This is Oreo. He lives with my mom. My mom did not really want a dog in her life again, but my former sister-in-law was threatening to take him to the pound and my mom figured my niece had had enough trauma in her life without having her dog ripped away from her, [...]

And here is the first completed project off my list, the quilt for Baby June. It also falls under the Modern Quilt-Along umbrella, as the pattern is Once Upon a Time from The Modern Quilt Workshop. Of course, as with the other quilt I’m doing from the book, I had to add my [...]

Last night I finished my second scarf, the PoA-style Ravenclaw in movie colors that I bought the yarn for before I even completed my first scarf. Unlike that first one, this one I did all by myself. It took a few–okay, four–tries to get it started properly. At least I managed [...]

It’s been a couple years since I used this space to do a quilting to do list, so I figure the time has come for an update. There were twelve projects in my queue back in December of 2003: seven baby quilts (!), a thank you quilt, a memory quilt, and three things for [...]

Because it’s very, very quiet here at the office today–quieter even than it was on Friday, since my most talkative customer was in then and is off now–I felt unconflicted about taking my whole lunch hour, so I did something I haven’t done in a long time: I opened up the files for the [...]

Part of me wishes I had fabulous weekend adventures to report, about how I put on a fancy dress and danced in the new year atop the Eiffel Tower in Vegas (example only, not something I would actually do), but most of me is happy to have had a weekend at home after two away. [...]

It’s a bit hard to get a good perspective on December because it’s still so fresh. I chose this image from our trip gone awry because that whole not according to plan segment of the month stands out in my memory. Most days I can predict pretty well where I’ll be and what [...]

Once upon a time, three children were born with special powers. Inflammo could make fire with his eyes:

 
Quasso needed only to glance at an object and it would shatter:

 
Fortunately, their sibling, Restituo, could make everything all right again:

 
(This entry brought to you by the safety information card for the MD-81 I flew on to [...]

Today I am back at work after five days off and have to say that this whole getting up early without then heading somewhere warm and/or fun does not seem like a good idea at all. It isn’t that my job is so horrible, but it sure isn’t as enjoyable as sitting around eating [...]

In November, I became a knitter again. Okay, maybe that’s a little grandiose, since all I did was finish a scarf. It’s not a complicated scarf, and I didn’t even do the cast on for it, but I did get it done and it’s even wearable. I’ve since started another scarf–by myself [...]

Even though it’s only the third day of Christmas, I’m ready to declare a champion in the most interesting tree I’ve seen this season competition: this symphony of green and white in I spotted in Idaho Falls. The ornaments were all either yellow green or blue green–no common green green for it, no [...]

Mr. Pumpkin was so happy before the game last night. He had a big smile on his face, his horn helmet on his head, and his remote controls at the ready. He knew if the Vikings won their last two games and got just a little help, they’d be in the playoffs despite their [...]

A definitive sign I’m really a grown-up, my large collection of Eeyore shirts and watches notwithstanding: I did not wake up this morning, Christmas Day, until Mr. Karen gently shook my shoulder and let me know the alarm clock hadn’t gone off. We needed to get up right then or we would be late [...]

October was Disney month for we D’s. We were at Walt Disney World in Florida when the month arrived. Back home a week later, we went to see the Disneyland exhibit at the Henry Ford. Then we took off for California and celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary at Disneyland the actual place. [...]

In September, when thousands of people from the Gulf Coast were grieving for loved ones killed by Katrina and trying to figure out how to put their lives back together after the storm destroyed their homes and possessions, all I had to deal with was falling off a bike. Sure, my face and arm [...]

At this time of year I try to focus on the goodwill toward men part of the Christmas story (which I learned as a child from Linus on the Charlie Brown Christmas Special because the Unitarian Sunday School I attended was not so much about the Bible), but it’s hard. At almost every turn [...]

In August I quilted, which isn’t particularly significant in itself, but I also joined my first online “-Along”, the Modern Quilt-Along, so that was different. I haven’t finished my project yet, but I will someday. In the meantime, I’m enjoying seeing what other people are working on. Collabs like this are one [...]

See this guy? He lives in front of a Ramada Inn in Minneapolis, where Mr. Karen and I spent the night last Wednesday. We’d planned to sleep in Idaho Falls (which is, quite sensibly, in Idaho), so being in Minnesota was rather disconcerting. It wasn’t even in the same time zone as [...]

I’ve been gone since Wednesday night. Did you miss me? No, of course you didn’t, because in a break with normal ski trip practice, I took my laptop along and kept posting entries. Not about the trip (though the picture from a couple entries back was taken out our hotel room window [...]

July was the month my bedroom walls went from bland to bright. Mr. Karen did all the work–we picked the color together, but he did all the prep and painting. I did take some of the masking tape off, though. Go me. We bought this light switch cover in Taos–it makes [...]

Mr. Karen noticed these icicles first. He said I should take a picture in case they weren’t there later–they might fall off or someone might come along with a stick and knock them down. So I took a picture. Next time I looked out, the icicles were gone, and I could see [...]

June brought Mel to my house for QuiltCon III. I’m glad she was able to visit. I’m also glad she got a chance to see The Quilting Season when they were still in the little red barn; they’ve since moved to a more modern building (which I keep meaning to visit but not [...]

I chose this image for May in my Winter Count from the photos I took at the Machine Quilters Showcase in Overland Park, Kansas, which my mom and I attended as part of our 14th annual mother-daughter quilt show trip. This particular picture is of the first lighted quilted sculpture I’ve ever seen, done [...]

If the 70s knitting I shared the other day scared or scarred you, you will probably want to click away from this page right now, because what I’ve got to show you today is worse. Thanks to the Friends of the Library used book sale, I have obtained a copy of Don’t Throw It [...]

Ten things I need to say, some trivial, some not:
1. I am never completely relaxed with you because I think you might secretly hate me and just be biding your time until you publicly humiliate me. So why do I hang around? Because I admire you and would like to be your friend. [...]

Ah, April. Let the Winter Count show that I finished a quilt that month, the well-documented manhole design, which now lives with Amanda Page because she won the first ever Hat on Top contest. Maybe someday there’ll be a second contest, but right now I don’t have any plans for one. Right [...]

It’s one of those Sunday nights when instead of enjoying my last few hours of freedom from the office, I’m feeling tense and anxious for no good reason. I don’t think it’s because I didn’t get everything done on my to do list–I never expected to when I wrote it out Saturday morning. [...]

The first Christmas after Mr. Karen and I moved into this house, we hosted a family holiday dinner. One thing I knew needed to be on the menu was Grandma Salad. That sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? I guess it’s no different than other famous salads–there’s no Caesar in Caesar salad [...]

For March in my Winter Count, I’m featuring my birthday, because the rest of the month was rather depressing–I was unhappy at work and there was no ski trip to distract me and I was tired of winter and spring seemed like it would never come. Besides, I don’t have any pictures of that [...]

In browsing my bookshelves after I decided I was a knitter, I found I have a copy of Wild Knitting, a 1979 tome I no doubt got from a bargain table. I wasn’t a knitter when I bought it, so whether I’d make any of the projects wasn’t a factor in deciding to bring [...]

There was never any doubt that my Winter Count for February would feature Bubba the guinea pig, who died early that month at age five and half. He lived with me and Mr. Karen for over half of his life, and I hope he was happy here. We did sometimes torture him by [...]

It’s December. If you were reading last year at this time, you know what that means: time for me to start posting entries like crazy. I’ll be participating in Holidailies for the fourth time–it’s a Hat on Top tradition now–but that doesn’t start until December 7th this year. However, there’s something new [...]