Just a quick update on our therapy dog work.  We have joined CAREing Paws, a local therapy dog organization based in Newnan.  For our R.E.A.D.ers, nothing has changed except the logo on my shirt and Boomer’s business cards. Parents, you will be asked to sign updated permission slips reflecting the change in our local R.E.A.D. program affiliate.  Times, location, policies and procedures all remain the same.  Please continue to schedule times with Miss Carmella at the library.  Thank you for your support.

Boomer and I made the switch because I wanted to expand our therapy dog work to include nursing homes, retirement communities and other community events.  It’s much more fun to visit  with a group of dogs than to go it alone.  Look for us at Marietta Reads! event (on the Square) in a couple of weeks!

Be sure to check out Boomer’s blog!

I typically don’t write too much about my day job, but I want to share a typical example of the roadblocks we face in simply making a purchase because there are so many different pots of funding with varied strings attached to each pot of money.

Goal:  Purchase a school-wide subscription (grades 1-5) of a weekly printed nonfiction news magazine aligned with Common Core Standards to help our students with their nonfiction reading skills

Funding pot:  Title I funds (since we’re a Title I school)

What happened?  Title I office called to say the restrictions from last year were attached to this money.  This meant only about half the student body was now eligible.  I had to come up with the funding from somewhere else.  We split the purchase orders between Title I and Media funds.  Title I purchase order was approved, media was rejected stating I cannot purchase that with Media funds.  Why, I have no idea.

So now, I have to waste precious instructional time to find another funding source, plead my case with the media supervisor or cancel my part of the order completely.

All the money ultimately goes for the students.  What difference does it make?  Can’t we just put all of the money in a single pot?

Apparently a lot more than we quilters thought if you decide to vend your wares…

FTC requires the following information under the Textile and Wool Acts:

• Full legal name of manufacturer (or RN#)
• Fiber content
• Country of origin

Then, there’s the care label:

• Wash* – machine or hand wash, plus temperature and cycle
• Dry* – machine or line dry
• Beach – regular, non-chlorine or none at all
• Iron or no iron
• Any additional information

(*substitute dry clean for wash and dry if necessary)

Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, because the FTC has specific verbiage for the first two labels.

And finally, the CPSIA tracking label:

• Name of mfg
• Location of manufacture
• Date of manufacture
• Lot, batch or other identifying numbers
• Plus, this label has to last the life of the object.

Burning question: Do we really need this many government regulations to tell me how to label my quilts?

I wondered why I saw *garment* type labels in the binding of  quilts from the long-time serious Etsy sellers.  Now, I know why.