Cookie & Elsie, roses, patriotic block, 2 new fish embroideries

We haven’t had waffles in forever, and I had buttermilk to use up, so it was waffles for breakfast on Sunday (2/28).  These are from a relatively recent recipe (first made in July of 2013) and are called WAFFLES OF INSANCE GREATNESS.  By the end of breakfast, Michael indicated that he thinks they are even better than the overnight Belgium waffles (previously his favorite!!)  Our furry babies spent breakfast basking in the sun 

 

and the yellow roses from Loree (on our kitchen table) have started to open…

it was a beautiful morning :~).  By 11 AM I was down in the studio, continuing to work on patriotic quilts.  I’m doing a combination Debbie/BG/MJ method…I have everything cut and have done 10 of my blocks for one quilt 1/2 way done….but before I sew the other blocks to the 1/2 way point, I’m going to go all the way to the end with the blocks I have done.  I am anxious to see how they come out, and what the layout looks like.  

(I know BG and MJ will know what I’m talking about :~)  I also continued to embroider and got 2 more sets of fish embroidery done.   

 

I had lasagna for dinner and spent the evening watching TV with my honey and ripping out stitches to reclaim backing fabric from a recent quilt.

new dishwasher, start of patriotic quilts

We were both up early Saturday morning (2/28)…Michael to get ready for his first official 18 holes of golf in 6 weeks (since he had his pacemaker implanted) and me to start making some patriotic quilts.  Loree gave me a quick cutting lesson Friday night before she and Reg left, so I am hoping to improve on the accuracy of my blocks.  Michael had a 1/2 hour delay to the start of golf…it was still in the 30’s when he left….brr-r-r-r.  I worked on my embroideries and cutting until 11:30, when I headed upstairs to clean out under the kitchen sink.  You may remember that our dishwasher stopped working awhile back…we ordered a new one and it was delivered and installed in the afternoon. 

 

old, came w/ the house, never very good

new Bosch, buttons in top of door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started washing the dishes from Friday night…and it was so quiet that I didn’t even think it was working!!  I’m still getting used to loading and what buttons to push….at least the dishes came out clean for a change :~).  I spent the afternoon and some evening hours working on patriotic and embroideries.  I got all of my fabric cut out for 2 small (50’’ by 60’’) quilts

 

and also started to sew them together.  I’m going to do the blocks in 2 different ways to see if there’s a difference in what I like.  The first way I am incorporating all 3 colors in the initial blocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael had a birthday party to attend for our friend Harry.  I was supposed to be in CT, plus I was really kind of tired, so I stayed home.  When he came home at 10 we snuggled and watched a bit of TV before bed.

lasagna tutorial, chocolate/peanutbutter rick krispy treats, Cookie & Elsie (too many to count), Loree & Reg, Doug & Paula

We had a wonderful Friday morning (2/26).  Michael had eggs with the leftover pancakes for breakfast, while I had a piece of sausage bread (courtesy of my neighbor Jim N).  I put together garlic/herb roll dough and headed the studio, waiting for Michael to get home from all of his errands and join me.  I dropped back to working on the feather bargello, hoping to finish the top by the end of the weekend.  I also continued to stitch out fish embroideries, which will eventually be used for more Clinton School quilts.  At 1 PM Michael was finished with his emails and decided to hit the golf course, so I headed upstairs to get a move on, on the rest of dinner.  I put together a veggie lasagna, 

sauce (a mixture of tomato sauce and my homemade pesto)

uncooked noodles

 

sauteed veggies (zucchini, mushrooms, onions)

ricotta layer

mozzarella.  do 3 more layers, then done!

and chocolate/peanut butter rice krispy treats (still have leftover rice krispies from Christmas).   

Luckily the camera was in the kitchen while I was working and I got terrific pictures of snuggling AS IT WAS HAPPENING (yes, Elsie does really knead Cookie's back before she settles in...I can't believe Cookie puts up with it :~): 

Then it was back to the studio to finally FINISH the top of the feather bargello quilt…YAY!!!   

Michael set the table: 

and our guests, Loree & Reg 

 and Doug & Paula 

 arrived at 6 PM.  Paula brought cookies for Michael (since I haven’t made any for him in forever and also because I ate all of the Valentine’s ones she brought :~), 

and Loree brought me the most beautiful bouquet of roses:  

yellow roses for friendship

 We had salad, then lasagna, green beans and rolls, then started to play Phase 10.   

 

I guess this game goes much better with only 4 people…there was LOTS of complaining about how none of us were getting anywhere….but lots of laughing too!  We finally stopped for dessert, and just talked after that.  It was a wonderful evening…a nice ending to a rather not great week.

fish embroideries

I went to quilting Thursday morning (2/25) and put my head down and worked on the binding for my quilt.  By the time I left, it was all sewn on one side.  I came home and hit my machine downstairs and worked on the other side of the binding.  Paula came down to visit, and by the time she left at 5, the binding was done and the label stitched down.  The quilt will be mailed tomorrow and after it is received, I’ll put the whole story in the blog.  Michael and I had leftovers for dinner, and he wanted to watch a couple of his shows afterwards, so I putzed around downstairs until 9 PM (and got another set of embroideries done)

 

 

 

and then came up to watch TV together.

fish embroideries

I was up at 5 AM Wednesday morning (2/24).  I am on prednisone for a week to help lessen the inflammation caused by the BP virus, and when I had asked about the side effects, the doctor mentioned a disrupted sleep cycle.  I put my time to good use by continuing quilting on Miss Scarlett, and stitching out more fish designs.  By NOON the quilting was done, along with several embroideries…

I'm doing 3 of each design

and I was ready for a nap!  Although it was supposed to rain all day…the sun was out and Michael headed out to play as many holes as he could on our golf course. I got the quilt all trimmed in the afternoon, and also a few more embroiders:   

Michael and I both had pizza for dinner, then it was SKYPING with Janice (nice since it worked…but we were supposed to be together in person :~(  and finally I headed upstairs to reclaim the backing fabric on the sides and bottom of the quilt and watch TV with my honey.