2/5/23

All Caught Up

Good morning, my friends. It's a foggy morning here at the Three Cats Ranch. We're expecting warmer weather as the week wears on, but it isn't here yet. I had a nice morning with the kids at the Beaverton Farmer's Market yesterday, but we did get rained on. We'd hoped we could get in and out without getting wet. On the bright side, we found a table under a canopy where we could eat our breakfast, including Erik's freshly-squeezed orange juice. There's almost no better way to spend a morning than with my kids at the farmer's market. I came home with some fresh eggs and some frozen hand-made Himalayan Dumplings, aka "potstickers."

Back home, I was ready to get after my sewing. I needed to finish one tiny house and then there was one more to make before I could say I was caught up. A new one will be released tomorrow, so I have a day's reprieve. They're a little tedious to make with so many tiny pieces, but I believe can get through one a week without too much swearing. I finished off the remaining sections of the second house...


and then sewed it together.


There was just one more to catch up with the sew-along. I forgot to take a picture of the completed sections. Probably I was just excited to finish it off. Here's Tiny House #3.


And here are the three tiny houses I have for this quilt so far.


Smitty helped from his new napping place. He likes that he can sleep peacefully without worrying his tail will get mowed down by a rotary cutter. 


The only other sewing-related thing I did yesterday was to stitch up the next inchy. So far, they've been easy. This one was just blanket stitch, or buttonhole stitch, if you prefer. I'm waiting for some of the scarier stitches to make an appearance.


As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I have one more open slot on my list of WIPs right now. Before I even heard of the Tiny House sew-along, I saw this quilt on Facebook. (I'm realizing some of the Facebook groups are highly enabling of my propensity for buying patterns.) I'd already ordered this pattern from Eye Candy Quilts before I decided to get involved with the Tiny Houses.


When the pattern arrived yesterday, I realized I could still make it, and that it would be a good one for using some of my larger scraps. The Tiny Houses are using my tiniest scraps. This one can use the scraps more fat-quarter sized. It has the added benefit of being a way to use up spare ribbon and rickrack, and I can also use some of the cut-off crocheted lace from my grandmother's dresser scarves and doilies. So, even though the Tiny Houses jumped into the mix, I'm still going ahead with my plan to start the Painted Ladies quilt in my next WIPs go-round. It's good to have a plan, isn't it?

Okay, so that brings me to today. I have a few housekeeping chores to do. While we were watching TV last night, something happened to my right foot. I have no idea what caused it, but I have a "hitch" in my ankle that has me hobbling around this morning. Honestly, all I did was sit in a chair and watch TV. When I stood up, I could barely walk. I can only think I must have had it crooked in some weird way. Anyway, it's still killing me this morning. So I'll probably spend a lot of today pampering my foot. When I get around to sewing, I'll make two more blocks for the Whimsical Garden quilt. Here are the blocks I have for this quilt so far.


You might recall the last time I worked on these blocks, I inadvertently rotated one 90 degrees before adding the applique. I didn't notice my mistake until the only way to fix it was to re-make the entire block. Instead, I made a design decision to turn more of them. There are 20 blocks in all for this quilt, and there are four ways it can be oriented. I'll just do five blocks in each of the four orientations and that will give it a scrappier appearance than I was going for. It will be fine. I might have to make up a spreadsheet to keep myself organized.

So that probably isn't enough to take up the whole day. I'm feeling a baking project coming on. I might make some zucchini bread from some of the shredded zucchini hanging out in my freezer. I've been trying to lose some weight, and so baking has been sidelined for a while. With a hurting foot, I think it would be good medicine, don't you?

Okay, so onward. Pancakes this morning. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself.

10 comments:

Barbara said...

Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter. ~ Harold Kushner.

piecefulwendy said...

I hope your ankle is better; I've done that too, and always figured I must have positioned it wrong somehow. You have some great projects lined up - I like that house quilt!

Jenny said...

Funny how these things happen, guess you must have turned your foot somehow while relaxing, hope it comes right soon. I do like your Painted Ladies pattern. Am I right in thinking that is the name of early homes on the hills in San Francisco?

Susan said...

My feet sometimes cramp up like that. Stretching and moving it while you are sitting or lying down (so as not to put weight on it) often helps. Soaking it in warm water with Epsom salts might help too. I hope you can make your medicine without standing on your foot.

Julierose said...

Sorry to hear about your foot--hope it straightens itself out soon;)))
Whimsical Garden is so adorable--love the bright colors in this one...and
your paper pieced houses are amazing--I would not have the patience to do those..
Hugs, Julierose

Astrid said...

Those tiny houses are so cute. I purchased 'Painted Ladies' a few years ago, hope to start working on it later this year, too many other things right now. Love your 'Garden' blocks, so pretty. Sorry about your ankle, speedy recovery.

Quilting Babcia said...

I hope your foot issue resolves itself soon. The tiny houses are so cute but paper piecing isn't in my tiny bag of tricks. Your other house pattern does look like a fun way to use up a few scraps.

Sara said...

Hope that foot issue clears up. The tiny house blocks are adorable!!

Vicki W said...

Oh, that painted ladies pattern is just what I need to use up some hand dyed scraps and trims! Thanks for enabling.....

I hope your foot gets better. Maybe a visit to the chiropractor would help?

Magpie's Mumblings said...

There has to be something in the air because I, too, have been hobbling around - only mine is a sore toe. No earthly idea why.
Looking at all those itty bitty teeny tiny little house pieces almost gives me an attack of the vapours. I like paper piecing but those would send me over the edge. You are a brave woman!!
I love the Painted Ladies quilt - so many ways to interpret them with scraps and a very unusual setting. Methinks better the quilt than trying to climb those steep hills in person!