Our 43rd Wedding Anniversary Today!

 This morning, I overslept a bit. I headed out and had to stop at Safeway. Then I was on my way to moms. I stopped to get a tea from Dutch Brothers. As I was crossing over the bridge, the police and fire truck were headed to I-5. I guess if I was about 10 minutes earlier and on my usual way to mom, I could have been in it or saw the accident. I'm thankful my plans were different. 

When I arrived, someone took my parking spot - no big deal. They have been doing that lately. So, luckily, I found one close to the house. The tension in that group is high. When I asked what they were scheduling, I was told they scheduled the Christmas Party at O'Blarney's in town. I told them I went there with a group, and it took an hour to be served. Not only that, but we were given 3 tables that sat 4 people. I didn't care for the food. I was told that I could call around and find a better place if I didn't like it, but they already made reservations for it. At that point, I was tired of the attitude they have been giving me. I was tired of them voting on stuff when I wasn't there. I would come in sometimes and be told what we were doing. This is the old "Tuesday" group, that moved their way into our "Friday" group. They were the ones that changed our Fridays to every other. AND NOW they are trying to change it to the first and third or second and fourth Friday. Funny thing is, its mom's house, and they don't ask her before they decide on stuff. If they do, mom just goes with it. I told her I was tired of all the crap. So, I told mom I was done with this group. She was upset by it, but I told her "I'm done! I don't care what they decide anymore, I'm done."

So, then I realized it was taking away a day from mom. She wants to see me at the very least, once a week. I decided to ask her if she would let our Monday embroidery group meet at her house instead of going to the grange. That way, if they don't meet, I can visit with her and it's a win, win for both of us. She was so excited about that thought. I was so surprised at how excited she got with that. I asked the group, and they all agreed to do that. So, December 1st we will start meeting at moms. Mom's happy and I can still visit with her on Mondays. Georgie lives by mom, and that gets her to come back to the group. I also invited another person from the area and told her we will start on the 1st. 

I then went to Physical Therapy and came home. I had to change and get ready to head out to Red Lobster - it's our Anniversary dinner! We have been married 43 years today. It was a very nice time down there. We got the "Mariner's Boil" and split it. Patrick got a side of shrimp that he likes. We ate it all. Then we had a dessert but couldn't finish that. So, the good news was, we didn't bring anything home to throw away later. lol 

I did work on a binding while at moms, but that really doesn't count towards being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Getting Back On Track

This morning, Patrick left for golfing, and I slept a little longer.  When I did get up, I decided to get the laundry done. It's been a while since I have done it. At least it wasn't that bad. 

While I was working on the laundry and cleaning up the kitchen, I was playing my game. I was able to get myself up in the 300's for the challenge. Trouble is, it's going on for another 3 days. I just want to be up there for the prizes. 

Then I decided I could do both, so I beaded. 

Finished the panel I was working on and started another one. The one I started is the one I have 2 done so far. I need to do 2 more of this one as well. AND I want to do another one, so I need to get moving. I was thinking of going downstairs and putting the quilt together but just wasn't there. 

I was listening to my book as well. It's a good story and I couldn't believe Patrick wanted to hear it as well. So, we both listened to it for a good hour or two. 

I really didn't do much, by was Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Sew Days At The House

This morning, I was up and ready for quilters. I ended up waiting a little longer than I expected. We had a couple of them that couldn't make it, but we did get a new person. So, all in all it was a good time. 

Only 3 of them were sewing, the other 3 of us were cutting and ironing. 

 This is the rail and nine patch. We didn't get it done, but we did get about half of it done. It takes forever on the 6" nine patches. It will get done in January when we meet again. 

This one the one from the pattern. We were trying to figure out how to place it. Kept coming up with this and then after everyone left, Patrick moved things around. 

He figured it out. We tried but it didn't come out that way. Val kept trying when she was here and we all were getting confused. This way works with the eagles. We had the eagles off for a bit. I will sew this together, then I'll add the white for border. The dark blue with be the binding. 

I did get a couple quilts today. I need to put the names on them and take them to the museum. Debbie cut the backing and batting for all the tops - minus 2 - and they are ready for when a quilter wants a quilt. She did 6 of them and measured the last 2. 

The good news is that we are ahead of ourselves right now. It will work out great! I'm hoping we can do about 8 veterans at a time because we now have 77 quilt requests. We have a long way to go. But we are getting there! 

Today turned out to be an awesome day of Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Spending Time With Mom And Trip To Olympia

This morning, I had to get moving. Was at moms by 9:20 am. We then headed up to Olympia. She needed to have her hearing aids checked. She was having trouble and wanted to get them check. We arrived at Costco, and they took her hearing aids to clean them and then check them. There was a lot of "stuff" in the hearing aids, so it just needed cleaned. We shopped while we waited. I needed to pick up a few things that we missed last week. Both mom and I found some crab!! So, we bought 2 containers of crabs. The deal was that she would come over for dinner because she loves crab as much as I do. I agreed. Sent Patrick a message that mom was coming over for dinner, and we were having crab. lol I picked up a few things as well. Patrick was complaining he needed dessert, so I bought popcorn (with chocolate), chocolate covered pretzels, and a tin of cookies. Hopefully that will keep him going. 

Our next stop was to the Xfinity shop. Mom was having trouble with her TV and cable. We waited a good 20 minutes before we were called. She asked for someone to come out and check it out. They also put that she may need 2 new boxes. I'm betting that's the case. We made the appointment for tomorrow between 10-12 noon. She will be late getting here, but she will at least get her TV fixed. 

Next stop - mom was hunger by then - Panara Bread. We had a salad and then came home. I dropped her off and put her stuff in the house for her. Then I put our stuff in the car and headed to Dutch Brothers for tea and coffee. I needed to get a gift card for Debbie, since today was her Birthday. I also have a cake for her. 

Mom had 4 quilts done for me to bring home, so put them in the car as well. Came home and then worked on my beading for a bit. Waiting for mom to come for supper. 

I didn't finish it, but I did get about half of that work done. I was on a roll. Then mom arrived and we had supper with the crab. I made the Red Lobster bisques, and it turned out great!

Mom helped me clean the extra crab meat and then we have it ready for tomorrow. Mom is going to bring some stuff to make crab salad. I'm looking forward to that. 

Now I'm all set for tomorrow. We have sew day and hopefully will get a lot done. At least, as busy as I was today, I was able to be Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Doing My Usually Stalling Bit

This morning, Patrick went golfing. Since our BE group is not available, we didn't have our meeting. 

I ended up getting the 2 quilts ready for Wednesday. We have our potluck sew days on Wednesday. Which means I needed to be ready with the quilt cut and ready to sew. 

 This is ready for 2 quilts. The strips are for a 9-patch/rail quilt. I had to cut the strip to be ready to sew. I hope I cut enough, if not I will cut more on Wednesday, since the pattern didn't have the cutting directions. It just had a note that for the size they showed was 1" squares. I needed to have it doubled, so our strips are 2.5" for 2" squares. Confusing but I am pretty good at figuring out the size differences and what needs to be done. In this case, I am NOT good at figuring out how many strips are needed to do the 9-patches or the rail fences. So, I cut enough that I think will work. We will have to see. 

Then I cut the fabrics for the Scooch Over 2 quilt. 

Since it's for a veteran, I needed reds and blues. I had the eagle fabric that I figured would work. Patrick helped me pick out the colors for both quilts. He thought we could do the eagle fabric (every other one) with a red piece that is also every other one. The dark color is the dark blue and the light color is a light blue. This one looks easy enough. I will just need 2 people cutting the pieces after the strips are sewn. Then to give the sewers the blocks to piece together. I will also need 1 person to iron. I'm hoping we have as many quilters here as we did last time. It should work, and we may be lucky enough to get 2 done. 

After clearing off the counter and getting this done, I came upstairs and did some computer work for QOV. I need to send out emails to the veterans letting them know we have them on the list to receive a quilt. That needs to be done soon, as I believe I will have 20 to send to. If not more. 

After that, I decided to relax and play on my tablet. 

I have been stalling with getting the quilt tops together with batting and backing. I have fabric coming in, but I will need to order more for the backings. Plus, the batting. I also need to get my butt in gear and work on the ornaments. I'm still stalling on the emails to the veterans. AND stalling on my genealogy as well as getting my round robin done. These won't take long; it's just getting my butt in gear to get them done! How hard is it to sit down and work on this stuff?! Yet I tend to want to chat with my friends on the game I play. NOT SMART! UGH

At least I was getting closer to being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

A Fun Sunday

This morning, Patrick and I went to the casino (because I wanted my gift), and I got the grill that they were giving away. I wanted it, so made Patrick go today instead of Tuesday since he wasn't able to get the gift then. I'm still not sure which gift was given last week, could be the crock pot or the diamond electric skillet. I will see which one I get next week and will know. Like Patrick said, they are cheap, but they do work. Some of the stuff we get is really nice, others are crap. 

We must have played 4 hours! We won this time and brought home more money they we took. So, we can use that next week to play on.

I had to get the fabrics ready for the 2 quilts we are going to work on Wednesday. I need to have them cut and ready to work on when the group gets here. Plus, I need to clean up down there. 

Mom called and wanted me to come over tomorrow or Tuesday. I told her I was busy and then she said she needed to go to Olympia to get her hearing aid fixed. I told her that I would work it out, and we could go Tuesday morning. We would have to go straight up there and back. She said she wasn't planning on shopping and that's what she wanted to do. 

We got home after picking up a pizza from Pappa Murphy's. I stuffed myself with the vegetarian pizza and Patrick had the other half - meat lovers. I am still stuffed!! I ate too much, but dang that pizza was good!

Sophie wanted her attention as usual. 

 She doesn't like me on my tablet when she wants attention. I brushed her and couldn't believe how much hair she had! It's wintertime and she's shedding - go figure!

After playing for a bit, I decided to play my games. 

Tried doing both my beading and the games. lol I really do need to get this set done and start another. It won't take long, but it does take time. I thought of something else I needed to get done. Oh, the embroidery for my round robin. 

I chatted with Sux in Australia and asked what she thought would work for the piece. I love her ideas and she so good with her embroidery, gold work, and just plan handwork. So, when things calm down, I will sit down and do the flowers on the piece. But first things first, I need to get these done! At least I was able to find a little time to be Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Shopping For Fabric Today

 I was ready for Debbie to come pick me up. She wanted me to go with her to Gee Gee's Quilt shop in Yelm. 

She arrived at 10 am and we headed out. Stopped to get a tea/coffee and then off to Yelm. We arrived with the parking lot full. That surprised me. Debbie was looking for fabrics that would work in her memory quilt. She has a ton of photos and is making it for her daughter. I think it's good therapy for her to do this. We got a lot of different fabrics for it. She just needs to figure out the sizes, since the photos were sized a little off. 

I looked (sort of) for panels. I found one and bought 4 of them. Then Debbie pointed out the fabric that goes with the 250 years of the signing of the declaration. It works with the panels we have for QOV. I saw one on Etsy and was surprised a QOV quilt could be sold on Etsy, but when I went looking for it today, it was gone. The fabrics I got will work great with the panels. 

I am still waiting for the panels to come in, but I will be paying attention to where we can get the fabric if we need it. 

We stopped at the grange to see if the fabric was selling. I did notice about half the fabric was gone, so that's a good thing. I need to check with Colleen to see if it went as well as I hope it did. I won't see her till later this week. 

Came home and I played on the tablet after supper. I had to work on some QOV stuff and balance our "checkbook" to be sure the amount is right. I also posted on Facebook the last two presentations. Once I had that done, we had supper and then I played. 

We watched TV. I think this time, even though I wasn't stitching or sewing, I can but was working on fabrics to do some quilting - that should say I was Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Not A Day For Fun Crafts!

Today, Patrick was up and out the door to the golf course. I got up to get out to the PT appointment. First, I needed to drop a deposit at the bank, then post office. I found out at the bank that my deposit was wrong and needed to go back. That had to wait till after PT. 

I got some money for Colleen to do the fabric sale tomorrow at the grange. Hopefully we can make some good money. It's all the holiday fabrics that we have. Trouble is, we are in the kitchen area, so hope people realize that instead of walking out. 

Got home and get the information ready for the bank. We then went back to the bank to find out why my account was short. As we worked it out, it was found out, since GESA took over Security State Bank, there was a duplicate account. So, they added a number to our account. Now I have to make sure all our deposits and checks go through the correct account. They had to return the money and re-issue it to our account. At least now I know what the problem is. 

We then headed out to the casino. After 4 hours we decided to eat there. I got a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes. I was really surprised when it was on open faced sandwich with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy on top. I'm used to the potatoes on the side and not mixed in with the turkey and gravy. I won't be getting that again. It was pretty good, but I don't want everything piled on the bread. 

We came home and watched TV. I was downstair a bit to find a pattern to cut out for the sew days on Wednesday. I'm behind the times! I did have Patrick look at a book and see what he thought would work for a quilt pattern. I may have to cut a couple quilts for the group. 

Other than that, not a day to have fun with being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Off To Olympia Again.

This morning, Patrick went golfing. I cleaned up a few things today. I had the vacuum out and going. Then I sat down to play my games. 

Patrick got home and about an hour later, the guy came out to fix the fireplace. It's about 15 years old. It will need to be replaced in a couple years. I told Patrick I would rather replace it now then then. He said he wanted to wait. Told him I disagreed but said ok. He then reminded me they go on sale in the summertime, and we can look into them then. That was a good idea. 

We then went up to Olympia for Patrick's tests and made our appointments. Then we went to Costco! Oh, wow! Did we ever spend money! We got a lot of stuff and came home. Unloaded some at Phil's then came home and unloaded our stuff. I got a couple things for me. Yet, Patrick said, "I may try that too." Which is stuff that I only have about 12 of. Bet he eats them all before I get to them! 

Then we sat and watched TV. I played on my game some more. I was going to (got that - WAS GOING TO) bead, but didn't get there. I keep seeing the cat and wanting to go there and bead, but know I have ornaments to get done first. 

AND of course, Debbie wants me to go to Gee Cee's (or Gee Gee's) in Yelm on Saturday. I was in! So, tomorrow is casino after my PT and a few other things that needs to be done. But today was definitely not my day to be Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Finally, A Day Home

This morning, I was up and thinking I had a game to play. Figured I was off because today is Wednesday not Thursday. I will play tomorrow around 1 pm. 

I didn't want to do much. But I did get the laundry going. I let Patrick sleep, while I played my game and listened to my book. Patrick got a good hour if not more in for a nap. Then we watched "Death in Paradise." 

It was just a quiet day for me. Debbie came over to show me all the applications they got from Lucky Eagle. They collected 45 applications yesterday. Three of them was from the presentation. The rest were from Lucky Eagle. We are hoping to get hooked up with the tribe. 

My day was just to relax. Tomorrow they are coming to fix the fireplace downstairs. Then we will go up to Olympia for Patrick's tests and Costco. No other plans. I know we have things going on Friday. UGH! I just wasn't there yet for being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Back To Being At Home

This morning, I enjoyed sleeping in a bit. Not a lot but a bit. 

Yesterday was a long day with traveling in the airplane and airports. It's not my favorite thing to do, but it went really well. We did have to be de-iced before we left Louisville, because it was starting to snow. Then we waited a bit before we could take off. We were about 30 minutes late. Once we were on our way, it was nice. 

We arrived at DFW airport. OMG! That place is worse than any airport I have been in. I thought Houston was bad being so far behind in the times, but DFW is even worse. Trams all over the place! We had to get on the tram to go from our arrival station to the departure station. Took longer than I expected and the best part was we didn't walk! It would have taken a couple hours to get where we needed to be. 

We left DFW airport after waiting another 30 minutes for them to fix the screw that was off in the engine. I was wondering if we would have to depart and go to another plane, but nope. We had a very good captain on the flight! He was a marine pilot and made sure we knew what was going on the whole time. It was great. Told Patrick since he was military that made me feel a whole lot better!

A few miles from Portland. I was surprised at all the lights. 

Finally, we arrived home at 9:30 pm. Long day, no time to blog. 

This morning, I was having to get ready for the veteran's ceremony. We had a good group show up as well. We were introduced and then Donna did an awesome job of letting them know about each veteran. She really made us proud! Photos will have to wait; I couldn't get them loaded. Frustrating!

Susy's son-in-law, Samuel Shankster got this quilt. He really loves it. 

The guest speaker received this one. Charles Burt was awesome. He's amazing with all the paintings he has done! And he has Parkinson's! 

Mom and I joined Mike McCoy - whom I have known since I was about 14 years old. He worked for my father in the Air Force. We chatted about dad and Diane, who passed recently. I was so good to chat about the past. Mom and he laughed about a few things as well. His son was with us. We went out to eat. So, the chattering went on from about 3 pm to 6 pm. Amazing how we could talk about the past so easily. I miss dad and Diane. But as long as they are in my heart, I know they are with me. 

Came home and played my games for a bit. It's been another long day. I will load the photos tomorrow. I did work on the photos I posted the last couple days while on the tablet. I fixed a few things as well. lol 

It was a great trip, loved seeing Sue. Now we are back, and back to normal. Patrick went to the casino to get our gift - they were out. I guess Sunday, they gave them all out. So, we will go Sunday, I'm thinking, because these are gifts I do want. At least he came home with some money to play with. lol 

I haven't been Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!