Perfect Timing!

On the evening before I teach a class, I'm usually running around the house, trying to get everything I need together in one place and finishing up whatever remains to be done. One of those things tonight was to pull some fabric and cut some strips so I could demonstrate how to make the fabric wreaths. I wasn't really looking forward to pulling fabric--it's always hard to decide what fabrics go together and what I want to "give up" for a particular project and what needs to be "saved" for something else.

I finally got into the Sweat Shop around 10 p.m. and thought that first I'd open a package that arrived with yesterday's mail. What did I find? This--

A lovely, happy jelly roll of Robert Kaufman's Sparkle All The Way fabric. You know what? I found it on sale online about a week ago and ordered it with the thought that it would make a good quick project, like a tablerunner, OR a wreath. Yep, a wreath! And then I forgot about ordering it. Don't you agree it was perfect timing that the jelly roll came and I opened the package just as I was wondering what I was going to use for fabric for the class wreath? I couldn't be more pleased! I have about a third of the jelly roll cut into strips already and that's enough to work with in class.

Tonight I made chicken noodle soup too, and guess what? This morning I decided to look at slow cookers with locking lids online and found just what I wanted at WalMart for a good price, so Hubby did a little shopping for me while I was at work today. No, this isn't a picture of my chicken "soup"!

This is just the packaging. My soup really IS chicken soup! And it fills the crock perfectly so it's ready for transport to class in the morning. Last time I brought soup to class, I had to drive veeeeeeeeeerrrrry careful, which is TOTALLY unlike me, and I had to strap the crockpot into the seat with a seatbelt. Admittedly neither are bad ideas anyway, but at least I know this time that the soup won't spill, even if I take a corner a little fast. Perfect timing! And if the chilly and rainy weather keeps up, I might be making and transporting more soup for the Schnibbles class NEXT weekend too!

I think I'm ready for class except for loading everything into the car tomorrow morning. I guess that can mean only one thing: Time for bed! Thanks for stopping in to visit.

What You Said

I thought I might revisit a couple of your comments tonight. Charlotte asked yesterday:

"How can you write about your day (Thursday) when it is only 8AM in CA when I am reading your post. Or were you writing about Wednesday? I am confused!"

Good question and it's something I know has confused others but I tend to forget. Here's the explanation: I'm a night owl. If you look at the time I'm posting this--actually the time I started writing it--it's well after midnight and is technically Friday morning. So I'm more or less at the end of my Thursday--not the beginning of Friday when most of you are reading this after you wake up. Does that make sense? And I look at my blog as a journal--at least in part--so I like to look back at my day and record what I'm doing and what's going on around me to some extent.

Everyone, I think, voted for chicken noodle soup for my class and many of you said you wished you could be here. Sandy emailed me and also voted for chicken noodle soup and she WILL be in the class. So chicken soup it is! And if you're anywhere near Sacramento and feel like spending part of your rainy Saturday in class, having fun from 10:30 to 1:30, and eating chicken soup--well, I think I have two more openings, so give Bearpaws & Hollyhocks a call and sign up. As an added incentive? The shop has a huge sale going on--35% off. Can't beat that!

Finally, why am I up so late? Normally, I admit, I write my blog around 11:30 and post around midnight but tonight I'm writing later. And all this ties together--I'm up late writing and printing out patterns for class. Here are photos of the projects--we won't make them all in class, but I'll explain, demonstrate, and hand out patterns:

It should be fun!

Oh My Goodness, I'm Tired!

I went back to work today and felt better, but I'm not exactly 100 percent yet, AND I had to catch up at work, go to the Vintage Notions quilt class, and then run the errands I should have run the last couple nights but couldn't--Michael's and the grocery store.

Besides the regular groceries, I stocked up on Christmas baking supplies, purchased some of my Thanksgiving necessities (the turkey's now in the freezer), and bought what I think I might need to make lunch for my quilting class on Saturday--I'm conflicted between making a chicken and rice salad or chicken noodle soup. It's supposed to rain, so chicken noodle soup might be better in some ways, but then there's the whole crockpot thing--how to transport it without spilling, etc. (I saw a commercial for one that has a locking lid. If my name is on your Christmas list, there you go--now you know what you can get me.) I think I have everything I need to make either dish, so I'll just wait and see what I feel like making Friday night. But tell me this: If you were coming to my class, which do you think you'd prefer?

I got home from the grocery store around 10 p.m., cleaned out the fridge, and unloaded and stored groceries away. Now the voices in my head are telling me to take a bath and go to bed. I think I'll obey. I'm glad you could stop in to visit!

Ick!

That's how I feel--I'm still not feeling so good. I thought I felt better this a.m. until the stomach cramps hit again. I tried to go to work but I only drove about a mile before I had to turn around and come back home. Ick.

There's really too much to do to be feeling bad. I took a nice nap today and went into the Sweat Shop later on to do a little of it. Tomorrow I have to drop a quilt off for the upcoming quilt show this weekend, and I needed to sew a hanging sleeve on, so I did that.

I also made block two of the Layer Cake Quilt Along that was posted this morning. Want to see it?

I'm using the Wee Woodland fabric line, which is a little outside my normal color range and style, but I think it's a fun and easy way to try out something different. I've ordered border fabric that has the alphabet on a black background and the accent fabric I'm going to use is a teal blue with an all over print of leaves and mushrooms and flowers. I have no idea what I'll do with the quilt when it's done. I think it might turn out looking kind of masculine, so maybe it will make a good guy quilt.

Of course, making the block wasn't one of those "have to do" things--that was just play because I didn't feel well enough to do much else. I still have directions/patterns to write up for the Christmas class this weekend, but at least I'm just about ready with having all the samples made and other things done. Of course, after that, there's Thanksgiving to plan, which I've barely thought about. Then there's another quilt class I'm teaching after that--a Schnibbles class that following Saturday. So, lots to do and no time to feel icky.

I guess I should get a good night's sleep so I have a chance of feeling better tomorrow. Because there's going to be lots of things to do at work too after being out for two days. ARGH!

Gotcha!

I woke up this morning with an upset stomach and decided I'd better stay home from work. Since I wasn't well and didn't feel up to doing much, I laid down on the couch in the living room with a cup of coffee and a book. Before long, both of our cats had come into the room at different times and sat quite still, intent on watching the entertainment unit. It didn't take me long to figure out the rat was keeping me company in the living room.

After about 20 minutes, I finally spotted the darn thing on top of a set of bookshelves. Because there was no easy way for it to get up or down, I thought I could get the sticky traps out of the pantry and put them at either end of the bookshelf. By the time I got back with the traps, though, he had jumped back to the entertainment center.

I spent another 20 minutes or so catching occasional glimpses of him. I'd see his little nose pop out from behind something or I'd see movement behind the DVD player. At one point, I saw him on top of entertainment center, calculating whether he could jump from there to another set of bookshelves, but he realized it was too far. Soon he returned to the first side and made the leap--right into a sicky trap!

He tried to leap out of the trap, but both he and the trap tumbled off the bookshelf and onto the floor. He pulled himself, still attached to the trap, behind a small trunk, while I went to find Hubby so he could deal with what followed. I refused to watch. I actually think rats and mice are cute, and this one had been a house guest--practically a family member!--for several months, even if he had outstayed his welcome. I felt bad about just about everything except for the fact that we were finally rid of an unwanted pest.

As it turned out, Hubby deposited the rat, still attached to the sticky trap, into the garbage. For some reason, he checked on the rat a couple times during the day, bringing me unwanted updates. Finally, he announced the rat had freed himself from the trap but was still stuck in the garbage can. Of course, I went out there, raised the lid, and stuck a broom inside to assist him in his escape efforts. After all, I don't want any bad murdered rat karma or feelings of guilt any more than I want a rat in my house!

Bye, little guy!

Here, I'll Show You . . .

Have a cookie and I'll show you what I've been making . . .

Yes, I've been baking cookies. These are a variation of one of the recipes on the Home for the Holidays blog hop--I was missing a couple things in the recipe, so I improvised. How do they taste?

More from the blog hop--this is the embroidered banner I mentioned yesterday that was designed by Kathy Schmitz. I finished the embroidered letters and now I need to attach the pieces to black wool.

Yes, I have it all pinned and ready to take with me to Gran's embroidery class tomorrow night.

Have you made fabric ornaments? They're fun!

Another project made from thrift store finds, although these don't need to be made from wool--any interesting sweaters will do.

That's about it for this weekend's projects. I'm off to bed because play time's over and it's back to work tomorrow!

Did I Tell You . . .

That I'm teaching another class next weekend? It's basically a Christmas projects class, and the main project I'll teach is making a fabric wreath like the one below:

But I have a couple other projects I'm working on instructions and samples for, and tonight I spent the evening cutting up little kits for one of the projects.

Now that I think about it, I guess I spent a good part of the day rounding up the supplies I'll need for class. I visited Goodwill, the dollar store, and the thousand dollar store--Michael's! Well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but Target is the hundred dollar store, so that name's already taken. Now I think I have just about everything I need, although I'll take one more look at my list just to be certain.

Between shopping trips today I joined a few friends for an afternoon of chatting and stitching, and when we got hungry, we just walked down to a restaurant a block or so away to pick up take out panini sandwiches. Gran was able to join us for stitching too, although she was still a little wobbly on her sea legs--she just got back from her cruise. And no, it wasn't her cruise ship that caught on fire and was stranded--she was on its sister ship, traveling the same route, but luckily for her, there were no mishaps aboard her ship.

Have you been following the Home for the Holidays blog hop? Kathy Schmitz was the featured designer on Friday, and she had a cute little stitchery banner for Christmas. I knew my friends would like it too, so I put together kits to take and give to them today. Gran is making two banners and is already working on the embroidery for the second, but she's much faster than I am. Still, I don't think it will be too long before I finish mine if I can find a little time between preparations for the upcoming class.

So far it's been a really nice weekend! I hope you're enjoying yours too. Now, it's time for bed, because there's still a day of weekend left and I don't want to sleep through it. Thanks for stopping by!

Pest Extermination, Day 9

Look what I found in the fruit basket tonight. (The apple--the other stuff you see are Halloween decorations.)

And professional pest extermination is better why? And how much are we paying for it? ARGH!

Good News!

An internet story caught my attention this morning: Turns out a study found that night owls tend to have higher IQs. Yay me! Apparently it has something to do with the relatively recent ability humans have to stay up later and be productive at night as a result of the development of electricity; from that point in history, some of us evolved and adaptated quicker than others. Huh. On the other hand, a couple psychiatrists pointed out a few drawbacks--leave it to the psychiatrists, eh? One said she found that night owls tend to be less reliable, more emotionally unstable, and more likely to have problems with addictions and eating disorders. Sounds to me like she's still mad at a former night owl boyfriend. Then another Sigmund Freud wannabe, who is himself an early riser (hey, surprise!), said early risers tend to be more conscientious, persistent, and apt to cooperate. Phooey!

Well, whatever. Being the highly intelligent and evolved night owl that I am, though, I need to go do some intense reading before bed time. I have some interesting new "text books" I need to study carefully.

Follow Up

Shopping in San Francisco. I think I'm probably going to go with the Noe Valley contingent unless one of my readers suggests something more interesting. I did an online check of "Noe Valley Shopping" today and it seems I missed quite a few shops last year, so there are plenty of places left to explore. Besides that, the ladies are lunching at Tyler Florence's restaurant, The Wayfare Tavern, and that sounds like a wonderful idea to me! I've read a couple of reviews and everyone seems to agree the chicken is wonderful. Since I have about a month before the trip, there's plenty of time to contemplate what to order as a side dish. In fact, by then I suspect I'll want to try everything!

This week during evenings spent in the Sweat Shop, I've been working on star blocks for the borders of the Charm Pack Quilt Along Christmas quilt. I have all the pieces cut but only nine of the twenty-three blocks sewn so far.

It seems I've had other things going on this week, so I haven't had very many hours free to spend sewing.

Did you hear about the cruise ship that's without power and stranded down around the Gulf of Mexico? I gather it's being returned to San Diego by a bunch of tugboats. Well, Gran is on a cruise ship down there somewhere, and I don't know which one she's on. I don't THINK it's the one in the news; I think I read that cruise left last Sunday and I believe Gran's cruise left last Friday. Still, I guess it would make for a good blog story wouldn't it? I'm looking forward hearing she's back home safe and sound though!

A friend of mine who has been following the story about our resident rodent asked today for an update. Well, we haven't seen or heard from it for several days, but then again, we also haven't had any indications that it might no longer be living, if you know what I mean. Of course, some traps are visible and I know it's not trapped in any of those, but some are tucked away here and there, and I'm not even sure where ALL the traps are. The two cats seem a little less on guard in the kitchen, but then again, they were never very good guard cats to begin with, were they?

This week, Hubby built a dog house for the Drooling Dog. I guess now that his creative efforts aren't required for building mouse traps, he has to direct them elsewhere. I'll have to take a photo to share with you. The Drooling Dog's not used to being outside in the rain, but for some reason, he doesn't like being in the garage either. I, of course, don't want a HUGE dog who drools living in the house, so it was starting to be a little bit of a problem as the weather got chillier. Now, though, he has his own house on the back patio, and it has one open side so he won't feel too boxed in and can see us in the house. He has a cushion and a sleeping bag, and he seems very content curled up in his home.

That's about all the news I can think of, so I suppose I should get to bed. Thanks for stopping by to visit!