The Starkey house fire

These are pictures of the house behind mine burning this morning. Chris and his wife got out all right but they lost a dog and some cats.

CAMC Awards Dinner

Richard and I attended the CAMC Awards Dinner this evening. Richard was honored for being employed by CAMC for thirty years. There were quite a few people who had thirty years in, a pretty good sized list of people with thirty-five years and forty years, and even two people who had worked there for forty-five years! I figure they started working there as very young teenagers! Richard received a very nice certificate, and he was able to choose a $400 gift card from a bunch of items he was offered. We had dinner with 900 people. They served prime rib (not too bloody - but very chewy) and Chicken Marsala (which was delicious). They had steamed squash, green beans and roasted potatoes. I would have enjoyed the veggies had they been hot, but they weren't. They also served a green salad and a pasta salad. I saw several desserts but I only tried Oreo pie. After dinner Richard had to go up on stage to receive his certificate from the CEO of the hospital. We left soon after. Richard needed to visit the restroom so we just slipped out.

This is my Yellow Brick Road quilt. It is lap-sized, perfect to throw over the back of the sofa and use to cover your legs when you are chilly. I got the quilting done yesterday and the binding applied. It still needs the binding sewn down by hand but I will do that on Election day when I am working at the polls. The pattern uses seemingly random squares and rectangles all jumbled together. I decided to machine-quilt 1/4" around the inside of each block. I didn't enjoy making the quilt, it just wasn't much fun. But I really enjoyed quilting it. Of course, I can't take a picture of a quilt without a cat holding it down. They have to sample all the quilts. That's Sam stealing the scene.

Angie called as soon as Cassie's baby was born but she wasn't sure of the name yet. I haven't talked to her since. I hope they liked the baby quilt I made for her and the two little sleepers I got at Elder-Beerman. I wish we had a little girl to spoil. I would love to make frilly little clothes for her. I heard the cutest name for a girl the other day. I told Audrey she needed to have a girl and name her Calliana Rose. Isn't that georgous??? She could be called Callie for short.

Richard saw the doctor on Tuesday and I made sure he told him that he wasn't feeling good. The doctor changed his blood pressure med from Avapro to Norvasc. I hope it helps. You can tell when he doesn't feel well - he sits around all the time doing nothing. He is ordinarily a busy person.

After seeing the doctor we went looking for a sport jacket for Richard to wear to the Awards dinner that will be held on the 20th. We went to all the best places and nothing seemed right or fit well. I got the idea to look for a zip-up jacket to wear with a dress shirt and tie and that would be fancy enough. We ended up a Kelley's Men's Shop where he tried on a burgundy blazer that we both fell in love with. I would never have even tried burgundy but I love it on him. It cost $195 but alterations are free and it did need some work. That is why we didn't like any of the other jackets we looked at, nothing seemed to fit him right. Kelley's has to take in the shoulders and let out the waist, and maybe shorten the sleeves. I told Richard he needs a pink shirt to wear with it. That would match my outfit for the dinner, a flowered pink jacket, a white knit shell and white slacks. I think I will have Audrey take some pictures of us before we go.

Baby Quilt

Made a new quilt for Cassie's new baby. (Has she been born yet? Gotta find out.) Decided to do it last Wednesday when Audrey and I were at WalMart and saw some really cute fabric. We chose the butterfly print for the border and then chose fabrics for the blocks based on the colors in the border. I made the top Wednesday evening and got it sandwiched with batting and backing on Thursday. I let it set on Friday and took it to work with me on Saturday. I did all the quilting and then put the binding on with the Designer Diamond sewing machine (costs $8,000!). Boy it does a great job on quilting! I'd love to have one but that is a lot of money! I embroidered a label on the Diamond also. Then I started in on the hand stitching on the binding. I hate that part, love the rest! Got it done while sitting on the porch on Sunday. Today it went out on UPS. I hope she likes it. I used the same pattern I have been doing for a while now. I have made a total of five quilts from this pattern. I usually just make one of something and move on, but this one is easy and quick and uses up some of my stash (when I'm not buying more fabric). The color looks blue-er (is that a word?) in the first picture. The other two look right. That's Sam in the second picture and Sam and Rosie in the third.

Audrey and I were going to church Easter Sunday but she had IBS problems. I fixed a spiral-sliced ham and some veggies and made some macaroni salad which is still in the fridge (I always forget something). Richard had brought in a half-flat of strawberries so we had strawberry shortcake for dessert. I tried to call Adam to dinner but he wasn't answering his phone.

Richard is off today for the holiday so we went to Lowe's and he bought a new pressure washer. He couldn't get his old one to work yesterday.