snowball blocks finished, customer quilt basted, new bigger foot opening!

I had a hair appointment first thing Friday morning (8/30) while Michael had a quickly booked eye appointment.  His eyes have been absolutely terrible lately, so he called yesterday and they fit him in today.  I was home by 11:30 and after having breakfast, I called my across the street neighbor to come and rescue me by getting rid of a large-ish, dead gecko in my kitchen.  I wish I knew how they keep getting in…but I am grateful that the kitties find them and finish them off, and that I have neighbors willing to come and get rid of them!!!  

I headed to the studio and finished sewing and pressing the last blocks for the snowball quilt:  

they’ll have to be set aside for now while I get my design wall cleaned off: 

remember, I had cut out 2 of these quilts at once....the first only needs borders, but this needs to be sewn into 4 patches, then leading added then sashing added and then finally borders

and that won’t happen until after I get back from retreat.  After that, I concentrated on packing all of my supplies for retreat.

I got a customer quilt basted just before dinner….

WHAT a pleasure with my ‘new’ foot!!!  I like to baste close enough to the edge so that the customer doesn’t have to rip it out since it will be concealed within the binding….well, I couldn’t SEE the edge when the foot hole was so tiny, so I wasn’t able to do that.   Now…..no problem (I think you can see the white batting on the top and on the side of the foot through the new larger opening):   

THANKS Reg!!!  It is PERFECT!!!!

This looks like a good dinner to you....right?

Michael picked up sweet corn at the grocery store, and I decided something had to give....so I gave up the leftover BBQ chicken pizza.  This corn was SO VERY GOOD!!!  I can't believe how good it was...and so late in the season too!

Mary Jo sent me a couple of pics....she had an abundance of tomatoes, and I talked her through making sauce in the crockpot:

Looks yummy doesn't it???


And it's the end of an era - https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article234431177.html

SHQ Show & Tell, BBQ chicken pizza

I was up at 6:30 on Thursday (8/29), I just couldn’t sleep any longer.  I got my blog out and sewed a bit on the snowball blocks before breakfast, got cleaned up and headed out to quilting.  Today was a charity day and lots of people worked on small quilts for children.  We only had a bit of show and tell: 

Some people continue to think it is funny to deliberately wave their stuff around while I'm trying to take a pic.  It was never funny even in the beginning....and has certainly not become any more charming through the years.  The difference is, I'm no longer going to go crazy trying to get a nice pic...if I get one fine....if not fine....so, the show and tell may not be great all the time.

Debbie & Claude - this is x-stitch from June!!!

a paint chip challenge quilt

I LOVE the chicken wire background fabric.   I think this is a paintchip challenge as well...I thought Mary Ann had the chips in her hand at one point, but I missed getting them.  When the quilters have their show in the fall, the paint chips will be displayed WITH the quilt so that everyone can see how clever they are in incorporating those colors into a quilt.  I think Mary Ann said she got 3 pretty weird colors....didn't she do a great job creating a quilt around them!?!?

When Paula and I got home, we sat in her driveway talking for quite awhile, but eventually she hopped out, dragged all of her stuff into the house and came down for some cake.  Joanne stopped by as well and we had a great time talking and talking and talking!!!  Paula left around 3:30 and I had just started to make my pizza dough for dinner when Loree called me.  

Now, she took home my longarm bowl foot from my machine to see if Reg could drill a bigger hole in it.  She was calling to tell me it was already done and that she was on her way to Harris Teeter.  I met her there and was THRILLED!!!!  I so wish I had taken a picture of the foot before hand…I swear the opening was about pin hole size…..just look at it now:  

I can’t wait to hook it up and try to sew with it…it is going to make it MUCH MUCH easier to see my edges when I am basting a quilt and to mark my quilt once I have advanced it.  I can’t believe how quickly he did it….I already put my other foot on the longarm, thinking the bowl foot wouldn’t be back until after I got home from retreat!!!!  

I finished up my pizza dough when I got home, and put together a BBQ chicken pizza for dinner…..

a beautiful and soft dough

BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's is the best!!)

red onion

chicken

smoked gouda

oh YUMM-O!!!!  

Paula called after dinner as she had a bunch of golf cart deliveries to make, so we rode around SCCL, talking and delivering.  We stopped by Pat’s house to see her GORGEOUS new sewing cabinet and stayed there talking until after 8 PM.  I just watched a bit of TV with my honey when I got home before heading to bed.

Trple Chocolate Poke Cake

Michael is killing me with these early morning tee times….but I guess they have to, to beat the incredible heat/humidity down here all summer.  We were both up at 5:45 AM on Wednesday (8/28).  I made him a quick breakfast of eggs over easy and toast before heading back to bed.  Well, I tried, but I can never get back to sleep after that, so I just got up and started my day  :~).  I got my emails done and my blog out, got showered and dressed and started packing the rest of my crafts for retreat!!!

I left at 9:30 for a meeting at the Lake House.  I wanted to get there early to make sure I knew how to view the documents on my KNIDLE, so I didn’t have to print anything.  We had a good meeting and when I got home around NOON I joined my honey in the studio and continued to work on my snowball blocks.  I headed upstairs in the late afternoon to make a new dessert I found.  Here's the link 

- https://beyondfrosting.com/2013/12/08/triple-chocolate-poke-cake/

(Yes, I just had chicken and tomatoes for dinner so that I could taste this dessert!!)  

You make the cake and while it is still warm, you poke large holes in it

then you're supposed to pour hot fudge sauce over it.  The hot fudge sauce never got to a liquid enough consistency, so I ended up spreading it on.  If I ever make this again, I will make my own fudge sauce....it's pretty easy to do.

After the cake cools completely, you made a pudding layer and add it

And finally I whipped cream....and added a little confectioner's sugar and cocoa

voila (why it looks like there's a huge divot in the picture...I have no idea....although it might be a shadow)

Michael piece (with extra mini-chips)

Michael and I both thought the cake was good, but maybe not worth all of the effort I put into it!  (Janice & June – hopefully there’ll still be some left for Saturday when you are here).  

Here’s the list for today:

-the second Scrap Happy QoV           DONE

-scripture embroideries for Jerri       DONE

-breast cancer bows for that same quilt     DONE

-binding for my QoV #1     DONE

-binding for my QoV #2    DONE

-binding for my QoV #3    DONE

-cream strips for Anne’s quilt     DONE      

-packing for the Fiber Floozies retreat      crafts – DONE, food - started

-borders for my quilt with brown leading

-charity quilts for Jerri     DONE

tortellini tutorial

I was up and out the door at 7:15 AM on Tuesday (8/27) for my routine dermatology appointment.  Nothing exciting to be found (yea!!) and after a grocery stop at WALMART I headed on home.  I didn’t have anything written for the blog, so after a quick breakfast I got busy and finally got it posted around 11 AM.  I spent a couple of hours cleaning up all 4 of Jerri’s quilts while watching GOLDFINGER (an oldy but goody).  By then it was afternoon, and Michael was home.  We sat in the living room and talked for a bit and I decided to settle in and read some of my book.  Michael left for a haircut and to pick up a rotisserie chicken breast on the way home.  We had chicken and cranberry sauce, while he had peas and I had green beans for dinner.  He left at 6 PM to pick up Larry for the movies and I spent several hours in the kitchen:  

I sauteed a mess of onions

and then yellow and green squash

cooked up cheese tortellini and got it in a bowl

along with homemade sauce

some herbs

the onions and squash

and mozarella cheese

and added some parmesan on the top for a casserole for retreat

Then I got busy and did it all again for some freezer casseroles for us (and maybe a neighbor or 2):

After that I was pooped and went back to reading my book until he got home.

Here’s the list for today:

-the second Scrap Happy QoV           DONE

-scripture embroideries for Jerri       DONE

-breast cancer bows for that same quilt     DONE

-binding for my QoV #1     DONE

-binding for my QoV #2    DONE

-binding for my QoV #3    DONE

-cream strips for Anne’s quilt     DONE      

-packing for the Fiber Floozies retreat

-borders for my quilt with brown leading

-charity quilts for Jerri     DONE

J&D in NC

A note from Janice: I finally took a road trip to the quilt shop in Myrtle Beach,  "Quilting by the Beach", because I still have a Christmas gift certificate to use. Saw some possible backing choices for my Southern quilt,  but I want to put it together first.  I did purchase a yard of fabric to make some new napkins for my new plates.  :-))

 *** MMR – MICHAEL’S MOVIE REVIEWS ***

Hobbs and Shaw (by the Fast and Furious franchise)- Jason Straitham and Dwayne (the Rock ) Johnson- This a real big bucket of popcorn, large soda, kick a__ shoot 'em up, wild special effects, action flick. Jason and Dwayne are called in to save the world (once again) from a maniac who wants to steal a deadly virus. The adventure takes them all over the world fighting bad guys everywhere - lots of jujitsu fighting, chases on motorcycles, and a finale with a helicopter that is unbelievable! Oh yes, it helps to know that Jason and Dwayne hate each other but have to work together! Lot's of fun and worth the price of admission.  I give it 5 fat quarters out of 5.

 

The Kitchen - new Melissa McCarthy movie - From the previews I saw, I was expecting a slight departure from McCarthy's usual slapstick bathroom humor type movie, it looked like a "female buddy" movie where the low level mafia types get arrested and the ladies take over the territory. The previews make it seem like a dark comedy-- well, it is dark and not all that funny. The premise is the same as above but the story gets very dark quickly as the 3 women get very serious about taking over. This becomes very "godfatherish" and "good fellas"- like, and quite violent at times! McCarthy goes all out in her role and does an amazing job of being the tough "guy". She shows deep emotional range as she takes care of her kids and takes over the Hell's Kitchen territory. the 3 women interact as friend at first and things begin to change as more money is being made.  Not what I expected but a very good movie.  I give it 4 fat quarters out of 5.

Martini Night

Michael left the house before 7 AM on Monday…he decided he didn’t have enough time for his usual omelet, so just had cereal for breakfast and packed a peanut butter sandwich to eat later in the morning.  I was in my studio by 8 AM and spent a lot of time on the internet.  My friend Carole wrote a wonderful piece, fully explaining why it is important to have a long enough backing and batting if you are sending your quilt to a longarmer, so I thought I would include it: https://frommycarolinahome.com/2019/08/23/dealing-with-quilt-issues/. 

I eventually got all caught up on my computer stuff, and began loading and basting Jerri’s last quilt.  I was really struggling with what pattern to put on it and what thread color, and I finally used a green thread and dropped back to my current favorite quilting pattern.  I finished up the quilting just before leaving for my doctor’s appointment.  

It will probably take several hours to rip out the basting and weave in ends on all 4 of the quilts, but at least the quilting is done, and I hope to get them to her at Thursday quilting. 

I got a wonderful email from a friend of mine, she made a table runner for an auction and hand quilted it….I love it!!  I think Nancy A did a wonderful job:

I was home around 4:30 PM (my doctor is not a bit happy about my weight...neither am I...he's given me 3 months to get some weight off and get more blood work done.  If it doesn't improve, he'll put me on medication for my diabetes....I am definitely not in favor of that....so I'm going to buckle down...wish me luck!!) and just sat and read my book before leaving for Martini Night at Jane’s house.  

We all had a wonderful time:  

Donnis, Andi, Pat

Joyce, me, Bonnie

Barb & Alice

our hostess with the mostess...Jane

the martinis and dinner were awesome: 

mojito martinis with fresh mint garnish

an appetizer of 3 kinds of marinated cheese

meatballs & sausage

stuffed shells

dessert martini: raspberries, vanilla gelato and prosecco...yum!

but the game was hard….especially after 2 martoonies!  I was home by 10 and filled out my patient papers for my Tuesday morning appointment, before heading for bed.

And lots of cuteness coming your way....