Checking in

My two critters conspired to get me up at 5 a.m.--and stay up.  Oscar has not been happy to go to bed in the first place but usually will settle down to sleep.  Last night he was almost frantic and whining in his bed so I had to let him out to potty about midnight.   That was not the problem apparently as all he did was go out and bark, disturbing the neighborhood.  Same thing at 5 a.m but by that time, the rooster was crowing across the road.  That have been part of it.   Frankly, I am at a loss to know how to handle this whining and not wanting to go to bed.   He cannot be roaming around the house at night unsupervised.

Of course, once Skyler sees me up he starts meowing to be fed and such.  It worked.  I tried going back to bed but that only lasted about 10 minutes as Oscar was whining.  I can hear him even in the bedroom with the door closed and fan running.  I prepped my veggie tray, made some iced tea, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned some stuff out of the fridge since it was trash pickup day.  Then I got dressed and walked Oscar, walked my laps all before 8:30.....it has been a long day already!

I spent a big chunk of the morning pressing binding.  8 or 9 quilts worth.  One bit was pieced for 2 or 3 quilts so there was miles of that one to deal with.   Have you ever tried this trick?  I think it might be from Kaye Wood, maybe.  Slip a long pin into your pressing surface so it overlays the folded binding but does not go INTO the fabric.  Then place another one about the width of the soleplate away from the first.  Then a little tug on the strip with the iron down folds and presses the binding.  You still have to fiddle with it a bit to keep the fold straight but your fingers will stay away from the iron itself.  No burns or dealing with hot fabric or steam (if you use it.)  Later I switched to two longer doll needles when I melted the head of a couple of the flat daisy pins.  That worked better!

I roll the binding as I press over leftover cardboard bits, just like Joy taught me, and either slip it into the folds of the quilt or I have a container where they can be "filed".

Belles meet earlier in the week.  I took my Climbing Roses top (personal project) to pin and had the pinning table all set up and my top half pinned before anyone else got there.  Bev helped me finish up. We are getting low on batting right now and I wanted 80-20 for the ones I was going to quilt.   I ran through Walmart on the way over to our meeting place.  A 72 x 90 one could be halved for two quilts.  We pinned two of the Ribbon Candy tops which morphed into 4 of them.   Lois had two tops as well so we traded off.  I had more batting in the car so asked the girls if they were up for doing two more.  Actually Margarita needed some help with cutting and advising her about her project sashing.  By the time I turned around to help they were half done with it!

We broke for lunch and some of the girls left but Brenda, Jackie, Margarita and I went back to the church.  I cut out the Layer Cake Lattice Quilt I mentioned in the last post.  Brenda need to trim down and square up a t-shirt quilt she had picked up from the long arm quilter so she could bind it.  Jackie was keeping us company and had met us at the restaurant.  Margarita continued to work on her block pre-sashing I had been helping her with.  She was clear on what to do next so we called it quits around 2:30.

Later that evening I prepped two quilt backs.  I'm taking two tops to the long arm quilter when JOY group meets next week.  Charming Boxes is already to take to the guild president as well.  That was part of the reason I was wanting to get the bindings all readied.  That and now all the sudden I have 4 more pinned quilts atop the armoire.

I had batting bits leftover after pinning those 5 quilts earlier in the week.  One trim-a-way section was perfectly sized for another of my tops (Beach House Charming Boxes).  The rest I patchworked together with that knit seaming stuff but I had enough for another top I had stored in the closet.   I don't know if I have a picture of the completed Fiddlesticks top or not but the link will take you to a partial view.  I started it two years ago almost but 2014 was not a good year for sewing, like almost non-existent.  Those will be ready to haul to the next Belles meeting to pin.  NOT that I am ready to quilt any of them!!  There are other tops hanging in wait, including Lily's quilt but what was the point of pinning them??  I prefer to sew, not quilt and that wasn't happening either.

After I clean the gunk off the iron tomorrow, I HAVE to work on Aline's top.  That and Oscar really needs a bath!  Two things on the list.  No, wait make that 3 things.  Miss Kathryn called a few minutes ago and said Paul and a friend had caught a mess of fish so fish fry on Saturday.  I am supposed to make some Comeback Sauce like I did last time, per her request.  No problem, I've got all the ingredients on hand.  She said Paul added more hot sauce to his but that's okay---just don't add it to the bowl that others are dipping some out of, LOL.

I hope you all have a safe Memorial Day weekend.  It isn't about picnics and sales but time to remember those who served and went before us.  If I were in Illinois, I would go visit my husband's resting spot and decorate his family's graves as we often did together.  If I went up there without him, once we moved, I did the honors for him.  This video is moving, including the music of Ryan Kelly of Celtic Thunder fame, with some images that make you think what this is all about.

THX for stopping by.