Cookie & Elsie, June, body markings

Michael’s golf game got postponed on Monday morning (3/30) until 12:30, so he made me a breakfast sandwich I could eat on the road.  He read the paper in the living room in front of the fire and had some company:   

I left before 9 AM to drop off a bunch of stuff (thread to Willa, soup (a return of a borrowed can) to Jeannie, checks to the bank, books to the library and our taxes to the accountant’s) before heading to June’s house for our 10 AM meeting.  We had a wonderful time visiting and working, and June has a beautiful sewing room:

She is making up a beautifully fitted pattern for flared shorts and a matching top for me…we bartered my quilting services for her fitting services.  I didn’t get home until 3 PM and I was beat.  ( I don’t know why as June did all of the work!)  Anyway, when Michael came home (with an 88!) from golf…he kept staring at my neck.  I have markings all over my body 

 that I am really hoping June was correct about…that they’ll come off in the shower tomorrow morning.  Otherwise I look like I’m all marked up for surgery.  We had Chinese for dinner, then Michael left for a playhouse board meeting, and I headed to the studio and got 1/2 way through loading up a quilt before he got home.

new size butterfly, Ethel and quilt #32

Michael left for golf here at SCCL on Saturday (3/28) and I headed to the studio to continue to work on my newest customer quilt.  It took me about an hour to set up the pattern exactly the way I needed, but finally I was ready to start stitching it out….and that was it for the rest of the day!!!  This was a large quilt (81” by 97”) from Ethel and it took me until 7 PM to get it all quilted.  .  I WAS embroidering while I was quilting….I started making a larger size on the butterflies and I love them     

first size on top...new siez on bottom

 I was cutting some of them out at quilting on Thursday and people seemed to go crazy for them.  I spent the rest of the night, watching TV with Michael and weaving in all of the ends on the quilt.

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We went out to IHOP for breakfast on Sunday (3/29). Then it was off to Ethel’s to deliver her quilt and pick up another one.  This woman is a wonder to me…92 years old and you’d think she wasn’t a day over 70 or so.  I believe her strong faith and her attitude are what keep her going.  She has not had an easy life, yet she is upbeat and cheerful with a thankful heart.  I think we could all learn something from her.  She felt led to start a quilting ministry in February, and now has several ladies making quilts. 

this is quilt #32 for Miss Scarlett

 We hit LOWE’s on the way home for dirt and a few plants (they didn’t have many out yet as the low last night was TWENTY-FOUR!!!), but I got some sage, oregano and thyme.  It was wonderful driving around….ALL of the trees are in bloom and it looks like spring…even though the temperature isn’t feeling it!  The rest of the day/afternoon was spent finally pulling our taxes together (that took the vast majority of the time)…and the taxes for QUILT DEVO.  By then it was almost 6 PM and I decided to treat myself by working just a bit more on my mile-a-minute blocks.  I also got a backing and top ironed so that I can load up Miss Scarlett again.

yoghurt tutorial, Paula & Doug, Jan & Walt, crescent rolls, cookies

Friday morning (3/27) was pretty busy…I threw in a load of laundry and then took an hour to get chicken/barley soup into the crockpot (since it was a raw & rainy day).  I didn’t have time to finish Michael’s yoghurt Thursday morning, so I just shoved the whole crockpot into the fridge. Friday morning I brought it back out and proceeded to make it up for him.  First, all of the ingredients, 

crockpot full of yoghurt, blueberries, jam, containers

 then I started assembling...blueberries on the bottom: 

then the yoghurt: 

then a little homemade jelly on the top for sweetness.  Pop on the lids and voila…homemade lactose free yoghurt:  

I was finally done with everything by 11:30 and headed to the studio to continue with the new quilt, while Michael was out running a bunch of errands.  I got the batting laid and tacked down, and the top on and basted down and all of my bobbins wound before it was time to go upstairs and try a new bread recipe.  I put together dough for whole wheat crescent rolls, then set the table.   

Paula & Doug 

 and Jan & Walt 

came over for soup and rolls.  

gave me a chance to use my Easter bread liner

 Paula brought yummy (could also say smurfy :~)cherry/almond cookies for dessert, 

while Jan brought a nut bread for our breakfast on Saturday.  It was a nice dinner, but both couples had to run right after, which was fine.  (In my continuing quest to clean out my freezer, I took out 2 quarts of homemade stock (one chicken, one veggie) and a package of cooked chicken.  Normally the bad thing with making soup is that I put twice as many containers of finished soup BACK into the freezer.  But inviting people over...and then sending them home with a quart of soup plus a few crescent rolls is a win-win in the emptier freezer game....no leftovers!)  

Michael made popcorn and we settled in to watch INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE…that’s the one with Sean Connery….still as terrific as ever!  I got the ribbing bound off on my sweater…it will probably be totally done just in time for summer (too bad it’s a mohair sweater  :~).

Cookie, Jeri, greenhouse, pizza!

I don’t know what happened to me on Thursday morning (3/26), but if it hadn’t been for Michael, I wouldn’t have had anything for quilting!   He packed up the car AND made me a sandwich for lunch (which I ate for breakfast since I never managed to make my tea or have anything other than a pear for breakfast).  I DID write 2 get well notes (on lovely "initial" stationery my friend Ginny made especially for me) and got them delivered before leaving for quilting….I guess I felt they were more important than breakfast  :~).  When I came upstairs with the notes...this is what greeted me:

both furry kids love, love, love that quilt!

We had THRITY-FIVE busy, happy, productive ladies at quilting…it was wonderful!  I worked on the binding for a quilt I quilted at least 2 weeks ago, and got it partially sewn on one side of the quilt.  I also took the quilt I just finished for a customer and Jeri seemed please with what I had done.   

 

 When I got home, I found that Michael had built my new, little greenhouse….

 so I’ve got to get seeds in over the weekend.  I did some paperwork after I got home (I HAVE to turn in our tax stuff on Monday….I made an appointment so that I have no choice) and since we had leftover dough and sauce, I made pizza for dinner.   

 

first the smurfy sauce Loree helped me can over the summer

sauteed mushrooms over the whole thing

1/2 carmelized onions, 1/2 spinach

I just read an article that said you should bake the pizza 1/2 way at this point, to allow the sauce to reduce and thicken before adding the cheese....and actually, my pan pizza recipe from America's Test Kitchen has always advocated that....so I put it in for 10 minutes at 425 degrees, then took it out and added a combination of mozarella and sharp, white cheddar for another 6 minutes.  Here's the result:

 Michael pronounced it one of the best I’ve ever made….music to my ears because you know I’m always looking for the perfect pizza!  I wanted to get the backing ironed and loaded for another quilt, so I headed downstairs after dinner and got a surprise call from Mary Jo.  I put her on speaker and we talked and talked and I got the backing loaded.  By then it was 9:30 and I headed upstairs to watch TV with Michael.

mile-a-minute blocks, a new zentangle card

I left the house at 9:30 AM on Wednesday (3/25) and didn’t get home until 4!!!  We had a long arm class, but it was held at Diane’s house…she is the other owner of the same machine I have.  It is always fun to get together with Diane, but of course there were problems with her machine/software and we had to stop.  Diane made lunch for us and it was FABULOUS!!!  Home baked croissants, chicken salad that tasted heavenly (yes, she shared the recipe with me), fruit salad, 2 kinds of crackers and cheery cheesecake for dessert!  Kay was there and I learned a few things….it was just a great visit.  I made a quick stop at Michael’s on the way home (a new food project I can’t WAIT to MAKE  :~), and was very glad to finally be home.  Even though I was tired, I resisted the urge to take a nap and headed downstairs and finally got all of the mile-a-minute blocks from my latest quilt scraps completed (and more importantly, I got all of the scraps from various places corraled into one box lid!):   

 My honey had also been drawing while I was gone and finished another card for me:

 We had leftovers for dinner….he had the last sloppy joe sandwich, while I polished off the other 1/2 of my lunch from the martini luncheon, and then I spent an hour on the phone with Janice.  SKYPE didn’t seem to be working, so we just talked.  After that it was time to finish off Michael’s yoghurt so that it could ferment overnight, and TV watching with my honey.