Monday, July 18, 2022

positivity and the gifts keep coming

First up, my Positivity quilt top!


I thought I had shared it before, but looking back, I guess I hadn't.  Hmmm...oh well, here it is!  Just in time for the linky party!

Saturday I was out and about and stopped in to the local quilt shop to peruse her sale room for a back.  I not only found a back for this, but also a back for the Easy Addition quilt (one I worked on at retreat in January)!


Even without knowing what the other quilt looks like, I'm pretty sure you can guess which one is going onto the back of Positivity!

Now I just need to get them washed and the quilt quilted.

(But the electrician was here and quick as could be, he had me rewired and my dryer in working order again!  Thank goodness for the small things.)

Just.
Ha.

This week has been filled with more fun and games regarding the stolen checks, but I'm hoping maybe we're finally on the down-slope of that adventure?  You know, the part where I'm not longer actively dealing with things every day and just wait for all the people I've sent half my file cabinet to to do their jobs?  *rolls eyes out of head*

Enough of that.

I forced myself into the sewing room and finished the last four Seeing Stars blocks.





I still don't much like them, but they're in a better place in my head for being done.  I had planned to figure out a layout today, but the evildoers created a few extra, new, wrinkles today, so I'm just now (at 1:45) sitting down to do the fun stuff.  Normally on a Monday, by 1:45 I've gotten a LOT of fun stuff done.

Oh well.
Maybe Wednesday.

That will be after I vacuum the "design floor" so maybe it's for the best.  I don't know where the cats are getting all this excess fur from, but they continue to lose it with abandon.

This weekend I also had my first garden harvest!


It's enough green beans for the two of us for a meal!  I'm sure there are a few more out there, ready, so I'll go snag those to add to the bowl before I cook them for dinner tonight.

The garden isn't large.  We didn't plant a lot of variety, but it is doing well.
(Knock on wood!)

Want to see it?


It looks kinda wild because those tomato plants have gone bananas, but I assure you, the ground inside the fence is quite weed-free.  Around it...well...the hubby has weed whacked, but he is not the best at this yard upkeep thing.  (Not that I'm any better...this is the only place that is weed free on the whole property!)

I'm happy with it.  The hubby has grand plans to make it larger, but since his mom plants about a whole acre, I think his idea of what a garden should be is a bit...um...unmanageable?...for me.  We'll see how this turns out at the end of the summer and go from there.

I've also been working away at the cat toys.  Instead of stuffing and closing the ones I showed last week, I made more.  I had more labels and decided to just use them all up, freeing up that container (and keeping me from losing them).  So now I have something like 200 to stuff.

Just 200.
No biggie.

Here is a link to a video on Facebook from the Saved By Zade team I donate to, at a local adoption event.  They have the toys I made out for a donation and the lady talks just a second about them!  (No hammocks, though - the one you see was not made by me.)

Oh well.
I'll get them done.

Last weekend I had the weekend off.  Since I didn't ask for it, it was rare that I not only had it off, but also didn't have any plans.  The hubby took me to the county fair.  I've never been.  Not to a county fair.  Not to ANY fair.

Yeah.

We ate junk food from the food carts and walked around to see the sites and such.  It was fun.  And a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Then we went shopping.  I decided I wanted a few more pairs of shorts that I could wear to work.

What I ended up with?


I also picked up a pair for a coworker.
She started it.

(I also did get a pair of shorts.  Most places had them on clearance, so my choices weren't great.  I guess there's always next year.  And one is enough for now.)

And finally, I mentioned my book disaster.  Here is a stack of the kinda messy accumulation:


Each stack represents a new trip to a new used book sale.  I was trying to read them oldest (in front) first, but the library is having a summer reading challenge and I have to read books that fit into their categories.  So they've been pulled from all the stacks.

Soon I'll get back to reading them in order of oldest and smallest first (I stack them with the largest on the bottom because, well, I don't want to have to pick these up in the middle of the night - you can see the door frame to my bedroom right there on the left edge), but I console myself with the idea that they're getting READ, if not in my OCD order.

And I think that's all the fun I have to share.

Not that all of it is fun.
Oh well.

Happy quilting!
Katie

7 comments:

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

You have had quite a week! I LOVE your backings! Choosing a backing is always a chore to me - and it SO nice to get big chunks of fabric on sale. Your dryer is fixed - YAY for the small stuff! Your brown blocks are done - so you're on the "downslope" on that one. Your garden is working out nicely - and you went to your first County Fair - and you got new SHOES - and a bunch of books to read. Except for the bad guys - you have a lot of fun stuff going on - ;))

---"Love" said...

Wish I had just one-fourth of your energy! Your garden and those beans look good, and I was reminded of my father who had a big garden every year, with all kinds of veggies! Then Mother helped pick everything and cook it all, or froze a lot of it. Yummy!
All your quilting reminds me that I actually started a large wall hanging a while back, and then I had a series of doctor appointments, which will probably result in surgery in about a month or less. So no quilting is happening here! Keep having fun! I enjoy seeing what you are working. ---"Love"

a good yarn said...

Great choices in backing fabric. And it’s good to have those blocks finished. That’s a fantastic effort with the cat hammocks so there.l be some very contented kitty kats relaxing in comfort. Fresh garden veggies can’t be beaten and a garden needs to be manageable otherwise you end up with a mountain of zucchinis - even if you didn’t plant them! I love your sneakers. They are fabulous. You have had a busy time of things and hopefully the stolen cheque business is finally sorted soon.

Rebecca said...

Love the shoes.... Why is it that hubby will weed whack anything but can not pull weeds in a veggie garden?

Bernie Kringel said...

Hi Katie: I love those shoes!!! I haven't seen them before and they are so cute.
Your quilt top is great - the arrangement of the blocks makes it different from the rest, which is great. Thank you so much for making a quilt for Mercy Hospital!!

Marsha B said...

The quilt and new blocks look great. I like the fussy cut bits in the brown blocks, so cute. The green beans look good, too. I only have a tomato plant so far this year and it has some tomatoes developing but it will be a while. I wish I had room for a garden and nice soil to grow things in, but it is just a wish. Those shoes are adorable, bet they are really cute on. You have lots of books to read, when do you find time between working, quilting and sewing and all the other things you accomplish? Stay cool and have fun!

Mari said...

Love the positivity top! Such great colors. There are a lot of ways to put those blocks together and I think yours looks great. I have a pile of books like that, too! I can't walk past a book sale without stopping. It's stronger than my fabric addiction!