waffles with Jan, second patriotic totally done, black Vortex lay out

I had made waffle batter on Saturday night, so Sunday morning (4/29) Michael took Cookie for a walk, then came home and made potatoes and bacon: 

to go with the waffles:  

We had company for breakfast (Cooper came too, but he was too fast for me to get a pic!):  

and we were all stuffed by the time I headed back downstairs at 11 AM (but not before snuggling my sweet babies on their cat tree):

this is the first time we've seen one in the very tippy top!

I kicked off the quilting on my customer quilt, and got going on the binding for the second patriotic quilt, while stitching out another label:  

Other than a short visit from Donna & Larry Y to check out our lanair, and a quick trip to Diane’s house (with Paula), I sewed all day and by dinner time (pizza from MARCO’s), I had the second patriotic done…including stitching down the label.  

My babies were on their tree again when I came up to get my pizza:

I decided it was time to layout black Vortex after dinner…but here I ran into a problem.  I was sure I had made all of the blocks on retreat…and counted and counted them…but while I was laying out I definitely had BIG gaps.

I finally figured out what I did wrong....I had it too wide...when I took off the 2 outside columns, I had enough to fill in the gaps on the inside.  

I'll add a 3-1/2 inch border of the puzzle fabric to this when sewn together.  By the time I finished, it was 8 PM and I headed upstairs to collapse and snuggle with my honey.  

FPF patriotic totally finished

Michael made me a terrific breakfast sandwich 

on Saturday (4/28) to fortify me for the garage sale at Diane’s house.  I left the house at 8:20 to be there on time.  For some reason I was really dreading it, but it turned out to be a very pleasant day.  The weather was beautiful….sunny, but not too hot and I really enjoyed talking with all of the customers and with the other volunteers during the lulls in customers.  I got home around 2 PM and although I didn’t feel as tired as I thought I would, I still took a wonderful nap while Michael was out on the driving range.  I got my bobbins wound and the program set up for my newest customer quilt, but decided to wait and start quilting it on Sunday when I wasn't so tired.  Michael decided to make spaghetti & meatballs for dinner, after which I headed downstairs and got binding made for the second patriotic quilt: 

and stitched down the label for the first one:  

I was complaining to Robin last Thursday that I had a few too many quilting projects started, so I feel good that I finished the pillow on Friday, and this patriotic on Saturday…and I’m on track to finish another project on Sunday!

Weight Report:

                   Ethel                 Lucy

                       

29-Apr     3 lb 0 oz           3 lb 5 oz

22-Apr     2 lb 13 oz          3 lb 2 oz

15-Apr      2 lb 7 oz           2 lb 11 oz

8-Apr       2 lb 6 oz           2 lb 8 oz

1-Apr        2 lb 3 oz           2 lb 4 oz

new quilt loaded, kitties, another QoV given out

Michael headed out to do errands (strawberries from THE IVIES, LOWE’s for plants and potting soil, and ALDI’s & Publix for a few groceries) Friday morning (4/27), while I had a much slower start to the day.  For whatever reason, my stomach was not 100%, so I sat in the living room drinking my tea and reading for quite a long time.  My tummy finally felt a bit better around 2 PM, so I made myself get up and get a customer quilt loaded and basted:  

I had sleepy company while I worked:  

I have too many projects started in my studio and need to finish up some things, so since Mary Ann was kind enough to buy me the zipper I needed at Joann’s (a couple of weeks ago!), I sewed up the pillow to go with Tuscan:  

fleece on the back to it's nice and soft

I am glad to have this off of my list!  Michael and I split a salad from ZAXBY’s for dinner and just relaxed in the evening.

 So, remember that I gave Gale a Quilt of Valor for Phil’s brother?  Well, she mailed it to him (his name is Frank) and I’ve got pictures AND a video.  So this is your daily dose of….YAY!!!

And here's the video:

SHQ show & tell, AJ, kitty videos

Michael was up and out before 8 AM on Thursday (4/26) for golf here at SCCL, but not before putting my machine in the car  :~).  We didn’t have a lot of people at quilting today, but it was still a lot of fun.  I got 12 more blocks done:  

only 12 more to go….YAY!!  And Floy brought her I SPY quilt in for show and tell:  

I wish you could see it up close….the work she put into it is incredible!  I got home around 2 PM and Michael was relaxing out on the lanair, so I headed out to join him.  A bit of talking, a bit of reading, a bit of playing with the kitties and a bit of napping and suddenly it was 5 PM!  Michael decided to put in our new switch plates before dinner….and everyone was interested in what he was doing:  

We bought new ones that put out light at the bottom when it gets dark....a good way to keep from tripping when you get up in the middle of the night!

We had leftovers for dinner, then I headed to my studio.  I got all of the binding complete on the second patriotic quilt and now just need to stitch down the label.  By then it was after 8 and I headed upstairs to veg on the couch  :~).

I don’t know if anyone else out there is a DOCTOR BLAKE fan….but it looks like a new season has started…I just taped season 5, episode one, about a boxer.  You should still be able to find it as a repeat and set up to tape the rest of the season.  I really like DOCTOR BLAKE…another British/Australian import.

We have much cuteness today :~).  First up is another picture of AJ:

Then 3 videos (remember, they never come through on the email, click on the title at the top of the email to go directly to the blog to see)  I took on the lanair when we were relaxing out there in the afternoon (I swear....
the kitties are doing really, really cool stuff and the minute I turn on the camera....they get boring  :~):

Mexican dinner, Janice's horse mural, AJ at 13 months

I was up and out early on Wednesday (4/25) to hit the grocery store and get split pea soup in the crockpot before SKYPE-ing with Janice at 9 AM.  Michael was also up and out early with an 8:30 tee time here at SCCL.  Janice and I talked for about 1-1/2 hours, then I headed out to meet Pat at Diane’s for a bit more pricing of her sewing/quilting stuff.  I came home, packed up embroidery stuff and headed back out to Pat’s.  I need 1 – 2 large butterflies for the convergence quilt, but my embroidery hoops are not large enough, so Pat graciously said I could do them at her house.  We got one wing started…but when it got to the satin stitch at the end, and Pat said it was going to be stitching for 68 minutes, I headed home.  Michael was home from golfing by then and we sat on the lanair and talked for a bit, then read our books.  I finally headed downstairs and spent a bunch of time cleaning up my studio and putting things away.  I got the split pea soup into containers (for Bryce and Ginny & Ken and Gale & Phil) before leaving for dinner.  We picked up Gale & Phil at 5 PM and headed out…wait for it….wait for it….   

Can you believe what is on that plate?  My honey, not only going to a Mexican Restaurant, but actually EATING something Mexican?!!?!??!  I have no idea what has happened to my honey, but it was a wonderful meal and we were all stuffed when we got home.  I spent a couple of hours in my studio, sewing together all of the leftover batting and fleece from the 2 patriotic quilts, and finishing stitching out my first label: 

then finally settled in to watch TV with my honey around 8:30 PM.  I even got the first set of HST’s for the Hunter’s Star quilt fully pressed:

I have several more pictures you just have to see.  As I may have mentioned, my Connecticut friends Janice & Dennis are hoping to retire to North Carolina in the next year or so.  To that end, they have been sprucing up their house and getting a variety of jobs done.  Janice & Dennis are recent empty nesters, so one of the main things Janice has been doing is sanding, spackling and painting the girl's rooms.  Apparently Janice was a horse crazy gal growing up, as was her daughter Jennifer.  So, Janice had decorated Jennifer's room with a horse theme.  Although I have known Janice for decades....I never realized what an excellent artist she is....I am sad that this piece of art bit the dust in the house remodel:

And to me, it's one thing to draw something on a piece of paper...and quite another skill to have it look so beautiful and realistic as a wall mural!!!

And last....your DDoC (Daily Dose of Cutenes)...here's AJ at 13 months:

breakfast, quilts trimmed, pineapple wall hanging

For some reason, even though we were up very late the night before, I was awake at 6 AM on Tuesday (4/24) and felt like I had loads of energy, so I hopped right up!  I had tons of emails and a long blog entry, but got that all typed and posted by 8 AM.  After that I worked on getting my 2 Quilts of Valor off of Miss Scarlett.  Michael left at 8:30 for breakfast with his buddies…and when he came home with 1/2 a serving of home fries, he put some cheese on top, added an egg and voila…breakfast for me:  

I worked on cleaning up the 2 quilts and making a new butterfly for the rest of the day.  I don’t have binding made for the first quilt finished:  

But I do have it for the second one:  

So as soon as the butterfly was finished (I wanted to change the order of the colors on the pink one so that Michael had some choices when he goes to arrange them): 

I programmed a label and started to sew on the binding.  Larry (Michael’s movie buddy) just got home today from a long trip and didn’t feel like going to the movies tonight, so Michael and I had movie and date night at home.  Of course we opened champagne (served with strawberries), and Michael made popcorn.  We had hoped to watch MRS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY, which we were both convinced we owned…but we couldn’t find it  :~(, and we settled in around 8 PM to watch STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT.  It was a wonderful evening…I even got some HST’s ironed  :~).

I know I showed you some pineapple blocks from Mary Jo the other day, and she asked me if I had ever made them.  I made a folded pineapple wall hanging which we gave to friends before leaving Connecticut...but I couldn't even remember what it looked like!  Don kindly sent me a picture of it...someday I'd like to make another:

And I have more art from Arizona Mary....a nice wall hanging:

I have one more set of pictures before we get to the DDoC.  June S (she of the recent digitizing help and former bread student) made pinta bread, which her hubby pronounced delicious:

And now, your Daily Dose of Cuteness....2 videos of Lucy & Ethel playing (remember, they won't come through on the email...just click on the title to go directly to the blog to see them):

and one more: