Trying to Get My Mojo Back

 April was weird, busy, but weird. I was really thrown off by the change to my routine. March I didn't have a regular routine either, I spent most of March in a hotel sewing away. I got a ton of sewing done in March. In April, not so much. The only sewing I got done in April at all was the 34 bowl cozies.

Now it's May, I wonder what May has in store.

The first good thing in May, is that DH was named one of the Fabulous 50 nurses in Tucson.

https://tucson.com/howard-rains/article_87ce67fc-c591-11ec-a113-bb063cab7a4a.html

I know he's a very good nurse, and it is nice to see him recognized for that. I am very proud of him! 

DH is now back at home, which is very good! He's done with the assignment at the other hospital, which is great! Of course, he was exposed to Covid his first day back at work here, so we'll be hoping nothing comes of that. Those three weeks we were apart were the longest we've been apart since his Army days. 

It's funny, when I got home at the beginning of April, I knew just which things I needed to do next in the sewing queue. Since I went so long without getting back to those projects, I'm struggling a bit getting back in the swing of things.

I did get my new Quiltmaker magazine, and I've cut out all the pieces for clue three in the Ruby Jubilee mystery. Cutting for sampler quilts takes SO much longer than cutting for a bunch of the same blocks. Since I have so few of each shape to cut, I'm just rotary cutting. I have really learned something about the way I work best when rotary cutting. I want to use the smallest ruler I have that will get the job done. I know a lot of people use a 6x24 ruler to cut everything, and if that's your style, great! I love rulers, and I have a LOT of them. I didn't buy them all at once, and I never buy a ruler at full price, but over the years I've accumulated a lot of rulers. I have so many square rulers, it's crazy. If I have to sliver trim units, which I hate doing, it's a little less detestable if I have the right size square to use for trimming. I have the EZ angle ruler in three different sizes. The Companion ruler in two sizes. I have four sizes of Stripolology rulers, one of which I would never buy again, but the other three I use. I have June Tailor Shape cut rulers in three sizes. Did I mention I really have a thing for rulers? It's true I like to use the smallest ruler I can for whatever I'm cutting. I find using a ruler that's too large, especially for cutting triangles, just makes the job harder than it needs to be. If you have a hard time cutting accurate triangles, try using a smaller ruler if you can, and see if it helps. 

This morning, I finally unpacked the tote I had at the hotel in March.

I threw this quilt up on the design wall. I made all of these blocks at the hotel, and it will be a fun throw sized quilt. 

I got some sewing done, and I got all the units done for another set of blocks for my Modern Technology quilt. At the hotel I was easily getting one set of blocks sewn per day, but now that I'm home, and I'm dog-sitting as well, there's a lot of interruptions. These dogs are not used to me being downstairs in my sewing room, so I'm going up and down stairs a lot to be the dog valet and let them outside then in. 

I'm trying to get back in the cooking every day habit as well. When DH was gone I ate sandwiches, or even cereal for dinner. Now that he's home and I have someone to cook for, I'm back to cooking. We're having chicken gnocchi soup for dinner tonight, yummy!

I caught up on the laundry easily enough, even though he came home with a suitcase full of dirty laundry. I'm one of those weird people who actually likes doing laundry. 

Our train trip will be coming up before we know it, and I've been looking for certain things we'll be wanting to take. We're traveling light, a carry on and backpack per person, plus a duffle bag if we need it. I bought new carry on suitcases. Ours were about 20 years old and not in the best shape. I've been told it's good to have a refillable water bottle on the train. I have a purple one I use regularly, but the other day at Tuesday Morning, I found this.

It will keep things hot or cold, so I may bring this instead! Now I'm thinking I may need to get my solid scraps together and make this pattern into a quilt. 

DD#1 not only has dogs, cats, a rabbit, chickens, ducks, and goats, now she's getting pigs! She ended up getting one more pig than planned. Someone she knew had a litter of pigs go badly, and the mama pig and all the babies but one died. Without a mama, the surviving baby was not going to make it. DD#1 has a goat in milk, and goat's milk is a suitable substitute for pig's milk. 

This video was taken when Hamlet was two days old. Isn't he a cutie?

That's one happy piglet!