5/11/17

Odds and Ends

Apparently Mike and I are on different calendar pages. It was my understanding that we would be leaving today. He had in mind that we would leave tomorrow. He even scheduled a haircut appointment for today, and that sort of settled it. It meant that the food was packed up way early, and the weekend of weeds could have been stretched into three days instead of two. No worries. It gave me an extra day with little on my to-do list, and so I spent some time sewing.

As is often the case before a trip, I awakened in the wee hours of the morning with my brain rifling through all the things I'd left off my packing list. Try as I might to get back to sleep, I could not, and so I got up and finished off the last of Hildegard. This one seemed to go pretty fast.


The next block, Buelah is already prepared, but she'll have to wait until June 1st.


If you're stitching along with me on the Bag Ladies, please choose whichever bag lady you like. Assuming I can get myself organized, I'll be doing the embroidery for the third Summer Holiday block next.


These are so much fun to stitch. When the embroidery is finished, I'll add a scrappy pieced border. All of the stuff I'll need is now packed away in the trailer, waiting for the finish.

The 21st of 25 Solstice Challenge blocks was released yesterday. The block is called "Tile Time" and it's a 6 x 6 grid of 2.5-inch squares.

Aye yi yi. (Insert HST whining and moaning here.) My block was to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and the scale of my fabric was much too large to be chopping it up into such tiny pieces. It was tempting to choose one of the blocks done earlier for this quilt, but then I started using my aged brain to figure out a way to cut the fabric into larger pieces. With only a couple of seams sewn in the wrong direction, I got 'er done. Yay me!


It reminds me a little of some of the Aztec symbols I've seen, and so I didn't want to lose the design. Just four blocks to go on this quilt, and then I'll be ready to start sewing them together.

Since the last time I wrote, I received a package in the mail from my friend Felicia. Felicia sent two pincushions. Aren't these cute?


And knowing I love polka dots, she included cuts of these two fabrics. Aren't these great?


Thank you for that thoughtful gift, Felicia. These will be put to good use. That one on top might even be a candidate for the scrub jay quilt. (I say that about all new stash accumulations now...just covering my bases, you know.)

Today I'm packing up clothes and toiletries. Most all of my electronic devices have finished charging and their respective charging cords are packed now. You might remember that I said I wasn't going to blog again until after we got on the road. My only defense is this: The best laid plans. Now I'll go back to blogger silence for the next day or two. Just pretend you didn't see me here. I'll write when we get where we're going next. By then, I should have lots to tell you.

10 comments:

gpc said...

This is the virtual me, walking by without acknowledging you, pretending you are invisible. I know how to play this game. I'm glad to hear that Mike is taking so well to retirement that he is even putting off the fun stuff by getting absent minded haircuts and such. Oh yeah, I get it. Can't wait to hear your adventures. You will have SOOOOO much fun!

WoolenSails said...

So that is how you get so much done, stay up half the night, lol.
Those bag ladies are so fun, love how yours are coming out.

Debbie

Dana Gaffney said...

It's a gift of a free day to relax before the relaxing, you can thank Mike's hair. Man plans, God laughs.

piecefulwendy said...

I held my breath for a minute there when I saw the Solstice block, wondering why you weren't commenting on the HSTs. There's definitely a thing with HSTs in that QAL. Your block is great -- I can't wait to see all of your blocks together in your quilt. Enjoy your trip, and your bonus sewing day! By the time you're reading this, you're likely on your trip!

Gretchen Weaver said...

What can I say, MEN don't listen! We had a hearing aid salesman call the other day and my husband answered the phone. He told the salesman his wife said he is hard of hearing but he doesn't think he is so he doesn't need the hearing aids. I told him I never said you were hard of hearing, you just don't listen! Have a good vacation!

Dar said...

I really like your QAL block, either way that it gets it done. I have a box of HST, so I may take that idea and make a RWB rendition (when I get more free time, probably in 10 years).lol Have fun on your trip. I'm so behind on catching up with reading blogs that I don't have time to do any posting myself. Your days are more exciting and interesting than mine anyway. Will catch you later.

Lyndsey said...

An extra day before leaving is always good as it gives you a chance to remember the things you've forgotten. Love the block and Hildegard looks great. I've been stitching badges on my blanket this week so I must get back to working on her.

quiltzyx said...

Happy Mother's Day Barbara!
See, I knew you weren't really here earlier, so I waited until today to comment...

Happy Trails to you!

Brown Family said...

It has been slow going for hand stitching here. I had to be the driver for my sister to have eye surgery. I was gone for 48 hours, drove 700 miles back and forth, and got 6 hours sleep. When I got home I has a bad cough and have been in bed for three days! Last night was the first time I had picked up hand sewing in a week!

I like the Solstice block. You kept the block design and used the larger print. Looks good.

Cute pin cushions and fabric!

Kate said...

My Guy and I have those miscommunications frequently. Didn't you do that? No I thought you were going to take care of it. It can get quite comical. Hope you got in a nap after your early morning and got in some fun stitching time before getting on the road.