Working Slowly

 I've been good this week, babying my arm and it's calming down. I spent some time organizing my pantry and reorganizing the kitchen cabinets a bit. Now DH says he can't find anything, but eventually he'll figure it out. I find now that I'm cooking for just two and not entertaining thanks to covid, I am using different things on a daily basis than I used to, so it was time my kitchen and pantry reflected the changes. I haven't gotten rid of the stuff I use for entertaining, I keep hoping we eventually get to a point where I can do that again. I did, however, move a lot of stuff I only use for entertaining to less accessible spots, and moved what I find myself using more often to prime real estate in the kitchen. I did weed out a few things as I moved things around. My donation pile is getting bigger and really needs to go soon. 

DH had a birthday this week. I met him when he was 21, and he just turned 59. I'm kind of wondering where all the time has gone, it doesn't seem possible for it to be that long. 

I did get some sewing done. I have a total of four quilts sewn into rows now, but the larger a quilt gets the harder it is my arm, so I'm purposely giving myself a bit more time before I assemble the quilts.

All the stoplight blocks are now sewn. I haven't cut any of the novelty pieces to alternate with them yet. I've got over twenty 16 patches done from quillow leftovers, and I cut up another two yards of a different cream fabric for the solid alternating squares to go with the four patches. I'm not sure that will be enough either, but I found another solid cream in stash that's close in shade, and if I need to, I'll go into a third cream colored fabric. If I mix the blocks well enough, the creams are close enough to not be really obvious, but at least I'm clearing out some smaller cuts of solid fabrics. 

I did get some cleaning up the fabric room done. I'm not finished, but it's certainly better than it was.

Not all the surfaces are clear, but they aren't all piled high anymore, so that's a win. 

I've been working on cutting up scraps from the scrap basket that was overflowing. I've got a lot more to do, but it sure needed to be done. I think my last scrap cleanup was mid-2019, and I've sewn a lot since then, so I have lots of scraps to deal with. It is pretty fun looking at all the different fabrics I used over the past 18 months or so. I try not to let it go this long, but sometimes I am really bad about it. The thing is, once the scraps are cut into squares or strips they will get used, I go to my scrap user system first when starting a new quilt. I never dig through the scrap basket, until I finally decide to pre-cut it all into common sizes. When it's just chunks of odd sized fabrics it may as well be in a black hole in space, it doesn't count as usable fabric in my head until it's been pre-cut. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it is how I work. 

I cut up the scraps of fleece I had from backing the quillows and cut those into 6.5" squares. That's the only size square I save of fleece. 

As soon as I cut the fleece scraps I laid out the top for a weighted blanket for one of my grandsons. I have at least three weighted blankets I need to make, but they are really hard on my arm, so I won't be finishing them soon. If I can get all the tops made, they can be quick finishes later on. 

Tomorrow DH and I are going to go for a long drive. I hardly leave the house these days, and although it doesn't bother me much, I've always been a homebody at heart, even I could use a change of scenery about now. The time in the car will give me chance to write the stupid poems I give my family for Valentine's each year. I have 30 poems to write and I've only finished six!