Tuesday, May 31, 2011

garden flowers

On Memorial Day, I rode my bike to the library to drop off some books and then to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I wish I had a couple of bigger packs on the back of my bike so that I could do that more often.  Michael left for golf while I was gone and didn’t get home until 3.  I tried to motivate myself to do something productive, but just read a book instead!  I did get some pics of some of our beautiful flowers….the lilies are ones that people have brought to our house when we’ve had them over in the past for Easter dinner.  The glads are growing in both the front AND back gardens.  And the hydrangea blooms (my favorite) are just beginning.





We had these great turkey ‘filet mignons’ on the grill for dinner and both of us knit while watching TV in the evening.  

Monday, May 30, 2011

aprons for fiber floozies

Sunday morning we had a scrumptious breakfast of Belgium waffles, fried potatoes and bacon.  After we finished the paper I went back to sewing on my apron and got it finished (if you click once on the picture, it will get bigger and you can see just how cute the red/white fabric is!!!!):




Michael began arranging a new quilt on the design wall.   I had a lot of leftover 1/2 square triangles that were created when doing Marc and Kate’s wedding quilt, and Michael worked on putting them together into a smaller quilt.  I spent the afternoon working on another apron, and got it finished as well! 


We watched TV in the evening and knitted, a very relaxing day.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Walt/Jan/Sally/Jimmy

Friday morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck!  I think I spent too much time on my feet in the last 3 days.  Luckily, it was a relaxing day.  I spent a lot of it sewing on an apron.  I’ve wanted an apron FOREVER!!!  And not just a thin one, since I’m forever getting the front of my shirts wet when I wash dishes.  I finally found a pattern I liked and decided to quilt the front of it and that’s what I’m currently working on.  I made hamburger buns for the cookout from a new recipe and also a cherry crumble for dessert.  JWalt and Jan and Sally and Jimmy came for dinner and pronounced everything wonderful! 

The new bun recipe (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2011/05/16/countdown-to-summer-beautiful-burger-buns/) was a hit and so was the pasta salad and dessert.  I think all of us were kind of tired, as we just sat around and talked for a bit after dinner (no game playing).

Saturday morning Michael left for golf and I got back to work on my apron.  I really boobed the lining piece!  I had it cut out and set aside, unfortunately when I went to cut pieces for the apron straps, that’s the piece I grabbed!!!  I found more fabric leftover from the front piece and grafted it onto the lining piece.  I got it all put together; just have to do the straps now.  Since it was our anniversary (6 years!), when Michael got home we had champagne and puffy things for dinner!  We usually don’t exchange gifts, but Michael gave me a beautiful pair of silver earrings and also the last of the ‘clan of the cave bear books’ entitled THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES.  We snuggled on the couch and watched TV and knit the rest of the night.

Friday, May 27, 2011

I spent Thursday morning (5/26) at our quilting group and got home about 1.  I had time to make a pasta salad for tomorrow night’s cookout, before heading off to square dancing at 3:30.  We had homemade pizza for dinner and Michael said it was one of the best I’ve ever made….I agreed, but am sad.  The sauce tasted particularly good….but it came from a bag in the freezer and I have no idea when I made it or what was in it  L  oh well, guess I”ll have to keep experimenting to hopefully find it again!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

a new beginning...


My first post...what an exciting thought!  I think of myself as a food and fiber floozie because I am easily seduced by the next great recipe...or the next pretty yarn or fabric.  Instead of just avidly collecting recipes, I hope to make new ones and blog about them.  Instead of just reading other blogs, I hope to create a record of my fiber addiction and what is created from it.  And, of course, my life with Michael will be documented as well.

I was up early this morning to go over my lines (the play is HARVEY and opening night is this coming Thursday).  As you may know, Michael (the TRUE community theatre star) has the lead of Elwood P. Dowd.  I (the reluctant actress tag-a-long) have the role of his social climbing, hysterical sister.  I have enjoyed meeting new theatre people and getting to know them.  I haven't even minded all of the rehearsals and the time they have taken away from what I really want to do....sew, bake, knit, etc.  What I have hated is learning my lines.  Once again I have a whole new respect for people on TV, who learn a new script every week.  We had a very tight rehearsal schedule, and I am sure I was simply awful to live with for the first 3 weeks while I was trying to learn my lines.  I was, quite simply, totally panicked that I would NEVER learn them.  After all, once you get out of school, when do you ever have to sit down and memorize stuff???  That fear translated into hysterically complaining to Michael about WHY I did this to myself again, and the fact that I needed to drop out of the play (I'm sure I said that every other day), and that I was an IDIOT for doing this again!  He has since promised to slap me if I ever consider trying out again.  I can't believe he does this to himself, and actually seems to enjoy it!  And, since he has the lead, he has WAY more lines to learn than I have.  Anyway, I have gone over my lines once already today, and hope to do it one more time before our rehearsal at 5 PM.  This is the beginning of H-LL week (also TECH week), meaning we go to rehearsal, and we get to go home when the director thinks that we are done, or when the lighting/technical guys think they have figured everything out.  It should be an interesting day…

Although the Saturday night audience did not seem as appreciative as Friday night (less laughing and clapping), they gave us a standing ovation at the end…so I guess we did something right!  We all went out to the Tavern after the play and it was nice to sit and eat and talk with most of the cast.  Sunday morning we were moving VERY slowly!  We finally made it out of the house before 9:30 to head to the Quail Hollow golf tournament.  Michael followed Phil (Mickelson) for 3 holes and we also saw Rory Sabatini, Charles Howell III, Brendan Steele, Padraig Harrington, Joe Ogilvie, Fancisco Molinari and Martin Kaymer.  We got home around 3 and were both BEAT!  I watched/slept through a bit of TV downstairs while Michael did the same upstairs!!  We had ham/bean/barley soup for dinner (along with cornbread) and then snuggled for hours on the couch, actually watching TV at the same time.

Monday was another day of recovery!  Michael got to play golf, and I spent the day at home in my sewing room.  I am making another art quilt, so it is very slow going.  I don’t think I like the block I made yesterday, but don’t know what to do for something else.  I also got embroideries done on fabric for 2 tote bags for the children’s home.  We went out to dinner with Jan and Walt, and again relaxed and watched TV in the afternoon.

I was supposed to get together with Nancy Tuesday morning, but she wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home and worked on the cuddle blankets for the children’s home.  I got all of my green polar fleece cut for the blankets (no small task let me tell you, since I had a bolt of it!) and began embroidering.  Each of my embroideries is taking about 2 hours, so I only got 3 done.  In the afternoon I made a quick visit to Stitch & Chat club and in the evening I sang in the second Mother’s Day program (put on for people working during the day….since our first one was Friday morning).  We had an incredible thunder and lightning storm overnight; still haven’t checked outside to see if all of my plants survived.

Wednesday was another great day.  Michael left for a senior golf tournament, and I spent it in my sewing room.  I got another cuddle blanket done, and got some knitting done on a shawl I was doing.  We had a pick-up rehearsal Wednesday evening so that we are once again ready to delight our audiences for the next 4 performances.

Thursday was a whirlwind from the time I got up until I went to bed.  Jan and I spent the morning at quilting, then had lunch with the quilt ladies on the way home.  I was home just before 1:30 and between then and square dancing at 3:30. I got 2 loaves of banana bread baked (one to take to the play for us to eat backstage) 1 loaf of regular sandwich bread and a bunch of cookies for Michael’s cookie jar.  We did square dancing from 3:30 – 5, hit Wendy’s for a quick bite, then came home to shower and pack 2 sandwiches for cast members that come right from work, and hit the road.  Our play went off without a hitch, and everyone agreed that it was our best performance to date!  That was good, because on the way home, Michael told me that the ‘judges’ were there for the MTA awards (sort of like the TONY’S, they will be given out in November).  We came home and collapsed and watched TV for an hour before heading to bed.

Friday morning I finally got to spend time with Nancy and we talked and talked and talked and talked and TALKED!!!  She left around NOON and I finally got to eat something, and then settled down and embroidered another cuddle blanket.  Michael and I were both exhausted and got to take a nap in the afternoon, getting up just in time for a quick dinner and then it was off to the show.