Road Trippin' Together!

 Since my car is still in the shop (actually still sitting outside the shop, hasn't gotten in yet), The Hubs and I are spending lots of quality time together in his truck.  It's not all bad.  We're spending quality driving time together and can share more about our days, etc.  I've even discovered that on long trips I can read in the truck without getting sick............2 books were finished on the trip to Iowa for basketball games.  The only one who is really not liking sharing the truck is Kinze.  She hasn't been allowed to ride in the cab since DH cleaned it up for me to ride in.  She looks on very sadly each time I hoist myself into the cab, remembering the good old days when she was invited to spring up lightly into the truck and then jump out ready for adventure, very unlike the sliding down/falling out system I have mastered.  

She would definitely have spent the money to rent me a car to drive.  I pointed out that all the money we are saving by riding together and not renting a car can be used to purchase a golden retriever puppy this spring.........a companion for Kinze!  I'm not sure she would agree that this is a good idea.  She's even failing to acknowledge me coming in and out of the house anymore.

 Oh well, maybe she'll forgive me some day.

This week's truck trip (aside from DH taking me to work, etc.) was to the Western Farm Show in Kansas City on Friday.  The Hubs hadn't been to the show in about 5 years, not since Yuliya was with us and she went to the Farm Show with the FFA.  (Can I just say here that while I appreciate all of the FFA students who were visiting the farm show, really enjoying their day out of class, the booth that was giving out the long walking sticks to all of them was NOT appreciated.)  I later found the dastardly booth giving out the sticks...........the Fellowship of Christian Farmers!  What were they thinking?  My thoughts weren't exactly Christian at that point.

Anyway, I want to share some photos from the show..........

The first thing I learned was that I was incorrect in calling these things tires...........they are TRACKS!

This self-propelled hay baler really caught the Hubs attention!  Now, we don't have cows and he hates to put up hay, but he circled this machine several times.  I finally said, "Having something like this might make putting up hay worth it."  and I was shocked when he said, "Well, it just might!"

There were several large semi trailers and I was questioning how they got them to the second floor of the building.  After all, we came up in a tiny elevator, so it did make me wonder.  Later we found the big ramp that was used to drive them up.  I was still impressed with the ability it must have taken to get them around the corners and into the building.  

This also made me wonder how they got it to the second floor.  The Hubs has been looking for a combine, but the John Deere booth didn't have any.  So, instead, we looked at this one.

It's a Fendt, the largest combine there is!

And it has TRACKS!

We decided not to get one.  As they say in the movie Jaws, "You're gonna need a bigger boat!" (make that barn!)

After we finished up at the Farm Show, we headed out to get some lunch.  We have a list of the 10 Best Tenderloins in Missouri, and are attempting to try them all.  We have already sampled the one at the Perche Creek Cafe at the Midway Exit at Columbia following a trip to the fabric store in Pilot Grove.  It was number 3 on the list and was very good.  The Farm Show was located near the number 1 on the list, The Tenderloin Grill, so that was our mission.  

It was an old place sandwiched in among several Mexican Restaurants.  The smells on the street were wonderful.

And the inside............

I was lucky to get this picture when it wasn't too crowded.  

We each got a tenderloin and shared some home-cut fries.  Honestly, I don't know how this one made it on the list, let alone #1.  The breading was more like fish batter, and the meat wasn't great.  The fries were good.  After watching several of the orders, we decided that they probably had really good burgers.  We won't be going back for tenderloins though.  I do think some of the Mexican Restaurants around looked and smelled good.

Since our last tenderloin try included a stop at a quilt shop, we decided to stop at Show-Me Quilting in Raytown.  

I checked out the longarm machines they had.  They sell A1 machines.  

I was really interested in the Butler Robot, the computerized system they sell for their machines.  I had seen these in Paducah and was interested to learn that they were made in Logan, Utah, where DD went for her big engineering conference back in August.

I also got to admire this quilt the owner was getting ready to quilt for someone.........an old one with the most interesting fabrics!

And on the sewing front, I worked on the borders for the snowman embroidery project.

I don't really know what I have done to offend Cici here.  I don't know if she didn't like the fabric or what, but she is on the cutting table and her tail is still intact, so I'm unsure what the problem is.

Maybe she just needed a box of fabric to sit in!

So here it is with borders............I did fussy cut the middle border to get the words "Merry Christmas" just the way I wanted them.  I have the batting and backing cut and the binding in the same red as the inner border made.  I may just stitch in the ditch on my machine and get it finished.

Hope you enjoyed the farm show and quilt shop stop!

Christi

Quilting and Basketball??

I know, quilting and basketball don't necessarily seem to go together, but the highlights of my week were a quilt guild meeting and a basketball game.

We got to travel (via DH's truck as the car is still under the weather from my accident) to Jefferson, Iowa to see the last game of the regular season.  It was all boys' games and they won all 3, Freshman, JV, and Varsity!  We got there just at the tail end of the Freshman game and it was tied at 38 with just a couple of seconds left on the clock.  Greene County passed it in and the kid swished a 3-pointer!  Everyone yelled "Jose!"  cause that was his name.  The other 2 games were won by larger margins, but I was thrilled to get to see Jackson play a lot in the JV game and then a lot in the varsity game.  They both played hard and smelled like it when we were taking this picture.

Here they are in the varsity game together..........Jackson is on the far left, and Carter is at the top of the circle (don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about?!).

And here's another photo of them playing defense.  Carter had 17 rebounds and was the leading scorer making ALL of his free throws.  Jackson scored in the varsity game as well.  My sister was the athletic trainer for the evening and tried to help as much as she could.  The leading scorer for the other team asked to have his right hand taped (it was pretty swollen) before the game, so she taped it, but told him she didn't think he was going to like it.  He told her he just wouldn't shoot.  She told him that was OK with her since she had 2 kids playing on the other team.  She said he just grinned at her.  We noticed he took the tape off after the first quarter.  

It was also the last game ever to be played in this gymnasium.  They are building a new high school and this one will be torn down, so they took a picture of everyone who was there who had ever played or coached in this gym.

And now, on to the guild meeting (or rather back to the meeting as it happened on Tuesday before the game on Friday)

More Tiny Trees...........

 Pam and I both had our trees finished.  

Placemats by Barb (above) and Gina (below)

 Gina also showed her striped quilt..............made from one piece of striped fabric that is cut and resewn to create this quilt.

And the colors reminded her of Halloween, so she put this on the back!

Another of Gina's

And one more..........

With very bright backing!

This was Kris's tree quilt.  She digitized the trees in her longarm computer and then quilted them into the negative space!

And her hexie's............

And a flimsy (not yet quilted) she had completed...........

And Mary had a small quilt to share..........

I also showed my blue batik (I've got to come up with a better name) quilt that I had finished, but still don't have a photo of it.

I am doing another mystery quilt for the guild...........The Presidential Mystery Quilt of 2020.  I showed these as a sample of the February clue.........everyone needs 200 of these segments.  I still need to get a few (more like a lot) more done this month to be ready for the next clue.

And, I did finish my second OMG (one monthly goal) last night.  That snowman embroidery is done.  I don't have a photo yet because I had to get some smudges out and press it, and it was still wet.  Photos will come after I have the borders pieced for it, but I'm excited to finish it now.

I finished up this cute wall hanging last night as well.

Christmas Baubles!  It was a free pattern from Moda Bakeshop.  Mary quilted it for me and I love the snowflake background and swirls in the tree.  The ornaments and borders were pieced from leftovers of a charm pack.  It really didn't take much fabric.  I found the binding already made (leftover from another project) in my red scrap bin!  

I might have gotten a little more done yesterday, but received an email from Carter (senior - nephew) requesting proofing and editing of a scholarship essay that was due today.  My sister had also texted saying, "Can you help him please?  I'm playing in 2 volleyball games this afternoon."  And we spent some time on Skype with DD - she wanted our opinions on ordering graduation announcements (yes, it's getting very REAL!).

Christi

The Good and The Bad

The Chief's Won The SUPERBOWL!!!!  I had prepped the binding on this quilt to have to work on during the Super Bowl game, but someone had other ideas.  For awhile there, I was afraid the Chief's had other ideas about winning the game as well.  But, they prevailed in the end and I did finally get that binding done.  Haven't taken the finished photo yet though.  

This is a quilt of my mom's that Pam quilted for her.  It has a little more of a modern look than what we usually make.  

Below are closeups of the quilting on the front and back............

And during a basketball game (which they won!) last week, I was able to get the rows of blocks and sashings together for my  Farm Girl Vintage Sampler.  This is my main UFO project for the year which means it needs to be completed by the September meeting.  I have very little of the background fabric left,so am still debating about what to do for borders.  I have a whole tub of the other fabrics left, so it may get some type of pieced border and I will probably be making another quilt from the blocks in book 2!

And my OMG (one monthly goal) was to get my Tiny Tree quilted and bound!  It's done and it's not even halfway through the month!

So, I decided I needed a new OMG for February............

I would like to get the embroidery finished on this snowman table runner.

It's coming along.  I am working on the socks, boot buttons, and the candy cane now.  It has a pieced border that will be added after the embroidery is done.  

So, those are the good things.............. and now for the bad.  I have made 2 trips to Columbia for tests and doctors appointments for the bump on my upper gum.  They still can't decide what it is or what to do about it.  I am in another holding pattern waiting for a call back which they said would be about 2 weeks (and experience has taught me that really means 12 weeks).  And on the way home from the second trip last Thursday, I hit a slick patch of ice on the gravel road and managed to break off a utility pole with my car.  I was almost home.  At least I didn't cause a power loss for the neighborhood.  There is a new pole in place now since I really did break if off at the ground.

My poor car is going to need some repair.  It will be driveable when the hubs gets a new seat belt kit ordered and installed.  So, right now he is getting the wonderful pleasure of driving me to work, etc.  Kenzie is very put out with this development as she is used to riding in the truck with him.  In the meantime, I have declared a moratorium on doctors and dentists appointments.  I was pretty sore from the accident and spent a good portion of Friday and Saturday on the couch.  I did read 2 whole books!  Didn't get any sewing done though.  

We have guild meeting tomorrow evening (yes, the hubs gets to drive me there!) and we will be working on our Quilts of Valor projects, so I'll get some sewing time then.  Hopefully I will have some awesome quilt pictures to share!

Christi

Welcome February!

I spent the first day of February taking stock of the January accomplishments from the sewing room and cleaning things up a bit.  So, the only thing that was TOTALLY finished  in January was my 2020 Presidential Mystery quilt which I can't show until the reveal which happens after all the monthly clues have been given.  

I did complete my OMG! (One Monthly Goal).  I have decided to set one goal each month that I really want to complete.  For January, it was to complete all of the blocks for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt.  When the month started, I had a few completed, and a few more cut, but still had to cut and sew a lot of blocks.

Here they are!  First, I had to spend some time cleaning the threads off the design wall (aka plastic table cloth back).  This took a lot of sweeping strokes with the lint roller.  There were so many threads, that blocks weren't sticking well anymore.  The Hubs thought it might have been easier to just purchase another tablecloth and dispose of this one, but I didn't want to be that wasteful.  Maybe next time I'll spend a couple dollars on a new plastic table cloth.  I put all the blocks on the wall and then The Hubs arranged them to his satisfaction.  This was what he came up with.

I wanted to sew some binding to a quilt so that I could have it hand bind during the Super Bowl tomorrow, but all of my flat surfaces seemed to be covered with parts and pieces from different projects and I didn't really have a place to trim the quilt.  So, I spent most of today going from project to project doing what needed to be done to clear some surfaces.  There was a piece of yellow fabric that needed to be made into binding for Delilah, so that got checked off the list today and the rest of the fabric from that project stored in the appropriate bins.  

The blocks for my team's Quilt of Valor were pressed and photographed and then clipped together to take to our work day this month.  Here are my blocks..........

Six more blocks for the Winterlude Calendar Quilt were made from the pieces laying by the sewing machine.  Then, they were all pressed and set together ready to add borders when I decide what borders to do.  I also had bunches of scraps on the cutting table that needed to be cut and sorted for the pieced border for my Dashing Through the Snow quilt, so those were attended to and I have a nice neat stack of leader/enders on the sewing machine.  The quilt was trimmed and the binding sewn on and it awaits on the coach to be worked on during the Super Bowl tomorrow.  I found some fat quarters and fixed them to "fling" into the fat quarter basket at guild meeting this month.  The Farm Girl Vintage blocks are now sewn into rows and waiting for the sashing rows to be completed.  So, most of the flat surfaces got cleared.  There is still one pile that awaits some attention.

Cici was there throughout the process, but no photos were taken as we were in cleanup mode!  The Hubs spent the morning cleaning his desk in his office (probably messier than my sewing room).  He was also grilling some ribs and apparently got so into his project that he burned them up.  Since that was supper, he's taking me out tonight and I'm choosing the restaurant!  

A couple of nights ago, Cici was digging behind the bookcase in the living room which was quite a feat as there is hardly any space between the bookcase and wall.  She desperately wanted something that was behind the bookcase.  The Hubs finally got the yard stick and managed to scrape out a couple of her toy mice............ones that we hadn't seen in months!  So, I suggested to my bored hubby (hey, he cleaned his desk, I know he is bored) that he move some things like the bookcase, couch, bed, etc, and vacuum and dust behind them and see what other treasurers he could find.  

Well, Cici does like to hide stuff.  He came up with at least 3 sparkly balls, 8-9 toy mice that we haven't seen forever, several empty spools, and a brand new watch that I "lost" several months ago.  It had been so long that I had forgotten about it.  

We are looking forward to the Super Bowl tomorrow.  They say there are 2 kinds of people who will watch the Super Bowl...........the ones that get together to watch it as a party and the kind who want to stay home and watch by themselves so they can really focus on the game.  We are the latter.  I found a couple of fun recipes to try and we will hang out watching by ourselves.........we can rewind and watch great plays over again or watch funny commercials again if the game is going badly.  

Here's to a Chief's WIN!!!!

Christi