Resurgence of Energy

It seems the last few weeks it has been difficult for me to focus and get much of anything accomplished. With the older kids all settling into their new relationships, the younger kids enjoying the outdoors, and in general things feeling a bit less chaotic, I've found my energy and motivation again.

After bouncing up and down the same few pounds for the last few months, I'm back on my eating plan minus all the little cheats that were holding me back. I'm hoping to have at least 10 more pounds off by early August, when both of our families are having big reunions.

I was also having trouble staying motivated with my quilting, not a good thing when I have a good sized quilt to quilt and 16 toppers to have finished by August 2nd. I finished topper number 8 yesterday, so now half of them are done. I also cut all the freezer paper pieces for the remaining 8, have adhere all but 20 leaves to the fabric (I have to find another piece of green that works with my already made vine for those last 20 leaves) and most of them are now cut down and ready for basting. Today and tomorrow I'll be finishing the prepwork on those and also marking the last 8 tops so they are ready for applique. With all the prepwork done, the last 8 toppers should move along more quickly than did the first eight. I'm still also working on my strip pieced project, there are only a few pieces left to sew on each block but there are 288 blocks! I work on this when it's too hot and sticky to do handwork or I just need a bit of a break from it. Since it appears I don't have any larger quilts to make this Christmas, I have a couple of my own larger quilts earmarked for quilting once the anniversary party items are completed.

I've also been knitting dishcloths again, I had completely run out of them and wanted to replenish my supply. I'll use a few of them myself and save the rest for tucking into gifts or the occasional sale of them that comes along. Here are the latest ones, I also have one more that was made out of all the leftover skein ends that weren't enough to make another cloth but I couldn't bear to throw out. I've been alternating between appliquing (or quilting), machine stitching and knitting and am having a ball. The primary focus is the applique, but it sure is nice to throw bits of other things in the mix so as not to get too bogged down.

Our van is still not back, though should be very soon. The work is done, it started and is running fine. The short he was worried about seems to have been corrected by separating and taping the bundled wiring. He full expected to be driving the van back several days ago BUT couldn't find the nuts to reattach the dashboard. After spending several hours looking for them he concluded that someone who was helping must have moved or accidentally discarded them. Unfortunately they are reverse threaded metric nuts (I think that's right) and must be ordered from the dealer. He may be able to make them at work. In any case, it shouldn't be much longer and I'll have wheels again. Just in time for insanely high gas prices!

We'll be keeping driving to an absolute minimum. To that end, I bought a "granny cart" for doing my grocery shopping whenever possible. There are times that weather or time constraints may make walking my errands impractical, but I'll be doing that whenever I can. Not only to save gas and wear and tear on the van, but also to add to my exercise. I had tried one of the more prevalent, cheaper carts and knew that it would not really work for my needs. It wasn't big enough or sturdy enough. I found this online a few months ago and ordered it last week with some birthday money. It can be pushed or pulled, folds up flat and is really heavy duty (hold up to 250 pounds.) Since I make several different stops while I shop, it's possible with stops home and/or making trips on different days to do all my shopping on foot.

I have a few loads of laundry today and the ever present dishes along with a few other chores, but mostly I hope to work on toppers. With the party less than 2 months away, I'd really like to pound away at the toppers and the quilt so I'm not having a last minute crunch. With my husband's family coming in for a reunion a week later (they are arriving the weekend of the party) and all from out of state our house will likely be home base and I have some extra cleaning to do to make sure everything is in tip top shape before their arrival (or as tip top as it gets in a run down, well used house!)

It's quiet here today. Joshua works until 1:00, Rebekah is in school until about 1:00 but graduates TODAY and is going out to lunch with her boyfriend to celebrate. Rachel babysits all day on Tuesday and Thursday for the summer, Jonathan is at a babysitting job and then is going to pass out flyers for the yardwork job he does with Rachel's boyfriend. It's a beautiful day here and Lucas is riding his bike at the moment and I'm about to get Ruthie ready to join him. I have enough handwork here to keep me busy outside which has been the plan all along, but it's been too wet and/or cold to execute it!

A whole month of days like today and I just might finish everything on time!

Happy Quilting!

Sue