Since I was up so early yesterday <sigh> I finished the 16 rectangles on the Boy quilt - even before I popped over to Target.  Actually had to wait a bit for them to open (along with about half a dozen other shoppers) so I took that opportunity to clean out the car's console.  (Turns out that I did have a Busy Bees name tag buried in the bottom mess.)

No flannel sheets (Elinor needs a set for the queen bed in the trailer) though I picked up a couple of other items on my list.  Later we called Bed, Bath & Beyond, and while they did have a few flannel sheets left, none were the right size.  They offered to order some, but of course that won't work since E & R are blasting off today, heading down past Tucson to visit some other friends.

Took Brownie for a walk, and we stopped in at a yard sale.  There was a perfect wire shelf, with pull 5 or 6 pull-out drawers, but of course I had no money with me, just doggy poop bags.  So I stopped back on my way to the gym just over an hour later, but it had sold.  However the woman to whom it belonged (a different neighbor who lived "about a mile away") said she had another one just like it that she'd bring to today's sale.  So I headed over there when they "opened" at 7:00 today, and nabbed it.  Look forward to getting (at least some of <G> ) my color-sorted scraps out of bins and into something a little more user friendly.

Made up a nice big batch of tuna salad for yesterday's lunch, and in celebration of Brownie's big anniversary thought I'd treat him with people food for a change and let him lick out the cans - but he was not the least bit interested.  (He did, however, love the huge bone Alex had for him later in the day!)

After I dropped off Elinor and Richard at the MIM (which of course they thoroughly enjoyed) Brownie I back-tracked a little for a visit to the dog park. Upon our arrival there was only one dog (!) when we arrived, so we joined it in the Big Dog section.  Soon thereafter other dogs arrived, but Brownie was less than friendly with them (all on the large size, and mostly males) so we were both happier when some small dogs (a couple of corgis and a couple of beautiful Italian greyhounds) eventually showed up to play on the Small Dog side.  

When we got home from the park I saw that my design wall had arrived!  It would be wonderful if Tom and Richard got it hung today.... I've been without one now for over two years. 

In preparation for today's quilt show I charged up the camera's batteries, and was going to snap a pic of the boy quilt.  That's when I discovered that the camera is flipping out; three/quarters of the screen is no longer visible!  Tried everything I could think of to fix it before sending an SOS to Alex.  He came right over, and said it's "just" a screen issue (he's thinks it got dropped) and camera will still take a full picture - though it's going to be quite difficult to photograph quilts when I can't see what I'm getting!

Speaking of photos, saw one on FB last evening of Wanda at the show with her jacket, which (NO surprise) won a ribbon.  I know so many talented quilters! 

The same issues trying to seat the CPAP when I went to bed, and became so frustrated I decided not to even wear it last night.  Monday I will go back and see if they can figure out the issue; maybe replacing one of the parts will do the trick?

Woke at 3:45 this morning and thought I was up for the day - at that time it was too late to take anything since I needed to get up and get going this morning - but I did go back to sleep!

Now off to shower & get dressed, say bye to Elinor & Richard, and await Mary's arrival so we can head off for a day of fun at the show.

Yesterday was a relaxing day. In the afternoon I soaked with Elinor, and then did quilt Show & Tell.  For dinner I grilled chicken thighs, which turned out great - even Tom was impressed - so my dinners (last night's included Jasmine rice, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, and fresh strawberries) are two-for-two. 

Up way too early this morning, not long after 4:00. With seven nights usng the CPAP under my belt I got my lowest score yet (77%) - frustrating!

Elinor & Richard are going to do the MIM after lunch.  (He's got some repairs to do to the trailer this morning.) Since it's going to be a gorgeous day I'm planning to take Brownie to the dog park this afternoon to celebrate today's anniversary: he joined the family exactly one year ago!

My lightbox arrived yesterday!  

It is incredibly light, 

and really doesn't feel like it weighs half a kg, about a pound!

I'm excited to get started on the Copper Canyon landscape -

and of course tracing the pattern pieces will be a whole lot easier than the way it is now, up on the sliding glass door.

 

Naturally I won't be starting that until I finish the baby quilts, but now that the light box has arrived there's even more incentive to get those done now!

Yesterday I finished quilting the 16 (very small) sections on the girl quilt with the larger pattern I practiced (see bottom of photo), but have decided (wisely?) not to do the actual rail fences with the smaller design I practiced (top of photo.)  

Though both quilts will need something in the wider borders...

I did start on the boy quilt, but didn't get terribly far when I decided to quit for the day and watch Dances With Wolves, which I finished shortly before Elinor and Richard arrived around 7:00.

  Everyone enjoyed dinner (spaghetti, salad, garlic bread), and we did some chatting and catching up afterward, but they were tired from the long drive so we made it an early evening.  

Today, however, there's nothing on the agenda so we can do all the 'tours' (of the house, property, museum, shop) and of course Elinor and I will get in a soak - or two.

My mask went on my first try (without ANY issues!) last night so my scores were excellent, with a total of 97% percent.  For the first time, however, I didn't score all 70 possible usage points because I "only" wore it for 6:42, deciding not to put it back on after I got up to pee early.   On the plus side, because I didn't have to fiddle with it I did go right back to sleep... until almost 7:00!  Even better, with only 1 leak/hour I was getting the full flow I needed and registered only 1 event/hour!  I also know that I made it into REM at some point because I'm aware that I dreamed, though can't remember any details.

Had more issues with the seal last night, though I did score better than Monday night on that parameter.  However the number of times I had to take the mask on/off to adjust it was high:  2.5 times what it was the night before.

Elinor called last week to let me know that she and Richard would be arriving this week, most likely on Thursday.  She just called this morning to say they were leaving Tuba City, so I said, “Oh, you’ll be here today.”  At that point she was surprised that I was surprised… because it turns out that she thought today was Thursday.  LOL  (She also needs directions to our house again since it turns out that she left those at home in Colorado.)  The Elinor we all know and love….  

I had planned to hit the grocery store this afternoon, but instead made a run this morning to get the rest of what I needed to start a batch of spaghetti sauce in the crockpot.  That's now simmering away, and dinner will be ready whenever we decide to eat.

Back to quilting the girl top, 

and very happy to be on the fourth (and final) row now!

It was cold and windy today.

Marcie got a call from AQG that one of her quilts is an award winner.  

No real surprise to me!

Lynn stopped by today for a visit so I could give her the Halloween goodie I picked up at the quilt retreat, two sides of an adorable 3D appliqued vest (which she will need to actually sew together) which she absolutely loved.  I should have taken a photo... my bad.

I was not at all productive this afternoon - unless taking a nap counts.

Yesterday Brownie got his two booster shots at the vet 

and again passed his wellness exam with flying colors.  

I picked up a year's worth of meds for heartworm and flea & tick prevention so the bill definitely added up, but in theory he should be 'good to go' for another year.  

They were running late because the vets were busy with an emergency that had come in, but one of the techs did come into the room to explain and apologize for my wait.  I was appreciate of them keeping me in the loop - and certainly was glad I'd gone back into the house to grab my iPad so I had something to do.  

Brownie did fine with his shots, though he did 'notice' the second one, which can sting a bit.  Unfortunately all afternoon he was obviously sore: not wanting to get up (and then limping when he did), and yelping when I picked him up.  The good news is that this morning he seems to be moving much better.

I took a much-need break from quilting yesterday afternoon and walked over to Marcie's to cut the seven 1/4 yards of various white-on-white fabrics that I'd picked up for the Pink Project 'just in case' I want to work on that while she's in Mesa for the show's duration.  I'm still experiencing difficulties quilting the baby quilts, though last night in bed I did think of something else that might help.

And speaking of bed - I had definite trouble getting a good seal after my bathroom run. That was very frustrating (and at one point I was sorely tempted to just give up) though eventually seemed to get it done. But it definitely was not a night where I 'zombied' straight back into sleeping mode.

As I expected, my score of 87% this morning reflected last night's problems.  I lost 10 points for adjusting the mask seal four times (which registered 35 leaks/minute), lost another point (out of a possible five) for having 8.8 events/hour, and was dinged two points (again out of a possible five) for taking my mask off four times while I worked at adjusting it.  

Wonder if it had anything to do with me taking the components apart to clean everything yesterday.  Maybe the straps got wet and stretched?  It did seem loose on my head, though I tightened the straps twice trying to get a better seal.  Sure hoping I get better results tonight!

Quilting on the real quilt this morning has not been going as well as my practice yesterday, and I've been doing lots of ripping.  Because of that <sigh> I only have three 6" segments completed (out of sixteen) despite being at it for quite a while... and I could be happier with those three.  However I THINK I've figured out the issue.

But now it's time to take a break, have breakfast, shower, and get ready for the day.  This morning I'm to taking Brownie to the vet for his booster shots.  Luckily he doesn't seem to mind.

CPAP data now available for last night.  More leakage - but still not enough to impact my score, which has remained at 100% overall. 

Events up a tad, to 3.6 per hour - possibly due to that leakage?

I plan to get the ruler set designed for quilting borders, but in the meantime figured out one that will work for the baby quilts; practiced these yesterday on 2" strips (like the rail fences.)

So as soon as I get off of the computer 

I plan to <gasp> actually work on one of the baby quilts!

I'll close this post with a smile from my daily calendar, 

appropriate for Alex.... 'nuff said!

Guess I'd better get going on the baby quilts -

Hannah and Michael arrived Wednesday evening.

Have to admit I'm surprised at how easy the rulers are to use; I made this  different design in my second square simply by rotating the ruler 180 degrees. (See my "oops", where I wasn't careful lining up the ruler?)

And here's my third block, creating by merging the first two.

Though my stitches are not even (they said not to worry about this at the beginning) and I'm getting a bit of a clump of thread in the center, considering the very short amount of time I've been at this today I'm quite jazzed about the lack of a serious learning curve!

I found a use for some of my batting scraps, and with some muslin made a quilt sandwich.  It didn't need to be very wide since my goal is to make some pretty designs in the 2" wide strips of the baby rail fence quilts.

I had no trouble attaching the foot per the instructions, 

and then (also per the instructions) marked a sewing guide in a square.

And that's where the instructions that came with the set got a bit confusing.  To wit:

Place the Ruler Foot at the center with the needle set in the down position,

which I did

place the Spin-e-fex around the Ruler Foot.  

But you can't do that with the needle down!  So I went to YouTube and watched a couple of videos, and guess what...  As I'd thought I had to raise the needle and insert ruler and THEN lower the needle.  Once I did that, I was able to follow the next sentence:

Sew around the inside of the template, starting at the center and returning to the center.

It's not that hard to write clear directions, people.  Or if you can't, have someone like me <g> Beta test them first to clear up any confusion!  That worked for Marc & Lynne back in to mid-90s when they had me test a computer program they'd written.  It was a decision-making program meant to be user-friendly for businessmen with no computer skills, and every time I got to a confusing part I had them explain it to me, and then rewrote the directions to make sense for other techno-peasants like me.  They were thrilled with my corrections, and I was happy to help.

Can't really call it a "trend" after just two nights, but the CPAP results are encouraging!  Not only did I score 100% again, but I dropped from 3.3 "events per hour" to 2.5, and from 3.6 "leaks per minute" to 2.4, so the 'downward' graphs show upward progress.

I think the leaks are because it feels like my nose is dripping, 

so I edge the nose pillow over to wipe it.  

Maybe that's caused by the moist heated air blowing in?  I'll call on Monday and see if I can adjust one of the settings to address that issue.

Once it got light out I could see that the sky is still overcast, though don't think any more rain is forecast for today.  SnowBowl got 15" of new snow yesterday, so Alex and Clay should have a great day boarding in Flagstaff today.

I miss calling Mom on the weekends, but it's been more and more difficult to communicate over the phone (her closed captions are "late", and then often give some ridiculous "translations" of what I've actually said) so we're relying more and more on e-mail instead.  Of course most of my "news" is on my blog anyway.

I'm just about ready to put on my big girl panties and try out the quilting ruler.