Soaking Up Tips And Tricks

 I passed on the Five Star breakfast this morning, deciding instead to see if I could figure out my induction cooktop.  I can only say, it's weird.  You can cook by temperature or by number, 1-10.  I whipped out my new frying pan and toasted up some English muffins.  

The pan began to vibrate.  Is it supposed to do this??  It got hot instantly, but then faded out a bit.  At long last, I figured the muffins were good enough.  In the end, they were Cooper approved.  Not that he gets much, but I do share an egg with him for breakfast.  

This gadget is okay if I have to fry something ... like reheating pizza ... but honestly, I think I'll stick to freezer/microwave meals.  That new trick of freezing food in freezer bags, then just sticking one in a pan of water to heat on the stove, is a good one.  NO DISHES to wash.  That's right up my alley!

Cooper and I took a long walk through the garden to check out the produce.  These are beautiful apples ...

An entire arbor full of grapes .....

Tomatoes ... tomatoes ... everywhere ... full of blossoms .....

And for Patty Chance ... potted plants.  I bet there are 50 potted plants in this beautiful back yard.

Also for Patty .... OUCH!!!!  I just smacked my head on the cabinet.  Headache city.  Eek ... don't stand up by the windows.  Anyway ... also for Patty are these onions.  We used to have contests to see who could grow the biggest onions.  At the end of the season, we hung them in panty hose in the garage ... by the dozen.  Best onions EVER.  Boy do I miss having a garden!!

And then we were back to quilting.  This is not for the faint of heart.  At this point I think we are halfway done and it's been three days.  I learned a lesson ... when you pick out patterns for the blocks, draw it all down and name the blocks.  Every time we moved the quilt up, I could not remember which blocks we put on which squares.  Luckily, Ray figured it out.

I'm doing stitch in the ditch around the piano keys.  Tedious because it's all done by hand and I'm not that great at it.  Don't look too close.

Ray pulls out the patterns and sets them up on the computer.  I pretend I'm quilting them by doing the start and finish.  

When we ran into trouble, like with this weird square, we called in the expert Cindy to make decisions.  She has that creative mind that can see what it will look like.

Almost 2/3 done ... so still a ways to go.  I took a couple of breaks to take Mr. Cooper out to the yard again.  He does like to play in the grass!  Miss Penny here ... she got in trouble BIG TIME.  She found something ... maybe a vole or a mouse ... that has a hole in the ground.  She went after it, digging a hole bigger than her!!  Uh oh ... Mom caught her tearing up the flowers that were in the way.  This is her I'm completely innocent look!!

That was it for the day ... quilt quilt quilt!  Ray showed me more tips on how to rip out seams if need be, which we hope I will never have to use.

For now however, we are off to the quilt store.  I love the side straps on his machine, so I'm going to pick some up, along with a few rolls of thread.  THEN ... wait for it ......... we are going to THE STORE.  I have half a freezer available for fabulous prison food finds.