Saturday

Saturday morning and the walking is done. The cloud cover was helpful in keeping the heat down in the low 70's but boy, is it muggy out there. We normally walk about 2 miles every other day and alternate between laps in our local park one day and walking along the paved trail the next time out--depending on the sun, we might hit both areas.

Even though I have DJ to keep me company, I always take my tunes as it helps the time pass more quickly. I thought I was set this morning--had the cassette player, a tape installed and new batteries---none of it was working once I got out there. Color me "sad". He asked what genre I was planning on listening to as he would take requests. "The Committments" soundtrack so I was guessing 70's R & B/rock might best describe it--know any Wilson Pickett or Otis Redding songs, Honey?

We were both laughing about his being the pesky little brother bothering his older sister when she was dating the man she later married. (There was 6 years difference in their age. ) He has told me that when he would walk in the kitchen with his little guitar to serenade them, his future BIL would ask him if a quarter would be enough to him NOT to entertain them with his rendition of "fly hit the barn". (where you just bang on the guitar with your open palms in case that is not something my readers know about) . So when he asked about requests, I asked if June had ever just requested that he "hush". I guess his getting paid off was enough and she didn't have to. I got a bit of "Irish Eyes are Smiling" and "Irish Lullaby", LOL--this from a man of basically Swedish-German ancestry. Bless him, he tries hard but invents notes that are not in the song and the lyrics might besuspect as well. I liken his efforts to the Oscar Meyer commercial currently out where the little guy at the end is really dramatically getting into his efforts to sing the jingo---like a miniature opera singer. I swear I cannot see that without comparing him to my husband.

Well that has nothing to do with quilting does it? Just a little slice of my life and what is going on in my head this morning.

I DID get busy quilting yesterday afternoon. Those bloggers who have been reading Jeanne's Spiral blog will recognize the top she donated for WTIL. Click on the link above and scroll to her note of June 25th entitled "Sunglasses alert" The binding still needs to be done yet but you get the idea. The other two are quilted and bound , Jeanne, but I may have stolen enough of your thunder by even posting this now. I also quickly quilted a little panel quilt that Fleeta put together--easy zoom lines and some outlining around the motifs but need to cut binding for it and two others in a few minutes.

Pippi is maintaining her Hallway Monitor position near the air return---yeah, we need to vacuum. Little "dog ears" everywhere but that is right outside the sewing room door and my tracking area. Actually we need to clean the whole house but are differing on how best to attack it. Me, "git 'er done" and him, drag it out and do it in stages. Either way I am waiting till the a/c is on---yep, Jeanne, even that is on a schedule. I shouldn't complain as you cannot even turn yours on unless the workmen are done for the day and it is so blamed hot where you live that I think my brain would melt down into my socks.

WTIL questions answered from blog comments:
Laurie Ann asked me about the "house or cottage" I mentioned in my previous post for our donation quilts for Wrap Them In Love and Vera wondered if this was a national organization.

I don't know how best to describe it. It is a foundation run by a quilt shop owner in Mt. Vernon, WA--basically she is IT. There are little groups of us (my Bama Belles, Cher's Portland Piecers, Pam's Bobos and a group of helpers locally in Arlington/Mt Vernon that we called the Washington Wrappers to name a few). The Sunshine yahoo group use Ellen to distribute some of their donation quilts and there a lot of individuals that help. I don't know that I would call us "chapters" as it is much more informal and definitely on the grass roots level. This is where I prefer to work---Project Linus or ABC quilts are more well known so they have tons of quilters helping and often corporate help. What I DON'T do for them won't be missed. They are doing good work but just not where I want my efforts to go.

As for the house or cottage thing---my group keeps a lot of the quilts we make here in Alabama. When you have a lot of people at or near the poverty line, it makes sense when there is a need close to home. We have permission from Ellen to donate them in WTIL's name. This year most of these quilts will be going to the Girls Big Oak Ranch (link is in the sidebar)where they live in a house of up to 8 girls with house parents and their own kids if they have any. I think that there are currently 6 or 7 houses and they will be building two more. The same was true when we took quilts to the Talledega Presbyterian Children's Home a couple years ago---those were cottages though and we delivered 81 quilts.

Postage was killing us when we were mailing out 15-20 quilts at a time but we did it for several years and of course, the rates keep going up, up up. We sent a bunch out for Katrina last year--at least 35. That is not to say that we won't send any quilts to HQ--we do. In fact, I wish we could do more because the requests for quilts is out numbering those on hand--they fly out the door almost as quickly as they are received. BUT there is only so much that you can do as an individual. We plan on making quilts for the Boy's Big Oak Ranch as our next year's goal and some of the 80-90 will go there rather than to the girls home.

Did that answer your question or was more than you wanted to know, LOL? The website will explain things much better--how Ellen came to found the organization, where the quilts go, what you can do to help if you feel so led.

Guess that's it for me--see you in the blogs!