Morning Meandering

Good afternoon, my friends. I'm late for our chat today. Erik texted me late yesterday afternoon to inquire whether we "should" go to the farmer's market this morning. And, I'm always up for the farmer's market, even when I don't need anything. I just love hanging out with my kiddos, and the market is always fun too. 

So that's what we did. I stuck to my guns about not needing anything. Instead, I bought something I absolutely don't need...fudge. I believe my love of fudge is already well established, so how could I pass by this box of yummy delights?

In the top row, from left to right we have chocolate orange, chocolate cherry, almond toffee, and lemon. On the bottom row, from left to right we have pistachio, original chocolate, marionberry, and cookies and cream. I ate the marionberry already since Mike can't have those seeds. Think of it as a life-saving precautionary measure. Those are going to be pretty darned tasty with our afternoon cup of espresso.

We've been having some lovely spring weather here. Sadie was so excited yesterday, she was charging all around the yard and up and down trees. I barely caught her as she paused to change direction here.

Later, I caught her squaring off with this squirrel. Who do you think wins this fight?

So, while I was doing my slow-stitching yesterday, I was considering what kind of sewing project to take along on our trip to Alaska. Our trip is around 2 months long, give or take a week or two. It seemed if I chose one large embroidery project, I could keep myself busy the whole time while simultaneously saving space in the camper. 

So I perused my list of longer projects, and came up with this BOM I downloaded years ago from Kaaren Johnston. I've looked all around to find it online again...either for free, or for sale...and I can only find it on her website where it originally appeared on The Painted Quilt. Her blog has been inactive since 2016, and the pattern doesn't seem to be available elsewhere. Also, I tried clicking on the links there, and they seem to be inactive. I clicked on one link and requested access, but I've received no reply. I'm afraid those links are dead, Jim.

It consists of something like 15 stitcheries all sewn together with some scrappy blocks. I'll trace out all the stitcheries ahead of time to take along. The sewing-together part will happen sometime later. For now, I'll just focus on getting the stitcheries prepared to take along. Already, I've discovered I have the floss I need for this project. Having just one color is an added convenience for a take along project. She used a different red, but the one I have will work just fine.

It'll take me some time to trace out all those stitcheries, but I'll do them a little at a time. First, I'll need to score some background fabric. For that, I'll wait for the new quilt shop to open near me. It'll give me something to buy when I nose around their new store for the first time.

From there, I spent the afternoon fusing the applique for Block 6 of the Merry, Merry Snowmen. 

I'll work on the top-stitching today. When it's finished, there will be both machine and hand embroidery, and I'll need to sew on the button embellishments. There's also a bow at the top of the stack of gifts. This will keep me busy for the rest of the afternoon. 

For grins, I wanted to revisit my mention of the shark Halloween costume from last week. I've saved the costume all these many years thinking a grandchild might wear it someday. Since the grandchildren never materialized, I've been adopting other people's grandchildren when I want to make a baby quilt or do some other kid-related sewing. After mentioning the shark costume, I climbed up into the attic to have a look at it. It was dusty from so many years of sitting untouched, and I wasn't at all sure how well it would do in the washing machine. And then I realized it either needed to get washed and passed along, or else discarded. It was doing nobody any good hanging in our attic collecting dust.

So I washed it on delicate cycle, and then hung it to dry. I worried those teeth made from felt would shrink in the dryer. And lo and behold, it washed up beautifully. I sent it along to one of Matthew's friends from high school who has three little boys. Last night, their dad texted this picture to me. You have no idea how happy this made me.

I learned this morning they're expecting their fourth child in September. Another baby quilt for me to make...yay! (Baby quilts are my favorites.)

Okay, so that's all I have for you today. Don't forget...tonight's the night!

(Image credit: Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik)

I'm actually fine with the time change, although I find the "spring forward" half to be the more difficult adjustment. Nevertheless, I wouldn't want to see us stick to one time or the other. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Our local weatherman put it pretty succinctly with this chart on the news last night.

To explain: If we were to switch to year round DST, early winter sunrises in Portland would be near 9 am. So, not only would your kids be waiting for the bus in the dark, they'd probably be starting school in the dark as well. Conversely, if we were to switch to year round standard time, it would be light enough to do things outside around 3:30 am in June. Yeah...no. I want darkness that early in the morning. All of that to say chalk me up as a vote for leaving things as is. You are free to disagree, but here's something to keep in mind: nobody is listening to you or to me. 

All right. I'm plum tuckered out after all that excitement at the farmer's market this morning. I'm going to take a nap and then get busy with my sewing.