Step 2 Done, well almost

All the pieces are sewn and pressed. I've just got to finish cutting off the dog-ears. That shouldn't take too long. I'm excited to have this step done. Looking forward to the next step. My quilting juices are flowing. I want to keep sewing, but I have to work in the morning, so off to bed I go.

Just a quick note, I got two more bags of leaves done. I know, I know, I should be done by now, but I've been procrasinating and haven't been home much. Today I worked on the leaves that are piled outside of my fence on the sidewalk. I figured I better get those done before the snow flies and causes problems for the snow blower. Its suppose to start raining tonight and tomorrow, so I thought I would get as many done as I could before the sun went down. Only two bags, but it put a huge dent in the problem. Hopefully by the end of the week I can get some more done.

Good Night!!

My Day

Today has been a lazy but productive day. I started my morning out by making chocolate chip cookies, while cooking sausage for my breakfast. Its always nice to have the house smell like home cooked food. I then decided to do my Cinderella chore of scrubbing the tile floors by hand. My knees are a bit sore, even though I used my slippers for cushions. The floors looked great, but of course, the dogs have already brought dirt in with them. Maybe I'll do a better job of keeping up with them and I won't have to do that back breaking job for awhile. Of course, I continued by getting everything vaccuumed. I did the living room twice just to try to get it extra clean. I don't think that really works with the dogs, but I feel better.

I put on a pot of chili today even thought I'm still trying to finish the Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm actually getting tired of the leftovers, so the dogs might get a bit of a treat within the next couple of days.

I worked on step 2 of the mystery for a little bit. Sewed some more HST's together, but I'm still not done. Maybe I'll finish them up tomorrow. Once I'm done I'll post a picture of my completed step 2.

Bonnie just posted the first step in her 3 part series called Christmas Lights. It was published in Quiltmaker magazine, but I didn't get all three issues, so this is great. I really liked quilt and now I will be able to make it. I just have to print each set of directions from her blog. I'm not going to start that one for awhile. Maybe I'll have it done for next Christmas.

Thanksgiving Dinner

My family's thanksgiving meal was spectacular. My mom's husband did an excellent job on the turkey. I think it was the best one yet. Of course all the sides, stuffing, corn, garlic mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, were excellent too. It was nice to just hang out with my family for the evening. We watched the movie, Pretty Woman. I've never seen it before, so we had to stay and watch it. It was a pretty good movie.

Well, I've started step 2 of the mystery quilt. I've got all the strips cut and then a portion are subcut into HSTs and then another group have been sewn already. Of course, I had to sew some because I wanted to see how they are going to turn out. As soon as I get them done I'll post a picture. I'm looking forward to the next step. The first two have been really easy, which is not normal for Bonnie Hunter. She loves lots and lots of little pieces. Who knows what is coming our way.

Did a little Black Friday shopping. Mom & I went out and braved some of the crowds. Elder Beerman was crazy. I ended up buying a wool sweater and a cashmere sweater because the prices were great. I didn't need them, but when you can get such a good deal they have to come home with you. Mom got some luggage at an unbelievable savings. She needed some because she is going to vist my sister in Vancouver this week. We hit a couple other stores and got everything we were after. There was no way I was getting up in the middle of the night to go shopping. I think we left the house around 11. That worked out pretty well. I was amazed at how things died down after 1pm. You know all those doorbuster deals expired then, so people quit shopping. You could actually find parking spots after 1. I hope everyone was able to get the deals they were looking for.

Mystery Step 1/Happy Thanksgiving

I finally finished step one of the new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. Step two comes out tomorrow, so at least I'm ahead of the game a little. This mystery is called Roll Roll Cotton Boll. Bonnie lives in North Carolina, so she has lots of cotton farms around her. Here is a pic of my fabrics.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm thinking of my friends who are overseas for the holiday. My girlfriend Laurie and her husband David are in Afghanistan right now. Its great that they are together, but they really don't get to see each other much. I hope all the members of the Armed Forces have a great holiday.

Tomorrow is Black Friday. Mom and I may go brave a bit of it, but I really don't have anything that I want to buy. You never know if you'll find something you can't live without, so we may brave the crowds and the cold.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful and safe holiday!

New Mystery Quilt

I have started on the new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. Step 1 is pretty simple, just sewing a pink/green/pink set together and then cutting down to 2 inches. I've cut about 20 of the sets and have sewn the pink/green together. Tomorrow I hope to finish. I have to cut some more pink because I wasn't sure how much I was going to need. Bonnie tries to use up scraps in these quilts, but I really don't have that many scraps so I'm using to old yardage and fat quarters. The first step really doesn't give me much of an idea of what the quilt is going to look like. Bonnie is trying to keep it a mystery as long as possible. Step 2 is set to be released this friday, so hopefully I'll be able to get some sewing done this weekend. I'm not going to be home, but plan on packing up everything I need, so I can get some more done. Winter is here and its time to start sewing again.

I say winter is here, but with today's weather you really can't tell. It was in the 60's and we are having a thunderstorm. They actually have a thunderstorm watch issued for the overnight. They said a tornado touched down in Wisconsin from this batch of storms. Could be an interesting night. The temp is suppose to drop over night and we will be lucky if we see 35 tomorrow and they are calling for snow on Thanksgiving. What crazy weather.

Vacation

I spent this past week on vacation with the DH. We didn't have a plan, so we headed to Kentucky. I wanted to visit Hancock's of Padacuh, so we went there. It was a big shop and they had so many fabrics. It was overwhelming. I'm sure I could have spent all day there, but only went through half the fabrics. I was afraid of how much money I was going to spend, so I had my fabric cut and got out of there. Maybe I'll visit again someday. The town as a whole didn't have alot to offer (at least that's what the locals said). The National Quilt Museum is there, but we didn't go. We did head downtown and visited another quilt shop. We tried to find somewhere to get lunch, but all the restaurants close after lunch and don't open again until dinner time. We ended up having sandwiches at a general store. The food was very good, even though it wasn't what we were looking for.

On Thursday we headed to Lexington. I was so overwhelmed at the beauty of horse country. I so want to live there. We found a hotel after driving around the area and then went downtown to a little bistro for dinner. The food was very good. They had a limited menu and it was quite expensive, but at least it was delicious.

Friday we went to the Kentucky Horse Park. I wanted to do a horse farm tour, but many of the vendors weren't offering tours on friday. It seems that busy is very slow in the late fall/winter time. We wandered the park and enjoyed the sights. I got to see two famous racehorses - Cigar and Funny Cide. They both reside at the park, so it was pretty cool to see two legends. The museum was pretty amazing as well. Next week took a trip over to Keeneland race course. I knew they were having their fall sale, so we stopped into the sale area. It was so cool! I've seen the arena in pictures, so it was kind of surreal for me to see it in person. We watched the sale for awhile and then DH left with one of nicest people I have ever met. She was working at the sale. Come to find out he went and registered as a buyer, so we could buy a horse if we so chose. I found a mare that I would have liked to have, but I wasn't registered as a buyer. She didn't sell and I found out that we could go talk to the agent and possibly buy the mare. I didn't jump on it right away and then after the sale was over we went down to the barn she was in. Come to find out they usually give the mares away if they don't sell. Now I know for the future. It was a great time hanging out watching the sale.

This is just one of the mares that sold friday. Most of the mares were in foal. I learned alot by spending the day at Keeneland. One of the auctioners said that the sale was brutal because most of the horses went super cheap or didn't sell. It was kind of sad. The highest price we saw was $37,000 (see 2nd picture). That's not much for a racehorse.

When my life permits I will have horses again. Right now just isn't the right time. Maybe the next time we take a vacation it will be during the sale and maybe the horse trailer will have to go with us.

We headed home after the sale on Friday and arrived back in Michigan around 11pm. It was a wonderful trip. I wish it would have been longer, but I was out of money, so it was good we decided to come home.

On Saturday night we went to the Napoleon Livestock Commission's monthly horse auction. They had 5 horses to sell. After all the tack sold they started the horses. The first mare was a registered Appaloosa. She didn't have any spots, but I really thought about buying her. She sold for $200. The lowest price was $50/each for two Hackney ponies and the highest was $350 for a Perchereon/Arabian cross mare. It was so sad. I think the same guy bought all of them. Hopefully he will just resell them.