Joanne's quilt

Friday (4/28) was kind of a repeat of Thursday with everyone going their own way…Michael left for the chiro and shopping, Janice & Dennis headed out to look at more places….I worked on trying to pull together projects to sew on retreat (since we’re leaving at 6:30 AM on Saturday and as of Friday morning I have not packed crafts, clothes or food!!!)  When Janice and Dennis came home, Dennis left with Michael to pick out paint samples for our deck walls, while Janice & I continued to quilt on Joanne’s quilt:

while cutting out fabric for retreat.  I got 2 projects cut out, and then stacked up some bolts to take with us (since room in the car shouldn’t be a problem).  

By the time I got done in the afternoon, I was 1/2 way through Joanne's quilt...YAY!

All day long the contractors continued to put up walls on our deck.  

At 4:30 we all took off in Susan’s golf cart (she has a 4-seater while we only have a 2-seater) to run a bunch of errands and finally end  up on Pat’s porch, sipping libations eating a few munchies (Pat ALWAYS has muchies on hand) and admiring the view.  We got home and finally sat down to dinner at 7 PM.  At 8 PM Susan joined us for a couple of spirited rounds of 7's, followed by SHEIST!  I was doing laundry while we were playing, and finally got my clothes packed just before bed.  

I have a few more photos to share....I never got to post a picture of Sandy D's quilt and she graciously sent some to me:

And June wrote to say that she finally got her roll size just perfect for her ham sliders (I LOVE my bread students!):

SHQ show & tell

We were all up and out early on our various pursuits Thursday morning (4/27):  Janice & Dennis looking at surrounding communities/homes/floor plans, Michael golfing, and me off to quilting.  I knew I was only going to stay at quilting for a few hours, so I spent that time helping to get the fabric neatened up on our shelves.  I folded lots and lots of fabric and it was so much fun!!!  I am LOVING this new technique from June; BG - it is just as much fun as ripping napkins and the resulting satisfaction is the same (maybe even more :~).  In the future Carolina (another quilter) and I might go over to Linda’s house (yet another quilter/friend/bread baker) to help get her started on putting her fabric in order in the same way.  I’m going to fold it and Carolina is going to put it together in color groupings  :~).  Anyway, I saw lots of gorgeous show and tell while I was there.  First up, 2 antique quilts that Donna F rescued from her girlfriend throwing them away (Susie - we all wished you were there to see them):  

more convergence:

Cheryl

and more quilts finished:

And even though I didn't take any lunch as I wasn't going to stay that long....I had something to eat because Sandy D got a 2-for-1 deal on grilled chicken sandwiches from WENDY's and offered me her second one.  I stopped at the library on the way home and spent a lot of the afternoon working on the pattern for Joanne’s quilt.  I finally got it all set up, after which Michael and I took a ride to CVS to get our inoculations.  I’m sure all of  you new grandparents already know about this…but it was certainly a surprise to us!  We had to get TDAP vaccinations (whopping cough, tetanus, diphtheria) before we can go to visit our new granddaughter!  Luckily the needle was teeny, tiny and didn’t hurt even a little bit  :~).  After that we headed to Jan’s to drop off library books before heading home to hear all about Janice & Dennis’s day.  We ended up going to MAMA’s again for dinner….heaven!  Janice and Dennis loved it too, and we spent the rest of the evening playing SCREWED and GOLF and having a wonderful time doing it.

Our builder was woking all day today, painting our columns and putting up the bead board on the inside of the deck. 

Elsie, Corinne's house, Janice & Dennis

Michael was up super early and out by 7:30 AM on Wednesday (4/26) for a tournament here at SCCL.  When we got up, Elsie was once again on her perch:  

I ran around like a crazy person until 8:45 when I left to pick up Pat, Jan & Loree to head off to Corinne’s house.  Corinne taught our convergence class and she also sells $5 per yard batiks out of her house.  She has a beautiful set up for sewing:  

and many beautiful wall hangings: 

this sashing is only 1/4 '' wide!

We spent a very pleasant couple of hours there and everyone found some things they just HAD to HAVE  :~).  I have a friend who has asked me to make a quilt to give to her hubby at Christmas, so that’s what I bought fabric for.  She is looking for a “Tuscan” theme, and I think I did a pretty good job with the colors:  

We stopped for lunch on the way home at a place called WHICH WICH….it was FABULOUS!!!  It’s a sandwich place (I LOVE sandwiches) and it’s just very unique the way you order them.  I got egg salad, Loree had chicken salad and I think Jan & Pat both ordered cobb salads in a wrap.  We all loved what we got and were in high spirits all the way home.  I got home around 1, and got my very first phone call from a “grandson who had an unfortunate experience while on a trip, is in jail, and needs me to pay bail money”.  Have you had one of these scam calls?  I reported the number to the sheriff’s department, planted the basil plant Pat gave me (it looked in pretty poor shape, but I figured I didn’t have anything to lose), and finally headed downstairs around 2.  I thought I would spend quite a bit of time deciding on what I might want to take on retreat….I’m leaving this Saturday, so no blog posts for about a week…but shortly after I went downstairs…this happened!!!!  

Yes…Janice and Dennis are HERE!!!!!!!  Janice & Dennis currently reside in Connecticut, but are on a whirlwind southern tour to scope out potential places to retire.  We had a wonderful time talking and talking and talking!  We finally had dinner (leftovers), I got sandwich bread made 

and Michael and Dennis ran 1/2 a loaf over to Larry & Evelyn and Janice and I finally retired to the basement.  While Janice was learning to baste on Miss Scarlett (and doing a mighty fine job of it):

I finally got my bed quilt trimmed and added to the dreaded “to be bound” pile:  

By the time we went to bed it was after 10 PM, but Joanne’s ginormous quilt (the biggest I have done so far) was all basted….YAY!

Elsie & Cookie, lunch at The Greenway with Ann Mary, Loree, Susie

Michael and I both jumped up on Tuesday (4/25) with lots to get done.  I got the blog out of the way first thing, but made a huge mistake.  I was going to click on the button to up load my pictures, but instead hit the “publish” button (which is right beside the picture button) :~(.  I immediately did an edit on my entry to put in the pictures, but I won’t know until I get the email whether or not they were included…..oh well.  If they’re not in the email, go to the blog to see them…Pat’s food at martini club was AWESOME!!  Anyway, after that I then headed to the kitchen to make my hand/face/body cream.  

I have been out of it forever and have several customers begging me for refills…so that was first on my list.  And while I was working....you guessed it (since Michael was out looking for a microwave)....snuggling:  

I got everything done just in time to pick up Ann Mary at 10 AM 

and head to the Lake House for Loree & Susie.  

Loree

Susie

We all headed into Charlotte for lunch at the GREENWAY Restaurant(another graduating class of CPCC seniors)….and as usual…it was FABULOUS!!!  It was the first time for Susie and Ann Mary.  Our lunches were wonderful and for the very first time ever, we all ordered the same thing! 

honey butter, fava bean hummus, pimento cheese

salad w/ feta, chopped eggs, kalamata olives

perfectly cooked and very moist chicken

mango bavarian....yum!

When we got back just before 2 PM, I headed straight into a meeting of the lifestyle committee.  That took until 3 PM and I came right home and typed up the minutes and sent them out.  Finally at 4 PM I got to sew for just a bit, and got the outside border put on my patriotic quilt:  

While I was gone, the roofers came and put in our skylights and shingled our roof: 

Paula & Doug picked us up just before 7 PM and we headed up to the Lodge for a dance band called “The In-laws” (thanks Paula for getting up at o'dark hundred to get our tickets!):  

See...we actually DO do more than just golf and quilt :~).  The music was excellent (but as always….TOO LOUD!)  Sorry, I’ve felt this way since I was very young….why oh why do bands have to ruin your hearing???  I’ve always thought it was to cover up less than perfect notes  :~).  Anyway, we had a good time dancing (here you go Patti!):  

and listening to the music and read for just a bit when we got home.