Ta da, whoopy do, yippee!

And all that stuff!

The final stitch was taken a few nights ago.  To save you the trouble of counting, I can tell you there are 792 pieces.  Sideways:

It still needs borders, but as I am not a complete and total masochist they will be done by machine.

The feeling is tremendous; when the thread was cut after the final stitch I sat back and patted myself on the back.  My shoulder is still feeling the pain.  The cutting was started when we were in our 'home away from home' following the Second Great Flood of 2017 but lapsed after we moved home; later the following year the pace was cranked up again so there would be a hand project to take on our 2018 trip to Canada, to help while away time spent waiting in airports etc.  And now it's done.

Heaving a sigh of satisfaction......

No houses were made this week.  This will be remedied.

The flower basket quilt which hasn't been looked at for *ahem* quite some time has been brought out to take its place by my chair, for sewing in the evenings.  I had thought of quilting it in sections then joining them, but have now decided to finish the top and have it quilted in one piece.

There were 225 of these six inch blocks made, half (plus one) on a white background, the other half with a floral background.  They were joined into 25 blocks, each with nine baskets......and there they lapsed, until this week.  So, those 25 blocks are now in the process of being joined into quite a large top.  (I refuse to call my quilt tops a 'flimsy'.  'Flimsy' is defined as something weak and insubstantial; to me there is nothing insubstantial about a quilt top that may have taken years of my life.) 

Kevin has still been entertaining himself with his circus family history.  To this end, on Friday we went for a Nice Sunday Drive to a town north of here as he found out that one of the family, William George, died and is buried there.  There is no other connection to the town so we assume that he died while the circus was on its travels in March 1918, and there he still lies.  His grave memorial reads "erected by his loving daughter E (for Elizabeth) Last Name", which means that he was the father of Elizabeth and her brother Charles......and Charles is one of the men, Elizabeth's husband being the other, who died in the explosion in 1923.  Some of the names are now being tied together.  William George's brother Charles - the same names keep coming up - was the father of Kevin's grandmother, so William George is Kevin's distant uncle.  

We also visited the music store, having heard good things about it......and I must say, it leaves our local store for dead; not a difficult thing, seeing as how the local store just isn't very good.  I like to support local as much as possible but at the end of the day I decided how I spend my money, and if that means bypassing a local store for one with better service and products - so be it.

Everywhere is green and lush following quite a lot of rain,  truly a sight for sore eyes after the years of drought.  We know that eventually there will be another drought - which will, in its turn, eventually end - but we'll enjoy the green while we can.  

"Table manners and etiquette.

It is of the highest importance that all persons should conduct themselves with the strictest regard to good breeding, even in the privacy of their own homes, when at table; a neglect of such observances will render one stiff and awkward in society.  There are so many little points to be observed, that unless a person is habitually accustomed to observe them, he unconsciously commits some error, or will appear awkward and constrained upon occasions when it it important to be fully at ease."

Just remember that when you next sit down to dine with The Great And The Good, or even just with your nearest and dearest.

Enjoy your days!