Four Dresses Done

I have figured how to deal with my "house" issue on those pillowcases.  I opened the side seam above the ruffle, then I cut an 18" square out on the house side.   After I reoriented the houses, I used my serger to stitch the houses back into the pillowcase.
Sugar gave them his approval.

I finished more than a couple quilts in the past few weeks. I don't have pictures of all of them, but I have included a couple here.  The Dresden Plate quilt was mostly all hand appliqued.  I don't usually quilt over hand applique, but I knew it would not be possible to leave that plate with no stitching. I didn't want to go with stitch in the ditch, so I came up with the idea to make little swirls in each blade of the plate. 
It think it really turned out very nicely.

       Now on to something totally different...

How many people listen to your children ask for something that they just have to have right now… and you turn around and go get it for them?  I think that is what they call instant gratification.  A short time ago I read an article that I should have bookmarked.  Besides I don’t have children living at home, and none of our children live within 800 miles… so it was not something I thought would come into play for me.  I  have learned a long time ago, that no matter what advice I might have to offer, my “technology” is out of date, so it doesn’t matter what I think, they are going to do it their own way regardless.  This means I pretty much keep my mouth shut when it comes to my opinion of how I would handle a situation.  I know silence is one step away from giving consent… but if I offer my thoughts, I am likely to be blasted or shut out, which means I keep quiet… sometimes with a very sore tongue.

Anyhow the article I am referring to suggested a wish list for your kids.  Whenever they see something they want, you instantly put it on their wish list.  Then when some important event comes along that would suggest a gift is appropriate, they get to pick from their wish list.  Of course it might not require a real important event, but something worthy of a reward.  So in actuality they might have decided something that looked really cool to start with, by the time they get to look at the list to make a choice, it may not be so important that they have that item.  This would teach them a little about waiting and appreciation.  The article did not include this thought, but I’m thinking that the wish list could be split to include little events and big events… like a bicycle would go on the big event side of the list and a video would go on the little event list.  That way if they did something really great… like a birthday, you would tell them they could choose anything off either list, but if they bring a paper home from school with an A on it, you could tell them to pick something from the little event list.  Maybe sometimes you could let them pick two items.  No matter… they are making a choice after waiting, which means it is likely they will appreciate the item that much more.

Basically I’m seeing so much “It’s all about me” attitude in our young people… of course most have inherited that from their parents… or it has been taught that it was OK to act that way by the instant gratification that they receive from their actions.  As many adults can attest to, it is much harder to get ahead in this world if all your credit cards are maxed out… which can easily happen if you have to have everything right now.  Wouldn’t it be nice to learn the benefit of waiting at an early age?