Ch-ch-ch-changes

It’s time to face the changing seasons here in Texas.  I know, it’s been a long time for most of you…except the Aussie’s among you who have winter at an odd time of year, but we’re expecting our first freeze in the lone star state, and that meant prep work over the weekend.  We Christmas shopped in short pants on a beautiful 80* day on Saturday and worked in the yard in shorts yesterday, and tonight, we’ll freeze.  40* difference in daytime temps from one day to the next.  Sheesh!

But, I didn’t do anything else until after I had finished Bonnie’s Clue 3.  Because really, ya gotta have your priorities in the right place.

Here are some of my blocks.  Yes, I am going to have trouble with one of the purples that isn’t reading right in the left side set.  But, you know what?  I’m having just the least bit of trouble caring about that because all the others look fantastic.

Here they are all nestled in their basket with all the other clues.  I didn’t cut the two green squares yet because I think I want to use four different fabrics and so I’ll wait until I cut into those fabrics for something else. 

 

i did not enjoy this step.  For some reason, I just had trouble getting it all to go together right with good points.  And, I cut the crap out of my finger…not just any finger, but the finger that would send a clear message, should a message of displeasure need to be sent.  But, like any good quilter, I poured some peroxide on it, wrapped it in a bandaid and went right back to quilting without ever looking to see if it was a really bad cut or not.  If it kept bleeding, I needed to do something else so I didn’t bleed on the quilt.  Otherwise, just keep going.

Some people have talked about giving up the mystery.  Gotta say that I toyed with it, early on Saturday morning, when I realized I had to sliver trim the square and wings before I could add the turquoise triangle.  But, my motto comes from the movies…Never give up, never surrender!  (from Galaxy Quest)

My family likes to eat at a sandwich shop called Which-wich and you order by filling out what you want on the front of your submarine sandwich sized paper bag.  They hang the bags from a wire and make the sandwich to order, sliding the bags from one station to the next in assembly line fashion.  So that we can keep up with our lunches, we write on the backs of the bags…well, and we use it to make a statement about what’s going on sometimes, like the time I said “girls are expensive” after buying Syd new shoes.  The fun is that none of us can look at the backs of the bags to see what the others wrote, until they’re hanging on the wire and everybody can see.  This was my bag.

Course, I think anybody else that read it thought Sydney was Bonnie, but no matter.

We spent almost all day Saturday, braving the thronging crowd to do most of our Christmas shopping.  I have one or two other small gifts to pick up, but the basics for the family are done.  I was just too tired to move Saturday night, but it does feel good to be through.

And, because we are having a freeze, it was time to move plants into the sunroom.  But, first, I had to clean the sunroom and get all the junk I’d pulled out over summer back into its place.  That took hours.  Then, setting up the greenhouse on the back side so that one little space heater can keep both rooms above freezing. 

I’ve really been working on not having so many plants in pots that have to be moved, but I still had this…

My little 6’x6’ greenhouse is packed to the gills with stuff I don’t want to freeze.  All that yellow is lemons and oranges.  We had a very good year this year.  They’ll be ready about Christmas week, but we did knock one off that I’m looking forward to in some cups of tea this week.  This space is packed and the open screen doors between allow air to circulate.  All I have to do is add water a few times over the season.  We get so little cold weather that it’s practical to keep annuals from one year to the next, as well as my fruit trees in pots, all packed into this space for about two and a half months. 

After that, it was time for cooking and I made 2 kinds of candy and a cake and a big pot of stew, but that’s all for another post because I have to get up and get ready to go to the work that pays.  Because, if it wasn’t for the work that pays, there wouldn’t be all this stuff that needs to be done the rest of the time.

Be well, have a wonderful Monday.  If you’re still sewing on Bonnie’s clue 3, be careful with your rotary cutter.  Don’t be the “other one” that’s walking around in a bandaid.

Lane