Sometimes a whole month goes by and at the end I wonder what did I do???  It seems that I’m in the same place and yet, a lot has happened.  March was colder than average here in Wisconsin, as was the rest of the winter.  I was sick for most of the month and didn’t get much of my own sewing done.  I finished many Quilts of Valor and have heard that they are off to Afghanistan to be given to American service personnel.  I hope that the quilts will show my gratitude for the service of each of those men and women.  I have three Quilts of Valor in my ‘to do’ list.

We had to say good-bye to our wonderful family dog of twelve years, Lucky.  She came into our lives in Warsaw, Poland and helped to raise my two sons.  She was never lacking for enthusiasm especially when it came to wearing her antlers.  She loved Christmas and birthdays and opening presents.  She was ‘tattle-tail'(sic.).  She would come to tell on my sons when they went outside without her, when they were playing in the snow without her, when they were rough-housing inside and not including her, when they forgot to walk her, feed her, water her or give her the daily ‘Greenie’.  My oldest son, thoroughly exasperated, said,  “I expect my younger brother to tell on me–but not the dog!!!”  She learned English as a second language, learned to spell ‘w-a-l-k’, and learned to speak French as a third language, ‘promenade’ (walk).  She has been a shoulder to cry on when we needed it through losses both minor and major.  She was gentle with my husband when he became sick and she grieved with us when he was gone.  Lucky ‘knew’ she could be more rambunctious with my older son and that she neededto be gentle with my younger son.  Her favorite place was where ever we were and preferably in the middle.  She loved to chase squirrels and she ‘rescued’ baby bunnies without doing serious harm to either squirrel or bunny.  Lucky thought that the UPS, Fed Ex, Post Office, Plumbers, Electricians, Appliance Repair people came just to see her and she ‘assisted’ them in their work by smelling every tool.  She helped me quilt, laying under the longarm or behind me at the sewing machine.  We even designed a quilt about her.  We miss her greeting us when we walk into the house, we miss her ‘stalking’ me to ask my sons to let her out/give her food/give her water/walk her/etc.; we miss her kisses; and we miss the dangerous wagging tail–known to clear coffee tables of all glasses.  She tolerated our silly names for her:  Lucky-dog, Lucky-duck,  duck, sweetie, fruit loop etc.  We miss her shaking her head ‘yes’, rolling in the snow and prancing.

I will be getting back to blogging and to quilting tomorrow.  I am working on some tutorials and even have some finishes.