Quilting Commences

Good morning, my friends. It seems things will be pretty much back to what passes for normal around here today. There is one housekeeping chore on the calendar, and then I'm going to start quilting "I Believe in Snowmen." It has been lounging over Eliza and her chair literally for months.

There was about a ton of weeds to pull earlier in the day on Sunday, but I got 'er done. Also, I cut back the peonies and groomed the cucumbers still growing in the greenhouse. Earlier, Mike fertilized them and turned their water back on. I cut stray vines that were growing out over the greenhouse floor, and removed all the cucumbers "giganticus." As I worked, I noticed there were some tiny cucumbers coming on. If the plant doesn't freeze, I might end up with enough to make some refrigerator pickles. When I finished up my outdoor chores for the day, I'd accumulated a pile of cuttings three feet high.

I was pretty well worn out by then, but decided I'd at least get the machine set up for quilting...checking tension, lubricating, changing to a new needle. And I want to make this as difficult as possible for myself, or so it seems. I've chosen my favorite go-to white metallic thread for when I'm quilting snow. I like the little bit of sparkle it gives.

It's a Sulky thread. I've had trouble finding this lately, so I hope it isn't being discontinued. I really love it for quilting snow.

And since quilting with metallic thread isn't already hard enough, I decided to use a monofilament in the bobbin. If you've never worked with monofilament thread, then you might not know it comes dressed in a "netting" to keep it from unspooling.

And if you can imagine 10,000 yards of that thread off the spool...well...enough said.

Smitty could not believe I'd made these thread decisions without his input.

It was good he showed up just then and gave me the paws that refresh.

Despite my difficult thread choices, my tension was perfect right from the get-go. I don't know about you, but that seems like a good omen to me. I just barely got started on the quilting, checking the back frequently to avoid any surprises.

Each block will tell me how I should quilt it. They'll all be different, but I found a similar quilt on Pinterest, and I'll let that inspire me as I go along.

Yesterday was a busy day. I had my annual physical in the morning. While there, I got my flu shot and a pneumonia booster. It seems I was due. We have appointments to get our COVID booster in a couple of weeks. The flu shot generally makes me sick, and I'm feeling pretty crummy this morning. I had a couple of slices of toast and took some Tylenol. That helped a little. When I finish here, I'll sit and do some slow-stitching for a while, and see if I feel any better then. Speaking of slow-stitching, I'm making progress on the Joyful Journey piece. I've filled the first section, and I'll start with a fresh unstitched portion today.

And, no, the painters did not come yesterday. It's so aggravating. We've decided to go ahead and let the carpet be laid. We'd hoped to get that done after the painting, but we're worn out waiting for the reconstruction contractor to do even a single thing he says he's going to do. The show must go on. We can at least put things back in order and they'll have to work around the furniture when they replace the doors and baseboards. As if. And...maybe a miracle will happen and they'll actually come and finish up before the carpet is laid. Wouldn't that be something? It would be kind of like having my sewing machine tension be correct right from the get-go. We probably should start up a pool and we can place wagers on the date I can say the project is completely finished.

Okay, so my slow-stitching awaits. Housework might have to wait until I'm feeling a little better. I'm hoping I'll feel good enough to get back to my quilting. I started "I Believe in Snowmen" back in June of 2019. It's only my second oldest UFO, but the oldest isn't sandwiched yet. Either way, I'll be happy to get it finished and move on to the next one.