This has definitely been my stretch project for 2022. Pattern: Metamorphosis from Lo & Behold Stitchery. Circles aren’t difficult, but do require special handling – especially if you are using “unequal” fabrics. The butterfly wings are made from a mix of polyester, rayon and cotton Hawaiian shirts. Tip: stabilize rayon and polyester pieces with a lightweight fusible interfacing before cutting. The fabrics will be much easier to handle.

Pillow covers are double sided, quilted and have a zipper closure at the bottom. Each of the pillow sides has a slightly different quilting design. I decided to go with the design on pillow #1 as the overall quilting design for the throw. The back will be pieced incorporating six 10-1/2″ squares from leftover shirt materials.

Thank goodness the ads have finally stopped.

If all politics is local, why did we have more money from out-of-state pouring into the political coffers than donations made by Georgia residents themselves?

When I talk to people from both sides, we seem to want mostly the same things.

Why can’t the media highlight this middle common ground instead of the extremes on both sides? Y’all are contributing big-time to the ongoing divisiveness in this country in your quest for likes, comments, views, shares and whatever other metrics you use.

Stop it.

The School Board delivered an early Christmas present – the new service animal/therapy dog board rules passed at Thursday night’s board meeting. This is a big deal because everything – and I mean ALL visiting – was halted when school resumed in August. I was slated to start a weekly R.E.A.D. program with Sadie at an area elementary school. The agreement was signed and a kick-off meeting scheduled when they had to cancel. We’d even recruited and started training other volunteers to place at other schools that had also requested a R.E.A.D. team. What a mess! As I suspected, it was the school district’s legal department holding up the works. Hopefully, with the new policy in place, we can get things rolling in January.

My former assistant principal recently announced his retirement (another sign I made the right decision to retire when I did). On Tuesday, I attended his retirement party. It was great to see so many of my former coworkers. I was asked if I missed working. I replied that I missed the daily interactions with students and staff. If we could get the reading dog program back in the schools, my volunteer work with that and the public library would allow me to do all the things I loved best about my work as a librarian without all of the other nonsense that went along with it.

Two days later, the new service animal/therapy dog board rules passed. A glimmer of hope for 2023!