8/17/16

Creaky

Do you ever wake up feeling achy and creaky? That's how I feel today. Often I feel better after taking a warm shower, and I'm hoping that will be the case today. Enough tomatoes have come from the greenhouse and from the CSA shares to put together a batch of salsa. We used the last little bit of the last jar over the weekend, and so it isn't a minute too soon. As we poured the last from the jar, our fingers started trembling and our pupils started dilating. Life without salsa just isn't worth living. So there's that.

My creakiness could be chalked up to getting up and down while planting the echinacea yesterday.


These six plants were started from seeds earlier in the spring, and they've been living in pots while I waited for Mike to obtain a load of dirt and fill in a hole. Now they have a home. I imagine getting out of those pots feels to them like it feels when I take off my shoes after being on my feet all day. It's gotta feel good to spread your toes, wouldn't you think? On the other hand, maybe they feel nothing at all. 

While writing yesterday's blog post, I looked to my right and saw this.


We've been letting him out in the morning when Mike leaves for work. We figure Mike driving off in the car scares away the monsters and Smitty can safely roam for a little while. He likes to climb one of the trees and then jump to the roof. Then, he stands at the window and whines for me to let him in. Only...I happen to know he can get down by himself. I proved this to myself (and to him) once again yesterday by simply moving around the yard. Eventually, he was standing beside me. 

We were looking at the plums, and they are close to ripening. We might actually get some plums this year. They have a habit of waiting until the day we leave on a trip to become edible. Then, our neighbors come (at our invitation) and pick them while we're gone and we miss out on the harvest. This year, I think their timing might be off. 


From there, the Smittenator and I went inside and sandwiched some quilts. First, the Baby Birds baby quilt for my cousin. I have not the slightest idea how I'm going to quilt this, but I'll figure out something. It'll probably be something in the form of straight lines and circles.


There was just one other quilt awaiting sandwiching, and so I did this one too. This one won't get quilted until next month probably.


When I came upstairs again, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The baby is sleeping.


The last thing I did yesterday was to finish quilting the free motion quilting sampler. It ends up about 36 inches square, and it still needs binding. This was a very fun project, and I learned a lot from it.


Now I'm kind of excited to start another sampler. There's another free motion sampler quilt-along going on right now at Adventurous Applique and Quilting. It started about a month ago, and so I'm already behind. I'll need to make a quilt top for that, which shouldn't take long, but time...time is always the problem. Have you noticed that too?

Today I'm going to head down to the local farm stand to pick up the remainder of what I need to make some salsa, and then I'll tackle the tomatoes. I'm hoping to get a start on the Baby Birds quilt too, but that might mean simply staring at it and waiting for inspiration to strike. I've noticed that just staring at them sometimes scares them into submission.

How do you find inspiration for quilting?

13 comments:

Lisa Boyer said...

Love your blog! Love your kitties. I just wanted to mention something about the creakiness: about two years ago, I was in terrible pain every day. I thought I had Fibromyalgia or something! Turns out, it was a nightshade sensitivity. Nightshades are: tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, chilies, eggplant, potatoes, etc. Whenever I eat them, within 24 hours, I have pain and it takes three days for nightshades to clear my body and the pain to go away. I only mention it because you're eating lots of tomatoes and peppers these days and feeling "creaky." I hope it isn't that for you--just wanted to give you something to ponder and hopefully(!) dismiss.

Anonymous said...

Well, now I know how to figure out how to quilt my tops! Stare them into submission! Thanks for the giggle! Laura V. ninepatch@hotmail.com

barbara woods said...

me to, Old age here and that hot shower does help me get moving every day

WoolenSails said...

I always feel creaky, lol. I know gardening killed my back, no more lifting for me.
You have so many wonderful projects finished and almost finished, I need to get motivated.

Debbie

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I creak, but it's all the metal parts. I did eggplant parm up the other day - my son stopped by (I took his new kitty to the vet for his shots) to pick up Taz and we had some on hogies - wonderful!!

Janarama said...

Loving how your FMQ sampler turned out and waiting to see what color you choose for the binding. I think the varigated thread was the perfect choice too. Cute pics of Smitty and Sadie, as always.

Dana Gaffney said...

Huh, echinacea is supposed to make you feel better. Your FM sampler looks really good, I would have joined in on that one but....time.

Carol Swift said...

I creak a lot and I haven't been crawling around in the dirt like you have. I love the sampler and baby quilt...beautiful!

Teresa in Music City said...

Oh yes, creaky is the word for the day sometimes LOL! So nice to be able to walk outside and snip off some echinacea - great for so many things. Good luck with the salsa today - withdrawal is a terrible thing and should be avoided at all costs. Smitty is a true con artist. I'm praying for angels to surround him and hide him from any predators. It's so nice that he is getting to enjoy the outdoors a bit more :*)

Websterquilt said...

Don't worry about being behind! Enjoy it when you get there. Gorgeous sampler :)

Kate said...

Glad that Smitty is getting some time to wander a bit. He probably misses it a bit. Looks like you got lots done, even if it doesn't feel like it.

quiltzyx said...

Tomatoes --- salsa is definitely a good thing to do with those poisonous Wolf Peaches! Hope you do get to enjoy your own Plums this year, that sounds great.
Looks like you got a lot done, creaky or not. Good job!

Brown Family said...

Smitty really knows how to get down, but it is more fun when you let him in the window!