Food and other Fun!

Do you ever plan a trip around places you want to eat?  Well, we sorta did that.  We arranged to spend our first night in Eureka Springs with the plan to eat at Ermilio's Italian Home Cooking.  We had eaten here some 30 years ago and according to the google, it was still in operation.  We remembered the roasted garlic they brought to your table to spread on the good bread.  They still had it and it was delicious!

Here was David's entree..............

And this was mine............... and of course there was the bread and a really good salad!

It was a good thing we carbed up on the way to the University of Arkansas because the food offerings at the track meet were nil.  You weren't allowed to bring anything in and the concession stand only had hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, and limited candy bars, and of course, a $5 bottle of water.

My sister ordered Dominoes Pizza the first night and it was ............OK, but not what I was craving.  Fortunately our hotel offered a pretty good complimentary breakfast.  The second evening (everyone else headed home, but we were continuing our "vacation"), we went to a restaurant called Farm to Table and it was very good, although very loud due to the group of sorority girls and their moms at the next table.  We stopped for ice cream on the way back to the hotel and that helped cool our ears down.

Driving to Memphis on Sunday, we stopped for lunch at..........

and boy, was it some good catfish!  Our first stop in Memphis was the Bass Pro Shoppe Pyramid.  We enjoyed the architecture and shopped a little.

An interior shot.............

Then we headed to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks in the fountain in the lobby.  We parked in the parking garage and were a little confused as to what the proper thing to do with our guns was (we didn't have any, but thought the signage was a little confusing).

Five of the cutest ducks were swimming in the fountain in the lobby.

And at 5 pm, a red carpet was rolled out for the ducks to use (you wouldn't want them to slip on the marble floor, would you?) to get to the elevator that would take them to their overnight accommodations on the rooftop

It was quite the eventful procession!

Then we walked a couple of blocks to Beale Street to eat at the Blues City Cafe.  Again, delicious.  David had the ribs and I had shrimp and crab stuffed mushrooms and a salad.

There was a pink cadillac on the wall

And a couple of shots of the street.  My sister warned us about being there after dark and there was a National Guard presence.  We didn't linger because rain (and a pretty good storm) was coming.

The next (very cold and windy) morning, we headed to Graceland.  More about that in another post!

Christi

 

Track and Fabric, As Promised!

Well here's our TWO TIME NCAA FIRST TEAM ALL AMERICAN!

These photos were taken after the first day's events.............. 60 meters, long jump, shot put, and high jump.  It was a roller coaster day.  Everyone is pretty sure his third jump in the long jump was mis-measured and his coaches filed an appeal, he was given an extra jump, but it was never counted as the NCAA rarely grants appeals.  He kept plowing on though and came back big time to set a new PR in the high jump (going 1/4" higher than ever before, and we quilters know that every 1/4" counts!)

Here he is with cousins Pam and Susie, and I threw in the pic below with his "little" brother and brother's fiance, Carmyn, just to point out that Carter is really not that big when it comes to track athletes.  I hadn't realized it until we saw the size of the competition.

He did the hurdles, pole vault, and 1000 meters the second day and had a new PR in the 1000.  He also scored over 6000 points for the second time in his career.  This put him in 6th overall and first team All American status for the second year.  Last year he was fifth, but with a lower point total.  If he'd had this point total last year, I think he might have been second last year.  It was just a stacked field of competitors.  We also learned that the kid who won was paid a million dollars to transfer to Oregon last year.  Carter was a walk on freshman, and is now on full ride scholarship.

And please remember that we were in Arkansas.  That's the only explanation I can give for why none of them wore shoes on the podium.

There was limited sewing time before we left, but you know I just couldn't leave the snails alone.  Here are the last 6 for the quilt.  All 12 and the flowers made the trip with us so that I could shop for border and backing.

We made it to Marshall Dry Goods on Monday afternoon for a couple of hours of shopping.  Here are the fabrics I got for my mom.

We returned on Tuesday morning, (David's birthday) for a couple more hours.  I don't have anymore fabric pics to share.  I only bought what was on my list!  Maybe that was my birthday gift to David, no impulse buys, only borders and backings!

 This is the new retreat center they have across the street.  I didn't find out anything about it, don't even know if it's open yet.

Well, there was much more to the trip including some fabulous food, but I'll leave that for another post.

Christi

Ducks, Chickens, Cats, and Snails

 I decided it was time for spring quilts and got Waddles out and hung up over the piano.  We'll see what the piano students think of it!

Sarah was home this weekend (first time since Christmas and probably just to restock her freezer, but we take what we can get).  The Harry Potter Butterbeer Peeps were given a 👍from both her and David.  

She and I went shopping for David's birthday present Saturday morning.  Here are some of the things we considered..........

We eventually settled on the tool he wanted from Napa Auto Parts.  I'd tell you what it is, but I really don't know, or even what it would be used for, but he was excited to get it.

I made this cat bed from leftover flannel quilt backing and batting.  It's one of those jellyroll rug things, but I tried for a cat bed.  It was somewhat successful.  Harry and Mabel have been giving it a workout.

Sometimes they both fit .............

and sometimes they don't.

I made 2 more snail house blocks for the Snailin' Around Town quilt.  I didn't care for either of the color of the month selections that were posted, so I went out on a limb with orange.  

And here are all of the snail blocks and some of the flower blocks I have completed for this quilt.  All of the flowers are done and there are six more snails to go.

Here are the colors I have selected for the remaining snail blocks.

I don't know how much sewing I will get done this week as we are leaving on a trip to the NCAA indoor track and field championships followed by Graceland and Marshall Dry Goods.  I'm working on my list for Marshall Dry Goods.  That's where we will be on David's actual birthday, so I figure I should get him a lot of stuff.  Sort of like all those times he got me tractors for my December birthday (when he really needed to just make the purchase before the end of the year.)  

If I don't get another blog post done this week, just know that track pictures and fabric pictures are coming your way!

Christi

UFO Update

 It was a gray dreary day yesterday.  Probably best just to go back to bed, don't you think?

That idea seemed to work for Harry and Mabel.  I did a little more binding and finished up this pineapple block that I made into a placemat for the guild charity project.  It was nice to work on something so bright on such a dreary day.

Then I finished the binding on this Tea Time table topper.  

So we can check 2 more things off the UFO list.

Here's the UFO update:

1.  Proposal  (FINISHED!)

2.  Waverly  (FINISHED!)

3.  Lookout  (FINISHED AND GIFTED!)

4.  St. Pats Pillow  (FINISHED!)

5.  St. Pats Runner  (FINISHED!)

6.  St. Pats Wall Hanging  (FINISHED!)

7.  Jimmy John  (FINISHED AND GIFTED!)

8.  Snailing Around Town

9.  Chalet

10.  Foxes in Flannels

11.  Show and Tell

12.  Love in Bloom Panel  (FINISHED AND GIFTED!)

13.  O Christmas Tree

14.  Heaven and Nature Sing

15.  Scrap Jar Stars  (FINISHED!)

16.  Hash Tag

17.  Jelly Twist

18.  Halloween Panel

19.  Thanksgiving Panel

20.  Redlin Panel

21.  Legendary

22.  My Kinda Town

23.  Turkey Lurkey  (FINISHED!)

24.  Turkey Blocks  (FINISHED!)

25.  Cat Nip

26.  Pineapple  (FINISHED!)

27.  Tea Time Topper  (FINISHED!)

28.  Vintage 30's Blocks

29.  Great Grandma's Fans

So that's 13 of 29 finished so far this year!  And, I haven't actually started anything new yet.  I did purchase fabric for a quilt, but haven't started anything on it yet.

We'll see what today brings.  

Christi

Holy Scrap!

 Well, first let me update you on the track meet............ Carter went on to win the heptathlon hurdles and pole vault and had enough points by that time to just jog the 1000m, finishing last, but still winning the overall heptathlon.  This helped the Panther Men's team place first in the conference again this year.  So, he had a good weekend.

Yesterday I did laundry - not on the plan, but due to the spilt milk cleanup, there were lots of sticky wet towels that needed to be washed, so I just did all the laundry.  I had some help.

And you know what they say about waking a sleeping baby............especially one sleeping this hard.  Eventually the automatic feeder dropped the next food drop and I was able to finish the laundry.

And last night I finished the binding on Scrap Jar Stars!  This was a block lotto I won back in November.  I had to make a few more blocks and the sashing strips and cornerstones.  Then decided that since my 2" squares box was overflowing, I should do the pieced borders.  My box is close to empty now!  And no, I didn't count how many 2" squares are in this quilt, but it's a lot.

I decided to continue the scrappy theme and used leftover bindings from other quilts to make this scrappy binding and then I created the backing from fabrics in my stash that I really didn't like, or just couldn't seem to figure out how to use.

And I was concerned about being a little narrow, so I raided the 3.5" squares (also overflowing) and worked those in as well.  I'm really glad this one is done and I like that I used up some fabrics that had been languishing in the stash for awhile.  

I probably need to update my UFO list with my finishes.  Stay tuned for that one.

Christi

Lion and Lamb

 Did March come in like a lion or a lamb for you?  I'm going to say it was somewhat of a lion as we had a little sleet and then rain in the afternoon.  Harry and Mabel didn't want to see what the weather was doing outside at all.

I did the payroll and bookkeeping for both the church and community center yesterday afternoon.  All during the day (even church) I was keeping track of the Missouri Valley Conference indoor track and field championships.  This will be Carter's last year to do this.  In order to get the most team points possible, he is competing in the heptathlon (7 events - 60m run, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m), and the open long jump, pole vault, and high jump.  

After day 1 - he is leading the heptathlon because he was first in the 60m, long jump (only took 1 jump), shot put (only 2 throws), and the high jump.  Today will finish the remaining 3 events in the heptathlon.  He was actually doing the heptathlon high jump and the open pole vault at the same time.  He placed second in the pole vault with a new record for him at 17 feet and 3/4".  He didn't enter this event ranked that high, so this was quite an accomplishment.

Here he is on the second tier of the medal stand!

He also won the open long jump (repeat champ!) with only one jump.

And he won the open high jump (repeat champ again!) later in the afternoon.  

So today he just has the rest of the heptathlon events - hurdles, pole vault, and the 1000m run.  I'm thinking he'll be bored with only 3 things to do today.

Also yesterday, I did a shopping trip at Walmart.  Since it started pouring rain, I did a few laps around the store hoping to wait it out and well, you know what happened..........

Harry Potter Butterbeer PEEPS!!!

Sarah will be home this weekend, so she and David can try them out.  I'm not that much of a PEEP person.  

Today there is a little house cleaning on the agenda, and finalizing my notes and thank you notes from the ham and bean supper.  And I've already cleaned up a huge mess when an almost full can of evaporated milk spilled from the top shelf of the frig.  So, the cleaning and mopping from that has been done and now the laundry is going.  The cats did their best trying to lap it all up, but it was everywhere.

We'll hope the day goes better from here.

Christi