Blood and dachunds

I'm a little grumpy today. Yesterday when I was hand washing the dishes, a glass broke and I cut my hand where my little finger meets my hand. Lots of blood in the dishwater! None of the glass was missing, so I calmed down after an ice pack, some antibiotic ointment and a bandaid removed all chance of dying from the injury. Because I have lived alone for so long, I get frenzied by injuries. I think just having someone say, "this is not so bad" would lower my anxiety. A bit of pain today, but I am typing (oops...keying) so I guess there is no hand damage. Carlene is a wuss! Carlene is a wuss!

I think it would be appropriate to insert something with "slashes of red" at this juncture.

I made "Eyepopper" specifially for my niece, Brittany Anne Souza. She loaned it back to me when I was the Featured Artist at the Northwest Suburban Quilt Show in Hoffman Estates, Illinois in 2005. The optical illusion in the center was easier to construct than the setting triangles and borders. Freda Smith did a beautiful job of the machine quilting. This quilt is an attempt at a duplication of "Re-Entry" by Marilyn Doheny in her book entitled "Op-Art Quilts".

Also, I have to pack to go to Overland Park, Kansas to their Machine Quilting Symposium. I have become such a hermit that leaving home is a chore. I will be taking classes and attending lectures to enhance my longarm machine quilting skills. My sister, Debra Corcoran and I have a Gammill Plus which we have named Roscoe. Our business is named Black Squirrel Quilting because of all the black squirrels we have in Clarinda. She is unable to go since she hasn't enough earned vacation at her job. I hope to come back inspired, educated and jump-started. It is easy to procrastinate in many areas of my life. I have found it much desirable to nap than quilt. What happened to the fire? Perhaps all our rain....

While I am in the Kansas City area from Sunday to Friday, I will be staying with my quilting friend, Mary Enright. I was employed by Universal Underwriters Insurance Company (now Zurich) from 1971 to 2005. I worked with Mary by telephone from Rosemont, Illinois. In 1999 during a two-month special project at the Home Office in Overland Park, Kansas I was able to actually quilt with her and her quilting bee, The Thimble Thumpers. Their many kindnesses and friendships were a joy for me!

I will be lunching with Jim and Sue Sjolin Druen on Sunday at Ted's Montana Grill. I understand "buffalo" is an important part of the menu. Between "tatonka" and "dessert" we will catch up on the past (memories of Northwest Missouri State College (now University) from 1965 to 1969) and the present (retirement and ???). (A few minutes ago my sister reminded me that I ate a buffalo burger at a Ted's Montana Grill in Omaha. That is a good reason to keep close to your family--they help you remember what you have done.)

I hope to visit some "old" friends who are still at Universal Underwriters (now Zurich) which is very near the Symposium location, but not sure about the current security at an international company. Will they let a previous employee wander the halls?

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I was inspired by "Successful Scrap Quilts from Simple Rectangles" by Judy Turner and Margaret Rolff to make this quilt which is presently on my bed. "Don't Be So Negative" features dozens and dozens of black and white prints. Dachunds, stars, jigsaw puzzle pieces, tape measures, baseball statistics, quilting instructions, yearbook pictures, crosswood puzzles, racetrack results, horoscopes and so much more are depicted in the fabrics. I had gathered a number or prints, but I probably doubled them when I purchased many wonderful fabrics from the estate of my friend, Donna Milz. Donna died of breast cancer several years ago. Including her fabrics has made the quilt all the more special for me.

I am telling you "what" I expect to be doing during the next week as I will not be online. I will report in by Saturday. I hope we all have an excellent week!

Bye for now, Carlene