Time for another Roll Call?

OK, me next!

Hi, i'm Amy. soon to be the big "5-0"...ugh...anywho...i'm the office manager for a surgeon, been here 15 years. i also do the billing and receptionist stuff. All in all..i do it all.....i've been married twice (and divorced twice--TG!!), have two wonderful kids...Jimi is 26 and just out of the Marines. he's living with his fiance' in LA, she's a sweetie. My daughter Liz is soon to be 20 and is in college. she's my salvation. keeps me (sorta) sane and young!

i love, love, love chocolate. anykind, anywhere. MY MOTTO: Chocolate is a food group, because i said so. LOL!

My QI's name is Cricket. she's a springer spaniel mix and just a little honey. She'll be 17 this year. follows me everywhere and loves to keep my feet warm under the sewingmachine and on the couch. She has her own bed, so no furries on my quilts. she is allowed on the bed, she just has such bad arthritis that she cant get up there without help. i know she hasnt many good years left, so, we enjoy ice cream and car rides whenever we can.

i own my own home in Vernon, New York, and currently have it up for sale. My DS wants us to move to California near him. i'm game for anything.

i drive a Scion tC, 5 speed, and LOVE it!! so much fun. (is it the mid- life crisis sinking in???)LOL

i love to quilt. from picking out a pattern, fabric and layout, to actual quilting. even putting the binding on is fun. i love to sit at my machine with the radio on and sun streaming in the windows. i have a White 999, and a Singer of some sort. i really want a new machine, but haven't had time to testdrive anything. My DS and DM also quilt. I've been at it since i was 14 or so. Couldn't live without it.

i havent been in this group long, but they are the most fun, caring, friendly, and knowledgable group of people i have ever met. Hope i can be here for a long time!

amy in CNY (central new york)

I've been around for quite a while (age wise and RCTQ-wise.) I live in coastal Maine, but was born in Oregon. I taught elementary school for about

I learned to "sew" from my DGM - on an old treadle machine.... didn't use fabric ('twould be a waste!) but she'd draw a line on an old piece of (used) paper and put a "dead" needle in the machine and taught me how to follow a line by making holes Needless-to-say, I grew up in a "use it up / wear it out / make it do / or do without" household. But, by the time I was in

We've got one QI - a beagle mix rescue dog named Gus. Rescue doggies are the best-est! I love almost all chocolates!

Most know me as the Doggie Quilt Lady, actually I sew "blankies" for the dogs and cats at a dozen animal rescue outside of Detroit. I also make toys for the furbabies as well as raffle baskets, embroidered items for the rescues to sell to raise money. I have been working for the animals fulltime for 4 years now. My background is in floral design. I loved it!! I had to leave the industry about 13 years ago after developing allegeries to every pollen known to man and adding asthma on top of it. Luckily, it's all under control. Been married for 24 years to my high school sweetheart. No kids, but a wonderful rescued QI, Jack, who makes sure that I keep sewing for the animals.

Critter Comforts: Quilts for Homeless Animals

Good idea, Sally! :)

Okay, here goes for me:

I was born near Chicago in 1948 (I'm still 59, but that will change this summer ), moved to Baltimore about two years later and then to Arizona (Ft. Huachuca, pronounced "Wa choo' kuh") in 1953-ish. Daddy was in the Army, in case you haven't guessed. When he retired in 1957, we moved to Tucson, where I finished most of my growing up. I graduated from Arizona State University and became a high school French teacher, moving to Douglas, AZ, for what was supposed to be one year and turned into 28 -- all because I met DH there. We've been married now for almost

I'd grown up sewing, though I discovered in college that things turned out better when I followed the directions instead of doing things as my mother had. I began quilting somewhere along about 1985, when our two DDs began wanting store-bought clothes like their friends wore. LOL. I had tried macramé, cross-stitch and a variety of other crafts, but once quilting entered my life, everything else has just disappeared. :)

Because of a dear friend I met in this group, I've been going to the "really big shew" in Houston for a few years now, and I also try to take as many classes locally as possible -- I have to make up for the years when nothing was available in Douglas!

DH and I moved here in 1999, after I retired. Our two DDs and their DHs live here, and so do our four DGSs and one infant DGD. We have Dexter, a lab-chow mix who is as sweet as they come, but he isn't really very interested in being a dedicated QI. He checks on me periodically in my sewing room, but he's happiest finding a quiet corner to take the naps that a 13-year-old sweetheart deserves. His calm may be disturbed quite soon, though; stay tuned for an update on the QI front. ;)

Hi all,

I'm from Canada with 1 DH, 2 kids, and 4 QIs. I work in a research lab and quilt in bits and pieces when I can find the time. I've been quilting about 10 years now (not counting the 1 scrap quilt I did way back as a teenager). Everyone in the family has multiple quilts for their beds or for general purpose snuggling so I am doing more art quilts now. They are smaller (this is good for someone with a lack of time1) and I can try out lots of new techniques (hey, I'm a scientist, I LIKE experimenting). I belong to a local quilt guild (we having a show this coming May, will let you know more about that closer to the date). If I don't do a little *something* quilty every day I start to get antsy so I guess I am a confirmed quiltaholic! LOL

Allison in Montreal

Sally Sw> As Cornwoman wrote 'Now I want to

I'm Jolene -- living a life split between north-central Massachusetts and northern Maine. There was a plan a couple of years ago to work from home full time and sell off the Massachusetts tax burden, but then work changed it's corporate mind and now I'm caught in the middle. Mind you, the middle still receives a paycheck to spend at the fabric store, so it's not all bad!

I have one son, now 18 and in his first year of college. Wonderful son, who is enjoying this phase of his life immensely. While I truely enjoy his visits back home, and miss him when he is not here, I am also enjoying the first time in my life when I haven't been a caretaker/parent or responsible for someone else's well being. I'm single (widow) and am just starting to fill my life with fun things to do, like quilting. Been sewing since I was in grade school, making clothes and such. Later, sewing meant making tents, backpacks, down jackets and sleeping bags to support my hiking/camping enjoyment. Now, with the house on a lake in Maine, the camping drive is much less and the joy of quilting and getting to know other quilters fosters the sewing.

Don't tell me you're retired -- I'll turn absolutely green with envy! I'm a computer programmer/software QE person who spends most of her time either breaking computer programs or writing other programs to try to break them (sometimes known as automation). I work too much and play too little -- but things liek the friendship star swap are helping me put a little more balance back into my life.

Favorite hobbies include making stained glass windows, mobiles and sun catchers, gourmet cooking, reading, canoeing, kayaking, and hiking. I've also been known to enjoy cross country skiing, ice skating and other sports vaguely remembered from childhood.

QI in the house is "Boo", an Australian Shepherd who is my dear buddy. Goes almost everywhere with me and loves to play, anytime all the time.

Chocolate? If you have to ask, you just don't understand it. It's the elixir of life, the calmer of stress, the end all cure all. Next in line, however, is that cup of wonderful tea and a friend with whom to enjoy it!

Wow, Anita, I can't believe your little guys are getting so 'old!' LOL Good to hear from you ... don't be a stranger here. PAT

Hello, I am Morag, almost 36 and live just outside Glasgow in Scotland with my husband and two children who are almost 5, and 2 and a half. I am expecting my third and FINAL baby early in June, and it's another boy.

I work part time from home as a researcher, which I fit around the kids and the other stuff I do. I am treasurer for my son's playgroup, and I also answer calls on a breastfeeding helpline.

We don't have any furries in this house, I am quite allergic to most animals so we have two goldfish which the children have named Sportacus and Stephanie. Neither fish seems impressed with sewn objects.

I have always knitted, sewed and cross stitched and although I am very much still a beginner I find it very relaxing and love making unique gifts for friends who keep having babies!

morag

I'll go next. My name is Tamara and live in Northern California with my QI, Marshmallow DA Bunny. I am also retired and loving it. Not the reason I retired, three shoulder surgeries in less than a year and a half but love being able to do what I want when. Plus having time to spend with my folks. I feel very lucky to have such great parents that are good health and fun to be around. I must have done something right in raising them ;)

My Grandparents (Dad's parents) were tailors from the old country (Russia. I remember my Mom making what I called three arm hole dresses for my sister and me when were little. I still have the pattern she used to make the dresses. I took up quilting about 8 years ago after sewing for years. I guess sewing is in my blood. I still like cross stitch. I sometimes teach quilting classes at my local quilt store. LOVE dark chocolate!!! The only reason I have a kitchen is it came with the house.

Tamara

Sally Sw> As Cornwoman wrote 'Now I want to

My guild does an autum retreat in Holmes County (Berlin.... pronounced BER-lin as I learned!). I went for the first time last fall... and had a wonderful time!

StephM had written this in response to

I just began quilting this month - taking a 5 week class at a local quilt shop and Love it. My Mom has been quilting forever and I grew up with it?finally got bitten by the bug myself. I really enjoy cross stitching and been doing it on and off for over 20 years.

I live in the San Francisco Bay area, was raised in upstate New York. I just moved in with my partner (DP? ? not married yet!) We share our home with two awesome cats. DP is in art school, loves video games, thinks my quilting is great and he has a very cute British accent. George is a dark tabby that I bottle raised and is my baby boy and Bean is a brown ticked, blue-eyed feline queen. From the posts I see that QI refers to loved fur-balls but what does it stand for?

This seems like a great group ? I?m having a great time reading!!

Steph

------------------------------------- Kamalaleah wrote:

##-----------------------------------------------## Delivered via

QI = Quilt Inspector. Welcome Steph.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

StephM wrote:

I'm Linda from PATCHogue, NY aka Witchystitcher. I've been quilting for about 15 years - every since my girls decided they were too cool to wear clothes make by mommy. I've been married to DH for 34 years and have two grown girls who live in Alexandria and southern Maryland. I am a special education teacher and I run a quilt club for 4th and

L>As Cornwoman wrote 'Now I want to

Refers to the way dogs and cats have of checking on quilts in progress. Here's an illustration:

--Lia

sounds like it might be the time to share these killer banana bread recipes. Please Gen

and soon... I have several really RIPE bananas on the counter right now!

I would love to know more about your quilt club. I'd love to get something like that going?

Do you meet at the school? Do you do hand work... or do they use sewing machines? I think this would be great fun (and definitely a challenge from time to time!). I miss my classroom days.... but not enough to go back as a regular teacher!