Out of Sorts!

 Someone has been "out of sorts" lately.  Her PURRFECTLY ordered world has been turned upside down.  We have just finished an upgrade to our main bathroom which meant we were using the small bathroom where Cici's food and water dishes are as our sole bathroom for about a week.  And then, WE WENT OUT IN THE EVENING!  Yes, we went to the Marshall High School play, Deadly Deal, because one of my piano students was in the cast.  Andi did a wonderful job and it was really fun to go out and do something like that.  The cast was small, the crowd (can hardly call it a crowd) was small and it was fun.  We also realized we hadn't been in the high school since Sarah graduated almost 5 years ago.  There were new doors at the entrance (making it look like a prison in my opinion), new doors to the gymnasium (looked great!), and new seats and flooring in the little theatre - very nice!  After the performance, we lingered in the commons just looking around.  Sarah's picture and plaque are still hanging there for having over a 30 ACT score and/or over a 4.0 GPA.  She had both.  I noticed they have not added any of these to the wall since she graduated.  So, in the midst of all this reminiscing, we somehow forgot (gasp!) to put more food in Cici's dish before we went to bed that night.  To make her displeasure at this situation very apparent, she got up on the kitchen island in the night and tipped over a vase of flowers.  When I found the mess in the morning, there was no water on the floor.............because I had left a pile of piano student checks, receipts, and my notepad with my To Do list on the counter which had sopped up all of the water.

I managed to peel the checks and receipts apart and hang them on the oven doors to dry out.  The flowers hit the trash can as did the notepad with the To Do list.  So, in making Lemonade out of the Lemons, I told the hubster I guessed that meant I could just do whatever I wanted for the day!

Even Willow has been trying to make Cici feel better!

You can imagine how well that is going over!

And the new bathroom..........

New tub, tile, fixtures.............

Same countertop, but new cabinet.  The new cabinet has been in place for a couple of months, but then this project stalled due to the tile work.  I finally suggested to my "do-it-yourself-husband" that we could hire the tiling done and he jumped at it!  He really doesn't like tile work.

New light fixture over the counter..........unfortunately the hubster broke the mirror (7 years!) so we are headed to Sedalia this evening to return extra tile and other stuff and pick up a mirror.

Lest you think that the sewing room has been abandoned (it almost has), there is one finish to share.......

For you Star Wars fans, this is Sarah's BB-8 quilt that she designed and helped piece last summer.  She asked Mary Durham to quilt it and purchased the backing, a gray snuggle fabric that was NOT fun to hand stitch the binding down on, but it's FINISHED!

Well, maybe I'm off to the sewing room today to play with the long arm........we'll see!

Christi

Another Quilt Shop Adventure

 We went to visit Sarah a week ago.  We hadn't seen her since she went back to St. Louis at the beginning of January.  We took our time getting there, stopping at 3 quilt shops along the way.  The first was All N Stitches in New Florence.

I enjoyed this shop and visiting with the owner.  There were lots of displays that I liked and I did spend a little money here.  She had a nice display of Glide thread for longarming.

I really liked this Christmas panel..........

But the cutest thing of all was this 3 month old Australian Shepherd-Corgi mix puppy named Moose!  Moose was out for a potty break when we arrived, so we got to pet him and get our hands and faces washed........I'm really sure it was COVID-safe!

Our nest stop was the Gypsy Moth Quilt Shop in Warrenton.

It was a really cute LITTLE shop...........I mean it was probably only 12x12 including the bathroom.  Everything was beautifully displayed though.  There were lots of Elizabeth Hartman patterns and lots of bunny fabrics.  And this working gumball machine by the door with bobbins in it was adorable.

And David's favorite part was that this place was right next door...........newly reopened after being closed for the pandemic.  We enjoyed our lunch there.

We also stopped at Susie Q Quilting in Wentzville.  It was just a little larger than the Gypsy Moth, but crowded with lots of bright fabrics.

My only purchase was this yard of fabric for a quilting friend who is a Cardinal's fan.

We enjoyed spending time with Sarah.  We ate at Zia's on The Hill on Friday evening.  We saw an Imax movie and the mummy exhibit at the Science Center on Saturday.  We ate at her favorite place, Kingside Diner for lunch and then toured the Chess Museum across the street.  We headed for home early Sunday morning. 

It was obvious that Willow missed me and was depressed that I was leaving again.  I headed to Des Moines (with an overnight in Bethany) for 2 days of classes for my longarm.  

I took lots of notes and took all of these photos to help me remember........something!  I haven't had the chance to even touch my machine since I've been back.  

My first step will be to clean it properly.............if I remember it all!

I returned home late Tuesday, gave piano lessons and caught up on laundry all day Wednesday, and worked on Thursday and Friday to make up for being gone Monday and Tuesday (and gave more lessons on Thursday evening and caught up the church bookwork).  

Friday afternoon I received an email from nephew Jackson with a paper to proof read.  He had interviewed my dad about losing his hand in a farming accident.  The paper also included photos for illustration.  Friday evening, I got a call from my sister saying Jackson needed a photo of dad before the accident for the paper and they were on their way to Cedar Falls to spend the weekend at Carter's conference track meet and could I send some photos????

So, I dug out the scrapbooks and found some photos of when I was little..........

This is my little brother on a colt named Ginger.

That red blazer was around for a long time...........

Obviously, Dad was concerned about whether my little brother was behaving!

I have no idea what was freaking me out in this photo!

And here is a last photo that I spied and sent to my sister just to make her day...........

Yes, that's me, giving the world the finger at a very young age!

Christi