What a fabulous birthday weekend!

           

Birthday crown, party tooter, frilly scarf were a gift from buddy Sue (QuiltyMom)

I knew what was coming in the days following my 60th ... so ... although I'm embarrassed to say as much ...

My hubby has been on vacation. He took Friday off so we could go to Jones Beach to see the air show rehearsal. Not my cup of tea, but he goes to quilt shows with me, so fair is fair. The day before is usually the best day to go since the parking -- including MILES of illegal parking on the road shoulder -- fills up early. But, sad to say (although not for me) it was rainy and foggy, so no rehearsal.

Oh, what to do with all that lovely spare time? I know! Let's go to Joann! The combination of circumstances was irresistible. Joann was having a Memorial Day sale and I knew that the Red Dot section would be 50% off -- and hubby is a Marine and that meant another 20% off!

Since we were already on Ocean Parkway, we decided to take it out to the West Babylon store. I filled the trunk and back seat of my car -- and I mean FULL -- for a little over $100.

OK, said I. My blog starts on Tuesday and that means a COMPLETE fabric fast. We got home kind of late and my pups, Daisy Mae and Feeney were upset that we were gone for so long, especially Daisy, who is my constant companion through the day. So we went to the dog park at Nickerson Beach.

When we got home it was late - about 8:00 pm. We decided to get some wood oven pizza at this fabulous little shop up the street, Sorrento's It reminds me of the little cafes on Mulberry Street I enjoyed eons ago. But they were done for the night. So, since it was a no meat Friday, plain old pizza for us.

On Saturday morning, we woke up too late to go to the air show. (Oh, what a shame!) So we took our time around the house. Hubby came into my studio to tell me I had a package! I noticed the name of one of my Quilting Board buddies, Brenda. It was a BIG one!

I started laughing hysterically at the card which featured a dirt mouthed dog.

Then I opened it to see that Brenda organized a surprise from a whole bunch of my quilting board buddies.

Wow! There were more wonderful cards ... and a Joann gift card from Brenda.

The idea was to send me 60 FQs for my 60th. But there were well over that many.

I won't post pix of them all, but here is the FIRST layer!

All I can say is that I was FEELING THE LOVE!

After a suitable period of being flummoxed and flustered, I pulled myself together to decide what we were going to do with the rest of the day. My dear enabling hubby spotted the gift card and said, "Let's go to the REALLY far away Joann." (We refer to the Joann Locations as the close Joann -- Westbury -- and the far away Joann -- West Babylon).  I'd never been to the REALLY far away Joann (Centereach - 50 miles away), so we went! Once again, the trunk and back seat were filled to bursting for $130! 


And again I said, "OK. That's it. NO MORE FABRIC!


By then it was about 4:00 pm and we were really hungry. I hadn't even eaten breakfast. There was half of a small bag of cheese crisps in the car, but hubby glommed them down. There wasn't anything interesting around, and besides which I was anxious to get back to the pupsters. We saw a Denny's and neither of us had ever been in one AND there was a 20% discount for senior citizens. Whoo hooo! Starting to like this getting old stuff.


The food wasn't great, but c'est la vie. Then we stopped in the Walmart there. I didn't even THINK about looking for their fabric department. I picked up some cute sun dresses to go with my new hair do and some fun blingy summertime "jewels".  (Later, at the grocery store back home, one of the lithe trust fund babies stopped me to say how much she loooooved my necklace. I demurely replied, "Oh, thank you so very much" and turned to snicker to myself, "Ha! $7 with matching earrings at Walmart!")


Anyway, we got back home ... took the pups to the dog park and I informed my darling hubby that part of his vacation would be spent helping me to organize my fabric. He reluctantly agreed. (Did he have a choice? Personally I think he'd just like to eat at the dining room table again.)


Then I got a text from my friend and neighbor, Diane. "R U interested in fabric and an antique sewing machine?"


ARGHHHH!!!


She sent me the address. 


So off we went on Sunday. I picked up some beautiful embroidery and lace pieces and FOUR huge rolls of ivory silk! $7!!!


Back home with a quick stop at the grocery store for Oxyclean, Borax and vinegar for a little de-stinking treatment. I also wanted to treat some things I picked up a couple of weeks ago, including a 1930s quilt top -- $1.00!!! 


Do you know anyone else who thinks it is wonderful fun to clean and organize fabric? If you're reading this, I suspect it's you.


Now it's dinner time on Sunday. Back we go to the little Italian place for that sought after wood oven pizza. Oh no! The chairs were upended on the tables and it was still early. "We ran out of dough.  You come earlier next time."


On Monday our town has a delightful Memorial Day parade. That afternoon we decided to stroll over to Sorrento's again. Guess what? It was CLOSED!!!


Sorry for the long ramble, but hey, it's MY blog. Today is Wednesday and the work of getting at least some of the fabric wrapped onto mini bolts begins. As I mentioned, if I'm going to sew through all this stuff, I'll have to keep in good shape. Breakfast was Special K, skim milk, 1/4 banana, strawberries and blueberries from my garden and a sprinkle of flax seed meal. (Dr. Oz says its a great diet aid.)

One more thing. yesterday I received a birthday card from my quilting buddy Teresa aka MsCupid804. Inside was a $20 gift card for Joann. ARGHHHH!

OK. That's all for today. Shorter tomorrow and I'll tell you all about how I won the Nancy Zeiman Scarf Design Contest

Oops! I guess I just told you. Ha! Well here's a photo. See you tomorrow!