Sewing on Sunday

Today I'm feeling a little more human after my nose episode of Friday.  When I got up this morning, it was noticeably less swollen, although it is still fairly sore.  I'm taking less Tylenol and none of the stronger stuff, which is clearly an improvement.  The weather was beautiful yesterday, but we're back to our Portland gloom today.  And that means it's another sewing day around here...not that I need gloom to sew.  I can sew on the sunniest of days, although I feel guilty if I'm not outside enjoying it.

Here's what I did yesterday.  I made the block for my guild meeting tomorrow.

It's a pretty block.  I can imagine a whole quilt of these would make a nice secondary pattern.  Does anyone know the name of this block?  It wasn't on the instructions that were provided.  

I'm trying to remember (in my Tylenol haze...or maybe it's just pain) what the purpose of these blocks is beyond making them for the sake of making them.  After all, one does not need a reason to make quilt blocks.  One makes them because one cannot help oneself.  To the best of my recollection, each person who makes a block is entered in a drawing for some prizes.  And then we are to keep our own blocks to make a quilt from them at the end of the guild year.  I'm coming in with the year more than half gone, and so I'm not sure what I will do with mine.  Quilting Babcia used her block from last month to make a baby quilt for donation to one of the local hospitals.  I probably have some other orphan blocks around I could add to this one and do the same thing.  So, that's my block for tomorrow's meeting.  I'm also taking my Two Grandmother's quilt for show and tell.  

Then I made my orange block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I had forgotten how much piecing is involved in these blocks.  If you'll recall the first two blocks I made didn't turn out very well.  I was ready to chuck the whole project into the trash when two fellow bloggers came to my rescue and made paper-piecing templates for me to use to make the dress sections of the blocks.  (Thank you Denise and Andra!)  For the last two months, I've just been remaking the dress sections of the blocks I already had.  This month I was back to making the whole block again.  Here's this month's block with my little ladies dressed in orange this time.

I'm not sure why their shoes are showing as construction cone orange because they aren't that bright in person, but there you go.  They'll definitely be safe crossing any street.  And here are all the little ladies I have so far:

I'm thinking of calling this quilt "We Are the World".

So with all that piecing, I used up my sewing time for yesterday.  Besides, my nose was tired by this time.  But it's feeling all rejuvenated now after a relatively good night of sleep...even with the missing hour.  

And that reminds me...Mike was awake last night and looking at the clock when this happened: 

The clock said

And then it said

Whoa!  That hour vanished right before his very eyes.  

Mind = Blown

I figure that has to count for something, right?  I hope it's something good, but who knows.  He might have angered the Gods of Time by being awake while they worked their magic.  I'll keep you posted on any untoward (or toward) consequences.

So just as I typed that I wondered about "untoward" and "toward" in the same way I wonder about "overwhelmed".  This has long been a topic of dinner conversations between Mike and me.  (Yes, romance defines us.)  If one can be "overwhelmed", can one just be "whelmed"?  Well, as it turns out, the two words mean precisely the same thing.  To be "whelmed" is to be "overwhelmed".  I'm guessing this is one of those occasions where we have used a word inaccurately to the point that the inaccuracy becomes accurate...like my pet peeve, "deja vu all over again".  You see, "deja vu" already means "all over again"  And so to say "deja vu all over again" is simply saying "all over again all over again", which is redumbdant.  And that clearly has driven me crazy or I wouldn't be spending so much time telling you about it.  The phrase is simply "deja vu".  I'm looking at you, Ira Flatow.

But getting back to my original point, when I typed "untoward" waaaaaaaaaay back there before my mind went spinning off in all directions, I wondered if "toward" actually was the opposite of "untoward".  Turns out it is.  Here is the definition of "untoward":

And here is the definition of "toward".

I'm thinking the "apt, propitious, favoring" part of the definition qualifies as being the opposite of "untoward".

So, there you go.  Another imponderable pondered.  For you new followers, aren't you glad you signed up now?  Just leave it to me to fill your head with useless information...which gives you some idea what fills my head.  And I haven't even told you the stuff I don't write about.  It's a dark and stormy place in there.