This That and the Other

 According to the Washington Post, you area a super reader if you read over 50 books in a single year. have beat that number by a significant margin for the last four or five years.

Last year, my Kindle helpfully told me I had read 99 books. What was annoying about that was that it told me that very late in the day on New Year's Eve so I did not have enough time to make the number an even 100.

So that's my goal for 2025.

Well, since I always have a book going it looks like I am going to crush that number. As of yesterday I had read 27, At that rate I will get to 100 before the end of June. (No, I do not speed read.)

 

So I dug out a jigsaw puzzle. 

I have been retired just short of six months, and in that time I have made eleven quilt tops. That used to be my average output for a year. So yeah, I have to find something else to do!

Now, I've told you that I am going to make an orange quilt. I am waiting for fabric, so until then, I have dug through the big scrap bins and pulled out the green bits and started to make slabs.

I've decided that the only way to work my way through those bins is to make slabs, and then cut triangles from them, so I have decided to work my way through all the bins in this way. 

I've cut 80 green triangles.

Now, in order to keep myself from going crazy, I'm just going to go through the bins and grab some of whatever color I choose, and then make scrap slab triangles. I can make lots of quilts with the triangles. So I'm going to make the triangles, and then store them for whenever. I still have lots of green fabrics, but I also have lots of other colors.

Here is where I am on the jigsaw puzzle.

The orange fabrics arrive on Tuesday, and will have to go through the washer and dryer before I can work with them, so I have a few days to make more slabs. (And read and work on the puzzle.)

A Quarter of Cat

 

This is a quarter of Cat's quilt. I like the way this is turning out. It's perfect for a college kid.

I've been spending WAY too much time in the studio. I haven't been doing much of anything else, so I decided to set out a jigsaw puzzle.

The Back of Joyful

 

While listening to the US Open Tennis last week, I added the leftover blocks from the Joyful quilt to this fabric I found for the backing.

The backing fabric wasn't a standard backing fabric - it was about 42" wide, so I sewed the leftover blocks to each length, then sewed the two long lengths together. Yes, I planned for the diagonal stripe to be where they joined.

Here is the quilt lying on top of the backing. I always do this to make sure there is enough fabric all around.

I think it looks great and will make a terrific couch quilt.

I know all retirees say it, but I have been really busy. I cleaned OUT the shed, and the next step was to sort through the stuff I wanted to keep. There were a lot of old rusty tools and extra Christmas ornaments, paint rollers and handles. That's now been sorted, and the good stuff will go back into the shed. The rest is consigned to the trash. (And yes, I already donated several items.)

I spent most of the day yesterday at the mobile carrier I planned to move my cell phone to. I was allowed to port the cell number I have had for over 22 years from my work and keep it. (Lucky me.) 

While the process to DO that was simple, in theory (you can see where this is going), in practice it was a lot more complicated. After about three hours we got it done, and there was MUCH aggravation and going back and forth involved. I'll spare you the details, but that is a nice thing to have done.

I've just finished the most aggravating jigsaw puzzle ever. I don't mind that it was hard, what I minded was that the photo was so small and I couldn't figure out where anything went. I have discovered I have an addiction to these things and I will devote WAY MORE time than I should, even forgoing meals to get these finished, so after I take this one apart and donate it, the puzzle board is going under the couch where it will stay.

Peonies & This & That

 

Here is the final layout (minus one row) of the Peonies Quilt. As you can see, Cherie, I have arranged a few blocks into diamonds, and there are now 4 light green flowers.

The new refrigerator is terrific except for one thing. Maybe you can tell what it is. The front is NOT magnetic. EEEEEK!!! The sides are magnetic, but that's an awful lot of naked stainless steel. I'm going to have figure out what I want to see, and tape it to the front.

Inside it's almost the same layout as the older one, but it seems like I have more space. It was 101F when this was delivered so emptying one fridge, and filling the new one were exercises in FAST. That means I just threw everything in, and I have to do a bit of rearranging.

I went to see the movie THELMA, and I thought it was great. There is so much of it that is outlandish, but a lot of it is so true. 

My friend Pam and I went out to eat before the movie and got out so early we went to the local Barnes & Noble. I bought a jigsaw puzzle. This was a rug pattern designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It wasn't a big puzzle, and I got into it. It was appealing because it had some special pieces...

Some of the pieces were quite large. I have put them above the puzzle so you can see. You would think that these large pieces would have made the puzzle easier, but actually it made it quite a bit trickier. I enjoyed it.

My Mom was admitted to the hospital last week. She was diagnosed with AFIB, and they decided to do a cardioversion, which is restarting her heart. Yes, you read that correctly. It is normally a pretty straightforward process, but do remember my Mom is a month short of 91. The procedure was successful, they kept her an extra day. She's home now, but she's really tired. So, keep her in your thoughts, please. The doctor gave her an excellent prognosis, but the older we get the longer it takes us all to bounce back.

The Missing Piece

I’ve been hooked on jigsaw puzzles for the last couple of weeks, and I’ve had it with them for a bit, but there is a story I want to tell. The sewing studio puzzle above, was given to me by Julie as a Christmas present. I told her what I told Cherie: “Thank you so very LITTLE!!!”

Haha. But I did it.

Here’s the puzzle Cherie sent me. I did that one too, but if you look closely…

That’s pretty aggravating. I looked all over the living room for that little piece, and couldn’t find it. While I work on the puzzles, I lean over them, and sometimes the pieces get caught up in the threads of my sweater. (That’s my story and I’m sticking with it. It also happens to be the truth.)

The one place I didn’t look was in the Roomba’s vacuum bag. You see, after a cleaning job my Roomba goes back to home base and empties itself automatically into a vacuum bag that I empty about once a month.

So after I got other stuff done, I took the bag out, and cut into it with a pair of scissors and sorted through the dust and debris. (Hey, you all know me, why are you surprised?)

Guess what I found?

Now, if truth be told, I forgot to check if I had a vacuum bag to replace the one I cut up, so my Roomba got a little vacation while I waited for the new ones to arrive. In the meantime I got started on another puzzle from Julie.

But again, dammit…

Can you spell AGGRAVATED??? Again, I looked everywhere, but nope. I continued with the puzzle, knowing that the damn piece was in the house SOMEWHERE.

In the meantime, the new bags came for the Roomba and I restarted the cleaning jobs.

I got home from work the other day and something caught my eye…

Can you see it? Do you need to get closer?

YUP!

It’s the missing piece.

Was I a happy camper to put that sucker where it belonged.

So here is the finished puzzle, and I’ve decided this is it for a while. I’m going to put the puzzle board under the couch and do something else. Actually, I have to do some tidying in the studio and then I’ll be in there sewing. 

One other note: I’ve been posting on the blog using my iPad instead of my laptop. It has been EXTREMELY frustrating, so I haven’t posted as often as I used to, but I think I finally figured it out. I haven’t completely moved everything over from the laptop to the iPad, but I’m hoping to get that done in the next few days. One other thing on my to-do list.

The Jigsaw Puzzle

 In 2021 I got a jigsaw puzzle and realized I didn’t have any place to put it, so I bought a puzzle board. (I got it at Amazon. Where else?)

It’s pretty nifty. It has four drawers that slide out in which to store pieces and it has.a mat to put over the top to protect the puzzle while you are working on it but the best thing is that it fits under the couch when not in use.

Puzzles take time and when I am working on one I am not sewing, so after making a few I stuck the puzzle board under the couch.

Until.

Until my friend Cherie asked where I got mine, and I told her. To “thank” me (I say this facetiously because… well, keep reading) Cherie sent me a jigsaw puzzle with birds on it.

So you know me…

.

This was Wednesday.

This was Thursday.

This was Friday.

This was Saturday afternoon, after a morning of baking. (And yes, my front porch is all enclosed)

I went a little crazy on Saturday. Here is where I stopped for dinner.

And here is when I went to bed way-past-my-bedtime.

So if I haven’t been sewing (and quite frankly with Christmas a week away and me hosting the feast I have lots of other things I should be doing) you can blame Cherie.

Thank you so very little, Cherie. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

 

Being Lazy

 

My studio is a mess, my office is a mess, and I've got the post holiday blahs so instead of doing anythig I really ought to be doing, I've been watching TV and doing this jigsaw puzzle. I think I started this a day or two after Christmas, after I finished putting all the decorations away.

Last night I worked on the features of the face and the green in the upper left corner.

On January 15 I'll be raising the prices of my tutorials. I've also updated the bird tutorial ever so slightly. If you already have a copy, you don't need this one. It will be released on January 15, at the new price.

 

Go Australia!

 

 

Details and Updates

 

A couple of weeks ago I showed a picture of the wrong side of one of my finished flimsies. Part of the reason the backs look so neat is that I don't overhandle my pieces. I work on one quilt at a time, so I don't take them off the design wall, store them somewhere, and then take them out later. Once a block is sewn together I put it on the design wall and leave it there until I sew all the blocks together. I don't use any kind of starch or pressing spray. Some fabrics just fray like crazy no matter what you do. I was fortunate not to encounter them in the quilt above. 

When I posted about matching the pattern of this fabric for the backing of a quilt, Karen wondered if the seam allowance was sewn into the backing. I'm not quite sure what she means. We all know that the selvage edge should be removed because otherwise it will behave weirdly and pucker. After I sewed the seam above, I trimmed that outer edge away, so there shouldn't be any problem.

I received a comment from someone who said she didn't have any room to set out a jigsaw puzzle. Neither do I, so I purchased a "puzzle board." This one has four removable drawers (two are shown at the left) that slide out from underneath the puzzle surface. It has a cover that holds the puzzle pieces in place when I am not working on it (and keeps it safe from my cat). But the best thing about it is it that it slides under the couch when not in use.

I did think the 1,000 piece puzzles sucked up a big chunk of time, so I ordered a 300 piece puzzle. The pieces of this one were quite a bit larger - about the size of a dollar coin - and when I put the edges together in less than 20 minutes, I figured this was going to be quick.

An hour and twenty minutes later it was done. I'm pretty sure there is a sweet spot in between the facility of this one and the complexity of the 1,000 piece ones, but I think that is a problem for another day!

By the time you read this I'll be working back at the office after fourteen months of Working From Home. It isn't just working at the office, it's getting back out in the world. I'll let you know how it feels when I figure it out.

In Pieces

 

You know me with puzzles (of all kinds). Once I sink my teeth into one I just can't let go. The other night I was working on this after dinner and when I looked up it was time for bed.

This is another 1,000 piece puzzle. I love doing them, but clearly it distracts me from the sewing studio. Actually, if I had a project going it wouldn't, but I am between projects. My dad wants me to make a quilt for the lady priest in his parish. She has been very good to him. I will make a quilt, but I have to figure out what I want to do. Actually I have an idea and part of a plan. When I am done with these oranges I'll get to it. Probably this weekend.

My new cubicle is set up at the office. It's just about where my old one was. I've been in touch with the IT guy about what I need (keyboard, wireless mouse, two monitors, two network connections, etc...) I have started to pack stuff here. And I'm going through all my papers. Clearly I don't need to lug it all back. I'm kinda looking forward to going back to the office to see people, and to have my own home office back to myself.

April Quilts

 

The table quilt for April is Julie's Hidden Potential quilt. She made it out of my leftover dud letters and other bits and bobs. April is Spring, and Spring is Green.

The quilt on the bed is Jigsaw Puzzle, a Slashed Squares quilt made of "mini" blocks. These blocks are 7" square, and the quilt is made from fabrics in my stash. They weren't "scraps" but my rule for this quilt was not to cut into yardage from the fabric in my big stash. The Slashed Squares quilt is a really easy quilt that has a lot of potential.

Speaking of Jigsaw Puzzles, I finished mine. This is from Werkshoppe.com. I have never done an entire jigsaw puzzle all by myself. It's a good thing to do before you go to bed, assuming you can pull yourself away!

I cut up a whole bunch of four block strips from the leftover Zebra triangles, and I'll be sewing those into sixteen patches over the weekend.

WGO

 

I got my second Covid-19 vaccination on Thursday morning. They moved the site to an empty department store in a local mall. 

 Somebody clearly has a sense of humor, as I found this mannequin (above) all decked out with a mask, hard hat, face mask, and gloves. This gal is holding a syringe and flowers. I particularly liked the way this mannequin is "dressed." Note the collar, pocket with pen, and belt.

UNLIKE the first time, however, the second dose kinda knocked me for a loop. I had a slight headache at the back of my head, and the next day I woke up feeling sore all over my body and a general fuzziness in my head. My boss told me to take it easy and spend the day on the couch, resting. I was also told to drink a lot of fluids. My Noom diet has me drinking (and tracking) five glasses of water a day, so that part was pretty easy.

Speaking of Noom, I have so far lost 17.5 pounds. Like most people, I had gained weight during the pandemic, but I am proud to say all that weight, plus more, is gone.

Megan's quilt arrived in Australia four days after I shipped it. It took a day to get through Customs, and was then directed to a local FedEx facility, where it has sat for three days. The scheduled delivery date is March 30, three more days away. It's nice knowing where it is, and that it is safe, but I'm having a hell of a time being patient.

I decided to get a jigsaw puzzle. I loved doing them as a kid with my family, and I thought it might be fun to fiddle with as a way to relax at night. When it arrived I realized I didn't have a place to put it, so I ordered a puzzle board.

This one is big enough for the finished puzzle and all the pieces. It has four drawers that slide in and out, and a thick cover to set over it when not in use. It's really nifty, and the best part is that the whole thing slides right under my couch when not in use.

I really should have paid more attention when I ordered the puzzle though. I chose what I thought was the prettiest puzzle, but it really is a hard one. I'm not going to give up though. I'll figure it out.