Pat is done, new Beds = Dreams quilt done

OMword…it was GORGEOUS when we got up on Wednesday (8/30);   outside temps in the low 60’s, inside temps in the low 70’s!!!  My honey was up and out before 7 AM for golfing here at SCCL.  I did a lot of paperwork in the morning before SKYPE-ing with Janice at 9.  We talked until 10:30…sigh…I wish we could just talk for 1/2 an hour every day.  Anyway, after that I made an egg/spinach/cheese sandwich for breakfast, then continued to work on my binding.  I watch this show on TV called YOUNGER.  Somehow I missed taping the first 4 episodes of the new season, so I decided to try watching them on my tablet.  They let you watch the first one for free, but then you have to go through your cable provider.  That took an hour to figure out how to get signed in and set up the account and watch the second episode.  But I persevered and was all caught up by the time Pat came over to quilt in the late afternoon.  She finished the last 3 rows on her quilt…YAY!!!  

the pattern she used really showed up on the back

Even though someone was constantly begging her to play with them:  

please....PLEASE...play with me?

I continued to sew after she left and by 8 PM when I headed upstairs to spend time with my honey, another Beds = Dreams quilt was totally finished.

This was my Thursday project for many months....I"m glad it is finally finished...I absolutely LOVE it  :~). the pattern is Disappearing Pinwheel 5. 

Fort Mill Playhouse Capital Campaign

Michael had breakfast out with his buddies on Tuesday (8/29) while of course I headed to my studio.  I seem to have a lot of “leftovers” (otherwise knows as UFO’s) hanging around and decided I needed to concentrate on those.  I cleaned up the embroidery from yesterday, then loaded up a second sheep.  So, let me give you one small example of why sometimes you get too many UFO’s (unfinished objects for the un-initiated among you).  I already had a series of embroideries I started quite awhile ago on under-the-sea creatures.  AND, I always make multiple embroideries of the same thing, because once you’ve dragged out all of your colors it is just easier to run off 3 embroideries for eventual inclusion in 3 different quilts.  So, why didn’t I drop back to those to test out my embroidery machine?  Well, I cut all of the background fabric at once when I’m doing this (yes, it’s the anal Debbie method) and if I had tried it out with my old embroideries, and it didn’t stitch out correctly and ruined my background fabric…I don’t have any EXTRA of that background fabric….so, I started with something new where I had plenty of background fabric available… capisce?    Clear as mud!  Anyway, the first embroidery worked out and I loaded up a second one (‘cause all of the colors were out…remember?) to stitch out while I cleaned up the first one:  

I used pure white on the body with that first embroidery, and that didn’t show very well at all, so I corrected that with the second embroidery:  

Then I put those 2 embroideries and all of the background fabric I cut away.  All of that took me until a little after NOON, but while that second embroidery was stitching out, I got binding made for a to-be-bound quilt that’s been sitting on the pile for months:  

I started to sew the binding on: 

but didn’t get very far because at 2 PM I headed upstairs to shower, change clothes and have a bite to eat before Susan picked me up before 3 PM for another lifestyle meeting.  That meeting lasted until 5, after which Susan and I headed directly to the Dairy Barn in Fort Mill.  The Fort Mill Playhouse had the public kick off of their Capital Campaign to raise money for a new home.  It was a great event: 

I got to see lots of people (mostly actors) I haven’t seen in forever, there was even entertainment: 

but Michael and I were both beat when we got home at 9:30.  We lit our candles and fairy lights out on the lanair 

and sat out there for an hour and a half.

Pat quilting, Cookie, Martini Night

Michael was up at 5:45 AM on Monday (8/28), while I headed out to the lanair.  I only stayed about 1/2 an hour before getting started on a long list of chores.  First up balancing the checkbook, followed by vacuuming the lanair, cleaning up all of the dishes, getting my blog out, ordering new books from the library, paying some bills and making and packaging up cookies (and a check!!!) to send to the long arm repair guy (these are a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies and Michael just loves them...they're about 4 inches across and very thick!):  

I enclosed a quick note:

Lance,

I’m sorry it took me so long to get this in the mail but I was too afraid to load up a large quilt to stress test the machine, so I had to put together some smaller ones.  Miss Scarlett (and you!!) came through with flying colors.  Although I am still apprehensive any time I pull the bobbin and start to quilt…I am really hoping that fades with time.  You did a SUPERIOR job on servicing my machine and my comments in Facebook will certainly reflect that.  PLEASE thank your wife for allowing you to spend so much time at my house.  I hope these cookies help to make it worth your while.

***********************

I was finally back in the studio just after NOON and my first order of business was checking out my embroidery machine to see if it needed to go in for repair.  That took quite a bit of time because I didn’t have any backing or stabilizer cut.  I did that, then went through my recently purchased embroideries and started stitching out a BATH TIME CUTIE. 

I sat and watched the stitch out while Pat was back quilting.  

Although she did take time out to greet and talk to an old "friend":

Michael came home at 3 PM from Old Sycamore with an 82…he seemed very excited by it, until he started grousing about his 3 penalty shots  :~).  BUT, he cheered up again when he thought about his 2 birdies.  Since everyone was downstairs, Cookie thought she’d take her afternoon nap there:  

Pat and I were both exhausted by the time she left at 4 PM, but she only has 3 more rows to do on her second quilt!!!  My embroidery stitched out with no problems, so that’s a good thing (pics tomorrow after I get it cleaned up  :~).  I got myself cleaned up and headed out to Donnis’s for Martini Club:

Donnis - our hostess

Andi, Pat, Kathi, Bonnie, Barb

Donnis, Bonnie, Barb, Pat, Kathi, Ellie, Patti

The food was outstanding:

We played FAMILY FEUD after eating and talking for a bit.  Here's Donnis, trying to explain the rules to 10 other women who are still talking and talking and talking!!!

After a few mis-steps in the beginning (I'm not sure we still understood the rules by the end of the game....hmmm, I wonder why!!) we had lots of fun.

breakfast on lanair, Pat W quilts!!

Michael took Cookie for a walk first thing Sunday morning (8/27) then had breakfast on the lanair:  

I eventually joined Michael for breakfast

I headed straight to my studio.  I fired up Miss Scarlett and tried to keep my quilting going while going through my emails and getting my blog out.  Pat W is HOT to come over and quilt now that Miss Scarlett seems to be working and so I pushed through the second crayon quilt in record time (well…record time for me anyway  :~).  By the time Pat W arrived at 11 AM I was finished quilting and just taking the crayons off of the frame.  We sat in the kitchen and talked while I made Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes (for dessert Sunday night as well as practice for the Sweet Charity Event in September).  As soon as they were out of the oven we headed downstairs.  She got all loaded up, basted the entire quilt and started quilting.  

basted & ready to go!

By 4 PM she was done….YAY!!!  I think the pattern was PERFECT on this quilt:

She took off and I hit the shower and pulled together our desserts and we headed off to Evelyn & Phil’s for dinner.  OMG!!!  They made strip steaks on the grill with baked potatoes and salad….YUM!!!!!  We played Mexican Train for several hours afterwards and were home by 9 PM to watch the end of the golf that Michael had taped.

Quilt of Valor to Ken, Pat W pumpkin, Janice's hydrangeas

I was up at 4 AM Saturday morning (8/26) and grabbed my mohair throw to head out to the lanair…..OMG!!!  It was fabulous to lie out there…listening to all of nature waking up (including the sky)!  Michael left for golf before 7:30 AM and after I got my blog out, I spent a good bit of time washing dishes.  Our dishwasher was as full as I have EVER seen it….and it quit working  :~(.  Just this morning Michael said to me “I think it’s time to move…everything is breaking!!”  And before you ask, the dishwasher is 18 months old  :~(….BOSCH will definitely be hearing from me about this.  Anyway, the dish and silverware cupboards were bare (we’ve been using our party dishes and silverware) so Saturday morning I washed everything up.  I finally made breakfast after that and hit my studio around 11 AM.  Mary Jo’s welcome flowers still looked pretty good, so I moved them out to grace my studio:  

I worked to finish sewing rows together and to get borders on the second crayon quilt and Michael came home before 1 PM with an 87…which I think he should have been happy about, but of course he was disappointed in his 5 penalty shots.   I headed upstairs at 3 PM to bake cookies and get ready for Ginny & Ken’s visit at 4 PM.  Ken is our across the street neighbor and a Vietnam vet and we invited them over to give him a Quilt of Valor.  

To say that they were both stunned was an understatement.  We invited them for “cookies and conversation”, so they had no idea what was taking place.  Ken truly was overcome with the gesture and Michael and I were so pleased that they both liked it.  They headed home after talking for a bit, and Michael and I dove into ‘mater sammiches for dinner.  I headed back to my studio and got the second quilt all laid on and basted 

leaving just an inch between the 1st and 2nd crayon quilts

and the quilting started before going upstairs at 8 PM for TV watching and snuggling with my honey.

Pat W made the cutest 3-D embroidered pumpkin for our display windows at the Lake House...check it out:

And color me TOTALLY JEALOUS when comparing my (ONLY) 2 blooms from 3 huge and healthy looking hydrangeas to Janice's:

Oh well....maybe next year.... :~(