Lexi, make yourself at home

 So there are good days and bad days! That's the same thing with the nights. I had a terrible night with very little sleep for several reasons. It drives me nuts, which is probably why I couldn't get to sleep -- you tell yourself - you are not upset, you are calm, everything is OK, and yet, you can't get to sleep. 

The worst of it all was that there was NOTHING to be upset about. Anyway -- it's not the end of the world - I'll live, but it just happens to be my day with the most appointments (3), and so if I'm going to have a nap, I need to work around that! Of course! Thankfully two of them are this morning and one in the afternoon. I can nap between them. Now, this is when you wish you were a coffee drinker! 

Ah -- it's all part of our day! I did manage to clear a couple of things off my plate yesterday -- a few e-mails got answered, one more writing assignment and one homework assignment went out the door. I know I've said this before about how much I learn by writing. So what topics would you like to learn about a sewing machine? 

If I'm going to write something, it will be in writing and will be there for all to see. Hence, if I don't know what I'm talking about, I'd better do some research, which I've been doing this week. I hope to get one more writing assignment off my plate today, but I'm not sure that will happen with everything going on. But I'll do my best! I see a nap or two in my future!

And you do NOT want to see Studio B. It's gone from bad to worse. Here's the cutting table. Yes -- there's a tiny spot in which I can still cut!

The cutting table has almost disappeared

And well, you don't want to see the rest of it. I'LL BE TIDYING UP when I'm done with the writing stuff this weekend! How does this happen? Creativity means making a mess and then cleaning it up and starting again!

I've hosted a lot of sew-alongs over the years. In an ideal world, I would love to have everyone participate and have a finished quilt top at the end. That's not always possible as patterns sometimes cost a lot of money and I really try to keep the cost down, but like everything else, the cost of patterns is increasing. The cost of fabric is going crazy (thank goodness for stashes and working with scraps). And sometimes we take on too much -- I'm guilty of that. Life circumstances also change during the sew-along. 

I spied this saying on an ad that I received yesterday. And I would substitute "gets to compete" with "participates."

It immediately made me think of the sew alongs, although it was for an athletic wear company. 

I know the Jen Kingwell quilts that we're doing now (FOUR of them) are intense. If someone is auditing the class, there's an excellent chance that you will never make the quilt on your own. However, hopefully, the non-participators are gleaning enough techniques to use in other projects. 

We should be thankful that we have the opportunities to learn that we do and leave it at that. 

And I always say the more, the merrier in any class, and I especially love when we do the reveals at the end of the class, and there is tons of eye candy for us to enjoy!!

Well, speaking of eye candy, here's my Boho Heart quilt. Well, not exactly a quilt, but a 1/4 of the quilt. 

Part of Boho Heart

This is Group 3, and I love how it's turning out. I used blacks on white for the background and high contrast colors (pink, orange, and a touch of purple) in the blocks. I'm literally winging the colors in the blocks. I opened up the scrap boxes and picked colors based on their size. If I could cut the block from them, then I used them. 

Here's a big secret that so many people struggle with. They need to match colors and see if the color of this block looks nice next to this color block. I look at it this way -- if all the colors go together when you see them randomly laid out in front of you, they will look OK in the quilt. The more fabrics you use, the more they'll go together. And if you keep high contrast in the mix, you'll definitely see the pattern at the end. Then if one of the blocks accidentally gets put in the wrong spot, no one will notice. 

That's my kind of quilt. I used to be much more controlled in the past, and thankfully, I'm over that. This is a true scrap quilt for sure! Even though I did have to cut from yardage -- it's a lot of different fabrics and well -- -I LOVE it. 

So this was Miss Lexi yesterday morning. 

The baseboard makes a comfortable pillow

Seriously?? She lay down and misjudged her length but was too lazy to move? What a silly girl!!!

And then I walked into the family last night to see this. What? Miss Lexi!!! What are you doing? 

Someone is making themselves at home

DH wasn't in the room, and that's when she normally jumps up to be with him. She NEVER used to jump on the sofa. But she started when she tried to get away from Murphy -- go figure! And now, she feels comfortable enough to sleep there on her own. Our furniture usually has something on it to keep Murphy off; now, we have to keep Lexi off. I left her -- I know - I'm a big softie. And later, I saw her snuggled up closer to the cushions. 

Next thing you know, they'll both be up there fighting! They are very much like two siblings. I guess they are dog siblings, not by blood, but by circumstance. I had to laugh one day as we always ask the other, what is YOUR SISTER doing? And they know the word sister. A couple of years ago, someone overheard me at the dog park and said, "sisters? really?" Yeah -- they have the same mother - NOT!!!

The sidewalks were treacherous yesterday morning, so it was a joy to go out later in the day to dry or mostly dry pavement. It was glorious -- no hat, my jacket was undone, no mitts. Spring is around the corner!

Some of these intersections around the new bike path are brilliantly painted white and green. Let's hope that people will stay off their cell phones and pay attention!! 

Brightly painted intersections

But doesn't that make you want to take a photo like the Beatles Abbey Road? 

A hard to miss crosswalk

However, I think that the road planners need to know that all that white paint is SLIPPERY. That goes for the white lines on a highway, road, or crosswalk. The white paint is dangerous when there's a bit of ice or freezing fog like we have now! 

Slippery paint on the crosswalks

I know that from cycling and from walking, and I really think city planners and sidewalk snowplow drivers need to get out and survey their work. While the sidewalks were plowed yesterday, they were not salted and treacherous! Especially since the temperature hovered at zero! 

Today, it's supposed to be WARM! Right now, it's very foggy!

Well, it's time to get the day rolling! Lots to do and no time to waste. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!