I'm having a hard time deciding what I'll do for the next couple of days.  I need to turn in my travel expenses for reimbursement, and I'd like a little face time with The Boss while I'm there.  I need a haircut; it's been I-don't-know-how-long since I've had one, and I'm seriously shaggy.  I need a new outfit to wear next week when The Husband's work conference has its "big do" night, as everything I own has been washed 1,000 times and is pilled-up and/or faded, or is too big or too little.  I'd like to have some needlework (or something) to do on the long drive to/from the conference and during the day when I'm stuck at the hotel.  All of this stuff will require putting on clothes and driving, neither of which is appealing at the moment. 

On the other hand, there's The Granddaughter's quilt, piled on the couch where I tossed it last night after quilting a couple of heart shapes before I went to bed.  It needs a few more quilted heart shapes and a binding, and it'll be done.  There is also the wedding quilt, a couple of sections of which are laid out on the sewing table, ready to be joined together.  

I ought to go see how the garden is faring.  

What to do . . . ?

* * * * * * * * 

Well, after a couple of phone calls, my day is planned.  I'm dressed and ready for a 1:00 haircut appointment.  Looks like today is the day for errand-running.

Meanwhile, maybe I'll go join those quilt sections.

Home - April 15, 2025

I'm home safe, but not necessarily sound (my nerves are SHOT) from my trip.  It would have taken less than 4 hours on the interstate, but I opted for the shortest backroads route, which took about 5.5 hours.  The GPS app on my phone sent me home a different route, and at one point I feared I was lost, but I made it ok.

The hotel was nice, but trains woke me up at night.  When one of my classmates complained of the same thing, I said that the night noises I'm used to are from owls, frogs, and coyotes.  When I got home, Hooty (our resident owl) let out a big hoot that made me laugh.  I guess he was welcoming me home.

The class was pretty good.  I chatted up my fellow classmates and made some good contacts.  It was worth the trip.

But I'm tired and hungry and need a shower.  Catch you tomorrow.

Traveling - April 13, 2025

I'm having one more cup of coffee before I embark on my long-dreaded solo trip.  I'll be taking backroads all the way, so there's no telling what time I'll get to my destination.  

For the past two days, I've worked steadily on the two quilts (Granddaughter #3's quilt and the wedding quilt).  Last night, I finished the final seam on #3's quilt.  There's still a bit of hand-quilting to do.  I'll do that and add the binding when I get home.

I am again attempting a "quilt-as-you-go" method on the wedding quilt. This quilt will be made entirely from 3.5" x 3.5" squares, with the five colors arranged in a concentric diamond pattern.  I drew the design on graph paper and am using the drawing as a map to construct one row at a time.  The plan is to build and quilt the thing in sections, then attach them together, much I did with #3's quilt, except that I'll do all the work on the machine.  Hopefully this one will go faster.

I have tried to be so SO careful in both the cutting and the sewing, but still the seams aren't matching perfectly.  It's puzzling.  Maybe I'll figure it out by the time I get to the last row.

Yesterday afternoon, Son #1 showed up on his lawnmower and mowed most of our yard.  I was so grateful.  There's a lot of storm debris in our yard, and when I saw him mowing, I ran outside, grabbed the wagon, and started picking up limbs.  #1's lawnmower is huge, and he made short work of the mowing.  When he finished, he stayed to visit a while.  It was nice to have him all to myself.

The Little Rotten Baby was the flower girl in her cousin's wedding yesterday.  She has been SO EXCITED for days.  We wondered if she would chicken out with stage fright at the last minute, but, no, she sprinkled those petals, smiling like an angel. 

Time to hit the road.  

Garden Check - April 11, 2025

I checked on the garden yesterday, expecting chaos, and was pleasantly surprised.

Despite all the rain we've had, all but a few of the tomato plants are surviving (so far).  

The broccoli looks great.

Onions are up, some 6" tall.

A few of the anasazi beans have sprouted.  The soil above them is a hard crust right now from having been pounded by rain.  I'm going to the garden later today to see if I can crack the crust without digging up the seeds.

None of the snow pea seeds have sprouted.  I may keep the faith for a while longer.  Last week, I planted some ornamental sweet peas, which the instructions said should be scarified and might take 2 weeks to sprout.  Snow peas might be slackers, too.  Although I planted some last year, I can't remember how long they took to sprout. I should go back to last year's posts and figure it out.

P.S. - It took less than two weeks for last year's peas to sprout.  

April 11, 2025

Yesterday, we were scheduled for a visit from the septic tank pumper.  Dude said he'd call 30 minutes before arrival.  When it seemed obvious that we were not the first job on his list, I decided to work on a problem that's been annoying me ever since I retired.

You see, I'd applied for Social Security benefits, had been approved, but had not received any payments. I knew that these things take time, but I was worried.  The application approval notice, sent just a few days into the new administration, had said that I'd receive a letter showing the amount of my benefit and the timing of the payments within 10 days, or so, but we were well beyond that, and no further correspondence had come.  Considering all of the chaos reported by the media, I was worried that my application had fallen through the cracks and wanted to speak to a live person about it.  I started calling.

Long story short, I spent a total of FIVE HOURS on hold and finally got through.  Although this was not said outright, the ball was dropped, the process stalled.  Hopefully, it's fixed now.  Hopefully.  

One number that I called warned that the wait time would be two hours.  I put the phone on speaker and sat down at the sewing machine to begin piecing the wedding gift quilt.  My wait was nearly three hours.  Made astonishing progress on the quilt. 

Next! - April 10, 2025

The quilt is on the couch, its final seam partially stitched.  If I'd really get after it, I could finish that seam today, and then it would be ready for binding.  I haven't made the binding yet.  I have enough plain white fabric to do it, but I'm not sure I want white.  Maybe a little color around the edge would be nice.  

It'll take a long time to sew on the binding.

The Husband and I both have work-related trips next week, and two days after he gets home, he has another work-related trip.  I'll go with him on that second trip, another long drive.  Riding shotgun is the perfect time to do needlework, but I don't want to wrestle a whole quilt in the passenger seat, so what I can't get done before I go on my trip will have to wait until we get back from the second trip.

My BFF's daughter is getting married later this year, and I've been planning a quilt for a wedding present.  Thinking I could work on it while traveling, I sat down yesterday morning and sketched out my idea on graph paper, and yesterday afternoon I went to Hobby Lobby to buy fabric.  As soon as I got home, I washed and dried it, cut off a gob of ravelings, ironed it, and re-folded it.  At that point, I discovered that the fabric had been cut terribly crooked.  I'd stood there and watched the clerk cut the fabric; she'd done it carefully.  All I can conclude is that the fabric had been wound crookedly on the bolt.  

I have been sewing since I was a kid, and I do not recall this crookedness occurring with fabric we bought from the local fabric store (long since out of business).  

Thinking of the old fabric store brings back a lot of warm memories.  It was run by an elderly couple who had no children and were always so kind to kids who came in the store.  Once, when my mother and I were in the store before Easter, the old gentleman asked Mother if I had a white dress for Easter.  When she said that I didn't, he cut off enough white fabric for a dress for me and gave it to us for free.  I don't remember the dress, only the kindness of the old couple.

Anyway . . . .

I've cut out a big stack of 3.5" blocks, enough to keep me busy while traveling.  If I finish this quilt before the late summer wedding, it will be a miracle. 

Win some, lose some - April 8, 2025

I spent most of yesterday trying to solve problems that irk me.

I called the power company to come look at the guy wire that has grown into the tree that must be taken down before it wrecks our house.  He said he'd come have a look at it.  If he came yesterday, I missed him and haven't heard from him.

The second call was to the company where we bought the hipper/hiller/row-maker to tell them that FedEx damaged the package (since I haven't received any response from FedEx).  They are out of stock and can't send a replacement.  They are going to refund our money.  

Still waiting on a call from the septic tank pumper.

On the bright side, the replacement motor for the leaf shredder arrived yesterday.  

On the even brighter side, The Husband figured out how to replace the motor, all by himself, and when he turned it on, it worked, and nothing flew off.

Today, I'm going to finish quilting the heart shapes on Rows 3, 4, and 5.  Although I intend to forge ahead as I'm doing - the project is too far along to turn back now - I'm not happy with the way it's turning out.  The seams are not matching well, and the backing is bulging around the edges of the blocks.  

[Eight hours later]

Well, the quilt rows are all joined together.  It's on the sewing table now, having its batting joined.  Tomorrow, I'll start blind-stitching that long, final top seam.

It's a shame that I'm just now catching on to better ways of doing things when I'm near the end.