Even Lazier

Good morning, my friends. It's been cold and frosty in the morning for the past few days. We've had some bright sunshine, but very cold temperatures. It's a little treacherous stepping outside anywhere in the shade. The sidewalks have a thin sheen of frost on them, making them very slippery. Kitties know the best place to be. Smitty was tied in a tight knot yesterday morning.

And where is Sadie? Has anybody seen Sadie?

I was so lazy yesterday, I took a nap in the morning, and then another one after lunch. Nevertheless, I got a good bit done in the sewing room. My first task was to add something to my Patterns in Nature quilt. It was already hanging on the wall in my sewing room, but I felt as if it was missing something. It took me a few days to decide how to fix it, and I'm happy with what I ended up with. I know I told you I wouldn't tease you again, but here's your peek anyway. Avert your eyes if it's too painful.

Smitty was my helper cat. He had some good suggestions for how I should purrceed.

From there, I embarked on the tedious task of making a freezer paper pattern for the next "When Quilters Gather" block. If you want a detailed tutorial about how this is done, you can find that right here. In short, I taped the enlargement to my cutting mat with masking tape, and then taped some freezer paper over the top. Then, I traced in all the lines for the sections and pieces.

Then, I flipped both pieces upside down and added the section numbers using my light box.

Lastly, I highlighted the sections and the edge, and then added the tick marks. From there, I was ready to sew.

There are a lot of pieces in this block. It has sections lettered from A to Z. Starting with Section A, I cut all the pieces apart and then weighed them down with that little ruler. Smitty thought he'd sit on it for added security.

When I disturbed his sitting place reaching for the pieces, he decided he could best help by holding the book open so I could see the color placement diagram.

And after so much helping, I gave him a quilt to lie on. That satisfied him for about five minutes when he left the sewing room in a huff. Nobody propurrly appurreciates his help.

And even though I was sewing alone, I managed to get it this far.

Looking at the picture in the book, I've finished the section inside the pink line.

So, I'll continue on from there. There's still plenty to do, but I won't rule out finishing it today. More likely it will be tomorrow.

My pre-assigned lazy days have come to an end. Today I need to dust and vacuum the upstairs. A guy is coming tomorrow to take a look at one of our bedroom windows. Certainly, I can't have him seeing how we *actually* live. We have double-paned windows and the seal has broken on one of ours so that the glass is permanently fogged. This happens occasionally, but it hasn't happened in this house for many years. Hopefully, it won't break the bank to get it replaced. 

Also, I've assigned myself 30 minutes on the treadmill. I've been keeping myself entertained while I walk by watching Ken Burns' documentary about Vietnam. The war had a profound effect on my family when my dad deployed 3 times. We were traveling when the documentary aired the first time, and so I'm happy to be able to stream it now and learn more about a war I never really understood when it was happening.

Okay, and that's enough work for one day. When that's all done, I'll get back to my sewing. Anything interesting on your agenda today?