This Litigious World We Live In

Okay, this post has nothing to do with writing, quilts or knitting - but . . . when I came back to Portland (from Tillamook) today, I turned the television on and a commercial was telling me that I might qualify as a claimant in a class action suit that has been brought against a long list of lawn mower manufacturers for overstating the horsepower of their mowers. . . Honda for example had to pay $7.5 MILLION dollars while denying any wrongdoing. I could get either $35 or $75 depending on my mower. Now I ask you, is the average person mowing their lawn injured to the point of deserving a cash settlement just because their mower has slightly less HP than stated? Is this the best use of all these peoples time? Multi-millions of dollars because of lawn mowers? It is clearly stated all over the claim that this is in no way a safety issue. . . 
I'm thinking of how much more good that money would do if we applied it to health care, or hunger or jobs. . . but lawn mowers? ARGHHH. . . .
Here is the link to the settlement

Cats Cats Cats . . .

I learned last week of the passing of my friend Suby's cat Sampson. 
I know many people have had cats pass from their lives, but Sampson was special. He was so special, our vet sent Suby flowers and a hand written note of condolence. He noted that Sampson was the oldest cat he'd ever treated! This cat was 23 years old (I'm not sure when his birthday was, so he may have even reached 24!). I was amazed, so I looked up feline longevity on Google and discovered that cats can actually live into the low 30's! If they are mostly indoor cats. . . I had no idea.
On the home feline front, my own dear cat, Lydia, has decided that on the days my granddaughter comes to our house, she needs to be the nursemaid. She sits within a few feet of the toddler at all times, which means she gets patted and pulled on and has her tail run over by the toy stroller at least twice per day.She's generally exhausted by Tuesday nights. 
I just finished reading Mary Stanton's new Beaufort and Company book - Avenging Angels. It is the third in the series and a good read. If you like a mystery with an unusual premise, these are for you. The main character finds herself defending the souls of the dearly departed in the Celestial Court system and at the same time, running a normal law practice. 
As I said, a clever premise.

Tillamook Times

It was nice to get back to Tillamook and the Cordelia's Knitters this week. The group has been busy knitting hats, socks, scarves etc. Latimer Quilt and Textile Center got more new yarn in while I was gone. The long awaited Malabrigo Yarn order arrived while I was in Texas. I can hardly wait to see what the knitters create with that. The group helped pick out some Mountain Colors yarn while I was gone also, so now we're waiting for that. 
On the book front, I sent in my galley corrections for the long awaited sequel to Chip and Die - The Widowmaker.  I'll let you all know when it's available to order. 
Lydia and I finished listening to The Collectors by David  Baldacci this trip. She gave it two claws up for being long and having a male reader with a deep voice. I enjoyed the fact that the crime solving quartet were older than thirty. . . and the fact that Lydia liked it enough to listen. . . 

Clark County Guild Show

It has been a fast and furious return to Portland for me. After one day of laundry, appointments etc,
I spent three days selling books at the Clark County Quilt Guild Show. It is a great show with very competitive quilts and a good selection of vendors. 
As promised, here is a small update on the residents of Foggy Point - I spotted about half of the Loose Threads quilt group at the Clark County Show. I thought I saw both Mavis and Jenny buying fat quarters of dog print fabrics. I'm not sure what they plan on doing with them, but I thought it was significant that both were buying the same type print. 
I hope everyone had a great Easter and I'll have more updates soon.

Home Again, Home Again

My Texas trip finished on a high note all the way around. My last stop in the Dallas area was at The Old Craft Store  in Carrollton, where I met with the store book club. The group was very enthusiastic and the store was very charming, housing not only the quilt store but also an old style post office. 
Beth and I then headed home to College Station where my four nephews were putting on a 60th birthday party for their dad. We got home just in time for the festivities and a good time was had by all. If you have read my latest book Quilt As You Go you will have met pastor Mike Hafer. What you probably don't know, is that he is a real person, a real pastor and my brother-in-law Hank's cousin. 
Well, Mike was at the party, and Beth spilled the beans and told Mike that not only was he in my book, but that I'd made him a Methodist. That would be great except for the fact that Mike is actually the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in College Station. Fortunately Mike was a good sport and reminded us that we are all God's children no matter if we are Methodist or Lutheran. 
Monday, Grandma Bohne surprised us with a lemon meringue pie for dinner - my personal favorite - which was a perfect end for my visit. 
Tuesday I had a late flight, so I went with Beth to her stitching group followed by lunch with the group and a quick stop at the local quilt store. I finished the near 80 degree and sunny day by flying for hours to 41 degrees and raining Portland - Home Sweet Home - once again. . .

Two More Down, One to Go

Yesterday we went a new quilt shop in Arlington Texas, which is owned by our old friends Pam Pape and Kelly Millett - formerly affiliated with a different shop we had visited in the past. Magnolia Quiltworks is a light and airy shop with lots of fabric, including some frog print fabric I couldn't live without. The shop also has a book club which was great! I talked to the group and signed books and had an all around good time. They also win the prize for having the most comfortable chair at my signing table of any place I've ever been. 
If you are ever in Arlington, Texas - check them out. 
Today we signed books at Common Threads Quilt store in Waxahachie. I took a picture I will post when I get home. All you Civil War reproduction fans who don't live within driving distance should be jealous - They have the biggest and best collection of Civil War fabrics I've ever encountered. If you use the link above to go to their website, you can check out their online store. I cannot tell a lie, I did buy more than one or two treasures there. 
Something I also saw at Common Threads were samples from a class taught by a lady who brings her own patterns and samples. They are adorable quilt blocks that are like paperdoll dresses come to life. Each block is a child's dress complete with smocking, embroidery, and other embellishments. You can see pictures and patterns at the teachers website Kreations by Karon . She has a cute pattern that is a combination of redwork and red little girl dresses. You might like it!
Tomorrow it is on to The Old Craft Store in Carrollton, Texas. I hear they have a book club that is going to read my books!
 

Where is Joshua?

Today found Beth and I on the road again. We were headed for our bed and breakfast in Waxahachie which will be our home base for the next three days. We had planned a stop at Country Stitches Quilt Shop in Burleson, Texas but when we were still miles away from there,  Beth commented that there was a store with lots of batiks, so I got out my trusty iphone and said "Let's go find it." We determined that the shop was Batiks Galore and was located in Joshua, Texas. It didn't look too far off the beaten path so away we went. 
We couldn't help but notice that our highway became a two lane, which became a gravel road which became very rough. We drove (in Beth's Cadillac sedan) down a rutted lane, past a big wall in a field and then found that we were looping back into Joshua proper. Well, we decided we better try calling the shop. They assured us that we'd driven right past it and that we should have seen their sign which was right by the big wall (a sound barrier we later learned). We  back tracked, bouncing and jouncing as we went and turned by the big wall where there wasn't a sign, and finally found the shop. The owner explained that local hoodlums steal their sign on a regular basis. Once inside any difficulty finding the location was forgotten as we were confronted with over 2000 bolts of batik fabric as well as a wall of Bold Over Batiks and a lot of batiked panels. 
If you like batiks, I recommend going to the Batiks Galore website. 
After that delightful surprise we went on to Country Stitches Quilt Shop in Burleson, which is always a fun place to visit. This shop has lots of reproduction fabric as well as country prints and and an assortment of other quilting delights. From there we decided to find a quilt shop in Midlothian that we'd heard about. I once again got out my trusty iphone and we discovered it was  Quilts N More. I was shocked to find that they didn't carry any quilt fiction, so I left them with a review copy of my latest, Quilt As You Go and gave them some cards. Hopefully they will like it and choose to carry it in the future. 
We finally made it to our Bed and Breakfast - the Chaska House in Waxahachie where the proprietor Louis greeted us with "Welcome Home!"
More about that later . . .