It was all about the PUPPY (and a Stash Report)

At retreat I managed to get this assembled without incident.  Now added to the TFUQ listing.

But in reality, this year's Tobermory Retreat was all about ANNI.

There was a bit of swearing at the little twit gentle persuasion, asking the little darling to give back the pieces.  And I learned a new term:  F.R.A.P.  Doggie crazies.  Click here.

Anyhow... this was Thursday's project.  The Double Wedding Ring that has not seen the light of day since March.  And it probably won't see daylight again until next March.  I figured out that this needs to be laid out in three rows at a time, since every row encompasses the row above AND the row below.  At least, that's how it seems to be working out as a scrappy quilt.

I have a stash report that includes the cosmetic bag yardage, AND a couple of items that were mailed off to Singapore as Christmas gifts for my great-niece.  Note to readers:  if you need to mail Christmas parcels this early, make sure you bought your Christmas cards last year, because you will not find them in the stores in October.

STASH REPORT
Used this month:  3.75 m
Used YTD:         67.95 m
Added this month:  0
Added YTD:      119.75 m
NET YTD:         + 51.8 m

Cosmetic Bags

Today's mission was to make a few cosmetic bags. The Caledonia guild will be donating these, filled with toiletries, to the local women's shelter. Diane & Karen cleaned out some of their travel size products and brought them along to help stuff the bags. The real pattern that was handed out at the guild meeting has gone missing, so I had to wing it.
Additionally, I've finished a top for the Binbrook guild challenge, made four placemat tops, and made four cell phone wallets for my girlies here. I think my KP duties are finally over, after the BS tart this afternoon. That was devoured in no time flat, in the glorious sunshine with our afternoon cocktails on the deck. Seriously, this is the life. Lord willing, our lottery ticket will be a big winner tonight. :-)

First on the railing

When you realize, five (?) years after cutting out all those half-hexagons, that you only have HALF of a king size quilt, first you utter many UNlady-like words.  Then you UNstitch the quilt into three equal panels.   Stitch it back together, filling in with a coordinating neutral.  Presto-change-o.  King size.
This was supposed to have been totally finished back in June for a guild UFO challenge.  Har har. That cost me a $10.00 penalty.  To add insult to injury, the new puppy here on retreat PEED on this last night.  Nice. Thanks, Anni.

Retreat!!!

I'm leaving my pretty tree at home and heading up to Tobermory to spend a week with the Beach Girls.

My contributions:

•  one breakfast - blueberry/peach oatmeal bake
• one appetizer - butternut squash tart with fried sage leaves
• one supper - baked salmon with roasted potatoes, butternut squash, beets, salad
• cocktail - Frosty Lemon Martini

I have about six projects loaded up, and if I sew as per usual I will get to maybe three of them.  But that's better than none of them, right?

My big excitement this week was winning my very first INTERNET prize.  Fabricsnquilts.com runs a scrappy challenge and I won quilt batting.  Yay!!  Hopefully that won't be my last prize.  But ya gotta play to win.

Pam Bono complete & Pumpkin Cornbread

The pattern name is Those Blooming Buds.  It seems that in all my awesome brilliance I forgot to snap a photo of the whole quilt after quilting. 

Here are a few shots of the blocks.

These Pam Bono quilts are so pretty, but they definitely have some weird shapes that need to be dealt with.

 Ooh, pretty back!

Today I have to pretend I'm on a diet.  I've been eating Chinese Food and cheesecake for two days, then because there is no milk, this morning I had to have my oatmeal with CREAM (which was decadently delicious, by the way).  Dear me.  Can you say 'lardass' ?

BROKEN STUFF THIS WEEK (aargh!!):

• two welding machines.  Only one fixed so far.
• burglar alarm.  Hmm.  Maybe I shouldn't be posting that on the blog, where criminally-minded quilters will see it, then come in and steal my stash when I go in to town for low-fat milk.
• the computer attached to the big-ass t.v.  Mysteriously healed itself after a drive to 1-800-LUKE.
• the dishwasher.  First it leaked last week, then the next load was fine.  Saturday night it left a large-ish quantity of water in the bottom, and all the lights are dead.
• my sleep cycle.  Two mornings in a row I've been up at 5 am.  You can probably guess that I'm going to bed pretty early too.

Pumpkins make such a nice display on the porch table, especially when accessorized by the quilting-witch-bear.  Yes, that is a whole new species of creature.

 If you decide the pumpkin has outlived it's usefulness on the porch you can chop it up and have it for breakfast.

Pumpkin Cornbread

Yield:    serves 8
Active time:  10 minutes
Total time:    40 minutes
Special equipment:    whisk, 9-inch cast iron skillet

    1 1/4 cups corn meal
    1 cup (about 5 ounces) all-purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 eggs
    1/4 cup (about 1 3/4 ounces) sugar
    1 cup pumpkin puree
    1 cup milk
    1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Procedures

    1    Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400̊F.

    2    In a medium bowl, whisk together corn meal, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

    3    In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and milk until combined. Stir in dry ingredients.

    4    Place butter in skillet and place in the preheated oven for 2 minutes, or until butter is melted. Take skillet out of oven and pour in batter, smoothing top. Bake until top is golden and cracked and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

Pam Bono WIP and RIP, and more random thoughts

The current WIP is a quilt designed by Pam Bono.  There is enough stitch-in-the-ditch on here to sink a battleship.  The RIP part, in case you haven't heard, is that this week Pam was the victim of a murder/suicide.  Her husband shot both her and the family dog, and then shot himself.  All dead.  What a horrible circumstance.

Decorating 101.  Apparently DH knows more about accessorizing the dining room than I do.  I must get out more.

Love of Wildlife 101.  Sometimes, like once or twice a year, I really hate the birds.

More random thoughts:

• On a nice cool, rainy, fall day, the dog you love so much will decide to find the flower bed with the nicest, blackest, soil.  Then she'll dig to China.  Which apparently requires all four paws.  And her nose.
• I really hate it when DH says:  "Sure I'll (insert some minor chore).... tomorrow".  Tomorrow never comes.
• I really love it when the flies are stupid enough to fly into the vacuum cleaner head.
• If my niece had told me she was flying to Calgary today I could have saved the $28 it cost me to ship my brother's birthday present.  That money would have been better spent on vodka.