Happy New Year

Okay! We've survived the New Year coming in - I was in bed asleep when it clicked over to 2015. My eyelids just couldn't stay up any longer. Besides, it's hard to party with just myself.

I've challenged myself this year on my UFO listing. I'm going to attempt to finish more than I start and make those that are not yet tops, into tops. Of course, this means I need to get busy. I am already into the second day of the  new year and haven't done a darn thing off that list.

I'm going to attempt to be better at entering paragraphs on my blog. Lands only knows last year I wasn't so good at that. Maybe we'll be looking at the weather, the work issues, my Eastern Star travels, my vacations (once they are over). Hard to say. This weekend I actually have a 4 day weekend, Jan. 1-4, to work on things. So, first comes the blog entry which you are reading. Then will come my lunch as I'm hungry. Then with luck, I can find a UFO that interests me enough to work on.

Off to lunch. I may or may not be back today. The sun is shining and I have things to do.

It's Official

Yep, it's official. I am no longer Worthy Matron of my Eastern Star chapter. Our new Worthy Matron was installed last night and I am thrilled with our choice. She is an awesome sister and will do a fantastic job. She has the privilege of presiding over our chapter for our 125th anniversary party.

Now I just have to get through the month of November with all the installations of new officers and I can kick back and relax. While I did take on a new job for my District, as Deputy Grand Matron, I can actually miss a meeting here and there. I will be able to take some quilt classes because I won't be planning a meeting. I might even get some of my UFOs finished. I still have my list going and will be whittling it away.

Today I am home and am doing the mundane things like laundry and putting out the recyclables and the trash. I'm not planning on any "big" things today. Just going to stay home and enjoy the quiet.

Am off to get a bit to eat and then start on those mundane things. Take care and enjoy your day.

November is....

November is a month of craziness for me. I belong to Eastern Star and November is installation month. Suffice to say all my weekends have something in them. Then on top of that, I've agreed to be my district's 2014 Deputy Grand Matron. Yep, that makes me one busy lady. But since I enjoy it all, it's a fun hectic month.

In addition to all of my Eastern Star functions, I'm also doing the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks blog tour. Yep, there is to be released on November 19, Volume 8 of the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks. I have the first seven and I will have the 8th either as soon as I win it or as soon as I buy it. The blocks are amazing and the colors are fun. Any quilter knows you can change colors and make it look totally different.

I should be working on my quilting this month, but time just seems to get away from me. I guess I will work on it in December instead. One of my Yahoo groups has a "sewing time challenge" going. The object is to stitch or work on something crafty for a minimum of 15 minutes per day. Not much to it, right? Well, yes, there is. Some of us just don't get there. I was hoping to do at least 15 minutes this past week and didn't make it. Maybe I'll have better luck this week?

Well, I'm off to get ready for work. I need to work to support my quilting habit but working gets in the way of my quilting. Kind of a quandary there. Oh, well.

December already!

How on earth did we get to December already? Seems like just yesterday we celebrated the new year. Guess I've been that busy. Between quilt guild, Eastern Star, work and home, I stay pretty busy.

I've made it through the month of November fairly unscathed. Was debatable about crossing river yesterday, but I made it and the river stayed below flood warning. The morning didn't look good as the river was rising at one foot per hour. That's a lot of water! It finally trickled down to a half foot per hour which was nice for me as I could get home before dark and with mostly dry conditions.

November was installation season for Eastern Star and I made most of the ones I wanted to. I won't be making the last one for my district as the river is heading up again and I"m not getting stuck on the other side! Been there, done that, don't care to do it again.

My quilt guild will be meeting this coming week and our UFO project just really didn't get off the ground. We had way more quilts to go and unless a miracle occurs, they are not all getting done by December's meeting. I know I didn't finish all of mine. I feel pretty good about my percentage of finished though. I made it through 77% of my list. I have a portion of the other 23% almost done, but they won't make it for this year. Still have to do my Christmas block for guild and I have a couple other projects lefts that will need finishing first.

I was installed as Worthy Matron of my chapter for the ensuing year of 2013 in November. Now I need to finish off the first newsletter of the year and get it mailed out. May even start printing this weekend. Have to do labels and fold the newsletters. Have to put the dues envelopes in them and I can't use staples since the post office put them on the "Don't under any circumstances use staples" list. Would have made it  a lot easier.

Off to work on my projects. Have to finish the laundry and then I can my stuff. Take care and I'll try to do better in posting.

Another Season

Okay, most people say there are 4 seasons in the year - winter, spring, fall & summer. Well for those of us in Eastern Star, there is a 5th season. It's called Installation Season and it starts with a roar on Nov. 1st. Most are held on weekends, some are on the Chapter's regular meeting night. Just depends on the Chapter's by-laws.

As a Past Matron of my chapter, I have been invited on more than occasion to participate in someone else's installation. So for me, the season starts today. While I could have done a couple earlier, I have other things I like to do. One Saturday this month, I have 3 to attend. This year it actually goes into the first weekend of December.

So my calendar is busy, my husband is lonely. I tend to forget to write to people. I frequently forget what day of the week it is. My laundry gets behind. Meals are often the same from installation to installation. By the end of the month, I'm more than ready for that long winter's nap mentioned in a story book rhyme.

And so begins a month of fun & sometime confusion. I enjoy it to the max and am super glad when it's over. This year, I will be installed again as a Worthy Matron of my chapter. Rumors flying indicate that the world as we know it will end in December 2012  - or is it the calendar that we know that will end? I guess we'll all find out when New Year's 2013 gets here.

Stay safe on your trails and enjoy the ride!

Fall is finally here

Actually, it made it a few weeks ago and I'm just finding time to let folks know. We have had rain, we have had wind, we have had sunlight. We've had gray cloudy days. I love it. We finally turned the central heat on. Or rather, hubby did while I was gone the last couple nights.

I've been to Fresno for Grand Chapter (Eastern Star for those who don't know). I've been voted Worthy Matron elect of my chapter. I've worked. I've played. I'd almost forgotten that I needed to put something on my blog. I'm sure you all know what happens when you get busy - little things go right out of your poor overworked brain. Okay, it does mine.

I realized Christmas is now less than 2 months away. Egads! Where did the year go? I haven't finished everything I wanted to finish and I am running out of time. Do you suppose if I asked for "more time" for Christmas I'd get it? Probably not. Worth a try, though.

Guess I'll put the quilt back on the bed and sleep nice & cuddly warm until spring arrives. Somehow it seems forever till it will arrive again. I am thinking that winter this year will be long and cold. My intuition hasn't told me yet if it will be wetter than usual.

Off to find that warm bed.

Eastern Star Installations

Okay, we are now better than halfway through the installation season. I have been to 4 so far and will attend 2 more before the end of the month. It popped up in conversation that 30 years ago some of us thought nothing of going somewhere for either a meeting or an installation every day during the month of November. Thank heavens as we get older we tend to slow down and not try to do them all. In the State Association I belong to, there is no way I could attend all of them since there are sometime 2 at the same time due to a lack of weekend days and the length of time it takes to go the distance between chapters.

I myself have chosen to do only those in my district plus one outside. The one outside was in the mountains and was on a day when my district had nothing planned. So, that means I have 5 in my district. I have 3 of those done as of tonight and the other two are next weekend. The themes for each have been a little different. Some had carrying pieces, some did not. Some had a full corp of officers, some did not. Of the remaining two, I have yet to hear what the theme will be.

I wish I could attend more, but my time is limited and travel between some of the chapters is too great a distance. Makes me really wish for time travel and instant getting there similar to the way Scotty beamed them up in Star Trek. Maybe some day?

Installations

Well, I went to my first Installation of officers for Eastern Star this afternoon. It was in the low mountain country and since the weather was looking gray and wet, we took a raincoat with a hood to go over the clothes. As we went over the summit of the one pass, there was snow mixed in with the rain. It was early in the day and we figured we'd be okay. Weather people had said snow down as low as 3500 feet, but when are they ever right on target?

The installation was beautiful and afterwards we went into the dining hall for a High Tea. We had just finished when I looked out the window and saw snow falling. I nudged the one member of my car pool and said look outside. She looked and nudged the driver and said "We're outta here!". As we headed home it continued to snow. It was not sticking to the road but it was starting to stick to the dirt and trees along side the road. We got down out of the mountains safely and were back into rain. We all agreed that it was a very nice thing to have that installation in the middle of the day rather than at night.

So the season starts. I only have 3 more weekends of crazy this month.