Sewing with a friend

 Today, I walked down to Nancy's house and we did a bit of sewing together. I'm usually by myself with Penny keeping watch, so this was a treat. We hope to sew together a couple of times a week while I'm here.

I started a new project, and got all the blocks finished by 3:30 and time to go home and get started on supper. Yes...supper is served at 5PM and I am still tryint to get it on the table at that time.  It seems like an eternity until bedtime.

Here are some pics of our fun.

Make a bunch of HSTs and trim them back to 9 1/2 inches...

Okay! Then, cut them again and re-sew the bits together.

Roger that! After much sewing, I had the blocks ready to play with. Unfortunately, Nancy doesn't have a design wall (Mr W is working on that) So I just laid out a few of the blocks to see how they look.

Ooooo! I like them! We'll try tomorrow to get some of them sewn together.

Nancy finished a Quilt of Valor for a family member in the military.

I coaxed her into showing her face. Penny photobombed, as usual.

This is Nancy's sewing area. Big enough for several people to sew in, but perfect for two! We listened to music and chatted the time away. It was a fun day.

Dad is doing well and we have enjoyed visiting over dinner and coffee. Mr Wazoo brought home a cherry pie tonight and we all had a slice. Yum.

This is my Dad. He came by on the way back from getting his mail while we were sewing.

He and Mr W had a date to water his new plants.

Back in the saddle!

I successfully found my way to the doctor's office and back home again! Yippee! I set up in the sewing room here and started with a couple of simple projects until I get the feel of the machine. Nothing fancy...great charity quilts using the free Warm Wishes pattern. I have made hundreds of these and swear I could sew one in my sleep. They always look nice.

This is my new sewing space. My sister has a brilliant set up with everything I'll need to make quilts!

This is the cutting area. It's nice to be able to look out the window when I'm sewing. Keeping a lookout for any funny business. ha ha

First top is a child's quilt. Penny stayed in the living room the whole time I was sewing. Silly girl is scared of walking on the linoleum to get into the sewing room.

Doesn't this look like a guy with a pointy head? Keeps me amused.

Second top (modeled here by the lovely Penny) is a nursing home project. I know someone will love the bright cherries.

Penny tried it out and gave it the Good Dogkeeping seal of approval.

I moved my kits into empty drawers in this wire basket cart.

More kits in the other drawer, too.

More kits on the cutting table! I don't think I'll be running out of things to do.

Mr Wazoo is off planting things for a neighbor, and when he gets back, I will be going to Walmart for a hodge lodge of items we need. Watch band, flannel backed table cloth, capsaicin ointment, Birthday cards, rubber backed mat and cookies. I'll let you figure out which things are on my list and what's on Mr W's list. 

Tuna casserole for supper...easy peasy. 86 degrees and overcast today. Nice breeze, though.

Learning my way around

We have been out and about finding the doctor, the pharmacy and the grocery store. I have learned Tyler takes me to town, and Harrison takes me home. The rest is still a blur, but I'm getting the hang of it.

The cool weather is gone and the usual heat is back. It will be in the high 90s today. I think it may be time to get the swimsuit out of mothballs! 

There are trees and cacti blooming here, an the constant breeze is lovely. Tomorrow, the sewing starts!! Then I will probably be indoors more than out.

I'm told the white flowering tree is a false almond. It is an ornamental that is seen everywhere around town. That cactus is almost as big as the tree! Yikes!

We went to a couple of Mexican pot places and I bought myself a coffee cup to use while I'm here. I love the painted birds and the colorful designs.

There's a bird on the other side, too!

Penny follows everyone around, and she and Chloe have 'whack-a-mole' fun, with Chloe hiding under or behind the furniture and Penny trying to coax her out.

She certainly has made herself at home!

My sister and brother-in-law leave tomorrow for their well deserved break, and we'll be holding down the fort. Stay tuned for the pandemonium that ensues!

We're here.

 After two days of driving, we arrived to beautiful weather in Texas. It has been cool and windy here, a nice break from the usual heat and humidity. My sister and I spent yesterday touring around and locating Dad's doctors and the shopping areas. I'll be confused for a while, but we'll get there. 

Along the Texas part of the route, we see the hundreds of windmills on the flat landscape. Every time I come, I am awe struck with the size of the windmills, as well as just how many there are. 

These are far away, but there were some really close to the road. They are huge!!

In the park where we will be staying, there is a large dog park, and Penny had a good time running and sniffing every leaf and blade of grass. Doggy Heaven.

She and Mr Wazoo exploring the expanse of running room.

Because it is so flat, it makes walkies easier on the knees. I took Penny out for a reconnaissance of her new surroundings, and we met some other canines as well as  people who live here. She had so much activity during the day, she slept like a log all night. 

We are off to  Dad's lab for some tests, and Monday, I will be on my own with him on a trip to the doctor. Thank goodness for GPS and a way to find my way back home!

Sewing will begin in earnest next week. Meanwhile, this is what happened in Wisconsin yesterday...yes, it is snow!

Getting ready

 What a beautiful day it is today! Mr Wazoo has every right to be proud of his gardens and yard, and I can see why he is so worried about leaving them for such a long time. He will certainly have a load of work to do when we get back from Texas, but today, everything is perfect.

Some of the iris opened up this morning, and there are many more still sleeping. 

The little lilac bushes he planted are loaded with buds and should be in bloom in a few days. I wish we would be here to see, and smell, them.

Looking across the front of the house, the grass is coming up green and pretty and the pots of flowers are bursting with color.

The red bushes, jasmine and pansies make a sweet picture at the end of the porch.

Wow! Look at all the new growth on this evergreen shrub! It is one of my favorites with it's blue color.

Things are blooming in the rock garden. Penny is enamored with the bees and butterflies.

The native flame azalea is blooming, too!

Pretty nice curb appeal!

In the studio, I packed up all the kits I made and cleaned up the cutting table. The Bernina has a beach towel keeping the dust off her, and the longarms look ghostly. Everything is staged in the garage for loading on Sunday. I went to Walmart, (what a zoo! I hate going there...all the maskless people and only three cashiers open for the lot of us) also the bank and the grocery store for the stuff we needed for the trip; then came home to continue to stage stuff for the car. Tomorrow, I get a haircut and bake some cookies for snacking along the way.

A sheet and a shower curtain will keep the longarms tidy while I'm away.

Goodnight, ladies.

Yessir, yessir, three bags full...of kits! These should keep me busy for a while.

I made a huge mess cutting and packaging all those kits.

I'd much rather come back to this than the other mess!

I think I'm right on schedule with preparations.

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Everything is finished!

I am finished with everything I set out to do!!  All three tee shirt quilts have been bound and finished, and  I quilted the two baby quilts, and made and applied binding on  the last of the repair quilts. It was given a wash, and looks great.

Today, I will be tidying up the studio, and working on taxes. I have to get the taxes done!

Take a look at what happiness looks like.

The first baby quilt is made with the pattern I also used for my scrappy quilt!

It is a fun thing to sew, and looks terrific.

Panto: Funky fans

The backing is a coordinating print in flannel.

The collection is so whimsical. I love the monkeys and cows!

The second quilt is made from the same fabrics, but see how different it appears when the dark alligator fabric is the focus.

Here are the little alligators swimming on a black field.

Panto: Jetty

My favorite is still the loving monkeys...

This one has white background flannel on the back.

I finished the last repair, replacing 13 diamonds and mending eight open seams. 

I made wider binding for this quilt, too, because that is what was there originally.

Here is a closer look at the wide binding.

I sewed it like a reverse facing, turning it to the front at the seam line.

Here is what it looks like from the back.

The last tee shirt quilt is finished!

The members of the customer's running club are sure getting swell gifts from him!

I made eight of these. 

This one has the hash tag backing and binding.

The repair quilt is now washed and ready to go home. 

I have done five repairs for this customer!

I wish I had some family quilts, but there were no quilters in my family.

I have remedied that by quilting like a woman possessed and will leave quite a legacy for the next generations. I will be long gone, but my quilts will live on.

Now...taxes. Yuk!