how'd that happen . . .

What a great trip we had! We actually left late Thursday afternoon, because the radio show starts at 7:00 a.m. and it's a two and a half hour drive to Birmingham ... we decided we'd rather drive the night before and not get up until 5:30 a.m., instead of having to *leave* the house at 4:00 a.m. Yikes!

Not long after we started our trek, it was dark, so I pulled out my hands-free beam 'n read so I could continue to stitch. It's plenty bright enough for me to see what I'm working on (and in this pic it's only on 3 LED). Todd assured me several times that the light didn't bother him at all.

Before we'd left, I had decided to go ahead and take all the panels that needed handwork, just in case. We had the drive down, down time in the hotel (Todd had brought his XBox, so it was hand work or read), time I waited while he conducted the interview, and then the drive back. I was so glad I had done that, because on the way down there, I finished one of the full panels and one side of the shorter panels.

By the time we pulled into Birmingham and near our hotel, it was going on 8 p.m., and we were both hungry. We spotted this sign . . .

A Milo's! Neither of us had ever eaten at a Milo's, but their sweet tea is good, so we decided we'd get a couple of burgers and give something new a try. I got a double cheeseburger, fries, diet coke and an apple pie. I was very glad I got that apple pie, because . . . well, let's just say it was my main course. We definitely won't ever do Milo's again. LOL!

Our next stop was our last stop for the night . . .

The Best Western! We had a terrific room -- very comfortable and very roomy! Todd hooked up his XBox and I curled up on the bed to start stitching some more. Do you want to know what I found?!?

I was done stitching.

I had no recollection of doing any of the hand stitching on this piece, but evidently I'd done quite a bit. How funny it is that the pieces I chose to work on were the only pieces that needed stitching. Even the back side of the short panel I'd worked was already stitched down. Huh. I'm sure glad my Kindle was charged and ready to go! Anyway, since the bed was king-sized, I figured I'd lay out the panels and take a couple of photos.

This will be a pretty decent sized quilt once it's all put together. There's a 6" border that will be attached, after I've gotten the center piece figured out and attached. What you're seeing above is actually four different panels.

In this photo I've separated the panels so you can see what I'm working with.

The two long panels are the top and bottom rows. Once I've got my center piece sashed, I'll attach it to the two short panels, and then attach the top and bottom rows to it. I still can't believe it was as far along as it was. The only thing I can figure is that I stopped working on it because I knew that once I'd finished the hand work, the only thing left for me to work on would be that dreaded sashing the center. Haha!

Anyway, the next morning we were up and enjoyed a nice shower (that's what this fulltime RVing girl enjoys most about an overnight hotel stay) and a *great* buffet breakfast, and then we headed over to the studio.

The show was lots of fun and it's rather like you're sitting there listening in on a three-hour long conversation between a bunch of guys who are very good friends. Lots of hilarity. And they all made their way over and chatted with us between segments.

And of course we had our pictures taken with them after the show. It was good fun and I'm glad we went.

From there we high-tailed it North to Gardendale, Alabama, where Todd was interview the pastor of Gardendale First Baptist Church. The interview usually takes between sixty and ninety minutes, and I'd told Todd that I'd be happy just sitting in the car, reading and checking e-mail and playing games on my phone. So he went in and I stayed put in the parking lot. How were we to know that the pastor of FBC Gardendale was a very chatty fellow and that Todd would be gone for two and a half hours?!? LOL! It was okay -- I enjoyed all my Kindle time and played a couple of great games of Cribbage on my phone. But I was very, *very* hungry after all that waiting . . . and since Todd had gotten such a great interview we decided a trip to our favorite interstate restaurant was in order . . .

Yay for Cracker Barrel restaurants!!

Today will be a quiet day; Todd's working and I'll be playing with Ellie's heart quilt -- the perfect activity for a cold, rainy day. In the meantime, I'm going to share a darling clip that's totally captured my heart . . .

Click here if video doesn't load.

How good is that, right?! Oh how it makes me smile!

:)

travel = handwork . . .

Todd and I are in Birmingham today to sit in the "golden ticket seats" at the Rick & Bubba Show. I'm so excited . . . I cannot wait!

We've listened to the guys for years. Their show is syndicated and heard all over the place, including Alaska! The guys are hilarious ... and we're kind of hoping, since it's a Friday and the BCS bowl game is on Monday, that maybe, just maybe Lou Holtz will make an appearance. Haha!

I've been trying to get tickets for ages ... they're free, but they go FAST!

After the show, we are heading down the road to Gardendale First Baptist Church.

Todd is going to interview the pastor there for his 100 Pastor Project. While Todd conducts his interview, I plan on working on stitching down the connecting strips on one of the rows of The Pineapple Quilt. This is my UFO project that needs to be finished for January.

Each block is 18" square, so the row is about 6' wide. If you're not familiar with the quilt as you go (QAYG) method, it's very simple and finishes quickly.

In the above picture, you can see that I've machine attached the cover strip much like the first side of a binding is attached. That's done on both sides (see below photo) ... with the strips sewn on the opposing blocks. (I.e., the strip above is machine stitched to the red block on the front and will fold over and be hand stitched onto the front of turquoise block. The second strip is machine stitched to the back of the turquoise block--which is the dark blue--and then folded over and hand stitched to the back of the red block--which is the purple.) Then once the strips are attached, the two blocks are butted up against each other and zig-zag stitched together.

Once the strip is hand stitched down (like applique or binding, with tiny, hidden stitches), it will cover the zig-zag stitches that connect the block and look like sashing.

So today may be a long day, but I'll have plenty to keep me occupied while I wait. Tomorrow I'll be back in the quilt room, ready to continue working on Ellie's Got My Heart quilt!

:)