So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

Tomorrow morning I'll be winging my way to Vegas for 7 days/6 nights. Gonna swap the sewing for a little gambling (okay, a lot of gambling).....and free drinks...Cirque, killer food, Pawn Stars......Whoa! Rewind! Did she say 'Pawn Stars'?? Yes, planning a little excursion to the shop, hope Chumlee is working that day. Seriously, we can't spend all our time in the casinos.

Checked the temps today...looks like it's 105-106 during the day, but there's a cold front coming in for the weekend where it's only going to be 100-101. Gotta love that. (Did I pack a sweater?)

I'll likely do a shop hop of the Vegas quilt shops Thursday while the hubs hits the links. I'd also like to pop downtown and visit my favorite Christmas designers of all time, Ralph Jones Display. Not that I'm buying anything Christmas these days, but it's always fun to see what's going to be all the rage this season, though it might be a little early for that. I'll have to call.

Thursday night it's Happy Hour at Blue Martini and dinner at Texas de Brazil. Yum-o!

I even managed some 'me time' today....hair done (it's fabulous....bouncy, sleek, straight),  a lovely pedicure to rock my Fit Flops....I am ready to roll.

Oh, and what's the coolest thing about the trip?  I get to freeze time (being that when it's 5:30 here, it's only 2:30 there....so our 5 hour flight really only takes 2 hours. Cool, eh? Of course, this means that for the first couple days I'm rolling out of bed, wide awake and ready to rumble at 5 a.m. -- and yes, I've been known to sit at a slot machine with a cup of coffee until 7, which I figure in Vegas is an acceptable time to switch to Bloody Mary's (wink).

Wish me luck, turn up the volume and enjoy my selection of Vegas-themed blog tunes. Mix up your own Bloody Marys and check back often, as I'm taking the netbook and the camera. It's no fun if what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas....at least at my age, it's not. I'll treat you to the sights of Sin City, and hopefully to a photo or two of Triple Triple Stars on a $1 slot :).

Toodles!

Call the doctor!

Something is seriously wrong with Susan....it's only Tuesday and she's finished piecing and sewing together all 336 pieces of Hunter Star needed for Friday's class.

Of course, this is hardly near completion. It still needs an inner border, and then a piano key border, and a pieced backing. And, I've still got the top for Windmill Farm to finish, along with the art quilts and the bargello table topper. I'm hoping to finish up whatever is easiest this weekend so I've got an OPAM finish for the month to post. Hmmm....maybe I could whip out a couple of holiday tea towels just for the finish.

No sewing after Sunday(gasp!) There's a lot of other tasks I need to attend to early next week. Come Wednesday at lunchtime, we'll be winging our way to Vegas, baby! And while I do intend to blog from Sin City, I'm trading in the sewing machine for a slot machine for a week.

The hubs and I need to sit down and figure out our schedules...well, his softball schedule for the tournament so I can get show tickets, make dinner reservations, plan some shopping, maybe a quilt shop hop, a trip to Ralph Jones Display (Christmas is coming), see if the swap meet places from a couple years ago still exist. I need to put together some lists, do some ironing, pick up some travel needs. I'm not sure we've got a rental car. Hmm....so unlike me to not start thinking about any of this until a week before we leave. Not like me to finish putting all those blocks together 4 days before deadline either. Am I sure I'm not suffering some serious malady??

Not to worry, I've got a doctor's appointment for Monday, so brain tumors, delusional episodes, multiple personality disorders can all be ruled out. :)  I have had a sore neck for almost a week now. While I did run that down in Google to find it could be an indicator of mouth cancer, I suspect the real cause  was lifting that hulking Bernina 1260 in and out of the car, all while shouldering one or two huge Vera Bradley tote bags loaded with supplies to classes 5 out of 7 straight days. Which might also explain some other recent pains. It sucks to get old.

'Excuse me, but can we go to bed now?'

Paco's been hanging in the studio lately. I think he may have overheard the hubs and I discussing how we'd get a teacup chihuahua home from Vegas, should we run across them at the indoor swap meet place, like we did the last time we were there together. I don't think Paco's fond of the idea that he could be dethroned from his cushy round studio throne (he's so insecure). Or else he's realized that he's either going to Ricky's house for a week, or Ricky is coming here to stay for a solid week. Yeah...that would send him into a downward spiral of depression. He'll snap out of it as soon as he hears the cookie jar open (can you say short term memory lapse? well, he is a chihuahua, and his roots are in Mexico....draw your own conclusions here)

It has occurred to me that we haven't had a giveaway in a while. I've been too distracted with classes. The giveaways will resume on my return, and who knows, they might include a little bit of Vegas bling.

Take heart, the week's half over. You've still got time to do something you love, so get on that.

Goodnight!

42 blocks x 8 pieces each

= question my sanity!

6 p.m. Saturday, after spending all day cutting and laying out stars so no two were alike and each had a definite light and dark

11 p.m. Saturday, trying to figure out all the little pieces needed to fill it in (you can't see it, but those light blues are 2 different patterns....yes, I am certifiable).

\

3 p.m. Sunday.....it's all on the design wall, though we dare not turn on the ceiling fan! 

4:00 p.m. Sunday - Reward before sewing (dirty martini, 3 olives, shaken, not stirred)

4:30 Sunday, we figure out they will sew together as blocks (oh, thank God! thought I had to work with piecing  long diagonal strips across width of quilt...phew!)

Sunday 5:30 p.m., 1 row, 3 blocks in. Need to break to fix dinner. Daughter has just arrived to silence grandpup who has been yapping incessently since noon....every once in a while I wander to the top of the stairs and yell 'Rick! Put a sock in it!'. Unsuccessful.

This needs to be a quilt top by class time on Friday. Can she do it?????