What can I say? Nothing is happening.

 I haven't posted for a while because it seems dumb to report I spend most of my time running errands, and that Penny has unresolved diarrhea. There has been a small amount of sewing, but mostly trips to the grocery, bank, hardware store and pharmacy. I am slowly making progress on the blue and white quilt, but haven't taken a recent picture. Oops! There are interesting non-quilting things happening, so here we go.

Nancy, her friend Sharon and I all went to McAllen to a quilt shop there called Around the Block. It was a very nice shop with a huge classroom and up to date fabric. I wish they had more to choose from, but I did find some wonderful sale fabric with alligators on it as well as some grunge for a border on the blue quilt. I also got a layer cake to make a quilt I saw on Youtube. With these fabrics and the ones I picked up from Wallmart and Joann's, I have a great selection to choose from while also making the quilts I brought kits from home for.

Here is the loot I have acquired since arriving here over a month ago.

The layer cake is in the front, and I have the pieces paired up in preparation for cutting. Blue grunge on the far right with some nautical fabrics for a charity quilt.

These frutilicious half yards are from Walmart. I have a plan for them.

In the background, you get a peek at the yellow and green alligator fabric.

I got the clothespin fabric and the cute support fabrics from Joann's.

These cute piggies and their supporting cast also came from the sale rack at Joann's.

The grocery store here is called H.E.B. So far, we have never been there when there weren't a thousand other people there, too. No matter what time we go, it is packed. Waiting in line to check out, there are employees stationed at each row to keep social distancing intact. Mr Wazoo isn't the most patient person standing in line, so it is usually a stressful undertaking to get groceries. I have to say, though, the store is wonderful and has a terrific selection of items. That's why there are so many people there.

Mr W, a comfortable 6 feet behind the next person in our line

Every checkout is full.

Our buggy, full of goodies!

The rest of the day is taken up with cooking and cleaning up, some TV and crossword puzzling and taking Penny for a ride and a run around the park. I'm getting a better rhythm going and hope to get back to sewing soon. Tomorrow two of our daughters are coming for a long weekend to visit with their Grandpa and the crazy folks. Now, if we can just get Penny's diarrhea to stop...

On our nightly ride around the park we spotted three new campers! These are fawn and white Indian runner ducks. They are the pets of a couple from Saskatchewan, Canada. They also have their two little granddaughters, a big dog and two cats with them!

The group travels in a big fifth wheel, and have a swell enclosure for the ducks, complete with a paddling pool with what looks like a diving board!

After supper, we settle in for the evening jamboree of fun. ha ha ha. The guys fall asleep, I do puzzles and Penny entertains herself with toys. 

She has loads of toys, but prefers to do this weird game with her blanket. 

Gotta love her.

Okay, at first glance, what is this? A strange smiling native with wild hair? 

Nope, it's my Dad's hat, right where he left it, hanging on a candle wall sconce!

Hey, I get my kicks where I can. See you later!

Back in Business! My power cord came.

 Halleluia!! My power cord arrived today and I can get on the computer again. Unless you have had some mishap (like the dog chews your cord) and have to go without being able to get on line, you haven't had fun. Trying to read mail on my phone was a dismal disaster because after a few  posts, my eyes got goofy and wouldn't focus correctly. I now have 197 emails to look at and some I have to answer!

Meanwhile, I have been working diligently on the strawberry quilt and finished the repair!  After a nice laundering, it was packed up and sent to the owner in Georgia.

After I finished all the replaced strawberries, I set into repairing the other 16 blocks. Here is what they look like when I start working.

Ta Da! The finished and washed quilt looks great. I think the customer's daughter will love it.

I hope Grandma is looking down and is also pleased that they had her handwork repaired for many more years of enjoyment.

I repaired a few places with holes, too. This one was in the background of the block.

There were a couple of worn through spots on the binding edge, too.

The corner patch.

 The other corner

A few days ago, I made this lap quilt from a layer cake. It was fun and easy. Forgive me if I have already shown it to you...my mind is foggy.

I made the blocks and tried to sort them into rows without the aid of a design wall. 

I am totally useless without it.

Another look, while re-organizing on the cutting table.

Moving blocks yet again...oh dear!

The finished top. I will leave the three yellow blocks next to each other because of all the unpicking I did while sewing the top together. I accidentally sewed the last row (6 blocks) to the side of the top instead of the bottom. It had 6 blocks in both directions, and I got confused. That's why I like to do the Eleanor Burns Swiss cheese method of chaining the rows together as I sew them. I unpicked the row and attached it upside down. Another unpicking to get it right. It's done!!

I thought you would enjoy the fish tank at the eye doctor's  office. It was very soothing to sit and watch the fish glide around in the huge tank in the wall.

It takes your mind off the fact that there are no magazines, everyone is wearing a mask, and it takes at least a half hour to get to see the doctor.

I tried to get a picture of the tank without the reflection, but couldn't manage it. People probably thought I was crazy anyway.

 

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!