Citrus Triangles

Almost half way there. 

I am a master of organization.  Also, post-it notes don't actually stick to fabric. 

It's been awhile since I've had two days off from work, let alone three.  I spent the first two days basically sleeping - I managed to do yard work and get some cleaning done in the mornings but both Friday and Saturday featured 4 hour long naps in the afternoons.  A friend of mine says that I have mental fatigue which is a nice way of her telling me that I look tired.

Today, however, was completely different.  I cooked, baked, cleaned, finished laundry, killed another very large spider in the garage, and worked on my quilt.  Day three of the three day weekend was bliss and I'm now ready for further abuse at work.  Did you miss the fact that I cooked and baked?  I'm trying to go through my cupboards now that I discovered an alarming amount of expired jars on the shelves. And not just a little expired - more like I think I brought that can with me when I moved here seven years ago, expired.  Whenever I throw away an expired bottle or can, I can hear my grandmother's voice telling me that it is perfectly good and she didn't have the luxury of throwing away cans of food when she was growing up in the great depression.  Yes, that is true. But, no matter how bad this recession is,  teriyaki sauce should not be grey.  Words to live by people. Words to live by.  

May flowers

Is it overkill to put 10 pictures up on a single blog posting about flowers in my yard?

I don't think so.  I don't think so at all.

FNSI

Proof that I like repetitive motions.

I didn't do all of this for Friday Night Sew-In, but I did some triangles cut and all the sewing finished.  Because I've lost track of how many triangles I'm producing here, you won't be getting a final number yet and I know that the anticipation is likely going to get the better of you.

So, I would have posted this sooner but I had to go to work today then I came home and was very grumpy about having to go to work today so I worked out and took a nap.  Part of the grumpiness comes from an email sent to me seven hours into my work day that told me the requester changed their mind and won't be needing my work after all.  I'm very proud of myself that I have not had alcohol in any form after that email.

spring flowers (?)

My happy little cyclamen.

This violet needs to be repotted.

This pretty girl keeps putting out more flowers. 

It's been a rainy, sleet and hail filled spring here.  I'm ready for some nice weather, but that could be awhile.  Since I won't be outside taking pictures of the hardy little spring flowers here, here are some pictures of the pretty plants in my office window.  The orchid has been blooming since December and I am very appreciative of her pretty pink presence (fancy bit of alliteration, that) in my window.

An end to a crafty week.

Eggs for Easter!

Flags for the garden that has yet to be planted. 

I work with an amazing group of people and I am not exaggerating to say that I am honored to work with every single one of them.  (Well, not a couple - am I right, Catherine?)  At any rate, we are not only smart and attractive, but we are also crafty.  And, boy have we been crafty during our down time.  For us, this is what I like to call "firefighter mode."  I have only a few things to work on and I have lots of down time, but when my subjects come up it is high alert and I need to be able to respond quickly.  So, we wait and then we leap into action.

The crafty ladies have come up with two projects to fill our time. The first is growing real grass in real eggs (that have been emptied of their eggy contents) in time for Easter.  I do not own egg cups, but I discovered shot glasses make lovely egg cups (don't judge).  The second was fabric flags, stiffened and weatherproofed with silicone caulk for garden vegetable markers.  The joke on me is that it is too flippin' dark in my yard for veggies, but I am considering writing "moss" on one and putting it in the front yard.

Since I can't bring my sewing machine to work, I'll be looking for other similar projects this work week.

I'm going to Utah in October!  I've kind of wanted to try a sewing getaway for awhile.  But, I've wanted to make sure that if the conference wasn't working for me that I would be in a place where I could be distracted by my new environment.  Salt Lake City fits the bill.  But, to be fair, the Sewing Summit looks like it will be fabulous and I won't need to be distracted by the city.  The schedule looks great and I really can't wait to spend three days learning from some very talented people.  Plus, Utah has loosened up its liquor code so there's that.  

Whew, finally. And my oh so grown up, sarcastic response to the dumbing down argument.

Baby quilt #2

Baby quilt #2, back

Baby quilt #1, no fancy back on this one. 

I know, we all thought this day would never come but they are done - the baby quilts I made from the 9 blocks I made for block-a-palooza.  I'm not going to finish block-a-palooza - there were too many flying geese and it turns out flying geese make me stabby.   At any rate, I finished the quilts and they will be on their way to the Baltimore Headstart program tomorrow.  The pink quilt has a hand sewn binding and the purple one has a machine sewn binding.  I actually would have preferred to do a hand sewing binding on that one, but in the interest of time I had to do that on my machine. 

On another note, I've come to learn to appreciate a hand sewn binding and will be doing that little job by hand from now on.  Look at me growing as a quilter and learning new techniques.  But, no, I've been reading on the internet how modern quilters are all dumbing down their techniques - so how could I be learning new techniques if I'm so dumb?  This just doesn't compute.  Maybe modern quilters aren't dumbing down the quilting movement.  Maybe we do what we enjoy and try new things and either like them or don't.  Flying geese, bad. Hand binding, good.  I like bright colors and simple lines which doesn't make me a bad quilter, it makes me someone who enjoys bright colors and simple lines.  Look, no one has to like every quilt that is out there but if you don't like it, you don't have to belittle it and state that the quilter is inferior.  Differences can be appreciated without interference by the quilt police.  Here endeth the lecture.