finished baby quilt

Michael left early for golf on Saturday (1/12) and after cleaning up the kitchen, I got to the studio and FINALLY finished the baby quilt:

I can’t wait to take it over and drop it off at my doctor’s office.   

Beth stopped by for a bit of knitting help, then I got a call and headed off to pick up some quilts.  I have a number of charity quilts that someone offered to quilt for me….she ran into a patch of bad luck with her machine and wasn’t able to do them, so I went to pick them up.  I’m going to have to try to do them myself….believe me…quilting anything larger than a table runner is NOT my strong suit.  Anyway, once home I continued work on the Christmas quilt I started on Thursday.  Michael got home around 3 with an 83, and he got to play with the dog for just a bit before we both got cleaned up and left to pick up Jan and Walt.  We had dinner at Ruby Tuesday and headed into Charlotte for the symphony.  It was a salute to ‘the day the music died’ with a Buddy Holly tribute singer, a Richie Valens tribute singer and the son of the Big Bopper, Jay Richardson Jr.  They definitely looked the part and the singing and guitar work were outstanding.  It was a long concert and we weren’t home until after 11.

Michael and I ran several errands in Rock Hill on Friday (1/11) morning: the ear place for a new ear bud for his hearing aid, STAPLES for labels, and Hobby Lobby for note cards, fabric and gold stretchy string.  We didn’t get home until 12:30.  I had a quick lunch and updated the blog before heading over to Jan’s.  I don’t know if I mentioned that she is moving her sewing room from a very small room upstairs, to a much larger room in the basement.  We spent a bit of time getting almost all of her fabric back on her shelves, so that she can find what she needs.  When I got home, I got to work on the quilting binding for just a bit….I ran out of bobbin thread 6 inches from the end  L.  By then it was time to get cleaned up and have a quick dinner before picking up Rob and Bob and heading off to rehearsal.  When I got home around 9:30, I was beat and snuggled on the couch with my honey watching TV until bed.

Elsie & Cookie, quilt label

 

****  I was so excited yesterday about the fact that pictures in my blog actually worked, that I neglected to mention that was totally due to my friend NANCY…who found some sort of ‘help’ discussion board which indicated a potential way around the problem.  I’m crossing my fingers that this will work for more than a day or 2 (like the last one). *****

Thursday morning (1/10) I dropped off a pasta dish and a quart of soup to a woman who recently broke her leg.  She lives right around the corner from me and was very grateful to have several dinners taken care of  J.  I headed on over to pick up Jan and then we headed to quilting….it was a ZOO!!  Scrap Happy Quilters decided on the second Thursday of the month, we would break into small groups to work on a variety of things.  Some people are doing Christmas quilts (I’m in that group), some are doing a house quilt (Jan’s in that group), some UFO’s, some a snowmen quilt and a mystery quilt (Jan and I are both doing that one).  Today was the kickoff and everyone seemed very excited and happy about what they were working on.  I did paperwork when I got home in the afternoon, and towards dinnertime while Michael was napping (I’ve been making him take a long soak and a nap every afternoon, trying to get over his cold) I started to work on the binding and label for my quilt.  I had company of a sort while I was working:

I’ve never seen them actually sleeping ON each other….it was terrific.  

 I got the label stitched out and stitched on:

and all of the binding put on the wrong side of the quilt.  Hope to finish it on Friday.

celery, daffodils, roses, baby quilt, challah

Thursday (1/3) I was up early to pull together my quilting stuff and get to the church by 9:30.  We had a small, but congenial group and lunch was wonderful.  Almost everyone left at 1 to attend a funeral at the church, but June and I stayed behind.  June lost her not-yet-3-years-old granddaughter about 2 months ago, and I got a chance to sit and listen for 2 hours as she talked out a lot of her feelings.  I was very glad that she felt comfortable enough to talk to me, and also that there were only 2 of us in the hall.  She followed me home at 3 PM to pick up a book I thought she might like, talking about some of things both of us had talked about.

While I was at quilting, my honey took two good pictures…the second celery bottom I planted is coming up:

and we also have daffodils blooming in the front garden:

When Michael got home from a few holes of golf, we both read for a bit, then it was dinner and back to working on the baby quilt.  The top was finally finished by bedtime.

Friday morning (1/4) my friend Connie stopped by for a visit and I got to see the new shawl and scarf that she has started.  I spent time in the studio pulling out scraps of fabric to finish a UFO Christmas table runner from 2011!!  I got all of my strips cut, and pinned in the order I’m going to add them…so I will be all set to go the next Thursday available to sew on this at quilting.  Michael ran a few errands in the morning, and brought me home this:

the color on these roses is just incredibly beautiful and unusual (and note the vase...made by Walt!).  In the evening Michael and I watched a bit of TV before bed.

Michael and Ralph went golfing Saturday morning (1/5) it was cart path only, so they played from the closer tees and basically just practice golfed.  I got the baby quilt layered with polar fleece on the back:

and got a bit of knitting done on my entrelac sweater.

Sunday and Monday I spent most of my time knitting.  I’m determined to get back on track with my entrelac sweater, otherwise next winter will be here and I still won’t have it done!

I had my typical Tuesday (1/8) yesterday and it was terrific.  I spent the morning with Nancy…talking and talking and talking….came home and made a quick yoghurt shake before heading off to knitting with Joann.  When I got home I got to roll out and braid dough for challah bread:

BG made it a couple of weeks ago and hers looked absolutely heavenly….she sent the recipe and I got to make it for dinner Tuesday….along with spaghetti, tossed with homemade pesto and chopped cherry tomatoes….YUM!!  Jan and Walt came for dinner, then the guys went to the movies and Jan and I sat and talked while Cookie mostly slept in her lap.

Michael left early for golf on Wednesday (1/9) coming home later with an 88.  I ran errands in the morning, then spent a lot of the afternoon quilting the baby quilt.  By 7 PM it was all quilted and I headed upstairs to read for a bit before bed.

No blog entries lately….no surprise…am once again having trouble with pictures….I’m still writing ‘blog’, just not posting, hoping to get problem resolved….so cross your fingers for one long post!

alcohol ink paintings, baby quilt in progress

I was supposed to get together with Nancy on Wednesday (1/2) morning, but she wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home and worked on the baby quilt.  Michael went to the movies in the afternoon to see WRECK IT RALPH, and when he came home we had an ‘upside down day’.  That’s what his mom used to call it when they had pancakes for dinner….we had blueberry pancakes and bacon.  We spent the evening in the studio…he was working on new paintings and affixing old paintings to note cards: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here’s what the baby quilt looked like by bedtime:

 

 By the time the top is finished, I will have achieved my goal of finishing it totally from fabric in my stash (and leftover fabric at that!)

 

I went upstairs and put together golden pull apart butter buns for quilting on Thursday, and fell into bed.

New Year’s Day – It was a rainy, cold day and we spent the morning cleaning up from the party and running over to the local EMT station to drop off food goodies.  In the early afternoon we sat in front of the fire enjoying our books, but by the later afternoon we were in front of the TV watching THE TWO TOWERS and RETURN OF THE KING (second and third movies in the LORD OF THE RINGS franchise) and addressing cards for our post holiday missive.  The movies lasted until 10:30…but which time the cards were done and so were we!  We headed to bed.

New Year's Eve

New Year’s Eve – Michael left for golfing in the morning and I started to clean our house to get ready for our NYE party.  When Michael got home (with an 83!) he pitched right in and by the time our guests arrived (we had about 25) our house was sparkling, we had drinks mixed and food out.  Everyone brought yummy treats to feast on and I think everyone had a good time.  As usual, several people headed downstairs to play pool, while the rest of us got caught up on everything that is happening here.

 

 

Evelyn, Sue, Ann Mary, Jim

Jim & Joe

Ginny & Joe

Dennis & Larry

another Larry & Michael

Deanna & Jerry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 10 PM we passed out champagne and did our 10 second countdown.  One of the guests asked what country we were following for the “mid-night” countdown and Michael promptly said Devokistan (stress on the vok….rhymes with dock)!  We counted down and blew our horns and popped our poppers, drank champagne and sang Auld Lang Syne.  People stayed for just a bit more, then headed for home.