Three Rows Done

Good morning, my friends. I think we're heading into a mostly dry day. It was mostly dry yesterday as well. I mention this because it seems as if I have a small window of opportunity to cut back the peonies for the season. Mike is going to drive the tractor around to where they're growing so that I can put the clippings into the bucket. Yesterday, he was able to burn three big burn piles that had accumulated over more than one year. The fire was hot, and everything is burned to a pile of ash now. I'll be happy to load another pile of peony clippings onto it. I'm thinking the field might be lonely now that the burn piles are gone.

There was more on my to-do list than I remembered when I wrote yesterday's post. I'd completely forgotten I needed to make a Sweet Potato Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing for last night's dinner.

We were having Gilgeori Toast, which is a Korean street toast with cabbage and egg. 

The original recipe was from the NYTimes, but I've adapted it to make it a little easier to prepare. You can see how I did it at that link I've given you back there. It was a tasty meal, and I'm very fond of both the salad and the sandwich.

So all of that to say, I had food preparation to do in addition to my one housekeeping chore and four loads of laundry. Of course, the laundry does itself once it's sorted. That left me plenty of time for quilting. I worried I was going to have to take a day off. My wrist was bothering me most of the morning, but then it felt better by the time I was ready to have at the quilting. I did it little by little as I have been all along. By day's end, I had another row quilted. Here are the blocks I finished yesterday.

When I purchased that fabric for Roxy's Quilt & Sew (above), I thought I was seeing casinos. Ft. Mohave is located where the pointy tip of Nevada meets with the states of Arizona and California. We were staying in Laughlin, Nevada, where there is plenty of gambling and casinos. It wasn't until later, when I made the block, I realized they were hotels and not casinos. Oh well. It still works.

Moving on...I purchased this next fabric when I made a trip north to deliver a Marine Corps-themed quilt to a Marine Corps veteran friend of mine. As long as I was making the drive, I visited a quilt shop along the way and picked up this star fabric.

The rest are probably self-explanatory.

This one honored the historic Coquille River Lighthouse.

When the row was complete, I took the quilt off the machine to try to get a good look at the back. It's hard to discern on such a busy fabric, but I'm hoping you can see the quilting.

The beauty of this design is that it's the same both upside-down and right-side-up. And so I can turn the quilt upside-down now and keep the bulk on the quilting table, rather than sitting in my lap. It's much more maneuverable that way. So I left it needle down, and I'll pick it up here later today.

Downstairs, I found two lazy kitties with the Do Not Disturb sign posted.

After breakfast this morning, I ventured outside to get some pictures of the fall foliage. Things are putting on a pretty show right now. This is the Japanese maple tree just outside our sliding glass doors.

This is one of the red leaf maples around by the hot tub.

This is a dwarf Japanese maple tree. We refer to this as Smitty's umbrella tree. It's a good hideout for him in the summertime. It's only just getting started with its color change.

This is our dogwood tree. I've never noticed it changing to fall colors before. It's very pretty right now.

This is a maple tree we planted at the far end of our field. We planted it for its fall colors, but far from the house to avoid having yet more leaves to rake.

There are others, and I'll update you from time to time. Fall has definitely arrived in Oregon.

Okay, so it's a not too busy day ahead, but I'm determined to get those peonies cut back. I'm babying my wrist a little right now. It was fairly painful last night. I rubbed it with some topical anti-inflammatory and also iced it. It was feeling better this morning, although it gave me a few twinges while I was making breakfast this morning. I'm still hopeful I'll be able to get another row of quilting done before day's end.

It was to be a Bowflex day of exercise, but cutting back the peonies will be my exercise for the day. I've also committed to cleaning out my pantry shelves. I have a walk-in pantry that I love, but it's been neglected for a few years. I really need to remove everything from the shelves, rid myself of some stuff that's been there too long, and I need to dust off the shelves. Also, I want to move my stash of mason jars from the top shelf to the bottom. It's downright dangerous the way it is now. I've done no canning this year for the first time in many years, and that means the jars are stacking up. That tower of glass is starting to make me nervous. I need to move it down where it has less distance to fall. So I'm committing to doing one shelf per day. At that rate, it will take me a couple of weeks to finish.

So there's plenty to keep me busy today. How is fall treating you?