Half-square triangles

OH MY --- there are so many stories of how people just "randomly" meet, and it's meant to be. The blog is going to be late, as I listened to another story of just such a situation. Life is so full of coincidences, or are they really coincidences? The next time a coincidence happens --- think about it --- that happened for a reason.  

I am not sure that I'll go for a walk this morning - at least not in the direction that we have been going - down the local road. The black flies are out, and, well, I had a little extra protein for breakfast, and I have more lumps and bumps on my head and a bite or two on my arm. I might walk to the grocery store to get some bananas!!! Hoping that along the road, there will be fewer bugs. Oh, silly me! 

I made great progress in the day and found several more bags of HSTs in my retreat bag. Good grief -- you would think that I would work on one bag at a time. Nope—I like working on multiple groupings. Can you tell me why?

I found this one with some black, white, red, and grey. I'm happy to report that all is sewn, trimmed, and ready to be put away when I get home. 

Working on the first group of HSTs

Here is proof that all is done! 

All is done in this grouping.

Then I found this bag of cream, pink, and orange. A good part of them are sewn and trimmed, and I'm using them as enders and leaders as I work on my quilt tops. 

The second bag of HSTs

Yes, I'm working in groups of four. And this is what I accomplished yesterday! 

What I accomplished yesterday from this grouping

There are three other bags of half-square triangles in the retreat bag. One bag contains units that just need to be trimmed - that was the one that I have been trying to find, and I was pretty sure I had tucked it in that bag. One is just the triangles waiting to be sewn together, and the third one I had forgotten about, and some of the units have been pressed and trimmed. Some need to be sewn. That will be for later. 

Then it was time to get back to work sewing the scrappy flannel squares together. And this is what happened. I was pulling one row off the wall to sew it together, and a whole section fell off. Thankfully, I had taken a picture, so it was easy to put them back! 

Ooopsy

And later in the day (much later), it was finally assembled. 

One quilt top done!

Yes -- it's pretty scrappy, and yes, there are four very bright spots. And you know what? I'm OK with that! 

Then I pulled out the next bags of scrappy blocks. I got those put on the wall last night and got part of it sewn. 

The next very scrappy quilt

This is a very scrappy quilt, but all of the squares have a wintery theme. I'm making good headway on getting it done. But so much for sewing three quilt tops together in one day! I should be able to sew this together today, and hopefully the last one as well? We'll just have to see. 

I also removed five more raindrops from the Cherrywood Challenge. The large ones are super easy to remove, the small ones with slightly narrower stitches are a bit more of a challenge! No Prince song this morning as I write this. 

Removing more raindrops

And then there was the puzzle. It's a challenge as well - the easy bits are done, and now we are onto the greenery. There are three of us working on the puzzle, and hopefully we'll get it done before we leave. 

Progress on the puzzle

Plus, two of us went to another quilt store in the area. And we spotted this barn quilt along the way. Oh shoot -- we saw one the day before as well, and I keep forgetting to post that picture! 

A barn quilt

How is this for organizing half-square triangles? These are not mine. Of course not! Mine are always in a jumble, while these are super neat and organized!!!!

Nicely organized HSTs

We have no plans to go out today, except to walk to the grocery store and hopefully avoid the bugs!!! My head is itchy!!!!

Will I get through everything that I brought? You know what? I'm doing pretty well, and I should be able to touch almost everything I brought.OKK -- that's a lie - there might be a couple of things, but it's good to have variety!!!

And that's it for today. I must get back to the sewing machine. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!


PS --- YES -- the arm that doesn't move while walking is the arm I use to hold Murphy's leash. I try to keep a tight grip on her, and it shows!!!!

WAIT WAIT WAIT ---- I have something else to share. My artist friend (we've never met but have stayed in touch via social media for years) has been shortlisted for a jigsaw puzzle for Villager Puzzles (amazing company by the way - Canadian owned by a woman with women artists). 

Anyway, if you wish to vote for the puzzle, here is the link. It appears to be only on Instagram. Cynthia Frenette is one of the three. Vote for the best (which is hers!) OK -- so I'm biased.