Another Sunday

It's been a very long week since Mother's Day. I've been running around, the house has needed attention, we lost some neighbors here, and I am really tired.

The good news? Well, my friend and I visited 2 quilting shops on Tuesday. It was a fun day- we checked out the first place, had a light lunch, checked out the second place, then stopped to buy some fancy pastries. In reverse order: the pastries were good but not great, the second shop is all and only about machine quilting so I won't be going back, lunch was good, and we both really liked the first shop a lot!!

I signed up for a hand quilting class, and she signed up to learn free motion quilting on her own machine. I got some fabric and threads and stuff for my class, and we were both very happy with the attention to details that the sales lady showed us. At least for now, this is now our #1 quilt shop.

Also good news was my trip to the EGA meeting on Wednesday. I met a lot of nice ladies, started a small class project, saw their plans for future meetings and classes, and have decided I will definitely join, but not until September- we have more than enough going on right now. The small project required cross stitching and showed that the EGA world and the cross stitch world don't often intersect- one of the ladies didn't know how to even start, yet she was a long time EGA member who does a lot of canvas work with specialty (embroidery) stitches. It was interesting to see.

I finished the afghan for our friends' first grandchild and will be mailing that off tomorrow. 

I have taken out, made easily accessible, gotten all the necessary tools handy, and have begun working again on 2 old WIPs/UFOs. One is a cross stitch project and one is a mini Hawaiian quilt top that I had barely started appliqueing. I have discovered that if I put the clip on magnifiers over my TV/knitting/crochet bifocals, I can see the TV well and still work on the tiny stuff. Although, I must admit, the really tiny stuff is no longer possible for me. Oh, well.

So, we now have pest control protection. Never saw a single ant before, and all of a sudden they were coming up through the floor near the hallway. Millions of them. So, we are now safe from not only ants, but basically anything considered a pest except mosquitos. 

Sadly, two people from the same small subdivision died on Wednesday. It's been a bit of a shock for their friends. I knew the one lady- had been out in groups with her- but didn't know the man. I guess this is a price we pay for living here. I still think it is worth it.

So, anyway, it's the start of a new week. No running around this week other than groceries and such. The following week I get back on the treadmill- the quilting class, a dinner dance at the club, then right heading to my niece's graduation. I better rest up this week!

a nice weekend- mostly

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers. I am having a mostly nice weekend, and hope you are also.

Yesterday I went to my first stitching event in a really long time. Like, I can't remember the last time.

It was sponsored by a (semi)local shop, The Crafty Framer, in Largo. I got an invitation through an online friend- she is in multiple online groups for a variety of things that I am also in- stitching and Disney being the most frequent.

It was a fun day. I got some work done on a UFO/WIP that I hadn't touched in a long time. I met a lot of nice women. I was encouraged to check out the almost local EGA chapter, which I am going to do later this week.

The big news is that I won a wonderful door prize! I had seen this chart repeatedly in the last couple years an I would have bought it before this, but it was WAY too expensive. So, now I have it: Little House Needlework's "Sea to Shining Sea". The reason for the expense is that it is sold as 6 separate small kits, the chart and the special fibers for each section- at $16 per section. A piece that was going to cost almost $100 before fabric, and was only 8 x 16 finished was something I just could not justify buying. AND, now I don't have to!

I received a really lovely gift for Mother's Day- the annotated "Sense and Sensibility". It is a beautiful book and I am already (half way through Chapter 1 following a 30 page introduction) thoroughly enjoying it.

Why the "mostly" nice weekend? Well, the AC seems to be malfunctioning. It could be something as simple as the thermostat, or whatever, but DH is having himself a royal fit! He is sure it is broken, we will need a whole new system, and it is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars. To avoid Mr. Grouchy Pants, I am off to the pool!