Half-square triangles

 

I'm notorious for saying that everything will settle down in TWO weeks, and life won't be so crazy. Now people are actually asking - did it settle down? And the answer is YES!! I'm still busy - I'll always be busy. That's just in my blood and will never go away. I'll blame my parents for that one. Honestly, I'm OK with being busy. I just don't want to be insanely busy with tons of deadlines all day, every day. 

So, I'm happy to report that I had a somewhat relaxed day yesterday. And the rest of the week is looking the same. Oh yes - there is loads of homework to prep, and what am I doing? Sewing and trimming half-square triangles. I'm so much my own worse enemy!

I've got three days to prep for the weekend, and I have NOTHING on the schedule for tomorrow. Yeah!!! I do like a day "off" every once in a while. 

As you know, I become obsessed with something, and well - it's time to tidy that up. It appears that the baskets of cut-off pieces designated for half-square triangles had hit the radar screen. I'll keep up with it for as long as I can. There are baskets of the darn things to deal with and time to get working. I can see someone coming into my studio after I'm gone and immediately tipping those baskets into the garbage!

I pressed this one bunch, and it's trimmed. Actually, these half-square triangles got sewn together over the last couple of days. No need to put them in the basket to wait to be pressed and trimmed - let's just do it as we go. 

Trimming half-square triangles

Here's the next stack, pulled from the baskets of half-square triangles sitting on the ironing board. I'm actually quite excited about working on these. Once I get the half-square triangles a wee bit more in control, I might start sewing them together to make quilt blocks. 

Half-square triangles to press and trim

One small stack at a time, I'm working my way through them. 

And there's another small stack. This is HUGE progress. 

The best news? I actually threw some of these triangles away this morning. These came from flying geese made with 2" by 3½" rectangles, and they are gone! Going forward, I'm only going to keep triangles from 2½" strips. That's it - there has to be a limit!!

Triangle cut-offs in the scrap box

More porch pick-ups and drop-offs yesterday. I'm amazed at how easy that is to arrange! I hope to be back at the quilting machine in full force starting tomorrow - wait - starting this afternoon between presentations as I have one in the morning and one in the evening. 

One thing that I LOVE about Zoom is the fact of peeking into people's homes and seeing some amazing things in the background. Of course, I'm not shy, and so I ask about certain things. I've seen some amazing artwork and storage ideas! WOW!!!!  I've got a couple of great ideas that I've put in my back pocket to work on. 

Speaking of back - I saw this guy in our backyard yesterday. I've seen them in the forest - well, you can hear them well before you ever see them. 

A woodpecker at the bird feeder

He was enjoying himself with the suet. 

And I swear I saw a pile of finches yesterday, but that can't be right. I tried to sneak up on them, but they flew away, and I didn't get a good sighting. I just saw a flash of color. 

On my walk in the afternoon, I often pass this bush. It's amazing because it's filled with birds and they are singing away. It's crazy - I don't know how many birds there are, but there are a lot. 

I LOVE spring! Well, I just love anything or almost anything. 

The audiobook that I'm listening to at the moment is very frustrating, and I find myself yelling at the stupidity of what's happening. It's called The Innocent Man by John Grisham. I didn't realize when I selected the book that it's a true story about some murders in Ada, Oklahoma. It's shocking and so frustrating at the police's incompetency, the tricks the police played to put innocent men in jail for crimes they did not do, the justice system, and the townspeople. You just want to scream. And I will bet any money that these cases are just the teeny tip of the iceberg of other injustices that have occurred and probably still occurring.  

I only have this book and one more that I just downloaded in my list of audiobooks to read. I'm good with that. The physical books on hold and there are not many, are all suspended, so nothing new should be coming soon. 

I'm reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Yes, it's funny, but I guess I'm surprised by how much doom and gloom he portrays in the book about the trees and other conditions along the Appalachian Trail. I get the feeling that there are NO trees left on the trail as he wrote the book in 2006, and it seemed doom and gloom about the trees then. And he stopped walking! I know he goes back to finish part of it. It is worth reading, but I expected it to be more about his (mis) adventures than history and doom and gloom. 

So if any of you want to get out of the house and off to a quilt show, you can check out these Tula Pink quilts, which will be coming to Kingston and hosted by Stitch by Stitch.  Check out their website for more details. There is a big gala on May 19 and then a couple of days when the quilts are available for viewing. You MUST book a ticket and a specific time to see the quilts. I was all excited to go and then checked my calendar, and while I have openings, I do not have enough time to get to Kingston and back. DRAT!!!!!    There is a LARGE button on the front page with PEOPLE in it and a sign that says book for events. Click on that to book your tickets. 

There is still no word from Cherrywood on the challenge quilts so the reveal of my piece remains on hold. They did say that we would find out in March, and it's only the 16th, so we just have to be patient! 

I see that we're getting some warmer temperatures again. Not like we had last week, but I'll take anything above zero. 

In case you're wondering, my piece for the Trendtex challenge is finished. Well, the top is finished, the backing is cut, as is the binding. So I need to find some batting and try to get that quilted tomorrow. I could be binding it on the weekend, and well, I might need to quilt it on the weekend and bind it on Monday since I have two classes to prep for this weekend, and those are the priority. 

Last night on my call, one of the ladies mentioned she was looking for a particular quilt pattern—an old one from years ago. I happen to have that pattern. Apparently, on Etsy, the pattern is selling for $120. I told her I would sell her my pattern for less than $120. See - I am ready to let things go. I must dig the pattern out today, and I'll share it with you tomorrow. It's a classic. 

Have NOT tried the DVDs on my laptop yet—hopefully today. OH -- and I'll try to share the magazine sorting tricks tomorrow. So in preparation for that, finish up the sorting process for your magazines. Be prepared to start with all you own of ONE TITLE. 

On that note, I'm out of here. 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!!