Would you rather................

That interesting question was posed to me at the dinner table last night. DH asked me if I was happy to be back sewing or would I rather be on the bike. Hmm - that's a tough question. Can I do both? I guess not, but which would I prefer? I guess I like the sewing part the best, but I absolutely love the freedom that I get when I'm on the bike. There are no deadlines.

Speaking of deadlines, I spent a good part of yesterday evening designing quilts. It's something that I absolutely LOVE to do and it doesn't take too long. Mind you, I'm not making complex quilts - who wants to make those anyway? The idea is to make clever quilts without a lot of work. But I love when happy accidents come along. OH - what happens if you rotate this block? Oh my - that's way more interesting. And some of that happened last night. All the files are prepped and have been sent. Now to keep my fingers crossed that the editors like them. And if they do? MORE deadlines. I know - I'm my own worst enemy but I LOVE it.

It was MONDAY sewing - the best way to get back into the routine. It was great to catch up with everyone as some of them haven't been around for a little while and I've been away for the last two weeks. Did I get much done? Not as much as I would have liked as I did have to leave early.

BUT my plan to put the borders on a quilt? Well, the quilt that I took with me had two of four border sections on. I got one sewn on and couldn't sew the last one on because I didn't have the fabric for the corners. GRR, better do a better check (or prep) for next week. Then I need to decide which fabric to use for the final border. That will go in the bag and I'll be prepped for next week. As long as I'm advancing those UFOs I'm good. Yes - this is one of the UFOs and it won't take long to finish so I'd better keep at it as I still have quite a few to finish before the end of the year. Mondays and all the Sit n Sew days are going to be devoted to getting those UFOs on the list DONE. Then I can start the new year with new UFOs.

Remember - it's all about FOCUS!!!!!

I got four blocks completed in The Farmer's Wife project. I'm behind with these blocks but that's OK. It's my own schedule and if I'm behind, I'm good. I just don't want it to get forgotten. Got to figure out how to put them into a quilt. Do I make ONE quilt??  I guess I can plunk those blocks into EQ8 (not each block, but just the number of blocks) and mess around with some settings. But since there are a lot of blocks, there isn't a lot of room to play without getting a ginormous quilt.

Four more blocks completed for The Farmer's Wife

Thanks to Joyce, I got the binding for another quilt that I was working on. Now to find some backing for this one. There were a few leftover bits and I have plans for those as well. It's amazing once you start designing your own stuff - the ideas just keep popping out of my head faster than I can get them on paper. 

Binding fabric

What I really need to do in the designing department is to work on pre-cuts. I hate pre-cuts, yet I have a lot of them. I need to sit here with the pre-cut in my hand and my computer mouse in the other and design something that works for the specific pre-cut. I might just dig out a jelly roll later today and see what I can come up with. It's definitely more of a challenge when you have a VERY specific amount of fabric to work with.


I have to say that it was a real treat to get back to normal eating yesterday.  Don't get me wrong - it's not that I ate awful when I was away or that the food was awful. But when you start to eat healthily, it's amazing how few healthy choices there are outside your home. Especially for breakfast. I LOVE my steel cut oats and this morning, I had bananas to go with it. I'm a happy camper. I'll be back to my desired weight by the end of the week. So happy that I can easily control that now. That DAMN refined sugar. BAD BAD BAD - so glad I've got that out of my system.

I'm breaking down and buying two of the missing books on my book list. DH is ordering some books so I said - get me these two. I looked at Amazon Audible which is a subscription service. What isn't a subscription service these days? For $15 a month, I can read/rent as many audio books as I want (I think???). I'm not really into that kind of service if I don't have to. I would rather get my audiobooks from the library and most are available, but my favorite is still a good old fashioned book made from PAPER.

Tish asked me if I needed to read the books in order. Not really - but seriously - what about character development? And that's my OCD quirk - I CANNOT read the books out of order. CAN NOT! Nuff said. Besides, if I just bought what I was missing online, what is the fun in that? No - I'm going to become a used bookstore junkie!!!!  And Diane brought in two books that are next on my list for Anne Perry. That was great. So that is way more interesting than just buying what I can't find at the library.

Here's a kit that Susan picked up for me for Row by Row. I carried that in my bike basket last week after I met up with her. I really did not get many kits this year and only a handful of license plates. I'm good with that. This year (and in future years), it's all about getting things DONE, not adding to the pile.

Row by Row kit

I'm not sure how many projects that I've started this year that did not get moved to the "to be quilted" pile. If there are any, there aren't many. Most things that were started got completed and if they weren't completed, they were moved to the "to be quilted" pile. I'm good with that.

Today is a busy day, but I MUST get that long arm working. Oh yeah - I'm so looking forward to that.

On that note, I"m out of here.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!