Improv piecing with scraps

You guessed it -- EVERYTHING takes longer than you think it will. Did I finish those improv blocks with the leftovers from Farmer's Wife? Nope --- and I went to bed with the problem of figuring out how many blocks I would need, how many I have, and whether I have enough fabric to complete the blocks? 

Thanks to a discussion with Katheleen, I will keep these blocks myself. I have a plan and hope I have enough craps to finish it. 

Here are the finished blocks. They look fantastic, and I'm very excited about them. 

My improv blocks

I've been up for hours after having a fantastic sleep. This is all that remains of the scraps and the partially completed blocks. 

Almost done!

It's so exciting!! So when I say I'll be happy to work on those scrap boxes when I downsize to an apartment and don't have much room, I'm not kidding! 

Working on these improv projects will be my new retreat goto project. I love doing them as you rarely have to rip anything out because there is no right or wrong. I have another large bag of scraps with me that I think I'll wait to start. I may do one block to say I worked on it, but it's going back into the retreat bag for the next retreat. 

And I have a large basket of flannel, so that will come with me at some point. Could I be working on "real" projects? I could, but this is like a vacation, and those important ones can wait until I get home! 

I should finish well before lunch today! 

Like many areas around here, we had a lot of snow on Wednesday. I shoveled the front step so I could walk to the driveway to see how much snow there was. And, well -- I need to prepare better for footwear. Don't yell at me! I didn't bring winter boots, but I HATE winter boots. However, I brought my rain boots, but they are short, so they are less useful than one would like in deep snow. 

The laneway looked like this, and it wasn't bad. There was no wind, and the temperature was beautiful. So we headed off for a walk. I already had a few steps because of the shoveling. 

A winter wonderland

Of course, my car with the least clearance has a big snow bank in front of it! And that snow was compacted and was NOT light and fluffy. 

 

Snowbanks in the yard

Helen Anne and I made it to the end of the laneway to discover the road was not plowed; however, cars had passed, and we could walk in the tracks. There's not much traffic on this road. 

As we reached the intersection, we turned to find the plow behind us. 

The plow 

That made it easier to walk back, but only half of the road got plowed, and as we reached the other intersection, again, we turned to find the plow barreling down on us. So that main road wasn't an issue. 

Some of our tracks were blown in when we got back to the laneway. And this time, I followed Helen Anne to the house. I only had to dig the snow out of my boots once, and my feet were pretty dry. 

Then the tractor came to clear the laneway and the yard. We had to move the cars, and I got soaked. It was a challenge to move that snow off those BIG vehicles. OK -- so there's a plus for a small car -- much easier to get that snow off. But all the vehicles got moved, and we now have a clear path to park and get out. 

We sat around and chatted a wee bit before bed last night. But I faded, and I have no idea when the rest went to bed. I didn't care -- I march to my time! 

I even listened to my audiobook this morning as it will soon need to be returned, and you can't hold onto those. When the due date comes, those books are gone! I'm reading The Hobbit, and it's fun as you follow Bilbo's adventures. 

Well, I'm off. I need to get those last blocks together, and will I have enough fabric to finish them? We'll have to wait and see. 

There's another post on QUILTsocial today. Check out what you can do with decorative stitches!!!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!