11/8/19

Final Fourteen

This morning's post is later than my usual. I'd like to say I slept in all this time, but no. There we were, sitting reading our email, when the power went off, and we found ourselves sitting in the dark. It was 6:30 a.m., and still dark outside too. The only light in the room was from our glowing iPads. I went to the Portland General Electric website to get the low-down, and found that the matter was under "investigation" and that power would be restored at 9:30 a.m. Later that forecast was revised to 9:15 a.m., but the matter was still under investigation. So, I figure that's a big fat lie, designed to give false hope to the masses. Without knowing the cause, how could there be any prediction about when power would be restored? Huh? Answer me that, PGE! Yeah, busted. Only...sadly, we were still sitting in the dark despite my protest.

Fortunately, my embroidery head lamp is rechargeable, and it had a full charge. When I finished my email, I spent quite some time stitching on Tree #5 for 12 Trees for Christmas.


At 9:00 a.m., the power was still out, and I was reluctant to open the refrigerator door. Instead, I headed out to a local cafe for some oatmeal and more coffee. I'd only had one cup when the power went out, and I was sorely in need of more, more, more! Also, I'd signed up for an alert when the power was restored. As I sat scrolling mindlessly on my iPhone, PGE kindly called me to let me know it was safe to return home, and that coffee was available. (Actually, they didn't say anything about the coffee, but my caffeine-starved brain filled in the blank.) Now, here I am...only slightly more addle-brained than usual.

Backing up to yesterday, I finished the final 14 stars for the Semper Fi quilt. In celebration, I'm cueing up John Phillip Sousa:


Did you know Wednesday was his birthday?

Yeah...so there they are.


This was Sadie's contribution:


Wait...are they finished?


And this quilt is seriously huge now, so I laid it out on the nobody-ever-plays-pool table for a picture.


My last gasp for the day was to cut the strips for the final border.


And I might have this finished by now except, you know...that pesky problem of no electricity.

It was time to quit for the day then, and I had a new recipe to try last night. This is a Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup, and man, was it ever tasty. It laid waste to no less than five CSA veggies in the form of garlic, kale, celery, carrots, and sweet potato. There is both a stove-top and a slow cooker version of this. I made mine on the stove top, but I didn't bother browning the onions or garlic. I just dumped it all in the pot and turned it on. It took about an hour from start to finish, but most of that was just waiting and stirring. You can find the recipe right here.


Okay, so now that we're powered back up again, I'm going to go finish the Semper Fi quilt. I'll still need to piece together a back for it too, but I might wait until tomorrow for that. I've been working on it almost non-stop for over two weeks, and it'll be good to take a break from it. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to get it quilted and finished off before the end of December. We'll get a better picture of the finished top this afternoon, I hope.

5 comments:

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

Hi Barbara, I ordered those same tree patterns from Mary last year but completely forgot about it. Isn't Mary's work wonderful? She is quite the embroiderer...a pro really. Which of course, I'm not. Lovely blocks and I'm always interested in what's cooking. Thanks for a great post here!

Lyndsey said...

What is the world coming to when the power goes out before you've fully topped up your caffeine levels. Our power has behaved itself recently but if it goes out it is always at the worst possible time. The quilt is huge but beautiful. Quilting it may be a little tiring on the arms and shoulders but you have loads of time to get it quilted .

gpc said...

You were able to get onto a website without power? What marvels you lucky west coasters have! I have pondered that all day, starting, of course, after my own 4th cup of coffee. The quilt is fabulous, and oh! Sadie's eyes!

kc said...

Seems to me, they should have checked with you b4 cutting power. But, yeah, as I read you first line with a time estimate, and under investigation comment, my first thought was exactly that, HOW can they provide a return time, without yet knowing the cause. Certainly a question above my pay grade.

Good thing you have kitties to keep you on track with your quilts!

quiltzyx said...

So you don't have an old stove top coffee pot for emergencies? Or do you not have a gas stove either?

OMG does that soup look tasty! AND it appears to not have anything poisonous in it either!!! Wooohooo! Did you also make the bread on the edge of the bowl?