Girls' Weekend!

Sarah and I left home early Friday morning to pick up cousins, Susie and Pam in Columbia and then head to Galena.  We stopped at a Steak & Shake for a quick lunch.  

I noticed as we were walking in that Sarah didn't have her purse with her.  I asked how she thought she was going to buy lunch?????  Mom, of course.  

We met up with my mom and sister at the hotel and then headed to the historic downtown area to shop and have dinner.  We had reservations at Vinnie Vanucchi's.  It was good and it was nice to sit down inside where it was warm.

When I had made the reservation, I asked if there were steps and the person told me just a few but that there was a ramp at the side.  The building was 4 stories and the entrance was on the third floor. 

Here is Pam looking up from the main street to the third floor (the sign way, way back there), and my photo doesn't do justice to just how steep the "ramp" was.  She braved the steps, and then we were informed that if we had entered from the back street, there was an elevator!  We used it when we left.

Back at the hotel it was hot tub time.  Sarah hadn't brought a coverup, so borrowed my quilt guild shirt.  Never thought I'd see her wearing something with a sewing machine on it!

We spent most of the next day shopping in the historic district.  It was cold and it SNOWED!  Big beautiful flakes just like in a Hallmark Christmas movie, and it didn't stick to the ground.  

Back at the hotel, we played cards, ate pizza, and told stories.  But those stories will remain with the participants!

It was a really fun time and we enjoyed the drive back with some car sing-a-long to the oldies before listening to the Chief's game.  My mom and sister stopped in to see another aunt and uncle before making an impromptu stop to see the Iowa women's basketball game at Drake.  It was a really good game and went into overtime.  

I spent Monday doing laundry, cleaning, catching up on the bookwork  for the church and the community center and doing piano lessons.

Tuesday dawned to the most beautiful snow.........

After Willow got a nose to tail massage, 

I headed to the sewing room for a NBS day.  Since I still had gold thread on the longarm, I put this quilt my mom had given me on and quilted it and a couple of table runners.

And, it's deer season.  We have people hunting on our farms.  Here is one of the trophies!

Some of the hunters come from Florida.  They bring fresh shrimp up with them, so we are invited to the shrimp boil Thursday evening.  

Sarah has our car in St. Louis.  Hers is here and will be fixed on Friday.  David and I are going to Hermann on Friday (in the farm truck like the true rednecks we are) to stay all night for our 30th Anniversary.  Sarah and Aaron are meeting us there on Saturday.  We are anxious to meet Aaron and give him the third degree.  I'm also hoping to take some family photos is the weather is cooperative.

Sarah will be coming for Thanksgiving week on Sunday afternoon.  She has a new car ordered and should be able to pick it up sometime that week.  

I made the first round of grocery shopping for Thanksgiving week this morning.  Sarah says she is going to help with the cooking.

Well, more piano students arriving soon........

Christi

Preparation

Today has been all about preparation for the weekend..............colder weather and girls' weekend!  But let's skip back to Tuesday, shall we?

I was up early, skipped the shower since I wasn't planning to see anyone all day, and was in the sewing room by 8 AM!!!!  The plan was to put a large quilt (for someone else) on the longarm and get it quilted.  There's quite a bit or prep work that goes into the quilting part.  I had already cut batting, so had the top, backing and batting all hanging in the TBQ (to be quilted) closet.  I discovered the backing needed to be pressed because all the edges were very wrinkled and I didn't have a good edge to pin to the leaders.  It was a nice wide backing, so I started pressing.  When I was about 18" from the bottom, I noticed a stain on the backing.

Why couldn't I have started at this end and discovered the stain before I had almost the whole piece pressed?

My supervisor convinced me that maybe I could just spot wash it and get the stain out and not ruin all that pressing by throwing the whole piece in the washing machine.............and delaying the project by another couple of hours.

 Well, she was correct in her assessment of the situation.  The stain came out, as did a couple of others I found.  

After a little work with the hair dryer to dry the spots and finish pressing, the pinning began, only an hour later than I had planned.

At one point, I heard a disturbance and peeked down the stairs to see the support team had given up their posts for a game of cat and mouse.

Esme returned later to resume her duties and inspect that the batting and quilt top were properly secured.

Of course inspectors need their rest.

This was a quilt pieced from a panel and made into star blocks.  

 

The colors were very pretty, and I selected military gold thread to quilt the West Winds edge to edge design in.  The thread stood out a little on the back to really show the quilting pattern and blended nicely on the front to let the piecing design be the "star" with the quilting design giving it motion.

Now I have had people tell me that all I really do is push buttons because I have a computer.  I DO push buttons, but I have to be smart enough to know which buttons to push and how to move the quilt through the machine.  And it does take quite a bit of time.  I stopped for a lunch break, and then had a break late in the afternoon when Sarah called to say her car had been broken into.  We spent about 45 minutes working with her and calling the insurance agent and dealing with issues.  It's a very long story, but not one I want to go into now.

I did a little more quilting and after a break for supper finished the quilting at 8:30 PM.  I left it on the machine to trim off on Wednesday.  It can be a pretty long process.

I did get the floors in the sewing room and Sarah's room swept while the machine was running.  And I intermittently did some piecing for other quilts.

I worked on Triple Treat, Bonnie Hunter's current leader/ender project.  I have several hundred 4 patches made from 1.5" squares and I am now sewing them into these blocks.  I laid a few out on the cutting table to see how they looked.  It's fun to see the design appear.

And I pieced some more blocks for Beach Cottage.  I think this will be a very pretty quilt, but sewing the blocks can get a little boring.  I try to set a goal of 10 blocks at a time and work them in between sewing a project with brighter colors.

I also made a couple more 64 patch blocks for the Scrap Happy quilt I am working on.

Wednesday was a mostly piano lesson day and then to see the high school production of "Once Upon a Mattress" in the evening.  

Today, in preparation for the weekend, I caught up the laundry, cleaned all the floors, dusted, finished church bookwork, and am working on packing.  It is supposed to turn cold and stay that way for at least 10 days, so I also cleaned up the hanging baskets I am going to try to winter over inside the house.  I brought 5 in, we'll see how it goes.  These 2 are hanging in the sewing room south window by the longarm.

Cici has never met a plant she didn't like to tear up and eat, so this could turn into a really big mess.

Sarah is coming in this evening.  She and David have an evening appointment to test drive possible new cars.  Then she and I are leaving early in the morning to pick up cousins in Columbia and travel to Galena, IL to meet up with my mom and sister for a girls shopping weekend.

So, this is probably the last blog for the week.  I imagine there will be much to share from girls weekend!

Christi

The Road Home

 On the drive home from Omaha Sunday, I stopped for a "restroom" break at the north end of St. Joseph.  I could have chosen to enter a gas station/convenience store, but there was another (much better!) option...........the Jesse James Antique Mall!  Immediately after exiting the restroom, I found this little beauty in one of the booths!  

Can't you see the basket handle here?  Several years ago, I asked the hubster if he had any of these around and yes he did.  But when I asked for one to use as a handle for a basket, I was informed that he USED these tools.  Now, I have never seen him use one of these, especially not when I'm sure he has more than one option of power tool to do the same job.  I mean we're talking about the man who uses power tools to open and gut a pumpkin for carving!  So when I saw this one with the cute red paint for only $4..........SCORE!  Now to remember how I was going to incorporate it as a basket handle.  I did wander the booths for awhile.  It was a nice leg stretch and you never know what you will find.  

Of course, I'm always interested in old sewing machines.  

I only found the toy size ones.............the one below is a Holly Hobby version.

And I'm always on the lookout for old potato mashers that can be used as basket handles.  This mall had some very interesting ones.

I found this rather large one, but couldn't visualize a basket with a handle that tall.

And this itty bitty one was adorable, but I didn't want to make a basket that small.

And these two were equally interesting, but not really right for a basket............am I a little like Goldilocks here or what!  There were many more potato mashers, but I ended up leaving all them behind, because none were just right.  Probably none could match up to the first potential basket handle I scored!

There were many other interesting and eye catching things............

I liked the bobber Lake sign and the KC Chiefs truck below.

And this cow was charming..........

The Farm House sign with the sunflower and windmill was nice too.

And there were so many deer antlers (with very nice prices on them). 

I use antlers to make baskets as well, but I have a shelf full of ones that David finds in the fields.  I just need more time to make baskets!  

And there were some old quilts, but still no sewing machines!

And lots of old toys.  

This measuring cup caught my eye and almost made it home with me, but I decided to leave it for the next person.

The added bonus to the Jesse James Antique Mall was that there was another place, The Rusty Chandelier right next door.  Now, we had visited The Rusty Chandelier in Laurel, MS (TV show Home Town on HGTV) on our vacation this summer and were disappointed in the fact that WE were probably the oldest things in the place.  So I asked the gentleman about it when I was checking out and he said they would have some antiques, but it was a lot of repurposed and decorator type things.  I decided to check it out.

There was a large outdoor area that had some interesting things.............  I liked these old John Deere planter boxes.  They would make nice flower pots, but the price was pretty steep.

Of course this would be where I found the old sewing machines..........outside!  Can you see it there in the middle of all the junk?  I didn't pick my way through for a closer photo because I could see it was in a pretty sad state.

Inside, things were nicer and I found some more old quilts.

And a sewing machine turned lamp.  It was a Minnesota machine.

When I arrive home in the afternoon, it seemed as though everyone had missed me.  I worked on laundry and some house cleaning before settling down with the wonderful soup (made from the mix I picked up at the craft show in Omaha) to watch the Chiefs game.  The hubster headed to bed while they were losing, but I stayed up to see the late overtime WIN!  

Yesterday was a day for running some errands, and catching up with a little cleaning before piano students in the afternoon.  The BIG accomplishment of the morning was bathing (not me, I do that regularly.  We're talking cats!).  This had been on the to do list for some time.  Now there are tricks to bathing cats.  First you close all the bedroom doors to eliminate hiding under the beds.  Now, Esme is more puppy than kitty, so she was following me all over the house and was delighted to watch the tub fill with water.  Cici was trying to find a place to hide!

Once both girls were safely shut in the bathroom with the prepared tub, shampoo, conditioner, and towels, Cici was placed in the tub first and immediately hushed her crying as she leaned into the scrubbing with the warm water and tried to knead the bottom of the tub with her paws.  You don't even have to hold on to her, it's just getting her there that is the challenge.  Then it was Esme's turn.  Now she had been on my heel or at my elbow the whole time watching everything, but once in the water, look out.  She had to be held with a steel grip.  And it takes much longer to get all that hair wet and shampooed.  

And the drying time is much lengthier as well.  She kept her sour expression all morning while she moved to the different sunny spots.

Cici dried out much quicker.  

Both girls, well, all three, since David gave Willow a bath as well, are very soft and fluffy this morning.  

Apparently I am having difficulty adjusting to the time change since I am up so early doing this post.  I'm looking forward to spending the entire day at home in the sewing room.  The longarm is waiting!

Christi