new obsession.

My honey thinks I spend 'way too much time on Facebook. I don't really think so. I think it's because I'm "on" when he gets home, or in the evening. Then he imagines I've been on it all day, as well.

We go to a large church, so that when someone new comes on, my notification says "93 mutual friends" or "104 mutual friends"--all from church. So I do have a lot of posts in the newsfeed that either want prayer or relate funny things that happen to the family, whatever. When our special-needs baby Nettie was born almost two years ago, with Apgar scores of 0, 1, and 2, that prayer network on facebook was phenomenal.

Well, then there is Scrabble.

My favorite game, and Facebook has a version of it! I am currently playing 28 games, but only with about seven people. You can't just play one game at a time! Each "turn" takes one or two minutes, sometimes less, but not everybody plays every day. I try to play my games twice a day, morning and night, but like I said, sometimes I only have six or eight games running. Fifteen minutes, tops.

Until last Friday.

My sister had told me that one of my cousins had joined facebook. Although I had seen her a couple of times a year growing up, it has been at least thirty years since I had seen her. I "friended" her, and she told me that she had gotten a new computer and was going to upload my Grandma's photo albums to facebook. Her mother was Grandma's oldest daughter, so she got the albums before Grandma died, then when she passed, Jill got them.

So I decided to take an idea my sister had, and Just. Do. It. A number of years ago, my sister and sister-in-law were visiting my dear Auntie M in Washington State. The movie, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood was popular at the time. They decided to form a group called the Yo-Yo Sisterhood, and all of us who were Plasterer women, or married to a Plasterer man, could join. We have quite a number in my own birth family already, so when Auntie M would visit, we would go out to dinner and call it the Yo-Yo convention. She has passed, as has my other aunt (Jill's mom) and my own mother. My sister called me last week to talk about how all of our mentors are gone, and now *we* have to be the mentors. Not a bad thing, but even us Titus 2 types need Titus 2 women, you know?

So last Friday I made a Facebook Group called the Yo-Yo Sisterhood of Plasterer Women. I invited all the sisters and cousins and nieces I could find on facebook. If you are on fb, when you get invited to something, you get a notification, so all these girlies were aware that I started the page. WELL. Jill found me right away (within minutes) and so did Cheryl, another cousin whom I only see at funerals and such. My sister and my daughter Violet joined us moments later, and we Spent. The. Morning. on facebook. Jill was loading scores of photos, many from 1900-1920. Violet, who has scanned many of our own ancient photos, uploaded hers.

We also Spent. The. Afternoon. on facebook. Then, Saturday morning, I made a photo album of my great-grandmother's quilt. Sunday, I photographed all of my grandmother's quilts I own, and made another album. My sister made an album of Yo-Yo brides--I have my own, Forget-me-not's, and Lily's photos here on my desk, ready to scan and upload.

Well, the upshot of all of us looking and identifying photos, commenting on each other's posts (Cheryl's parents divorced during her childhood, and she had never seen her parents' wedding photos, and my sister's had been destroyed, but Grandma had some!) and catching up with 30+ years of history (yeah, we were all kids when we were last together, and now all of our kids are raised!!), well....

I Need To Get Some Housework Done.

But this all happened the day after my sister had called me. God answered immediately. We are re-connected with cousins that share the same blood, have had the same experiences, and we can share our wisdom not only with our children, but with each other.

Thank you, Lord, for this gift. (now, give me Supernatural Speed for the work I have to do!)

Quilt Projects Update.

I had written before about the four Sassy Girls quilts. These were four similar quilts for Blackeyed Susan and three of her friends, featuring the Sassy Girls fabric. I quilted Susan's, and tied the other three.

For Afro, Susan's boyfriend, I had an idea for more of an artsy quilt. A little black boy with a handful of balloons, who is out on a windy day, and gets caught up in a gust of wind. One of his balloons gets away from him, and he himself is beginning to be lifted off the ground:


The balloon that gets away is made of "ivy" fabric, which, if you have been paying attention lately, is symbolic of the high school that Afro graduated from. I also have a Pokemon balloon, and a patch from the Wildcat Baseball League. Susan and Afro actually played on the same team in sixth grade. Of course, I can't remember back that far, but Charming remembers Afro as a great pitcher. Notice also the "grass." The fabric is from Alexander Henry and is called "Everglades." The colors are absolutely astoundingly cool. I went back to the fabric store, and bought more fabric for the binding for the quilt.
If you can see it, click on the photo and look at the "swirls of wind" quilting I did.

Here is the back of the quilt, continuing my ongoing effort to Use Up Pieces of Fabric From My Stash. Here I used three pieces, and I used them all up! Altogether, with the five graduation quilts, I got rid of twenty-five yards of fabric out of my stash. The very, very sad thing, is that it hardly made a dent. Sigh.

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Here we have a (Finally!! Finished!!) quilt that has been in the works for, oh, ten or twelve YEARS. I wrote about it already, as well, only I had underestimated the time I had been working on it.

Now, I gotta say, it looks really spiffy all quilted and stuff. And I really like that checkerboard border. But it still isn't me, you know?

So, it is a gift for a friend of many years, who has wanted one of my quilts. The pattern is called Rosebud. So I thought I maybe would name it Citizen Kane--you remember his sled was called Rosebud. Or, after the Dick Van Dyke Show episode about Richie's middle name being Rosebud. I couldn't find a YouTube for that episode, unfortunately. Poor Richie finds out his middle name is Rosebud, and is in despair until his Dad explains why. Now, I'm a little hazy on the details, maybe seven men help Laura get to the hospital or something. Anyway, there are seven men who are instrumental in Richie's birth, and Rob and Laura need to honor them for that. Their initials are R, O, S, E, B, U(llyses), and D(avid--thank you, Don Quixote, for that info!). Instead of seven middle names, Rob and Laura light on ROSEBUD.

Instead, since I took ten or twelve years to make this quilt, I'm just calling it Rosebud Journey.

Now, I'm in a pickle. I don't know what I'm doing next! I have a quilt that is in a "sandwich" (ready to quilt) but I don't feel like doing that one. I have a set of blocks that I made nine years ago, twins to MacGuyver's grad quilt, that I could put together. I could make a "mess" of dolly clothes--lots of ideas there. I know that Rocky Balboa and Tiny Dancer don't even have a Barbie-quilt yet. So, I guess the next thing is to Decide.

But first, I'm going to eat Lunch.

Update 10/11/11: There was a Dick Van Dyke Show marathon on tv last week, and they showed the Rosebud episode! The names were all grandfathers' names, and the names of their fathers and such. The names are Robert, Oscar, Sam, Edward, Benjamin, Ulysses, David--ROSEBUD!

Graduation.

Finally, Graduation Day! Because of extra snow days, graduation was postponed a week. Many of the parties (including Blackeyed Susan's) were last weekend. But the Day had finally come:

ready to go to the ceremony.

Alvin Fernald and Cheergirl.

Susan and Afro with Mr. Smith, their beloved principal until this year when he was transferred. Mr. Smith is an incredible man, and he goes to our church.

Susan and Mr. Holmes, the most incredible teacher ever. I blogged before about him here. Do you know the "Chuck Norris" jokes? Here's the latest: Do you know what happened when Chuck Norris went with the Navy Seals to root out Bin Laden? He found Mr. Holmes sitting there, drinking a Diet Pepsi. Yep. The stuff of Legend.

Best friends forever.

Next year will be the first time they have ever been separated since they started homeschooling together. Even the past two years in public high school, they shared teachers and friends. The very first day of school junior year, which was so difficult for Susan, she came home and ran to Alvin's room. She wanted her Buddy. An incredible blessing!

of course, we need yet another photo of Susan and Afro!

Congratulations, Norah.

Ivy Day.

Well, as you can see, I haven't posted for weeks. But that is how it is when we have a graduate--May and early June simply rush by with no time for anything but the baseball-six-days-a-week for the sophomore. And for the senior? The Awards Ceremonies. The Banquets. The Practices. The Thises and Thatses of Senior Year.

So let me tell you about Ivy Day. Ivy Day is unique to our high school, and there is nothing else to compare in our city, or our county. It has been celebrated since our high school opened in 1921. Each year, the police block off the street in front of the school. The seniors, in caps and gowns, parade around the school to the music of the marching band. They are preceded by the Ivy Queen and her court, in formals. They walk to the auditorium entrance, where the Ivy Day ceremony takes place. The Ivy Queen is crowned, and a pot of ivy is presented to the school, to (hopefully) grow up the sides of the school for a remembrance of this senior class. The senior choir members sing "The Halls of Ivy," and everyone sings the alma mater. Then we are dismissed to the cafeteria for breakfast (read: photo op for parents) before the seniors are dismissed for the day.

This year, it rained for Ivy Day, so everything was in the auditorium. Since there was no parade (although the seniors marched in to the music of the band, anyway--rah, rah, RAH!!) the seven girls on the Ivy Court did not know who had been chosen Queen. (tho' we who had programs knew because it said, Ivy Queen: Norah Kell*gg!!)

here is the Queen and her court.

my beautiful Royal Daughter.

Norah (Blackeyed Susan) and Alvin Fernald's girlfriend Hannah.

one of her besties, Megan.

one of Norah's first friends at public high school, another Hannah.

Being Ivy Queen is one of the highest honors bestowed for a senior. It is more prestigious than Prom Queen, because of the ninety-year tradition. And it is especially poignant to me, because Norah only began public high school as a junior. It is a blessing to me, that she has made her mark on the school.

I had thought Norah would wear her prom dress, but after discussion with the other girls, decided a different dress would be more appropriate. Fortunately, J.C. Penney's had a lot on their Clearance-Prom-Dress rack. Forget-me-not took her sister shopping, and found this beauty for $51.00:

and the back:

This will be a dress that she can wear for four years at college, for Christmas Banquets and other formal occasions. A good investment. And hand-washable/line dryable!

"The Halls of Ivy," sung by the Notre Dame Glee Club:

http://youtu.be/m-uG_qetEJE

Well, this proud Mommy will sign off for now, and will post more Graduation Stuff later this week!