Friday, June 30, 2017

Tom, who suffered through the worst of growing out his hair until it became long enough to contain in a ponytail, decided that he no longer wants the hassles of dealing with long hair.

Here he is today, post-shower and pre-haircut.


And just a little while later, after being shorn.  Now he definitely looks less grubby (his own take was that he was "looking like someone who lived under an overpass") and considerably younger.



When Irene came over to pick up the jelly roll quilt (I should get it back at the Foothills meeting on July 12) she brought along her quilting portfolio.  Marcie, who has been needing a new quilter, was able to break away from the service guys at her house and see pix of some of Irene's handiwork.  And she was so glad she did!



Some of Irene's quilting -

The woman who made this patriotic quilt found (!) the embroidered state blocks.



and Irene spruced up the quilt with this eagle.



It's easier to see her  quilting on the back of this one.



This quilt is not my style, but I do like how she echoed the doilies.





Her hibiscus coordinated wonderfully with the floral fabrics.



Cute Boots




Check out the Monument Valley and Redrock 'landscape'
that she incorporated into this background.



Irene did this dragonfly free-hand to complement the dragonfly fabric.
Too bad Patti didn't get to see this one.





Some of the quilts were just plain cute! 
Did you notice that these plant stems are rickrack?



Adorable bugs for Rodney



Fish



The wedding quilt Irene quilted for me wasn't in her portfolio -


but the elephant wall-hanging I made for Andy was!



So many beautiful quilts to admire - we all enjoyed going through her book.




Wanda pretty much got her London City Bag finished this afternoon - but for some reason <sigh> I did not take a picture of it.  Maybe when it's all done....



Perri, who was feeling under the weather today (she brought her oxygen with her) visited and lunched with us, but wasn't up to doing any sewing.  Patti got busy at home and never did make it over.
My oncologist's office just called to reschedule an upcoming appointment. Since it was scheduled at my recent follow-up just to go over the results of the bone density scan she was ordering, it seems like a phone call would be sufficient.  Of course they don't get paid for the phone calls they make, just office visits.



Now instead of needing to schlep out into the afternoon July heat for a 1:45 pm appointment, I will see her at 8:30 am.  It's always good this time of year not to have to venture out into the heat of the day!  Yesterday I had to wait to run my errands (library, gas, fruit run) until after the exterminator had come and gone (he was scheduled for sometime between 9-11, and luckily arrived near the front end of that time slot) and so I was home before it hit triple digits... car thermometer read 99.  <g>



FYI Ken did confirm that it was just a regular, run-of-the-mill bark scorpion.

After I get back from the gym late this morning I'm hosting a mini Sew Day.  Perri and I have been having fun with our recent get-togethers over here, and today Wanda is going to be able to join us.  Marcie got added to the mix, and with Irene and Patti also slated to "stop in" it is turning into quite the party. 


 
Last night I whipped up a mega batch of chicken salad (to go with the hb eggs and strawberries & cantaloupe) for lunch, and Marcie is bringing over some of the chocolate chip cookies Hilda made, so we're not likely to go hungry.


When Marcie stopped by yesterday she brought me a list of all the dies she has for her (electric!) AccuCutter. I'm guessing that at some point (once she's all unpacked and moved in) this group of her "new best friends" will be playing in her sewing room! 


I was glad to see that her list included the most important, a 2.5" strip cutter.  I'd like to turn at least some of my scraps into useable pieces for a (sort of) jelly roll quilt.



And speaking of sewing play dates, the Valley of the Sun group is having a get-together for the "locals" on July 8th because one of the out-of-town members will be visiting.  I've been invited, and thinking of attending.

 

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Marcie and Latina came over this afternoon.  Tyga did not seem to mind sharing his food. (The actual issue turned out to be that Latina minded "sharing" the humans!)



C'mon down and play?



Hey - get down here and play with me!



Doesn't look like Tyga is into this discussion.



Last night Alex commented that I hadn't made any more progress on my auction piece.  Since all it actually need was the facing, this morning I watched the excellent tutorial Wanda had found for me.


I thought I had the process wired and under control... but once I got to work it turned out <g> that I created an "interesting" mistake design opportunity!


  Once I do the blind-stitching by hand
it will be ready to travel to Colorado with me in a few weeks.



Alex is off to the airport; Aja drove him so I didn't have to after all. Tyga will be here with us until Monday, because with the holiday approaching Aja will be working even longer double shifts this weekend than usual. 


So Marcie is going to pop over later this afternoon with Latina
so the pooches can play.


Alex and I went for a swim yesterday afternoon while Tom was busy making dinner - though Tyga was less enthusiastic about the water <g> than the pix from the previous day's fun at Stevie's would seem to indicate.


Aja shared more pics from that pool party:



The dinner party last night (with Wanda, Alex, and Aja) was wonderful



We all raved about everything (the fried walleye was beyond delicious, and I think the zucchini & squash dish Tom whipped up was the best I'd ever tasted), and pretty sure we all ate way too much - but it was so tasty none of us wanted to stop eating! 


Aside from setting the table and tossing the salad (my contributions) it was all Tom's doing - though I did have the 'honor' <g> of cleaning up the greasy mess afterward.  But it was definitely worth it!


Tyga was busy enjoying his own treats
so we were spared his sad puppy dog eyes during dinner.




After dinner (when the kids left to pick up Alex's car) Tom and Wanda enjoyed reminiscing about their time in wonderful Bisbee some 50 (!) years ago, when Wanda was raising her family there and Tom was in the army and stationed at Ft. Huachuca. 

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

I should have realized that my band-aids would not make it through this morning's shower unscathed.  The good news is that the slice seems to have stayed closed after yesterday's bandage "construction", with no sign of infection. 


I re-bandaged it myself, and hope that my singular handiwork holds
until my next shower.



Even though I wasn't going to participate in this morning's jelly roll race at Foothills, I popped in to take a few pix for the website.  Did bring in my completed top to show, and Laura liked my connecting squares so much that she decided to do the same thing on hers.



Next I swung by Mulqueen's to check out their stash of extra-wide fabrics for the backing, and discovered that they had totally rearranged the store (yesterday!)  Despite their numerous bolts of extra-wide, running almost the entire length of the back wall, I did not find anything I liked - until I checked out the sale rack, where I found something in a 'regular' bolt which I think coordinates perfectly -


because not only do the bolts of fabric create "stripes" which mimic the jelly roll strips, but also the fabrics are polka dots!


I also picked up a copy of their Row By Row of an eagle in flight - what a stunning block!!!  Wish I'd snapped a pic, but unfortunately my camera was out in the car... and I wasn't inclined to make a trip out to the parking lot for it even though it's 'only' going to be about 108 today. So I'm stuck with a lesser-quality pic from the pattern itself.



Next I decided to stop in at the Quilted Country Bear store just for their Row By Row - but where I found the perfect backing for my spool quilt.


So of course I bought it!



Shortly after I arrived home Alex and Tyga stopped in for a visit (and to pick up his package.) He shared some more pix of yesterday's swim with Tyga. You KNOW it's hot when Tyga willingly goes swimming!