Okay, It's Thursday - Getting Stuff Ready

This morning, Patrick was golfing and I was sleeping in. 

When I got up, I had to get moving. I played my game for a bit, then got a text about coming over to pick up a kit. I told Colleen I would be walking for 30 minutes, but she's welcome to come. Just as I finished my 6th lap, she was here. I'm glad I was able to get 6 laps in. I was getting into my audiobook as I was walking. I'm surprised at liking what I'm listening to. I usually don't do werewolves or vampires, but this is more comical then bloody or gory. 

Colleen and I went downstairs to find fabrics that go with the 2 kits we had. She's going to give it to a volunteer to work on. So, we were trying to make things easy for her. I don't know if she will do them or not. She didn't do the one she had for 6 months. It will be interesting. Colleen wanted to practice on some quilts. I gave her 3 of mine that were done 20 years ago and told her I don't care what she does with them. She can do whatever she wanted. I would pay her for doing them. There is so much she can do and a couple of those quilts will be good practice for her. 

After she left, I got busy and getting the quilt I bought a couple years ago, together for mom. It's the quilt she wanted to buy till I told her I already had it. 

It's the Birds in a Garden kit. I loved the pattern but lately couldn't figure out when I would ever do it. So, when mom said she wanted to do it for a Birthday gift, I told her, I bought it and she's more than welcome to do it for me. That's gift enough. 

I boxed it all up and have it ready to go. I even put a label tag on the box and the binder with the pattern. It's labeled "Lynn's Bird's in a Garden Quilt Kit" so there is no misunderstanding that it's my quilt. If anything happens to mom, I want to be sure to get it back. 

Once all that was done, I got the Roomba going and had it cleaned the hallway and living room. The rest of the time I was working on laundry. I was keeping busy till about 3:30 pm and then called it a day for doing anything. While I was moving things around, my beads spilled out of the travel case - that I didn't zip up! So, I was thankful that I didn't have a lot out of the tubes. 

Now it's late, and I'm about done for the day. I wasn't sewing or stitching, but I was getting quilts and things organized. At yet that doesn't count for being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Our Weekly Trip To The Casino

This morning, I needed to get up to Olympia for my doctor appointment. I had to get my "female test" done today. I have been positive over the last 3 years with HPV virus. The last one was fine. I had to do another test today to see if it shows up again and if it does, then I have to do a biopsy. I learned a lot more today about the HPV tests. It's the test they do to see if cancer is coming. It is normally dormant. It was described like chick pots. It's something you have in your body but may or may not because an issue. So, with all the tests, it's a monitoring factor. I have to do this every year till it goes dormant again and then 3 years later. It's a waiting game, at this point. BUT it is something we all should pay attention to. I have lost several friends to ovarian cancer that I won't ignore it. So, I will find out in a couple weeks if I have to go back and get a biopsy to make sure it's not active. Or if I'm lucky, it went dormant and I won't have to go back for a couple more years. Again, we can hope. 

Then we went to the casino on the way home. We were there about 4 hours. Patrick needed to be back home for his doctor's call on his cancer. So, we spend time playing and believe it or not, we were getting tired of playing, so we came home earlier than we would have. We came home with another big amount of money. Patrick won over $1,000 on a bonus. We didn't have to fill out a tax form, which was great. But we did win another Major bonus. So, like I said, we came home with more money they we took. Still playing on our winnings, but this time added to the winnings. Funny how that works. I know our luck is bound to run out. 

Sophie wanted attention, so she sat with me for a while. 

Then I started playing my match game. Seeker's Notes. I didn't get the icon from the last month's challenge, but I'm working on getting this one. I also need to go in my war games and sign up for WOW tomorrow. I'm not sure who I'm going to play with yet. 

I was thinking how funny it is, that I can play slots for hours, and yet I come home and play more games. I'm just a junky when it comes to games. If my family was here, we would be playing cards or board games. 

Nope, today didn't make it to Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

A Day At Home For A Tuesday

This morning, I got busy and started laundry. I was happy to have today at home. I seem to be going places all the time lately. We were talked about all the appointments we have, and after next week, we don't have another one scheduled till June. That will be nice!

I played my games and then pulled out my beading to work on. 

  I don't think about taking photos as I go. I finally got this far with the correct beads. I had almost 4 "V's" done when I realized it wasn't looking right. So, I cut 2 of them off and got back on track. It takes a bit for me to figure out what I'm doing sometimes. The beads going up and down on this tend to change. Sometimes I use 3 beads and other times I use 4 beads when I turn the piece. Oh, then there is the time I only use 1 bead. So, each time I have to think of where I am on this, and what I need to do with the beads. I don't mind; it's coming a little easier. I had to take the point of the last row I was working on. I am working on what I need to do to get it to come back down. Now worries, I'm getting there. 

We watched TV together. While we were sitting (I was listening to the audiobook) this afternoon, the cable company came and dug a "ditch" for the cable cords that they were replacing. They hand dug a row around the garage and through the back yard to get it connected to the house. After that, it was watching TV. 

Val dropped off a quilt that is finished. Then Jo and Colleen wanted to come over tomorrow, but I have my doctor appointment in the morning and then we will go to the casino on the way home. So, I told them both Thursday would be a good day to come. 

I'm finding myself getting back to enjoying Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Power Outage Yesterday - Usual Monday Today

Yesterday was one of those days. I decided no matter what, I needed to get the quilt top done and off to Colleen. So, after playing a few games, I went downstairs to get to work on it. 

The top and bottom stars fit perfectly. Then when it was time to add the sides, they were off about an inch or two. So, I had to rethink how to get this done. The red was a "pop" and worked great. So, then I called Patrick down to help me out. 

So, I added a blue on the sides to give it a little better connection to the panel. Once that was decided, I put it all together. Then I realized I needed a couple inches on the top and bottom. So, I added a 2 1/2" border around it. Now it's done and ready to go to the quilters. I got a message from Kelsey saying she would take the quilts to quilt. I hooked her up with Colleen, so she could get the quilts to quilters since Kelsey can't get them till next week. 

I loaded the laundry with the backing material that goes with the 3 quilt tops I had. Then I put them in the wash. I had 2 backing together that made it to the dryer. The washer and dryer were working till 6:30 p.m.

Once all that was going, I sat down after supper and played on my tablet. I wasn't on it an hour when the power went out. From 6:30 pm to 11:30 pm, we had no power. Patrick and I heard the pop when the generator blew, but we didn't realize it was in our neighborhood. With no power, I listened to my book for as long as I could in the dark and then decided to call it a night. 

This morning, I was up and ready to go. I got in the car to head to moms, got halfway to town and forgot the quilts for Colleen. Turned around and came back. I had to get the backing out of the wash, since the power outage caused the laundry to stop in its tracks. I called mom to let her know I was running behind but she didn't answer, left a message. Went to the post office and then Dutch Brothers for drinks. They gave me a coffee drink - UGH!! - and I had to turn around and go back to get the Chai tea I wanted. I kept the coffee and gave that to Gerilyn when I got to moms. 

Georgie and Bonnie were waiting on me. I unlocked the door and moms house was black. I went down the hall with Georgie to see if mom was alright. I heard Georgie say something, then I pulled the blankets and mom turned to look at me. She asked what time it was and I told her. I also told her she scared the shit out off all of us! 

We worked on our projects. 

Since I didn't have the bead wire for the beads on the rose piece, it took me awhile to get back to this one. I will go back over all that and I have to do the other flowers as well. 

After everyone left, mom showed me a quilt she wanted to do for me. I told her I had that kit. She was going to pay for each month and I told her I had it all. She can do it. It cost me $400 and I was wondering when I would ever get to get. 

I took a picture of it and sent it to her to let her know it was the same one. 

Everything she needs is here. So, I will drop it off with her and she can work on it. She said she wanted to do this one for my Birthday, and I told her that would be great. I have all she needs for it. Too funny!! 

Came home and tried to get the computer working again. It took Patrick a good hour to figure out what the problem was. 

The cable company is coming tomorrow to dig up the yard to put the cable wires in. That will be about 9 am. Should be interesting. 

So, now I'm done for the day. At least yesterday and today I was Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

A Very Quiet Day

This morning, I headed into town to pick up a few things. While I was at it, I got Patrick and Phil a drink from Dutch Brothers. 

Came home, and then pretty much tried to play a couple games. I was in the war game, when my brain didn't want to understand what I was reading. It happens from time to time but is rare. Dyslexia is complicated and hard to explain at times. So, when I get flustered, I close up. I can't comprehend what I'm reading. That's when I feel like an idiot. So, instead of continuing to play, I just shut down the game and find something else to do, till I can get my brain back on track. It doesn't last long, but it does get me confused at what I'm reading. I think that's why I like to listen to books rather than read them. I need to read more, but too lazy at times to do that. Now, I know I need to read a book, to help me get back to reading what is written and not what my brain thinks is written. Again, hard to explain. I'm thankful I can read to a college level. Not thankful for the times it shows its ugly head and I'm confused. Thank goodness it only happens about once a year and if I'm lucky, less than that. It's been a while since I had a hard time reading what everyone was up to. I do find I'm asking Patrick what some words mean more often, so I know I need to get back to reading books instead of listening to them. 

So, I spent the day playing match games or even seek and find games. I just didn't feel like doing anything today. Go figure. I did go back to my game later tonight and had fun. Was back on track and enjoying my game. 

I really didn't feel like doing much at all. I was lazy and just sat around doing NOTHING. Seriously, nothing! I wanted to do the quilt downstairs but couldn't go down and work on it. I have to cut the backing and batting tomorrow! No excuses there! Hopefully tomorrow will be more like having fun with my quilting. Fingers crossed tomorrow will be Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Day At The Casino

 We were up early because I had to go to Olympia to get an X-ray of my chest. We also had to stop and get Patrick's blood drawn. So, we were out the door by 8:45 am to get gas and head up to Olympia. 

We then went to the casino and were there by 11:45 am. We played our favorite games. It was interesting because we won 2 MAJOR bonus - over $900. Then we also won big prizes in the bonus rounds. We came home with a lot more than we went with. At first, we thought we would have to going to have to cash out some money to play awhile. Since we had planned to eat at the pizza place in the casino. As it ended up, we didn't have to after all and we started winning. The winning didn't stop. We finally called it done because we both were tired of playing around 4:30 pm. Had pizza, brought home the gift (weed whacker x2). 

Came home and I just wasn't in the mood to do any more beading. I will have to go downstairs tomorrow and get the quilts ready for Monday. I also need to finish the one on the wall. 

Once this is done, I can put the other one together that was started. I need to work on the other panel. I hope I didn't give it to mom. 

On the way home, she called all confused on what to do with the blocks that Val gave her. I don't think she's reading the instructions. But then again, at 91 years old, she's "losing it" because she's not as sharp as she was before. She could do what those instructions tell her to do, in her sleep, when she was younger. Now, she has a hard time figuring out how many blocks are needed to finish a quilt. I will have to spend time with her on Monday to get it all straightened out. Val was doing that on Wednesday when they took the blocks. She explained everything, and both mom and Georgie said, "I can do that." Then I get the call that, NOPE, she can't do that. We told her I don't know how many time what to do, but she was confused. So, now I have to spend time with her on Monday to show her what she "got" on Wednesday. 

It was a good day for us. But not a day to be Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Back To My Beading - Ornaments

 Today, we both slept in. Patrick wasn't feeling all that well, so stayed home from golfing. 

I played my games for a bit, then cleaned the house. Had a couple loads of laundry going and vacuumed the house. Amazing how much cat hair as well as my own hair that comes up in the vacuum cleaner. UGH

Then I played for an hour in the war games with my "alliance." 

Once I was done with that, I plugged my tablet in and looked for a beading ornament for this year. I started on a star one, but it was so complicated that I couldn't get it right. I took it apart and will try to work on it later. I was having to "knot" it and think I did a knot too many. Tried twice. 

So, I went looking for another pattern. I decided to try this one. It's a little prettier in my opinion. It has 2 parts to this one, so I'm going to do both parts the same color. Katt wanted white and silver/gold.  I will do one and see if I want to use 2 colors or not. If I like making these, then that will be this year's ornaments. 

Bryan called and I chatted with him for a bit. Then I sent him the family history on the Campbell family that I have. 

I got the certificate ready to mail and I talked with Debbie on getting her sister to do the scheduling for QOV. She said she would try it out. I hope she will do them for us. We will see how it goes. 

I'm so tired of people getting offended when we make changes. They are changes that need to be done. Donna knew from the start we were looking for a veteran to do the job. We tried a couple of them but wasn't too thrilled with the ones we tired. It's so frustrating. I don't do it to hurt people, but I do it to honor the veterans in the best way we can. The veterans are my priority, and I have made that clear to everyone. Oh, well. 

At least I found the time and enjoyed Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Sewing Day For QOV

This morning, Patrick went golfing and I got up to get ready for company to work on our QOV projects. 

I went downstairs and was getting things ready for sewing. Everyone arrived around 10 am and we worked all the way to 3:30 pm. Mary stayed a bit longer to help me with the panel quilt 

We had about 3 or 4 quilts going at once. They were all ones that were started but not finished. We did get one finished that needed a border to it. This quilt, we were able to get 9 of the 11 rows done. We will finish it up on the next sew days. This one has been going since the sew days in February. We didn't work on it last time because that was for pillowcases. So, 2 sew days of working on this, and now we need a third. 

We were able to get working on this one. It's the panel quilt that we need by July. So, I need to get the red on the top and bottom of the border. Then I can sew the sides and top together. We were working on getting the size right for the blocks. I don't think this will get a border when it's done, because it's pretty big as it is. 

Mary was working on these blocks. Mom cut part of the material that we needed to the wrong size, and this is the kit that I got ONLY the pieces to make the quilt. We may have to add another color or something but won't know till we get them put together. The stars need to be done first. Then I will worry about the strips that mom messed up on. 

I had some of the red and white quilt done, but not as much as I would have liked. That top quilt was a pain and took too much time. Today was a finishing day, but we only got one quilt finished and I will try and get the panel one done this weekend. 

After everyone left, I cleaned the kitchen. It was a mess! I unloaded the dishes and then added the dishes from lunch to it. It will be run again tomorrow, I'm betting. 

Then I relaxed till I came in here to get the blog done and found an email from Donna stating she is retiring from QOV. She was upset about not being able to present quilts to the veterans. She decided not to even call veterans to schedule them for our presentations. So, now I have to get all the paperwork she has and get someone else to do the work. I'm not looking forward to having to do it, because chances are no one will offer to help. I'm in trouble. We need to schedule for May now. Seems I'm good at pissing people off. We had told her in the beginning that we wanted a Veteran to do the presenting, and she didn't like it when we got my brother to do it. She was able to do it a year. Now, it's come back. UGH, UGH, UGH Bad enough this is a full time job for me. 

Anyway, at least I was able to be Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Hello Tuesday

 This morning, I tried to sleep in but wasn't so lucky. I pretty much played my games this morning. Patrick came in after golfing - at 10:30 am. I was going to go walking but it rained. So, instead, I headed downstairs and worked on my prepping for tomorrow. 

I cut more fabric for the kit quilt that needed more to it. Then I put together a pillowcase. I also trimmed the blocks that we are using for the panel quilt. I have it pretty much ready to get done. Hopefully, tomorrow we will have 2 quilts done, if not more. 

I spent most of the afternoon downstairs getting ready for tomorrow. I really don't think of taking pictures when I am down there working on stuff. 

I added more to this! I have that right bucket all full now. We may actually get a lot done tomorrow. I need Colleen to take her stuff tomorrow, so I'm not walking around it down there. 

Sophie came down and was playing with the rubber bands she kept finding. I kept taking them away. I don't know what it is about rubber, but she loves to chew on it. This time she was throwing them in the air and playing. I didn't want to take the chance she will eat it. 

My afternoon counts for Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Brazilian Embroidery Day

Today, Patrick was off golfing. I got up and out the door. 

First things first. Went to Safeway for meds and they said I had another one and to come back later. So, I headed to moms. I brought some of the cherry breads. I also had some to drop off at Phil's. 

Went to PUD because they gave us a FINAL shut off notice. I asked why I didn't get a curtesy letter. She said they sent one out and they called. Well, the number they called was disconnected. So, we chatted and I told her we just got the notice on Saturday and I couldn't do anything till today when it was the day to shut off. She fixed it for me. After 30 years of being with them, that was BS!

I worked on finishing this up. I have to add the beads, and then it's done. I like the way it came out and am surprised at how well I like it now. At first, I didn't because of the detached buttonhole stitch, but it went pretty fast. I shouldn't complain. I do like the colors too. Beads are next and then it's done, done, done. 

Went back to Safeway and they told me the other prescription wasn't ready till tomorrow. I got after her for telling me to come back and I could have gotten it this morning instead of coming back for the one they had for me. Ticked me off. 

Came home and called it a day. I ended up staying with mom a couple hours after everyone left. She needed this or that. Then I got after her for the quilts she gives away to family. She has her favorites and they get more than anyone else. I told her she needs to be fair with giving those out. Some don't take care of their stuff and she needs to realize that as well. All that time she puts into those quilts. Anyway, not my issue. 

At least, after the day I've had, I was actually Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

A Busy Day Of Baking

 This morning I pulled out the dough from last night that was in the refrigerator. It was frozen solid. I couldn't believe it! So, after I showered and had a few things going, like laundry, I got started on it again. This time I remembered the sour dough that was to go in it. 

I made about 18 of them. I think I should have waited on the frosting till it cooled down a bit, but that's okay. Its sweet bread with cherries. I was surprised it wasn't sweet like cinnamon rolls. Patrick said they were okay. But he loves sweets, so I can see why he wasn't really thrilled with them. I liked the bread. When I had mine, I forgot about the frosting, so added that after. I have them boxed and ready to go to Phil and moms tomorrow. 

I was cooking and cleaning all day. I tried to play some and got to for a bit here and there. I was going from one thing to another. Laundry got caught up a bit. The house got cleaned up and I was cooking or baking most of the afternoon. 

It wasn't my day for Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!