Block #83 for Uncle Ken

Tonight’s bird is dedicated to my Uncle Ken, mostly because he puts up with my Aunt Wilma. I’m kidding… sort of…

My Mom and Dad are vacationing with him and Wilma this week and mom was super excited to have someone to play cards with. And I quote: “Well your Dad and Ken are going to head back early, he don’t play with us anyway, just like your daddy”. This has been a point of contention for many years; dad not playing cards. Mom is super jealous that my hubby plays cards with me. I figure it’s because I got married much younger than either of them did; you have to start training them young…

Date Made: March 29th, 2015
Block #83
Days on Project: 88
Blocks Made: 83

For Uncle Ken

Block #82 for Melissa N.

I am no longer going to point out every time I miss a night. I am averaging about 5-6 a week and that is just gonna have to be how it is. LOL

I went to dinner with some friends a few nights ago. One of my friends was talking about how “Abby” had ruined her knitting yarn. Well, Abby is the daughter of her best friend but, I have to say, a bit old for that kind of destruction. Turns out she was talking about her cat named “Abby”. “You named your cat after Abby??” Apparently one of her son’s favorite people is “Abby” or at least it was the day they got the cat. I love how kids name things after other things they love. I remember doing the exact same thing.

I have many cousins, but most of them are quite a bit younger than me. I had one set of cousins that were around my age, Missy and Scott. I loved it when Missy came to town. Some of my best memories are of her and I snapping green beans from Grandma’s garden. She was my favorite person when I was a little one and I named everything after her. I am pretty sure she doesn’t know this but I named my dolls after her and my fish after. She also had the most highest honor of having my “Pound Puppy” named after her. It was right there on it’s tags; you can’t rename a pound puppy, that is dedication.

Date Made: March 21st, 2015
Block #82
Days on Project: 87
Blocks Made: 82

For Melissa N.

Block #81 For Uncle Jesse

I have three uncles and all three of them are “Doctors”. One is a “Doctor Doctor” and the other two are PHD’s. To say that I come from a smarty pants, too smart for your own good, nerdy family is an understatement.  Luckily, it dilutes through the generations and I am pretty close to normal (yeah, right… I just committed to sewing everyday for a year…)

I grew up wanting to be just like my very popular and youngest uncle, Roland (The Doctor Doctor). But I spent my childhood being told: “You’re just like your your uncle Jesse.” I was not fond of that comment as he relentlessly teased me.  All the time… I mean, like every moment we were together. ALL THE TIME.

I recently reconnected with Jesse on Facebook. He is a prolific Facebook poster. So when he takes a quiz, I take the quiz. I figure this is a scientific way to prove if I AM “Just like my uncle, Jesse”. So far…. Well at least I can say there is one major way I am not like Jess. In addition to the fancy pants degrees, he has one more thing that I just simply do not have, A GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD!!! (–yes, that’s a quote from Hot Fuzz)

Date Made: March 21st, 2015
Block #81
Days on Project: 85
Blocks Made: 81

For Uncle Jesse

Block #80 for Jordan

I love having co-workers who have a tangental relationship to quilting. They may not quilt themselves, but they put up with me and understand about 90% of what I drone on about. I have two such coworkers, Jordan and Tom. Tom is my bosses bosses boss and Jordan is my colleague. Which I suppose is a nice way of saying “He’s a grunt just like me”. Jordan’s mom is a quilter and she and her quilt were recently in a prominent quilting magazine which is beyond cool.

Thursdays

For many months, every Thursday we went to a specific Taco joint for lunch. Everyone at the table likes the special on Thursday so ordering isn’t too difficult. Jordan likes to have fun with it. When our food comes, the waitress will start passing it out and he always makes a point of saying “I had the Thursday”. I’m not sure why, but it’s funny pretty much every time. Before we decided to only go on Thursday, we would show up on a Wednesday and Jordan would try and get his plate switched around so he could have a Thursday on Wednesday for the same price. And that’s just wrong… It’s Wednesday, you eat the Wednesday on Wednesday not on Thursday!! That is just plain common sense.

Date Made: March 21st, 2015
Block #80
Days on Project: 84
Blocks Made: 81

For Jordan

Block #79 For Costas K.

I have worked with lots of fun characters over the years. IT people are typically a little different (myself included). One of my favorite people was Costas. Costas is a feisty Greek man who made work a lot of fun. There are two funny things he used to say when we worked together.

Not My Problem

We were working with a particularly difficult client who was having resource issues and taking it out on us. During a heated argument, Costas says “No, that is a people problem, not technical”. Throws his hand up (‘talk to the hand’ style) and says “Not My Problem”. To this day I use that, with the exact same intonation and gesturing.

The IIS, Is It Down?

Another thing he would do, quite often, is he would stand up in his cube and shout “PAAAUUUULA THE IIS, IS IT DOWN?” It often was. I went back to work at that company about 5 years later in a completely different job and one day, out of the middle of no where, one of my stressed out co-workers stands up and yells “PAAAUUUULA THE IIS, IS IT DOWN?” It stuck.

Date Made: March 23rd, 2015
Block #79
Days on Project: 83
Blocks Made: 81

For Costas K.

Block #78 For Marsha R.

Marsha R. is one of my awesome co-workers. The thing I like the most about Marsha is how much she cares about other people. After my surgery she was very sweet to check in on me and encourage me to not be stupid and come back to soon. Which is exactly what I did.

She has a kind heart and goes out of her way to make others feel special. That’s the thing about having a lot of friends with different qualities and traits, you see it in them, and it makes you want to be a better person. This little project of mine has made me stop and think about each person I dedicate one of these too. I might only write a funny story sometimes, but I do think quite a bit on them and how they have made my life better.

Date Made: March 21st, 2015
Block #78
Days on Project: 82
Blocks Made: 81

For Marsha R.

Block #77 For Carrie M.

Carrie M. was the office manager at one of my previous jobs. She helped me at one of the most critical and chaotic moments of my life. Not to get into too many details. But my husband used to work off shore, one time he was on his way out (as in – on a helicopter) and I was on the road into work from an appointment. I got a phone call. His dad was in the hospital and it was critical. I needed to find a way to get him off back on land ASAP. I freaked out. I pulled over, couldn’t get ahold of anybody, didn’t know who to call at his work. So I called my work to tell them what was going on. Carrie picked up the line and all I told her was my husbands name and the company he worked for. Ten minutes and many tears later she called me. She got ahold of his boss and he was to be on the next helicopter back in. Some people are in your life at just the right moments. And I will never forget that moment. That was the last time my husband ever went off shore.

Sorry for the sad story. When thinking about what to say for her bird, there was no other story I could tell. She was my lifeline that day.

Date Made: March 21st, 2015
Block #77
Days on Project: 81
Blocks Made: 80

For Carrie M.

Block #76 for Angie R.

Angie is the wife of Erik, who received a bird earlier. But ironically, I met both of them separately before they knew each other. Friends of friends sort of thing… Regardless, Angie and Erik are perfect for each other. Basically, he’s nuts and she gets him. I told a story of Erik’s 40th birthday party and how crazy it was for his bird. She was responsible for almost all of the craziness. They are a fun couple and we miss hanging out with them.

Angie and I used to shop together, I hated shopping and I could tell she wasn’t the biggest fan of that activity either. But when she did go shopping… she was freakin’ serious about it. I remember going to the outlet mall with her and in one store I was done after about 10 minutes. I spent the next hour sitting in a very comfy chair reading a book on my phone and holding the growing mountain of clothes she had picked out. Strangely enough, we were pretty well matched shopping buddies. We each knew what we wanted and the goal was to get in and out of there. Her list on that day was just a bit longer than mine…

About the birds:

Today I reinstated the bird factory. Each bird typically takes 45 minutes. I thought, let’s streamline this process and see if I can gain some efficiencies. I made 5 birds in 3 hours. That is again of only one bird if I did the math right. smh…

Date Made: March 21st, 2015
Block #76
Days on Project: 80
Blocks Made: 80

For Angie R.