Last day of the week and the first day of Spring

Crappy start to the week again. Newburgh to Detroit and then a 3 hour delay meant getting to Tampa at 2am on Tuesday, yawn! At least the weather that greeted me the next morning was warm and sunny. The hotel was 5 minute walk to the office and there was a small lake outside that had some wading birds looking for fish.

On Wednesday i was on the way into the office and nearly jumped out of my skin when I was greeted by this duck sitting in the planter.







After I spent a full day training two groups of 25 people I left Tampa and drove to Jacksonville over 220 miles and I got to hotel at 10pm. Passed through some interesting towns that may be worth a visit when I have time. Thursday was another two training sessions and then fly home on Friday via Atlanta. At least this went without any delays so I got home at 6, just in time to get ready to go to the dance at the Vets club in town. We had a live band and we were there with kathy and Wayne. A really fun night. I cant believe how much of a social life we have these days.

Up early Saturday morning to go to quilt guild, sat next to a very nice lady called Elaine and we had fun chatting. The block that I did last week got added to the others and then was raffled.







Its going to make a very interesting quilt. As usual all of the show and tell quilts were excellent but one really stood out. It is also going to be raffled on behalf of the Catskill hall of fame quilters.







We were supposed to be going to the Hoot Owl Saturday night with Gil and Sarah but they had a dog issue and had to take Cooper to the Vets for a few stitches. We watched Burlesque on TV instead, very good movie.

Sunday I put Sarah's quilt on the frame. This is my daughters first attempt at quilting and she hand stitched the whole thing, I think she did a great job. I quilted it freehand and tried to give it a real sense of movement. I hope she likes it.






Just need to get it bound now. Made a pillow case with some of the backing fabric, it's really cute it depicts fish fishing for cats :-)







I felt I was on a roll so I used one to the embroideries that I downloaded from sewforless.com. They had them on sale with all of the proceeds going to aid Japan so I feel I have contributed something. its a T shirt for Alana ( granddaughter ) it stitched out very well.







Rounded the evening off with homemade pizza - I feel as if I have really had a break this weekend despite all of the activity.

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Chance to sew again

Arrived home at a decent time on Friday, so was able to catch up normal household stuff so that I could sew Saturday. I thought I would catch up on my BOM's. First up was the February PB & J blocks - they wanted two wonky squares and the fabrics were great all very bright.





Next I worked on the block for the Wiltwyck quilt guild




Then my PB & J March block - this one was freeform and great fabric again




Then my February Patriot in Petticoats blocks









last but not least -- more work on my blue and white quilt but that is not ready to be shown yet.

Sunday we went to a birthday party with friends - great afternoon with good food, wine and lots of great conversation.


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Joys of travel

Today I was due to fly back to Jacksonville, my first flight is delayed 2 1/2 hours which means I will miss my next flight and have to stay overnight in Atlanta. Also means that I will have to change my car rental and will actually end up paying more for it.

Deep joy -- can't wait to see what the return journey has to bring.


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What a week

Can't believe this cough and cold is still hanging around, 3 weeks and counting. It is very tiring. Friday I had a meeting up in the city (New York) the first 85 miles took an hour and a half and the last 5 miles took 45 minutes, don't you just love city traffic. I made my meeting with 5 minutes to spare.

On the way home I decided to go via Somerset NJ as there was a quilt show there. I am not sure if it was because I had a dose of the miseries or if it really was a bad show. I was not inspired at all. All the quilts were just bunched together in the middle of the room with 2 rows of vendors either side. I was there less than an hour and all I bought was a book on converting sweatshirts to jackets (for my granddaughter) and a chenille brush. Hope my mojo comes back soon.

Saturday started with my annual pilgrimage to the tax accountant, I left with a long list of follow up tasks and a job offer! hope I get a rebate this year. Later we met up with 4 very good friends and went for dinner at John's Harvest Inn (very delicious). We then went on to the Paramount in Middletown for a tribute concert, Sam and Dave, Jackie Wilson, Righteous Brothers, Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They were all excellent singers if I had any complaints at all it was that they tried to pack too many acts into the evening so it went on too long.








Sunday we were thrilled to have a visit from Johan and his wife(Johan worked with me in EMEA some years ago) they were visiting New York for the week from Finland and came out to see us. The only downer to the day was the non stop rain and dense fog everywhere. First stop was Orange County Choppers for a look at the custom motorbikes, then off to Huegenot Street in New Paltz ( original stone built houses from the 1700's). Lunch was at the Gilded Otter a micro brewery in New Platz. We then drove up to Mountain House in Mohonk. The fog was so dense that even though the photos below were in colour they look like black and white!
















Even the outdoor ice skating had fog swirling around it !








We brought them back to the house for a quick coffee and a relax before they went back up to the city -- Thanks Both we REALLY appreciated you making the effort, hope you enjoyed the trip

From a sewing point of view this week has been a complete bust !


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