Monday, July 11, 2016

Back to the Here and Now

I had some crazy good luck the other day. Finally getting the top together for the new quilt, it was time to turn my attention to the back. I'd purchased three yards of a lovely aqua stripe at Hobby Lobby on sale about two weeks ago for said back. Not even close to enough. I also needed batting and HL, using the 40% off coupon, is the place to buy it. It must have been Friday morning that I went there with the batting in mind, and the hope that, maybe, just maybe, I could find more of the stripe. At first I did not, and then I did!! Score! Three more yards that I then put together using a pieced strip down the middle. My friends, that is a lot of fabric to wrestle. And iron, for that matter.
Now what? Because it is so large I could not use my table method for sandwiching the backing, batting, and front. After some searching, I discovered the only large bare spot to place said backing was the pool deck, and wouldn't you know it, the timing was terrible. Oh my gosh it was hot!

But, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.
At least half of it was in the shade! Next step was laying out the batting, followed by the top and then to pin it all together. So far, so good. Until it wasn't.
The batting was not wide enough!!! Fortunately I found some in the closet that I was able to butt up next to this, pin some of it together, and then get the hell back in the house before I died of a heat stroke.

A little later, once I'd recovered, I laid it on the dining table, and pinned all the white squares. I was nervous about machine quilting something this large, but the only way to know if you can do it is to start, and start I did. One of our sweet new neighbors, George, was recently getting rid of some stuff, having listed it on Craigslist as free. It must have been serendipity that I chose that moment to go over there for something because one of the things he was giving away was a wooden tv tray that is having it's day in the sun, helping me hold up all the weight of the quilt.
Because you must start in the middle, it is a lot of fabric to handle. Moving the sewing machine to one end really helps, but still it covers my table top.
Am I ever happy to have moved the table to the middle of the room! I'm happy to report that against all odds, (my lack of skill), the quilting is going well. Because Bruce worked all weekend, I have completed about 1/3. You know what I will be doing today, don't you?

Leaving Hobby Lobby, I finally discovered where the popular eatery, 7 Bites is moving their location. I knew it was still going to be located on Primrose, I just did not know where. Now we all know.
Every day I am discovering new murals and memorials. I'm very fond of this one, found at the end of the pictured wall above.
You might notice that brilliant blue sky and you are seeing that because rain has been so infrequent of late, meaning the temperature is several degrees above normal. As in 97 degrees! Yikes.

I felt that sun beating down on me when I dropped off the photos I'm entering into the annual City calendar contest at City Hall. It was with a plan that I parked on Rosalind. What plan might that be? I was interested in walking the length of the Dr. Phillips center to see what I could see. They have corralled most of the memorials here.
That said, there still are some on the great lawn,
which looks surprisingly green, having been trampled so in the last month. Someone went to a lot of effort to make this:
So, as you can see, people are still mourning the tragedy. Inside the City Hall rotunda it looks like this:
In the foreground there are books for people to write encouraging words. Just off the rotunda is the art gallery which I generally peruse while there. It was with delight that I came across my sister-in-law Ruth's winning photographs.
This is not the first time she has won in the annual employee art show, and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Who knew Alice Cooper was coming to Orlando?
Friday night we went out with Zarita and her very interesting husband Greg, who we were meeting for the first time.  We began the night at The Outpost in College Park where we mostly enjoyed our appetizers. Our first time there, I'm not sure we'd go back, but maybe in the winter. As Canadians, neither of our guests had ever eaten pimento cheese, fried okra, or fried green tomatoes before, so that was good.  I was disappointed that they fried the entire okra pod which seemed like a labor saving thing rather than this is the best way to serve fried okra thing. It is not. Because Greg is a big man, and because I am always hot, we left for cooler environs, landing just two doors down at Rusteak, which is where I took this photo.
Greg is from Manitoba and grew up on a huge farm, with the nearest town having a population of about 50. As well he is one of four brothers!! During the evening we learned some new things, and as you know well, I'm always up for a good story. The photos he showed us from a trip they took to Africa were astounding!! As to the restaurant, we were mostly full by the time we got there, but it does look like one we'd like to visit again.

On my way to church Sunday morning I stopped to see a new work by the artist who is beginning work on the mural he will be painting for Bruce, well actually Earl's, but at this point it is still Bruce's place!
Painted on the back side of the Hideaway, he also put up some new birds, which I am naturally partial to.
Reverend Garvey began his sermon by saying, "I don't know what to say." Neither, really, do any of us because what is there to say when senseless violence seems to be everywhere? Last week we had to miss because Nancy was here so I did not know the backstory he was referring to when he talked about the cranes being dedicated just last week. Now I do know, and so will you, should you take a few minutes to read this.
In the article it quotes someone as saying they hoped Orlando would become their permanent home. Not gonna happen now, I am so sad to report.

The work continues...
Today some of the executive chefs are inspecting the kitchen. Naturally I am so hoping it will go well; I imagine you're thinking the same thing!

Carol, you will be happy to learn, is regaining her strength, and resuming her normal diet. The tincture of time cannot be overstated!

Back to my sewing machine after some breakfast.

You know where to find me,

Gail

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