Luxuriating in Leisure

This might be the first morning I've had nothing on my agenda in many months. I drove into town yesterday and got my hair cut and permed. Usually I'd be whining about how much I hate getting my hair permed, but this time I was looking forward to it as an act of mercy. Now it's stinky, and I can't wash it until tomorrow, but it feels so much better having my unruly mop tamed somewhat.

While I had serious intention of getting out and weeding yesterday, all I really wanted to do was take a nap. Serious lack of energy and a cold day easily discouraged me from working in the yard. As I've shared with a few of you, I'm strictly a fair-weather gardener. After my nap, I ventured into the sewing room to consider my options.

Having finished the latest Snow Globe block, it was time to trace out the next one for Friendship's Garden. First, I had just the tiniest bit of reorganization to take care of, moving all my embroidery projects into larger bins (I'd "smallified" them for the rigors of RV travel). Now they're safely back at home in their larger spaces. Also, I hadn't trimmed any of the finished blocks to size, and so I did that with the six Snow Globe blocks I've finished. Here they are:

It's hard to get a good picture of them because of the stamped background fabric. Also, I generally store these pieces on hangers. These have been folded up in a box for so long the wrinkles seem fairly permanent. They'll hang out eventually, but for now, no amount of pressing would get rid of those fold lines. It's good to be back home where sewing is a priority.

Now I've traced out the second of the Friendship's Garden blocks. This one is called "Friends are Flowers."

Now it's hooped up and ready for stitching.

While I was doing this, I was digging around in my stash to see what fabrics I might use in this quilt. If you look at the image from the pattern cover, you can see that it's set fairly simply.

It's a small quilt, finishing at just 36 x 36 inches. I might decide to add another border to it and make it a little larger. For now, I was just looking for what fabrics I might have to use where the green sashing is, and I came up with something perfect! It's one of the older fabrics in my stash, and it's just been waiting around for its turn to shine. Will you look at that!

It's even called "Garden Tools!"

Well, that got me pretty excited. The little cornerstones will be simple enough to make from scraps.

By that time, the day was almost over. We had dinner and watched TV for a while. Just as we were getting ready to go to bed, I got a very impulsive bee in my bonnet to bake some bread. I chose one of the simplest loafs I've made in the past and mixed up some dough so that it could rise overnight. And "dough" seems a perfect word for this endeavor because I got into bed and said, "Doh!" This is why one should never embark on a baking project before bed. When I thought about it, I should have known I couldn't take freshly unfrozen starter straight from the refrigerator and expect it to do anything at all. When I got up this morning to check the dough, it had done precisely nothing. Okay, so back to the breadboard.

This morning I took both starters out of the refrigerator and fed them again. Now, I'll leave them at room temperature for a few days and just keep feeding them until they are robust again. Already they are bubbling, and so I'm sure there are living yeast at work. I can actually see movement in the white starter.

The whole wheat starter is a little less active, which is to be expected.

For now, I might bake something using commercial yeast just to scratch the itch I have for baking something. It's been a long dry spell on the baking front.

It's going to be an NBS day (Nothing But Sewing). Despite having several projects on the go, I have something of a clean slate on the list of projects in my brain. Some might say my brain is a clean slate, but let's not go there, okay? Just be nice. So anyway, Big Bertha is in for her annual maintenance. Whatever I decide to do, I'll be working with Pfelicity. Pfelicity is best for just straight seams. I really miss Big Bertha's knee lift when I'm doing applique. So...free motion quilting? I could start quilting Quiltmaker's Garden...but you know...Quiltmaker's Garden and I have baggage, so never mind. And then there's Wind in the Whiskers, and well, let's just say I haven't completely lost my sanity yet, so I probably shouldn't push it.

But then I got an idea to get a start on something brand new in the "Shop Hop" project I've been planning for years. All I needed was some shops for hopping, and certainly I've done that...all over the country and in our neighbor to the north. So what the heck? No time like the present, eh? (That "eh" was in your honor, Canada.) So here's what I have in mind.

I'm going to cut each swatch to 8 inches unfinished, but across the bottom, I'll cut a strip where the embroidered name and place will go. In order to embroider it, I need a piece of fabric large enough to fit in an embroidery hoop, and this caused me some consternation. Cutting just strips would mean wasting a lot of fabric when I trim them to size. After thinking about it, I decided to print out eight names and places on printer paper. Eight, because each row will have eight blocks. Then I'll cut a piece of fabric large enough to embroider all eight names and places, and then cut the strips after the embroidery is finished.

This morning, I chose eight swatches from the bin, in no particular order, and then selected a font and size that worked for my purpose. Here they are printed out. The font is fairly large, and so it took two sheets for eight names, being sure to leave enough space between the two that I could cut the final strips to 1 1/2 inches.

The font needed to be large enough to embroider, but also small enough that I had more than a quarter inch on each side. The finished strip will fit in a 1-inch space with just a scant 1/4 inch on each side.  I hope this all makes sense. It makes sense in my feeble mind, but explaining it is harder.

So I'll start with just one to make sure it all fits the way I want, and I'll get started on that today. More explanation of my vision for this quilt will follow.

Aside from one small housekeeping chore, it's going to be NBS. And now, I'm getting dressed because doing nothing but sewing is urgently calling my name.