Dogs – agilejack

May 23, 2023May 28, 2023

Wensleydale on the Design Wall and a Corgi Puppy

After dinner tonight I walked to a friend’s house to see their new corgi puppy and to take her a toy I whipped up for her.

Meet Bella. She’s just 11 weeks old.

It seems like it’s been a long time since I got to hang out with a little puppy. And I have to say, there is no puppy cuter than a corgi puppy!

She really liked the toy I made her!

And of course, I had to take a little video.

GAH! So cute! It’s nice to get a puppy fix.

After our evening walk I hit my sewing room and stacked all my value sorted Wensleydale blocks in preparation of getting them up on the design wall.

I like sorting by value or color, combining into a stack as it makes getting blocks arranged on the design wall easier. I feel like this first attempt is pretty good.

It always helps to make the photo black and white to just look at value.

I can see a couple areas here that I’ll want to adjust. But I’m really glad I made the last ten blocks really light and really dark. This quilt top needed those stark blocks.

Here’s an area that feels flat and too gray.

The entire column on the left side feels very gray and flat to me as well. It’s entirely possible that it’s just the lighting and photo. It very well may look completely different in real life. But this shows me areas to take a good look at.

I’ll leave these blocks on the design wall for a few days while I noodle over it and make some changes. But I’m not going to agonize over it. I feel pretty happy with this as it is.

And you shouldn’t be surprised that I put block #59 in the center of the quilt!

It’s likely I’ll have this sewn together this weekend. I’d like to check this off my list.

I think my next project will be a quick and easy one. I want to get the binding on this lovely that will hang above my sewing table.

That’s an easy evening’s project and it will feel good to finally finish this. I think I started this at least six years ago!

I’ve been thinking a lot today about this Magnificent Beast, Forrest. He was born 20 years ago today.

Most people I know have that one dog that was THE dog of a lifetime and mine was Forrest. He’s been gone for 5.5 years now and I smile about him often. It’s Forrest’s paw print that I had tattooed on my left arm a year ago.

One of my favorite photos of Forrest…

This photo was taken by my friend Heather during a hike in May. It was rainy and cool and I was going to leave Forrest at home because he was 14 at the time. He would have none of it… he wouldn’t let me leave the house without him. So I grabbed his little coat and took him along… knowing that I’d have to carry him for a god portion of the hike. I’m so glad I took him along. He had such a wonderful time… and so did I.

Forrest on the far left with Bender next to him. Rico is on the far right. He was only about six months old in this photo. His left ear hadn’t yet decided to stand at attention!

After the recent heat we’ve had, I had to break down and turn on my furnace this morning! I’m glad the heat is gone, but I’m not feeling positive that we’re going to have any delicious Oregon strawberries this spring.

May 17, 2023May 19, 2023

Wensleydale Blocks… Three Down, Seven to Go

It was sort of a perfect day here in Portland. Sunny and only a little over 80 degrees. So we started our evening walk a little earlier tonight.

Once we got home I hit my sewing room to dig in on a few Wensleydale blocks. And I got three done. That means I only have seven more to go! Here’s the three I made tonight. I’m posting large photos because I just love looking at them!

It’s kind of hard to believe that I only have seven more blocks to make to hit the magic number — 60!

Here’s all three blocks together.

Over the last couple weeks I’ve been streaming videos from Kate at The Last Homely House on YouTube while I sew. Tonight I watched a video about indigo dying. It’s a great thing to have on as I sew. One of my blog readers (sorry, can’t remember who it was) recommended Kate’s videos to me about a year ago. You should check her out.

Once this quilt top is done I’m going to have a lot of indigo batiks left over. I have an idea of a quilt to make that will use up some of them. I would combine them, again, with KFC scraps but in a different way.

I’d still probably have a lot of indigo batiks left over!

Before I wrapped up tonight I packaged up my recently finished bindings with their backings and quilt tops.

I’ll be meeting with the long armer who is trading some of my finished quilt tops for quilting services this weekend. It feels like it’s taken me forever to get to this point! As a reminder, here’s the six quilts I’m going to have her quilt.

Isn’t it funny that there’s so much red in there.

Jefe will be picked up tomorrow. He has been a really easy and well mannered houseguest. It’s been fun having a little dog sleeping on my lap for a few days.

Bender will be sad to see Jefe leave and take his little bed with him.

And last thing tonight, my snowball tree is in all its glory right now.

The blooms are huge!

Here’s the same bush when I bought my property in 2010. It was under some large Douglas fir trees on the property next door that were removed about 7 hears ago to build a big house.

You can see the Doug firs on the other side of the fence. That snowball bush was the only thing happy to see those trees cut down. Amazing what some sun will do for a plant!

You also see in that photo my Parson Russell terriers Forrest and Skeeter.

I planted four Doug firs on my side of the fence after those trees were removed. They’re over 20 feel tall now!

May 11, 2023May 19, 2023

Bindings Do Not Bring Me Joy

After finishing a radio drive, taking two work days off, and trying to catch up during this short week, work has been really hectic this week. I’ve been stressed and tired at night without much oomph for sewing.

But…

I’m slowly chunking away at the bindings needed before I can take six quilts to my long arm friend who is trading quilt tops for quilting. Well, I actually haven’t touched them all week since cutting them. But I finally forced myself into my sewing room tonight to get moving.

I got two bindings marked, sewn and pressed.

Those are rolled up and tied with a fabric scrap. All ready to put into a package with the quilt top and finished backing.

I find making bindings to be quite tedious and annoying.

Marking all those corners — annoying.

Pressing yards and yards of fabric strips — annoying.

Seeing them done and ready to go away — satisfying.

It’s not the kind of sewing that brings me much joy. It’s an annoying task that has to be done. I would rather it was done by someone other than me.

But I’m making progress. Four more to go. I’ve promised myself that I will finish these six bindings before I finish the last ten blocks of my Wensleydale quilt top.

We have a special visitor here this week. Meet Jefe (pronounced HEFF-ay). It means boss.

He belongs to a co-worker who is traveling to celebrate a sibling’s graduation. Jefe is, I think, ten. He’s tiny, probably a Yorky. He’s almost completely blind and very deaf. He’s really easy to have around and he’s really sweet. My boys pretty much ignore him.

Oh, and he LOVES food! And he sleeps a lot! He and Bender had a nap together this afternoon. Jefe is snoring next to me on the sofa as I type.

For being as blind as he is, he’s doing a good job of exploring my large back yard. He’s sort of developed his own path and can make his way around and back to the patio pretty efficiently. He does occasionally make a wrong turn and run into something, but he’s not moving very fast so it doesn’t do much damage.

He’ll be here with us through Wednesday. It’s fun to have a little dog in the house, and it’s nice to have a dog who likes to snuggle. Neither of my boys are snugglers.

Spring continues to get more and more beautiful here. On our walk this evening the smells of different blooming things was almost overwhelming at times. The lilacs are in all their glory right now and they smell so amazing in the evening. This Is my lilac.

This pale pink lilac is one I see on our walks. I’ve never seen another one like this. It’s the most pale color of pink and the petals are large.

Here’s a closer view.

It’s so gorgeous! I would love to have one of them in my yard.

Here’s two plants I stuck my nose into on our walk tonight. Both smelled so amazing!

What an amazing time of year here! And today was a perfect day. But we have some hot weather coming. It’s going to be close to 90 degrees this weekend, and the highs will be in the upper 80s for each of the next ten days. It’s way too early in the year to have temps like that. It doesn’t bode well for the summer. I guess I’d better get my air conditioner fired up.

The sunset during our walk last night was pretty spectacular.

I wasn’t able to get a great photo on my street because of houses. But I did get this photo of my house with the sunset.

And this photo made me think of Wanda at the Exuberant Color blog who posted some photos earlier this week of trees during the golden hour…. how they change when the sun hits them in the evening.

We actually got rained on during our walk last night. But the low sun was shining on the tops of these trees.

I love walking during a lovely sunset.

One more day of work and I get another weekend. I’m going to look at my calendar tomorrow and plan some days off before the end of June. Maybe a nice long weekend over Labor Day weekend. I might even go to a two-day sheep herding camp.

May 6, 2023May 19, 2023

More Quilt Back Mania and Some R&R

We wrapped up our radio drive today. I’m exhausted. I’m looking forward to a few days off to get some sleep and do something fun.

I worked from 7-10 this morning, then I hightailed it down to Molalla for Rico’s weekly sheep herding lesson. It was the most gorgeous day. It did my soul good to be outside and breathe some fresh air and move my body.

I mean… just look at that! That, to me, is NW Oregon in the spring. I kept literally gasping every time I turned around and saw this view. I just had to get some photos of it.

And… it’s made even better because Rico was a complete ROCK STAR in his lesson today. Look at him on that cross drive! I’m so proud of him!

What a good boy.

After our lesson I hightailed it home and worked again from 2-5.

After a walk and dinner I hit my sewing room and decided to whip up the final two quilt backings that I wanted to finish this weekend.

The first was the backing for this red and yellow Algorithm quilt made from all KFC fabrics. Oh man… I forgot how much I love this quilt top.

When I unfolded the quilt I found a piece of fabric that I had purchased years ago on a pretty deep sale. I believe it’s no longer in print. It’s called Roller Coaster and I’m pretty sure it’s a Brandon Mably design.

It’s actually in the quilt top. You can see a piece of it under my hand in the lower right.

I was thinking there wasn’t enough to make a backing, but there was plenty. Plus, the quilt is small enough that two pieces sewn horizontally was plenty tall — and I still have a yard left over. So this one was easy to put together. I didn’t even try to match that pattern, and I don’t think it matters.

This picture shows the finished back on my ironing board. I think it’s pretty hard to see the seam. So this is a win for me.

It’s such a fun and light hearted fabric. I love it.

The next quilt I wanted to make a backing for is my red KFC Fractured quilt that my friend helped me make last year when she was visiting.

The fabric I purchased for the backing has a large leaf design running the length of the fabric instead of the width. I felt like I wanted to the leaves running up and down the height of the quilt, rather than from side to side. So I pieced two vertical pieces together, while two horizontal pieces would have been enough for the height of the quilt.

I did have to trim around 8 inches off of one of the vertical pieces. I didn’t even try to match the pattern on this one, but I did cut it so the pattern on each piece of fabric lines up. Meaning that from side to side the repeat is the same, but the pattern doesn’t match perfectly in the middle.

I think it’s difficult to see the seam on this one as well. Here’s the entire backing hanging on my small design wall. Can you see the vertical seam?

Here’s a close look.

And an even closer look…

I am 100% ok with the fact that the two pieces of fabric don’t match at that center line. I think the seam is well-camouflaged.

No boring backings in my house!

Once I had these two backings done I packaged up each of the seven quilts and backings that are ready to head off to the long armer … ready except that I need to make the binding for each of them. Each package also contains the binding fabric.

Six of these will be quilted in trade for quilt tops I’ve made. It’s such a great deal. The other quilt, the sunburst log cabin quilt for my brother and his wife, will go to my regular long arm quilter.

I’m going to have a huge stack of quilts when all this is done. I have no idea what I’m going to do with any of them except for the one for my brother. I’ll have to finish the bindings on the one that are being quilted for trade. The long armer will sew the binding on to the quilt while it’s still on the frame. The rest will be up to me.

In making all these backings I had to trim off the selvedges. I had initially tossed them in my garbage can, then pulled them out thinking I could make something fun from them.

Yay. More scraps!

On our walk before dinner we saw that the dogwood trees are just starting to bloom. They are one of my favorite things about spring.

The azaleas are also almost in their full glory right now.

Look at this thing close up…

Most azaleas are well groomed around here. I prefer a more natural look. But they are little bundles of color.

Here’s another variety of azaleas. I love this more wild look.

The Rhododendrons are glorious right now. Mine has not started blooming yet but it’s always the latest one to show it’s glory.

I’m going to sleep in tomorrow then head out for a couple hours of pickleball! Then Monday and Tuesday I’ll be off work.

I’ll leave you tonight with this image of this good boy bringing me some sheep.

I just love that view!

May 4, 2023May 19, 2023

A Thursday Night Productive Jag

Boy, I got a lot done today and tonight.

I worked the early shift today and have to work the early and late shift tomorrow, so I took a couple hours off this afternoon to step away from my desk.

I decided to take advantage of this time and whip out another quilt backing. So I grabbed a quilt top and some yardage and started measuring the cutting. I decided to make a backing for this quilt… the one that I have a love/hate relationship with.

I’ve had a piece of fabric in my stash just waiting for this quilt. So I measured it, cut it up and put it Bach together with another strip of fabric that appears in this top.

That strip of Kaffe’s Lake Blossoms will connect the two large backing pieces. Both of these fabrics are in the quilt top.

And look at this fabric. I mean COME ON!!! Definitely one of my favorite Philip Jacobs designs with Kaffe’s gorgeous color way.

This went together quickly. It feels good to have it done.

This strip of fabric looked so pretty on my black wooden sewing chair.

Once that project was done I decided to pull out my Ice Storm quilt as I thought I needed to fix the backing I made previously.

When I made my KFC trip quilt I messed up the backing. I had to go get it from my long arm quilter and add a strip of fabric down the center. I thought I had to do the same for this quilt. It’s the same pattern and size.

But after measuring the quilt top and backing several times, it seemed like the backing was, indeed, the correct size. It took me a minute to figure out why this one didn’t need to be fixed.

When I made the backing for the KFC red trip quilt I sewed the backing into two horizontal strips. For the Ice Storm quilt I sewed the backing into two vertical strips. Here’s an illustration of how the two quilt backs were pieced.

I finally convinced myself that the backing of the Ice Storm quilt was correct by laying the top and backing out on my guest room bed.

So that’s another project that’s almost ready to get quilted.

After our evening walk I dug in and finished putting the borders on my starburst quarter log cabin quilt. And I was reminded every inch of the way why I don’t make larger quilts. I really hate wrestling with all that bulk.

I had previously put the borders pm top sides of this queen quilt. So the remaining two borders went on quickly tonight. And it’s done.

This is going to be a really lovely quilt when it’s all done.

And the really good news about this one is that I don’t have to piece a backing since I’m using a wide backing.

I still need to wash and dry that wide backing. I don’t typically prewash my quilting fabrics, but someone recommended washing the wide backs because of potential shrinkage.

So, that makes five quilts that are ready for the long arm quilter. I still need to make binding for all of them.

I’ll pick out one more from my done pile to have quilted. I have a couple ideas but need to look at what’s there.

More blooming happening in my yard. My lilacs blooms are finally starting to open.

My snow ball tree is also starting to bloom.

It rained all day today but our walk this evening was cool and dry.

Rico was a bit of an emotional mess last night. After his trauma with the thunder on our walk and the fly stuck in the house, we had some storms roll through early in the morning and he was very attentive and concerned about far off and mostly imperceptible thunder. He started waking me up at around 4:00. I had to finally kick him out of the room so he’d let me sleep. And then he JUMPED the doggy gate to get to me!

I felt bad for him. And Bender was unphased by it all. He seems fine this evening. We’re all looking forward to a god night sleep.

May 4, 2023May 19, 2023

A Sudden Burst of Drive… Surprised Myself

I was at work early this morning so cut out a little early at the end of the day. I decided to hit my sewing room before dinner and I can’t believe what I actually picked up.

I decided to dive in and make the backing for my starburst jumble quilt. This turn of events and sudden burst of enthusiasm surprised me. It was unexpected.

It didn’t take very long to get this made. Including measuring and getting the fabric cut, I was done with this in about an hour.

I really like that pink and orange jumble with the rainbow fabric. I inserted that strip of fabric between two lengths of the rainbow fabric to make the quilt back long enough. The stripes go across the width of the quilt.

I’m thinking I’ll use that jumble for the binding.

After dinner and our evening walk I had to run by the post office to drop off a sheep herding trial entry for the end of this month and then stopped at the grocery store for a few things.

It was after 9 pm when I got home and I hit my sewing room AGAIN and surprised myself… again! I decided to whip up the backing for this quilt.

It was another quick project and I was back out on the sofa at around 10:30.

I actually cut my pieces of fabric carefully so the rows of flowers would line up on the two sides of the backing. I think the problem is that the fabric isn’t printed square. It bothers me a little but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’m guessing no one would ever notice it.

I do like the combo of these fabrics. Both fabrics appear in the quilt top.

I feel pretty damned good about getting those two backings made tonight. I don’t know if you remember, but I really hate making quilt backs. So this is a big deal!

On our walk tonight it started to rain. Lightly at first.

But the sky was pretty black in the southwest and we could her thunder in the distance. It’s interesting, but it rains here nine months out of the year and we rarely hear thunder and see lightning. In the thirteen years I’ve lived in Portland, I bet I haven’t heard thunder more than six or seven times.

So we headed for home. Poor Rico was worried about the thunder. He’s sensitive and just doesn’t like it. And I was worried about the lightning I saw to the south.

By the time we got home we were all a little wet.

So that makes two nights in a row that featured a little excitement during our walk.

Here’s what happened last night.

Yup. That’s a coyote. I first noticed it strolling across the opening to a cul-de-sac… about 40 feet away from us. He was very nonchalant and unconcerned. He kept walking as I took his picture. And as I was shooting the video he stopped and looked… making sure we weren’t following.

The homes in the video back onto a golf course and I hear coyotes on the golf course pretty regularly at night. It’s not terribly uncommon to see them out and about during the day.

It always startles me when I see one… and I get that burst of adrenaline. It’s just so odd to see a wild animal so up close.

Poor Rico is being driven crazy by a big fat fly that made its way into the house today. It sounds like a small airplane flying around the room and he is not happy about this development. He can’t find a place to get away from it.

I’m pretty annoyed by it too.

He just found a place to settle down behind the sofa. I hope he can sleep there.

Oops. Now he’s up and moving again. Fly must have found him.

May 1, 2023May 19, 2023

I’m Still Here

Several people have contacted me over the last couple of days asking if I’m ok since I haven’t posted here for a week.

Rest easy. I’m ok, just really busy and exhausted. Our spring radio fundraising drive started last Thursday and it’s a really busy, stressful and tiring time. I’ve already had several early mornings, weekend work days and more are on their way.

Our drive ends on Saturday and I’ve already blocked of my calendar to take next Monday and Tuesday off to recover.

In the mean time, we’ve had some gorgeous weather and spring appears to be here for real this time. It got up into the mid 80s late last week so I had to take the quilt off my bed. Today it’s been cloudy and cool enough that I had to turn on my furnace this morning.

So, what’s been happening in the last week besides work, occasional pickleball and our daily walks? The only thing that stands out is that we were on the road Sunday morning at 5:30 headed for Olympia, Washington for another try at a sheep herding trial for Rico. He did a really great job! I took the opportunity to do some valuable training.

It was a nice dry day and didn’t have to do very much driving in the dark. when I drove up a month ago I drove in the dark for at least the first hour! And, of course, the boys got a nice field run before we headed home.

I have video of Rico’s runs but I haven’t had a chance to edit them yet. No one wants to look at 20 minutes of that! But everyone wants to look at more photos of my boys!

I haven’t done a damned thing in my sewing room for the last week except hand out in there when I’m on the radio. So that room is pretty much covered with paper right now.

Here’s some of the spring that popping out all over the place.

The tulips have finally started to show up.

I just love tulips. I always think back to the first spring I was in Portland and the tulips were so gorgeous. I’m sad to see that they are already fading a little.

The magnolias have been pretty spectacular this year too. I shared a photo of a pink/purple one a couple weeks ago. Here’s the white star magnolia in twilight.

And I’m laughing because I didn’t notice the cat in the photo when I took the photo! And neither did my dogs!

The dogwoods are just starting to bloom. But they are not yet in their prime.

The Rhododendrons are starting to bloom. They all have different blooming times so the season last nice and long.

I had never seen rhodies before I moved to Portland. And I love them! I have a purple one in my back yard and it is one of the last to bloom.

Here’s another variety.

Isn’t that color amazing!

Even the ones without color are spectacular!

And then there’s this thing. I’m pretty sure this is some kind of Daphne. I didn’t notice it as I walked until I SMELLED it. The most gorgeous aroma! I really wish you could smell this photo.

The azaleas are starting to look pretty amazing too. These peachy/orangy pones are my favorites!

This house had a number of them.

Azaleas aren’t my favorite spring plant. But this one was pretty

I just love this patch of candy tuft and flax that we walk past on our walks.

A bit of a close up….

My apple tree is in bloom right now too. These blooms have the most delicate aroma.

This little flower bed was so pretty.

Although today was cooler than it’s been, my boys were definitely a little parched on our long afternoon walk. Luckily, a park on our way has a doggy drinking fountain!

And my boys know it’s there! They love taking a quick break to wet their long tongues.

Off to bed soon. I have to be on the air at 7 am! Once these early days are over I hope to finish up those last ten Wensleydale blocks! I’m itching to start something new!

April 25, 2023May 19, 2023

Down With the Old… Up With the New

It was a ridiculously meeting-heavy day at work today so I was stuck at the desk in my dining room all day long. I did get out to toss the ball for my boys a couple of times, and then right back to the grind.

After dinner we took our evening three-mile walk and ended it with a glorious sunset.

I was pretty tired after my work day so I lounged on the sofa for about an hour and then decided to hit my sewing room to get a little bit done before I fall asleep on the sofa.

I took my sunburst jumble quilt off my retractible design wall, measured it and wrote it all down clearly so I know how big to make the backing.

Then I folded it up with it’s backing and put it in my pile of quilts that need backings to be made.

With that done, I sorted my Wensleydale blocks by value and started putting them up on my design wall.

The thing I love most about my retractible design wall is that I can raise it up to do the lowest blocks so I don’t have to break my back to do the bottom rows.

And then I just lower it to do the higher rows.

Here’s the 50 blocks I have done up on this design wall.

I’m really glad I did this before I made the final ten blocks I need to complete this top. My plan was to make ten dark blocks. But after seeing these blocks all up, I decided that I need five dark and five more white blocks.

I’m really loving this quilt! It’s fun to see it all up on the big design wall. This isn’t the final lay out. I’ll have to agonize over that for several days before I throw my hands up and say, “To hell with it… it’s good enough!”.

Several people have asked me about my design wall, so I decided to write a little about it again.

My friend bought this retractible design wall for me at a quilt show many years ago and had it shipped to me from California. I don’t remember the name of the maker, but I’m pretty sure they’re not making these any more.

It has two separate design walls that roll up into the wooden box that hangs on the wall over the closet doors in my sewing room. So I can use both roll-up walls at the same time. The fabric is a heavy flannel with a plastic backing. You can just roll one up, blocks and all, and then roll it down again. Well, that’s the theory. I never do that because it sort of makes a mess out of your blocks! But I could have left my finished quilt top on the back wall and used the front one for these Wensleydale blocks.

Here’s a video that shows how the walls roll up.

My sewing room is a pretty small room. So the best thing about this design wall is that it hangs over the closet and just rolls up out of the way when I’m not using it. I don’t have a wall that I could dedicate to a design wall.

Each wall is big enough to accommodate a generous throw size quilt. But not large enough for a queen quilt. So to accommodate a queen size quilt I made my portable design wall. This blog post shows how I made that and how I use it in combo with my retractible design wall.

Poor Rico has has some stomach issues the last couple days. He wouldn’t eat yesterday morning and had no interest in his dinner either. He as a bit of a sensitive stomach so I always have ground turkey in my freezer and rice and canned pumpkin in my pantry. The ground turkey and rice make a bland meal that’s good for bad tummies, and the pumpkin helps firm up loose poops.

So after our walk last night I dug some turkey out of the freezer and browned it up. I also cooked a big pan of brown rice. I was happy to see that Rico was VERY interested in a few pieces of turkey once it was cooked. I didn’t give him a full meal last night because I didn’t want to be up in the middle of the night with an emergency run outside.

He was very happy to eat his breakfast and lick the bowl clean this morning. And, his poops look a lot better this evening.

He’s a little horrified that I’m telling you about his poop. He thinks that’s a private topic.

Bender, on the other hand, will eat literally anything.

What a happy damned dog.

April 22, 2023May 19, 2023

A Little Herding, a Little Conversation, A Little Wensleydale Sewing

Rico had his weekly sheep herding lesson down in Molalla at my friend Trudy’s place today… where we helped with lambing a few weeks ago. It was a new experience for him as he got to work in a great big field with hills and valleys, lots of trees and sheep he’s never seen before. And he did a great job.

Here’s a little bit of video from Rico’s working today.

I’m so happy with how his driving is coming along. That’s when he moves the sheep away from me. He’s looking so good and it’s so fun to see him so cool and collected, and to see all this training coming together so nicely.

I have him entered in another sheep herding trial next weekend. It will be fun to see how he does.

When we got home a co-worker came over with her dog for a play date. We had some unexpected, frank and very interesting conversation. It’s a coworker I don’t know very well and don’t have much opportunity to interact with. It was really good to get to have this conversation. I’m looking forward to more.

After grabbing an early dinner since we missed lunch, I headed out with the boys for a three mile walk. It was warm but cloudy. I had on a long sleeve t-shirt with a sweatshirt over the top and it was too much! We definitely have a change in the weather on the way.

I had really hoped we’d actually have a little bit of spring before summer arrived.

After giving the boys some dinner I sat down on the sofa and found myself nodding off. I kind of went with it for a while and then decided I needed to get my butt up and sew three more Wensleydale blocks before I was out cold. Why three? Because that would put me at 50 blocks done.

So I hit my sewing room and sewed up the final three lighter batik blocks that I kitted up last week.

I pulled the rest of the blocks off my design wall and stacked them up in sets of 10 so I can keep track and know when I have 60 blocks.

So, that means I have ten more blocks to sew. I think I’m going to toss all these blocks up on my retractible design wall tomorrow to see if I need to make more dark blocks or more light blocks. I’m pretty sure it still needs more dark blocks to go with all these light blocks I’ve been making.

I’m going to remove the paper from six blocks that are waiting… as soon as I finish this blog post. I calculated the other night that it takes me about four minutes to remove the paper from one block. I’ll finish these up as I watch some pickleball tonight.

I was tidying up my living room last night and realized that I had never taken some Australian Aboriginal fabrics out of the box they were delivered in. I bought these online a couple of months ago.

I have no idea where I’m going to put them. The plastic bins that hold my Aboriginal fabrics are already too full.

After a good night sleep and a walk with the boys in the morning, I’ll be off to play a couple hours of pickleball!

April 19, 2023May 19, 2023

Twelve Kits and a Mess of Paper

My budget has been submitted! It was due on Friday, but a last minute critical thing we had to handle took up my entire day on Thursday so I got an extension on getting this wrapped up. It feels good to have it done and I’m looking forward to working on something else.

I stepped away from work today right at 5;00, hurried and grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and headed out to play pickleball. I played from 6:00 – 9:00… and there were few enough people there that I played the entire three hours. I’m really happy to say that I’m getting better and better! It was really a fun night.

By the time I got home it was around 9:30 and I was tired and it was raining. Big surprise there. So my boys didn’t get an evening walk. But they settled in nicely and have been snoozing since then.

I hit my sewing room for a few minutes to cut some KFC fabric strips for the centers of my next twelve Wensleydale quilt blocks.

Oh, yum!

I cut enough for twelve more blocks and combined two fabrics for each block.

Then I pulled out the indigo batiks I cut the other night and put together a dozen kits for the next set of blocks.

After three hours of pickleball, that’s all I had energy for. So I headed for the sofa. And sitting on my coffee table were the 18 blocks that still needed the paper removed. So I sat down in front of the TV, pulled up a pickleball tournament on YouTube and cracked away.