this and that

 Yesterday we had a fairly decent day up in the high 40's-low 50's and pleasant enough for Oscar to spend a bit of time in the backyard.  I got busy in the sewing room prepping the pieces for those zip zip bag kits from Connecting Threads.  I needed to use some 505 Spray and Fix so it was good that I could pop the sewing room window open till that job was completed.  The pattern also calls for something called "Soft and Stable" on some of the sections and fusible interfacing on others.  I'm using auto head liner instead as I heard it is an alternative for soft and stable, a discovery when I was looking at tablet cover patterns.   This should be sized correctly for one of my electronic toys which is why I want the bag(s),  The kit came with fabric for two of them in the turquoise and purple colorways.  Might use the turquoise one as a purse and purple for the purple tablet.  Prepping and planning is as far as the project got.  I had started binge watching a few episodes of "Gracepoint" on hulu while I was in the sewing room and then a few more later in the living room when Oscar came back in the house.  4 more to go at some point.

Today it is gloomy and damp, doubt we will hit 50's as it is barely in the 40's according to my thermometer.  Oscar is in for now anyway.  I looked out the corner o my eye to see him dragging his camo fleece blanket out of his crate and off to the living room to join his toy frog and his rawhide bone.
Skyler is napping on my bed and not tormenting Oscar which is probably how he likes it.

I tried to put the blanket back in his bed and he grabbed it away from me to roll on the floor.   He distracts easily enough so I got the job done.   I was baking some tortillas for taco salad later today and he followed me out to the kitchen hoping that meant a handout.  No dice!  He had decided to nap on the couch instead.

Sewing is not apt to happen today.  Sometimes I do head into the sewing room once he is in bed for the night.   I hope it does not sound like I resent that loss of sewing time.  Oscar has been a true blessing to me.  Not only has he gotten me out of the house and more physically active but there is nothing like unconditional love.   Dogs might be more needy but there are more loving than cats though Skyler just shows it in other ways.   All that walking and dietary changes (changes in cooking, lessened appetite, etc) and I've lost 32 needed pounds to date or back to where I was 5 years ago.  Oh I have a long ways to go but every little bit helps.

This time of year though I start thinking about where I want my creative efforts to be focused in the following year.  For all the reasons I have posted about in the past and present, I was the most slug like creatively.  Oh, I've done blog hops and some home dec stuff but zero donation quilt work.  I might have needed the break from it, true, but I have lots of things kitted up and fabric to be turned into something useful.  I miss that part of my sewing life!

What are you looking at??  12 pizza boxes of kitted up stuff and/or UFO's that I want to be gone.  Well, one of them is an on-going project and I'll swap it out for another boxed up thing in the sewing room closet.  Some are personal projects, some donation items.  This is what I wake up to every morning---and it annoys me.  12---one to address each month, I'm thinking.

Then we also have this stack of pinned quilts.  Two are my donation quilts from back in 2013.  One is Aline's.  One is a personal project---that Connecting Thread fun Fiesta print Brioche and Baguettes that deserves to be finished!!

True, this pile has often been much higher.  Sometimes it was quilts to be quilted and other times, donation quilts that were done and needed to be logged in or I had run out of shelf space in the closet.  Still.........this annoys me as well.

And this is my pile of tops.  Well, I do need to still prep Lily's Chevron quilt with a special label so it is waiting.  The one behind it is not completed and is part of the pizza box thing.  Two are embroidered quilt tops.  Just other stuff that is not as pressing but "some day".  I want the pizza box stuff to join this!!   At least it would be some forward progress.  The really big tops will need to go to a long armer anyway.

I spend a bit of time thinking about what I would like to sew if I had the time and nothing pressing that needed done----

• Ursula purse from Creative Thimble.  I've got the fabric, pattern and materials on hand so why not?
• Get back to working on my version of the Farmer's Wife Sampler  last seen in September 2012 with 30 of the needed 111 done.  I enjoy this and want to get back to working on it.  Not exclusively but I want to have some forward progress with what I consider my masterpiece work.
• I sorta, kinda want to make a blue/white quilt of some sort for the master bedroom to go with the dust ruffle and curtains I have made.  Disappearing 4 patch or Split Decision variation I came up with possibly
• Do something with that early challenge quilt for guild---the first letter of your first name.  It is all cut out and has been hanging in a tote on the sewing room closet door knob for months and months now!

There is probably more bouncing around in my head past the zip zip bags but those are things I think of most often.  I realize that there is always going to be something that is going to cause me to veer off track.  A new pattern or a new twist on doing an existing pattern.  Missouri Star has some neat videos that I am itching to explore.  Used to be, I would do that with a donation quilt idea.  "Been there, did that" and the quilt didn't need to stay at my house.  A picture would sufice.  Give in to the "squirrels" and "shiny objects" as that is what sparks creativity and makes my craft more fresh and exciting.

To that end---as much fun as it was to participate in blog hops, I think I am done.  It can get a little pricey both monetarily and time wise.  Something else I needed or wanted to do always got shunted to the side if I was in a time crunch.   We have two or three cold months to get through before I see having consistent sewing time unless I chose to haul a machine out to the kitchen.  I do NOT like doing that especially now that the room is set up exactly like I want it.  However, if I have to, I will.

That's my plans---stating them in public may help get them going in the right direction.  Hope so!  Critters and owner to feed, dog to walk......life away from the keyboard is calling.