A little of this and a little of that

Hi everybody, welcome to Tuesday in blogland!  My retirement counter seems to be moving faster than ever, can you believe it?  I'm getting all tingly inside -- and outside too!

Yesterday mid-morning I walked outside and saw my neighbor who lives two doors down from me industriously raking and digging in his flower box (the little patch of dirt between the sidewalk and street).  I went down and was chatting with him and I noticed -- he had put astro-turf in his flower box!  Yes, you read it right - ASTRO TURF!  I said "uhmmm, is that astro turf?"  He grinned and said "yeah!  I don't like fooling with plants and flowers, its too much trouble."  I said, "but won't weeds grow up around that?  You have real grass in your yard, why not put the same thing here?"  He goes, "it's too hard to maintain, people will keep walking over it."  At that point I figured I was still ahead, so I left it alone.  We chatted a few more minutes about azaleas, gladioli, river rock and mulch, then I went shopping.

I finished sewing all my blocks for the W-E quilt, oh yes!  When I pressed a few blocks and measured them, they were slightly too small, oh no!  My friend Felicia wrote an article in our April WeeBee newsletter about maintaining that scant 1/4 inch - I forgot about "the scant" when I was sewing them together.  It's not too hard to fix though; I can ease two of the seams in each block to bring the size up where I need it, then I can square them up.

Try doing that 30 times... makes you want to slowwww down.

Meanwhile, in my enthusiasm I cut way too many strips!  So... I went through the blocks and exchanged some fabrics I wasn't too crazy about for some that I thought were prettier.  I think I have a pretty decent mix, I can't wait to get it sewn together!  Slowly, of course...

Our guild meeting Saturday was really great and I think everybody enjoyed themselves, despite the frigid temperature in the rec center.  There were several mini workshop/demos on hand and machine sewing techniques and there were cutting demos on the GO! and Cricut.  When we stopped for refreshments, a bunch of people (including yours truly) took their food outside for an "al fresco" experience in the sun!

Someone mentioned Guild meetings on Saturdays - I think this is a good thing because a lot of our members work during the week, so Saturday is an excellent choice!  We not only have the benefit of a meeting, but we can do more things in the time we're together.  Years ago I joined a guild that met on Wednesday nights but that got old after awhile... I discovered I didn't like getting a bunch of stuff together and going to a meeting in the evening, after working all day. 

Well, enjoy your day.  I plan to get more work done on my Motown quilt, which I'd like to share with you but can't just yet. Sew forth and sew on til later