Slow Start

Good morning, my friends. It was a busy morning yesterday. There were several items on my to-do list, and so it was late in the day before I was able to get any sewing done. Today will be much the same, but I think I can swing an earlier start.

Yesterday's sewing goal was to at least get a start on the first of two blocks for the Northern Wilderness project. I'm making blocks 9 and 10. These are the blocks I've made so far:

Next, I'll be making this block, called "The Outhouse." With as much as there is to see in Alaska, this one seems a little silly. I don't make the rules. I just make the blocks. This is the picture from the pattern book.

The first step is to make the background. For that, I needed four shades of blue.

It's a log cabin block, and these are the pieces I needed.

Smitty was kind enough to help with that.

When the block was finished, it looked like this. It ended up at 8-1/2 inches (unfinished).

From there, I added the rest of the background pieces. The background pieces are slightly different in each block, but all the blocks are trimmed to 13-1/2 x 17 inches.

From there, I could start adding the applique. Cutting all those little nooks and crannies on the trees took quite some time. When I needed to stop for the day, I had it this far:

There should be plenty of time to finish this off today, and then I'll get started on Block 10. I'll want to have both blocks finished before I start on the top-stitching. 

Also on today's agenda, I'll be doing my PT exercises...grudgingly...always grudgingly. After having done them three times, I've noticed no change whatsoever, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. Four full months of unremitting shoulder pain makes it had to be optimistic, and so I whine as often as possible. There's one housekeeping chore on the day's list of to-do's as well.

For now, I'll get back to my slow-stitching, and then get started on my day. I'd like to get the two blocks ready for top-stitching, but that might be overly optimistic.