Saturday stuff

I mentioned that when I went to my MQG meeting on Thursday night, I took an almost-done quilt that needed to have stitches picked out so I could redo and add some more stitches.

Well, yesterday I discovered several red spots on the white fabric that appeared to be magic marker spots.  Can't imagine! I don't have any magic markers and it wasn't near any that I know of, but I  couldn't get them out, so I had to completely replace that section of the quilt.  Fortunately, it was the last 6-8" that needed to be redone, anyway. But what a waste of time!  Replaced fabric, batting, and backing of that section and hope to put the stitches back in tomorrow.

Maybe I can use my new needles and threads: basic black, white, and gray.  I can't believe I was out of white thread; it is a color I rarely use.

On the plus side, the other quilt I had given to Diane Fama to quilt, also looks great.  She did what I would never have thought to do.  Here is one smidgen at the edge of the piece.  She deliberately made the stitching wonky, like my work:-)).  Love it!

I have more quilts than I care to think about, sitting here in various stages - I have to put facings on the two I got back and there is one more small one that needs to be faced.  Then there is one I made a year ago that has still not been quilted.  I am going to do it myself.  Have my work cut out for me.

In the meantime, I have been cooking. Grocery shopping at Whole Foods is always an adventure.  I bought ribs to throw on the grill and then saw they had gulf shrimp, so I had to buy some for tonight's dinner.  Ribs tomorrow night.  It is in the 90's here and grilling on the deck is de rigeur.  I actually sauteed the shrimp in a pan on the grill. Not putting on the oven!

I have stopped buying that iodine-laced frozen shrimp from Thailand or wherever and will buy only gulf shrimp when they are available.  They are expensive but I would rather have them rarely and let them be a treat.   I was reminded that they tasted like shrimp used to taste when I was growing up.  I could never understand why my mother loved shrimp so much; to me, as an adult, they had no taste.  Now I know why she loved them - because these taste like the shrimp we used to get in the 1950's from the fish store.  

Tonight's dinner was sauteed shrimp with garlic and saffron. Took no time and was fabulous.  Served it with grilled corn and grilled asparagus. 

 

Dessert was freshly churned lemon ice cream.  In case you decide to make it, know that you can use only 2 or 3 egg yolks and it will be wonderful. 

Enough about food - back to the sewing machine...

She's Ba-ack

I've actually been back for a couple of weeks, but been keeping my head down at the sewing machine and elsewhere.  Posting on Instagram (how can I not? My daughter works there) and on FB because it's relatively quick and I don't have to think too much.  But that's not necessarily a good thing.

I spent the day in my sewing room, working on files and (dare I say?) trying to clear some horizontal space.  I was organizing my solids, but this is as far as I got. I have about 5 zillion other colors.  I am cutting off 6" swaths and putting the rest away.  How's that for ambition?  More of this tomorrow, I suppose.

Tonight, I was at the North Jersey MQG meeting.  I've actually been around for the last two monthly meetings -- a record! I enjoyed myself immensely, catching up with my friend Rachel and others, and picking out stitches from an almost-done quilt (don't ask).  I have to add some more stitching, but ran out of white thread and machine needles. Will buy them tomorow and get on with it.

I also collected two quilts I had given to long arm quilter extraordinaire, Diane Fama.  This was the first time in my life I had ever had anyone else stitch my quilts, but one was bed-sized and the last time I made a bed-sized quilt, I hand-quilted it. 25 years ago?  The second one needed more time than I could give it. 

 I was a bit nervous, but they turned out beautifully!  My quilt are not easy because they are wonky (deliberately so) and because I require straight stitching, not fancy floral patterns or feathers or doodads.  I still have to face them and clean off the fuzzies, but that's minor. . I would never have thought to do what Diane did, and it looks great. Here is a smidgin of the big one.

I couldn't get a good photo of the other one, and I am too tired to try.  Lots more to catch up on - but I'm past my sell-by date, so I'm going to bed.

On California time in New Jersey

Tuesday was a lost day, after arriving in Newark at 3:am West Coast time.  Still adjusting; going to bed late and sleeping till mid-morning. 

This has been on and off the wall for weeks and I have finally decided to bag it for a while.  I keep trying to make it larger but it's pretty clear that it wants to stay small.  Sometimes things have to rest -- and this is one of them.

In the meantime, I am going to try again to get back on eastern time and will see what tomorrow brings, other than 90+ degrees and 90% humidity.  The best thing about San Diego is the weather, but you can have the traffic on the 5. Took us 3 hours to make a 1/2 hour trip the other night.  I will never complain about NJ traffic again.