coffee cake, new quilt

I was so bored Friday morning (2/27) that I decided to make a coffee cake for breakfast.   

This is the one that Michael refers to as “Drake’s Cake on Steroids”.  Then I headed to the studio to start something new.  I got my first set of strips cut and my strata put together for a new quilt….can you guess the pattern?  

 Yep, I’m doing another rainbow quilt…I loved the first one so much…and I don’t even have to buy anything to complete a second one….I have enough material in scraps and stash to do it.  I worked on that all day and even got some of my blocks made before heading upstairs for dinner.  I thawed out some Italian Wedding Soup and we both ate that before heading out to Debbie & Larry’s for coffee and dessert.  There were about 5 other couples there and we had a wonderful time talking to everyone, while sharing a Texas sheet cake with ice cream.  We were home before 10 and watched a bit of TV before bed.

snow?

Here was the headline Thursday morning (2/26)

note picture...and use of the word "major"

 here’s what it looked like when I opened the front door   

 Actually, Michael DID manage to find enough snow (from Tuesday’s storm) to make a quasi-snowman:  

 

 People of the northeast…..don’t hate us….JOIN US  :~)

Anyway, everything was cancelled in anticipation of 3 – 6 inches of white stuff, so I thought I’d just sew all day…but June came over to quilt one of her quilts.  It was certainly a challenge as there are “flanges” on the top that she didn’t want to get caught in the quilting.  We quilted for a bit, but I had to stop and make cookies (chocolate chip) to be bagged up and sold at Fort Mill Playhouse in the evening…so when I finally got going on the cookies, June headed for home.  I got them all done (and Michael bagged them all up) and headed downstairs for a nap.  I think I just went up and down the stairs WAY too many times, and my legs were killing me.  I don’t think I fell asleep, but putting my legs up for an hour really made them feel a lot better.  By then it was 5 PM and I put on leftovers to warm up and took a quick shower.  Michael and I ate dinner, he showered and changed and we headed off at 6:30 to the playhouse, to help out with the concessions.  We had a good time talking to everyone….sold many packs of cookies and a few glasses of wine, and were home by 10:30.  We read for a bit and finally made it to bed at mid-night.

Elsie & Cookie a trois, rainbow quilt, Paula & Cookie

Michael took the dog for a walk Wednesday morning (2/25) while I headed to the studio to finally get the binding finished on the rainbow quilt.  I had furry company:    

 By lunchtime I had this (several people who read the blog and have also seen the quilts in person keep telling me that the pictures don’t do them justice….so….if you’re one of the people who only sees the pics on the blog…you’ll just have to visit  :~)   

 This quilt was totally made based on my entrelac sweater.  It seems like almost everyone smiles when they see that sweater...and I think it is because it is in rainbow colors...so I decided to make a rainbow quilt.  For those keeping track, this is the 27th quilt I have done on Miss Scarlett...my 6th one this year...and the 5th quilt I will be donating for the Sterling School project.

Anyway, Michael actually got to go out and sneak in 18 (short) holes of golf…YAY…while Jan and I drove down to Loree’s to off load a ton of stuff for the food bank into her car (quilting was cancelled for Thursday due to predicted snow and I have had this stuff in my car for 2 weeks already).  By the time I got home, Paula came down for a visit.  She hasn’t been home in AGES (first a cruise, then a visit to her sister in LA) and we talked and talked and talked and talked…it was WONDERFUL!   

Cookie's new best friend....Cookie wouldn't leave her alone!

 We finally wandered back upstairs ‘cause Paula said the smell was driving her crazy….my honey made halushki’s for dinner (fried cabbage & noodles).  After dinner I went back downstairs to sew for just a bit on the illusions quilt, then Janice called to remind me it was Wednesday (I was totally out of it for that and Janice said she can’t wait for the day when SHE doesn’t ever know what day it is :~) and we had our weekly SKYPE session.  I was back upstairs by 8:30 and spent the evening ripping out side quilting stitches and watching TV with my honey.

a dusting of snow...

This is what greeted us when we got up Tuesday morning (2/24):

We each had a quick breakfast of leftover pecan pancakes, then Michael headed off to AAA, while I headed to the studio to continue working on the binding of the rainbow quilt.  I worked on that until close to 1 PM, then changed clothes and headed up to the Lake House for Stitch & Chat.  I think the rainbow quilt was a bit hit for show and tell…..I can’t wait to make another one.  After that I had a hair appointment and by the time I got home at 5, Michael had ordered a pizza for dinner.  We ate and he left to see KINGSMEN with Larry, while Barb came down to Stitch & Chat with me in front of the fire.  Michael was home at 10 and we read for an hour before bed.  A pretty boring day blogwise…

PS – Yesterday I forgot to say “Linda M - I hope you liked all of the pictures on the blog  :~)”

chicken pot pie crescent ring, Connie & Iris, salad, Iris neck scarf, curly cue quilting

I ran to the grocery store early Monday morning (2/23) (and then over to Jeannie’s when I didn’t have any cream of mushroom soup)and when I came home, Michael was still there….golfing was rained out  :~(.  It’s been terrible weather for golfing for over a week…and this week’s weather doesn’t look any better.  He made me an egg/cheese/bacon on toast for breakfast and it was DEE-licious!  After breakfast I put together my chicken pot pie crescent ring for lunch.  I decided that it wouldn’t have enough flavor with just the soup, so I sautéed some onions/mushrooms/garlic, then threw in some sherry and 1/2 & 1/2 to perk it up a bit…it smelled heavenly when I was putting it together.  I popped it into the fridge,

 and headed to the studio to continue quilting the rainbow quilt.  Connie & Iris arrived at 1 PM 

 and we had a fabulous time talking and eating.  I made  spinach/sugared pecan/craisen/feta cheese salads 

 to go with our ‘pot pie’…and I think both of them were a hit!   

Michael liked it too...small compensation for not getting to golf

I can see why Connie and Iris are friends, they have both led very interesting lives and are a lot of fun to talk to.  Iris is putting together a scrapbooking kind of project for me….so I asked them to come for lunch so that we could discuss it.  They loved all of the quilts and drawings in our house…and Iris thought she could live in my studio for a LONG time  :~).  Do you remember that Connie gave me a bag of yarn she didn’t want…and I made a wool neck scarf for my neighbor?  Well, actually I made 2 of them and I asked Connie if she thought Iris would like the second one…..here she is:   

 After they left, I finished up the quilting on the rainbow 

quilt…my new favorite pattern….CURLY CUE….I LOVE IT!   

 I actually picked this because I thought this was what my friend Leila wanted on HER quilt, and I wanted to test it out....but she picked CURLY WAVE....so I'll just have to try another one  :~).

After I was done quilting, I got it off of the frame and trimmed and I started working on the binding and label.  I worked until 8 PM (again!) and got a good bit done, then headed upstairs to rip out stuff and watch TV with my honey.  Sometimes I have lots of backing fabric on the sides and bottom of my quilt and there is too much to just throw away…so I rip out the ‘overage’ stitches while I’m watching TV and reclaim the fabric.  Michael and I finally went to bed around 11.  It was a long, but very productive day.