I'm Back!

I'm feeling much better this a.m.--just in time to be well enough to clean house, too. So I figured I'd procrastinate and write to you instead!

Friday night, when I first felt sick, I had plans to go out to dinner with my friends, Kathy and Lisa, to celebrate my birthday--bet you thought that was over, didn't you? Nope! I stretch it out as long as I can! Anyway, we were meeting at a good Mexican restaurant and we all arrived separately to find it incredibly crowded. By then, I wasn't feeling too much like eating anyway, so we moved the "party" down the road about a mile to a little deli that Kathy said makes some pretty darn good tri tip sandwiches on Friday nights. I guess I should mention that the deli is attached to a bar and while we were sitting in the deli eating, we saw one of my brothers-in-law go into the bar--he had no idea we were there. When we were done eating, Lisa surprised him by playing waitress and carrying two of our leftover half sandwiches and a side of pasta salad into the bar and serving him. It was pretty funny! We then wound up the festivities at a nearby Starbucks. I knew before I left the house that I wasn't feeling very well, but I just couldn't pass up a date with two of my best friends, and I'm glad we were able to get together.

Lisa had brought me a birthday present, and the card said that the gift combined three of my favorite hobbies. Hummm. What could it be? Turned out she had gotten me three quilting books from Goodwill and a Starbucks card! She actually went to Goodwill hoping they might have gift cards, but no dice. Lisa's pretty funny!

By the time I got home Friday night, that stomach bug really hit hard.

On Saturday, I made a purse. Lisa had admired my red wool and black and white polka dot purse awhile back and asked if I would make a similar one for her daughter for her birthday in August, so that's what I worked on. I got a photo of it, but it came out awfully dark, and now the purse has been sent on its way, so I can't get another photo. Argh!

Oh, I have to back up a bit to my birthday again. Late Thursday, I think, I got a package in the mail from Red Geranium Sharon. I opened it Friday morning to find a whole bunch of goodies! She and I have this cow thing going on, so she sent me a couple cow-themed funny gifts and some lavender dryer bags that smell heavenly! The gift I'm most excited about, though, is three charm packs of the Nantucket line from Moda/Minick & Simpson. She can't possibly know, but I've recently been picking up a couple pieces of fabric from that line here and there because I really like it and never did get very much to begin with, so now, with those three charm packs, I have enough to make something fun!

The Wild Child came into town late last night. Lisa's mechanic husband Terry will be working on her car and that's the reason for the trip. She and Hubby are dropping the car off this morning and then visiting various relatives, so I have the house to myself--so I can clean it. The Wild Child will be here until Monday night. I guess that means I should actually COOK dinner tonight. No rest for the wicked, eh?!

The mail this weekend also brought a large envelope full of scraps all the way from Faith in England. What fun this scrap swap has been! The envelope contained some fun pieces and some really lovely sherbet colored scraps. It was so nice of Nancy to make all these arrangements for us!

Finally, before I go clean house, I'll show you where I am on the Thimbleberries BOM. I received yet another package yesterday, and this one contained the Thimbleberries fabric order I had placed, so once the purse was done, I started back on this project.

I still need to add a couple final borders, but I'm excited it's nearing completion. And aside from just not enjoying house cleaning quite as much as quilting, THIS project is really making me just want to chuck the cleaning and finish it up. I think the next border will be more of the zig-zag flying geese-type blocks and then a last simple border of the blue sailing fabric from the line.

I guess I can't keep putting it off, so I'll say goodbye for now and go clean the darn house. Thanks for your well wishes over the past couple days and thanks, too, for stopping in to visit!