Adolpha

Married mother of a lovely grown daughter who is engaged to a super guy. Live in Berryton, Kansas, USA with my husband, four dogs and four cats on our country "estate" (if 3/4 of an acre and 1969 brick ranch count as an estate...). I grew up as the daughter of a career Army soldier, then became one myself for three wonderful years, two of them in Germany (for which I am eternally grateful) and still have the travel bug, dreaming about going back overseas "one of these days."

Things I like to swap -- so far I've done a ton of swaps for crocheted items, like squares for granny square afghans, Christmas ornaments, etc. Just recently I've begun swapping fabric for quilting and other fabric projects. Now I'd like to branch out in to other areas of the swap community and also find new penpals from around the world.

Crochet, knit, bead jewelry, sewing and other needlecraft. I have loads of books and magazines, along with tons of printed patterns for things I intend to make "one of these days." Current WIPs: granny square afghan, another freeform "not-so square" afghan, knitted panels for ??? (teaching myself how to knit), paper beads, 1/2" flat-back clear glass circles for magnets (made a bunch now don't know what to do with them), several items of clothing already cut out waiting for me to sew them, latch-hook rooster rug kit (SIB - still in box hoping a secret gremlin will appear during the night and put it all together for me!), tote bag crocheted out of recycled plastic shopping bags. Oh, did I mention that I suffer from CADD (Crafter's Attention Deficit Disorder!)... in other words, I get bored easily and tend to move on to something new and exciting if something takes too long, requires "ingredients" that I'd have to go buy, becomes too difficult, and so the story goes...

Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Boston Legal, all the CSI's and SVU's, LOST, NUMBERS, HGTV cooking, gardening and craft shows, Lifetime and Hallmark movies, Ellen, Oprah and other miscellaneous shows.

Deep forest green, dark purple, chestnut brown (and pretty much all the fall colors that you'd see on the trees), pastel pink and mint green.

I absolutely LOVE anything vintage, especially the old flour sack prints, paisley, small prints for quilting, holiday fabric with gold sparkly dye printed on it. I like cotton for quilting and am also looking for 100% rayon for making chenille. Any kind of natural fabric that can be used for aplique would be great too (homespun, corduroy, denim, flannel, etc.)

Due to a recent bout with gout (yup I'm a poet and my feet know it because they're Longfellows! - ah, old joke from childhood era when my last name was Long and my feet matched it!)... anyway, I have to switch over to decaf everything. I discovered that most of the caffeine comes out of the tea within the first 15 seconds, so I can still use regular tea, just have to dump the first cup. Any ideas about a good use for that 1st cup so I don't feel like I'm totally wasting it? Here are some of the flavors and such that I like: Vanilla hazelnut tea, wine-infused coffee (just discovered that on our 2007 farm tour at a winery and absolutely LOVE i!), caramel, strawberries (especially when they're doused with Splenda and put over warm shortcake, topped with whipped cream), blueberries, pumpkin pie with oodles of whipped cream on top, apple pie ala mode, garlic on just about anything except sweets, pork loin cooked all day in the crock pot... okay enough about food...

Roosters, mallard ducks, beads, buttons (especially vintage and unusual), yarn (especially wool that can be felted), vintage fabric (cotton), crochet and knit magazines, cookbooks (really love the old ones that came with appliances and the ones with old pictures in them)