Still Blooming

There's more than iris in the garden this week...

And today we had an itty bit of rain.  Keep coming, don't be shy...we need you!!!

Popping Up to say, "Hey!"

ohmygoodnesswheredoIevenbegintotellyouwhereI'vebeenandwhatI'vebeendoing?  breathe, Kistler, breathe.  oh.  my.  goodness.  You probably thought I forgot about you.  I haven't, I really haven't.  I've just been ridiculously busy, trying to do everything.

Yesterday I told my youngest son, "I never have time to do anything, ever!"  He looked at me like my head was on upside down.  "Never?  Anything?  Ever?  Are you serious?!!"  okay, so may I was exaggerating.

On Wednesday, we went to the water rally and Congressional hearing.  It was eye-opening, to say the least.  The government officials who have been responsible for dumping clean reservoir water into the ocean would not say how much water they have dumped, or how much water we are "short."  Our Congressman measures the number at -2,100,000 acre feet (the amount of water to cover an acre with 12" of water), the official at the hearing would not confirm or deny.  When asked how long it would take to GET a number, he hemmed and hawed and said maybe his people could get a number "in two weeks."  The Committee Chairman said, "You have two weeks!  Get us a number!"

The Undersecretary of the California Natural Resources Agency came in place of the Secretary - he couldn't be bothered.  She talked for the allotted 5 minutes, saying nothing.  When her 5 minutes were up, she was given the opportunity to summarize.  She said, "Oh?  No.  I'll just submit my report.  I'm good!"  Or something to that effect.  She'd said nothing, so there was nothing to summarize.

Later, when questioned WHY they dumped so much water during the winter, her answer was, "We didn't think there would be a drought."  say what?!!!  

How are these people in such powerful positions?

I was in the room for the bulk of the hearing, but had to leave to get back to quilt show prep.  I do know what happened for a lot of it, and all I can say is, don't believe what you read in the papers.  There were approximately 3,000 people at the rally beforehand, and the Committee hearing was standing room only, both on the main floor and in the balcony.  They also piped the audio into the foyer, and an ancillary conference room.  My sons and I were lucky to get inside the main room, shortly after it began.

whew!!

I hate political commentary on quilting blogs, but water is life, and we're being denied water by our government.  If there was any time for me to get "political," this is it.

On Thursday, we went to Fresno and looked at Craigslist vans.

On Friday, we went to Sacramento, to watch my brother's team compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge robot West Super-Regional competition.  They were in CA from Alaska.  They did very well, winning the Promote award, the Innovative Design award, being nominated for the Connect award and the Inspire award, and winning 2nd place overall.  whew!!

Their team is "Schrodinger's Hat."

On Saturday, I found a van - I've been needing a new car - so we drove to Woodland Hills (LA) to buy it.  We were back at 1:30am Sunday morning.

Today, we had a BOTV pipe-washing party, and did some bookwork.  My Committee ladies are AMAZING!!  They got everything done in under 2 hours, without working full speed, just enjoying each other's company and visiting.  Very nice.  Very, very nice.  There are still things on my quilt show "to do" list, but the list gets shorter every day.  I love it.

I don't know when I'll check in again, but it will probably be awhile.   In the meantime, my flowers are really, really happy.  I pray that more rain will come, and the happy lasts longer than a week or two of "spring."

If you're anywhere nearby, come to Lindsay April 4-6, 2014.  Check out botvquilts.com for details.

Immersed

These days I spend hours with my computer, eating breathing and drinking quilts.  There is no fiber involved, unless you count the paper.  type, type, type.  Quilts are hand-delivered in 12 days.  Shipped quilts begin arriving on Monday. 

What am I talking about?  It's spring, and with it comes the Best of the Valley Quilt Show.  Come and see, you will be delightfully surprised.  This year's entries are outstanding!  Check out the 2014 vendor page, to know who's coming.  We have vendors to indulge almost every fiber art you can imagine.

Outside, the flowers continue to do their thing.  My only part has been to ooh and aah and snap photos.  Love them!

I prefer to avoid political issues and politics, especially in this blog.  But when politics affect my life, my friends, my people?  I can't sit by idly, assuming someone else will speak for me.  I'm taking the morning off, to attend my first rally.

Tomorrow Spring officially arrives.  I'm still waiting for March to roar like a lion...  :)

Thank you, Gwen...

Taking a Break...

I did get some sewing done on Wednesday.  Not the two hours that I coveted, but long enough to put a back on this weave that I'd done several months ago.  On Thursday morning I added the machine applique, and delivered it 30 minutes later.  Happy Birthday, Elaine.  ;)

I was on my way to guild, where we were treated to a wonderful presentation from Molly Hamilton-McNally. 

Oh, how I wish I could have taken her class today! 

Instead, I had quilt show plans.  I ended up doing a lot of quilt show driving, rather than the typing I'd expected, but it was all good.  Now I won't have to do the driving on Monday.  whew!

I had trouble finding the engraving place - I was picking up name tags - and went too far.  oooh!!  Thrift shop!

I hadn't planned to buy any furniture, but the deal was too good to pass up.  Check it out:

This beautiful wood table called out to be rescued.  I brought it home with my daughter in mind.  She has first dibs.  If it doesn't work in her home (she's got an itty bitty living space) then I'm sure I can find a place to stash it here.  And if not here, then there's plenty of room at the walnuts.

Where, surprise, spring is springing most energetically.  Check out the difference one week makes!

The catkin is bursting out all over.  Let's hope it makes lots and lots of nuts this year, and prove that sometimes money does grow on trees!  :)

If I

worked on the quilt show today from 10-4, can I quilt tomorrow?

I'm thinking 2 hours of quilting is a good reward.  But don't worry, there will be paperwork both before and after, believe you me!

The iris continue to bloom one at a time.  So beautiful!  My eyes feel better, just gazing on their perfection.  amazing.

Woohooooo!!!

ohmygoshIamsobusyIdon'thavetimetostopandblog!  deep breath.  sorry about that.  I'm trying to make the most of every minute, and some times I get in a bit of a rush.

I took a break from it all this weekend, as we drove to San Carlos to visit our granddaughter (and her parents) for her third birthday party.  Where does the time go?!!

I need to take a page out of Penny's book, and remember to stop and smell the flowers!

Last week I was out at the walnuts, and the trees are "pushing."  That means they are blooming, and beginning to show leaves.

 While I was out there, I spotted this bird of prey nest.  I think it's hawks, but I'm not sure.

Here is something to show you scale.  The nest is in the upper left corner of the image, the lad by the stump is 6'3".

 The deadlines for entry for the quilt show have all passed, and now I'm madly processing the paperwork, trying to get everything ready for printing.  There's a LOT of computer work that needs to get done.  I worked steadily last week, until I took the weekend off.  What a nice break!  But that means I'm about 3 days "behind" on my paperwork.  Going to have to double-time it for a bit, to get "caught up."

M-AQF is over.  I'm expecting my quilts back any day now.  Lancaster opens this week, I think, and I have a quilt hanging there.  I probably should have skipped this show, because the quilt will be coming back very close to the date it's due for Best of the Valley.  That is additional stress that I probably didn't need right now.

So anyway, with actual quilting?  I made a birthday card for the birthday girl, but forgot to snap a picture of it.  I didn't have time to make it before we left, so I grabbed the ingredients and hand-stitched it on Saturday afternoon, while she was taking her nap.  I put it on the coffee table, and when she got up, she announced, "This is mine!"  When I asked how she knew, she looked at me like I was silly.  "Gramma!  It's got a 'three' on it!  And see?  On the back?  It says P-E-N-N-Y...Penny!"

Okay!  Maybe I should have gotten her an Encyclopedia Britannica for some light reading in her spare time!  ;)

And on that, I'm out of spare time.  Time to get to work, we've got a quilt show to put together!

So Busy

I'm swamped with quilt show computer work, so I doubt I will be blogging much in the coming month.  Then again, there's an important birthday coming up, so prepare yourself for Penny pictures.  ;)  When I come up for air, I grab my camera.  Here are a few of the things I've seen:

Well, look at that!  Someone got himself a name tag!  I guess that means he's been adopted.  :)