Well, I've done several projects since my first inquiry. I used a hosta leaf, appropriated from a friends garden while he was on vacation, but the mix must have been too dry for it had some surface bubbles and mild flaking of surface concrete. The next effort, a crambe leaf, used a looser mix but it was so runny, I had to blot some of the moisture that ran off the edges with paper towels. It developed a crack along the midrib before it was dry. I didn't unmold it at that time. In an effort to reduce surface bubbles, I next tried a leaf with some Sakrete Fast Setting Cement Patcher. It set up so fast, I could hardly pat, pat, pat. It did have a nice surface though. I used some of it to patch the crack in the prior day's crambe leaf...reinforced with fiberglass tape. That seemed to save the crambe. I won't be using that again, though I wonder what would happen if I added some of that to the standard 1:3 mix. Next I tried a couple of test leaves with mortar mix to see if I could get a smoother surface with fewer bubbles. I made a thin cast, only about 1/2 inch thick. I thought it had a very nice surface with few tolerable, small bubbles and the consistancy seemed to be finer than when I used the silica sand in my original project. I'm very tempted to try a large project with the mortar mix but that raises a whole bunch of new questions. Is it as strong as the 1:3 portland to sand mix? Should I use a fortifier? Do I spray and cure it as other mixes? I really hope someone can comment on the mortar mix. Now my last question is really a dumb one. When do you paint your leaves? After they've cured. What if you paint them before? I've seen threads where someone showed a picture of a just unmolded leaf and the next day showed it painted. Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts and expertise. These projects have been so much fun I'm WAY behind in my housework, not that I care, mind you. Fleur

Auntjen, I'm sorry to hear this bad news. I would think that there will be a class action law suit and you so you will be able to hopefully recoup some of your money. This has been definitely an unsettling economic time, I stopped looking at my 401K statements several months ago. I had worked so hard for over 20 years investing the max you could put into the funds - and I had chosen funds that were so much more conservative than I was told to because I wanted to be safe. Oh well, so much for that - I've still lost over 30% of my money as I'm sure most everyone else has to in the market. I know it's harder to accept since there was deceit involved in your case, but try to put it aside, take the remaining savings funds you have and put them in treasury bonds or something safer than a fund managed by a company. We still have two 401k's that are invested in general stock funds, but a very large chunk of our savings we've moved into government bonds and while we're only seeing a 3-4% return, the money is as safe as possible at this point.

You know Pirate girl...you may be right! She might remember them if she sees them. When it was apparent she was loosing her memory, I made a huge scrapbook for her with hundreds of family pictures. It started with pictures of her and dad as children and then dating and marrying, all of her children and grandchildren, vacations we've taken, and holiday pictures. She loves looking at that book. I know she recognizes some of the people in the pictures, even though she doesn't know their names anymore. But she does know her mother's name and recognizes her. So maybe she will remember these quilts. I'll find out next time I go see her. Thanks for that suggestion! Cindy

I have to say decluttering is not all its cracked up to be. I went through a big one recently. Now I must admit... it felt so liberating... but there was a catch to that liberation. See, I was in the process of getting rid of a lot of things when one day I got a flyer on my door stating that a charity would be coming by and if I would like to donate then all I have to do is leave my bag on the front lawn clearly marked and they would pick it up. WHAT? someone is coming to get my junk? YES!! I had a week. and silly them for thinking it would only be ONE bag. They asked for it they are going to get it!! I thought this was soooo wonderful so I got busy. On the day of pick up I spread a large tarp in my yard and filled it with bags and bags of everything under the sun; from clothes to DVD's and VCR tapes, to books to old pots, pans and knives to furniture to whatever. I went through every room and purged and then went through them and purged again. On the day of pick up they left a few things behind that they decided they did not want either and I just put a "free" sign on it and it was gone by the end of the day. OMG you can never imagine how great this felt. I danced through the house in my new spaces. The elation did not last long though because while I love the way it made my house look so much neater there was a huge problem. NOW I CAN'T FIND JACK IN HERE. Say what you want but when you live in a lot of clutter there is a method to the madness and you know where everything is. For example... I moved my uniform shirts into a pocketbook rack in my closet. I thought this will be neat to have everything right here in one place. Made sense at the time. Next week I could not find them because I forgot where their new place was. It took me over three weeks and after ordering new shirts to find them. Oh yeah and not to mention that when I can't find something I assume I gave it way by accident. Like my uniform shirts, a pair of new shoes I still had in stretchers, and other stuff. COme to find out later I had them, I just couldn't find them. I damn near got in my car and drove to the charity place 4 hours away to see if they would let me go through my bags to find all my missing stuff. LOL. Okay so now to what to do about the dishes. I gave away things I wanted to hold on to for dear life as well. What I wound up doing is calling my daughter and nieces and gave them the story about the responsibility of being keepers of certain things in the family and I told them how important it was to preserve this stuff and NEVER give away. My nieces took the holiday serving platters and a few other things they really needed in their kitchen. Years ago I gave my son a whole china cabinet and it was full of dishes. It made him feel important and he thought it was impressive to be in his 20s and have a china cabinet already full of good china. I doled it all out like that and being that they know I am the family "stuff" keeper they felt it an honor to keep it for the family. Welp I hope that helped just a little bit, if nothing else but to give you a smile.