Now I Remember . .

Now I remember why I said I'd never build another house. We found the lot on Saturday. Sunday we decided to switch lots. Our builder said ok .. he'd get with the builder who owns #53 and they could switch lots . . this is something they had agreed on before. We spent 3 hours with the builder today and this evening found out the other builder will not switch lots with our builder so we're ready to start building . . with no lot. There's another subdivision that has some basement lots but it's much farther out than I wanted to live but . . it has trees and it is .75 acre where the first lots were almost .50 acre and the larger lot is about $25K less! So, looks like the new house will be in Woodcrest Subdivision instead of Plantation Pointe. Here's the new lot. I believe we need more than luck to get through this! Judy L.

Already there are Changes

24 hours later and we've gone back to look at the lot. Heck, maybe we like #53 better than #57. But, Rick doesn't own #53 but it is for sale. So, we track Rick down again. He says he can switch #53 with #57 with the developer and we can build on #53. It's a little bigger (more grass/weeds to cut if you ask me . . but no one asked me!). Still happy with the house plan but am not quite sure how the basement will be arranged. Rick will help us with all that tomorrow. Sure hope we're doing the right thing! Judy

You Just Never Know What a Day Holds in Store

It's just a routine Saturday. This weekend is the Parade of Homes. We sometimes go . . sometimes don't go . . not really thrilled with looking at houses we'll never own. But this morning Vince decides we'll go to the Parade of Homes. So off we go, traipsing through fancy smancy houses that look like they should be in magazines; the kind of houses where furniture should match, mini-blinds aren't covered in dust, no threads on the carpet, the quilts on the beds have the bindings finished . . obviously not the kind of house I'll ever have. But we like this one particular builder, Rick Bivins. We've liked him for several years. I swore I'd never build another house. I *really* swore every time Vince mentioned building a house. I guess on this particular Saturday my defenses were down because when Vince found the perfect lot, which happened to be owned by Rick, we were off and running. We tracked Rick down; told him we want the lot; we'll be in Monday to sign the papers. Then we went to Books-A-Million, picked up a book of houseplans . . first book had the plan I liked. Ten minutes is all it took to find the perfect house plan. This can't be all falling into place so quickly. So, in one short day, we've taken a really wild course and this may or may not be fun but we're off and running. Wish us luck! Judy

Friends for a Cure - the Boomerang Quilt

The Boomerang Quilt

Back when American Patchwork & Quilting magazine began collecting blocks for the breast cancer auction, maybe in early 2004, I was a member of Alex Anderson's message board (AAMB - which no longer exists). We decided to have everyone who wanted to participate send me a friendship star . . light pink star on a dark pink background or vice versa. And, they were to send me a fq of the background fabric for the sashing. So, I made the quilt, quilted it and sent it in. I patiently waited for the auction to begin so I could try to get our quilt back. It was in one of the first few batches of quilts and I began to bid and bid and bid! Like everything I really want on ebay, someone else really wanted it too! So, it got way above my price range and I gave up. Right before the auction ended, I ran back to ebay and tried a couple more times but by now it was WAY above what I could pay and I was pretty relieved when this determined person outbid me AGAIN. There's a very generous lady who was also on Alex Anderson's MB named Vicky. I asked one of our mutual friends, Sally, if Vicky was the one bidding and she had no idea (so she said!). After the auction ended, Sally and her DH did a little investigating and tracked the winning bidder back to somewhere in east Texas. They even gave me the lady's name and I looked her up on whitepages.com. Another friend, Gwen, said she had a sister near this person and she would contact her and let her know the details of the quilt. This was all back in July or August, 2004 I think. Both Sally and Gwen (and most everyone else) knew it was really Vicky and they were probably sweating buckshot when I said I might contact this person myself! Thankfully I didn't try to contact that person .. she would have thought I was nuts since Sally and her DH had just made up this person's name and then I found her! So, from last summer til this summer, I would think about that quilt every now and then and wondered why someone had wanted it so badly who had not been a part of the group making the quilt. I'd wake up some mornings and as I was laying in bed thinking about what I'd work on that day, I'd think about the pink quilt. I had decided that the winning bidder had someone special in her life who had been touched by breast cancer, this person loves pink and so . . she kept outbidding me to get the quilt. Then, last weekend I hosted a retreat at Paducah. There were 37 of who us attended and almost all of us had met and gotten to be friends on the AAMB. Vicky was to come but she couldn't be there. The first night, Sally said she had a note to read from Vicky because everyone was so disappointed she couldn't be there. Well, it wasn't a note to everyone at all but a note to me from Vicky telling me how much I had helped her along the way with her quilting and they presented me with that quilt. I was so shocked and so thrilled. I felt so bad that I had been bidding against Vicky on that quilt and . .everyone else at the retreat had known for months that Vicky had the quilt and was going to give it to me. Wasn't that the sweetest thing? I still can't read Vicky's note without crying! Vicky calls it the "boomerang quilt" because it came back to me and I am so thrilled to have it back! Judy L.

RiM 2005 is only a Memory

Only those in my little quilting circle will know what "RiM" means so I'll explain. Several years ago, on a quilting message board, there were quilters on the west coast who are always getting together to have a quilting retreat. There were quilters in the northeast always getting together to have a quilting retreat. Those of us in the middle sat on our duffs and only dreamed of a quilting retreat so several of us got together and planned a "Retreat in the Middle". In 2004 and 2005, we had it at KY Dam Village State Park but it will move on to bigger and better places in 2006. Anyway, I just returned from four days of sewing and fellowship with the greatest quilters in the world. There were 37 of us . . except one of my good buddies bailed early because her second grandchild was born during the middle of the night. Goodness, nothing like priorities! :) Anyway, we sewed and talked and ate and laughed and cried and did everything except get enough sleep. I'm tired!! It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again. I received a wonderful gift from a wonderful friend . . will post that in a separate post. Judy