Time to blog; I haven't posted since I left on Friday 

for Saturday's AQG meeting in Payson.

When I picked up Marcie she was toting a sleeveless dress on a hanger.  I warned her "it's gonna be chilly up there"... several times! She should have listened to me... <g> 

After an uneventful drive we checked into our suite (really nice digs!) before 5:00.  And yes, it was chilly up there!  First thing Marcie did was buy a nice warm sweater, with long-enough sleeves for her, in the gift shop.  (According to news we saw on the TV later, the temp was going to plummet to 34 that night.)  

Dinner was at my favorite Payson eatery, Macky's Grill, 

conveniently located less than a mile from where we were staying.  

As always the food was delicious - though with their usual large portions neither of us could finish our meal.  Glad we went as early as we did because by the time we left there was a  substantial crowd waiting to be seated.

We vegged out during the rest of the evening, watching Animals Cribs, 

a "new" show for Marcie.

  The episodes we caught featured creative habitats for goats, snakes, a pot-belly pig - and one family's menagerie included a sulcata tortoise named Pokey.

During the evening Joy called.  Karen had asked her to fill in write up the Foothills blurb, so that was the motivation I needed to get going on the pix from Wednesday's program.

Saturday morning I got my usual early start to the day; I was up at 4:00 <sigh>   But at least that gave me plenty of time <g> to resize, crop, and then post the pix from Kelly Grant's trunk show on Wednesday.  It was nice that I had the sitting room to use so I wouldn't disturb Marcie, though she woke up quite early herself.

Amanda Castor, designer of Material Girl Quilts, was the featured speaker.  Her quilts incorporate a lot of half-square triangles and flying geese, so all certainly look quite doable.  While most of her color choices  didn't particularly appeal that much to me, I did like her Spiral Bound pattern, and will add it to The List:

I picked up her Flying South pattern that Mary had requested, and at a neighboring booth an adorable bird pattern for me.  Yes, The List continues to grow!

During the President's Challenge Show & Tell (embellished items), Marcie stepped up to display the dress she was wearing.  Not only had she had designed and made the dress, which was impressive to begin with, but had done stunning embroidery on the collars and hem.  Looked like a "real" dress, something you would buy in a high-end store.

Loop 101, closed most weekends because of road construction, happily was open yesterday, so we had an easy drive home and did not have to resort to yet more surface streets.  (Speaking of surface streets, we made such good time coming across the valley on Shea, making most of the lights, that we arrived at the 101 before I knew it!)  But just as we were nearing our exit off of the 101 and were practically home, we suddenly came upon a 3-car accident that had just happened in the right lane.  One of the injured cars was infringing on our middle lane, and avoiding it forced me uncomfortably close to the car in the left lane.  Close call!

I was definitely tired last night, and climbed into bed at 9:30 and started reading My Dear Hamilton.  Turned off light at 10 and pretty much went right to sleep - until 6:30 this morning!!!  And even more of a surprise, I did not get up during the night!