It's 64* here this morning at 0530. Going to be a pretty nice day! Very enjoyable to take you all out on our deck with me this morning to have our coffee together
JUDI - when you finish your Cathedral Windows quilt, how big will it be? Remember Carole from Arizona who's DD lived in SC and had four kids? She did a beautiful queen sized CW quilt. But it took her years I believe. Do you need a "direction writing refresher" from the directions you wrote out for me a few years ago? They are within reach of my sewing machine - easy to fetch. Seriously considering taking a CW project to Texas with me this winter.
LORI - Do you have any projects, hand or machine, in progress right now or are you still "on break"? I'm so glad your "back snag" is easing up.
MARY Q - those little bits of thread that travel with you to other parts of the house (to the grocery store, church, and doctor appts!)? They are called "ORTS", or Odd Random Threads or Odd Ratty Threads. I find them on the dog when we're out walking, even! Some people collect all these bits of threads and keep them in an Ort Jar. Or fill clear plastic ornaments with them and hang them on their Christmas tree. By the way, if you're into saving bits like this, some folks save all the ears they cut off HST's in an ear jar. I think Georgia Bonesteel is one of those folks. You will be leaving for AK soon! I ordered a new T-fal iron today. Crossing fingers!
CHRISS - What did you do yesterday? Have you done much cooking on your stove yet? I hope you love it!
LYN - sorry you have another headache to face when you get back to the Colorado house. It seems it's always raining on you! Is Baudette, MN just over the border from where you are? Would it be easier, and maybe cheaper, to sell the boat and get a different one in Texas when the time comes rather than transport it?
JANA - I would LOVE to have a pantry like yours! There would be room for my appliances, canning supplies, food, broom, etc. When I was little we visited my mom's cousin in Issaquah and they had a pantry at least that size. It had a freezer in it, and countertops with upper and lower cupboards. My sisters and I still talk and dream of that pantry! But on a more important note - did you get to sew yesterday? You have cooing doves and we have crowing roosters. I love the sound of both.
LOIS - your butterfly quilt is lovely! I saw it on QIAD Girls site.
VAL - You are probably busy sewing or trip planning. Do all your projects have to be finished before you hit the road or do you just want them finished? I plan to take a couple of hand projects along with us when we go - cross stitch, yo-yo's and maybe even that Cathedral Window. I can do the latter two in the truck as we travel. My eyes won't let me do cross-stitch while we bounce a long anymore. Not to mention all the dog hair that gets stitched into the project!
I ended up doing laundry yesterday because I had to wash all the fabric that blankety-blank iron leaked on, and I didn't want to run a small load. Then I replaced my ironing board cover. It needed replacing anyway so I can't really blame that on the B-B iron. Then I trimmed my "River" quilt, made the binding, and finished my sample Christmas Swap block - which I decided I will NOT be doing. It's paper pieced and I made so many mistakes (one I made 3 times!). I think for now I'm burned out on paper piecing! So I'll be looking for another, simpler, block today. The kids brought an appetizer and bottle of wine over for HH and we sat and visited for a couple hours. Guess I shouldn't call them the 'kids', but rather the 'new neighbors'. They are leaving July 7 for two weeks for their maiden outing.
We got a call last night from good friends in Bend, OR. Jay & Jackie. They are coming to visit in their RV July 10 for 3 nights. This means gathering up all our mutual friends for a big BBQ. It also means I need to get my lazy self in gear working in the yard! I do have my young man coming to help with that but not until after July 11, so timing isn't purrfect. But it will be what it will be and I won't really care that much. I'm just using this event as incentive to pull those weeds.
Today's plan - gardening! (that sounds like so much more fun than 'yardwork', don't you think?) And maybe label and bind River, clean my sewing room, choose another block, and perhaps start on my next Amara Baby Clothes block. I want to take a little mauve 2-piece outfit she wore a lot (with rhumba ruffles on the tushy), stuff it with some batting for a 3-D effect, applique it to a background that I'm going to make with sky and grass fabrics. Add "hair" and shoes so it looks like her from the back and she'll be holding a 3-D balloon made from another little tee-shirt. It will be the focus block of this project. In my mind it's going to look great.
Supper will be the shish-ka-bob that I didn't make last night. After snacks with the kids we weren't too hungry and it was kind of late so we had bacon and eggs instead.
It's the weekend! Relax, refresh, and fill next week's bobbins!
mary z
>^+^<
Jim will go to church in our Ward tomorrow with us. Then head back to California. 
I can't get Garry to let anything go. When I talk about selling the Colorado house or his Harley Trike he can't ride, he comes back with, "You just want to sell all my stuff, why don't you get rid of your quilting crap." My answer is that I'm using my quilting stuff.
