A Day of Good Things
After a very chilly morning, the sun came out and so did the energy levels at Stauffer Avenue. When the skies are gray and there is a chill in the air, as there has been for a day or two, a clear vision is hard to come by. What both Dennis and I realized in the sunny afternoon, is that the acre will need yet another mowing sometime this next week. We may be swapping out the snowblower within a month for parking the lawn mowers at this rate.
We are planning on taking a bit of a road trip later this month and several things came to mind for today. Out came the pickup with the shop vacuum right behind it. Spending time in a vehicle always feels better with a tidy environment and the pickup seats serve both of us better than the softer seats of the car.
We have made several longer trips this summer to take a check on how my back will handle a much longer trip. Having a tender back does not mean that being confined to St. James is necessary. With that being said, I decided to tuck a few items into the potting shed and not leave it all to a possibly weary body on the return to Stauffer Avenue. Of course, there was plenty of help. Butter Ball follows me around when I am outside and Fuzzy and Harry are right on his heels. Fuzzy and Harry thought they had died and gone to heaven when they explored the potting shed. I have found out that when I leave a few items I want to get rid of, all I have to do is put them on the east side of the potting shed with my “Free” sign. Its been pretty good luck in lightening the load of items that are not of a lot of value, but too good to put in the garbage.
Upon the completion of each trimmed block, it was a matter of not over thinking the placement of one block to the next. The fact that they were all perfectly trimmed made matching up the seams very easy as row upon row built the quilt top. Patchwork to me means randomly placing the blocks. There was no new yardage cut for the making of this scrappy quilt top and none will be cut for the backing of this scrappy quilt. It was my intention to ease the feelings I had that scraps could be made useful. My family, finding fabric scraps, might have no problem throwing them away at sometime in the future, but throwing out a quilt . . . that is another thing.
There was one more project that needed to be literally sewn up before we take our trip: the patchwork quilt top I have been puttering with. I do have an appointment for the first part of November at the Old Alley Quilt Shop to have the patchwork king sized quilt finished on the long arm. Store owner Sharon does not want a lot of quilt tops in her shop at one time, thus the appointment schedule. I made the appointment in July. That speaks to how far ahead she is booked. The back of this quilt will also be of a patchwork 
nature with blocks sized at seven and a half inches – the same size as the blocks on the front. The difference is that each block will be of one color or print of material rather than the multiple fabrics that made up the seven and a half inch blocks for the front. I knew once the more time consuming top was pieced, the backing would not be a problem to complete in time.
Many good things were accomplished today. The icing on the cake is an oven meal that is in progress as I type. It is a cool enough day that heating the oven for several hours will not make it uncomfortable in the remainder of the home. Right now, I can tell you that the scalloped potatoes, meat loaf and squash are wafting some pretty good aromas throughout the home. Dennis pitched in with peeling potatoes and also some cucumbers. This most definitely will be the last batch of cucumbers. Hmm, I said that last week.