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.

Block #75 for Norma B.

Growing up our church family was our family. You spent every Sunday morning, night and Wednesday night with the same families and kids. We went to church camp together, youth conferences, and tons of events. I had friends at school, but my church family were the ones I was with the most. Stuck together whether you liked it or not.

Some of my fondest memories was of going to Norma and Doug’s house after church to eat snacks, play cards and hang out. You see, our parents were rebels. They were the young people in the church and the older members of the church looked on in dismay as they played cards, let us get our ears pierced and go to school dances… Yes just like in Footloose, DANCES… Ok, so maybe it wasn’t that extreme but it was pretty funny.

I remember one night in particular, the older kids were hanging out. And of course we always wanted to be with the older kids. We were complete brats. That night they decided to play a trick on us, they turned off all the lights and started playing Micheal Jackson’s “Thriller” to scare us. It’s a bit fuzzy, but I am sure I freaked out.

Date Made: March 18th, 2015
Block #75
Days on Project: 77
Blocks Made: 75

For Norma B.

Block #74 For Karen O.

Karen O. is one of my former neighbors. Karen is the ultimate dog lover. At one point she had a huge great dane in a small patio home. “Oh, they are just lap dogs” she would say. Her lap was no where near big enough, neither was her couch. Seeing that dog play with our normal sized dogs was hilarious. It was just about the right size to be  used as  a horse for a hobbit.

She went from that to two tiny fur balls, Bailey and Jackson. I called Jackson “Dr. Daniel Jackson”. I just couldn’t not. I should probably also confess I also had a fish named “Dr. Daniel Jackson”. Let’s not use the word obsession…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day 

Date Made: March 17th, 2015
Block #74
Days on Project: 76
Blocks Made: 74

For Karen O.

Block #73 For Matt Ch.

I worked with/for Matt on two separate occasions. The first time ’round he was my project manager and then became my boss. He hired me again several years later when he was everybody’s boss.

I remember my first day back there. I was talking to some folks I didn’t know from before and they asked, “How did you come to know about this job?” I said, “Oh I used to work for Matt.” They said “Matt who?”. Apparently, over the 5 years I was gone, “Matt” had become “Matthew” and no one knew who I was talking about. When they figured it out, I was just being disrespectfull. To this day, I have a hard time calling him anything other than Matt.

Quick Funny Story

I am not what you would call a neat freak. I am not what you would even call neat. Matt is. One day I picked him up for lunch and, as usual, there was a fine layer of dust on my dash. He immediately wipes it off with his hand. And all that dust falls directly on his sharp black suit. To quote one of the best TV series and movies ever “Why you always gotta be so tidy… You shouldn’t be so tidy”

Date Made: March 16th, 2015
Block #73
Days on Project: 75
Blocks Made: 73

For Matt Ch.

Block #72 For Bob

I had big plans this weekend. Make a ton of birds, get out of this bird every night nonsense. Well, once again… That didn’t happen. I did some cutting though…

Many moons ago, I worked at a fabulous place. The people were great, lots of holidays and an ocean view. Unfortunately it was also 70 miles from my house ( I think I’ve mentioned this place before). That is how I met Bob. Bob drove the carpool I was in and made it possible for me to read and sleep on the way to work every morning.

I have kept in touch with Bob over the years, we actually see each other exactly once a year as Bob does our taxes. It’s kinda weird, only seeing a person once a year for 2 hours. The first 30 minutes is always dedicated to catching up, sharing pictures and all the latest happenings.

I heard from him out of turn today, about 350 days sooner than expected. Bob had recently had some health issues and texted to let his friends know how he was. I felt like a heel as I didn’t even recognize his number. Grrr… But I certainly saved his name this time. Best wishes my friend.

Date Made: March 15th, 2015
Block #72
Days on Project: 74
Blocks Made: 72

For Bob