turkey carcass, granola, loaded up reading quilt, blue leftovers quilt totally finished, amaryllis, Clinton hats

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It was raining again when we got up on Wednesday (12/30), so Michael cancelled out of golf and headed to the grocery store for mushrooms and spinach to make his breakfast omelet.  I got Pat’s turkey carcass (along with some frozen veggie peelings from my own freezer) into the crockpots while he was gone, 

and also made up a sheet pan of granola to bake for an hour:  

before baking....

part way through.....

yum!

 I spent the rest of the day in the studio, happily sewing, quilting, binding, etc.  I finished the quilting on the bargello and loaded up the “reading” quilt right behind it, with just about an inch to spare.  

glad I loaded a double length of backing

 I also worked on the blue “leftovers” quilt and it is finally, totally finished.   

I didn't think I'd get this done til January....oh well...

After Michael planted the amaryllis bulb that Paula gave us for Christmas, 

 he came down to play a couple games of pool while I was sewing, and we watched a bit of TV together.  We had leftover ham, etc for dinner, then I spent an hour SKYPING with Janice before heading upstairs around 8:30 PM.  Michael was just finishing up a chapter in his book, so I got the turkey stuff out of the crockpot and into the fridge, before we settled in front of the TV for the rest of the evening.

When I went to Stitch & Chat on Tuesday, I got 2 more beautiful hats for Clinton School…this group had been absolutely wonderful and generous with their money, their time and their yarn!

bargello quilting started

Michael left at 8:30 AM Tuesday for a bunch of errands (Jan’s to drop off her quilt, foot doc appointment, post office to buy stamps and mail out gift for new nephew) after which he went to the movies to see the new Quentin Tarantino movie of THE HATEFUL 8.  When he came home he said “3 hours of blood and gore”…I’m so glad I didn’t go :~).  I headed to the studio to continue pinning on a polar fleece backing to Miss Scarlett, and getting the bargello quilt basted, and the program to quilt it, set up.  

here's what the whole pattern will look like on the quilt

here's one row of the feathers...it's a very open design

I didn't want to interfere with the bargello pattern of the fabric

By then it was time for Joanne to pick me up for Stitch & Chat.  We had a good time there and I knitted on a new kid’s sweater before coming home around 4.  Michael was home within 10 minutes of me getting home.  I headed downstairs and got several rows done on the bargello (with a break for potato/carrot/ham for dinner) before heading back upstairs around 8 PM to watch another Christmas movie…HOLIDAY INN.

Jan's quilt finished, Triple Chocolate Pound Cake

Although the sky was VERY gray and threatening on Monday (12/28), Michael still left for golf at 8:30 with his fingers crossed.  When he got home, he said he only got sprinkled on once, but the course was a mess and they had a big slog through the mud.  I spent the day finally finishing my book (one of the JD Robb’s “Death in” series) getting Jan’s quilt unpinned and trimmed, 

isn't this a pretty baby quilt?

and making a Triple Chocolate Pound cake (recipe courtesy of Southern Living via Denise from quilting) 

 and rolls to take to Paula & Doug’s at 6 PM.  She made cube steak with fabulous gravy (what a sweetheart…she knows I am dying to learn to make it and have been questioning my 3 friends who DO make it) with rice and peas/carrots.  We played SCREWED afterwards (I lost in kind of a hurry :~) and then SHEIST (for which she is working on a scoring spreadsheet as the scoring is the hardest part of the game).  We were home around 10 and Michael wanted to watch a little golf, so I headed downstairs and started to pin on a new backing for 2 more Clinton quilts.

Jan's baby quilt loaded

Michael took cookie for a walk first thing Sunday morning (12/27) and just got rained on a tiny bit :~).  We both headed downstairs when he got back.  He worked on his computer for quite awhile and I got Jan’s baby quilt loaded up while watching WAITING FOR GUFFMAN.   

I worked on the quilt on and off during the day…it was a very intricate pattern and took a long time to stitch out as each row stitched VERY slowly, but by 9 PM it was done.   

you can see a train engine with ABC after it

I did take a break for dinner and we finally got our Christmas dinner made: potato/carrot mash, ham, green beans, peas and rolls.  We asked Anne & Bryce back to share it with us and they definitely seemed to enjoy it.

daffodils blooming

We tried to get back to our regular routine on Saturday (12/26), except for having no hot water :~(.  Michael left for golf around 9 AM and I called a plumber to find out what the problem was.  I told them it might not be the water heater itself...but could be the timer we have for circulating the water.  They said they could be here around NOON. After I called, I started to think about it, and remembered that  Michael had also said our outdoor lights were not on last night.  Sure enough, when I moved the freezer in the garage, we needed to reset the plug.  Apparently the outside lights shorted out due to the rain, and the water heater is on the same circuit, so ....problem solved...:~).  After that, I headed to my living room chair to be lazy.  I spent many, many hours reading…heaven…  When Michael came home he said “the flowers are so confused by this weather (we’ve had all the windows in the house open for the last 3 days), they’re blooming again!”   

He sat for a bit and read his book as well, then we had a delightful visit from Rachel and Amy (2 of Jan’s grandchildren).  They came to thank us for the Student Vegetarian Cookbook I bought for Rachel, and also to bring us a wonderful piece of chocolate pound cake.  We talked for about 45 minutes, but by then our dinner was ready, so they headed on home.  We had leftover butternut squash/pasta for dinner, then settled in with popcorn and knitting to watch INSIDE OUT, one of my Christmas presents and a fabulous movie.