Loree top finished, colorwash quilt loaded, HST's

WOW – I cannot believe it has been raining for DAYS and DAYS and today (5/30) is overcast once again!!  I SKYPE’d with Janice in the morning, then headed upstairs at 10:30 to make some breakfast while Michael was out running errands and hitting the grocery store.  After that I finished up the second border on the Loree quilt:  

While I still wish I had had enough dark blue for the outside border, the green I used is very close in pattern and color to a green within the quilt…so I guess that worked out.  It's big enough now for a Beds=Dreams quilt.

Next up I loaded a double length of 108’’ wide backing and got the colorwash quilt loaded, ready to be quilted.  

I got it all basted and got the program set up and 2 rows of quilting done before dinner.  

I know it's a bit hard to see, but the pattern is called CALM CLOUDS.  It has lots of soft swirls that I thought would work well with the very soft colors in this quilt.

We had leftover pizza for dinner and while watching TV in the evening, I worked on trimming and pressing more HST’s:

Anne, Barb, Edee, Ann Mary, Loree, Linda, Paula, Martini Night

I can’t really believe Michael left to go golfing today (Tuesday, 5/29) as it was actually misting when he left!!  BUT, they must have gotten 18 holes in because he still wasn’t back when Anne picked me up at 1 PM for the movies.  I dropped off the butterfly/convergence on the way (YAY!!) and met up with 9 other ladies to see BOOKCLUB:  

Anne, Barb (who we kidnapped right at the Lake House), Edee

Ann Mary, Loree, Linda

Edee & Paula

Sally & Ann Mary

It was a HOOT!!!!  Lots and lots of laughs and lots of fun with a great group of ladies!  

Michael was home when I got home around 4:30 and we got to talk for a bit before he left to pick up Larry to go and see SOLO and Donnis picked me up for martini night.  There were only 8 of us for martinis and it was FABULOUS to just sit around the table talking and talking and talking.

Donnis & our hostess Bonnie

Elie, Patti, Joyce, Jane

Dinner was wonderful (we had a BLT salad, 2 different kinds of artisan bread and a raspberry jello salad): 

Bonnie cutting a yummy chocolate/peanut/creme dessert

and we played a game called THINGS after it that was really fun.  What a great day I had  :~)

A wonderful picture of AJ...getting her 'southern' on with that hat!

And another video of the kitties:

garden flowers, kids, QoV totally finished, colorwash top finished

Happy Memorial Day!!!  Michael picked our own vase of front garden flowers when we got up Monday morning (5/28):  

Those hydrangea blossoms are at least 8 inches across and they are gorgeous!  He had breakfast on the lanair: 

with all of our furry kids: 

ring around the rosie?

while I headed downstairs to get my blog out.  When I was done I went back to finishing up the second Quilt of Valor…I thought that was a very appropriate use of my time considering the day:  

After that I got my watercolor quilt pressed and up on the wall for measurements with the new borders…I think it looks 100% better, don't you?  It went from this:  

to this:  

I wish you could see it in person…the colors are soft and beautiful, it really does look like one of the colorwash quilts.  I got Michael’s opinion on backing fabric and I hope to get it loaded up sometime this week.  

Do you remember my Loree quilt?  It just really bugged me that it wasn’t going to be a Beds=Dreams quilt as I had hoped due to not having enough border fabric.  Well, I just kept thinking about it and finally went through my stash again.  I got Michael’s opinion on some fabrics and cut them and started to add them as borders...pictures as soon as it is complete.  

We had burgers on the grill for dinner and when we settled in for some TV, I started to trim some of the 104 HST’s remaining.

lobsta!!, Mexican Train at Evelyn & Phil's w/ Susan

We had a very leisurely breakfast Sunday morning (5/27) after Michael took Cookie for a walk.  He made omelets for both of us: 

and we ate breakfast out on the lanair 

and read the paper and a book for quite awhile before really starting our day.  First up for me was finishing the last 10 tops for the Pocket Prayer quilts:  

Next I started to put the binding on the second QoV.  I got the binding almost all on the first side before calling Anne to meet up at the Maine Lobster Truck.  They brought this truck in from 2 PM until 8 PM and it was packed the entire time!!!:  

here I am ordering a CT roll and lobster bisque

Originally I had my food day all planned around a visit to this truck, but our friends moved their dinner/game night to Sunday night, so I bought lobster, but brought it home and put it in the fridge….you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to know how good it is!!  We were at the truck for about an hour, making our way through the line.  When I got home I had time to start to put the binding on the second side of the quilt before it was time to get cleaned up and head over to Evelyn & Phil’s for dinner.  Michael suggested cutting some of our glads to take as a hostess gift, so here’s what we put together:  

All of the flowers were from our front garden.  Phil and Evelyn did London broil on the grill and served it with a salad, carrot soufflé and toast points dipped in butter and Worcestershire….an usual to us presentation to be sure.  

We played Mexican Train afterwards, but made it kind of an early night as Susan was tired from packing up her house.  

Susan & Evelyn

Phil

We watched a bit of TV when we got home, and I got all of my trimmed HST’s pressed open.

I still have 104 more of these to do before Michael can start laying out this quilt  :~(.

finished QoV

Michael left for golf on Saturday (5/26) after I sprayed him once again with the pain spray from Anne, but was home within minutes….it had started pouring!  He decided to switch from the golf cart to the car and headed back up, hoping to talk to the other guys in his foursome and wait out the rain  :~).  Something must have worked because I didn’t see him again until 2 PM!!   While he was gone I got the first label cleaned up and finished stitching down the binding on the first side.  This was the view through the opening in my sewing machine each time I stopped:

A quick press and I continued sewing down the binding on the second side.  

I know we’re watching a movie tonight, so I left the hand stitching on the label for that.  

At SHQ on Thursday, Loree mentioned that we could use some more tops for the Pocket Prayer quilts we make, so I decided to whip up some of those.  I got most of my strips made and pressed and re-sewn into the 4-patch tops:  

just have one more strip to finish tomorrow and we'll have 50 tops.  

We had leftover pizza for dinner and settled in with popcorn to watch STAR TREK:INSURRECTION.  We finished that off with a couple of BIG BANGs before heading to bed, and I got a lot of HST’s trimmed while we were watching the movie.  Once they’re pressed you’ll see a picture.

I got another video of the kitties playing on my sewing table (and trying/succeeding in knocking over my stuff!!):

Show & Tell at SHQ

I was up early Thursday morning (5/24) to get the kitties into their crates.  Nadine swung by to pick them up at 6:30 AM, to take them to be spayed.  I miss them already…they were crying and crying to get out before she came, and I’m sure they were starving, as they hadn't had anything to eat since Wednesday at dinnertime and we usually give them a third helping of food when we go to bed  :~(.  I had a chicken carcass simmering in the crockpot all night long, so I got that strained and refrigerated before leaving for quilting.  I had a wonderful time at quilting, and got 2 more sets of blocks done:  

And of course, here’s show and tell:  

Mary Ann & Jeannie took a thread painting class:

Dee's mom was visitng again and showed another autobiographical quilt.  She used to make one every year depicting their vacation, and then before the next year she would give it away to a member of the family!!

Jerri had another 2 quilts for people at the nursing home (she using fabric from Diane and I'm sure Diane would be pleased as she was a big charity person):

Sandra showed us the pillow she will be teaching next month (or maybe the month afterwards...we all definitely have homework to do...)

Marge did this INCREDIBLE quilt.....you really need to click on the picture to blow it up...there are so many details she put on the quilt:

check out the decorative stitches around each flower block

And then she used this fabric:

To make a one-block wonder quilt and put it on the back!!!!

I gave out the 2 name tags I made:

And everyone seemed to like the butterfly/convergence quilt!

make bigger so that you can see the silver 'cob-webbing' on this one butterfly

I got home around 2:30 after stops at the library and CVS and my honey was home from Pinehurst….YAY!!!  We talked and talked and got mostly caught up on everything, then I read for just a bit while he relaxed, and took a shower and changed before heading out to our anniversary dinner.  We went to THE FISH MARKET at Baxter Village and it was AWESOME!!!  We shared a crab cake appetizer, then Michael got shrimp pasta and I had scallops with bacon risotto and tempura asparagus….HEAVEN!!!  We were home by 7 and spent a bit of time on our computers before snuggling on the couch (although still missing our babies) to watch TV.

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

Luckily, the vet allowed Lynn to pick up our kitties extra early, so they were home on Friday (5/25) before I headed out at 8:15 for breakfast with the ladies.  Michael had a 9:15 appointment with the doctor, and the bad news is, he has a case of shingles.  The worse news is, he was supposed to fly to Ithaca next week to see AJ, but she is currently in a vulnerable period…any immunity she got from nursing has worn off, and her final vaccinations for chicken pox won’t take place for another 11 months at the earliest…so we had to scrap Michael’s plans for visiting.  I also had an 11:15 appointment with the doctor and I have been diagnosed with a fungal infection of my skin  :~(.  We’re not doing too well at this point…but it’s nothing life threatening, so we’re not going to worry about it.  We had a long talk about everything once I got home, and by the time we were done I had missed the window to post a blog in time for the email sweep, so I just left it until Saturday morning.  Michael left at 2 PM to run some errands, and I settled in to my studio and started sewing binding on one of the QoV’s.  Well, that was the plan….but the phone started ringing…and I was all out of my cinnamon/ginger drink (which is supposed to be helping with my blood sugar) and so I headed up to the kitchen to get my drink going and ended up staying up there…talking to Anne who stopped by and snuggling with Ethel before finally came back downstairs around 4:30.  I got most of the binding put on one side of the first quilt: 

and also got 2 labels made:

before heading upstairs around 8 to relax and watch TV with my honey.  

The best news?  When Anne found out that Michael had shingles, she sprang into HELP mode.  Anne is a big essential oils buff and she was back several hours later with 2 small spray bottles….one for itching and one for pain.  I sprayed them on Michael’s blisters just before bed and he told me for the first time in days he was able to get to sleep easily and without pain….SCORE!!!!  I just sent an email to Anne to tell her to write down what she did because the next time I hear of someone getting shingles and having pain…I’m sending them her way  :~).

Here's a pic of the Loree quilt with the outside border on: