thanks for your help. i know why it's not working for me. it requires adobe 6.0 to download and i have 5.0. this has happened to me before. i should have read it more carefully.
if you like star-of-the-months, check out bom.com. look for 'strippin with the stars'. it started at the beginning of the year, but since it's once a month there's time to catch up. it's pretty easy, so a good project for beginners and a creative opportunity for more experienced quilters. in case you are not familiar with it, the site is great.
i didn't find it until last week, so i printed out all the past ones and will play catch-up whenever.