pizza!

We both slept very late on Friday (12/30) and I just had time to get hurriedly dressed before SKYPE-ing with Janice and HOORAY!!!!  It actually worked!  We talked for 1-1/2 hours and it was wonderful.  I made it upstairs by 11 AM to finally have breakfast and do a few things before heading back downstairs to baste down my secret quilt :~).  I got it all basted down and got several rows of quilting done, as well as getting my second set of strata cut into blocks:

before heading back upstairs to start on dinner.  I haven’t made pizza in FOREVER, and thanks to making rolls for Paula’s, I had leftover dough…so that’s what I made:  

rolled out dough

Michael's topping

of course onions are on my side

lots of cheese

yum!

It was TOTALLY yummy and after that Michael and I settled in to watch TV.  It was late and I was so tired I didn’t even knit. 

Veteran's Quilts delivered

Michael had golfing on Thursday (12/29) while I headed off to quilting.  I’m really glad the way the dates fell in 2016.  It seemed like in 2015, Thursday’s were a bad day for Christmas and New Year’s and we didn’t have quilting for about 4 weeks!!!  Everyone was depressed  :~).  But this year, we had 22 people on Dec 22^nd and 18 people today…and there was a LOT of laughing going on.  I stopped at the library and the bank on the way home, and finally settled in around 3 PM, where I had a wonderful surprise in my emails.  Three of my latest veteran’s quilts had been given out, and I got a long email and pictures from the VFW commander.  The guys were SO EXCITED to receive the quilts….one guy said he would cherish it for the rest of his life: 

Vietnam era Marine - Ray

another Vietnam era Army vet - John

Korean Infantry vet - Robert

I can’t wait to get started on a new one :~).  

Paula asked us to dinner, so I put together roll dough to take to her house.  We had a huge rain storm Wednesday night and I think that is why my left knee was acting up all of Thursday.  It was VERY painful (and my standby ALEVE's did NOTHING to make it feel any better), and after putting together the dough, I read my book in the living room, with my leg propped up on a stool.  Michael came home from golfing and said the round was miserable.  It was so windy and cold…his shoulders hurt from being hunched all of the time and his eyes looked totally bloodshot.  He took a quick shower and we headed off to Paula’s.  She made stroganoff type meatballs with wide egg noodles which were totally yummy!  She also had peas/carrots and broccoli rabe.  After dinner we played the new BRAINGAMES that Michael bought me for Christmas.  We had fun playing the game, but to me it seemed like the best thing about the evening was that we got to talk a lot.  It just seemed warm and comfortable and familiar and that made it extra special.  Michael was beat by the time we got home, so he headed to bed and I stayed up for just a bit to finish another library book :~).

Pat's Birthday

I’ve been drying 2 of Michael’s wool sweaters on the kitchen island for the last couple of days:  

Tuesday night I decided they were dry enough to put over the backs of the living room chairs, but that meant putting my mohair throw on the seat of the chairs.  So….Wednesday morning (12/28) there was this:  

Both Cookie & Elise LOVE that mohair throw.  If I decide to take a nap with it…both of them usually come and curl up with me.  There’s just something about it that all 3 of us love.  Anyway, when I finished with breakfast I started re-batching my soap.  

chopping up my soap logs

and getting them into a bag and into boiling water for 1-1/2 hours

What a long, boring and messy process, but finally it was back in the molds:  

It certainly won’t look good enough to sell, but it will still be perfectly fine for me and Michael to use.  When I was finished I sat down in the living room to finish THE OBSESSION by Nora Roberts….OMgoodness…I just couldn’t put it down, but I am finally done and by afternoon was ready to hit my studio.  I got the binding totally done on one side of the retreat hidden wells…but I do not have a good thread color to finish it.  So….I have to set it aside until I can make it to Joann’s.  By then it was time to get cleaned up to head off to Pat’s surprise 70^th birthday party.  It was at a Charlotte restaurant called the BEEF & BREW.  Traffic was horrendous, but we still made it ahead of the birthday gal.  

waiting guests

the birthday gal arrives...

George detailing all Pat has done in her 70 years

presents

reading cards

opening presents

more presents

and even more presents!

the cake with sewing theme!

When we got home we read for just a bit before heading to bed.

dinner at the club

I got to spend all of Tuesday (12/27) in my studio…heaven!  Michael did a bunch of his monthly chores: batteries & tires on the golf cart, knife sharpening, regular car tires, while I got the retreat hidden wells off of Miss Scarlett….got all of the basting ripped out and all of the bobbin ends tied in.  I worked on the binding for the quilt and also got quilt #150 loaded up :~).  We had a gift certificate to the restaurant at the golf club, so we headed there for an early dinner.  I took along my camera because I told Michael that I had NO pictures for the day…so, he got a wedge salad: 

then a shrimp pasta dish: 

and I got crab cakes with mashed potatoes and spectacular asparagus:

(Yes, I forgot to take the pictures until AFTER we started eating).  He dropped me off at home and took off to the movies with Larry (I think they saw PASSENGERS), while I hopped in the golf cart and headed to Pat’s.  She was trying to make my embroideries less wrinkly….and she thought my fabric was too thin :~(.  I may redo the ornament embroideries because they just look horrible…she recommended using woven interfacing on the back before I started.  I beat Michael home by about 3 minutes and we read our books for a bit before bed.

lots & lots of Elsie & Cookie

Michael left for golf at Lancaster Monday morning (12/26), and after breakfast I headed to my studio.  I got the binding all cut and sewn for the quilt currently on Miss Scarlett (the bad news is, I don't have any good thread color to do the second side of it...maybe have to hit up Pat for some thread):  

and got my strata all sewn for the other half of a new Clinton quilt: 

while continuing to quilt on the retreat hidden wells:  

Joanne stopped by for a quick visit to wish us  “Merry Christmas”, and we had a nice, but short chat.  When I went upstairs to greet Michael (home from golfing with a 90), this was going on:  

By dinnertime the quilting was done and I was a VERY happy camper…why?  Well, way back when, when Michael and I were discussing the possibility of me buying a long arm…I did a CBA (cost benefit analysis) as to how many quilts I needed to do, to make owning my own long arm worthwhile.  The number of quilts ended up to be 150.  The retreat hidden wells quilt was quilt ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE!!!!!!!  I am doing something very special for the 150^th quilt….stay tuned….no pics until it is totally done!  I hope it will be my first finished quilt of 2017.  Michael came home at 3 Pm and we sat and read our books in front of the fire, with our kinetic sculpture going until our dinner.   Of course that meant that THIS was going on:

We had leftover puffy things for dinner:  

scallop stuffed shells

pot stickers

and watched TV for the rest of the evening….I made good progress on my sweater.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!!!  We got a VERY late start Christmas morning….we lay in bed in the morning, talking and talking and talking and neither one of us wanted to get up  :~).  We gave Cookie a veggie bone, and she happily stayed on the fainting couch gnawing away at it while we went over plans.  We finally made it up and made bacon and pecan pancakes for our Christmas breakfast:  

We opened our first presents:  

Beach Boy book and new bands for my wrist garmin

then headed downstairs to watch a Christmas movie (A CHRISTMAS STORY – aka YOU’LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT): 

load up a new quilt: 

I finished this top on retreat

and work on the computer :~)…with our favorite libation of course:

 After that Michael took Cookie for a walk while I continued to quilt. We opened more presents (we try to open one every 2 hours or so):

We had champagne and puffy things for dinner and continued to open presents throughout the day:  

better Beach Boy book & earrings

Paul McCartney book & first 2 seasons of Big Bang

Our evening movie was HOLIDAY INN and I spent that time knitting on a sweater.  We opened our last 2 presents at 10:30 PM before heading to bed:  

new golf bag and new games to play!

WC Fields movies, another Paul book, a gift cert for massage & and ITUNES card

It was a WONDERFUL Christmas for us…hope yours was just as merry and bright!