I know that many of you quilt on commission, so my story isn't all that unique, but I haven't had a lot of luck making things for or with the peeps with whom I work. Putting that aside, I decided to give it a go anyway and she absolutely loved it (phew)! It was a fun quilt to make, the tutorial can be found on Moda Bake Shop's website...I ADORE the colors, it went together easily and quilting was a breeze, but best of all, Patty AND her daughter loved it...that is worth more than any money I might have made. Go check out all the other entries, but set aside some me time...there's a bunch of beautiful quilts as always!!!

A Day Late?...Maybe, but I'm a Happy Mom just the same!

About noon on Monday, while attempting to fish at a place not very near here, the phone rang.  It was my OB calling to tell us to stop what we were doing and get our fannies down to John Day.  He, my parents and another fishing buddy, affectionately named "Brucie" couldn't seem to keep a pole in the water for all the fish they were catching. In essence, they had caught 5 adult Chinooks and a Jack and lost or had to release 10 more, which is a beyond-awesome day of fishing! Each person is allowed 2 adults and 4 Jacks (but once you catch your 2 adults, fishing is over for the day for you)
Being an obedient sibling, we loaded up and headed South!
Upon arrival, we disembarked the vehicles, said our hellos and the next thing heard was the clanging of a bell and sweet music to my ears when my OB yelled "fish on"!

There was a lull in the activity for about an hour and a half...some napping occurred (that's my Daddy and OB) more quilting was done on the Modern Bento Swap quilt, the second section is all but finished...a barge went by and DH caught one!

After that excitement, a sucker was caught, a sturgeon was hooked and cut free before it peeled all the line off the reel and Brucie hooked into and fought  about a 35lb wild fish that had to be released, then it was time for dinner and the trip home.  All in all, a VERY good day of fishing!!!  Sadly, the season ends today for Springer season below John Day, but I couldn't be happier with the late Mom's Day fish!!!

Can you guess what's on the menu tonight??? That my friends, is heaven on the bbq!!! 

The Good News and the Bad News

First let me preface with saying that yes, I know that today is Mother's Day, but if you haven't realized it by now, I'm a pretty non-traditional Mom. This being said, my day did not start with breakfast in bed, surrounded by my boys and DH...(yeah, that would NEVER happen...and I'm fine with that). Nope, my day started when the alarm blasted into my consciousness at the unbelievable hour of 3am (yes I did say 3). DS1 and DS2 bought me roses and chocolate last night when they came home from the rodeo and that was a complete surprise, but I digress...

It's Spring Chinook season on the Columbia and Snake Rivers and there are, according to the fish counts, thousands of fish going over the dams. In layman's terms that means that it is supposed to worth getting up uber early to go "plunking".  We arrived @ 4 and there were already people there! The bad news portion of my story is that out of 15 people along the banks in our area only 1 fish was caught and it was wild and had to be released. This is what they are supposed to look like:

The good news is that due to the lack of any fish biting/ catching/ netting excitement I was able to get some a lot of hand quilting done on my modern bento swap quilt, off and on about 7 hours worth! The other good news is that it wasn't quite warm enough for any rattlesnakes to make an appearance!!!

What I've been doing instead of quilting

There's been quite alot of this....

Practices on Wednesday evenings and a game

or two every Saturday and me w/o a portable project!

Not that one could concentrate with all that action going on, but it would be nice to occupy the endless between game times.

Besides, this is what my sewing area looks like at the moment...not exactly inspiration for creativity is it?

There have been fundraisers.

Terra, the beautiful redhead to the right of the podium and two of her classmates took upon themselves for their senior projects the goal of purchasing 25 thirty-two inch plasma tv's for the pediatric oncology ward at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. Unbeknownst to me, but chemotherapy affects the eyesight of patients, making images on a small screen a blur.  Since many children who are being treated for cancer are in the hospital for weeks at a time, Terra's goal was to make the passing of time a little more pleasant.

The monetary goal was $15,000.  With the help of the Tri City Optomist Club, the generosity of many, many local business and the overwhelming support of those who attended the silent auction and dinner, the total donations came in at an unbelievable $30,000!!! The girls and I in our office (Terra's Mom Shelly is one of 5 clerks in the office) helped out collecting bids, counting all that $$$ and checking folks in.

Earlier in the month, my husband and I attended another fundraiser for a good friend, camping cohort and  coworker of DH's, who recently discovered that he had testicular cancer. Grant is a trooper for the Washington State Patrol in the Kennewick Detachment and the vibrant husband and father to Heather and their precocious son Logan. After it was discovered that he had cancer, surgery was quickly scheduled to remove the affected area, it was then that his lab work came back to reveal two more cancers! So in March, he and his family went to the University of Washington hospital for a more complicated surgery that left him with a scar that reaches from chest to groin and down both thighs.  He is currently cancer free, recovering well and due to return to light duty soon.  The local FOP sold wristbands and had a spaghetti feed in his honor and has raised several thousands of dollars to help defray expenses for Grant and his family. I had the honor of snapping this photo of his squad sporting their wristbands!

And last but not least, I had the pleasure of photographing the Every 15 Minutes Program at Riverview High School.  My photos were then converted into a slide presentation set to music for the assembly the next day to bring awareness to the young people in high school of the very real tradedy of drinking and driving. Oh my gosh it was an emotional 2 days! If I can get my hands on some of the pictures or better yet, the slideshow, I will try to share that with you. But in the meantime, my former Lieutenant loaned me is Canon EOS digital SLR to play with!!!  I am completely in love with it and will be plotting the next bank heist in order to purchase one for myself!!! (disclaimer...any mention of bank robbery in this blog is COMPLETELY for humor-sake and is NOT intended in ANY form of premeditation should a local financial instution become the victim of any such heinous crime) Anyways, let me leave you with a few more inspiring photographs and I hope that you enjoy the remainder of your weekend!