Tobaggan Hill

It's one of those nights. I have no idea why I woke up when I did. I'm not tired, yet I'm not full of energy. So rather than lay in bed, I'm up and at the computer, which is ridiculous! Hopefully, I'll get a couple of hours of sleep before the girls want me to take them for a walk! I've canceled my reservation for the spin class this morning, which is disappointing, but I don't think I'll survive - I'll need to go back to bed shortly.

Lots happened yesterday, but the best part? It was a GLORIOUS day outside. The sun was out, and it was hot. Our backyard is now shrouded in shadow in the afternoon, so I sat on the front step and read.. We need to rejig that front yard now that those two trees are gone, so we have a small area to sit out front! One needs to absorb every bit of sunshine they can!

On my afternoon walk, I felt sorry for Murphy, and so yes, she came with me. Lexi was outside, and so she didn't know she missed a walk. I warned Murphy to behave, but we had barely left the house when she started to chase leaves blowing in the wind. Murphy tried to be good for the rest of the walk but is still a challenge. She MUST talk (bark at the top of her lungs) at every dog, chase leaves like it's the end of the world, and go after every squirrel! She is more in control of herself these days, but it takes a lot of me talking to her and a LOT of holding that leash with two hands. Sigh........... 

We took a totally different route for that walk - I was going to grab a couple of geocaches, although someone was sitting on a bench right beside where I needed to snoop through some trees, so I'll grab it another day!

However, I got a chuckle out of this sign. 

Toboggan hill

OH -- a toboggan hill. Seriously? 

Where's the hill?

As I walked a little further on and looked back, I saw this. 

Is that the hill?

Hmm -- is this the toboggan hill? There are benches for the soccer field at the bottom, but I bet those get removed when the snow comes. 

And those rules? I know that we've had to dumb things down for our society, but to have to tell people not to toboggan in icy conditions on that hill? OK - whatever. 

When I was a kid, we had this hill that led from the main road to the house. It wasn't a huge hill, but it was big enough. At the bottom, we would shoot right across the main road and into the field across the road. There wasn't a ton of traffic on that road. We often made the road so icy that my Dad couldn't get up the hill, and we were told to toboggan in the field - the same hill, but the snow was never as compact, so not as much speed! 

I'm shocked that we are still alive - No helmets, no parental supervision. But then it's a different world, and we have to protect everyone - FROM themselves! 

So this is what happened yesterday. I got the six arrow blocks done! Here are two of them. This time, there were no mistakes in the trimming. That audiobook was so engrossing; however, when it came to getting a critical piece of trimming information, I did stop the book. 

Two of the six arrow blocks

Here's the quilt with the six arrow blocks in place. All that remains are four more feather blocks. 

Urbanologie

I was still not done with the audiobook, so I plodded ahead and cut out the remaining 4 feather blocks. Loads of cutting! 

The four feather blocks are cut

And there are LOADS of curved seams in those feather blocks. 

Curved seams

And lots of different steps. The first one is to create this long piece of curved seams. 

Step One to making the feather blocks

I think I'll get them all to this stage, and then I'll move on to step two for all of them. It's Monday sewing today, so I know what I'll be working on!

After those blocks are done, I can start sewing the quilt together. I need some more background fabric. I didn't have enough of the one I was using, so I checked my stash. Hmmm -- I found this. It's not a match, but then it's not supposed to be. I'll be at a quilt shop later this week, and I'm going to hold off until I see if I can find something a bit better. If not - then this is what I'll use. It's a quilt top, for heaven's sake - it's not like things need to be perfect on it. Remember, it's better to be done than to be perfect. 

Auditioning fabric for the background

Besides, it'll give people something to talk about on the quilt! I just want it done! 

Hmm - is this an appropriate additional background fabric?

And I got a customer quilt done. The border is super cute, and the quilt is made from flannel. 

Customer quilt

She wanted a windy pattern on it as those fall leaves were swirling around. Where's Murphy? She'd be in her glory to chase those leaves!!

Windy quilt pattern

I have one presentation today, so that's good as I also have some machine embroidery and lots of writing, although one document got sent out this morning. The Saturday Sewing topics (January to June) list is almost ready to be sent for inclusion in the Thimbles and Things newsletter, which should be out in a couple of weeks! 

Well, that's it for me. I've canceled my spin class, and now I hope to get a couple of hours of sleep before I need to get up. E-mails were sent -- please don't check the time! The printer is working at last. It just needed a couple of days to work out whatever issues that it had. But now I see that Libby (the audiobook app) wants me to verify my library card, and it won't work! Hmmm - anyone else with that issue? 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!