Here we are at Superbowl Sunday! Here at the Olive house we are football fans. A bit sad that the season is over and we have to wait until August for the new season. For today, I'm rooting for the Colts because my SIL is from Indy and she and my brother and their 3 kiddos, all live there. Mr. Olive is rooting for the Saints because he thinks it would be great for the Crescent City to win the big game. I have to agree with him, but I cannot let my little nephew down with my allegience. Mr. Olive not only made jambalaya from scratch (crab and chicken andouille), but also bought me a Colt 45, while he'll have Abita as we watch the game - I will take a sip of my 'malt liquor' and that will likely be that.
Today is also the annual Long Beach Polar Bear Club jump in the Ocean. We walked up - it was way more crowded than we expected. Last year was the run at the Guinness World Record book - but I didn't think so many would show up this year too. Mr. Olive and I think these jumpers are crazy - but yet again, on the walk back home, I threw it out there....."Maybe we should jump in next year" and Mr. Olive agreed.....ut-oh......
I also received a request for a custom adult-size throw quilt and two matching shams. The customer wanted cream and sage green to be the main colors, with yellow and blue accents. I did alot more detailed work on the quilt and the shams than I originally thought, but the accent squares on the quilt and the pieced border and squares on the sham (told him I'd do a 4-rectangle front), gave it some specialties. In addition, I did 'wavy' yellow and blue squares with 'stripe' yellow and blue borders to give it some more interest and detail.
To round out the week, Mr. Olive and I watched a couple movies. "Gran Torino" with Clint Eastwood and "No Reservations" with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. Gran Torino was excellent - and I wasn't into his "Million Dollar Baby" because I'm not a fan of Hilary Swank, but ended up loving it once I watched it - so I'll now watch all his films. No Reservations - I thought this was going to be a funny romantic comedy, but it was a tear-jerker for me. I think I couldn't stop crying because it played on my 'mother' side, but even if I didn't have a daughter, I'd probably still cry. That's just how I am when it comes to sentimental stories. Hey - I used to cry watching "Little House on the Prairie". Mr. Olive doesn't know that. He too gave both movies the thumbs-up.
Superbowl score: 1Q Colts 3 / Saints 0........Goooooo Colts!
I promised Mr. Olive a flannel quilt years ago. He chose a bow-tie pattern and I have 1/2 the squares finished. Since it didn't look likely that I was going to get this done for him given all the other orders we've had lately, I decided to try and kill two birds with one stone by asking him if I could make him a t-shirt quilt. He has about 70 t-shirts and some are literally falling apart, but he won't let me toss them. I'm sure others find this a familiar dilemma? :-) To pare down his stash, we went through and picked some for me. I got to work on it because I wanted him to have a quilt (even if it isn't the one he originally requested), and I was happy to get rid of some tees. Although I only used 12, that is 12 fewer in the pile. Here is the layout - the top is put together - and now I have to border, line, and back. More pics to come.
In addition, since my sewing room is upstairs and the TV is downstairs, I've been feeling like I'm wasting time just sitting on the couch watching shows. Sometimes it is nice to just 'sit' and do something mindless, but other times I feel like I can do two things at once. To help out, I called my mom and asked her to re-teach me how to knit. When I was younger, I occasionally knit, but didn't get instant-gratification so I rarely finished a project. I planned to start off easy - a scarf - and just 'knit' instead of 'purl' too. I chose a bulky yarn so I could get it done fast. Needless to say, I have it started, but I surely won't finish this winter - so next year I guess I'll have a nice new scarf. 
