Lots of rain and hand sewing

 I haven't posted because I have been doing really boring stuff for the last few days. The Georgia guild is planning to get underway in June, so I dusted off my 'program and workshop chair' hat and started contacting speakers and teachers. That task took all day Monday, and Tuesday the replies came flowing in. I have filled most of the meeting dates and feel good about the variety of people coming to share their expertise with us.

Tuesday I attended a Zoom meeting with the guild board, typed up my blurb for the Misty Mountain Quilters website and worked on some more hand stitching strawberries. As of today, I have all five re-made blocks done and two that needed the stitching repaired. Seven more to fix.

Here's where I start. I remove the torn stitches and trim the edge.

I fill in for the damaged stitches with new blanket stitches.

This block was a complete re-do. I applied stabilizer to the back of the strawberry and stem parts, then stitched them down with the blanket stitch. There were five of these and they took ages to do without stitching through to the back.

This morning we had a doozy of a thunderstorm that lasted most of the day. It started at 9:45 with high winds and the temperature dropping significantly. Black lumpy clouds moved in and then the torrent started!!

The lady across the street yelled over to say the weather service said there may be hail. I quickly moved the car under Dad's carport, just in case.

Minutes later, it was dark as night!

It was raining all day, with rolling thunder and a constant lightning show the entire time. Penny didn't care. She laid around like a slug while the storm raged outside. Around 4:30 it finally quit raining and I was able to check in with Dad again and get supper on. I hand sewed all day.

Clouds over Dad's house, the rain moved east to give the coast a drenching.

While I was sewing this evening Mr Wazoo suddenly said, "Look what she's doing!!" I put the quilt down and looked at Penny who was chewing away on my computer power cord. Well, crap! Amazon will have one here next Tuesday. My battery will die long before then, so I hope I can get off a post before it does. Bad dog!!

What could possibly be tasty here?

Who...me??! But I'm so cute...

Meanwhile...yesterday at the dog park I ran afoul of a branch while retrieving a tennis ball from under a bush. (penny won't go under a bush...) The poke in my arm bled all over, and I didn't have anything but a dog and a poop bag with me. Home we went and after a wash, antiseptic and bandaid, I was fixed. I'm starting to look like Dad with skin pokes and bug bites on my arms and legs. Just so I don't lose my hair!!

Between the age spots, saggy skin and poke, you'd think that I was the 98 year old!

A hot, humid Sunday funday

Yesterday we had a mega-rainstorm! It dropped 2.5 inches before moving on. 

The shuffleboard court is a swimming pool! Most of the water was evaporated today.

I stayed inside and worked on my repair job. I found it easier to use a hoop so I don't sew through the backing. 

The first block finished! It takes way longer than I thought it would to embroider one block. This is going to take a while!

The next block, pinned in place and ready to stitch. I also finished this block by the time I had to go to bed.

 After our usual Sunday French toast breakfast, I took Penny for a jaunt in the dog park, then off to Nancy's to sew. Nancy is still out of town, so I listened to my music and did some slow sewing. It takes about an hour to make four blocks because of all the sewing, cutting, trimming and pressing. They are fiddly blocks! I worked for three hours before I had to go fix supper (sound familiar? ). The quilt is coming along, but at a snail's pace!

Run, run, fetch and run some more!

Having fun with a tennis ball. Time to go...

Where I left the project on Thursday.

12 new blocks today. I need 60 blocks altogether.

Nancy has orchids on her windowsill where we sew. A couple of them have flowers!

Her Christmas cactus has a teensy bud on it. We'll see what happens here.

This little flower is only about one inch long. It is so delicate.

After dinner is cleaned up and Penny has had her evening cart ride, it is time to unwind with some TV. Unfortunately, the men never seem to watch more than a few minutes before nodding off. I get to watch whatever I want while I sew or work crossword puzzles. Tomorrow we start over again. Wake up, boys!!

Promised pictures and south Texas ducks

 I spent an uneventful day grocery shopping, baking brownies and looking at photo albums with my dad. I said I would take some pictures of Mr Wazoo's handiwork, so I ventured out and did just that!

Along the side of Dad's driveway, Mr W weeded and straightened out the plants in pots.

In the front, more weeding, some new plants and fresh pebble mulch.

This plant was being squashed by the address sign, so Mr W moved the sign and cleaned out around the plant.

At my sister's house, weeding, edge trimming, a little redistribution of the pots and mulching.

This plant is growing along the side of Dad's drive as well as next to my sister's house.

 It's called Peacock Flower.

It looks like an orchid, don't you think?

Everything is neat and tidy at both houses, except for the dead tree...a victim of the recent cold snap.

At the grocery store I am reminded that we are in Texas, the land of Tex-Mex. This is the row with salsa and hot sauce. Yup, an entire row.

Hot sauces

Salsas. Wow.

While sewing, I heard quacking. Thern, I heard a bunch of high pitched squealing. I went outside to see what was happening, and a flock of these type ducks landed on the roof! They are Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, and they travel in groups (flocks?...) There were a few on the roof and some more in the trees. They are so pretty! Bright pinky orange bills and feet with the stark black and white stripes on their wings. Some of them have little mohawk hairdos. Must be the males. I didn't get a picture, so I found some on Google.

Isn't it cute?

This is just how they look flying in for a landing. It looks like they are about to crash land, but they really are agile.

How they travel...with an entourage.

This shows the mohawk hair. So funny.

The only sewing I even came close to doing was bringing the repair project out to my place in the living room. I really need to get on the stick and get it done! I'll try again  in the morning!

Computer woes and a bit of sewing

Yesterday was the day I took on my Dad's computer, trying to untangle the mess he was in with passwords. I managed to reset  his mail and Facebook, but the patient portal just wouldn't cooperate. Dad keeps his house at a toasty 85 degrees, so I was sweating the whole time. I finally cried 'uncle!' and determined I would need to call the Doctor's office to straighten it out. I needed to sew!!

Back at the house (a wonderful 75 degrees) I cut out and sewed a charity quilt top. That felt nice. Sewing will be my equalizer when I get frustrated.

I picked up the fabrics at Hobby Lobby last week.

Mr Wazoo held it for me so I could get a picture in natural light.

Last night, we used the gift card from my son and daughter-in-law to have a wonderful meal from Longhorn Steakhouse! I got the card for Mother's Day, and since my Dad was off to his pool game, we decided to 'eat out'. The curbside service was great! Right on time, and perfectly coked. Thanks to my kids for the meal, flowers, and wine!

Mr W has been working hard cleaning up the yard at my Dad's house, so he deserved the meal as much as I did! I'll try to remember to get a picture of the yard today.

I think I'll go sew something...

Another day, a few more blocks

I only sewed for a short time yesterday, and made some progress on the blue and white quilt. Nancy leaves today to visit her daughter in Michigan for two weeks. Mr Wazoo and I are keeping an eye on her house and watering her plants.

Last night around 2:00AM we were awakened by a doozy of a thunderstorm. Penny was a good girl, cuddling close to us and watching the action. The power went off for a while, but I drifted back to sleep and woke up to everything as it should be. The area got a good soaking and will certainly benefit from it.

Here we are at Nancy's,  having our last sewing bee for a while. I will miss her company, but I am happy she gets to see her family after over a year apart.

Nancy finished a charity quilt with the cutest owl focus fabric

I'm working along on the blue and white blocks after fixing the one I sewed wrong. 

So far, I am pleased with how its coming along.

More rain is predicted today. The woman who cleans for my sister will also come today. I have some errands to run between rain showers, so sewing will be in fits and starts. As long as I make progress, it is a good day!

 

Just checking in

 This is a short post to fill you in on what's happening here. Dad has a major leak under his kitchen sink that Mr Wazoo was unable to fix. The plumber came out this morning and has to install an entire new drain. Oh goody.

Mr Wazoo has gone to the grocery store with a list, and I am watching Penny and monitoring the plumbing progress.

I started a new project yesterday and immediately sewed a block wrong. We decided to quit and take a swim in the park's pool instead. Refreshing and nice.

I take Dad to the foot doctor this afternoon for nail clipping, so there won't be sewing happening. I guess I have the Monday blues. And not just the new quilt!

The last corner of the block is sewn together wrong, so I need to do a bit of un-sewing before I can continue. It will be a blue and white scrappy quilt.

Mr W has been occupying his time with yard work and maintenance. Here is the side he's done...

and this is the front. It keeps him busy and out of trouble!

As usual, Penny stays close and goes with the flow. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Mr Wazoo and his Mom

Me and my Mom

Mr Wazoo and I have lovely memories of our Moms, and hope you all who have lost your moms will remember them with fondness today.

 To all my friends who are Moms, have a wonderful Mother's Day. Mr Wazoo secretly ventured to the Mexican pot store and got another  wonderful coffee cup. He said it is for when he accidentally breaks mine. You see, every time I get a cup I really like, it gets broken while dish washing... It will take longer to break two. ha!

My colorful cup

The sewing of the "easy"  quilt is nearly done. The pieced top is all together, and the borders are to be determined. I have enough of the grunge from the BQ to add a small inner border, but couldn't decide on an outer border. It is a pretty good size already, so I may stop where it is.

While I was building the quilt on the new design wall (wow, is it nice to have!) I completely messed up the neat piles of components to get just the right bits in each row.

It progressed over a couple of days

Penny gave it the seal of approval.

The next day, I had it to this stage.

Then, it was done! It ended up only one row less than the pattern called for, and is still a hefty 54X66. A big couch size or a small twin. Borders would bring it to twin size, but I don't think I'll do that. We'll see.

Here, you can see the colors and some of the prints of the fabrics.

On to the next!

On Friday, I got a package delivered to me in Texas! My daughter sent a box full of beauty and joy for Mother's Day. 

Two dozen red roses and a bottle of wine. I had to wait for Nancy to bring a corkscrew to test the wine, so I will report on that later.

A dozen HUGE chocolate dipped strawberries!! (I tried one right away to be sure they weren't poison...wink, wink) My Dad (who loves dessert) chose the giant one in the left upper corner for his prize. He oohed and ached the entire time he was eating it. Mr Wazoo, Dad and I have each had two so far. We save them for dessert. Yummy berries and primo chocolate. A big thanks for a wonderful gift. 

I wish a Happy Mother's Day to my daughter and my daughter in law. I couldn't have a better family.

Happy Mother's Day from Penny and her pig.