Because some weeks, it's all about the work

 Last week feels like a blur.  So much nothing happened for me to have been so busy.  

It's getting hot and the heat leaves me drained, so I don't stay out in it much.  It's cool and breezy early in the mornings and I get things done, but by 10:30, it's time for a shower and inside chores.  That's supposed to leave time for quilting.  But, I didn't get much done.  I sat down with big ambitions on Saturday afternoon but I only got a little bit filled in the corner I'd already started and then I tied about 30 knots and buried them.  I only had time for a bit more before it was time to think about dinner.  Here's the finished corner.  There's one thread left hanging.  I couldn't find the bobbin thread and moved past it.  I'll need to knot and bury the top thread, even if I can't find the bobbin thread to go with it.  Burying the top thread should be enough to keep both from raveling.  

I"ve moved into one of the corners that has two of the circles full of circles, so there'll be less space to fill on that one.  Look below the circle in the picture above.  The quilting is much denser.  That's what I was talking about building muscle memory so I can repeat the same filler.  It will be okay in that little spot, but I'll have to be more careful in the next corner to keep my filler more open and larger scale so it will match what's at the beginning.

I found some time to hand quilt.  I should be working on something else.  A bit of a surprise that I've been working on but instead, I've been hand quilting.  The little Christmas quilt is starting to get some texture.   There are 21 circles and I'm going to quilt them all with the same horizontal/vertical pattern, then do some diagonal work between them to connect the blocks.  Or, I'll outline them with expanding circles.  Haven't decided yet and for now, I don't have to.  I think I'm 10 blocks done so far.  I quilt at the speed of about 1/100th of a mile per hour.

I'm not going for the tiniest of stitches, but I am shooting for as much consistency as I can muster.  

I've built up quite the quilter's callous.  Anybody remember Marge Simpson's callous?  She could hold a lighter under it and didn't burn.  She could also throw a needle and thread in the air and they'd thread and fall back into her hands...if only I could draw myself threading needles instead of having to find the eye and get the thread through it. The other night, I sat for a several minutes, cursing the needle and thread in my hand and then I got my new fancy needle threader and tried...and then I realized I was trying to thread the wrong end.  Rob got a big laugh out of that.  My callous...it will get worse before this quilt is done.  

Because we had heavy rains last week, the garden is still looking good, but with no rain in the forecast for this week, it's going to start to melt.  And, no amount of me standing out there with a hose will change that.  As I was pulling weeds, I got a good look at the sunny spot of the garden, where it's all green.  But, it's not boring green.  It's green and blue green and silver green and light and shadow green.  

It makes me want to make a quilt out of all green scraps, with all the variety that would come out of my drawer full of green scraps from 20 years of projects.  

Weeds - plants I planted in one place and they volunteered in another where I don't want them so I pot them up and give them away.  I can't seem to make myself throw them in the composter.  Except the poke salad.  That poke bush up the hill was allowed to come to full bloom and seed last year and I've had them come up all over my yard.  I noticed this year that it didn't come back in the original place, and that's good, but if I'm seeing this many, then they're likely all over the neighborhood.  One man's trash is not always another man's garden treasure.

Last week, I turned in a project I've been babysitting for almost two years. And, I managed to make the numbers tell the story I wanted to tell.  This week, I'll be defending my results.  And, then they'll get shared with other teams.  My peers sometimes get jealous that I have so many projects, but they forget that the way I got assigned to all those projects was by saying yes when asked and then turning out credible, well thought out results.  And, I've spent my share of time being wrong.  Not everyone can stand being wrong.  When I'm wrong, I think about my seam ripper and how easy it is to make things right again.

Everybody have a great week!  Do something you enjoy, even I fit gives you a callous.  Lane