Temptation

Well, things don't always go as planned. We all know that, and we should expect that to happen. It seems to happen to me every day. But that's OK - I made some progress yesterday, and that's all I really care about - progress. 

Speaking of not getting things done, I missed an ENTIRE week. I was certain that I had someone coming yesterday morning to estimate some work we want to be done. I postponed walking the girls so I could finish the prep for the morning's presentation. Then when the person didn't show up, I took a GOOD look at my calendar and realized - that it's NEXT week. How the heck did I manage that feat? OH - well, I need to pay closer attention to the little blue dot on the DAY of the week, so I get the right day. 

Needless to say, the girls then went for their walk, which made them happy, and I got on with the rest of my day. 

No - I haven't tackled e-mail yet, and while I finished one writing assignment, there are a few more that need to be done. That's on the schedule for today. Only one presentation today, and there's just a wee bit of prep work for that one. Then THREE magazine items need to be worked on, so my own projects will get set aside. That's OK. My schedule clears up considerably in two weeks, and I hope to go gangbusters to accomplish lots. 

I know - I've said that a hundred times, but it's true!! And slowly, the pain in my neck is disappearing. Still very stiff, but the pain is disappearing. More stretching! 

My walking totals came in for May -- 372 KM, an average of 12 KM per day. I'm thrilled with that progress, and I'm on track to finish my goal for the year. I need to buy a new pair of shoes, and I should be purchasing a new pair every 4 months, not every six. Just like visiting the dentist! The total distance for the year is 1,767 KM. 

The last couple of quilts are trimmed and ready for pickup. The first one had fleece, the second had Minky. Oh yeah!! It's always a mess after trimming those fabrics. But I use my green scrub brush to get rid of the bits. It works like a charm. The next quilt did NOT get loaded—hopefully, today. 

A mess from trimming Minky

I managed to get the squares cut from these bright fabrics. These are from an exchange that we did several years ago. WOW -- there's still a lot of fabric in the basket. I've also found a couple of patterns that would be perfect for these strips. For the moment, everything got reshelved. At least they are off the cutting table now. 

Bright fabric strips

As you know, Diane has been doing a TON of sewing for the community projects. She's made a huge number of quilts. And I so appreciate all that she has done and as we approach the end of the pandemic? I'm not sure how much more she'll want to sew. But that's all good -- what she's done has been HUGE. 

While it didn't take a lot of time to organize stuff for her to sew, I still had to take time to make that happen. But it was time well spent.  

Then I got another request for stuff to sew. My MIL is a sewest - mostly garments. She has NOTHING to sew at the moment, and could I give her something. Hmm - she's not a quilter, so what do I have that she could do. 

Then I remembered the box of pillowcases that I was prepping for our pillowcase sewing day. That got canceled last year, so I hadn't prepped many pillowcases. I dug out the boxes for that. 

I found THIRTY pillowcases ready to sew together. Well, I could give her that as I doubt very much that we'll have a sewing day this year. And quite frankly, if I can empty a few more boxes in that community projects area, I'm good with that. 

Prepped pillowcases to sew

However, as I was looking through the bags of prepped pillowcases, I had a good laugh. Remember that Hi-di-ho fabric (Maywood) that I was searching for a couple of days ago. Well, guess what I found in the box? Yep - 26 inches of that fabric. It's part of a prepped pillowcase, so I didn't touch it, but I was TEMPTED. 

Hi-de-ho fabric from Maywood as a pillowcase

And I heard from The Hobby Horse that they still have some of the fabric on the bolt, so I should be able to get some from them. 

Then I evaluated what else was in the pillowcase boxes. Oh boy -- a HUGE pile of fabric that needs to be pressed and cut to make more pillowcases. So that's what I did last night. See - how easy it is to get sidetracked. But I have someone who can sew these and get them out of the house. My MIL doesn't have rotary cutting tools, and yes, she could cut these with scissors, but so much easier to ut with a rotary cutter. I figure there is enough fabric here for at least 50 pillowcases. If I can prep 10 a day - I could have this cleared up very quickly. My goal - I'll keep going through the stash until I have reached 100. And then that's it for me for pillowcases. No more. Time to focus on getting the rest of those scraps used up. 

More fabric for pillowcases

I have three quilts that need to be bound, so she will learn how to do that. And I dug out one of my partially completed string quilts. She can finish that. She may regret that she asked for something to do. But imagine if we could actually get that corner cleaned up. I'd be doing a big happy dance. And if I had the time to actually get more of those quilts quilted, it would make a huge dent. But all in good time. I'm sure that I'm going to have a bit more free time over the summer and it'll be the perfect time to make that happen. 

Six blooms were going on the pond yesterday. It's raining today, so I'm not sure how open they'll get, and they start to close around 5 PM. They definitely open and close each day. It would be fun to set up a camera when they do that. 

The water lilies

And just like that, I'm out of time. I haven't had a chance to buy the waterproofing for my jacket, so I'll likely get wet, but it's not raining that hard. I'm sure I won't melt. 

Good grief -- I just checked the internet for walking shoes -- $200!!!!!!   What's with that? And I think those are the mesh tops, and I can't use those as I go through the toes. OK - more research is required today. I really do NOT want to buy online. Thankfully, the situation here is in a positive mode. The stay-at-home order is lifted. The numbers are down, and we might see Step One of the reopening happen a couple of days sooner than June 14. I'm ready! How will it change my life? I can have a beer on the restaurant patio, and I can go in person to buy a pair of shoes. That's all I need right now. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!