Cody 2012

My trip was uneventful and I arrived in Cody on time.  Mom and Dad collected me and my bags and off to the house we went.  Dad got a kick out of the fact that I used more “strings” to pack in an empty area in my suitcase….  He says there is something magic about strings.  We keep taking them out of the box and making squares and the level never seems to go down.  Now that I added more, his string box is bursting.  We’re planning to make a lot of string blocks this trip.

One of the first things we did was run out to the workshop to look at the old Singer machine that he is working on for me.  Jason had found this machine last summer in a home he was working on, (here) and the owner told him he could have it!  Dad has cleaned it up and after removing a ton of old junk, oil, lint, fuzz, and more caked on oil and dust from the innermost parts of this machine, she is turning smoothly!  She runs more quietly than any machine I own!!  I will post pictures of her later – I was so stunned by how great she looked without the layer of dust, grime and oil, that I completely forgot to take a picture!

She needs a bobbin case, and a bit of adjustment to the tension, and she is going to be perfect for piecing blocks.  I love her already!!  She was born on Laurie’s birthday, in 1947!  So I think I will name her Kristin (Laurie’s middle name.)

Wednesday I got a good walk in early in the morning, revelling in the temperatures!  With the wind chill, it was a brisk 19 degrees and I cut my walk short because I am a wuss!

(it was pretty, even if it was cold, as I watched the sun come up.)

We charged into town and obtained some fleece to back a baby/lap quilt I wanted to finish for a charity auction Dad is involved with.  I also had brought a quilt with me in my suitcase that Nancy had donated and Dad was thrilled to have it for the auction.  The better part of the afternoon was spent quilting the baby/lap quilt, and I got the binding on later in the evening.  

(The top picture is all I had left of the material  Yvette shared with me that I used to make the baby/lap quilt - I used up nearly every bit!  The tiny leftovers pictured went into the string box!)

It took way longer to quilt than it should have because I kept getting distracted with the neighbors in the yard behind the house.

Yes, it's the Boyz Club meeting again!  There were five bucks and a number of does.   They were so pretty!

At one point, all five of the guys laid down together and muttered among themselves as they chewed on some alfalfa!

Later, I walked down to get the mail at the boxes at the end of the street (a decent hike actually!) and I had to stop and take a picture of the neighbors on that side of the house...

(Where's the beef?!)

Today, we hit the gym first thing in the morning, and I did a respectable amount of jogging on the treadmill and then did some time on an elliptical machine.  We patted ourselves on the back and had a nice lunch.  Mom always makes things taste so good – I don’t know how she does it….  She swears it is just because I didn’t have to make it myself, that anything made by someone else tastes better, but I think there is more to it than that!  After lunch, the Great String Block Challenge of 2012 commenced.  

Two sewing machines purring, and many trips to the ironing board….  We accomplished three of the seven rows for a string quilt today!  :)