If you are in River City -- Don't Look!

I have a new and exciting quilt on my design wall today.  It is the beginning of the culmination of the Mystery Quilt I presented to River City Guild, here in Baton Rouge, LA.  I missed a meeting because of of a problem with my mother last month and I was supposed to give out the 7th installment of the quilt.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of people are actually doing the mystery.  That is a great and wonderful thing!

The mystery is from Planet Patchwork and we did purchase the rights to present it, so we are totally legal.  The only thing is, I have found several errors that have been difficult to deal with when it gets to the masses.  People don't adjust easily. 

The center is complete but not sewn together, the dark will be the inside border and the snowballs will alternate in and out on the outer border.  I probably will bind it in the dark. 

I really like the quilt.  Of course I chose it because of the way it looked!  But I do like it.  And it has been very easy to do.   And I am doing another one as well.  Why I began two I will never know, but I will have two quilts soon enough.  The other is a light batik background that is orange and yellow and blue with an off white (to the slight orange tinge) light center.  It Will probably be on the design wall next week!

Oh, and I am babysitting the grand dog Hugeaux the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who eats through metal crates when a storm hits.  And has also eaten through the two soft crates.  And yet, had not a single problem with me during the storm yesterday.  Sigh.

glen in Louisiana

He who laughs........

I know you are reading these posts.  I can feel your eyes on the words.  Even though you don't make a comment, I know you are there.  And I also know you watch your washing machine wash. 

I have talked to numerous people in the last few days.  Either they have read my posts or I tell them of watching my new washer and dryer wash and dry my clothes.  To a woman, they all finally admit to standing there at some time or other and watching their clothes wash. 

My VetCousin even knew that you had to use your pinkie finger to hold the button down so you could keep the lid up when you watched the washer drum spin the clothes because your index finger is too large.  I would say that she has had a dog in that hunt before.  (See dog:  the hole in the wall belongs to the dog, he feels the kitchen needed remodeling.)(And maybe a new washing machine too.)

I know you are out there, and after reading my witty repartee the last few days you have probably gone to your washer at least once, for a few minutes, and watched your clothes.  It is addicting, so don't go too many times. 

I still have some cycles to sit through, and taking Ann and her momma to the airport in New Orleans really took a big chunk out of my Washer Watching Time (WWT).  But I had already told her I would do it, I couldn't just call and say, Hey Ann, I have something better to do, watch my dirty laundry get washed, now could I?????

Nope.  So I gave up WWT because they are good friends.  I know, I sacrificed a lot there.

I have to go and do some "Clean Up Your Crap!" stuff in my sewing room, then I am going to start taking my fabric to the laundry room since I no longer have any dirty clothes. 

glen:  Well, I have to have something to wash.........And maybe the fabric will shrink and more of it will fit in the shelves........too much of a stretch, huh?

Washer and Dryer Team Rules!

When Frank arrived home yesterday he asked me if I liked the new washer and dryer.  I did, I replied with total veracity.  And I do.  I described to him the various gyrations and sounds the washer makes when it goes through the cycle.  I went around looking for dirty clothes and stuff but could find no more than the original load that morning. 

Frank laughed at me for being fascinated with what was happening inside the washer.  And I was incredulous.  I couldn't believe he wasn't out there hunting for dirty stuff.  I was more than willing to find some clean stuff to put in there just to watch it wash.  He said he had other things to do at that moment.

This morning dawned clear and bright and actually somewhat cool.  That means the day did not start out at 88 degrees.  And there was a wonderful load of dirty clothes available to be washed!  Yeah!  Since Frank didn't really seem to be interested, I was hanging over the washer while it was cycling.  Then I noticed that he would stop in, take a quick look, and head on out.  When the sound would change, he would reappear in the laundry room and look inside the washer. 

Then I noticed he would stay longer each time.  He had to leave to iron his shirt, but he was quickly back at my side in the viewing position.  I had to move over to accommodate him in front of the washing machine. 

After that load was complete, I put the nearly dry clothes in the new dryer (why is it acceptable to say washing machine but not drying machine) and left.  The dryer is not nearly as exciting as the washer.  It just goes around and around and around and around.............ad nauseum. 

A few minutes later, here comes Frank.  With his arms full of dog bed covers.  Here, he says, the dog's beds need to be washed.

I could laugh at him, but I was too busy watching the washing machine on the "BULKY" cycle!

glen:  I'll bet you have never seen your washer pour water into the drum like a waterfall on a clear mountain stream in the pristine snow covered wilderness!  (now that Joel is reading the blog I have to watch these misplaced metaphors....)  Hey, Joel!

The new W/D arrives with great promise

After 3 months of waiting for these darned appliances, the new washer and dryer finally arrived yesterday.  They are truly things of great and awesome beauty covered in a platinum shield; they will save electricity and wash my clothes more efficiently than anyone has ever dreamed of.   Should you see me, I will be the one with the bright glow of super clean-ness emanating from my jeans and shirt.

I am glad to finally get the team.  I waited so long because it is a special order from Maytag that will heat the water to over 140 degrees.  This is important because that is the temperature it takes to set the dyes I use for my hand dyes.  If I ever get to cleaning out my crap in the sewing room and can actually get in there again.  The dryer has the steam function, but that just came along for the ride because it I wanted a matching set.  This is the first time I have had a matching set because the washer and dryer have never died together.  This time neither died, this was a purposeful and totally researched purchase and I had time to wait.

It arrived while three friends and I were traveling to Independence, LA to visit Mama's Quilt Shop for her 9th anniversary sale.  Once there, I bought a kit for Carrie for Christmas, some bundles of solid fat quarters, and two books for 20% off.  I also found a back for the Sailboat quilt for $4/yard.   Nice haul.  And I got to spend a day with quilting people.  Who liked me.

Later that afternoon we had a horrible thunderstorm with huge lightening.   It was a bad one, and I am sure the Swissy Tycho and Hugeaux the Grand-dog didn't do well.  Poor guy is terrified of storms since they moved in the new house earlier this year.  Frank and I were at dinner when lightening hit my mom's place and all the phones and TV cable service were knocked out in her wing. Barry at Lake Sherwood said it took a long time to calm the old folks down after the hit.  And the fire department was dispatched despite the fact that they called them to report the false alarm.  While Frank and I were at the restaurant we watched the 3 firetrucks speed to the place.  But I was unable to reach anyone on the phone either at my mom's apartment or the office area.

(Conclusion: That is probably because the phones were out and not because they didn't like me.)

glen:  maybe a bit paranoid, but my clothes will be super clean........I spent the morning watching my clothes wash in their new washing machine with the clear lid.  I hung over the washer with the wind up searchlight we use when the power goes out during hurricanes and watched my dirty laundry go through numerous gyrations and flume spray.    It was exciting.  Oh, wait, I have to leave you, my washer is in a different spin!

Never take an Alzheimer Person to a Raffle

Today was an opportunity for me to spend some time with my mom and for her to spend some time away from Lake Sherwood.  And Frank even wanted to go!  Surprise, surprise!  We picked her up and headed out to eat.  That is always an experience because she doesn't like anything cooked too little or too much; anything too spicy hot or actually having any seasoning at all; anything that has a skin on it, be it animal or vegetable; anything that has any fat on it or tastes like it had fat on it once upon a time; a lot of anything or too little of anything; or anything that is randomly chosen from some memory 60 years ago that happens to still be sitting on a shelf in her mind, shaken loose by the car ride.  So we went to D'Angelo's and I ordered a White Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Spinach and Roma Tomatoes.  Mostly because it was what I wanted and not because it was anything she would ever eat.  Another surprise when she actually liked it!

Then we drove to the CAAWS building where I searched for the Spay/Neuter Certificates I am supposed to be picking up but never found.  Mom enjoyed looking at the dogs waiting for forever homes and petting 12 of the biggest cats I have ever seen in my life in the Cat Room.  We had the run of the Cat Room because the rest of the volunteers are at the Cat Adoption Day at PetsMart trying to find homes for the 16 or so adorable kittens we have in stock.  Yet another surprise came when we actually left there without a new cat. (that is Josie over there in case you are wondering.  Up for adoption!)

Then on to the Fundraiser for a fellow quilter, who happens to be a man, who is undergoing a bad spell with cancer.  Women in the guilds get cancer all the time but no one throws them a fund raiser.  But that is another pet peeve I have.  Anyway. 

We get to the raffle and Frank immediately falls in love with a coral brocade blue jean style jacket bedecked with about 4 gorgeous turquoise necklaces.  It is on the Silent Auction Table.  I am surprised, very surprised.  He wants to bid on it.  So I register for a number and receive #168 which I am to use rather than my name. So we become Mr. and Mrs. 168 for the afternoon.  I show him how to make a bid by writing #168 and the amount just higher than the last person.  He picks it up quickly.  He bids $35.  And proceeds to stand there for the next 2 hours making sure no one bids higher than he does.  I leave him to his devices and mom and I head to the Raffle Room.

The Raffle Room holds treasures you can win by placing a ticket stub with your number on it, 168, into a jar next to the object.  At an appointed time, someone calls END! and they begin picking one ticket out of every jar and that ticket wins the object.  My mother never grasped the concept. 

She was really into several items.  So I happily bought her $10 worth of tickets (10 to be exact), wrote 168 on them all and explained what she needed to do.  Several times.  I walked her though a couple of items and then left her to check on Frank.  He was holding steady at $35. 

Back to mom.  I find her still perusing the tables.  Finally, she comes up to me, super surprise, and proudly presents me with about 35 tickets.  I realize she has TAKEN tickets rather than PLACED tickets.  I have no idea where the tickets came from, so I place the tickets back into some random jars, and beat the devil out of there. 

When the numbers were finally called, I'll bet there were some really surprised people who won things they never bid on!  I hope I made them happy!  My mom was very very happy when we left with her winning item!

Oh, and Frank won his item as well for the $35 he started out with.  And he was so excited, he called Carrie and got her all excited with the surprise.  She can't wait to come to dinner tomorrow to see what he got for her! 

I'd say it was a good day.  Frank was happy.  Mom was happy.  Carrie was happy.  And that makes me happy.

glen

Quilt Show interview with WAFB Diane Deaton

I am famous!

Or at least infamous.......

Today's copy of The Advocate has a nice blurb about the quilt show and resulting donation of preemie quilts to the Woman's Hospital.  The picture that accompanies the blurb has me (as Past President but they don't say that) and the other officers of the Guild.

I guess I need a new copy without the writing on it. I was trying to get Frank to pronounce that name, I thought it was an interesting way of writing Tijuana.

But that is me, on the far right of the picture.  With my Don't Drink and Quilt t-shirt on that was a total hit that day.  I really want the QUAID bumper sticker - Quilters Against Idiot Drivers.  Maybe that will be my next purchase from the Bitchy Stitcher!  There are so many idiots out there and now that I am running Merilyn around to all those doctor appointments and Dutch to all his vet visits I really need to separate myself from the rest of the idiots out there and take a stand against stupid driving.  Like the guy who kept jumping leap frog like around the long long line of traffic backed up at a stop light at rush hour by driving in that middle turn lane.  And other idiots were letting him in!  Aughhhhhh!

So Megan, if you are out there, head's up, I'm lookin' for you!

glen

Did you know Swissys are gray underneath?

Frankendog lives!  He is a nice shade of gray, with what looks like beard stubble. Swissys are a double coated breed so he has some nice tawny colored undercoat that generally lives on my floor as opposed to on the dog.

Poor guy, he seems to be recovering from something that involves a lot of metal staples a lot lately.  Once again last Friday I found a lump on his right shoulder.  So after a quick trip to the vet's office on Monday he was in surgery Monday afternoon and home with me Monday night.  He once again looks like Frankendog.

The last one was less than a month ago and it was staged as grade II.  Not great but not involving other organs or tissues.  And they got that huge margin of clear cells.  The fur on his private parts have not even grown back yet!  And now his shoulder is shaved. 

So now he has a 6 inch wound on his right shoulder, and that is the one he lays on all the time!  At least it doesn't interfere with leg lifting action like the last one did. 

With the shoulder shaved to the skin you can really see how thick his fur is.  He was bred for life in the Swiss Alps herding sheep and pulling carts with runners for snow and wheels for alpine pastures. 

But he is living here with me in Southern Louisiana, with parts being chuncked out of him on a regular basis like he is in some wild and wacky slasher film

The thing about dogs is that they love deeply no matter what you do to them.  He was just upset that the bowl of treats in the exam room yesterday was empty.  He thinks the vet should be more cognizant of keeping it filled for dogs of his ilk.

glen

Design Wall Monday 5-16-10

I have an exciting design wall today.  I spent a bit of time working on this, I think I will claim it as my 15 minute blocks as well, since it seems that I could grab no more then about that amount of time each time I sat down!

I had been thinking of working on some Christmas presents for those I share the season with.  Most who know me know that is it a feeling of friendship that drives my celebrating the season, rather than some Christian belief system.  Even though I do not celebrate the reason, I do celebrate the friends who are dear to me, most of whom I would not choose to go through life without. 

I have been thinking of working on some Christmas presents.  Every time I go to the storage shed that holds artifacts from Frank's mother I find some odd treasure.  This time it was this little egg plate.  I knew it would find a home with some deserving soul this Christmas. 

I got home and found a perfect combination of yellow and green and brown and it went together in bits and spurts of 15 minutes or so.  No pattern, no thought process, totally random ideas that were amazingly separate from each other.  From the chicken to the chick to the blocks below and around them, there was no plan. 

I just need to finish it up and it can go into the Present Closet!

And it felt good.

So if you are generally a recipient of  my Christmas presents, and you read this, (most do not so I felt safe posting it)  and you really like this chicken and her chick......then let me know so I can put your name on the package under the tree!  It will probably go into a basket, maybe the wire kind that is shaped like a chicken, along with something you make with eggs, like maybe an omelet cookbook.........or salt and pepper shakers shaped like chickens.....or eggs!  How fun would that be?

glen

Donating blood for health - yours

I have the quietest followers in all the land.  Nobody makes a peep, except for Marie!  And the ladies on the Design Wall Monday group, they can be a riotous bunch.

This morning I have a headache, I think Marie gave it to me. 

I have been sitting and watching the yard excitement between the birds and the squirrels.  There were 6 squirrels foraging in the grass.  Occasionally there would be a tussle over a spot but they generally just minded their own seeds and nuts. 

There must have been 30 birds including 2 huge black grackles, a bossy brown mocking bird and a ton of those juvenile delinquent cardinals.  The cardinals have not finished turning their bright red but they are redder than last week.  I did find some dull red feathers on my door mat, too many to be just casually dropped so I figure Cali must have gotten a slow one.  She's not talking.

Yesterday Frank and I went to the health food store and got a blood analysis done.  It was interesting to see a drop of blood under the microscope.  You could see differences between mine and Frank's.  My blood cells were nice and round while his had some jagged edges.  That is free radical damage probably from all the plants he is in almost daily. 

The tech said that the best way to cleanse your blood and strengthen your body is to donate blood on a regular basis.  That forces your marrow to manufacture new red blood cells to replace what you just took out.  And that cleanses the liver, the pancreas and the blood system.

Never thought of that.

glen

PS He only took a tiny drop of blood, not the amount you see in the picture!  LOL.

Today is my anniversary.  We decided a number of years ago to forgo the presents and just opt for some splurge we wanted and dinner at a nicer restaurant than we usually enjoy.  We will go to Bonefish Grill and dress up and order an appetizer, and a really nice entree, which Frank won't do because he has a flare up of gout and can't eat meat or protein or flour or chicken or anything with a sauce or asparagus or dried beans and legumes or fish, mushrooms or spinach which makes me wonder why we are going out to eat at all.......but I digress.

We did have lunch at a different  (yucky lunch of really bad Caesar salad that was WAY too anchovy-ish for me)  restaurant with a favorite couple, Dan and Amber.  They are a great pair to be with.  She has gorgeous hair and a dry sense of humor that is tinged with a glint of fun in her eye.  And he is one of the happiest people I have ever met.  He always has a nice thing to say, and always notices when I get my hair done when Frank NEVER notices even though the appointment is listed on the board of my daily activities right there in the kitchen for all to see........but I digress.

Daughter Carrie will probably not even remember the date.  I reminded her last weekend that our anniversary would be today and she informed me that she does not give anniversary presents.  So there.  But I bet she won't even have a card, which is cheap and easy and just thoughtful and since she is married for a year now she should know that an anniversary these days is meaningful and it would make us feel good just to be remembered..........but I digress.

So what I wanted to say in the beginning of all this, before I digressed and all, is that today is our anniversary and we have been married for 38 years now.  Amazing.  I would have never even thought it would have lasted this long.  And some of it has even been fun!

glen:  he is lucky he ended up with me, no one else would have put up with his mother......but I digress.  And the dogs love him.

I Want a Beer as Cold as My Ex-Wife's Heart

It must be country!

Drop Kick Me Jesus (Through The Goal Posts Of Life.)

OMG!  How did I miss these.  They were in the bottom of a box of fabric that I took home from the auction last year.  I didn't even remember them.  But when I saw them again it was

love love love! 

(I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me)

I must decide right this minute if I want to start another something with so many many many UFOs still out there....

OR

Make a deal with myself that if I finish a couple of UFOs I can start this quilt.......

Come out of the Wheatfield Nellie, You're Going Against the Grain

I don't know what to do.  (Feelin' Single and Drinkin' Doubles)

I can envision the horse one with small windmill blocks of light backgrounds with the colors of the warm beige and that odd gray green.  And maybe a zinger color tossed in there.  I am not sure what that would be, but I can see it.........oh oh oh........

maybe black..........huh?  whatcha think????

I Would Kiss You Through the Screendoor but It'd Strain Our Love

or maybe a chocolate brown.......I have some of that somewhere........where are my solid Konas?????

glen:  That is why I love Country.....there is a song out there for just about everything!
Am I Double Parked by the Curbstone of Your Heart?

Brown Bag Quilt contest - just do it

I just signed up for this contest over at one of my favorite blog sites Stash Manicure.  We did this in a cyber guild a couple of years ago and I love my quilt made from ugly fabric!

Check it out, there are prizes involved, and lots of fun and creative inspiration.  And I'll bet the "ugly" fabric you get will be pretty cool to you!

The fabric I received was the very center circle and the centers of the purple circles.  It was pretty cool!

glen:  go join up!

http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com/2010/08/brown-bag-quilt-contest.html

Design wall Monday 8-9-10

I like that!  8 then 9 then 10!  What a great day it will be.

Design Wall Monday is boring at my house.  I have been so busy that I have not done much in the way of quilting.  But here are a few things that are new:

While it is not much, it is new.  As I was cleaning up in the Cleaning up my crap challenge from V and CO, I found my 2 1/2 inch squares I had lost for a while.  I was so excited that I spent some time, fifteen minutes to be exact, creating this large square out of some of the random pieces.   I have the idea that eventually, when all the squares are put together they will become a fabulous awe inspiring quilt of immense proportions.  And maybe I can give it to some charity.  Usually what happens is I decide it is too much trouble to continue to work on a large piece and it becomes many small pieces and then a lap quilt.  So I never reach the AWE portion of the awe inspiring piece.  Maybe this time my little group of squares will grow and grow into a nice large quilt.  Then I can give it away.

Meanwhile, I will continue to attempt to clean up my corner of the quilt room and kit some things that look like they go together.  I have a box that has a lot of neutrals, and somehow has attracted some pink in there for some unknown reason.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I need a Pink Box for fabrics. 

glen:  I have to wait until Valerie gets another shipment of something............

Clean up my crap challenge or CUMCC

The Quilt Show is hung and happy, the Demonstration Day is over and successful and the Balloon Fest was hot but beautiful. 

So I decided that, despite my headache from being out in the weather conditions for the last two days, I would do some work on the CUMCC (or Come See as linguistically stated) and see what I could get in order.  I was thinking the whole time, won't V and Co be proud of me, working on my CUMCC with a horrible headache.  I should really get extra points for having such a medical obstacle and STILL doing CUMCC.  Yeah, buddy, BIG prize.

My cutting table is 8 feet long, with about 3 of those feet taken up by the recessed bed that holds my sewing machine.  That leaves about 5 feet by 3 foot deep space to do my piecing and cutting and laying out of fabrics (not to be confused with laying on of hands which I do when I am fondling my fabrics).  But lately I have been working in about 1 foot by 1 foot of space because there is so much crap on my cutting table.  This was my plan:

1. Get boxes

2.  Find patterns in magazines and books that I want to make

3. Lay fabrics out for laying on of the hands

4.  While laying on the hands, begin to sort the fabrics into groupings that constitute a kit for a pattern I want to make

5.  Put the fabrics, magazine or pattern and box together in another corner of the room.  (Hey, at least it won't be on the cutting table, right?)

6.  Take pictures as I go along and post to the blog

7. Send the blog post to V and Co to prove I am really trying in spite of this headache.

8.  Win a big prize for going above and beyond doing CUMCC work with a headache.

So let's get started.  I have been gathering boxes, so that is good.  I am in the #2 section.  I have found that it is closely related to the #3 section or the laying out for the laying on of hands.  I do sit on the sofa at night and look through books and magazines to find little (or big) delights I want to make.  And I have  a number of them bookmarked.  Now to combine them with fabrics.  And that involves the laying on of the hands. (Can you tell that I like this part??)

Some photos to prove it:

What looks like white in the pattern photo is really a nice gray.  Very nearly like the one in the fabric.  I like this combination a lot.  It has caused me to stall a bit (it is that laying on of hands thing that gets me all the time) but I am regrouping and hope to get back on track now.  And the headache is still there.  I wonder if V and Co is listening, I am waiting for that BIG prize to come my way.  Here is another kit I put together using blue and green batiks.  I had no idea I had so many blue and green batiks!  What a delightful find!

I ended up with 16 boxes filled with "kits" I made with fabrics from my stash.  But I can't begin them until I finish more of the UFO stack in the OTHER corner!

<<<<<<<<<< later that day>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Then I got sidetracked with some 15 minute play blocks and some 2 1/2 inch squares I found under a pile of something.  See why I never get anything cleaned up?

glen:  off to dinner now........

Quilts from the ceiling

Yesterday we hung the quilts from the ceiling. We had 26 pieces to hang in the foyer area, 5 down to the kid's area and another 8 in the kid's room. That number does not include the small and medium sized hangings on the wall and the board by the meeting rooms.

The look of the quilts hanging from the ceiling was incredible. The pictures don't give the impact you feel when you walk in and look at it in person. But if you are in the UK or Wisconsin it is the next best thing!

The center one is a gorgeous hand applique. These hit you when you walk in the front door.

We also have a number of  dolls and purses and antique items and a gorgeous portrait in the glass cases.

Looking down on one side of the row. The work on the quilts is impressive. Some are machined quilted, some hand quilted.

These are the largest quilts that needed to be folded over the hanging posts because they were too long to hang. We were concerned about the effect, but it looks just fine!

Here is another group of the ceiling hangers. This is in the opposite side of the magazine stacks. The interesting thing is every time I have been in the library people have stopped me asking if any of them were for sale. I laughed, and said, make me an offer! One lady said, maybe A hundred dollars??

I really laughed then!

glen: I wanted to say, Go to Walmart, but I didn't!

I was Number One all day! -- and the quilt show begins to hang

I just told somebody that I really didn't set goals for myself, but I guess I lied.  Because as I do this post I realize I did set a goal of being #1 on Judy's list.  (I really think she should give me a prize or something for achieving that goal.) 

The best part of the whole thing is that I was #1 ALL DAY LONG! 

Well, actually, the best part of the day was hanging the quilts at the show venue.  (Make sure you scroll all the way down!)  It has been a secret dream of mine for about 5 years to put together a quilt show.  And with a lot of help from 4 ladies, the guild finally started hanging quilts for the Kaleidoscope of Quilts at a local library branch.  We got the baby quilts up in in the Kid's Room.  And the jackets and some small hangings on the wall leading to the class rooms.  And the medium sized hangings on the back of the magazine stacks.

Tomorrow I will head out to help hang the large quilts from the ceiling. 

It is totally exciting.  I have about 12 pieces in the show.  It is not judged or anything but just to see your work hang with the other people you admire is a great feeling. 

We will be doing demos on Saturday and I am doing the flying geese demo.  I guess I need to have some samples set up and get my demo wording down!  Maybe make some flyers........gee I still have a lot to do.

My quilts are mixed in with the others.  Like the Eiffel Tower, the three dog faces, the Swissy looking under the fence and the Cathedral Windows that are just a mere beginning of that ultimate quilt.  And if you look really close you will see the MacKenna Ryan Espresso piece of mine in there as well.  ohhh and I just noticed the Skier as well, I gave that to my friend Valerie when she moved out to Colorado because it looked just like her skiing down the mountain.  I love the little pup asleep that my friend VB did.  And the rag quilt that hangs on top of the wall because that is the first quilt that my friend VV did.  But they are all beautiful,

glen