A Little of This, A Little of That

Yesterday I ran around doing various things in town. Also, I went to Curves. Curves seems like a viable alternative as a fourth day of exercise, and so I'm sticking with that for now. I picked up some scratch grains for the ground feeding birds. Also, I picked up some medicine and did my grocery shopping. Despite all that running around, I forgot to go to the post office, and I forgot to return a couple of items to Goodwill. I'll do that today. Today is a swimming day. If nothing else, exercise gets me into town to run my other errands. Or maybe the errands get me into town to do whatever the exercise du jour is. Either way, sh*t gets done.

Also, I was very happy to prep and quilt the last block for We are the World yesterday. Phew! Thought I'd never finish with those!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about using Glad Press 'n Seal for marking quilt designs. I would do this again...maybe...but it does have a few disadvantages. Yesterday, I was having trouble with thread breakage, and it does tend to gum up your needle. I would use it sparingly in the future, I think, but it worked great for this purpose. 

I've quilted some of the sashings and cornerstones, but I still have the rows above and below the bottom row of quilt blocks. After that, I'll stipple the border and then it will be ready for binding. 

I'm happy to say that Big Bertha is working great. They replaced the "hook" in the bobbin area. It's always been a little bit tricky clicking the bobbin into place, and I think the hook should have been replaced a long time ago. Too bad I had to have five weeks of down time in order to get it accomplished, but water under the bridge as they say...you know, "Them". 

While I love my sewing machine, some folks have had some problems with the 750QE. Some of the machines have a terrible straight stitch (I've seen the pictures), and frankly, mine hasn't been perfect. It hasn't bothered me that much because, as a quilter, I can tolerate a little off stitch here and there. Someone doing a lot of top-stitching would be more picky about it. I'm bringing this up because as I've read the user's group comments, it seems replacing the hook has been the answer to the problem. When I brought Big Bertha home, I went straight to quilting, and so I haven't tried it out to check her straight stitch yet. I'm hoping it will have improved with this fix. Fortunately, everything was covered under warranty except the new bobbin case, and I needed the new one for the new hook. No problem. I just want the machine up and running again...and it is! Yay!

So today, I'm hoping to get all of the quilting finished on We are the World. Also, I want to get out and break up the soil in one of the flower beds for planting these poppy seeds I brought back from Ireland. I'm hoping I haven't waited too long and that the seeds are still good. Also, is it too late in the season? If I wait until next year, I'm afraid it really will be too late. (I kind of forgot about them.)

These are the dreaded opium poppies...banned in the USA...because goodness knows, we'll all be producing heroin from the poppies in our backyard gardens, don't you know? Anyway, they were growing them in Ireland at a shop I visited, and when I went to the register to make some purchases, she had seeds for sale. 

Somehow they ended up in my backpack...and then into my suitcase...someone must have paid me to take a little package on the plane with me. I can't remember. Anyway...it does make me feel a little bit naughty.

This morning I went out into the garden to take pictures of the daylilies that are blooming now. Being "DAY" lilies, they weren't opened up yet. Duh. So I'll have to get those later on. For now, you can be amused by the dew on their leaves. 

The lavender is in bloom, however. It's my favorite scent. I usually harvest a few of the flowers for making lavender tea, which in turn is used for making Bees Knees cocktails. Yum. It's our favorite cocktail for when we aren't trying to be responsible adults.

The hydrangeas have started blooming. We have five bushes now, and so far, this is the only one with open flowers. The others are loaded with buds, and so I'm anxious for them to open up and show off for us.

Speaking of weeds...(were we?)

He's mad at us. We gave him his Advantage flea treatment this morning. He didn't mind so much having the stuff dripped on the back of his neck, but he definitely minded being held down while we did it. 

I'm not speaking to you. You do not exist in my world.

Last but not least, it's time to link up to

Today's categories are Dogs and Dots, and I have something for both.

For Dogs, I'm linking to one of my first and favorite quilts: A Kitten's Tale. Yes, it is a cat quilt, but there's a dog in the quilt too. Check out my post from the Blogger's Quilt Festival last year for more about the dog part of the quilt.

For Dots, I'm linking to my contribution to the Dots on Dots Blog Hop from last year. I had a new little kitten with a spotted coat, so how could I resist a polka dot cat? You can see my blog post for the hop right here.

And that's about it from me today. I have miles to go before I sleep. How about you?