another week has flown by

Where is time going? Another week has just zipped by while I wasn't looking. All too soon it will be the first official day of summer and 2008, half over. Here in Alabama it is hot, hot, hot even if the calendar says it is spring yet. We hit the mid 90's with heat indexes of low 100's and who knows just what the humidity/dew points are. I have been getting up at 5 in the morning to try to get my walking in between 6-7 but my resolve to do so is getting weaker when I am sweating like a pig and have a harder time breathing in the oppressive air. Oh well--we are all in this together.

So what have I been doing? Quilting, in a word. My Pippi Memorial quilt shown HERE, my mom's Grandma's Scrap Bag and my version of a "Mary Quick Strippie" shown HERE. Picture of the Grandma's Scrap bag when it is finished though I probably won't show the other two since they didn't change a whole lot after quiltinf them. I sucked it up and did some free motion on the cat fabric on the Pippi quilt--yeah, me! But I refused to do the same thing on all those bands on the strippie. A couple of vertical lines were marked and zoomed instead. Binding is applied and I'll take all but the Pippi quilt to our quilt meeting tomorrow if someone is looking for some handwork. All three will be going to M2M. That leaves 5 pinned in my stack. Now I am debating--quilt some more today or start working on the FABS challenge. HMMMMM.

Our oven had been taking forever and day to heat up recently and it was obvious it was going to need a service call. For what we thought was a reliable name this was about the 4th time we had to call them to come out. Tuesday night DJ looked around the bottom of the gas stove to see if perhaps he could replace a part. 45 minutes later he decided it would light so it couldn't be the ignitor. Do we sink any more money in an 11 yr. old stove?? Weds morning, he stopped at the repair shop to talk to them re: parts/service call. On the way home he ran by an appliance store to price a new one and then by the a place that refurbishes appliances. Then he came home to get me since I am the one who uses it. Refurbished one it is since it would cost only slightly higher than the service call and parts. This one was delivered Weds afternoon while I went on my field trip with some of the quilt group.
The cute towel you see hanging from the handle was made by my friend Marilyn who also makes doll clothes to sell--an original design by Marilyn actually. (It will click bigger so you can take a better look) Our little town had their annual craft and tractor show on Saturday and she was vending. My old stove had a molded solid handle and I couldn't hang one. I had walked really early on Saturday while some of the folks were setting up but went back into town with DJ later. Since I didn't bring any money in with me, I asked her to set this one back for me but she handed to to me as an early birthday present. Thanks, Marilyn! And she is the one who was the birthday girl--not me. Skyler is quite attracted to the ties on the side but then he loves the ones on the chair cushions too.
We did make the run to Boaz on Wednesday afternoon as planned. Nancy drove since she had a vehicle that would seat 6. Beverly picked up her quilt in time for her DD/DSIL 25th anniversary and I dropped off the t-shirt quilt. The shop has some fabric so the girls shopped a bit while we took care of business. I got a couple of half yards of red and green for the Christmas row I will need to have completed by early August.
Then off we went through the Alabama countryside to find the quilt shop out in the country. We had only vague directions and we went by our turn off. It was pretty hilly and wooded so we lost cell phone connection for a short time but a stop at service station got us on the right track. The shop is called Mothers and Daughters and fairly new. They had mostly Moda fabrics in stock and not a lot of it yet--that takes time to build up. They have a long arm machine and table space set up for classes in a large open room building. I found a piece that will go with my Bama Belles challenge fabric but will raid my mom's stash for a green before I purchase anything else. We were home about 5 with all of us wondering about what to fix for supper/pickup something or go out.
Aline had finished quilting a neat little cable in the outside borders and the sashing of Sarah's heart memorial quilt so we gave it to Jane. The top is pictured HERE. This is what we intended for this quilt all along--it would go to her daughter in remembrance of her mom and what she meant to our group. We have another top in the closet that can be pinned and donated in her name. I asked Jane to bring it to the meeting on Tuesday so I can get a picture of it completed and the others that did not go on the shopping trip can see how it turned out. I had forgotten to tell her that it needs to be washed to remove the pencil markings at some point.
Not a lot going on really. Just the three of us rattling around the house. DJ keeps busy with yard work, reading and such. Skyler keeps busy playing and is back to normal activity wise after his front declawing procedure. They both nap at the same time, LOL. I go on mouse patrol and he promptly loses them somewhere else--the game we play.
I need to write up a handout for he next step of our "non-mystery" mystery quilt for tomorrow and do a post office/Dollar General run. That is the problem with going into town so early to walk--nothing is open till 8:30 or 9 other than the gas stations and the little grocery store and then I have to go back in again later. As I was writing this and thinking about the deadline projects I have to do, I think the quilting can wait a bit though I am tired of looking at the stack. Piecing, it is!
Hope that you have a good day in whatever you chose to do and thanks for stopping by.