Backing up to yesterday morning, I did more stitching on the 9th snowflake.
And then I fixed the button on the Stitched Inchies piece. Thank you to those of you who told me you had a hard time seeing the mistake on the button. I still wanted to fix it because it was a simple fix, but it made me feel better about not seeing it sooner myself.
My sewing goal for yesterday was to finish up the final two blocks on the Garden Sunshine BOM. The final two blocks weren't released until January, and we were already on the road by then. Still, I snagged the patterns and finished them up yesterday. Here's the dragonfly block:
And this star block:
Now all the blocks are finished, and so I laid it out on the design floor to look at all the blocks together.
Some folks added a border around the outside of theirs. I'm inclined to leave it as is. Sadie has her own opinions about this, but she kept them to herself yesterday. She's more impressed with how cushy the quilts-to-be-quilted pile is. It makes an excellent napping place.
On a whim, I decided to get another sourdough starter going, and so I started that last night. It will take about a week before it's ready to be used in baking, but it will keep me entertained until then.
Today, I think we've finally achieved a "new normal," for the time being, and so I'll be doing some housework. When I get into the sewing room, I'm going to pick up on my list of WIP's. I started this triple Irish chain almost a year ago, and then never made any more progress on it. Today I'd like to make another row's worth of blocks. I've made one row, but I laid them out in Irish chain pattern, rather than straight across when I took the picture below. As I'm adding more rows, I'll probably sew them together as I go along. Smitty gave his appurroval of this initial layout.
Also, I'll get back to my slow-stitching now that I'm back from my grocery shopping and hand-washing expedition. And after getting up and heading out so early, I might just lie down for a morning nap.
19 comments:
I had a similar situation at one of our local grocery stores that offers senior hours. They had advertised farm style pork ribs in their ad that began that morning. I thought those would be a great crock pot meal that would last me several days. When I arrived there were already 100+ members of the blue haired set lined up to get in. Once the doors opened the majority of them made a bee line to the paper products aisle. I headed to the meat counter. It was pretty pathetic. All they had was ground beef and chicken legs. The meat man was telling someone that was all they had. I'm hoping once this all dies down to a dull roar we will see the panic buying subside. The last time I saw anything like this was immediately after the Martin Luther King Day earthquake in '94. Stay safe everyone!
Senior hours around here are 6 - 7:30 am! Considering it takes 45 minutes drive to even get to the best supermarket in our area, that's pretty darned early. The smaller grocery stores in our town are doing their best too. Bread is a bit hard to get but I've made a couple loaves and we'd rather eat homemade anyway. I think your new quilt top is perfectly fine without any added border, it's really a sweet, springlike top. Should be fun to quilt.
We did seniors time this morning -- sixth in line at 7 am. Zero eggs, zero paper products, everything else sparse but adequate. I keep powdered buttermilk in the pantry for baking. BTW so glad you got home before this all got this weird! Take care!
I haven't yet tried shopping during senior hours yet. Doen't sound the store gave it much thought. Maybe you can give feedback to the manager, to see if they could set some meat aside for early morning senior shoppers? Doubtful seniors would hoard all the meat and certainly what isn't bought after senior hour would be bought by other customers that day. Meats in my local stores seem to be out of stock, no matter what the hour. I think it is an item that is now being hoarded after so many have hoarded enough toilet paper.
I've been wanting to learn to make and maintain a sourdough starter for ages. And, you've just inspired me to do such. Seems like a perfect time.
My husband went out early yesterday for the first day of Senior Hours. No toilet paper, few canned goods & frozen foods. He said there were people in the store that were not Seniors. He was acquainted with one guy and the guy said he didn't know it was Senior Hour. It wasn't publicized in the local newspaper so can't fault the people who didn't know.
Our state's governor has declared a stay-at-home order. And word came this afternoon that our county has it's first positive case and it is a school staff member.
Teresa F.
A number of our stores are also doing senior hours and, working in a farm store, I saw a few of them later in the day. None seemed particularly impressed with what they found and one was a little annoyed that there were crazy lines! I stopped at one of the stores after work at 2:30 and managed to find toilet paper and ground beef, but no flour! And thank goodness one of my coworkers has busy chickens, so I'll have fresh eggs tomorrow. But I am very much looking forward to grocery shopping no longer being about what you can find versus what you really wanted! I'm okay to improvise some, but no flour and eggs? Yikes! Just keep sewing!!!
We were told that senior hours might be crowded with the addition of those who don’t know or don’t care about the special provision for us old folks. So, being in Utah, we went on Sunday morning, when most people are preoccupied with their churchy things (even at home in these times). The store was not busy. We have shopped twice over the last 2.5 weeks, and have come to realize that we have to make some adjustments. Breads and particular cereals are hit and miss, forget TP (we have some in storage, as always). With milk, we haven’t seen our unsweetened almond milk, but are using lactose free 2% instead. Perhaps you can try the buttermilk mix (baking aisle)? We have lots of meats and frozen veggies in our freezer, so we really don’t need to go out for a couple months. But the thought of fresh fruits and veggies draws us ...
We have not been out in a store for two weeks and no plans to visit such establishments. Our three children have been keeping us supplied with the few things we need. We get a half a cow each fall from the 4H club so our freezer is always stocked.
I find that the Senior Hours is horrible. Too early and most delivery trucks don't come to later - heart breaking that our elders cannot buy food or necessities. My son and I did a Sunday morning run and so much nicer. Not everything available, but much smaller crowds and people much friendlier.
Plain yogurt is a good substitute for buttermilk. Depending on the brand, you might need to add some milk to 'water' it down. Some yogurts are not as thick as others.
We went to the grocery store yesterday, early, and managed to get through without any issues. I even stopped, quickly, at Target and got some TP, so all is well with the world here. You have some fun ptojects lined up, and that little snowflake is looking good. I'd have fixed the button too, as it would've bugged me each time I looked at it, so I get it. Today I'm going to work on monthly blocks, I think. I have a few to do and the end of the month has snuck up on me while these days are all running together.
Our grocery stores are much the same, doing early 'senior hours' and having empty meat and bread counters. We are only going out once a week or so for essential things only. I have plenty in my sewing and crafting room to keep me busy, and plan to do some gardening later in the week. One day at a time, we will get through this. Take care, stay well!
I had forgotten about the triple Irish chain. You have so many projects it makes one dizzy. A sign in our Costco at every check stand gave notice to buyers there are no returns on TP, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes and water. All those hoarders will live with the items they stocked up on (and hoped to sell at astronomical prices) will have TP for their grand children to use when they grow up. They must have TP going down their hallways and in every nook and cranny. One Costco in the area has Senior hours every day from 7:30 to 9:00. It is stocked with those items most desired with lines to get one of each. The items are usually gone before 10:00-11:00.
I haven’t needed them yet as we were stocked before this craziness started. We hope our supplies will last until the hoarders no longer have space and the stores are able to stock normally. With all the people now cooking at home each meal the food chain is trying to adjust. A lot of people must eat out every meal. They now must get those meals out of their kitchen. I hear the restaurant suppliers are loaded with industrial quantities of food they are unable to deliver.
My afternoon trip to Costco on Tuesday was great with no waiting in line. There were less people there than on a normal day and they had everything on my list in stock. Well except for chicken breast and toilet paper, but neither one was a have to have. I was really going to get them so I didn't have to go back anytime soon. I asked the cashier about the tp and he said they have it the first hour they are open and then it's all gone. I still don't really get this thing about stocking up on it.
Fortunately, we had been using our pantry and had lots of holes, prior to the lockdown. Being the preppers we are, we went ahead and stocked up, then the crap hit the fan, and we found ourselves in pretty good shape. So, we haven't been in a grocery store in a couple of weeks now. Will be looking for salad stuff in the next few days, I'm sure. We have to use lactose free milk all the time, and fridge space is always limited, so we never have butter milk on hand. I usually do the vinegar plus milk and let it sit 5 mins trick, always have good results. But then, since we've never used real butter milk, maybe I just don't know any different.
Congrats on finishing up the Garden Sunshine BOM... Just like every other one I've ever tried, I download with good intentions, but somewhere around month 3 or 4, I get off track, miss a couple, pick back up maybe once, then miss the rest. Yours looks great! Stay well and safe dear friends
I no longer want to get up early and go to the store. We just take our chances which are probably slim because not many people are in the store when we go at around 12:30 PM. Mostly we shop at Walmart because it is just down the road from us and the prices are less than any other grocery store around here. I have been lucky to find just about everything I need when we go. But pity those who live on canned soups or pasta or canned veggies since I noticed every shelf was empty as I looked down the aisle.
Your stitching is lovely, as always. It seems you have fit back into "normal" pretty well so far.
xx, Carol
Have you tried substituting plain yogurt for buttermilk? I love it in pancakes and waffles, even cakes! Before the rush due to the virus, I purchased a couple of the lemon poppy seed cake mixes. The first one was wonderful because I added grated rind of a fresh lemon, plus half the juice of that lemon. Add extra poppy seeds and then every body is happy who has some. If you want to reduce the calorie count, use some of your home made applesauce in place of the oil. I love the extra tartness the added lemon gives it!
The new normal can be a bit of a pain. With the stores closing earlier, it's been a challenge to end the work day and get out to the store. Seems you are getting back into the groove of things. Good luck working with Sadie on the walking harness. You've already made really good progress on you to do list. Happy stitching!
Here in London UK the empty shelves are now being filled and apart from a couple of days at the beginning we've had no difficulty getting what we need. It helps that we cook our meals from fresh ingredients, as it was the convenience foods that were stripped first. We live very close to the shops so we are popping out daily for what we need. Most UK homes don't have large food cupboards or a pantry so I'm not sure where the hoarders have been putting all their panic buys.
Love the pretty quilt top. The triple Irish chain top will also be very cute. I really like the pattern. I'm currently working on finishing some older projects and then I can start a whole load of new stuff. I need to do a fabric and thread order before they stop them delivering . As if sewing items are non essential!
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