Where wondering, leads to wandering, leads to wondering "what was I thinking?" on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - and how are things in your little corner of the world?  It was a a pretty good one last week...I'm writing  this on Saturday afternoon and I haven't had to water since Monday... but I'll be doing it later today. Got surprised by a couple of pop up storms that doused the gardens fairly well on W/Th/F... however, like all weather, things are changing and the forecast is for upper 90's and no rain... sigh... what I really want is Camelot where it rains overnight several times a week... and I shall dream on.  If you'd like a little  tour of my gardens click here... it is a link to my post on IG...I can't get it to load here...

Had 2 doctor appointments last week where the conclusion was  my ailments are "age related" ... which means you are old... and not much we can do about it... nothing really earth shattering...."age related" macular degeneration but not at the point for any interventions... come back in 9 months...  and  nighttime cramps in my feet and toes for which they don't know why that happens and suggested a magnesium supplement... I'll give it a try.

As for more upbeat chatter I was semi-productive this week. Spent some quality time in my sewing studio and added 8 more blocks to the Jolly Good FQ 4 Patch  Quilt...

I have 8 more cut out and will need 8  more after that to make the quilt 36 blocks... would love to find a cute Christmas- y wide back for this... 

And I got the binding on the Tilda spools... 

I know this isn't a great pic...I was thinking of doing a glamour shot of the quilt draped over my neighbors' new fence with my dahlia beds as a back drop... but it is too hot right now for that.

And this is when the wondering, lead to wandering, lead to "what was I thinking"?... 

So I really deeply truly LOVE LOVE LOVE this spool blocks... you may remember I have another Tilda spool quilt started... this version will have a solid spool center...

The blocks will go both vertically and horizontally... the spool part is taupe and the background is a golden yellow Grunge... right now this one is napping on a tray...  

Back to the binding... as I was sewing it on I was looking around my studio and contemplating a bit of an update to the room... I have considered changing  the direction  of my sewing tables but I'm not sure it would be any better than what I have now... I looked at the quilts I have in the room... on the back of a comfy chair... an American Jane quilt... 

over this little cabinet... another American Jane ... this one a amalgamation of different blocks left over from other projects.... and yes I do have some little cross stitch pieces I want to add to that tier tray... they are stitched but not FFO'd... sigh...

and this quilt over my cutting table... 

Now I made this quilt about 10 years ago when almost everything I made was BRIGHT... and this is no exception. If you enlarge the pic you can see it has a very cute border and all the spools are bright stripe-y fabrics.  And my mind wondered  if another spool quilt... with American Jane fabrics... might be just the project to freshen up the studio...

So I went and checked out my AJ fabric stash... and you aren't seeing things, that is a rubber chicken on the middle shelf... it is a purse... I actually carried it for a while...LOL 

and found a bag of charm squares in those bottom baskets which are the perfect starting point for these spool blocks... 

oh I forgot to mention the spool blocks is the Biscuit Quilt from the Sew Emma book Simply Jelly Rolls ... and before you know it I'd made 2 blocks, just to check it out my idea... oh I really really like these!!

In short order, I  cut all the centers I will need for a 15  block quilt which would fit nicely over my cutting table...each piece is a different fabric and while some are the same design they are different color ways... nice and scrappy...

 I didn't have any brown AJ fabric for the spool ends but found that crackly print in my stash that works nicely... it will be a FREE quilt!  and we are not going to think deeply about the way I'm justifying this... LOL

So while I was standing there cutting out the fabrics I got to wondering about other AJ quilts I've started and left stranded in plastic bins... I am a cruel quilter... so I wandered into my root cellar closet that has many many many bins of fabrics and partially finished projects and found not one but two more AJ  quilts...

This first one was a sew along back in 2020 for the pattern Fresh as Daisy by Pen & Paper Patterns and you can see it here...

as you can see I did not complete the sew along and have 9 blocks... I have 2 more cut out, but I think I was planning to make  this a bed sized quilt ... one of those  "what was I thinking" moments ... but now I'm thinking a small lap quilt of 12 would be adequate...

And then there was this AJ project... which I don't even know the name of ... but from the contents of its plastic bin I KNOW was I planning on making this a bed sized quilt... What in the heck was I thinking???

 There a a bajillion little triangles in this ... and what  you probably can't see in the pic with the photo of the design and my "plan" but the date on this is 2008... which pre-dates this blog by 2 years... that was a looong time ago...and I know that I am never going to get back to this...

sooooo my current plan is to trim up the edges and quilt this and turn it into a runner that I can use on the bench in the living room for when I get out my AJ quilts and chickens...and my plan is to do that in the next 2 weeks... fingers crossed. 

Don't know what this says about my wondering and how it leads to wandering... but I do wonder about myself sometimes and I'm glad my vices are crafty... otherwise I think I'd get into a lot of serious trouble...LOL

I did get my craft room tidied up slightly... I made notes for the 3 patriotic pieces I started stitching and didn't finish so hopefully I'll be able to figure out what I planned to do with them next year.

And I put some quality time in on the Noel Sampler from WT&T...

now I don't usually do the entire border first, but after getting the top and right side done I wanted to see what the left side would look like and before you know it I was stitching the bottom too.   I have an error somewhere... I can not find it but when I got to the bottom I'm one stitch off... just gonna leave  it... there is some wiggle room in the bottom area where I can have one less  unstitched row... and I'm making a note on the pattern so if I put this away without finishing it I will know what happened, because one of the biggest lies I tell myself is "I'll remember what I did"...LOL

I did get some nice 16 ct Aida in Wren for the Prairie Schooler  No.13 A Prairie Year  that I want to do ... and I picked up all the needed flosses at Hobby Lobby... and somehow I've managed to keep myself from starting this BIG project... but I have a feeling temptation will overcome me soon and I'll have to start one of them.

Next week seems pretty easy... Elliott on Tuesday and an financial appointment on Wednesday... I'd love to spend the other days at home...  like I said, I want to get the patriotic stuff put away and get my chicken/garden stuff out... and I'm getting better in practicing that this is going to take longer than it used to ... I'm not as young as I use to be, but hopefully not as old as I'll get... I saw a little video on IG where a guy  was talking about his philosophy of life... he pulled out a paper tape that had the numbers 1 to 100 on it... he said that the average age for men is 75 and for women is 81... he tore the tape at 75... then he tore the tape again at his age (57) and tossed it aside and held up the small  piece that was left and spoke to the fact that this is the probable amount of time he has left in life and that he needs to make the most of it... he was grateful for all the time he has had but reflected on how he needs to be mindful of how he spends his days... and I'm trying to do that too. I'm lucky that most days I do get to do just what I want to do... the only issue is, there seems to be more I want to do in a day than there are hours... gotta make the most of what I have left, correct ?

Well, I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and with Quilting is more fun than Housework... hoping to get in some sewing and some stitching... will need to water the garden... Nick has already prepped what he want to make for our dinner... life is good...

happy stitching-

carol fun