Still working on the quilt below....progress! I'm on a roll now, and am committed to finishing it within the next week or so!

Also plugging along on the AFI film list. I watched All About Eve over the weekend. I guess you could call it the stalker movie of the 50's. I enjoyed it to a degree. Hubby said the dialogue was more fit for a book than a movie. I tend to agree. He said "people just don't talk like that". Too funny....

On a completely different note, I was astounded at how much Anne Baxter (as Eve) sounded like Eleanor Parker (Baroness Schraedor) from The Sound of Music. Their voices were so much alike, I was convinced they were the same person. But, alas, they are not.

Marilynn was also in the film, in a small supporting role. I barely recognized her, without a "bigger" hair style. And she didn't sport the "throaty" voice either.

One voice I did recognize was that of Geoge Sanders, who plays Addison DeWitt in the film. His is the voice of Shere Khan in Disney's The Jungle Book. Very cool voice!!

I think that brings me to 40/100 films. I'm getting there, and having fun getting to know some of the actors and actresses that my folks used to talk about. One thing I like about many of the older films is how elegant everyone was. Men wore hats, women wore pearls, and they're every move was deliberate and expressive.

Lots of fun!

# 75: Finish T's quilt. I started this quilt for my son, well..... a couple years ago. Actually, more like 3 years. And this quilt is, unfortunately, quite representative of my tendency to procrastinate. It is very close to completion, and has been for a very long time. The only thing left for me to do is the top-stitching. By hand.

My son was taking Taekwon-do at the time, so I designed this quilt to coincide with that. The characters are the tenets of Taekwon-do, written in Korean. The design in the upper left is the symbol of his instructor's Grand Master, B.C. Yu.

I had actually intended to take the quilt to someone who has a special machine for doing the top-stitching, but this being nearly my first quilt, and the very first that I wanted to top-stitch in a more "authentic" manner, I was unaware of the fact that the layers must be separate in order to "load" it onto the rollers.

Well, that means it'll have to be top-stitched by hand, because I've already assembled the layers, basted them together, and finished the edges. Seriously putting the cart before the horse.

Well, I've definitely learned some lessons on this one.

Meanwhile, the quilt has remained 3/4 complete for at least a year.

That is why I put it on the LIST. So for about the last month, I've been pulling it out 3 or 4 nights a week, spending an hour or two doing the top-stitching. I've got about 20-25% it complete so far.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

At my workplace, we hold a chili cook-off about once a year. I say "about" because we often hold it in the fall, but sometimes it gets put off until after the new year. So we call it the "almost annual chili cook-off" for charity. Several years running, we donated the "donations" to Meals on Wheels, one year a burn center for children, once the March of Dimes. For the last two years, its been the Penrickton Center for Blind Children.

This year I took third place. Yay! We typically have between 16 and 25 entrants, this year we had 17. I have gotten 2nd or 3rd place almost every year. Once I tied for first.

While this year wasn't our best year for money raised, we did bring in $625 for the Center. (We ask for a $5 donation from anyone who wants to try the chili.) That's not too shabby, considering we have about half the number of people in our building compared to a few years ago.

I usually make my chili in an electric roaster (instead of a crock pot), just cuz I figure that if you want to get some votes, you'd better not have an empty pot!

My specialty: peppers. I go to the market and get as many different kinds of fresh peppers as I can find. This year's selection: Pabalano, Aneheim, Hungarian, Finger hot chilis, Cherry Bombs, Jalapeno, Habanero, Serano, and Cubanelle. Dried peppers include Cayenne, black pepper, Ancho, Hungarian Hot & Sweet Paprikas, and dried red pepper powder, chili powder. Surprisingly, my chili is not that hot....pretty tame, actually. One thing I did differently this year: I didn't add more chopped peppers right before serving. I should have.

After the voting was over, I asked a couple people who liked mine but voted for someone else's "What do you like about theirs that is different than mine?". Chunkiness. My stuff tends to be cut in smaller bits, while the winner's chili has a lot more larger chunks of peppers, onions, meat. I'll have to keep that in mind for next year, as I make another attempt to knock that guy off his pedestal!! He wins almost every stinking year!!!

Any suggestions?

Well, I'm not knocking off too many things from the list, but still plugging along.

6 weeks of school left. YAY! I'm on spring break this week and am sooooooo thankful. Its been a very stressful week.

Without elaborating, we've have had a family crisis churning away for that last several weeks (or maybe that last year+, depending on how you want to look at it). Not sure about the outcome, but I am hopeful. Please send thoughts and prayers our way.

Reading two new books that are somewhat related to the aforementioned family crisis. I'll add those to the list when I'm done.

Last weekend I attended the Golden Seamstress competition, an SCA event. I entered as a Novice, and took third place. Very happy with that, as it was my first ever attempt. The result is a nearly complete SCA outfit, which needs a hem, buttons/buttonholes and some neck facing. Then I can scratch off one more item from the list.

The competition is an all-nighter: starts at approximately 6pm Friday night and ends at 6pm Saturday, with judging right afterwards. I intended to take a vacation day on Friday, to rest up, but wasn't able to do so. Consequently, I was awake for 41 hours straight. Whew!!! Holy jamoli!! I am obviously NOT able to cope with all-nighters like I used to!! It is now Wednesday and I am still wiped out! I slept for 14 hours on Saturday night/Sunday morning and still woke up exhausted. And woke up exhausted again on Monday, and Tuesday, and even this morning!

Need to plan better next year!!

Oh! Hey!! I just remembered this! I posted a bit ago that someone had hit my car while it was parked in front of my house. :( And that it was going to cost $130 to replace the tail lamp. Well good news: I was able to get one from a salvage lot for $30 instead. YAY! Bad news is that the driver did more damage than I had originally thought. The liftgate is also dented. Given that the vehicle is now 9 years old, I doubt that I'll be getting that repaired. It does not impact function at all, but it sure doesn't look good. :( makes me mad. But the lamp is fixed. And it was cheaper than I thought. And that's good.

TTFN