Tuesday I drove Wanda over to Jessica's to drop off three quilt tops (and deliver the hefty tub-load of scraps I had for her) and on Wednesday all three were done in time to give to Anita to bring back to this side of town!  (As much as Jessica gets accomplished, I'm reasonably sure that she never sleeps!) 

Carol came along for the ride so she could see Jessica's incredible studio, and like all of us she was impressed (and more than a little jealous, given her very down-sized itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny sewing area in her new home.) 

As long as I was there (and while Wanda and Jessica were conferring on various quilt patterns and thread colors for the three quilts) I rummaged in Jessica's blue scrap tub, and brought back a dozen blue strips to incorporate additional diversity into my jellyroll sizzle.  Because the scrappier the better, right?

Afterward we went out to lunch, another 'new' restaurant for me.  

My Raspberry & Feta salad ("mixed greens, French feta, candied walnuts, raspberries, and raspberry vinaigrette") was delicious, and Wanda kept raving about her lunch choice, which included the slice-of-the-week special that was topped with too many goodies for me to remember.

A week earlier, after a series of unfortunate circumstances had led her to being cat-less for the past 18 months, Carol has finally able to get a cat.  Both cats she'd had for many, many years had died, and she had actually been 'shopping' for a cat the day that she fell, ending up down-for-the-count for many months. (In truth she's still dealing with some of those issues.)   Then she had been packing and moving, but even once in her new place renovations dragged on (and on, and on.) 

Mimi is a black 9yo who had been adopted by one of Carol's friends after the original owner died.  Unfortunately the cat gang already in that household did not accept Mimi as one of their own, so she had ended up relegated to living in a home office (with limited human contact) for the past four years.   Mimi was understandably shy in her new environment at first, spending the lion's share of her time under the couch.  

Happily after a few days she began to feel more comfy, even sleeping on Carol's bed (but unhappily keeping her awake at times.)  Maybe in another week or two Mimi will feel brave enough to entertain visitors; I'm looking forward to meeting her.

Irrigation Tuesday night did NOT go well because for almost the first hour there was hardly any pressure.  Neither Jeff nor Terry everfigured out what the problem was - but mysteriously the flow did become happier during the second hour.  But as is always the case whenever an issue, the western side of the front yard didn't get water, which means I'll be watering that VIST (very important shade tree) with (very expensive) city water.

Yesterday morning I snuck in some weeding before Busy Bees, though of course not where I wanted to (the main front, where I hadn't let Tom mow yet...) because it hadn't gotten water.

Monica brought my label for Mia's quilt, and I've already sewed it onto the quilt!

Donna made it to Busy Bees briefly, so I was able to pass along the yardage of teddy bear fabric for her to use as backing on some of her kid quilts.  I'd brought in the charity quilt I'd made as "admission" to the ice cream social (enjoyed having a banana split for lunch) and picked up some yardage Louise had brought in that will work well for its backing.  Betsy has agreed to quilt it.

I didn't have my iPhone with me (I'd put in on the charger in the morning, " sure" I'd remember to put it in my purse before I left...) so I couldn't take any pix of the cute quilts the other ladies were working on.

I didn't finish the binding at Busy Bees (seemed like there were way more than four corners on this quilt....) but did finish last night while watching some Jeopardy episodes after dinner.  Soon it'll be ready to head off to Maryland, once I take some photos and get it wrapped up.

Did more weeding in the jungle in the afternoon, and was very happy to get into the pool to cool off.  It felt really muggy yesterday, so being in the shade didn't help at all. 

Going to do a little yardwork this morning and then get ready for the gym.  Missed last Thursday (when Antoine was sick) and will miss next Thursday (when I'm heading to Neil's Celebration of Life in Colorado) so hope that I get in a session today.

 We actually got a little rain (I'd classify it as a "heavy sprinkle") after dinner last night, though not enough to make much of a difference.  It certainly didn't rinse off the very dirty oleanders in the jungle, where the hose won't reach.  Without all the accumulated dirt (made worse by the recent monsoon winds) they would look like this:

When I was checking on them this morning, I found this bird's nest about four feet off the ground.

Here it is, with my hand for scale:

It wasn't attached to the oleander, and lifted out easily for better photos.

From this view of the outside bottom it appears well constructed 

(unlike the dove 'nests' we keep finding.) 

After I snapped these photos I replaced it, just in case someone can use it again.  Hope that one of my birder friends can ID the bird who built it, which would give me a better idea if it's likely to be reused.

9 types of bird nests

Had a delightful tune-up at the chiropractor today.  Don't think I mentioned that I tweaked things a bit on Friday morning just reaching up into the cabinet for a mug.

 WEDNESDAY was Sew Day at Foothills, and I got a start on the hand-binding on Mia's quilt.  (I was not the only one who opted not to schlep my machine and do handwork instead.)  Didn't get as far around the quilt as I'd hoped (too much visiting?) but I did find new homes for all the baby aloes, and all but one of the quilting books I brought to donate.

On the way home I swung by Home Depot, where I bought the door moulding for Alex to attach when he gets home.  (Tom didn't sound too excited about doing that.)  Unfortunately HD was out of stock on the light fixture we chose for the back porch, but I did find a screw hook so Alex can hang the philodendron on the back post when he gets home.  The hook rated to 250 pounds, so it should be find to hold any plant!

Later in the afternoon I popped over to Ila's to "shop" the panels she'd scored at a recent sale.  She plans to bring them to the Charity Sew Day to donate this coming Wednesday, but I'll be at the Busy Bees Charity Sew Day (and Ice Cream Social) then.  We'll be making banana splits.  Anyone surprised that I signed up to bring the chocolate syrup?

I came home from Ila's with these two cuties, which are brighter than they appear in the pix.  I'm thinking some pinwheel blocks would work for borders.

Before I headed over to Ila's house (for the first time) I thought it probably <G> would be a good idea to add her phone number to my iPhone, but experienced some difficult finding the add contact option with the + sign.  So I got out my handy dandy iPhone book, but (as usual) the index was worthless.  Using logic and common sense, I searched for contact, add, phone, etc. but eventually I gave up in disgust. 

Who writes these "instruction" books that skip over important basics?!?!

I met her husband James (from Jamaica) and learned about a native plant for salads that he grows.  Forget the name of it, but it's sort of a cross between spinach and kale, and I thought it tasted good.

THURSDAY morningTom mowed Back 40 while I did my own couple hours of yardwork.  After a much-needed shower I was getting dressed and ready to head to gym when Antoine cancelled because he wasn't feeling well.  We all know how I feel about missing the gym...

And yes I still could have gone to the gym and worked out on my own...

Instead I did some sewing on the jellyroll sizzle and also got started on the charity quilt, with the sheep fabric, for Busy Bees.  Don't want to schlep my machine next week so the plan is to bring in a completed top.

The monsoon threatened in the afternoon, with dark skies, wind, and an accompanying dust storm - but (again) without any rain.  Hope we're not in for another NONsoon season...

FRIDAY morning Tom mowed the back yard while I cleaned up the pool from the previous day's "storm" and also trimmed the oleanders in the jungle.  After I got myself cleaned up I headed over to Linda's mid-morning.  The raffle quilt she's been embellishing is most impressive, and I see why she wanted to show it to me.  I definitely will be buying some tickets!  

I had brought along some quilting books I thought Linda would like - and I was right!  Always nice to rehome things I'm not going to use, especially when I can find just the right person who will enjoy them.

Kingsley was not at all happy with my presence (even though I didn't even try to engage with her), but Zahn was happy to get an invite to swim over her "one of these days." 

 

Here he was in 2016, when Linda brought him over to swim.

After I left Linda's I popped over to Bob's Variety, looking for fabric.  (Their prices are great!) Everything I used in the main part of the quilt came out of my stash, but despite all my choices just couldn't find the right fabric for the border.  Settled on these hearts Bob's:

SATURDAY I worked two hours in jungle, trimming and raking until the organics can was full.  By then it felt good to get into the pool and help Creepy vacuum spots it'd missed.

Mary came over for a visit, and admired how well the plants are doing; our experiment has a third sprout, and my new aloe garden got a big thumbs up.  She also approved of the charity quilt I'm working on for Busy Bees, and I passed along the pattern they are going to work on Wednesday "just in case" she wants to whip up one before Wednesday; she also does not want to schlep her machine.

Later in the day I assembled my blocks -

Of course it will look better with a border.

Yummy stir fry for dinner (nice to have Tom cooking) and then lots of wind in the evening - but still no rain to make up for messing up the nice clean pool.  If we're going see any rain it'll likely be closer to Tuesday evening, when we'll be getting our next irrigation.

SUNDAY started with pool cleaning and plant watering.  Puttered around until Costco opened at 10, and bought a 50# bag of birdseed.  One of the doves kept fluttering by the front window this morning, as if to let me know the feeder was empty.

This afternoon I put borders on the charity top.

Also watched The Janes documentary.  Excellent, and (sadly) timely.

The Janes tells the story of a group of unlikely outlaws. Defying the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of Jane risked their personal and professional lives to help women in need. From 1968 - 1972 in the pre-Roe v. Wade era –– a time when abortion was a crime in most states and even circulating information about abortion was a felony in Illinois –– the Janes provided low-cost and free abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.

Today is the first "official" day of summer, though we've been at it for a while now.  

To celebrate the day our power went off at 10:15 this morning.  I called APS to report it, but the automated system wasn't working quite right so I had to wait to connect to a real person, which took about 15 minutes.  She said they were aware of the outage and were working to fix it, and the estimated time for restoration of service was 1:30.  

It was back on by 10:45.

Marcie called to see if we'd lost power; their auxiliary generator had switched on and she thought it might be a glitch - but turns out it was just doing exactly what it was supposed to.  While I was on the phone with her Joy also called to check if we'd lost power.  

Never a good thing when you're the only one who's lost power...

I made a trip over to Stardust, and this time they were open.

Stardust

It's an interesting place, and I found the perfect grate to cover the irrigation vault.  It was only $15, and just fit into my car.

This afternoon I made up the binding for Mia's quilt, and was half-way through sewing it on when I noticed ...

Just when I think I've made every possible mistake I learn that's not the case.  

So I got out my trusty seam ripper and then started over.  Even joined the tails!  "Sew" it's all ready to take to Foothills tomorrow for the hand-stitching. 

Also taking the baby aloes to see if anyone 'needs' some.

Alex joined us for dinner (rib eyes, corn on the cob, fruit) before heading out.  He's taking an early morning flight to Michigan for the Electric Forest festival.

Electric Forest