Rainbow Neighbourhood House Block #10 and Pinwheels

Twin quilt makers, this is your final assignment! This week we are making house block #10 and the pinwheels that spin across the quilt.

I have seen a few tops done, or nearly done this past week and I am swooning over how wonderful they are. This post will also discuss the sashing pieces needed to fit both the throw and the twin together. I will also be showing you some other quilts and projects I've done using this wonderful house block pattern. As lots of you have learned, it can be quite addictive!

More DrEAMi Makeup Bags

Two Drop Everything And Make it! moments happened to me this past week, both the fault of my stock person in my Etsy shop sandrajanequilts. Wow, you may be thinking, you have a stock person? I sure do–ME! Don’t worry, I’ve talked to ME about it and hopefully the issue won’t happen again, though in reality it is a very good issue to have!

This one was DrEAMi #2. I added a pretty green fancy bead zipper pull after I took the photo for the customer. It was well after supper, so I took it outside to the front of the house which faces west and has our rhodo in all her stunning glory at present as a supreme backdrop.   

Rainbow Neighbourhood House Block #9 and Some Hearts

My sincere apologies for being a day late with this post; life has been rather busy and full lately, all good, but I don't work well when I have a lot of interruptions throughout the day even if they are good ones like reading (such a good, captivating book I'm in), Netflix, eating outside, gardening, errands... Anyhow, let's go!

This week we are making our ninth house! If you are doing the throw, this is your last block, and you get next week off.😚 If you are making the twin, you will have one more house to make along with the heart blocks.

Global Garden - Hands2Help Comfort Quilt

Here is my second H2H quilt for this year, the first being my SAHRR which you can see here. Hands2Help, in case you don't know, is an annual comfort quilt drive hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I named it Global Garden as a nod to the Trip Around the World corner blocks, the floral fabrics, and the centre garden-themed appliquéd block.

After I rummaged through my drawer of lonely blocks aka orphan blocks to choose one for my SAHRR, it hit me that I really should make an effort to work more of them into a couple of quilts. In the drawer were these five blocks, the centre appliqués one and four Trip Around the World ones. I ‘won’ them in a bidding activity we did in the local guild I belonged to at that time. That was more than six years ago! Out they came and I let them percolate a bit on the design wall until I ‘saw’ the idea of using big, 15” finished, QSTs to frame and pull them together. 

A note about my Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL: that post will be out this afternoon.

DrEAMi #73

 

Welcome to another month of Drop Everything And Make it celebrations. Isn’t the squirrel photo adorable? You can watch the whole few-seconds-long video here. Marty had it in her Instagram stories and I guarantee it will make you smile. I like to think that the dandelion seeds floating around the squirrels head, or like those tantalizing projects that we just have to make. This is where we celebrate those distractions because we know that it is just so good for our creative souls.

My First Quilt

Happy Friday! I had hoped to have a finish but life has intervened, as has a good book, and general poky-ness, so maybe this weekend... In the meantime, I'm popping in to let you know that I was asked by Leanne of Devoted Quilter if I would like to be interviewed about the first quilt I ever made for a new series she's doing on her blog and Instagram. 

In case you missed any of the posts, which come out at the end of each month, (I didn't catch Leanne's, so I will be heading over to read it asap!) 

you can read about Leanne's own first quilt here, 

Laura's, Slice of Pi, first quilt here, 

and about Michelle's, From Bolt to Beauty, first quilt here.

I am honoured to be the featured 'First Quilt' interviewee today. You can hop over to Leanne's blog, to read all about my first little quilt.

That's a recent photo, taken in February to use in an upcoming magazine publication - eeek.

Gratitude #75

Welcome to my monthly Gratitude post. All month long I note little things that make me smile, that me feel gratitude, things that I like or love. Several of us write these posts; you can read more at LeeAnna‘s blog Not Afraid of Color.

 

1. I love dogs. When I was in Alberta at the beginning of May, visiting Brianne and Brady, one of the things Brady requested we do is meet up with my niece, Brianne's cousin, Sheila. She has three little dogs, cute little characters, who love going to the off-leash dog park in Edmonton's River Valley. It is a massage for the soul and spirit there: dogs of all sizes, shapes and ages, running around, just being dogs. Some chase balls, others chase each other, still others just amble or race along behind or in front of their owners. There is a huge field where they can run around, there are trails through forest and bush, and there is the river where they can swim. It's a paradise, and always leaves all four of us, well all seven, counting the three fur mops, just so content and at peace.

Rainbow Neighbourhood House Block #8

First of all Happy Victoria Day! I hope, if you get the holiday, that you get to spend some or all of it doing something you absolutely love. I started my day off with some quiet sewing, finishing up my eighth house, in my favourite colour, blue, while listening to the busy birds, singing, calling and chirping. Ahhh.

If you are making the throw, you will have just one house left to make after this week! If you are making the twin, you have two left along with two heart blocks and some pinwheels.

Rainbow Neighbourhood House Block #7

What fun it was to see all the gorgeous house blocks linked up last week! I am thrilled to see all the creativity just bursting forth in your houses. I love hearing how much fun you are having choosing fabrics, fussy-cutting, even purchasing a bit of special fabrics or colours to incorporate.

I was away all last week visiting Brianne and Brady and friends and family in Alberta, so I did not sew one single stitch. It was a wonderful week! Last week was the halfway point with a linkup and two prizes on offer.

Rainbow Neighbourhood Mid-Point Link Up

Welcome to the halfway point of this year's Quilt Along! It is such a joy to see all the pretty, interesting, unique, themed houses popping up everywhere! By now everyone should have five houses made. If you are making the twin, you also have four large tree blocks made.

Did I mention that there will be a prize chosen for those who link up their five houses? Don't stress if you don't have all five done yet; the linky will be open all week, until midnight Saturday, so you've got time, my friend. Breathe.

Slab Star Quilt Free Pattern

As you know, I’ve inadvertently started a third RSC project this year. This is a great block to use up strips and scraps. In an effort to use up my crumbs and make a dent in my strips (don’t ask how the strips dent is going), I hit upon this lovely large 16” finished Evening Star block. Here is my orange one complete.

I do love looking at these each time I finish one, thinking that I saved all of those bits from the landfill, and I will help keep someone snuggly and warm under the forthcoming quilt.

How do I make these? Let me show you!

Rainbow Neighbourhood House Block #5

We are at the halfway point of making house blocks!

For those of you making the throw, once you have House #5 done, you are more than half way because there are only nine houses to make. For those of you making the twin, you have ten houses to make. This week we aren't making any extra parts for our neighbourhood, so it's an easy week!

From Dawn to Dusk

It is with great pleasure that I present to you, not one but two finished quilts! These qualify for my PHD, Projects Half Done challenge, and this means that every one of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts I have made since joining in 2015 are complete! 

I made these blocks during the RSC2016 year, using a pattern in Kim Schaefer's Cozy Modern Quilts. It's a great book, and I need to make some more quilts from it!

DrEAMi! #72

Welcome to this month's DrEAMi party, where we celebrate diversions!

My friend Pat @irishsparksareflying sent me this and it is PERFECT to describe a DrEAMi incident!

Gratitude #74

Welcome to another monthly gratitude post. All month long I note little things that make me smile, that me feel gratitude, things that I like or love. Several of us write these posts; you can read more at LeeAnna‘s blog Not Afraid of Color.

1. I love weeping willow trees. They are the last to lose their leaves in fall and one of the early trees to green up.

I love the vast array of flowering trees in this southernmost area of Canada. We are in the Carolinian forest, so trees like magnolias, redbuds, osage orange, hickory, walnut and oak, and many many more, abound.

Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt Along - House Block 4

Welcome to week 4 of the Quilt Along!

It looks like everyone is finding the house blocks pretty quick to put together and having fun with all the choices to personalize them. Be sure to check out the hashtag pool #RainbowNeighborhoodQAL as well as #RainbowNeighborhoodQuilt to see everyone’s progress. Be sure to use those hashtags when you post your blocks on Instagram and tag me @mmmquilts. 

Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL - House Block 3

Hello, and welcome to week 3 of the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL. First things first: I have a little surprise for you: last week I invited everyone to link up their first house block, and eight people did. I know there are more people quilting along, and I'm hoping that those who have bought the pattern (five this past week!) will join in too. Well, I recently won 50 fat quarters from The Fabric Nook, and so I am sending one off to Kathleen in Maine! More sharing to come!

All right, let's talk about making a third house.

Purple Projects Post

Purple is the colour for April in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with Angela at soscrappy. I got my three projects caught up on Thursday and Friday this week.

My first project, and I was only going to do one (best laid plans) is the one from a Quick Quilts magazine. I'm making three blocks in the colour of the month, four for a few months to total 30 blocks for a five by six layout.

I think two of the biggest reasons I love making scrap quilts is for all for the memories the pieces evoke as well as the depth you get with the variety of shades and tones and textures. Within these three blocks I see two QALs: my first, Freefall, and Follow Your Own Path, a Mariner's Compass quilt I made for Dayna, two quilts I designed for a couple of blog hops for Benartex, my time as an Island Batik ambassador, a quilt I made for my mum's 80th...and that doesn't include the history of the black fabrics!

Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL: House Block #2

It's almost like Christmas morning the day this post goes live and I start to see the house blocks being linked up. I'm thrilled by those I've seen so far on Instagram and blogs. It is such a thrill when I turn a design I sketched out on graph paper into real live fabric, but when I see others make my design, it is even more of a thrill. As I noted last week, the pattern has virtually endless possibilities for making it your own unique quilt, and already I've seen 'outside the box/block' thinking! Andrée added a sidewalk to her first block, breaking up the lawn, and Rose has decided to not do various stars on all of her houses...but you may have to wait for a bit to see what she's been up to, that rebel.

Kool Kats Kwilt Finish

It feels so good to have the quilt done, packaged up and on its way to Indiana. It feels even better knowing how excited my customer is to receive it!

You can read how the commission came about here. I dodged rain and wind (the horrible storm that came up from Texas and ransacked eastern Ontario and east into Quebec was just lots of rain and high winds down here. We had our terrible ice storm at the end of February, very very scary when the weight of the ice fells ancient, metre-thick branches and crushes cars.

Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL Official Kick-Off!

And....(drum roll)....welcome!!🎉🎉🎉 to my seventh, yes seventh(!) annual Quilt Along here at mmmquilts. Thank you so much for being here and for those of you participating, a huge virtual hug of gratitude for your time and enthusiasm. As per usual, the QAL starts on a special day, April 3, with the flimsy due on another even more auspicious day, June 15. What's with these special days, you may ask yourself? You've never heard of them? Well, long-time participants well know, and probably mark their calendars as my dad did, for the June 15 date for sure. However, if you are new, allow me to explain before I give you your homework for the week!

Kool Kats Quilt and RSC Update

A few weeks ago I had a message through my Etsy shop telling me she was interested in the cats quilt I had for sale but would I be able to make a throw, and in softer colours? We chatted back and forth, and I got the go-ahead for this commission. I was such fun to paw through (see what I did there) my bountiful collection of fabrics to give her lots (in retrospect, too many, but I wanted her to be completely happy) of choices for her cats. She was pretty specific in her colours and motifs, and probably as strong and vocally so in her intense dislike of anything remotely teal or turquoise, as my mother was with blue. I am happy to share the finished top!

Gratitude #73

Hello, and welcome to my monthly post of things I've noticed the past month for which I'm grateful. I also note simple things I just like or love. You can find more of these uplifting posts at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. I like no, I love animal sanctuaries. They do so much good. One that I particularly enjoy is @totes.the.goat on Instagram. They are Black Goat Farm Sanctuary in the Hamilton, Ontario area. The photos of little blind lamb Paisley’s "first adventure outside" enjoying the warm spring sun was a much-needed boost to my heart today.

Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt Along Announcement and Schedule

Welcome to the seventh annual quilt along here at mmmquilts! I am so glad you are here, and I do hope you will join in with us for yet another year of fun sewing and prizes galore! If you are new to the blog, welcome! I hope you'll peruse the tabs up top, check out some of the activities and makes of mine. Be sure to follow me (see the follow it buttons for the blog and Instagram on my sidebar) to be notified of new posts over the next few months of the quilt along.

This is the main page where you will find the schedule and sponsors of the QAL. If you are participating, be sure to grab the graphic below and paste it on your sidebar or in your Instagram feed, on Pinterest, wherever you are on social media! I thank you for spreading the word.

Here is the html code:

<div style="width:100%;text-align:center;"><span style='margin:5px;padding:5px;border-radius: 5px;border:1px solid lightgrey;display:inline-block;'><a  rel=_nofollow href='https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/03/rainbow-neighbourhood-quilt-along.html'>           <img style='border: 1px solid gray;width:200px;height:200px;' src='https://www.homesewnbyus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Rainbow_Neighbourhood_QAL.png' alt='mmmQuilts'></a></span></div>

Just copy and paste that code into your sidebar on your blog and when others see it, they'll be bounced here where all the information is! Thank you so much Roseanne of Home Sewn by Us for offering to code the graphic for me. The way I used to do it doesn't work...

What quilt are we making this year?

Rainbow Neighbourhood!

You have two options, a throw that uses just the houses, and a twin. This one is the twin size made by my lovely and soooo very much appreciated pattern tester, Michelle in Scotland. This is option number one, ten houses with some setting blocks of trees, flowers and hearts.

DrEAMi #71

Welcome to another Drop Everything And Make it! post, where we celebrate those projects that distract us from our 'supposed-to-be-making' projects, aka as squirrels. We've all been bitten/smitten with a project we see somewhere, be it online, at a guild meeting, in a magazine, and we stop sewing our current project because we 

just

have

to make

this thing

right

NOW!

I don't know about you, but these things usually hit me at the worst of times. I'm making a quilt for a reason, a person, and wham! out of left field comes this attractive bauble. Quilter ADD I also call it.

Project Quilting 14.6 Conquer a Fear

After quilting for some 25 years, there isn't anything in quilting that I fear. Avoid/hesitate? Yes. As in life, there are certain things we love to do, and certain things we ... do not! Over the course of the first couple of days following the release of the challenge, an idea was forming, to symbolize fear in a mini quilt, from the debilitating 'darkness' of feeling fear to the release, the blossoming and lightness that happens when you work through it and have such a sense of accomplishment. I wish I'd had more time. I had another deadline, the SAHRR, and so I devoted the majority of my week to that, since Cuba had 'robbed me' 😉 of a week's work on it. In the end, I pulled this together in a few hours. I do love it, and have used it every day since Sunday!

This is my new favourite mug rug.

Wild and Wonderful SAHRR Quilt

It's been some time since I wrote a post; I really didn't intend to take more than three weeks off blogging. Hope you check in on me on Instagram because I do post fairly regularly there. If you don't, I'll catch you up with Rounds 5 and 6 for the SAHRR, as well as what I was up to during one of the weeks:

Looks fake doesn’t it, but I assure you it is real, taken with my iPhone, and not photoshopped or colour enhanced.

Ahh, as on our previous two trips to the idyllic island of Cuba, I found several sources of inspiration for colour and design. It felt good to do something normal as well, though I did and will always wear an N95 mask on an airplane. All was well, and we've returned healthy and didn't catch anything, but that is thanks to masking on the airplane and in close quarters in the airports, as well as lots of outdoor time, even eating en plein air, which I love any day!

DrEAMi #70

Well typing that number, 70, gave me a bit of a pause. Wow. So I looked back to see just when I started this linky party where we celebrate everything squirrel and shiny and distracting...

January 28, 2017

Six years ago! Somehow it seems longer than that. Not only was it the first DrEAMi, but apparently it was the first time I hosted a linkup! Here is a graphic I used in that post that I just love.

The DrEAMi I talked about in that first post was none other than my house pattern, (see sidebar) which became a cushion cover. If you want to take a little peek back at that post, click here.

Gratitude #72

As I write this, I am grateful for my snug house. It is blowing and raining something fierce, and has been nasty almost all day. We had freezing rain and then tiny snow pellets, then more freezing rain mixed with regular rain. The trees looked like something out of Frozen, encased in ice. The power has been flickering and a fire engine made its way down the lane behind us, lights flashing but no sirens. We think maybe a tree or a large branch fell on a power line. Again, I ask myself, why when they upgrade the power poles, which they have been doing over the past several years, do they not just use that money for the new poles, and bury the damn lines. It's not like it's hard digging here; it's sand. We used to be an ocean bed.

Yay for hardy, early spring flowers, like winter aconite that has been blooming for a week now. I am also grateful for the snowdrops I spied at the beginning of this week. They really give a person's spirits a lift.

PQ 14.4 A Novel Project

The past week's challenge was to make a quilt inspired by a book. Those of you who are regular followers know that I am an avid and a lifelong reader; I was an English as well as French teacher as well for 30 years. So it was too hard to choose one book; like Trish I could ream off 50 favourites, some of those favourites read within the past year, like The Dictionary of Lost Words, or Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, or The Golem and the Jinni finished just three days ago. So I based my project on a series, the Outlander books, though as you'll see, it's really so much more than these beloved books by Diana Gabaldon, every one of which I have, including The Outlandish Companion!

The Calanais Standing Stones are in the Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis. My mini is based on a photograph from Historic Environment Scotland. Calanais Standing Stones is another very informative site with more photos of these magical 5000-year-old stones.

SAHRR Round 3

This week's directive for the round was hourglass blocks. I like making them: make two HSTs, put them back together with opposite values touching, sew either side of the diagonal once again, cut apart, press and voilà! two QSTs aka hourglass blocks. Once again, however, I just didn't know how to incorporate them around my quilt. I first thought of doing them tipsy, to keep on with the whimsical theme, by adding half of a rectangle to either side. Somehow it didn't gel. So I did my RSC homework instead and let my back-brain stew. I'm not sure what inspired me to come up with a double-fade: fade in size and value, that is, but by Saturday afternoon (finally - three days of sewing, okay and real life too, later) I had it together.

Rainbow Scraps Challenge Progress

It's going to be one of those years. By that I mean, a year where unplanned projects keep insisting they get attention. I started out with one RSC project, and as of about a week or so ago, I find myself with three. I am keeping up with each one in a timely manner. So far.

This is the first one, from Quick Quilts magazine. Last month I made four in dark and bright blue. I’m planning to have 30 blocks set 5 x 6 for a 50” x 60” quilt. It will be a donation quilt. Some months will have three blocks, some will have four in the colour of the month. 

SAHRR Round 2 and PHD Update

So far this year, every one of the three Project Quilting challenges have been a snap, as in I know exactly what I'm going to do, and I actually stick to it, and they are all done in time. Not so with the Stay At Home Round Robin! It has been a challenge, but in a good way giving my brain some robust exercise, both in the creativity as well as the calculations departments. However, as of Saturday night, her is my round 2 complete. 

I actually did take a couple of in-progress photos so you can see how I arrived here. Thanks to Gail of QuiltingGail, for hosting this as well as the PHD programme.

Project Quilting 14.3 54-40 or Fight

I liked this third challenge, and, true to form this year (so weird), I knew right away that I would make the block fairly large, maybe even just one giant one, to make a baby quilt. I've called it 'Las Flores' thanks to the name of the green floral.

Thanks to Trish @quiltchicken for dreaming up the challenges, and to Kim of kimlapacek.com for hosting and organizing etc. This has been such a good jumpstart to my creativity each year!

DrEAMi #69

I was debating on whether to keep hosting this DrEAMi linkup, when a quote sent to me by Helen at Word Weaver Art made me decide yep, another year won't hurt! She said: "I read a quote once that reminded us that it's good when the muse comes, but you can't always wait on her to begin your task. She has a lousy work ethic." HA!

Well, this linky party is for those projects that the muse brings us that we can't NOT stop until they're made and out of our head! Welcome to the first linky party of 2023. I've had a few this month...

This came about through a DM on my Etsy shop where Eleasha asked if I accepted commissions on my makeup bags. Well yes I did. And poof! Off to the races and away went half of the weekend when I should have been sewing my 'The Art of Riding Thermals' quilt. Ah well. It got done in the end; she chose the colours and fabrics with lots of back and forth-ing, and she loves it, put out a lovely post in her stories. She is using it for her stationery items, and boy, do these hold a ton of pens, erasers, little notebooks, PostIt notes and so forth. So I made a new little video showing just that for the blue one that also grabbed me this month.

Gratitude # 71

Welcome to my monthly post where I share things for which I'm grateful that I have noted over the month. You can read more of these uplifting posts at the wonderful LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

I like this sweatshirt Dayna gave me for Christmas. My beloved CBC. I like the echo effect of their logo. I don't know, but I wonder if it symbolizes the ripple effect of the various media of theirs, and the good they've been doing as far as inclusivity. I also like the quilt under it, which is on our bed during the month of January. It was a block of the month I hosted in 2003 for the guild I was then a part of, one by someone named 'Tish in Florida' that I found online. It was really cool because there were several different sizes of blocks that all fit together. I added the borders from a book I had. Here is the post if you want some more information and photos.

Project Quilting 14.2 Pink Tint

I'm popping in with a pink project (love me some alliteration, especially when it happens as I type!) for you to peruse from Project Quilting 14.2 with KimLapacek where pink had to be the predominant colour.

As soon as I read the challenge, I knew this pillow by Minki Kim on the Benartex blog, which I've made before, twice, would be the one. I'd put it in my Etsy shop or on my couch. Done! Often the down-to-the-wire part of a PQ challenge is because I've waffled over just what one of several ideas I have should I make? Well, not so with this one, nor 14.1! I was wrong. 

The Art of Riding Thermals: Villa Rosa Designs Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the first ever Fast and Fun Blog Hop with Villa Rosa Designs.

I was really pleased to be asked several months ago to be a part of this blog hop by Bernie of Needle & Foot. Make a quick quilt? Help out a designer? Be part of a hop? Sign me up!

The hop is based on a bundle of five super-quick quilt patterns. I chose Snow Goose and made it à la Sandra.

You can get all five patterns on sale right now by clicking here. If you are new to Villa Rosa Designs, as I was, then you might want to check out this link, which takes you to their shop where you can find... wait for it... over 500 of these postcard-sized fast quilt patterns. I had to look twice and scroll to a second page to believe my eyes: TWO DOLLARS per pattern. The instructions fit on a postcard. The quilts are super-fast.

What A Wonderful World!

It really is. And I’m sorry if I’ve given you an ear worm, but it is a most positive turn of phrase and song lyrics. I think we all could use a reminder of this these days, when so much focus is on negativity, and there is so much corruption in and disregard for our precious world: the humanity, animals, plants, and aquatic life that live upon this beautiful blue green globe.

Through my Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt pattern, I recently connected with a group of beautiful humans in North Carolina. So much about this story shines a light on the goodness that I believe outweighs the badness.

So Much to Say!

There is a lot in the post today, but I'll keep it short so I can get back to work. I've been busy, though not crazy busy. I have a few irons in the fire as they say, and I'm here to tell you all about each one. First of all, the Villa Rosa Designs blog hop begins this week; my day to post is Sunday, January 22. My top is done, and it has marinated on the design wall overnight while I contemplate taking off the extra row I did, which is sort of but not quite, a border. My gut is leaning, though only slightly leaning, towards taking it off. It does add that bit of unexpected, wait, let me look again, idea. Here is the block you may have seen on Instagram.

There are a ton of prizes to be won during this hop which begins tomorrow, January 19! The schedule is below.

Project Quilting 14.1 One

When I read the challenge, "The First One", almost immediately I knew what I was going to make! I think this is the earliest (Tuesday evening!) that I have finished a project for Project Quilting which is hosted by Kim Lapacek.

For some time I have wanted to make a make up bag using a whole cloth technique. This was the perfect opportunity!

Santa's Power

Well, I did it: I finished another long-standing USO (Un-Started Object). What's the difference between a USO and a UFO? In my mind, a USO is a project that you bought the fabric for, maybe also the pattern, maybe not because the design is in your head, such as Santa's Power, and then you never did actually start making it. A UFO is one you have actually started, but stopped due to life, other projects being due, or squirrels, or loss of interest.

This is Santa's Power, and I am wrapped in it as I type this post. I just love it! That's an odd name for a quilt, yes, but read on and you'll find a cute story as to why it got this name.

Best of 2022

I'm writing up a quick post highlighting my top five posts of 2022, and linking it up with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.

It's fun to look back on yet another year and say, 'oh yeah,' about several things that happened here on the blog.