Time to get blogging again!

I haven't felt like blogging about the extreme lack of accomplishment I have had this summer, but will take a small stab at it.  I can't work in a mess and it has been so messy and disorienting to me, besides the awfully hot weather that I just get depressed.  I am looking forward to August 11 when Beth and Miss M. are on vacation and also when school starts a couple of weeks later. My Sunshine quilt is in the "needs a lot of clean space for basting" and that is at a premium right now.  As I said, I can't work in a mess.

I have sewn just a bit after weeks of my sewing area being torn up.  And this doesn't show the worst of it.

I managed to clean up some and stitch, on my Rose, 13 additional 16 scrappy squares blocks to go with my new design for the scrappy 16 patch quilt; designed when I could get to my computer.  I changed it from an on-point design with 3.75 inch sashing and 5 embroidered squares to a straight set with 2 inch sashing and a center embroidered square.  I had to redesign it because the embroidery design I spent $12.00 for was not satisfactory.  I loved it, but when I looked at it in my software, it was skimpy in so many spots with the background showing through.  I spent time increasing the density, but it didn't help.  I usually use designs from Embroidery Library and have to reduce the density on those;  this one wasn't--hence the high price and now a waste of money.  I could have bought five fq's for my stash or more colors of embroidery thread.  So I did spend a lot of time on the computer when I could get to it.  I am glad I did the redesign; the amount of sashing was giving me second thoughts and I would have had to sew squares together for the setting triangles anyway.

I couldn't sew out the embroidery design, it's too big for the Rose, since my Designer 1 was in for repair and normal maintenance and was kept longer than necessary because they had lost the paperwork.  I picked it up today--they didn't lose the bill though, too bad.  I would like to get it set up tomorrow and sew some blocks, but I am still looking for additional fabric.

JoAnn's is close to the sewing machine place, so I stopped there and got the batting for my Sunshine quilt and white Kona for a baby quilt all on sale so I was glad I went even when the car thermometer registered 102 degrees.  Miss M. was at gymnastics and I used that 3.5 hour block of time.

I am looking forward to getting everything back in place and some suitable fabric found.  I will shop in Lisle on Friday when Miss M. has gymnastics again.  Oh, good news, a LQS is actually moving closer to me this week.  I hope to take in some of their Lunch time Lessons on Thursdays-just an hour, ten bucks and lunch included.

Tomorrow is my stay at home day, no gymnastics or piano lessons, but there is YARD WORK.  The lawn needs mowing, the crab grass needs pulling, the daisies and the cone flowers need to be cut down.  The heat and drought so far this summer has been hard on the plants.  No Cosmos and hardly any Petunias.  No wonder I am just depressed.  I want COLD WEATHER, knitting and two quilts finished and off my plate.  At least I have my sewing machine back.