Black Rider Friday

Happy day after Thanksgiving!  I have been doing light blogging this November, not because I have nothing to say, but because I haven't had a lot of time to organize my thoughts to my satisfaction.  It has been somewhat fun to take a break, but that hasn't meant that I've gotten any more crafting projects done.

 Secundus joined the throngs for the Clark County Turkey Trot 5K yesterday morning, and placed 5th.  Here he is with friends, showing off his State sweatshirt.

He apparently felt he needed to do something to make running a 5K more extreme, so he ran it shirtless.

And joined the polar bear swim at the end.  Now, we have mild winters in the Northwest, but not that mild.  It was in the 30's.  He come home with teeth chattering and needed to wrap up in a blanket for quite some time to warm up.

Daniel chatted with me by Skype yesterday and I got to see all the Virginia nieces and nephews.  He had a good time with family that he doesn't get to see often, although it would have been lovely to be able to afford to fly him out here for Thanksgiving; we'll have to wait a few more weeks to see him in person.  Grandma came over and we had a fairly classic Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, Stovetop stuffing (from a box, at Steve's request), mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, turkey gravy (I like to add a splash of sherry), cranberry sauce made with tangerine juice, rolls from the Safeway bakery, green beans, Delicata squash, baked yams, pickles, salad, and pumpkin or Dutch apple pie.

 Grandma had two quilts for me to pin out for her.  She didn't know the name of this pattern, but it's very pretty and scrappy, with very few repeats of fabric.

 She didn't know the name of this pattern either.  She had pieces for a kit for a Lone Star with solid diamonds already cut out, and used them in this arrangement instead.

So here's why it's "Black Rider Friday."  I wanted to quilt most of the day today on Bonnie K. Hunter's new mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice.  But I had this block from the "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" quiltalong only halfway completed, and knew I needed to finish it up before getting any more fabrics out to play with.  So I did, while enjoying Christmas music on my custom-shuffle Pandora stations.  I think the two Nazgul who showed up in the black brocade must have been a little embarrassed at having stolen such girly fabric from their barrows, don't you?  And I just realized now that the back right one has a place where he's transparent.  Nazgul wardrobe malfunction.  I'm not taking it apart now.

I did finish them up and started cutting fabrics for Celtic Solstice.  Then Tertia needed to be taken to choir practice and Quarta was taken to buy a new hamster (she calls her "Pookles").  Then we went to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Esther Short Park, where Tertia sang with the combined choirs, and the Mayor and Santa Claus were both there.

Secundus is off now doing an extreme sport, something called "bouldering" that I had to sign a waiver form for.  I didn't have to sign anything for the polar bear swim and that seemed plenty foolhardy, so I'm trying not to worry if he'll come home in one piece.  The girls are watching Annie.  I will probably go hang out and cut some more pieces for Celtic Solstice.  It has a lot more cheery colors than the Nazgul.