My brother had a Lionel train when he was a kid. Lots of track – smoking engine, whistle… the works. I think it looked something like the one above.

At some point the train disappeared. Steven has never been happy about that. Mom is pretty sure it got left in the attic when they moved from the house on 17th street in Oklahoma City that I grew up in. She remembers that my dad did not want to make another trip into the attic even though she wanted him to. 

I'm in Oklahoma City teaching for the Central Oklahoma Quilters Guild now and today I went by the old house. It looks good! I knocked, hoping to ask the current owner if they ever found the train. No one was home, but I had typed a letter in advance and I dropped it in the slot. I admit that I was expecting any conversation I might have with the current owner to be weird. Maybe it's better that I left the letter.

We all lose stuff. Big or little, expensive or sentimental. It's a really nice feeling to find something long lost and I would love to finally solve our family's missing train mystery. If the current or previous owner of the house found the train, used it, loves it, sold it—that's fine. We'd just like to know. 

I don't suppose any of you have turned up a 1960s vintage Lionel train?

I am not good about sending cards. Well, that’s not entirely true… I’m only good at it sporadically. My sister was very good at choosing and sending cards and my mom is too. So, even though she just lives 4 houses down, Mom sent us a valentines card….

So here’s the inside of the card…

My mother cracks me up!

I'm procrastinating which means that I've been clicking around on the web rather than working. I found yet another lovely photo of the Cinqua Terre, Italy, a place I very much wan to visit…

I actually found the photo on facebook, which led me to the origin of the photo, Hub09. If you click on any photo it opens them all up in a slide show. Lots of fun!

Hub09 has a blog as well – click here. I don't speak or read Italian (and I'm making a guess that that is Italian) and I decided that I didn't want to open it in English. Honestly, I like the images just fine without the text. 

Happy procrastinating!

I learned about Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project when I was in Florida. I have been way too busy to fully explore this site but I know you all are going to love it! 

I admit to being very impressed. This woman has quite a story (click here). She is married and has a young son and she still managed to put up a different machine quilting pattern – with a video! – every day for a year. There are 365 designs. It makes me tired just imaging it.

As I said I haven't clicked through all of the designs yet but right now, this one looks like fun. Leah calls it mesh curtain. I can see the curtain.

There is a lot more to see on her site. Click here to go to her home page. Enjoy!

I had a lovely time with the ladies in both Brandon and Punta Gorda, FL, even considering that I had a cold and sinus infection. That said, it's nice to be home. Believe it or not, my ears did un-stuff on the plane ride home!

I have come home to a pile of work and a happy husband. I'm feeling better – life is good. 

I wanted to share this blog post written by Alethea Ballard. She wrote a really nice post about how she used our book to applique outside the lines. Her quilt, below, is in her post. 

I love seeing how people use our patterns and ideas to make their own quilts. That's why we do what we do. Happy stitching!

I left Punta Gorda on Friday after my lecture and arrived in Brandon, a suburb of Tampa. The Brandon Quilt Guild meets at a very nice church. Outside the classroom I was amazed to see a pair of sandhill cranes…

One of my stdents said that these birds mate for life and that this pair is often on church grounds. Not something I see out my window in Sherman.

I put a pillow on my class supply list. It's very handy to rest you arms on when you sew. Claudia, a woman in class, brought this pillow:

It's like a polar fleece throw, but small and with a pillow inside. No sewing!

You cut two pieces of fleece that are 8" wider and taller than the pillow you want to cover. Make cuts 4" deep, and 3/4"-1 apart into each side. Tie the two pieces of fleece together with the pillow in between. She said that kids love them and I don't doubt it. 

I had nothing scheduled for Sunday and was really looking forward to getting some work done so I was seriously unhappy to wake up to find that my sinus infection (and headache) had bounded back. I am lucky that my physician was reachable and called in a new prescription. I was thankful that I wasn't supposed to teach because I mostly just layed around feeling pitiful. I do so hate wasting a day but there you go.

Today is another full day of teaching and a lecture. I'm flying home Tuesday at the crack of before dawn. Who knows – maybe the next plane ride will un-stuff my ears!