Sheep, Sisters, and Basketball

By now, I think I have established that I like projects that involve sheep. I thought I would use this entry to share another sheep project - this one has ties to my sister as well as to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I know this may sound a little strange. Hopefully, I can tie all of the pieces together.

Although my sister and I enjoy a number of the same things, we are also quite distinct in our interests and skills. I've come to describe myself as the "frou frou" sister. I like the frills and dressing up. I also am the one who is more inclined toward the handwork projects. My sister is the more outdoorsy one and is the one who excelled in team sports. In more recent years, she has been putting her outdoor skills to good use by participating in Disaster Relief teams to help minister to people who have been affected by natural disasters. While she has become adept with a chainsaw, you wouldn't want to be around me if I was the one holding it.

Some things we both enjoy are sheep and watching sports together. Here we are feeding a couple of our bottle lambs. I think we were about 4 1/2 and 3 years old.

As teenagers, I think we watched about every televised moment of the Los Angeles Olympics during the summer of 1984. Among our favorites was watching women's volleyball.

Somewhere in our high school years, we also started paying attention to the NCAA basketball tournament and all the fun of March Madness. Our favorites have been, and still are, the underdog teams. To be honest, sometimes, we just go for the team with the cutest mascot. Last year, we found ourselves rooting for the Wofford Terriers. They didn't make it out of the first round, but they did put forth a good effort against a higher ranked team. You have to admit, the statue featuring their mascot really is cute.

So now, how does this all tie together …

For each of the last two years, we have been getting together for a March Madness weekend during the first week of the tournament. That week really is my favorite with all of the games and upsets going on. 

In 2014, I gave my sister a small quilting kit that featured a sheep. (I got one for myself as well.) During our 2015 March Madness weekend, we began working on our projects. We got the top portion pieced together and then packed our kits up and stored them in my sewing room for another day. The picture below shows the initial piecing along with the machine quilting to hold the top, batting, and backing together.

This year, we continued our work on the kits. We added the wool appliqué sheep and the log cabin block for the upper right hand corner. 

Now, the question remains, will we finish these projects completely before the year is over, or will we leave that task for the 2017 tournament. As King Solomon might say, to everything there is a season …

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1