Three Days in January

     Here are the results of "My Three Days of Vacation While Mr. SFO is Out of Town Git 'er Done" challenge:

      Day One-- you will laugh-- I am a Marvel comics fan, so I went to see the new Spiderman movie. This is a topic a very small percentage of you will be interested in, but since half my day was spent doing that, I'm talking about it. I'll throw in some sneak peeks and eye candy for those of you who haven't gotten sucked in to the Multi-Verse.

(Valentine ABCs debuts Today)

    It was back in 2011 when Mr. SFO decided we would go to the movies. This is an extremely rare occurrence, and I was pleased so I let him pick the flick. He picked Captain America! I rolled my eyes as we bought the tickets, and two hours later I was hooked! What a cool movie.

(Carefree Highways Set 8, "Eastern Seaboard"-- next week!)

    I then followed religiously through Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant Man, and Dr. Strange like a demented proselyte. I kind of lost interest after the Infiniti War, but the Spiderman franchise was pretty cute-- it involves teenagers in high school so it's clean, wholesome, and funny. So the movie was the usual fun distraction, but I'm not sure I understand why it would be the top grossing movie ever. People must really want to get back to usual! Anyway, my biggest takeaway-- don't order a medium sized drink for an action film at the movie theater-- my Diet Coke was more like a keg and twice I had to run down an extremely long hallway to get to the restroom. Both times, I sneaked out when all was quiet on the set, and then all H#%@! was breaking loose when I returned. Thank goodness I had my sister with me to fill in the missing minutes. Recommend this movie.

(Birth Month Quilt Block Video-- awaiting editing!)

     I came home and finished up the six black houses for Winterville-- six white houses and four stars to go and I have my quilt. This is a pattern from Thimble Blossoms, if you're interested. I saw some were searching it on my website-- it's just a quilty pleasure I work on at night. I still think I can finish this by the end of the month or very close, even with four hours lost to Regal Cinema.

Day Two-- Michaels

     I had the most wonderful day of my life on Day Two! 

    I got Christmas all put away, and just thought I'd stop into Michaels for a couple of Valentine decorations. Now, you remember all those container ships that were sitting off California waiting to be unloaded before Christmas? Apparently, they finally arrived!  Three employees were pulling and stocking the shelves with Christmas decorations from huge boxes-- and it was all 75% off! I'm not an early shopper, but I picked up a few gifts and of course a couple of things for myself. 

     My prize purchase is this amazing Perler bead gingerbread house-- Perler beads AND a house is a double win for me. Just look at those buffalo plaid walls and the little bear!-- and I have 11 months to make it. This is quite the upside down world we live in-- remember when Christmas was out at Halloween? I think that was a little more practical timing after all, but certainly not as cheap!

     The downside? I don't think Valentine's Day will show up until Easter. I did snag the cute "Love-O-Meter" to welcome Mr. SFO home. I'm gonna glue the little gold arrow for him in its present location. I was missing him. (xoxo) 

Day Three--

     Pick up sewing machines. I'm really proud of the fact that I ran the business without missing a beat for three weeks while two of my best machines were in for cleaning. I mean, did you even notice! My Babylock Flourish really rose to the challenge-- I was limited by a 6x10 hoop, but I made it work. So I picked up both machines on Day Three-- it's and hour and a half drive to the shop. Does anyone have a place to service a machine that is ten minutes away and offers while-u-wait service?

     This is the hole in my sewing table that is now filled in once again with my favorite machine. Mr. SFO made this table for me. <3

     I have my big hoop back, and plan on running out the eight stitches of the sea blocks needed to finish my quilt, one after the other. And start dreaming of my next big stitch-a-long after Carefree Highways finishes. I'm thinking of taking some of my favorite 4x4 images over the past 20 (yikes) years and making them fully fleshed out large blocks. Name: "A Few of my Favorite Things."

   That night, I did break my promise to finish Winterville before starting A Ribbon Runs Through It. I made this tiny square in a square block just to see if I could do it. The first block is cut to an 1/8" measurement-- have you ever done eighths? I haven't. Kudos to the designer for supplying this handy worksheet to lay your parts on--you can make sure right away they're the right size and keep track of assembly! All went mostly well, so I had the resolve to box it again until Winterville is a flimsy. My white houses are all cut out.

   Writing about my three days makes me realize how much I enjoyed my mix of business and pleasure. A few important things got done, and some fun things, too. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

 So that was my "vacation." I sure missed Mr. SFO, and I really need my boy scout back. It looks like another and HUGE snow storm is heading our way! 

xox

Carol