And did I have fun! I do not want to go back to work today. I want to quilt some more.
We left a little later than planned Thursday morning, in the rain. After we packed up the car (there was, just barely, room for us) we headed out. On the way there, I had to call into for a court status hearing. But by the time that call ended, we were ready to stop for breakfast. We ate a diner in Jacksonville and had a massive breakfast of omlets, hashbrowns, and toast (had to fuel up for the quilting).
Back in the car, I had another call from work. Did they think an inspector could make it to the landfill on Friday? Well for crying out load, call an inspector and see, what did you want me to do, I'm on vacation!!!
We made it to the lodge by noon, and moved in. We checked in with my Mom, who was supposed to be coming on Friday. Turns out her car was still in the shop and she was afraid she couldn't make it. The girls and I started to plan to go pick her up in Peoria. However, we realized another lady was also coming on Friday and arranged for Mom to ride with her. While all these plans were afoot, I got another call from work. Inspector is going to Equistar tomorrow and is sure that they'll ask about the settlement. Just tell them you don't know. Tell them to call me on Monday. Yes, but I'm sure..... we can talk about it on Monday. We can talk on Monday. ON MONDAY! Would you people just leave me alone!
In the afternoon, between phone calls, I worked on finishing some BOMs from
2006 and then put the top together. I hadn't planned on a border, but we decided it needed a very narrow one. After a dinner of some very tasty pizzas, it was back to an evening of sewing. I laid out some batik BOMs from
2005 and pulled out the pile of batiks I had with me to decide on some sashing. Worked on that until about midnight, when I ripped out a row because I forgot to square up one of my applique blocks, and it was too wide.
Got an early start on Friday. Looking forward to a full day of sewing, but horrors, my throat hurts, I'm coughing, I'm stuffy. I'm getting a cold!!! We decide we'll have to go into town in the afternoon. We can stop by the local winery for another bottle of wine, go to the LQS, and find a drug store. Finished up the batik top. It looked fabulous. Almost lunchtime and the late arrivals are here. Another round of setting up.
After lunch, I clean out my bobbin case, change the needle, and put on my walking foot to quilt a wall hanging. And my dang thread keeps breaking. Switch needles, switch thread. It keeps happening. Grrr! We perform surger, and clean out the tension disks, and the bobbin case. it is still breaking!!!! Finally, we decide, it is not the problem of the top thread, but the bobbin. I switch to a prewound bobbin, and it starts to hum along. But I'm feeling icky, so we go out to the winery, LQS, and grocery store (for the cold medicine). I need border fabric anyway. At the LQS I found some border fabric and a few other things as well. (It was on sale!!)
We got back with about an hour to go until dinner so I started in with the quilting. After dinner, it was time to initiate the newbies. They went "under the sheets", an old game from summer camp days. We had tons of fun, and then the practical jokes started.
I worked on the wall hanging until about midnight, took some Nyquil and went to bed.
Saturday, I quilted on that wall hanging some more. Why did I decide cross hatching would be a good idea? It was taking forever, but kept plugging along. Finally finished the quilting after lunch, cut the binding strips and sewed them to the front.
After dinner, I pulled out a table runner kit I'd had forever. Got that pieced and quilted, and the binding sewn to the front. Realized it was 1 a.m. and decided maybe it was time for bed. Took some more Nyquil and got some sleep.
Up by 8 again on Sunday morning. Finished the binding on the table runner. And I had time to start on something else before lunch. So I got out the wall hanging I'd been working on when I had my rotary cutting accident a few years ago. Why was I dreading this. It's pretty and its going together beutifully. Had the last of the block pieced by lunchtime. After lunch, cleaned up a little since we'd be leaving in a couple of hours. Put the blocks together and started on the borders. I got the first of three borders on, and then it was time to pack up and go. :-(
I can't wait until next year! Plus, by my calculations, if I don't start anything new, I can go on retreat once a year, and maybe finish all my projects in another 4 or 5 years.
Maureen