Mental Health

I'm a pretty upbeat person, and it takes a lot to drag me down. Even with the pandemic, I've had no issues until yesterday.

I don't know what hit me, but it was one of those days. I heard of two people whose fathers had passed away recently—another person whose mother is in palliative care and father not well. Someone's dog died, and another person is dealing with an elderly dog, and "that" question is looming. To top it off, I have a paperwork issue that just doesn't seem to go away. I'm calling it the boomerang project because it keeps coming back to haunt me.

And it would appear that I'm having an issue with the battery on my phone and my FitBit. Both are needing to be charged way too frequently. I did have a wee bit of fun as I searched the internet for things to buy!!!! I have FOUR items in my shopping cart. I haven't hit send yet, but I likely will today, and I'm going to add a new FitBit. Mine is totally out of control.

All that just put me into a tailspin! I was so out of sorts that I couldn't even nap, and I didn't go for a walk last night! Yikes!!!  But I knew that it was temporary and that today is a new day and all will be better today.

I didn't get to sew anything yesterday, and that didn't help the matter. I should have just walked away from the paperwork, and eventually, I did!

I can't imagine what my life would be like if I watched the depressing news every day. I'd be a zombie each and every day! OK - let's hope that the bad day was just for yesterday. Today IS a new day, and let's move forward and get that boomerang project DONE! If I work hard, I should be able to clear it off the desk by noon - and then get moving forward!

This morning, I got myself organized and managed to get a bit of sewing done. I need to start prepping for the next sewing retreat, which is coming up way too fast. This is the one that was scheduled for March and got delayed until August. Then that's it for a while!

I started to make these little zippered pouches at the last retreat. They are made from pre-quilted fabric. But how do you nicely finish off the edges inside? YES - I could use the serger, and that's what I was going to do. Then I decided to line them. I like that style much better. So I had to rip out the topstitching that I had done on the zipper. I told you that I love ripping things out!!! And I only ripped the topstitching out, not the zipper. That was a wee bit of a challenge.

One is done, and the new lining is cut.

One zippered ouch ready to sew together

See that lovely line of topstitching around the zipper. It's got to go!!! There were only two, so it wasn't a huge deal.

One more to rip out

I started to sew the last two Snail's Trails blocks. These are likely the LAST two of these blocks I'll ever sew! I've done my share and don't need more! I'm becoming so wise as I get older.

The second to last Snail's Trail block

The last Snail's Trail block

But what I'm really happy about is that the homework assignment for our Celebration quilt got done and sent out! Yeah!!! One more homework assignment to finish off today.

And then I retook the picture of my quilt.

My Celebration quilt

Remember what the original picture looked like??? I was in such a hurry that I didn't notice that one of the blocks was backward. Usually, something like that will pop out in the picture, but I didn't see it.

Oops - a block got turned

Why did I put that quilt back on the design wall? Because now that I had more blocks made, I really didn't like the coloring of the center block. The rest of the quilt is somewhat subdued, and there's this center block made bright teal green and pink fabric. That had to go.

The old center block

And here's the new version. Much more subdued.

The new center block

And this is what it looks like in the quilt. MUCH better.

The new center quilt

Here are the two side by side so you can see how much better the new block looks. Well, they can't be side by side, but at least you can see them both at the same time.

We have 20 blocks left to sew, and then we can start to assemble the quilt. I'm getting excited about it. I did change the design around as I didn't like it - what else is new? So far, I haven't changed ANY blocks - just changed the coloring. But I think the quilt is much more balanced now, and the coloring is more coherent. Just wait until you see the final quilt. Even I don't know what that'll look like. I hope I have enough fabric left to finish it. OH - I do - I just don't know what fabrics I'm going to use. I'm making it up as I go along.

I did take a wee walk yesterday as I had to go to the library to pick up a book for DH. We made the appointment last week. It's crazy, BUT we can return and borrow books. Who cares if it takes a couple of days to make that happen. I always have a few books sitting here to read, so it's not like I'm going to run out.

I also got a notification the other day that my books are due tomorrow. That's the first time in months that I got that notification. That means I have to start paying attention to due dates. And I have quite a few books on hold. I did suspend them until July 31st, so I'm going to have to watch that as well. I do NOT want 30 books arriving on my doorstep at once!

I had company on the walk. Three times, he plopped himself on the grass in the shade and said, "I'm tired, and I don't want to walk anymore." 

Taking a break

 So he got put in the book bag, and we carried on.

This is much better

He sure doesn't have the same stamina as the big girls, but then he's one-tenth the size of them.


Well, it's time to get the day started and if things start to go wrong? I'm just going to bed to sleep the day away and get back tomorrow. But I have hopes for the day - not high hopes - not until that boomerang project is gone. Then I can have high hopes for the remainder of the day.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!