Dinner Cruise

Good morning, my friends. It was nice to take a little break from the usual yesterday. Mike spent the day cleaning and working on our boat. Later in the afternoon, we launched it into the Willamette River for a dinner cruise. Turning it into a dinner cruise made it an all-day affair for both of us.

My morning started with the first stitches on the next block for The Story of My Day. This one is called Feed the Animals.

When my stitching time was up, I went to work making these Feta, Basil, and Roasted Red Pepper Muffins.

There was a tub of feta in our refrigerator. I ended up purchasing more than I needed. Also, I had an open jar of roasted red peppers. It was a good way to use up that stuff. After cooling in the pan for five minutes, I took them out. They went nicely with the rest of our dinner.

I had one housekeeping chore to do, and then I took a walk on the treadmill. From there, I was ready to finish the rest of the blocks for the Amish Sampler. I made a Sawtooth block.

Also, this one identified simply as "Star" on the QuiltersCache website.

And then I laid all the blocks out together.

Before finishing for the day, I sewed all the blocks into rows. Today I'll sew the rows together, and my quilt top will be finished.

Originally, I thought I would add borders, but now I'm thinking I'll leave it as is. It will end up at 61 x 61 inches, and that's big enough. I'll give it a black binding to finish it off. For the back, I have a fabric in my stash that reads as purple. It has some other colors, and so I'll break my "solids only" rule. It's okay, though. I'd have to buy something to use a solid, and I'd just as soon work from my more-than-ample stash.

Okay, and then it was time for zooming. Being a Thursday, there weren't many other boaters on the river. We just headed down the river for a couple of miles, admiring the neighborhoods along the waterfront. There are some beautiful homes. It always makes me wonder where some people get their money. The water was a warm 74°F. and nice for swimming.

For the rest of our dinner, we had a Chilled Corn Bisque with Basil, Avocado, and Shrimp. The original recipe calls for crab in place of the shrimp. Crab is pretty expensive, and I had some salad shrimp in my freezer. I used that instead, and I doubt anyone would know I'd made a substitution. It was good that way. I ladled the bisque into plastic containers before leaving home, and I had the topping mixture of basil, avocado, and shrimp in a separate container. We just spooned it into the bisque, and dinner was served.

And that was a nice way to end the day.

Today is another busy morning, although we're not leaving home today. I have one houseworky thing to do, and then there's a new lesson for my online Photoshop Elements course. I'm on Lesson 10, and so I'll reach the end of the class next week. The annuals need watering and the bird feeders need filling. Also, I'll want to get in a Bowflex workout. I returned to the Bowflex earlier in the week. I didn't back off at all on the resistance, although I hadn't worked out on the Bowflex for several months. It made my shoulder a little sore, but it feels fine today.

From there I'll be able to get back to my sewing. I want to finish off the Amish Sampler quilt top, and make a back for it. It'll sneak into my quilts-to-be-sandwiched pile at the last minute. I can still put off the sandwiching for just a little longer. Up next on my quilts-to-be-quilted pile is this Catnip quilt. This was made from a panel last year sometime. It's the last quilt I have sandwiched for quilting.

It's been spending the past couple of weeks relaxing on my sewing chair, but its time under my needle grows nigh. I'm planning to just do a diagonal straight line grid, and so it'll be easy quilting. I've gone back and forth about whether to use black or white thread. I'm still not sure, but I'm leaning toward black.

So that's a full day ahead. Breakfast is next, and then some slow-stitching. There's no rush during a stay-at-home day. Be sure to check back tomorrow. I'll be hosting a giveaway to celebrate my 14th Blogiversary. Time flies, doesn't it?