Making Progress

Yesterday morning, I made sure to leave myself plenty of time to slow-stitching. It relaxes me, and I had a busy day ahead driving to the other side of our hill to get my hair cut. There is more traffic and more people on that side of town, and so it is more tiresome than when I make a quick trip into "The Berg," which is our name for our little town. 

I'm back to working on the big stitch hand quilting for Mulligan Stew.

When I put this aside last time, I was so tired of working on it that I never wanted to see it again. Now some time has passed, and I'm feeling more positive about finishing it up. Yesterday, I stitched all the blocks in one corner, and started making my way across the border. Two corners are nearly finished, but I noticed the other two corners still had quite a bit to do on some of the blocks. Depending on how quickly I can finish the border, I might give it a little more time on some of the unfinished quilt blocks.

It was great to get a haircut yesterday. My regular stylist has been out of commission after having a recent surgery, and so another gentleman cut my hair. It's the same guy who cuts Mike's hair, and so we had a small connection. He did a good job with my hair. It didn't need much shortening, but it seriously needed some shaping. After that, I picked up the grocery items that had accumulated on the shopping list, and also picked up a couple of things that will see us through the weekend for dinners. I shouldn't need to make another trip until early next week. It wasn't a lot to do, but it was still exhausting. When I got home, I took a nap.

It was late in the day by the time I got into the sewing room. Remember all these pieces I'd cut the day before?

Now I have them all sewn together and ready to be turned into a finished quilt top. 

Our window washer guy is scheduled for today, and that always gives me a good reason to hide out in the sewing room. I'm hoping I'll have all the pieces sewn together to finish the quilt center. There are three borders, and those take a little longer. I doubt I'll have it all finished today, but maybe tomorrow.

We tried something new for dinner last night, and it was really good. Any new recipes for pork loins are adjusted to do them on Mike's Traeger grill, and that's what we did with this Apple-Brandy Glazed Pork Tenderloin. This is the picture from the recipe:

Mike smoked it while I boiled down the sauce. He brushed some of the sauce on it toward the end, and then I ladled more over the slices when we were ready to eat. We had it with some roasted broccoli and that was an easy and delicious dinner. It's another recipe from our Cooking Light Diet, and it's easy enough to do on the road...always a bonus.

So as I mentioned, the window washer guy will be here this morning and for most of the day. It will be nice to have clean windows, but it means I have to get out of my pajamas before noon. Oh, the humanity!