Brown Tomatoes

It wasn't the most productive day of my life, but then it was my birthday, and it wasn't supposed to be productive. I do feel a wee bit guilty, OK - I'm over it! I read in the morning, so I could finish that book. Usually, I wait until the afternoon to read, so it's more like a reward for working in the morning. It's OK to change things up. Then I started another one that takes place on the El Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage in Spain. OK - I WANT to walk that. In real life!!!!  I really must look at the schedule and block out a month to make it happen. Does anyone else have that on their bucket list? 

I'm not sure that I can handle carrying a backpack for 30 days, but I'm NOT going to have my stuff transported. What's the point? This is a pilgrimage. I guess it's one pair of pants, one shirt, etc.

I did get a bit of quilting done on the customer quilt. I'm making progress, and that's all that counts. This is the longest that it's ever taken me to quilt a quilt. In the future, I need to be clear (to myself) that I do NOT like doing custom quilts for customers. Edge to edge is fine, but the custom just gets to me mentally. Thankfully the custom ones don't come by often. I hate to turn them away, but then all this mental anguish - is it worth it???

Let's start by having a look at the disappearing nine-patch. All the rows are DONE!!!

Yeah - the rows are sewn together

Gosh - that quilt got quite the skew in it when I put the rows on the wall. I LOVE it.  I got the bag of fabric out of one of the baskets of current projects and figured out the size of the setting triangles. Those got cut, well, the strips got cut and then I got to work. This is what the quilt looks like now.

So that top left corner is completely sewn together! Except for the corner triangle, which I haven't cut yet. I'm sewing the rows together in pairs and then those new pairs and the next new pairs. So there are eight rows sewn together. All of the seams are twirled on the back, so that takes a bit of time. Could I possibly get this top together by Sunday morning at 11 AM?? It's possible. But I also have two other projects that are on my list to finish for the UFO club.

Starting to sew the rows together

The quilt is looking fantastic, and it's going to be exciting to get this quilt done. And I can't wait to put the next quilt on the wall. I loved my organizing systems, and they are definitely helping me get things done.

A detail of the disappearing nine-patch

I need to show you the back as well. It's impressive to see all those twirled seams. That's a picture for tomorrow.

I spent some more time cleaning up more stuff. This is the pile at the bottom of the stairs. It's still big, but definitely getting smaller.

The pile to be sorted through

I pulled a couple of things that I need to deal with today. There's this IKEA bag that's filled with quilt tops that need the borders and bindings and backings made. I know - just shoot me now!!!! 

Quilts that need borders and backings and bindings

If I put that on my UFO club list for next month, it would get done. Or I could just attempt to get one done per week, and in a couple of weeks, it would be cleaned up. I'm going to try to pile everything from the IKEA bag into the bicycle container so I can put the IKEA bag away. And then get to work on it!! I've got more time since I'm not making samples for classes and not much in the way of magazine quilts these days. And if each quilt took two hours to add the border, bindings, and backing, seriously - it wouldn't take long to deal with all that.

That bag has been sitting around for a LONG time, and it would be good to get those quilts ready for quilting. I don't care if they get quilted, I just want them to be ready to quilt - not sitting there almost ready.  I didn't count how many tops are in that bag, and it may look worse than it is if the backing fabrics are included. I'll try to sort through that today.

And the stuff that was in the bicycle container got put on the cutting table, so I do need to go through that stuff and get it put away.

Stuff on the cutting table to put away

Then I had to deal with these two things. This bag is filled with BRAND NEW fabric that I bought. It's mostly MODERN style fabric, and so I didn't want to mix it with the rest of my fabric. Seriously???  Oh god -- so I had an empty tub, so all the fabric got put into the tub.

A bag of fabric that never got put away

I also had some fabrics in this bag that got added to that same container.

Another bag of new fabric 

There were a LOT of small prints in this bag. I had a perfect quilt that I bought them for, but I don't remember it now. Actually, I think it was to work with fabrics with a busy background and these tiny prints. Oh well - I'll just have to come up with a  new design.

Fabrics with small prints

I must not show this to Kathi! She loves that kind of fabric!

Then I found this container that contains the leftovers bits and threads from a rug-making class that I took years ago. The rug is in that pile at the bottom of the stairs. I don't even know if it's finished or not. That's a treasure to unearth another day. This container went back on the pile until I find the project.

A container of stuff from a rug-making class

So I'm cleaning up and have not added anything additional to the UFO or the new project tubs. That's excellent news. But I know a lot of what remains is going to be added to those tubs. That's OK. Let's just get it sorted and move on. Stop managing all that stuff and get to work. Soon it'll all be done.

Did you notice that yet again, I dodged dealing with the stuff in the office and found something else to clean? Soon, ALL the quilting stuff will be totally organized, and I'll have no choice but to tackle this space. That'll be a good thing, but it's going to take a long time!!

I found this huge hunk of llama fabric. It's supposed to be the backing for the Elizabeth Hartman Llama quilt - if I ever start it. This will go in the pile of backing fabrics.

Llama backing fabric

And I found this tool for rounding corners. It's a tool. I need a good spot for this so I don't forget that I have it or that I can find it when I need it. I do have a pegboard, and this might be an excellent place to put it.

A package of quilting tools

I don't get this. I know that I harp on and on about stuff I see in the neighborhood, but I don't get some people. This house left a microwave on the curb weeks ago. Instead of going to the recycling depot, it got left on the curb. I'm guessing the garbage truck picked it up this week. BUT the glass tray fell out and broke on the sidewalk. Could the owners of the house come and clean that up? Nope!!!

Glass bits from a microwave tray

I will bet you that someone will just sweep them into the grate, which looks discolored, meaning someone poured oil or grease into it. Sigh...............   Why do people have no respect for our environment or each other?

The City was out the other day doing some work on the paths in the forest. There are some small inclines in the woods, and with some of our torrential rains, ruts are forming from the water rushing down the paths. Well, they came and filled those ruts, but they didn't compact the materials they added. We've already had one rain and guess what? The channels are starting to form again!

Ruts on the path

So has anyone ever seen brown tomatoes? My neighbor has quite the garden, and from time to time, she gives us excess produce. This past week, it was brown tomatoes. They look weird - almost like they are not quite ripe or perhaps overripe.

Brown tomato

But it was nice and firm and tasted delicious. Yep -- it's brown on the inside as well. I've got a few more for today. There's nothing like a tomato straight from the garden.

The inside of a brown tomato

And that's it for today. I did get some urgent paperwork done yesterday, but I have a bit more to do today, and I need to get those presentations ready for tonight and tomorrow.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!