second quilt of valor - done!, 1st set dinosaur blocks together, quilt bombed car

After breakfast on Friday (10/23), Michael headed out for a walk with Cookie while I headed to the studio.  I’ve been doing a lot of long arm quilting recently and have been missing sewing, so I settled in to do some of that.  I wove in the bobbin ends on the second quilt of valor before getting my embroidery machine humming while I was sewing together blocks for the first dinosaur quilt.  Jeanette stopped by around lunchtime to pick up the valor quilt:

and I had a quick snack before getting back to “slaving away over a hot sewing machine “.  By dinnertime I had the first set of embroideries put together: 

 

I’m going to do the same thing to the other 2 sets before I work on borders for all 3.  But by then it was time to get cleaned up and (with Susan), head on over to Jim’s house.  He wanted to show us his new house (he’s only been there a month or 2) and we had a great dinner of potatoes, butternut squash and beef tenderloin.  Then we played several games of cards…and many runs of Mexican Train Dominos before heading home again.  We watched an episode of FARGO before heading to bed.

I have to show you this picture...it is incredible.  My friend June went to a quilt show last week, and the organizers had quilt bombed a car...it is unbelieveable:

 

Michael in action, a plethora of fleece blankets

Michael headed out for his golf lesson

 

and I headed to quilting just after 9 AM on Thursday (10/22).  The place was already hopping when I got there!  I got set up and managed to get a few more blocks done on 2 fall quilts (that’s probably fall of 2016 :~) before stopping for a lunch of Mexican Chicken soup and rolls.  When I got home I had a tiny bit of time to get suited up and met Pat at the Lake House for another hour (actually a bit more) of water walking.  When we do this together, you know the muscle that gets the biggest workout?...our jaws :~)  After walking, I headed to Pat’s car to pick up a TON of blankets. 

 

Pat and Diane bought a ton of fleece during that big sale a week or so ago.  Last week at quilting they layered and cut all of the coordinating pieces, then Wednesday night Pat had a group of neighborhood ladies over to her house to tie all of the fringe together.  I ran these up to Debbie P on the way home and she was THRILLED at the beautiful new blankets for Clinton School.  I feel really good about the donations that continue to pour in!  When I got home I poured a drink and along with Anne, headed over to my neighbor Susan’s for an impromptu happy hour.  The 3 of us sat and talked for a couple of hours…it was delightful.  By the time I got home Michael had already left for rehearsal and I plopped myself down on the sofa and knit the night away until he got home.

Elsie & Cookie, quilt of valor 2 almost done

I had trouble sleeping Wednesday morning (10/21), so got up early and got a lot of paperwork done.  I had company while I was doing it:

Yes mom, it's cold...we're gonna snuggle on your blankie!

I had breakfast with my honey before he left at 8 AM for golf, and then had a visit from Sandy F, who wants me to quilt a quilt for her (YAY - a paying customer :~).  After that I headed to my studio to work on the second quilt of valor.  I love Wednesdays because that is generally the day I get to stay home and quilt/sew all day….but in general, I get frequent interruptions that cause me to spend quite a bit of time on the phone.  Some nights when I go to bed and say “what exactly did I do today?”….I know the real answer is that it was a day like today.  Here’s what today was like….someone from our SCCL LIVING magazine called asking about the dates of the Angel Tree drive and when we would also have tables in the lobby to collect money.  That information is on our master calendar, and I looked that up to give to him, but the table dates looked “hinky”, so I put in a call to the secretary to confirm.  The next call was a woman from Chik-fil-a who is doing a pajama ministry and is looking to donate enough pajamas for EVERY child at Clinton School!  She is looking for contacts, so I made several calls to talk to the principal at the school, and I was also looking for a contact at Transformation Church to get in on the pajama drive.  Jan called to tell me something I’ve been looking for, for several weeks, is on sale at a local store.  Willa called to make sure the survey for our quilt group went out.  The treasurer of Volunteers called to ask if she could come and get some of the paper/plastic bags I collected at our last meeting.  Ralph called to talk about our flights in January for Iceland.  One of the Thursday quilters called to ask questions about the survey I sent out this morning.  Two more calls from Ralph about our flights to and from JFK for Iceland.  The Volunteer secretary called back, but she wasn’t sure about the table dates either, so she said she had to call some other people and she would call me back.  There were a few more people calling, but I was desperately trying to get the quilting done, so I didn’t write them down.  All in all, between 9 AM and 5:30 PM I made and/or received TWENTY CALLS!!!  That’s about 19 too many :~).  Anyway, Michael and I had pork chops on the grill for dinner, and I headed back downstairs to finish up the last rows on the second quilt of valor.  I was done 3 minutes before it was time to call Janice for our weekly visit. 

 

We talked for an hour and were excited about the fact that we will see each other in two short weeks at the Fiber Floozie retreat!  When we were done, I headed upstairs to watch a bit of TV with my honey before bed.

crockpot, Jan & me, second quilt of valor loaded

Tuesday (10/20) was another busy, busy day (aren’t they all lately?)  I was at the hairdressers by 9 AM and back home again at 10:30.  I made sure this time that the light was on (for my Mexican Chicken Soup), on the crockpot: 

 

before Jan swung by to pick me up

 

and we headed out to a late breakfast.  By the time we ate and talked and talked and talked, and swung by the library, I was home at 12:30.  Enough time to visit with my honey briefly before heading to the bank, and then to Stitch and Chat.  I got LOTS of stuff at S&C for Clinton School…hats, mittens and scarves and also a large (and heavy!) bag of school supplies.  Since I was in the golf cart and didn’t want to leave any of that stuff out in the parking lot, I lugged it all into the pool where Pat W and I water walked for over an hour.  By the time I got home I had time to get through a few emails, and then it was time for dinner.  The soup was excellent…the only problem was that I couldn’t find any cornmeal in my freezer for the corn bread I always serve with it :~(.  I have lots of leftover soup, so I hope to get some cornmeal to make cornbread on Wednesday.  Michael left for rehearsal and after cleaning up the kitchen a bit, I headed downstairs to try to be productive.  I spent a good bit of time getting the second quilt of valor loaded,

 

and creating a quilting design to use on it.  I found a few more free quilting designs on the internet and spent a half an hour getting those loaded to my tablet as well.  I headed upstairs after that to read and wait for my honey to get home around 10.

crockpots, demo at machine embroidery, first quilt of vaolr, rolls, shredded chicken tutorial

Monday (10/19) was a whirlwind day.  Michael was up early to get ready for golfing at Fort Mill (he came home in the afternoon with an 85!), and I jumped up to get chicken thighs in my smaller crockpot and Mexican Chicken Soup in my larger crockpot.   

 Then I ran to the store to get purple and teal balloons (4 of each, 1 for each decade of Jan’s life) and dropped them off at her house with a card.  Yes….today is her 80^th birthday…we were hoping to have her and Walt over for dinner, but it is a big soccer game for Jan’s grandson Ethan, so that’s where she is going.  At 9:15 AM, I headed up to the Lake House for a Volunteer Board meeting, followed by our regular membership meeting.  I came home from that, crammed 1/2 a sandwich in my mouth, packed up the golf cart and headed back up to the Lake House for our Machine Embroidery meeting.  We had a good meeting, and I gave a demo at the end of embroidering on nylon net.  Everyone seemed surprised that I didn’t use any stabilizer…just 2 thicknesses of nylon net, but it worked perfectly for the butterflies I appliquéd onto my tulip quilt.  

I headed home at 3 Pm and Jeanette came over shortly afterwards to see Miss Scarlett in action.  I finished up the last 3 rows on the first quilt of valor, and Jeanette took it home to trim and bind.  I think it is a very pretty quilt:  

By that time it was dinner…and all I can say is, I’m glad we still had leftover meatloaf, since I never turned on the crockpot for the Mexican Chicken soup :~(.  Oh well, dinner will already be put together for Tuesday :~).  I made up rolls with the rest of the dough, 

 so at least we had fresh rosemary rolls to go with our leftovers.  Michael left just after dinner for rehearsal, and I turned my chicken thighs into perfectly shredded chicken (for future recipes):  

I layered boneless/skinless chicken thighs in crock and cooked on low for 6 -7 hours

put 4 - 5 in my mixer with about 1/2 cup of broth and turned it on low

voila, perfectly shredded chicken!

 After that, I read my book for the rest of the evening.

cold meat loaf sandwich tutorial, quilt of valor#1 started

You know the best thing about making meatloaf don’t you???  Cold meatloaf sandwiches the next day….YUM!!!  Here’s my brunch special on Sunday (10/18):

 

homemade bread in the slicer...I just LOVE this slicer...made by a friend

ready for anything!

a good layer of mayonnaise on both sides

a thick slice of meatloaf, a good sprinkle of salt & pepper

OMgoodness...incredible!

Other than enjoying my smurfy sandwich, the rest of the day was spent loading up and figuring out the quilting program for the first quilt of valor:   

I'm doing as a charity effort for Quilt-a-holics

I did get to walk in the pool at the Lake House for 45 minutes in the afternoon, and after quilting for a bit, at 8:30 PM I headed upstairs for TV and snuggling with my honey before bed.

blueberry muffins, Jeannie & Willa at craft sale, dinner food, Paula & Doug, Sue & Dennis

Saturday morning (10/17) Michael and I were both up early.  He had a golfing lesson, and I made 28 blueberry muffins with streusel topping for a Cooking Fingers bake sale.   

Saturday was the craft sale at the Lake House and Cooking Fingers sells muffins/cupcakes made by the members, and then donates that money to charity.  This year it will go to our local Food Bank.  I was home around 10 after delivering and called Pat…she wanted to go to the sale, so she picked me up and we headed back up.  It was PACKED….which is a good thing…lots of foot traffic and I got pictures of a couple of my friends:   

 

fellow Fiber Floozie Jeannie

some of her sports teams bowl holders...they are GREAT!

more of her wares....

Willa selling as well

After that, I headed up to Pat’s house as she was supposed to help me make name tags for Michael character in the play….she didn’t help…she just did it all and they look great:   

 By the time I got home it was time to work on dinner.  While Michael got potatoes/carrots started, 

finally ready for mashing...

snug in the crockpot to keep warm...after taste testing of course :-)

I made roll dough (rosemary rolls…I loved them), 

starting their rise

ready for the oven

meatloaf, 

and a broccoli casserole.  

Paula & Doug 

and Sue & Dennis 

showed up at 6 PM for dinner.  Paula thought we were having soup…and that WAS the original plan….but she talked about wanting to try Michael’s potato/carrot mash…so we decided to change the menu and she was thrilled.  I loved our dinner…it’s been a long time since I made meatloaf.   

We were going to play games after dinner….but we just got to talking and that’s what we ended up doing all night.  Paula brought cupcakes for dessert, both German chocolate and chocolate cherry 

 and they were scrumptious!  After everyone left, we cleaned up for just a bit, then Michael watched a bit of TV and I continued to read.