A Little Progress

Good morning, my friends. By the time I finished writing yesterday, our skies had gone from dreary and gray to sunny and blue. When I went downstairs, I saw Sadie outside. It always makes me smile seeing them outside doing cat things. She seemed to have a bead on something small and furry. 

My day seemed to fly by. I don't know what I did all morning. Well...I do know, but it was all pretty slow and uninteresting. And, now that I think of it, slow and uninteresting is a good way to spend a day when you get right down to it. 

Some housework was accomplished and I got in a Bowflex workout. I've been icing my elbow on Bowflex days, and it seems as if it's keeping inflammation at bay. I can remember when learning new things meant learning a new skill. Now I'm learning how to treat aches and pains that come along. And I'll just say that ice is a good tool to have in your anti-inflammatory bucket. Also...avoid the news.

So it was pretty late in the day when I made my way to the sewing room. My current goal is to make the final four blocks for the Scrappy Plus quilt. These start with the making of 48 half square triangles.

I don't think I've ever talked about this Bloc-Loc ruler. It's a very handy tool for trimming half-square triangles to size. 

It has a groove on the bottom that butts up against the seam of your triangle. And then, you slide the ruler to the correct marking and trim. I usually give the first cut a little extra room. Then I flip the triangle and the ruler around to trim the other side. In this case, I was trimming to 3-1/4 inch, and you can see in the image above that I've lined both sides at the 3-1/4 inch mark.

With the help of my ruler, I soon had a nice pile of trimmings . . .

And a pile half square triangles. When they were sorted by color and value, they looked like this.

Regarding that ruler, there are plenty of vendors online that sell it, including Amazon. I purchased mine around 8 years ago. Mine is the 6-1/2 inch size. They come in different configurations and sizes. They are available for flying geese and for making half square rectangles. Frankly, I've never seen the use in multiple sizes. I simply turn mine around, and I can trim blocks up to 6-1/2 inches. And, honestly, how big does anyone ever make a half square triangle? It seems making them larger than 6-1/2 inches would be unusual. I'd probably use a different tool for trimming them. And all of that to say that they are fairly expensive from every vendor I saw. If you want my opinion (and, honestly, everyone is entitled to my opinion), this one size is worth the cost. I can't say much for the desirability of any of the other iterations of the ruler, but to each his or her own.

So my last gasp of the day was to lay out the first block to be sewn together I left it covered with rulers to protect it from inspection by critters, and then turned out the lights for the day.

For today's effort, I'm hoping to sew this one block and at least one more together. If I'm really speedy, I might get three done. It's probably too much to expect to finish all four. I want to get in a walk on the treadmill, and of course there is slow-stitching. It's looking like a pretty easy-going day at this end.

California, I'm heartsick over the devastation from the fires. I was born in Corona, California, which is some distance from the fire. As a military brat, California was the place I lived longest. We left California when I was three, and then returned when I was 12. I lived there the remaining days of my youth until Mike and I married and left for good back in 1975. And so California feels a lot like home to me, and the images I've seen are heart-breaking. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for those who have lost everything, and for those who are still evacuated and only hoping their homes will be spared. If you are among them, know that you are in my thoughts. This too shall pass, but rebuilding will not be easy. Take care, my friends, and please stay safe.