Surviving Spring

How was your winter this year?  Winter in our part of the world, namely South Jersey, was quite snowy and cold.  Our daughter had six snow days!  Of course, this was the year the school decided not to include any snow days in the calendar, so she will be graduating 8th grade at the end of June.

I love snow days!  Over the years, I have realized that one should never discuss religion, politics or love of snow in public settings--people have very, very, very strong opinions on those topics!  I have had my share of death threats when I wore an "I Love Snow" button to work.  One woman told me to take off the button in her not-so-nice voice.

Snow days are special to me because they are the closest thing I get to stopping my world for a day.  The whole family is together and all the activities cease for just a little while.  There is time for me to catch my breath. I could use a snow day this month.....

The mini mountain of trimmed triangles from nearly 100 square-in-a-square blocks.

Our younger daughter came home from school with a special project--she was going to make a quilt to honor the veterans that served from Burlington County, NJ.  If you are unfamiliar with NJ geography, Burlington County is the largest county in NJ by quite a bit.  The first plan was to include all 42,000 names of veterans who served in all the wars in US history.  Uhmmm, not really possible on such a short timeline.  I do admire Sarah's enthusiasm for the project, but I had to make it a bit more manageable for a group of 8th graders....or for a woman who will work on it while her daughter is at school....

Sarah took her sewing machine to school every day for two weeks.  You should have seen her navigating her sewing machine and cello on Fridays....in the rain.....but she soldiered on!

So, to acknowledge those who served without leaving anyone out, we are going to write the names of veterans' organizations on the blocks instead of individual names.

The idea is for the quilt to look like camouflage with the flag fabric as a backing.  Just in case someone who is viewing the quilt has a loved-one they would like to include, I am making a cover for a small notebook to be placed in a sleeve on the back.  Think I may have come up with a quick and easy way to make a cover since time is so short.  Will post that when I finish it.

P.S. I haven't forgotten about a give-away--am sort of swamped with recitals, graduation and birthday/holiday preparations/celebrations at the moment.  Besides, I am still looking for something cool to give away.  My new plan it to post to my blog every week, regardless of what I am working on.  Have a few ideas for patterns that I'd like to share with you, too.  Am hoping to recharge my battery and have a new BOM for January.  We have done pieced block and applique blocks--which do you prefer?

Big quilty hugs!!