sunflowers, pantograph nesting, flowers, dog beds, quilt on long arm, new pasta dish

Michael was back in his golf groove on Saturday (7/5) here at SCCL….he left at 8 AM and came home at 2:30.  He said he and Phil used this as a practice round for the red/white/blue tournament which happens in a few weeks.  Together they shot a score of 81.  He took some pictures of his sunflowers when he got home…they have exploded!!!

 

 

I played all day in my studio….on my long arm….it was HEAVEN!!  I learned how to ‘nest’ the stitching on one of the pantographs Nancy has loaned me:

you want to nest the rows so that it doesn't look like you quilted it in
rows by the time you are all finished.

I picked white thread because I wanted to be able to see my stitches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a quick visit from Jan who needed to borrow something, and another quick visit from Sally and her daughter Sarah.  We are looking to get rid of the buffet in the kitchen, and Sarah came over to see if it would fit in her house….turns out the china cabinet (1/2 of which is acting as a dresser in the guest bedroom, and 1/2 of which is housing all of the CD’s we have loaded into our IPODS) fits much better in her house….so I am going to work on emptying those pieces out and sending them along to Sarah…Aunt Violet’s furniture lives on  J.  By dinnertime I had finished quilting the length of fabric on the long arm….it will be cut up and serged for dog beds.  I got it all trimmed and ready to go for Sunday.  I think I got energized by quilting and knit furiously for the rest of the evening while watching TV.

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Sunday morning (7/6) Michael and I took a trip to the grocery store on our bikes, then came home and had breakfast and read the paper on the deck.  He cut lots of flowers after breakfast,

 

 

 

and we gave one of the vases to our neighbor Anne (home from rehab).  I dragged out the serger and while watching the Men’s Final at Wimbledon, got everything serged and tied in on 4 new dog beds for the shelter. 

 

 

I felt really excited about the long arm after that and loaded up my first actual quilt!!! 

Then I paused and went back to sewing on the tumbling blocks.  We had our great pasta/feta dinner…and Jan…I know you wanted the recipe….so here you go!  It's best if you have everything chopped before you start 'cause it goes really fast....


start oil heating in pan  1 tbsp for 2 people, 2 tbsp for 4 people, Ginny please
note FABULOUS pan I am using  :-)

chop zucchini/yellow squash into 3/4 inch dice.  I did 1 squash per person

I used about 3/4 cup of chopped tomatoes per person

and 1/3 cup of feta per person, and a 1/2 cup of chopped basil

make sure you have your pasta on already!  Saute squash in pan until you get
some nice caramelization

add in tomatoes and saute for just a few minutes

toss in basil

toss in cooked pasta...any shape (2 oz per person), note my FASTA PASTA,
I cooked the pasta in the microwave...I LOVE that thing!

add in feta

stir around until feta melts slightly......SERVE!

At 8 PM Michael wanted to watch some of his shows on TV…so I headed back to the studio with a ‘no time like the present’ attitude.  I basted around the outside of my quilt top and started quilting!!!!!  By 9:30 (when I went upstairs to watch TV with my honey), I was 2/3 of the way done!!!  Granted, this is a tiny quilt (44 inches by 44 inches), but I don’t care….I was thrilled with how it went.  We watched TV until just after 10, then Michael headed for bed (early tee time tomorrow) and I read for a bit before doing the same.