Resuming a Normal Routine

Good morning, my friends, although there isn't much morning left in the day. It was a busy and productive morning for me. I showered and left the house early for a fasting blood draw. It's a miserable morning when I can't have my coffee. It took three sticks for one vial of blood, which was mildly annoying. 

The phlebotomist read off the tests they would run on my blood, looking at me for affirmation. "If that's what the doctor ordered," I said. "I was hoping you would know what we're doing." Sheesh. It didn't instill confidence. Then she felt around on my arm for at least five minutes before the first stick. No dice. Then...same thing on the other arm. When that didn't work, she brought in someone who found a vein right away. I've become a "hard stick" as I've gotten older, even if I'm well-hydrated, I'm often encountering a phlebotomist who can't find my veins. I'm always wishing they'd bring in the expert before making me look like a junkie.

Okay, but we're done with that. I had a cup of coffee in my car, and it was nice to get a slurp of coffee right away when the blood-sucking was finished. I had my Egg McMuffin and then headed for the grocery store. Along the way, I mailed two packages and stopped off for another errand. After that, I bought some birdseed to feed our hungry birds, and then I came home. Sigh. Now, I need a nap after all that.

There's been no time for slow-stitching yet this morning. When I stopped yesterday, I had it this far:

Now I've moved my hoop clockwise to fit in a few more designs. When I pick it up today, I'll start there with January.

I had some housekeeping chores to do yesterday. By the end of the day, I'd made more progress on the thread-painting for "Spices." I'm about halfway finished.

There are about seven values of purple in this piece, plus a rust red and an orangey-yellow. I'm working just with the purple threads to start, stitching with the lightest and moving my way to the darkest. Here's how it's looking so far. Just a peek for you.

Probably it won't be finished today, but I should have it ready for binding within the next few days. I can't say I'm very happy with the stabilizer I'm using. It's stiff like cardboard, and so it doesn't fit well within the throat of my domestic machine. Mine is a Bernina 750QE, which has a large throat, but I still can't fit the quilt within its limits without bending the stabilizer. And that would be fine except that it's so stiff that it leaves a fold wherever I bend it, and that's visible from the surface of the quilt. I believe I'll be able to iron it out when it's all finished, but I won't know until I get there. In any case, I'm sure this product, Peltex, is fine for bags and bowls, but it's too rigid for quilting. I'll stick with batting in the future.

Okay, so I don't have much else to tell you. After such a trying morning, I'm going to lie down on the couch for a while. We got more rain last night, and so weeding will have to wait at least another day. (Too bad. So sad.) I have on today's to-do list to make some Mini Apple Tarts for Two. (I like to have something for dessert on Fridays.) It'll be a new recipe to try, and I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

I hope y'all are doing okay down there in hurricane land. Sounds like quite a storm, and so I hope everyone came through unharmed.