1/8/14

Woe is Me Wednesday

Woe is me. No sewing for the past two days. I've been out running around too much, mainly spending my life in the grocery store. We've been living on leftovers pretty much since Christmas, and so there was a lot we needed for life to continue. Even the kitties were starting to look gaunt and pale.

Today is a little less busy. I'm getting a badly needed pedicure this morning. It's my monthly self-indulgence and I totally missed out in December. I haven't been since before Thanksgiving, which now seems a lifetime ago. I'm looking forward to that on so many levels. After that, my plan is to continue top-stitching my Cornflowers table runner and then move onto something else. I'll be fitting undone household chores in between leaves, but I'm hopeful I can get it finished today.


As for moving on, my original plan was to work on this dastardly Forest Giant quilt:


You may recall from my blog post that the first block for this quilt didn't go very well. I was trying to make it without the dreaded templates, and it lost a lot in the translation. So, now I'm back to Plan A, which means I'm going to bite the bullet and use the templates. (Mad face.) But as I said, that was my "original plan". The Cornflowers table runner has taken so much more time than I anticipated, that I really just want to work on something fun. With that in mind, I decided to do the next block for the Folk Art Cats quilt.


I'm ready to do the cat in the upper right-hand corner. It's hard to see in that image, but the cat appears to be wearing a sweater or a coat, and he has a black eye patch on his left eye. That checkerboard background is actually a picket fence. Last time I worked on this, I did the middle cat in the top row.


When I finish with the next cat, I'll have six of the twelve blocks finished...the top and bottom row:


These are such fun to work on that I'm looking forward to moving along, in stark contrast to the dread I feel about working on the Forest Giant quilt. It's supposed to be fun, right? That's not to say I don't want to work on the Forest Giant quilt...just not right now.

Also this morning, I finished up the third stitchery of the four I'm doing for the Gardener's Journal quilt. I told you it would go fast once I had those lazy daisy leaves at the top finished.


The fourth of the four fits all within my smallest embroidery hoop, and so this one should take no time at all.


And then I'll be ready to move on to the next Quilting Snowlady. The next one is called "I'd Rather Be Quilting". As you can see, there's no cat in this stitchery...yet.


I thought those of you caught up in the Polar Vortex would appreciate this one. From what I understand, it's too cold even to be out shoveling snow right now. We, here in Portland, are sitting at a wet 40°. I think we're one of the few places in the nation not suffering with the cold. We must live right, here in Oregon, because we generally get some very bad weather this time of year. And I suppose I should knock on wood, having said that. Ice and snow are sure to follow.

What's on your agenda for today? Are you staying warm and dry?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Back to 'normal' is good (I think). Really like the forest quilt but certainly remember the dilemma of the sky triangles. We're on to a new year.....clean slate, etc!!!!!! Onward!!!! Hugs from the frozen tundra..............

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I vote for playing with fun - then tackle that tree again. When did a winter cold front become a vortex? I had the home nurse in and waiting on the PT guy and then it is a nap!

Denise :) said...

The single digits here wouldn't have been so bad *if* we'd have gotten a little more of the snow and ice (or at least snow) that went with it! UGH! I haven't had a pedicure in ages. I used to go regularly, but couldn't after the messy break. And then the second surgery, and then another surgery, and then I broke my toe. The little Korean gal who did my toes would have a *fit* if she saw my feet now! Enjoy -- it is a lovely way to pamper one's self!! :)

Pieces to Love said...

It is a balmy 27 degrees today and we busted out of the house. I have not left the house since Friday except for church Sunday morning. While we didn't get much snow at my house we have had the beyond bitter cold. Our HIGH on Monday was - 10 was as cold as - 15 with a windchill of - 38 cold was an understatement. I am waiting to hear if the kids will have school tomorrow or not.

Janarama said...

UGHHHHH!!!!! I am so over the winter. After we got a ton a snow the temperature here in the western suburbs of Chiberia (Chicago) got down to -17 with a -47 wind chill. This is just freakin' caaaarazy. Today it got up to +9 ... tomorrow in the mid 20's. Time to put on the shorts. ; )

You must be really organized to be working on so many different projects at one time.

Janarama said...

LOL I didn't mean all at once. I guess what I should have said was you must be really organized to have so many works in progress.

Marei said...

Sorry about your woeful self. Hopefully a few hours of sewing will make you happy & bright. First off, don't work on anything that's going to give you angst. Life is too short. Second, you CAN make the trees without a template..I just did it with paper scraps...even if you were a slacker in Geometry. **I just typed a whole tutorial & it was too much. Bottom line, the tree is 2 halves with a trunk section and the sky bits will be HSTs made from green & blue. Turn the strata horizontally and cut the center angle at the appropriate degree (it looks about 60 degrees to my blind-in-one-eye-can't-see-out-of-the-other eye). The HSTs can all be made and sewn in a column then attached to the end of the strata. Or, you could USE THE TEMPLATES. Just saying.. :)

Cath said...

Good luck with the giant fir trees. It looks like a lovely quilt however daunting. I have been planning my month over at Bits 'n Bobs and gave you a mention if you want to take a look.
Cath @ Bits 'n Bobs

Brown Family said...

Of course I like the cat quilt! I went into the sewing room today , opened a storage bin of kits/projects, reached in and pulled one out. Well, that did not work. The first one i picked, I a, missing one of the embroidery blocks; back in the bin. the second one i had fat quarters and needed full width quarters; back in the bin. Then I pulled out one and had every thing to make a cat quilt. Only draw back is that it is Christmas. OH, well, it is almost completely cut and ready to sew,

Celtic Thistle said...

You always have such wonderful projects on the go Barbara. I am confident you will triumph over those trees soon :)

WoolenSails said...

I can only do turkey leftovers for so long, lol. Today I needed a change and something heavy, so made spaghetti, need winter fat to keep me warm;) You always have so many wonderful projects in the works.

Debbie

Junebug613 said...

I hope you got to sew as much as you hoped you would today. It is totally understandable to want to do the fun, cat block instead of the Forest Giant. Once you've had a tough time with something, it's a little hard to warm up to again. Sometimes leaving something alone until you are ready for the challenge is all it takes. Maybe when you pick it up again, it will make more sense than it did the first time. At least, that's what I'm hoping, for your sake. :)

Lynette said...

Folk Art Cats!! I love seeing them. :D Forest will happen when it does.

Needled Mom said...

I feel badly about being thankful for our 75* weather too. It will change, I am sure.

Love the cats and that checkerboard border.

Karen said...

I wish you luck with all your plans today. You have some great projects on the go!

Karen said...

I wish you luck with all your plans today. You have some great projects on the go!

Kate said...

It does seem that there's a lot of running around that had to happen this week. When I get caught up with your posts, I'll see if you managed to get your next cat block done.

quiltzyx said...

Oh yes, I do see space for a cat with the Snowlady! ;)

Forest Giant can wait - having fun with the folk art cats sounds, well, more FUN!