This is the bedroom that I want to wake up in every morning for the rest of my life.
 

But maybe you need to take a closer look at the nightstand…….

Yes, that’s cake.  Carrot cake to be exact.  With luscious cream cheese icing.  And nuts.  I want to wake up to that every day.  Well, I suppose only if I want to weigh 500 pounds by Christmas.

And that’s just a little of how my day was yesterday.  Just a small slice of the food that awaited me.  But I’m getting ahead of myself and I should probably explain a bit more.

Judy, Sally, Suz & I spent the day at Susan’s yesterday.  You remember Susan.  She’s the one who wanted to lick the syrup off her plate in this posting.  And she’s also the collector of wool.  She’s addicted to wool these days.  Remember?  And I now have the pictures to prove it.  Because we spent the day at her house.  And we were treated like queens.  Or princesses.  Queens or princesses that would weigh 500 pounds if we spent too many days at Susan’s house.  Because she fed us…… and fed us…….. and fed us. 

Did I mention she fed us?

Judy picked up each of us – early I might add.  Earlier than she said she was going to come.  But we were all ready.  We’d been planning this day and we were excited to get it started.  So we arrived at Susan’s early.

See?  This is the clock in Susan’s kitchen.  We were there early considering that Susan expected us at 10.  But that just meant that we got to see the final preparations for lunch.

And breakfast was in the oven.  Oh, my!  So we poured ourselves some coffee (or diet coke/water, if you’re Sally/Judy) and waited for it to finish cooking.  And we watched Susan prepare lunch. 

Did I mention that she fed us?

Susan was moving so fast that she was just a blur in the kitchen.  And the laughter began……. and continued on throughout the day.

She was preparing Spinach, Pesto & Fontina Lasagna.  She gave me the recipe to share with you.  But I guarantee you that you don’t want to make it.  It’s very complicated.  So just call Susan and tell her you want to come over for lunch.  And that you want this special lasagna that you heard about on my blog.  I’m sure she’ll be happy to make it for you.  Right, Susan?   Because if I type if for you here, you’ll fall asleep before you get to the end.  And that would really hurt my ego.  I need you to make it all the way to the end of the blog without falling asleep.

See?  Judy had to read the recipe to Susan to keep her on track and even Bella (the cat) tried to help.  It was very complicated!  And as yummy as it was complicated.

Layers in progress……. look at that yummy pesto!

And here’s how it looked before it went into the oven.  Just about the time that the bell rang for breakfast to come out of the oven. 

Did I mention that she fed us?

This was breakfast.  Apple Dumplings with Vanilla Creme and bacon.  And I can share this recipe with you.  Because Susan found it over at The Pioneer Woman’s website.  Even if you never make these little tasty treats, you absolutely must go read the recipe here.  Because Pioneer Woman (my hero) is a hoot and will make you laugh out loud as you read that recipe.  And then you will have to make these apple dumplings too.  Because they are easy, unlike the lasagna. 

And they were so good that I licked my plate.  So you are gonna want to make them.  I promise you’ll want to lick your plate too.

After breakfast it was time for a tour of the house.  Because Suz had never been there before and needed a tour.  And we all just had to tag along because we all love house tours.  And if we hadn’t all taken the tour, we’d have missed that cake on the nightstand in the bedroom.  Doesn’t everyone have carrot cake on their nightstand?  You’ll have to ask Susan about that one.  But I’m moving in.  I’m sure Dear Hubby will want to come with me too.

This is the view from Susan’s balcony.  That’s an airplane runway you see.  You can sit and watch airplanes take off and land from Susan’s balcony.  How cool is that?

The birds are well fed at Susan’s house too.  Apparently feeding birds is as important as feeding people at her house.

This is where I’m going to spend my time after breakfast at Susan’s when I move in.  Well, after breakfast and after I’ve polished off that carrot cake on the nightstand.  Won’t that pool be inviting on these hot summer days?  And perhaps if I swim laps I’ll only weigh 400 pounds by Christmas.

More of the back yard.  Looks a bit like Suz’ back yard, doesn’t it? 

And you can practice your archery skills there too!

And then Susan’s Dear Hubby can take you for a ride in this!  I’m telling ya…. my bags are packed.  I’m moving in!

 

Even little frogs love it at Susan’s house.  Can you see him?  He sort of blended right in!

After breakfast and the tour, we ended up in Susan’s wonderful sewing room.  What a great room it is!

Isn’t this a cute counter in the room?  Filled with little quilts and pictures and fun little touches.

There are great signs…….

…….. and fabulous piles!

And did I tell you about her new found addiction to wool?  Here’s the proof….

This wool Baltimore Album quilt was started after she saw Cindy’s wool project.  Susan is obsessed with working on this one.  I know that because she told me!

Next album block in progress.

And there’s this stack of wool for who knows what.  She’ll find something, I’m sure.

This project is waiting in the wings to be started.

And this little project was completed very recently too!

More wool pieces and swatches and projects.  See?  Obsessed.  Addicted.  If you want some of that fancy lasagna for lunch one day, you might consider offering her a new wool kit to add to her collection.

This is a beautiful applique project that she’s working on that is not wool.  We also had some show ‘n tell of Susan’s other quilts while we were there in her sewing room.

Like these beautiful roosters.

And these quilts……

And this wonderful flag quilt.  How many stars are there, Susan?  All appliqued by hand.

Even Baci and Bella got in on the Show ‘n Tell action.  See how enthralled they are with this spectacular Christmas quilt?

Speaking of Baci and Bella – I took loads of pics of them.  They are so silky and beautiful and they posed quite well for me!

They tried to climb into Judy’s bag and go home with her.

And Bella loved my basket.  I would have brought her home with me, but I was afraid Boo would not have been happy with that.

Baci checked out the view from behind the design wall.

And held down Suz’ beautiful quilt top that she brought along to show us.

“I’m just trying to keep it from blowing away with the ceiling fan.”  It’s apparently what cats are good at.

“Listen to me, Bella!  I’m trying to make a point here!”  Bella looks a bit nonchalant, doesn’t she?

So Baci gave up and took a nap on the ironing board.  It’s what cats do best.

There was intense sewing……..

….. and teaching…….

And then there was LUNCH!  Ooey, gooey, wonderful lasagna…..

With “Tony’s Toast” alongside.  We have no idea who Tony is but he sure knows how to make a fabulous garlicky, parmesan-y, buttery toast!

What a great group of friends!!!!

And then there was more sewing…. and laughing…… and chatting….. and laughing…… and sewing.

This is Suz’ fabulous quilt top that she worked on at our JSS Retreat in April.  Good job, Suz!  We’re hoping we see this one in our guild Quilt Show this year!

And there was a HUGE surprise from Susan and Judy!  Remember the little 50’s dresses blocks that Susan had hand embroidered and you saw in the post about the quilts on Bee Day?  Well, Judy secretly snuck over to Susan’s one day last week and they got that whole quilt top put together!

Isn’t it just the cutest thing?  They were quite proud of themselves for surprising us with it.

And then…….

There was dessert!  Remember the carrot cake in the bedroom?  YUM!  With homemade ice cream on the side.

Did I mention that she fed us?

Sally enjoyed her carrot cake………

……. a LOT!  Ahhhhhhhhhh…….mmmmmmmmmmm…….. I think she licked her plate when I wasn’t looking.

And when I got home, Boo fell asleep on the recipe he wanted me to make for breakfast.

Sorry Boo……

THIS is what we’re going to be eating for the next year and a half.  And maybe if we’re real good, we’ll even be able to put some dressing on the lettuce.

Still full,
Barb