Done and Dusted

Done and dusted. That would be the perfect title for this week’s blogpost if my spring cleaning were done. It would be the perfect title if all my planned sewing and quilting projects for this month, or even just this week were done. But no. It’s the perfect title because after this busy week (especially yesterday), I am done and dusted. Tired. Spent. Exhausted. 

On Monday we ran 6 of our 8 “needs to happen this week” errands. Tuesday was yardwork day. The veggie garden is planted and so are all the flowers and flower pots. Wednesday was sewing day. Thursday was tackling Mt. Washmore, more errands, and more yardwork. Friday was grocery shopping and the installation of our new home security system. The guys who sold us our security plan (and those who installed it) were amazing. Heck, George was here long enough for the cats to warm up to him! So now we’re in the 21st century with smart home technology, cameras, alarms, detectors for fire and gas/carbon monoxide (already had those), sensors for water leaks, glass breakage, and more - all accessible from our panel or smart phones. And for a negligible amount over what we were paying before. But the process was a bit disruptive yesterday. I’m so glad it’s done (and dusted!)

BUT - that means I didn’t get accomplished what I thought I’d get done in the sewing room this week. All is not lost though as I do have things to share.  First up are the “chips" that I finished a week ago but didn’t share last week. I thought I was making 12 of each, but it turns out that my count was off, so there are 13 with white borders and 11 with black borders. 

Kim and I basted two flimsies on Wednesday, but I only got one quilted. It was this little red scrappy column quilt that I showed the beginnings of last week. It finished at 40x48” and made a nice dent in my red scraps.

The backing used up the last of this cute print I’ve had in my stash for about 3 years. Naturally, the quilt will go to Quilts for Kids. 

I also worked on the large half square triangles that I’m making into Disappearing Pinwheels. I thought I had enough to make 22 blocks and had planned to make a quilt using 20 blocks, with the 2 leftovers going into the Parts Department. But I counted again and realized I had enough to make 26 blocks (Are you sensing a pattern here with my counting ability?) so, I decided to make more than one quilt. 

This is where I am with the first quilt. It will consist of 12 blocks and be bordered with the red on all four sides (it’s just partially pinned now). The backing will be some of the denim blue chambray hanging to the right.

The remaining blue HSTs will wait for our Dark Blue month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. However, I’ll sew up and play with the remaining 8 red and white blocks this month. I’ll have to add some other blocks to bring them up to a good quilt size. Here is one partial possibility with string blocks. 

But I’ll have other blocks to consider adding, because I also sewed up six 6.5” crumb blocks and 13  4-patches. Stay tuned.

After resting up, I’m getting a late start today (Saturday). Today I’ll be cleaning the spare downstairs bedroom. I finally assembled my new Shark vacuum for use downstairs. We’ll use our regular old heavy monster vac for upstairs without the need to cart it up and down stairs. Plus, naturally, there will be laundry and sewing today. We hope to make plans for the coming week to visit a friend and enjoy the fruits of our last several weeks' of labor. Life is good. 

Linking to:  Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Oh Scrap!