Eagle Moms

I'm proud to be an Eagle Mom. Trevor worked really hard to become an Eagle Scout, but anyone with a kid in Scouting knows that parents play a big part in making it possible. For years, we drive our kid to meetings and activities. We coach them through the phone calls they need to make and help them prepare for their Boards of Review. We remind them to fill out paperwork and gently push if needed. 

One of my favorite things about being an Eagle Mom is supporting other moms as their Scout works toward Eagle. The last few months before a Scout makes Eagle is usually a very stressful time. It's impossible to explain the relief, pride, and joy that you feel when your child passes their Eagle Board of Review, but as soon as that happens it's time to start planning the Eagle Court of Honor. You move from one kind of stress to a completely different kind. It's all good, but having Eagle Moms who are there for you and get it is huge. 

In August, the Eagle Moms from our troop had the pleasure of welcoming a new Eagle Mom to our group. Congrats, Lucia!

Eagle Moms (affiliate link)

If you're an Eagle Mom reading this, let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear about your Scout's Eagle project and when they earned Eagle. 

I Finished My Fourth Quilt

A year ago, I would have said that I could never make a quilt, not in a million years. I can't believe that I have finished my fourth quilt. Turns out you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! I'm learning so much with each quilt and my skills are improving dramatically. I'm getting a lot faster and so much more confident. 

I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out. It's the first symmetric quilt I've made and the first where I've sewn adjacent striped fabrics together (tricky!). The binding remains the most difficult part for me, but I'm improving. 

Speaking of the binding, I'm not thrilled with the white. I would have loved to have bound it with the yellow or with another fabric from the quilt, but there wasn't nearly enough of any fabric to do that. Quilting exclusively with donated fabrics really limits things. On the other hand, it's a fun challenge to see if I can make something pretty using the small bits of pieces of fabrics that people give us. 

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

Life in the deRosier household was good in early 2024. If you look through the scrapbook album, you see Trevor's admission to his top choice for college, a fun celebration for my 52nd birthday, our trip to Texas Hill Country, Brayden's adoption, the Highest Honors ceremony... and then a blank space, followed by all of Trevor's end-of-senior-year festivities and graduation. 

The blank space represents my cancer diagnosis. 

I thought for a long time about how I would include that in the album. I wanted a stark, black page that would represent how the diagnosis was abrupt and unexpected, out of place in our otherwise happy lives. This is what I came up with:

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (affiliate link)

It's not quite as stark as I'd originally planned. I used the title of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma instead of just CANCER. There's a lot of journaling. The pop of pink is for hope. 

It's been two years and four months since my breast cancer surgery. I finished radiation just over two years ago. I graduated from in-person physical therapy 16 months ago. I have eight more years of endocrine therapy ahead and the lymphedema is still here; I'm not happy about either of those, but it is what it is. Overall, I'm doing well and at this point there is no evidence of disease (NED). I hope it stays that way and that I never have to make another layout like this one. 

Ohio State Quarter Coloring Page (Redo)

Yesterday, I shared an improved version of my Missouri state quarter coloring page. When I colored the original, I didn't have the correct ink colors to do what I wanted. I updated it now that I have new supplies. I'm much happier with attempt #2. 

Today, I'm sharing my improved version of the Ohio state quarter coloring page. In this case, I can't blame the materials - I simply made poor color choices the first time I colored it. I don't know what I was thinking. I used the same colored pencils for the redo and I like it so much better. 

I'm not going to be redoing any more of these coloring pages, now that the two that bugged me the most are better. On to different crafts!

Missouri State Quarter Coloring Page (A Redo)

It's been about 18 months since I finished coloring pages all 50 state quarters using different art materials. And for that whole time, I've been unhappy with the inks I used for the Missouri quarter. At the time, I didn't have better color choices, so I went with the ones I had, knowing they weren't what I wanted. I have some new ink colors now, so I gave them a test run by redoing Missouri's quarter. As before, I started with a base of ink, then added Prismacolor colored pencils on top. 

In addition to using different inks, I changed the colors for the text and the border. I added some golden browns to the river since "The Big Muddy" is actually a yellowish-brown as it flows by Gateway Arch. It's not perfect, but I'm much happier with this version. 

There's one more state quarter coloring page that has been bugging me. I'll share the redo tomorrow.