Pins and Needles

Holy smokes! What a day yesterday! I can't really tell you anything in particular happened. It's what didn't happen that has me on pins and needles. You know...the "E" word. I could hardly tear myself away from the vote tally, and watched obsessively most of the day. Mike and I went out to run some errands around mid-day and that helped to channel some of that nervous energy. When we got home, I walked around to the back side of the house to snap this picture of our Japanese maple trees. Aren't these incredible? No filter...they really are that red.

The two in the foreground have red leaves year-round. When they get their leaves in spring, they are more a dark burgundy color. In fall they fade to this irridescent red. The one in the background has green leaves earlier in the year. If it doesn't lose all of its leaves too soon, it will eventually fade to a brilliant orange. Oh yes, and  I caught up on my housework, so the day wasn't a total loss.

But let's not talk about the election, okay? Let's talk a little about sewing. And only a little sewing is what was accomplished. I'm moving along with the hand quilting on Mulligan Stew. Not surprisingly, I'm enjoying this more since I stopped trying to make my stitches perfect. They are far from perfect, but I'm having more fun, and that's kinda the point.

When I moved my hoop, I was in striking distance of turning the corner on the final border. And, you know? I think I might actually finish this! Wouldn't that be something? A bright spot in this otherwise dreadful year.

So I'm feeling perky enough about this quilting that I'm going to continue on until the quilting is finished. The binding strips are cut, and I see a finish in the not-too-distant future.

Last night I tried a new recipe. I've made a couple of things in the past week that included butternut squash. I could only find a large butternut squash, and so I've been on a quest to use the last of it ever since. A recipe for Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon and Parmesan appeared in the NYTimes yesterday, and so I grabbed it for last night's dinner. This was delicious, and really, pretty easy to do. The "sauce" is done in the oven, and so the only thing left is to boil the pasta. It used up the last of that huge butternut squash, and so I was feeling pretty smug. It has butternut squash, red onions, bacon, and parmesan cheese. 

There was enough for dinner last night, and the leftovers filled two more individual serving ramekins. Those are in the freezer now, and we'll take them along on our next camping trip. If you want to try this, you can click on the link I've given you back there. Possibly, you might need a subscription to the NYTimes to open it. If you want to try this and can't open it, email me and I'll be happy to send the recipe to you.

So, I made absolutely no progress at all on the Pea Soup mug rug yesterday. 

Probably I won't today either. Today was originally set to be a horrible day. As it turned out, the horribleness faded away. I was supposed to see a doctor this morning, but her office called to say she'd had a family emergency and needed to reschedule. Fine with me. And then, I was going to go to a "drive though" site for a COVID test. I'm not sick, and I have no symptoms. I'm not even aware of having been exposed, but you never know. Anyway...the procedure on my nose is scheduled for next Tuesday, and a COVID test is required for that. So, I started investigating the "drive-through" site and realized I needed an appointment. Yikes! So I spent more than two hours on hold Tuesday morning before finally getting an appointment for Friday morning. Okay. Fine with me, although I have to say I'm not looking forward to that at all. From what I'm told, they practically swab your brain for that. I'm terribly afraid they'll find only a cavernous hole when they try reaching inside for my brain. Possibly moths will fly out.

Now the only thing left of my horrible no good very bad day is getting a haircut and perm this afternoon. As I've said many times, I hate the whole perming process, but I do love the body it gives my fine, thin hair. I've tried getting away with the extra body coloring gives it, but it simply isn't enough. I'm back to perming. And today, I'm being bold. I'm going to try something totally new. Maybe I'll post a picture, and maybe not. It'll depend on whether I like it. My hairdresser is pretty good at doing what I want. We'll see. I know...just what you need. Another outcome to wonder about.

So if there's any time for sewing today, I'll work first on the mug rug. That shouldn't take more than about an hour. If there's more time in the day, I'm going to start quilting the Friendship's Garden quilt. It's lounging on my sewing chair, relaxing its wrinkles. 

Wouldn't it be great if you could relax your wrinkles just by sitting in a chair? Why, I'm sure I'd relax back to my high school skin if sitting in a chair would get the job done. Life just isn't fair, is it?