Two Little Finishes

This morning's post is written at a disadvantage. I have a cat tail in my face. This is the sort of obstacle I face to bring you my platter of prattle every morning. 

It's quite a sacrifice, as you might imagine. You're welcome. Fortunately, it was an interesting sunrise.

Backing up to yesterday...I stitched the day's inchy first thing. Today's has been posted, and so I'll be getting to that after I finish here.

Sadie spent her morning harassing the birds, although the birds didn't know they were being harassed. This is very purrplexing to her.

I sat down next to her and stitched the binding on An Irish Blessing. It didn't take long. The quilt finishes at 15 x 18 inches, so it wasn't very much to stitch.

Here's how it looks from the back.

I showed you the pretty posy Mike brought me for Valentine's Day.

We don't usually exchange gifts on Valentine's day...nor for our birthdays...nor for Christmas. Yes, we're hopeless romantics. As of this year, Mike and I have been a couple for 50 years...married for 47. After so many years together, we've run the gamut of gift ideas for one another. Now, when we want something, we simply go out and buy it and then bring it home saying, "Look what you bought me!" Anyway...all of that to say, hopeless romantic that I am, I made him some quick pickled onions for his Valentine's Day sandwich.

And let's face it...it *is* the right color. Sort of. 

We went out for a walk yesterday afternoon. There's nothing blooming in the park this time of year, but plenty of funny signs and RV yard art. Here's one I'd missed previously.

Around on the restaurant side of things, they'd erected a giant heart. It was lit up last night, and people were taking pictures standing in front of it.

After returning from our walk, I stitched the binding on the Rise & Shine quilt. It's only 14 x 15 inches, and so it was quick too.

Here's how it looks from the back.

Okay, so two finishes in one day. Not bad! And, of course, I must give credit to my two helper cats.

Last night's sunset lit up the snowy mountain peak behind us.

We had dinner reservations with the restaurant associated with the RV park. They did a nice job. We ordered off the regular menu, but they also had a special surf 'n turf dinner for two if we'd wanted to go that route. I'm a great fan of napkin art, and the napkins were folded tightly into rose buds.

We ordered cocktails. I've been avoiding alcohol while I've been trying to lose weight, and so this was a treat for me. It's Bacardi rum with some sweet & sour mix. So tasty and pretty.

We've eaten here about half a dozen times over the years, and we always order the shrimp trio appetizer. On the left are some bacon-wrapped shrimp with a sweet & sour sauce. In the middle, coconut shrimp with a sort of thousand island sauce. And on the right two shrimp served up like a shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce. Yummy.

We had a nice bottle of merlot from the associated winery. (Yes, this place has it all.)

That name, "Charleston Peak," is named for the mountain behind us.

I had the portobello mushroom ravioli in a pesto cream sauce. It was delicious, but the sauce was a little heavy.

Mike had the beef stroganoff made with filet mignon. That's some pretty fancy beef stroganoff.

We were stuffed when we left, and so we skipped dessert. We looked at the dessert menu, but even sharing something felt like too much. They were handing out roses as we left. We were one of the last couples in the restaurant, and so they gave me two roses. Now they are beautifully displayed in a wide-mouth mason jar. What flower wouldn't aspire to such glamorous heights?

Okay, and that was our Valentine's Day...a little of everything, and very nice. 

It has been very windy since late last night, and into this morning. It's forecast to be windy all day. I'll be stitching the day's inchy, and then I'll get busy stitching the binding on the Never Enough Cats quilt. It's clipped and ready to go.

It's the largest of the three I brought for finishing, but I still expect to finish it off today. And that will be the end of my WIP's projects brought along for making some progress. I still have two small scrap quilts kitted up to make, but those will be new projects. The first one I'm looking at is this Apple Mini Quilt from Sassafras-lane.

This is going to be just for fun. I believe I first saw this little quilt on Pinterest, but you can find the free pattern from Sassafras Lane Designs right here. I have enough scraps to make the whole thing. I even brought along a backing and some batting and a length of binding. It's possible I could finish the thing on the road, but I probably won't. I have another scrappy mini snowflake to sew together too, and so there's going to be plenty to keep me busy on the way home.

Okay, so there's plenty of sewing to be done on this windy day. Breakfast is next.