Block #19 For Gary S.

This bird is dedicated to Gary S. He was my boss for a few years and the one of the best bosses I have ever had. (I know I may have some other “bosses” reading this – don’t be mad – I liked you too). I guess he gets a bird because I had lunch with him today and the nostalgia is kicking in. We worked together in a pretty high stress environment and he was always there to help me out of a jam or give some good advice. He sat right across from my other favorite Gary, Gary N. – “The Garys” -Whenever I needed one of them, I would just call out “Hey Gary” and they would both answer, which was good as I usually needed both of them.

Gary S. built a great team; he is very good at that. Don’t get me wrong, I work at a good company now with a lot of good people, but occasionally I miss my old crew of Gary, Gary, and Hank. We were a great team, but we have all moved on now to bigger an better things.

Thoughts on this block:

Work is getting busy, as it does. And, it’s a holiday for us. But while sewing, I keep thinking, I should be working. While working, I keep thinking I would rather be sewing. My boss would say, “It’s a holiday, it will be there in the morning”. So I am trying to not think about work while writing this blog and failing miserably. Heck – I even dedicated it to a former co-worker.

In other news, I dropped my velocity iron and scratched the crap out of my new hardwood floors. Maybe I should be working instead…

Date Made: January 19, 2015  
Block #19
Days on Project: 19
Blocks Made: 23

For Gary S.

For Carey C.

This bird is dedicated to Carey C. Carey is my good friend and married to Bird #17. We met Carey and Matt in a church small group many years ago. There were four couples in our home team and at one point, over the span of less than two years, three of them had babies. There must have been something in Kristen’s brownies.

All of us have moved on to different churches and life has gone on, but we still remain close friends with Matt and Carey. And now we live 5 minutes from them! It is so nice to be able to go out to dinner with neither of us needing to drive for 30 minutes. It’s also nice to have our friends nearby to help out when life gets stupid. (Which it did, several times, last year).

Date Made: January 18, 2015  
Block #18
Days on Project: 18
Blocks Made: 22

For Carey C.

For Matt Ca.

This one is dedicated to our good friend Matt Ca. Why “Ca” and not “C”? I have two Matt C’s on my list! How is that possible?

Matt is a law enforcement officer in our community and one of the best, stand up guys I know. He is the very best example of a dedicated servant in both his job and his faith. He also has the best insights on topics and a fresh, objective, perspective on things. Even on politics, which is pretty hard to do. He makes you think and challenges you.

Matt – thanks for keeping Facebook interesting for me, it’s time to go back to Sylvia’s!

Date Made: January 16, 2015  
Block #17
Days on Project: 17
Blocks Made: 21

For Matt Ca.

Block #16 For My Mother-In-Law

This block is for my mother-in-law. She is retiring this year, and I am amazed that she has worked for as long as she has. She looks a good 10-15 years younger than she actually is, and has more energy than me. I hope my husband ages as well as his mom has, because I know I am lost cause. Ha!

My mother-in-law is also the perfect house guest. When she comes down for a visit she is here to chill out. She is happy to get out and do things but she is just as happy to hang out at the house and watch TV. You have no idea how amazing it is when you have worked a 10 hour day and you know there is no need to plan a fun exciting evening when you get home. The only complaint I have, is that she never stays very long. Maybe its because she holds to the old adage: “Both fish and houseguests go bad after about 3 days…”

Date Made: January 11, 2015  
Block #16
Days on Project: 16
Blocks Made: 20

For My Mother-In-Law

Block #15 for Rita R.

This block is for Rita R. She is my best friend’s wife (See Block #13) and I credit her for turning someone who was my little brother into my big brother. I remember a time when I thought of Mickey as my kid brother. I was the older, wiser one… (Yeah, I know I’m full of it)

But now, honestly, he is a big brother to me. I am constantly going to him for advice whether it’s about cars, houses, or work, he’s my first call. I don’t always listen.

But this is about Rita… Rita is pretty awesome and extremely smart, I loaned her a sewing machine and she taught herself to sew and made curtains for her whole house. I can’t even do that.

But mostly, I am in awe of how much the two of them juggle, both working full time and still managing to find quality time with their kids everyday. Rita is a great mom I want to be that kind of parent one day. I have been blessed with so many examples of exemplary parents in my life. When it’s my turn, I hope I have learned something along the way.

Date Made: January 12, 2015  
Block #15
Days on Project: 15
Blocks Made: 20

For Rita R.

Block #14 For My Husband

This one is for the hubs. His birthday is coming up so I let him pick his colors. This one is, hands down, my favorite bird. The picture does not do it justice.

My husband and I have been married for a long time, and throughout our entire marriage he has had to put up with my time consuming and wallet emptying hobby. He has been a real trooper. He takes great pride in using terms like “fussy cut” appropriately and loves to wear his “She Quilts, I Cook” t-shirt. One year for valentines day he remembered that I said I wanted a light box so he went down to the quilt shop and the ladies helped him pick it out for me and even gave him my discount. He puts up with countless trips to quilt shops and only really complains when they don’t have a comfy chair for him to sit in.

He is as good to everyone else as he is to me. In our old neighborhood, there was not one person who didn’t now his name. He rescued dogs from storm drains, helped people with their yard work, and walked our neighbors’ dogs when she wasn’t feeling well. Everyone loves him, including me.

Date Made: January 4, 2015  **
Block #14
Days on Project: 14
Blocks Made: 20 **

** I’m coming clean about my pre-made blocks. Turns out, I can’t actually sew for an hour everyday. Most of the magic happens on the weekends.

For My Husband

Block #13 For Mickey

So… I am writing this post before the bird is even done, it is sitting here beside me in pieces. But before  I start into stories about this very special person. Let me just say… these birds are not in order of the importance of people in my life. Just be patient, you will get a bird. I promise.

Mickey is my best friend (apart from my husband who, let me point out, also doesn’t have a bird yet). I met Mickey in college when we were in a sociology class together and got sorted into the same group activity. He loves to tell the story of how I stereotyped him as a “thug” because of his long hair and baggy pants.  After hanging out with him at school, I realized he was a pretty good guy and that “thug” and I became good friends, then best friends, and now we are family. I don’t really want to say “he is the closet thing I have to a brother” because that really isn’t right. He is my brother. I love him and his family as much as I love my family and my life would be seriously boring without him. I couldn’t tell you very many stories about him without risking self incrimination. So I will just leave you with this very short sweet one:

I am not really sure how to say this in a politically correct way, but Mickey and I are two different ethnicities. As his kids are growing up, they are starting to realize that Aunt Paula and Uncle Jason don’t exactly look like the rest of the family. One day, his daughter asked his wife “Mommy, are Uncle Jason and Aunt Paula from Daddy’s side of the family”….Yup.

January 13, 2015
Block #13
Days on Project: 13
Blocks Made: 13

For Mickey

Block #12 For Celeste X.

This block is dedicated to my old neighbor Celeste. We are going to call her Celeste X. because I honestly cannot remember her last name. Celeste was one of the first neighbors we met in our neighborhood an she was by far the most colorful. Celeste had 4 dogs and 3 cats in addition to the feral cat she fed in the neighborhood. Let me tell you, the other neighbors were not 100% pleased about the feral cat feeding. But Celeste had a love for animals that was unmatched, I believe she even convinced my husband to feed that cat when she was out of town. She had a rescued Rottweiler that she routinely walked in the wee hours of the morning because she new that he would scare the neighbors because he wasn’t quite right…

Here is your story for tonight (as told by Celeste – 14 years ago so take it with a grain of salt or several):

The gentleman we bought our first house from had a cat. Several years after his wife died he met a nice neighbor lady and they fell in love and got married. This neighbor did not like cats, maybe she was allergic, I don’t know… Anywho… He moved in with her but left the cat at his house a few doors down. Celeste would take care of the cat when he was out of town, she played with it, bought it toys, loved on it. She started noticing the cat was sad and she felt this was due to a lack of interaction being all alone in that house. She said the cat lost it’s personality entirely. So one day, Celeste went over there, got the cat and all of its toys and took it home with her and left him a note that basically said it was her cat now.

Eventually he sold the house, we bought it, and more than once we had to shoo that cat out of our house. You see, Celeste’s front door was right across from ours. So during the day the cat sat on our porch and lived in our yard and at night he went home to Celeste.

She eventually bought some land and took all her animals out to the country. What about the feral cat? She trapped that sucker and took it too.

Thoughts on this block:

No more large scale directionals for the background. UHG (you will see one more ugly one like this)

January 12, 2015
Block #12
Days on Project: 12
Blocks Made: 12

For Celeste X.

Block #11 For Erik R.

This block is dedicated to my friend and former co-worker Erik R. Erik is hilarious. I have so many stories, it’s seriously hard to pick just one. But we will go with Erik’s 40th birthday because it is actually two stories in one.

You need a little bit of background here: Erik’s family is just as crazy as he is. He had a classic “over-the-hill” party complete with a coffin, graveyard cake, blacked-out windows, wheelchairs and a lot of Depends. We also had a few special guests: an Elvis impersonator (his niece), a grim reaper, and a guy dressed up in a pink bunny outfit with a shot gun – who then chased him around the house. The story goes (I hope this is the story, it’s been awhile)…

One year, Erik cooked Easter dinner for his family. He felt it only appropriate to serve rabbit. Like I said, he’s pretty funny. So the Easter Bunny there to get revenge. Bwah ha ha…

Thoughts on the blocks:

I tried to make 3 today at one time. I only saved 30 minutes. meh.

January 11, 2015
Block #11
Days on Project: 11
Blocks Made: 11

For Erik R.

Block #10 for Teresa R.

This block is dedicated to my good friend and former neighbor Teresa. We miss her and her puppies so much. We miss all of our neighbors actually. Our last neighborhood was pretty active. There was always someone out walking a dog, chatting in the cul-de-sac, gardening… This new neighborhood is extremely quiet, which for the most part is good. And we love our new house and its proximity to other close friends of ours. But, we really miss all of our neighbors and friends, Teresa especially. We don’t live that far away from each other and we still get to see each other, but life is a little less exciting without getting daily kisses from Ms. Morgan (Teresa’s “puppy”).

Thoughts on this block and the process:

Its only fitting that I do a bunny block today. Last night we captured our very first critter (that was not already ours) on our trail camera. A bunny in the flower bed!

Today was my 10th block and by far the most difficult to do. Not because it went together poorly; it took an hour just like the rest of them. But today, my motivation was at an all time low. I had already used a cheater block yesterday and it didn’t seem right to do it again. After working and cleaning all day, I had no interest in sewing whatsoever. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be out of this “funk”.

January 10, 2015
Block #10
Days on Project: 10
Blocks Made: 10

For Teresa R.