Birthday surprises!, SNS Martini Night

Michael and I snuck out very late on Sunday night to drop off a balloon outside a front door: 

and an embroidered card:

so that Anne would wake up to birthday greetings on Monday (4/29):

a selfie!

I was feeling rather stressed on Sunday evening as my studio seemed to be getting more than its fair share of started and not yet completed projects….so I made a list (something I always do when I’m feeling stressed about the number of things I need to do).  Here’s what’s outstanding:

-binding blue/purple quilt for Michael’s cousin.  His wife was recently   diagnosed with cancer and it doesn’t sound good.  I have a quilt

        that needs to be bound that will be going to her.

-label for Michael’s cousin.  I’m changing out my generic label to one

        applying specifically to her.

-hanger to hold scissors/seam ripper on longarm (I gave the one I

        made to Kristen because it fit Miss Scarlett perfectly and I

        didn’t think I could use it.  But I’ve now figured I could make the

        same thing, just with a much longer hanging cord and it would be

        perfect.  I’m already annoyed at how many times I am searching

        for scissors/seam ripper while longarming and I’ve only done 2

        quilts!!!

-cut fabric for disappearing hour glass (the new quilt I want to start)

-binding on quilt for Barry K.  I had a small quilt that Kristen practiced

        on and I need to get it labeled and bound.

-finish edges of muslin circle quilt.  This is the first item I did on the

        new longarm.  The edges need to be finished so that it can be

        donated to the animal shelter for a bed.

-load up 3 QoV on new longarm

-remove pool table cover from frame and rip out basting

-trim & stitch edge of pool table cover (I don’t think this is getting a

        binding, at least not now it’s not!  I’m just going to triple zigzag

        the edges)

-borders on last retreat QoV…this is leftover from my last list  :~(

-sympathy note & photos to Peggy

I think all of these things are do-able before Janice returns around  May 15 – 16…so that’s what I’m going to work towards……as always, I’ll keep you posted.

Michael left around 8 AM to take Cookie for a walk down to the river, and got some beautiful pictures….

notice in the last photo, the shadow in the water of him taking that picture  :~).  

I decided I could get started on a few things before our trip to LOWE’s.  I kicked off the label for his cousin: 

and took the pool table cover off of the frame:  

Getting something new loaded up right away is critical as Michelle (dealer) has to visit the Virginia location on Tuesday and is coming by to fix a few things on the way.  I need to have something stitching out for her to see some of the problems.  We left at 10 for LOWE’s and got back around NOON with all of our gardening stuff.  Michael headed out on other errands and I went back to ripping out basting on the quilt.  Anne stopped by in the afternoon for a nice chat….and Kamille (one of my fellow longarm students) called in the late afternoon and we commiserated about learning our new machines….it was delightful to have someone to talk to who is going through the exact same thing.  We are both a little overwhelmed.  

Our elliptical was picked up at dinnertime (sold on FB)….YAY!!  More room for quilting stuff  :~).  After which I hurriedly got cleaned up and headed out to martini night.

our hostess with the mostess...Barb

Joyce, Pat, Andi

Bonnie & Donnis

Jane

Andi (in back), Bonnie & me

It was a lovely evening of good food, good friends and a fun game:

So, by bedtime on the first day…here’s where I am:

-binding blue/purple quilt for Michael’s cousin.  His wife was recently   diagnosed with cancer and it doesn’t sound good.  I have a quilt

        that needs to be bound that will be going to her.

-label for Michael’s cousin.  I’m changing out my generic label to one

        applying specifically to her.        DONE!

-hanger to hold scissors/seam ripper on longarm (I gave the one I

        made to Kristen because it fit Miss Scarlett perfectly and I

        didn’t think I could use it.  But I’ve now figured I could make the

        same thing, just with a much longer hanging cord and it would be

        perfect.  I’m already annoyed at how many times I am searching

        for scissors/seam ripper and I’ve only done 2 quilts!!!

-cut fabric for disappearing hour glass (the new quilt I want to start)

-binding on quilt for Barry K.  I had a small quilt that Kristen practiced

        on and I need to get it labeled and bound.

-finish edges of muslin circle quilt.  This is the first item I did on the

        new longarm.  The edges need to be finished so that it can be

        donated to the animal shelter for a bed.

-load up 3 QoV on new longarm   Five and a quarter yards of backing

      & batting loaded.

-remove pool table cover from frame and rip out basting     DONE!

-trim & stitch edge of pool table cover

-borders on last retreat QoV…this is leftover from my last list  :~(

-sympathy note & photos to Peggy

breakfast, painted egg, flowers, masking

Janice was on the road just after 7 AM Sunday morning (4/28)…and was home safely by 8 PM.  I couldn’t really be too sad because she will be back in 2-1/2 weeks to live here for about 2-1/2 weeks!!!  

Michael took Cookie for a walk first thing and had breakfast on the lanair when he got home:  

Since he had the oven on to cook his cinnamon buns, I finally got my little egg souffles put together as well (they're filled with onions, cheese and broccoli):

After that I headed to my studio.  I’ll be truthful, I spent the whole day looking at patterns and PINTEREST for a new batik quilt to start, and thinking about Janice on that long drive home.  I just couldn’t really turn my hand to anything else….maybe I was a little sadder than I thought about Janice leaving….

Michael finally finished up my last cookie from the cookie decorating class I took a couple of weeks ago!  I think this was just an incredible idea for a kids party or whatever.  You buy a cookie that has been glazed with white royal icing and a heavy outline in black.  the cookie comes in a bag with a paintbrush and a small square of food safe 'paints':

You wet the brush, swirl it around in the paints, and paint your egg (or whatever):

Is that not cool or what!??!

After that he headed outside to document our roses, which have exploded in the last couple of days:

and our one two-tone iris:

Finally at 5 PM I started to cut out a bit of fabric for something new, and also decided it was time to tackle trying out ‘masking’ on my new longarm.  I posted a message on the FB group looking for answers to some questions earlier in the day, but I didn’t really get any answers.  Sometimes that is a VERY frustrating thing about FB.  Anyway, I put in a call to someone, got walked through it, and started off.  

Look closely.  That is my longarm computer screen.  The red portion is rows that have already been completed.  The green rows are what is going to stitch out, and the empty blob places are where my embroideries are and I have 'blanked out' the stitching in those areas.

Compare these 2 pictures where the quilting totally goes over the embroideries:

To these 2 where the quilting mostly goes around them:

Obviously I need more practice, but I am pleased with this first attempt!

And I am thrilled that my quilt is finally done….YAY!!  

At 9 PM I finally headed upstairs and collapsed on the sofa with my honey.

Dennis's quilt totally done, kitty on pillow, QoV top done

Early Saturday morning (4/27) Janice headed out to WALMART, Michael headed out on errands (CVS, bird store, cat food, grocery store, strawberries) and I headed to my studio.  I had a couple of problems when I started up my machine, but kept working away and finally it was stitching out again.  

When Janice got home she got her label all cleaned up and worked on her binding, and by early afternoon, she was all done:  

This will be a gift for Dennis (her honey) after their move and after he buys a new recliner  :~).  

Janice has been sitting on Michael’s chair to sew, and it’s a little low for her, so she brought out one of the pillows from the guest bedroom to sit on…apparently she’s not the only one that likes it:    

I worked on putting borders on the latest QoV and by dinnertime it was done:  

While I was stitching out in the late afternoon, Janice (a terrific gardener) decided she couldn’t stand the weeds in our front garden any longer…and took care of theml!!!  Too bad she won’t be living here forever…..  

We kept working in the evening, and by bedtime, I only had 2 more rows to do on the quilt:  

I hope to learn masking tomorrow….which means stitching out the pattern….but NOT over top of the embroideries…stay tuned for how I do  :~).

Janice worked on her scraps and completed 6 more teeny tiny blocks:

She's following in Sandy D's footsteps!

new nametag, breakfast with the ladies, quilt label

I forgot to post this picture yesterday…..I’ve had an embroidery nametag I’ve been dying to stitch out for several months, and finally last Monday night (the night before my longarm class) I managed to get it done…even though my iron crapped out and my serger wouldn’t stitch nicely!!  I didn’t want to post it until I had worn it to Scrap Happy; make sure you check out the picture closely:  

Isn’t it cute?  

Janice and I headed over to Sally’s on Friday morning (4/26) for our monthly ladies breakfast:  

Gale & Ginny

Ann Mary & Sally

Janice wasn't the only guest at breakfast...we also had an extra special guest:  

Sally’s first granddaughter and boy…is she a cutie!  

The food was wonderful:

and the conversation more so, unfortunately Janice and I had to leave at 10:15 to make it to the Lodge for a meeting.  Janice relaxed with her Kindle in the foyer, while Paula and I attended a lifestyle meeting.  

When it was over, Ann Mary arrived to tell me that Michael was experiencing some loss of vision and that I should go right home.  When I got there, Sally was already doing a bang-up job of taking care of him, and at 2 PM we headed for the eye doctor’s.  Luckily it turned out that nothing seemed wrong…the doctor thought that dry eyes, a big floater and a little bit of high blood pressure may have been contributing factors to what had happened.  

We came home and picked up Janice and headed to MAMA’s, as Janice wanted to take us out to dinner.  Our food was terrific and we finally made it home around 7 PM, to relax and stitch out a label for the quilt she is binding:  

I got a little bit of work done on my QoV borders before all 3 of us (and the furry kids)  headed to the lanair to relax and talk for an hour before bed.

Kristen is doing an excellent job with her first ever customer quilt:

And more pictures of a beautiful mother and daughter: