start of bargello

Michael hopped up early Friday morning (10/30) and was a whirling dervish of work.  He set up an appointment to get our golf cart picked up, and arranged with Phil to pick him up after dropping off our car as well.  Both vehicles have been making funny noises….so it was time to get them checked out.  The golf cart eventually came home with new brakes, and the car needed differential fluid again.  I headed downstairs to work on a new strata.  Remember this:  

 

I bought a jelly roll, sewed 25 strips together…then re-cut and sewed together as a bargello.  It is pretty, but way too long and skinny, so I can’t really make anything out of it.  I found the same jelly roll on AMAZON for a little less money, so I bought a second one.  Mary Jo wanted us to work on a bargello together, so I had it set aside to sew on retreat.  My brain woke up and I realized that if I sewed the second set of 25 strips together on a different machine (my portable one that I take on retreat), there was no way that those 2 strata would match since every machine sews a slightly different seam.  So….I started to sew the strata together here at home.  I had time in the afternoon for a delightfully long call with Mary Jo, and then headed out with Michael to pick up our car.  When we got home I took a nap, since we were driving into Charlotte in the evening and I didn’t want to make that drive while I was tired.  After a quick dinner we took off to see  SUPER NEIL, a tribute group to Neil Diamond starring SURREAL NEIL.  The lead was really good, really did sound like Neil Diamond and had all of the right moves :~).  The music was terrific...and we thought of the BIG BANG show through some of it :~).  We were home around 11 and I finished up my library book before heading to bed.

second Triple Chocolate Cake, Chris's Clinton quilt finished, roses/hydrangeas

I hopped up early Thursday morning (10/29) to make another Triple Chocolate Cake to take to quilting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just took knitting with me as I knew I would be leaving at NOON.  Chris brought in a quilt for Clinton School that I quilted awhile ago: 

love that quilting definition in fleece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She just finished binding it and I think it looks great.  I already have strips cut to do something similar.  Two other people brought in goodies for quilting, so I brought home quite a bit of cake that I shared with Anne & Bryce and Joanne.  That brought our home cake allowance down to a manageable level :~).  June came home with me and I showed her my method for spray basting a quilt.  She thought it was pretty neat and definitely something she could do herself, so she went home happy.  Then Pat picked me up and we headed to Triple A to get euros and pounds for Pat’s trip to France and England next week.  She will be gone for 2 weeks and while I am very happy for her…I will miss her.  Luckily, I’ll be on the Fiber Floozie retreat for part of the time she is gone.  When I got home, Michael had picked what might be our last bouquet of roses and hydrangeas. 

 

By then it was dinnertime and Michael and I shared leftovers before he left for rehearsal.  I settled into my studio to start sewing strata together….more on that tomorrow.

last 3 Clinton School tops for this year

Michael got rained out of golf on Wednesday (10/28), so he putzed around the house all day.  I managed to start sewing by 10 AM and by the time I left to walk in the pool with Pat in the afternoon, I had all of the dinosaur blocks sewn together and all of the borders put on for the last 3 Clinton quilts for this year. 

all 3 quilts are the same...I LOVE these dinosaur babies

 

I would love to quilt them right away, but I think I’d better quilt the customer quilt I got last week first.  When I got home from walking, I was starving, so I ate dinner a tiny bit early, then laid down for 1/2 an hour.  I thought exercise was supposed to give you energy…not make you tired.  Guess it will take a couple of months for me to get used to it first.  Michael left at 6:30 for rehearsal and I spent the evening (other than SKYPING with Janice) straightening up my studio, and starting to cut squares for….what else….a new quilt I’m HOT to make :~).

Triple Chocolate Bread, Clinton hats/etc

Michael headed out for errands Tuesday morning(10/27) and Jan and I headed out to do the same.  First we stopped for breakfast at THE FLYING BICSUIT…OMgoodness….YUM!!  Then we stopped at a shoe store, Lowe’s, Publix and UPS.  I was home by NOON and got a tiny bit of sewing done before Joanne picked me up at 1 PM for Stitch & Chat.  We had 2 people visiting from CHARLOTTE YARN with all of the luscious new fall yarns and with lots of fun patterns.  It was great to see everything new…but I wasn’t even a tiny bit tempted, given the state of my yarn stash :~).  When I was home from S&C, I got working on a Triple Chocolate Bread.  I saw this recipe recently and was intrigued because it used most of a can of pumpkin for moisture.  It turned out yummy (you didn’t taste the pumpkin AT ALL…just the chocolate :~) 

and I sent most of it off with Michael when he left for rehearsal.  I spent the evening continuing to work on the dinosaur quilts…I got all of the rows sewn together, and started to cut out the borders before Michael came home around 10 PM.   

I forgot to include a picture the other day of the new hats/etc dropped off for Clint School…they look really nice:

martini club at Donnis's

Michael left for golf on Monday (10/26) amid ever decreasing temperatures and ever increasing wind.  I headed to the studio to sew and other than a brief visit from a friend to drop off hats/etc for Clinton School, I sewed until it was time to walk in the pool with Pat.  We walked for over an hour and when I headed back home I got to sew a bit more.  I have almost all of the next 2 sets of dinosaurs sewn into rows.  Michael came home and said they got sprinkled on a little bit, but he shot an 84 and was extremely happy.  He had lasagna for dinner and settled in with popcorn to watch movies, while Pat picked me up and we headed out to martini club.  Donnis had everything beautifully set-up.  We started with dirty martinis upstairs, 

 then headed downstairs for apple caramel martinis (with caramel around the rim of the glass) 

and pomegranate cocktails.  For food she had a great orzo/chicken salad, popcorn, marinated shrimp and a cheese ball.   

 Dessert was a selection of mini-cupcakes. 

 All of the food was excellent.  We played PICTIONARY 

 

for part of the evening and that was lots of fun.  I was home just after 11 and collapsed into bed.

Michael took Cookie for a walk early Sunday morning (10/25), while I did a few dishes and warmed some banana bread I had liberated from the freezer, for breakfast.  I spent a little time in the afternoon sewing…and also took a big nap :~).  For some reason my brain wasn’t turned on 100% and I ended up doing a lot more ripping than sewing :~(, but by dinnertime I had most of the remaining dinosaur blocks sewn into rows.  Michael and I had leftover lasagna for dinner, then he left for rehearsal and I spent the evening knitting.

yoghurt, tutorial on lasagna, Dennis & Corinne, Evelyn & Larry

I left for the grocery store before 8 AM on Saturday (10/24) and Michael left shortly afterwards for golf.  I needed to pick up just a few things for dinner.  I had made yoghurt for Michael overnight, so I put together 6 containers for him when I got home, 

first some fruit on the bottom (mixed berries this time)

then I spooned in yoghurt from the crockpot

finally a little jam for sweetness

 and then started in on the lasagna.  I wanted to make a veggie lasagna, so had onions/mushrooms/zucchini/yellow squash 

 

before sauteeing

 

and after....

 to add to it.  I usually do a layer of pesto in the lasagna, but I didn't want to overwhelm the flavors of the veggies, so I just added a few blobs of pesto to the jarred sauce.  I also added in the merlot I used to deglaze the pan after cooking all of the veggies...yum!

 Here’s how I put it all together: 

a layer of sauce in my greased pan

4 noodles that had been soaking in hot water

a layer of ricotta

the onions/mushrooms/squash layer

dotted with mozzerella

a sprinkle of pamesan (or in my case, romano 'cause that's what I had)

do those layers 2 more times and voila

That took 1-1/2 hours to put together and clean up from (although I've already thought of how I could speed that up for next time), so I was happy to head to the studio after that.  I started to sew together more dinosaur blocks when Pat called to ask about walking in the pool.  We both hurried and changed and headed up there.  We walked for over an hour, and still didn’t feel like we were done talking…so I went up to Joann’s with her so that we could talk in the car all the way there and back.  I waited in the car while Pat ran in, and she had me home by 3 PM.  By then it was time to start on the rolls and the salad.  Dennis & Corinne and Evelyn & Larry came at 6 PM 

by the way...that's Larry with his Tevye beard...he'll be in Fiddler on the Roof soon

hamming it up as usual...aren't they sweet :-)

Corinne & Dennis

 and we had the lasagna (it was yummy, I think almost everyone had seconds) 

 and rolls and a salad.   

 Then we got into playing SCREWED (I lost..and in a hurry too :~) and then we played Cheesehead Rummy for just a bit before settling on SHEIST!  Everyone seemed to enjoy those games, along with the Key Lime Pie I served for dessert.  We moved into the living room to talk for a bit more and finally ended the evening at 10:30…..we were both beat.  It turned out to be a delightful night and I’m glad we could socialize because we’re not going to be able to for the next couple of weeks.  With Michael rehearsing 5 nights this week, and next week being h-ll week and the opening of the play (and me leaving for the Fiber Floozie Retreat)….we will both be too tired to do anything social.

second quilt of valor - done!, 1st set dinosaur blocks together, quilt bombed car

After breakfast on Friday (10/23), Michael headed out for a walk with Cookie while I headed to the studio.  I’ve been doing a lot of long arm quilting recently and have been missing sewing, so I settled in to do some of that.  I wove in the bobbin ends on the second quilt of valor before getting my embroidery machine humming while I was sewing together blocks for the first dinosaur quilt.  Jeanette stopped by around lunchtime to pick up the valor quilt:

and I had a quick snack before getting back to “slaving away over a hot sewing machine “.  By dinnertime I had the first set of embroideries put together: 

 

I’m going to do the same thing to the other 2 sets before I work on borders for all 3.  But by then it was time to get cleaned up and (with Susan), head on over to Jim’s house.  He wanted to show us his new house (he’s only been there a month or 2) and we had a great dinner of potatoes, butternut squash and beef tenderloin.  Then we played several games of cards…and many runs of Mexican Train Dominos before heading home again.  We watched an episode of FARGO before heading to bed.

I have to show you this picture...it is incredible.  My friend June went to a quilt show last week, and the organizers had quilt bombed a car...it is unbelieveable: