Monday (10/29) seemed to go by in a blur…Michael left for golf and fought the wind the whole time he was playing…he came home chilled to the bone with an 89.

I did a lot of knitting during the day, and spend a couple of hours in the afternoon putting together a chicken/butternut squash/quinoa stew.  It smelled absolutely heavenly…and had absolutely no taste at all  L….totally bland….what a disappointment.  And this was even after I tripled the garlic and spices.  I think it would be good with a cinnamon/cardamom blend going on, or maybe some Indian spices…I’ll have to see.  I collected money at square dancing in the evening and got home after 8 feeling very tired and cranky.  My honey is so good to me and had already queued up episodes of our favorite show AS TIME GOES BY.  We snuggled on the couch and I went to bed feeling much better.

Sunday (10/28) was a wonderful day.  I made buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, then Michael went to a trick golf shot show up at the driving range.  I knit most of the morning, and in the afternoon, we spent a couple of hours distributing flyers for our ART CRAWL this weekend.  I continued knitting for the rest of the day and night; it was very relaxing.

beginning of new wall hanging

Michael left for golf on Saturday (10/27), coming home in the afternoon with 3 birdies and an 82!  I spent the day in the studio, continuing to work on the wall hanging.  Here’s what I have to show for it:

 

Not much…right?  Looks like some kind of weird face.  We’re not sure what colors we are adding in next; we have to audition fabric to see what we like.  At 4 PM, with my hair still in rollers and me not dressed, I realize I have no knitting to take to the symphony….a disaster  J.  I still have all of the yarn I originally bought for my entrelac sweater (which didn’t work out at all).  I couldn’t return it, so I decided I would do charity sweaters with it.  So, I proceed to hit the internet looking for a pattern.  Then I get the bright idea to call Marilyn (she does tons of charity knitting)….she’s playing cards and can’t think of anything in the 2 nano-seconds I give her to think, so it’s back to the internet.  Then my brain wakes up, I call Susan (across the street neighbor) and say ‘about 2 years ago you had a kid’s sweater pattern, from Guideposts I think, knit up front, cast on for sleeves, boat neck, then down back…do you remember this?’  She says ‘you have a really good memory”…I think to self ‘only when it comes to knitting  J’  She has pattern, I run to get, wind yarn (Michael says ‘we are leaving in 15 minutes, what are you doing’?  But then he just shakes head because he has lived with me long enough to know that without knitting…I get cranky (a thing to be avoided!!!)  I throw yarn, full set of needles, scissors into knitting bag…do hair, get dressed, do make-up and we are out the door at 5 to pick up Jan and Walt.  We head into Charlotte, have a lovely dinner, attend the symphony and are home by 11:30.  I only got a gauge done, and the first row cast on before the lights went down, but it is better than nothing!

deer, Cookie & Elsie video

So, I’m sitting at my computer Friday morning (10/26) and Cookie starts barking up a storm and I look out the back door and see this: 

 

 

right on my patio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The deer doesn’t seem afraid of Cookie, but when it turns I see that it is badly injured.  I run upstairs to call my neighbor, and he watches it cross his yard and then come up between the houses and lie down in Marilu’s front garden (neighbor 2 doors down): 

 

 

I called Marilu so she wouldn’t let her dogs out, or come out on her front porch and be startled.  I had to leave to go shopping with Jan, so I didn’t get the rest of the story until I got home.  The deer was there for several hours, and finally ran across the road and down into the woods on the other side of the street.

Jan and I hit Michael’s, then had a lovely lunch at City Tavern, and stopped at the knitting store on the way home. 

Once home, I spent the afternoon working on a new wall hanging for the living room, while Michael was working on his computer.  He took a moment out to take a short video:

 

I had a quick dinner and was picked up for our band rehearsal.  By the time I got home at 10, I was exhausted and Michael and I just watched a bit of TV before bed.

garden roses

I spent most of the days Wednesday (10/24) and Thursday straightening up the house after BG’s visit and the craft fair.  I finished 5 additional purses that had been started and also fixed a purse I had previously sold.  The handle was coming out…this was before I started using fabric for the handles, and was using cording…and this is METALLIC cording which is not handling the wear and tear stress at all.  I took the whole purse apart, fixed the strap and put it back together…but I wrote a note to the customer saying that if it happened again, I would make her a whole new purse with a fabric handle.  Michael and I spent about 1-1/2 hours on the golf cart, starting to hand out flyers for our Art Crawl next week, and finally last night we settled in together to watch television.  He had taped a Covert Affairs.  I don’t know whether any of you watch that, but sometimes it is just too tense for me…last night was one of those times.  I saw that he had STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN and so we decided to watch that instead.  I decided if I was going to be sitting there for 2 hours, I had better get my knitting…and I made some good progress on my entrelac sweater.

Our roses continue to surprise us, this was waiting for me when I came to breakfast yesterday:

 

 

I keep forgetting to tell this - so I'm posting it right at the top....my stuff is on the web!!!  The daughter of a friend has decided to showcase local artisans for the month of October...check it out:

 

http://www.thebossyshopper.com/?cat=8

 

You may have to scroll down a bit.

 

Anyway, Tuesday was another semi-relaxing day.  I went to a funeral in the morning with several friends.  A woman from our Thursday quilting group had pancreatic cancer.  She fought for 2 years, but finally died late last week.  We got home around 1 and I read for the rest of the day and evening.  Michael came home from 9 holes of golf, got cleaned up, watched a bit of TV and then headed out for an evening movie.  Harry did stop by to drop off all of the flyers for our ART CRAWL next weekend.....we have to start delivering them toot sweet!

 

BG Christmas Table Topper, BG Christmas apron

BG and I spent all day in the studio on Sunday (10/21) working on fun stuff.  She finished piecing the top of her Christmas Table Topper:

 

AND started and completed a sewing apron for under her machine:

 

She said she has wanted one forever, so was very excited to get it completed.

Monday morning we were up early, Michael left for golf (coming home later with an 82) and I took BG to the airport  L.  At least the visit seemed lo-o-o-ong to both of us.  I stopped at the library on the way home, and wanted to spend the day relaxing and reading, unfortunately Cookie thinks I am the greatest jungle gym EVER…..and it is hard to read and relax with a dog constantly climbing all over you.  After dinner, Michael and I headed up to square dancing.  It has been a long time, but I think we acquitted ourselves adequately!  I got to read a bit when we got home before heading to bed.

I only did about 1/2 as well at the craft fair as last year, but have decided to look upon it as a blessing.  Last year I sold so much stuff that I was constantly behind and trying to sew/knit/weave faster to get caught up.  I finally got to slow down around March of this year (even after the holidays, people kept calling me for stuff) and I was really kind of burnt out.  This year I still have enough stuff to get me through the 2 more craft fairs I have to attend, so I can work on things I want for the house or for Michael…and that’s a good thing

booth at craft fair

Saturday morning (10/20) everyone was up early to pack the car and head for the Lake House.  We got everything carried in and set up and I think our display looked very nice:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by the time we came home and unloaded everything around 3:30…we were all pooped.  Michael took a short nap so that he would have some energy for the last night of the play, and after a brief rest, BG and I headed downstairs and she started to cut and sew her Christmas table topper.  I pretty much just lazed on the couch reading the directions to her.

new wedding rings, knitted beaded necklaces, purple/teal purses, BG & Cookie

So….we’re all sitting at breakfast Friday morning (10/19) and BG says ‘I notice the 2 of you have new, matching wedding bands’…so Michael and I look puzzled for a moment, and then we both burst out laughing:

 

 

Michael is in the play and he puts a bandaid over his wedding ring because he never takes it off, and his character is not married….I got a huge burn on my ring finger some weeks ago, and am trying to doctor it with vitamin ‘e’, hence both bandages.  Michael left to do errands shortly after breakfast and BG and his the sewing sweat shop…but the time we went to bed, I had the clasps put on 6 new necklaces: 

 and we had completed 8 new purses :

 

Of course, there was a little bit of time for relaxing during the day:

 

but not much!  I have great friends willing to PAY to come and see me and work like dogs J.

BG arrives!!!!!!!!!!!!

What can I say about Thursday (10/18) but this:

 

 

and this:

 

and this:

 

and this:

None of the pictures I took at the airport came out (bummer), but it doesn't matter...BG is here!!!  We hit Joann's & Wally world on the way home...and then got right to work!  We worked like demons until 6:30, then Gale and Phil picked us up and we all went to Michael's play (which was a surprise...he didn't know we were coming).  He didn't know we were there, and BG & I both knew the instant he moticed us in the audience during the curtain call.

 

We came home, BG had a little amaretto (the last picture) and I don't know how she was keeping her eyes open at that point, having been up since 4 AM...she toddled off to bed shortly thereafter.

zebra purses, pine cone snowflakes, bread, heath bar cake, jan birthday

Wednesday (10/17) was terrific.  Michael left early for golf and I spent the day in the studio, with this to show for it by early afternoon (I still have 6 left to finish):

 

 along with 7 more of these:

 

 

I headed upstairs and made a Heath Bar Cake and my last loaf of artisan bread (which of course I didn’t remember to take a picture of until AFTER dinner when I had sent 1/2 of the cake home with J&W):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and put on Italian Wedding Soup to heat up.  Jan and Walt arrived at

5:30 and we had dinner and celebrated Jan’s birthday:

Michael captured her just as she realized what it was....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This shawl has been over a year in the making.  Jan started it and struggled a lot with it.  Even though it is only a 2 row pattern, it is hard to do.  She used to give it to me at least once a week to rip out mistakes and get it back on the needle.  Finally about 3 months ago when she gave it back…I was just couldn't handle looking at it again and threw it in a corner.  I just couldn’t face it.  After about a week, I finally looked at it and fixed it…then I decided to knit it for her.  Yes, it was a lot of works and yes, I had to keep this secret for a long time, but seeing her face last night when she opened it up was TOTALLy worth it!

garden flowers

We headed to Lancaster on Tuesday morning (10/16) and I got to browse Wallyworld for some fabric.  A woman came over Monday morning to pick out one of my purses and mentioned that she would really like a black/white one.  I’ve wanted to make black/white for awhile, but was first using up some fabric I had.  anyway, I found just what I was looking for, then Michael took me to Pizza Hut (personal pan pizza my absolutely favorite crust) before heading on home.  I went to Stitch ‘n’ Chat in the afternoon and when I got home, I started to work on the purses.  Since Michael had Tuesday night off from rehearsing for the first time in WEEKS, he went to the movies and I happily sewed away until he got home around 10.

I keep thinking that my flowers are done for, since our temps in the night have been dropping into the 40’s, but they (and my honey) keep surprising me….these were all of the beautiful flowers that found their way around my home yesterday:

 

 

It is amazing to me how much happiness and beauty can come from 2 packs of seeds and a couple of 6 year old hydrangea bushes J.

Monday morning I spent a bit of time getting the quilting minutes out before heading up to the Lake House for the monthly volunteer meeting.  That lasted about an hour, after which Michael and I hit CVS and the grocery store before heading home.  I got some good deals for the food bank this week….grocery bill started at $75 and dropped to $38 after coupons and sales, so that wasn’t too bad.  I knit in the afternoon and headed up to square dancing at 7.  I just went to collect $$$  but they roped me into staying to make up a 3^rd square.  When I got home at 9, Michael was labeling his paintings for the art fair happening on Saturday and I just sat like a dead thing on the couch  J.

golf purses, fuzzy kids

Sunday (10/14) was work…work….work…but by the time I went to bed, I had completed 5 purses in 3 color combos: 

 

AND finished the secret project…it is being blocked now on our kitchen island.  Michael had a matinee in the afternoon, and when he came home, you know what it was time for?????  Yep, champagne and puffy things!!!  We had a wonderful evening, watching TV (I was knitting on my beaded necklaces) and snuggling on the couch.  Oh….and while I was working away in the studio…yep…it happened again…I am so happy:

Saturday morning (10/13) Michael left for golf (coming home later with an 82, even though he said he was so tired on the last 3 holes he could barely walk) and after cleaning up from the party a bit, I headed back to the studio to continue to work on the golf purses.  I spent all day and night working on the purses and knitting on a secret project (which I promise will be revealed one way or another within a week!)  Michael came home from golf, did a bit of paperwork, took a nap, got showered and dressed and had a quick dinner before heading off to the play.

the fuzzy kids again!!!

Friday morning (10/12) I had a doctor’s appointment and Jan went with me.  After that, we had lunch at a very nice café downtown and then hit The Container Store.  I remember the first time I went to one on a  business trip in Dallas Texas….OMgosh….it was FABULOUS!!!  Jan bought a few things while I just walked around and drooled.  When we got home, my fabulous honey had already vacuumed the house, so I just had to do a quick dusting and clean the guest bathroom.    While we were showering and getting ready for our guests, another miracle occurred: 

 

 Up in the bedroom….on their throw on the couch….Michael saw it first and I snuck downstairs to get the camera…maybe it’s the start of a new trend.

I finally got back to the kitchen and got 3 dozen cookies baked before our 15 guests arrived at 5:30 (well actually, 2 of our guests arrived 1/2 an hour early, but for once, I was already showered and dressed and just baking cookies….that would so normally NOT be the case  J).  We had a wonderful pot luck meal (Michael left just as the guests started arriving) and desserts before heading off to opening night of THE SENATOR WORE PANTYHOSE.  Michel was wonderful as a gangster (several people came up to me to say ‘how does he do all of those different accents….he is amazing’).  It was a very funny play; I would urge anyone who gets a chance, to see it.  We stopped for small ice creams on the way home and collapsed once we got there.

artisan bread, Elsie, the furry kids!!

I was up at 6 AM Thursday (10/11) to get caught up on more paperwork.  I finally completed the minutes from last month’s Volunteer meeting and got them sent out.  I also set up the first meeting for our Art Crawl participants.  I called Beth at 7:15 and we went for our walk and when I got home after 8, I took a quick shower and gathered all of my quilting supplies together.  Michael told me the temp wasn’t supposed to go above 62 degrees today, so I put Italian Wedding Soup in the crockpot before heading out the door.  As always, quilting was lots of fun….although this week I totally did more talking and listening than working  L. 

I got home around 1 and in the afternoon I started to work on more purses for the craft fair.  I did a lot of golf fabric purses in the spring, but they all sold to Leila and her friends in Massachusetts J.  I still had some of the golf fabric left, so I got all of it cut out before heading upstairs to make another loaf of artisan bread to go with the soup for dinner: 

 

 Michael left around 6 for rehearsal and I left at 7 for a meeting at the Lake House.  Last year in early November, I participated in a home show with 2 potters.  We had a lot of traffic and sales and we were planning to do it this year, when I got the bright idea to make it an ‘art crawl’ instead.  We are trying to get various artists interested and to have several homes on the tour instead of just one.  The time is very short and there is a lot of work to do, but I really think it is the way to go, as does one of the other potters who did it with me last year.  What is making my job incredibly harder is the negative attitude of one of the participants.  No matter WHAT happens, or what anyone says, she is bad mouthing it or saying how it won’t work.  And she exaggerates any slightly bad thing that happens to her….oh the DRAMA!!  PLEASE save me from NEGATIVE people!!!  They are just very draining, and for the most part I avoid them like the plague, but in this I have no choice, so I’m just trying to make the best of it….call her on her hyperbole…and just keep going  J. (ok…thanks for listening to the rant).

When I got home, I continued to work on my purses. 

 

I had some other pictures to share…the first one is for Janice:

 

 

 See, as I mentioned, when Cookie is away, Elsie gets to sleep on the ‘princess and the pea’ bed.  But later on Thursday afternoon….something happened that TOTALLY threw me….just like a baby, this picture was NINE MONTHS in the making:

 

 

 We rescued Cookie in January.  And even though Elsie was used to dogs and was great friends with Chloe, she has never warmed up to Cookie.  Part of it is that Elsie is older now, and Cookie is even more rambunctious than a regular puppy (being mostly Jack Russell) and she just tries to play too roughly with her older cat sister.  Anyway, when I saw this happening, I slowly got the camera.  I am so disappointed that the pictures are a little blurry….but amazed that it happened at all.

cookies, artisan bread

Michael left for golf on Wednesday (10/10) coming home later with an 83!!!  And that was after starting out on the very first hole with a 7.  I headed to the studio to work on weaving, but I got distracted by a wall hanging that Michael and I are trying to do together.  You may remember that I showed him my fabrics and he designed it, but when I made a sample piece, neither one of us liked it.  We drastically reduced the number of fabrics we were using, and I worked on making another sample copy.  Jean stopped by to look at my scarves and to buy several for Christmas presents, and Beth stopped by for just a few minutes to get some help on an adorable Christmas skirt she is making (she had dropped a stitch).  After she left, I continued to work on the wall hanging for a bit.  After lunch I decided to do a bit more paperwork.  You may remember me talking about a woman who had just started to get involved in our volunteer club…and then she died?  Well, her husband asked for donations to the club at her memorial and I had had a list of thank you notes to write (I’m secretary of the club).  After an even dozen I can finally put that task behind me.  By then Michael was home and it was time to head upstairs for kitchen duty.  I made a batch of White Chocolate Chip/Craisen/Oatmeal cookies for Michael to take to rehearsal: 

 and also got a loaf of artisan bread done for a friend:

 

  She has been having trouble with her esophagus and hasn’t been able to eat bread in months.  She finally had some surgery and they told her she could eat some in 3 weeks.  I said ‘you don’t want skucky old store bought bread to break your fast…let me know when you can have bread again’ , so today was the day.  She was barely home after picking it up (it was still warm) when I got the call that it was fabulous and she was sitting there with a plate, a knife and the butter.  I’m not even sure her hubby will get any  J.  Michael left for rehearsal just before 6 and I spent the evening knitting and trying to stay awake.  When he called to say they were done and he was heading home….I told him to hurry because I was tired of eating lonely burgers.  He has had rehearsal every night since Sunday…and Friday is opening night.

blue/green ruffle scarves, Cookie & Elsie

I felt like I ran from morning ‘til night on Tuesday (10/9).  I spent the morning with Nancy, knitting away while she worked on a gorgeous quilt for her mom….I’m going to have to ask her to take a picture when it is done so that I can post it….I would LOVE to do something similar.  I came home to four messages from people who needed things!!!  I took care of those and raced over to Jan’s to pick up a scarf and head off to Stitch ‘n’ Chat.  I sold (score!!!) one of my Halloween table toppers there, and got to talk to a lot of people before heading on home.  I am trying to arrange an ART CRAWL here in Sun City (Leila, where are you?  the stained glass group turned me down  L) with several different artists for the first weekend in November, and organizing that is taking up a lot of my time.  Before dinner I managed to get more snowflakes cut out (from the same pine cone fabric I fused earlier).  Michael had soup and cornbread for dinner and headed off to rehearsal at 6.  I sewed in the ends on 2 more scarves (knitted sometime in the last 2 weeks): 

 and went back to….are you ready for it….WEAVING!!!!  Something I haven’t done in months….have 2 scarves on the loom and am going to try to get them done for the fair in 1-1/2 weeks.  At 7:30 I headed up to the Lake House for a meeting about the crawl, and was home again by 9.  Michael got home after 10, all wired up from rehearsal, so we had a bit of ice cream and watched TV before heading to bed.

 

This next picture is for Janice, who complained that Cookie seemed to have the soft, cushy bed, while Elsie (the cat) was just lying on the plan old sofa in the last picture.  Here's where they were last night:

 

 

As you can see, Cookie's in her regular place, and Elsie is on the very puffy cushion I made for the stool.  I think they both look perfectly content!

Halloween table topper, bundt bread

On Monday (10/8) Michael left for golf with LONG pants and a sweater vest….the high was around 55 degrees.  Definitely a soup for dinner day!  I spent all day in the studio and had this to show for it (actually I finished 2 of them): 

 

These are the Halloween toppers I made for Leila and Ginny.  I only meant to make 2, and decided to make all of my points in purple.  This was NOT a good decision, because when I laid it out…you really didn’t see the patter in the center and on the outside of the piece.  So…I came home and made twelve MORE blocks, this time with all of the points in yellow.  Now….look back at the picture and see how in the center, it goes purple/yellow/purple/yellow.  Anyway, in doing that, I had 2 extra tops.  Finally got them quilted and bound.  Around 3 PM I wandered upstairs to try out a new bread recipe to go with our soup:

 

 

You make it in a bundt pan…the outside has sesame seeds embedded in the crust…..and inside is a cheese/herb mixture.  It was yummy with our Mexican Chicken Soup.  We gave 1/2 of the loaf to our neighbors and they enjoyed it as well.  Michael left for rehearsal around 5:30 and I watched TV and knit for the rest of the night.