Next on the quilting to-do list:

Yesterday I actually had a finish!  The bag is done and ready to be taken to the January guild meeting so we can begin the charity project.  Yea! 

After I got that done, I began making a bunch of potholders. These are for friends we'll be meeting up with for lunch later in January.  I just used up some scrap fabric I had--cherry pies and desserts on a black background--with cream contrasting squares and a bit of melon colored scrap for the backings. I'll stitch down the binding tonight along with some TV.

After that I cut some strips of 1930s fabrics and sewed them into the tops for a few potholders that Tessa asked me to make for her and I'll bring them with me when I go to Maine in a couple of weeks.

After a long night's sleep, Dan's feeling recovered from his long day of traveling, so all 3 of us took a little trip to the WORLD'S BEST CHEESE store, Eau Galle Cheese Factory

Eau Galle is a very small community about 10 miles south of my town. This French name likely came from the French voyageurs or fur traders from the late 1700s into the early 1800's who roamed around the upper Midwest, trading items with the native population in exchange for pelts from beavers and other desirable animals.  Or the name may have come from French explorers who came this way even earlier than the fur traders.  At any rate, I've always been intrigued with the meaning of this name since I have no French speaking ability.  "Eau" I know means "water" but what does "galle" mean?  Professor Wikipedia came to the rescue!  "Galle" means "bitter" but it's unlikely that the town was named after sour water since the river that flows through this area is clean and sweet.  This is what Wikipedia has to say about it: "Although Eau Galle is sometimes said to mean "bitter water," the name is adapted from the original name for the Eau Galle River: (Riviere) au Galet, meaning "(river) with the gravel-bank."  Well, that makes more sense since the river is indeed very gravelly.  

End of French/history lesson. On to cheese.  Dan wants to take some Wisconsin cheese back with him for his coworkers to sample.  In Washington State, about the only reasonably good cheese you can get is the Tilamook brand, which is a good cheese, but it's not Wisconsin cheese.  

This is one of the two large cases they have in the store, stocked with all sorts of cheeses. The store also contains a huge assortment of gifts and souvenir-kinds of things, which we bypassed and headed right to the cheeses.

Dan chose these things to bring back: Plain cheese curds, Cranberry Cheddar Cheese, Smoked Gouda and a Gorgonzola.

For ourselves, Don and I chose Garlic and Dill Cheese Curds, Pepper Jack Cheese (we passed on the Ghost Pepper Cheese--Yikes!), a wedge of Stilton, and a cheesy spread made locally with hickory smoked trout--soo good!

  

That's how my day has gone.  Easy dinner tonight--warmed up homemade lasagna and a tossed salad.  Perfect for a snowy December day in Wisconsin.  Hope you have great cheeses wherever you live too.  ;-)