Introducing my Family

It's time that I introduced my family:...

This is my youngest son who is 15. He is the Zorro in my previous post about Halloween. He has informed me that he doesn't want his blog name to be Zorro, he wants to be called Wolf. He has adopted the wolf as his spirit totem (and we don't even have native American blood in our ancestry. We are mostly Dutch, Norwegian, English and Irish.)
Next up is my husband. We have been married for 30 years now. He is a retired Army Master Sergeant nurse. He current employment is as a mental health nurse, which he enjoys a great deal. The Man will do as his moniker. This is not the best picture of him, but the best of what I currently have. The Man hates getting his picture taken.

And this is me, Silkquilter. The hand you see on my shoulder belongs to my sister.




The Man and I have two other children and The Man has an older son. I don't have permission to post pictures, but I can tell you a little about them.

My Stepson is in his mid-thirties and carries the same name as his father. I don't have a nickname for him yet.

Our oldest daughter said we could call her Sharptongue, as that is what we called her in when she was in high school. She just recently turned 29 although she only admits to 25. Her spouse is an Army Sergeant and is currently deployed to an area of increasing conflict. I am going to call him Torch because of his red hair and he is just the best. They have two school-age children, Care Bear, 7 and Sparkplug 6 (he also has red hair).

Middle son is 23 and also in the Army. He returned from his 1st tour in Iraq last February. We have called him Forklift for a number of years. He got this name because of the way he would lift each end of the riding mower out of gopher holes as a teenager. He is married to a really wonderful wife that I love dearly. Her name is Sweetpea. The Man has called her that since son and her started dating in high school. They have two little girls 4 and 2 who go by their initials: RAT and TNT
Here is a recap:
Silkquilter - Me
The Man - Husband
Stepson - The Man's oldest child
Sharptongue - Oldest Daughter
Torch - Son-in-law
Forklift - Middle Son
Sweetpea - Daughter-in-law
Wolf - Youngest Son
Care Bear - Oldest Granddaughter 7 years old
Sparkplug - Oldest Grandson (and only grandson) 6 year old
RAT - 4 year old Granddaughter
TNT - 2 year old Granddaughter. I understand that her Daddy calls her Mean.

And there you have it, me and my family.

Here is one more picture of The Man and I. This was taken in spring of 1979 shortly before we got married.


Peace
Carolyn/Silkquilter

Red and White Snowball Challenge

I've got all my swap strips now. They a just wonderful. Below is what I sent out. Okay, but kinda "meh". At least one of them was a little more "white" than I had wanted.










But..... add them all in together and you get a thing of beauty that was unexpected.
I have never done a completely scrappy style of quilt before because I haven't done very many quilts yet. Just hoarded lots of fabric. LOL
















Gratuitous kitty picture.
This is KC, my son, Zorro's, cat. She is just as grumpy as she looks. Shortly after this picture, she snagged the side of my hand with her claw because I got to close too her.
















So this is what I got from whom:




From Chris Thomas. One of her strips was sparkly. I really like it.












From Shontelle all the way from Austrailia. Shontelle included a beautiful handmade Christmas card. I love it. Her fabrics were also wrapped in a cute striped ribbon.













Gael Tino's fabrics were also wrapped. In tissue paper and a paper ribbon with my initial on it. This reminded me of my mother. Often Christmas presents had our name or initial written directly on the gift paper or on a ribbon with glitter glue or fabric puffy paint. Gael included an extra 2 1/2" strip.


























Christi's fabrics are next. Like me, this is her first swap. Her fabrics are very nice. They help blend in my too white fabrics.












From Laura. Laura included a little gift; a bundle of 2 1/2" squares from Moda. They are darling.











Mary's came in last, along with a long letter about why (she had a death in the family) and some extra strips to make up for it.




All the fabrics were just great. I am looking forward to getting this quilt started. Going to be after the new year. I am still trying out Reds. It seems that I have a group (not many) of reds that are more orange and a group of reds (not many) that are more maroon/burgandy. AND they don't play well with each other.