reorganizing

Last week I made time for projects and improvements.  I took Wednesday off as a whatever day because I have more paid time off than they'd ever let me use in one go, and I spent the day organizing and quilting. My dresser drawers had reached a shocking level of disorganization, despite Rob's best efforts, so I emptied everything out on the floor and rearranged it and put it all in again.  Such a small thing, but you'd be surprised how good it feels.  I needed to replace a deep drawer with two shallower drawers in our Elfa system so we took 'our once every 20 year trip to the Container Store' (and that's exactly how I explained it to the kid behind the counter when he tried to sign me up for their rewards program).  Then, I spent a big chunk of the weekend rearranging the pantry.  Again, it's own reward.  

Wednesday afternoon, I managed to almost finish a corner of the arc quilt by filling in the straight echo lines.  I tried using the side of my hopping foot as a guide for the space between lines, but that 45* curve confounded me.  I could get most of the way around the curve in one go, but then I had to reposition the quilt to come down the other side.  Every time I did that, when the needle came up, the quilt moved and threw the line off by an ~1/8".  That wasn't going to do.  I decided instead of picking out the quilting I'd done, I would move to a fresh corner and see how that went.  I had to mark these lines to get around the curve.  It didn't take long and the result was worth it.  I know the circle full of circles looks weird, but let's wait and see how it looks in the rest of the quilt.  If it doesn't work, I can pick them out and fill that space with the same background filler.  

Life sometimes feels like a series of making mistakes and correcting them, so of course, there had to be a fly in that ointment.  Remember that temporary marking line I quilted in when I started filling the corners?  When I marked the echo lines, the last one is very close to my marking line.  I filled right up to that line, so now I have to figure out how to compensate.  Or maybe not compensate at all.  

I've decided to wait until all four corners are to the same stage before I pick a method.  Once I know the extent of the error, I'll be able to pick a way to fix it.  But, if I jump the gun here, I could end up having to correct the correction.  

I've also been quilting straight lines into the hand quilted project.  I have 7 of these block pairs quilted and the last one is marked and there are a few stitches in it.  The outer border is going to get a version of baptist fans which will mesh with the other parallel lines in the quilting, but won't just be boring straight lines.  Not that they're boring to look at, but they do get boring to quilt.  

  

One of the things we bought at the C.S. was kitchen canisters.  Replacing the kitchen canisters doesn't sound like a very big deal, but it really is for me.  Tupperware has been part of my life forever, it feels like.  My Mom was a Tupperware dealer...Tupperware lady as they were called at the time.  She sold it and then became a manager for others that sold it.  They provided her a station wagon to haul it in and she was always winning things, including a trip to Hawaii.  My first set of canisters were her old ones that she was replacing.  Then, she sold those and replaced them with a new set and Rob and I found a vintage set in an antique store that we added to it.  But the big ones had taken on a smell and I got a snout full of it every time I needed flour or sugar.  It didn't flavor the food, but it was unpleasant for the cook.  The smaller ones seem to be fine, so I'm still using them, but everything got rearranged and I ended up washing canisters four different times before I was done.  All the countertops and the dining table were covered with stuff (including a dusting of flour).  It's done now and I enjoyed the new arrangement to bake bread and make chocolate cake.  

Rob's been doing some Halloween decorating.  I need to get on the candy thing.  We turned our light off last year, but we don't plan to do that this year.  We're going to set up a table where kids can get candy and/or toys without having to come closer than 6'.  Hopefully, that will make parents comfortable enough to send their kids up to the house.

That's it for me today.  The MAGA cult has hit too close to home and I'm not ready to talk about it.  I'm hurt and afraid and there's people that just don't care about that.  But, there are a lot more people that do and I have to keep my eye on that instead of the other.

Everybody have a great week!  If you're like me, the organization bug hits in spring and fall and you're likely either pulling stuff out or putting it away.  Nothing wrong with that, but keep your projects small and manageable and don't hurt yourself.

Lane