Stars In a Time Warp

I am having fun with these Stars, from Barbara Brackman's terrific Blog.  She is at week 9 already, using a different color/style of fabric each week.  It's very educational and fun!

This week is Chrome Yellow

I am making 2 blocks per week

 

It is less than 2 weeks until Chicago so I am concentrating on getting my kits ready for Make It University and my demo samples prepared for Open Studio.    Almost set with all that.

Our guild does a great quilt show every two years and I'm co-chair of that so we are really ramping up for all that needs to be done, even though the show isn't until October.  We will have one more face-to-face meeting with our committee in May--there was only one date we could make work before late in the summer and that just won't work.  We have wonderful people working with us--ours is a show not to be missed, if you are anywhere near North Alabama.

It's weird--for 34 years I worked for H&R Block and doing my own tax return, along with those of my kids, was just something that got done at work.  This year, I have to make time to do it at home!  Time is flying by, I'll be in Chicago for a week later these month, so I'd better get busy on ours and one son's.  The other son I managed to get done last week.  A word of warning about tax software:  if you say "yes" when you should have said "no", you'll get the wrong answer.  Several times I said "I sure am glad I know what the right answer is supposed to be" because I was not answering those odd questions correctly.  It took more than a few attempts to get that return correct. 

I found out recently I will have 3 quilts on display in Chicago at the Spring International Quilt Festival:  Red and White--By the Numbers, My Joyful Journey, and A-Round with My Friends--the same 3 that were in Houston, 2014.  If you're at the show, come say hello, I'll be in the Education office or working on the show floor.  Here is all the info you need for Chicago: Quilts.com

 

 

 

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Tax Season--by the Numbers

Or, what I want to remember about tax season:

1.  90.5--number of hours I've worked in the last 9 days, without a day off
2.  29.5--number of hours I worked April 14 and 15
3.  355--number of clients I worked with this year, plus a few more who did not have to file
4.  353--number of clients I really enjoyed working with this year
5.  34--number of years I've worked for H&R Block
6.  3 weeks--how old my youngest son was the day I started working for H&R Block
7.  26--how old I was the day I started working for H&R Block
8.  7--associates who worked directly for me this year
9.  7--number of associates who said this was their best year ever
10. 2--number of direct bosses I reported to
11. 2--number of direct bosses who really appreciated my efforts
12. 200%+--amount my office did over budget target
13.  500%--how happy I am we had such a record-breaking year and a happy office environment
14.  0--number of days until the next tax season for me

It's been a great run.  I am one of those lucky people who found the perfect career fit--I could talk to many different people each day, help them with their tax and financial issues, teach my co-workers how to improve their skills and knowledge so they could help people too, and I know I made a difference in the lives of some of my clients, and some of my associates--because they took the time to tell me so.  Sure, I'll be missed for a while but life goes on and others will surface to fill the gap.  And I will miss my clients and my co-workers, but life goes on and I have quilts to make.

Here's a poem my father always kept on his dresser--it was the one thing of his I wanted when we cleaned out my parent's home.  It's a yellowed piece of paper now, but one of my great treasures:

THE INDISPENSABLE MAN

 

                       Sometime when you're feeling important

                       Sometime when your ego's in bloom

                       Sometime when you take it for granted

                       You're the best qualified in the room;

                       Sometime when you feel that your going

                       Would leave an unfillable hole,

                       Just follow these humble instructions,

                       And see how they humble your soul.

 

                       Take a bucket and fill it with water,

                        Put your hand in it up to the wrist,

                        Pull it out, and the hole that's remaining

                        Is a measure of how you'll be missed.

                        You can splash all you want when your enter,

                        You may stir up the waters galore;

                         But stop, and you'll find that in no time

                         It looks quite the same as before.

 

                        The moral in this quaint example

                        Is do just the best that you can;

                        Be proud of yourself, but remember

                        There's no indispensable man.

 

                                                                              Author Unknown

 

Let's Quilt!

 

Barbara