Week 37 - And Now Cold

The headline for the week was definitely the weather. After 100+ feel like temps on Sunday, it was down to 38 with the wind chill by Tuesday. So I went from AC to heat in 48 hours. Sheesh!

The week started with a non-holiday. In order to shorten the fall semester so students could be done at Thanksgiving, UNL had taken away Labor Day as a holiday. We banked the holiday and since I didn't have any plans, it wasn't worth taking the day off so I didn't. There was no knitting either so what drippy start to the week.

I spent the cold week inside, knitting, streaming and quilting. Sound familiar? The rain was lovely though. It rained steadily Tuesday and Wednesday then drizzled on and off on Thursday and Friday. Andrea had gone out-of-town at the last minute and had agreed to water plants for a friend so I inherited that job. Luckily I only watered on Monday and then checked things Thursday so that was easy. The work week was uneventful. I had more meetings than usual, including 4 on Friday, so the days didn't drag. 

When the meds didn't help my shoulder, I decided it must be something with my position at my desk so folded up a small, felted afghan and just raising my butt that little bit helped my shoulder immediately. As soon as that felt better, I did something to my knee. My real one. I was shifting in bed on Thursday morning and something when ka-chunk, leaving me with a painful joint that was bent. Not as bent as my other knee was before replacement but painful. I could only hope that whatever went out of whack would correct itself. Damn! It's always something.

I had a pretty exciting weekend after being holed up all week. I'd made plans to meet Lori at Penzey's in Omaha, get some lunch then knit on her patio. Any thoughts I had of going to Omaha early went out the window when I talked with Caorlyn for hours. I threw on clothes and got there just after noon to find Lori placing an order on her phone because Penzey's was pick up only. I did the same then we checked out the pizza restaurant in the alley beside Penzey's. I'd never noticed it but there it was and it was not only delicious but also vegan friendly, which made Lori happy. We ate outside in the alley (not pretty) then went to her house.

Lori's yard is gorgeous. She has a bed of 6' tall zinnias that were covered with butterflies and the sun came out just as we sat down. It was glorious to see the sun again and we knitted the afternoon away. When she left for 5:00 mass, I headed to Aldi for a big stock up then saw Five Below across the plaza so hit that for a few stocking stuffers. I was home before 7:00. It was a lovely day.

Lorri went to the first live church since March so stopped by afterwards, which felt so back to normal. An illusion, I know. Then though my knee was still problematic, I managed to pull all the driveway weeds, butt in the air for a couple of hours, which I split into 2 stints. I had just gone inside for a cup of tea when the phone rang. I had a nice, long chat with Sharyn, hanging up just in time to drive my weeds to the city burn pile and shower before eating dinner while watching 60 Minutes. Perfect. 

I ended the night downstairs quilting again. I had recently bought a bag of fabric scraps at Goodwill and found someone's tiny crumb quilting attempts mixed in so have been incorporating those in my squares. Why not? I had made 30 squares in the past 3 weeks and was still enjoying it. Here's a picture.

With fall weather finally here, I have high hopes of getting back into my yard in the evenings like I did this spring. My garage also needs attention big time. If I can manage to get one wall cleared, I'd like to have shelves built along that wall so I can get all the collapsed boxes of Corelle off the floor. Someday I want to get back to selling it - maybe on etsy instead of ebay. I also have tons of it in the basement that could go on those shelves, which would free up that space to be my yarn room. Oh the dreams! I live in hope.

Week 36 - Late Summer Heat

Unfortunately, the highlight of the week was blazing heat. Heat index over 100 heat. I could only hope it would be the last blast for this year. 

The heat wasn't arriving until Wednesday so I got busy doing everything outside at the start of the week. It started on Monday when I did something I'd not done since being home - I drove to Fremont at lunch to grocery shop. HyVee had one day specials that made it worth the drive, including a cheap Chinese meal I could have for lunch. On paper, it was an 18 mile drive so closer than Lincoln but with traffic, it took me a full 30 minutes door to door. That made for a long lunch but I got all my deals and was eating Chinese at my desk before 1:30. Oh well.

I met Lorri in the park for lunch on Tuesday and I got my grab and go, of course. It was monthly reports day plus I had 2 meetings so the day was over in a flash. And it was the last day of decent weather so I would be hunkering down for the rest of the week.

And that's what I did. I had refilled my 800's of ibuprofen so was taking that for my shoulder, which had been bothering me since my 13 hour day during year-end. I talked to Connie and planned a road trip to visit her for her birthday at the end of the month. I did venture to Lincoln late Friday for some thrifting and pizza at Anne's. We sorted yarn I'd bought on her deck and she kept 90% of it. Perfect. 

With the heat index going to be over 100, I had no plans to leave my house on the weekend. I gave thought to doing some cleaning but not much of that happened. I spent a bunch of time on the phone and zooming, knitted lots and did more quilting. I did get a bit of cleaning done but not the deep cleaning I needed to do. Oh well. The heat was due to break and go in the opposite direction with rain (much needed) and cold weather so I'd have another week inside coming up. Maybe I'd clean then? Don't count on it. : )

Week 35 - A New Obsession

With temps in the 90's all week, it was a good thing I had a new project that kept me busy inside. Yes, the crumb quilting continued and I was loving it more with each square I made.

So much quilting! At the beginning of the week, I was splitting my time between ironing scraps and making squares. At lunch and as soon as work was over, I ate something quickly and headed downstairs. I had the ironing finished by Tuesday night which meant I could concentrate completely on making more squares. Each one was prettier than the one before. I couldn't stop! And luckily hopping up and down between the sewing machine and the ironing board constantly was more exercise than I'd betting getting sitting and knitting.

The work week was completely uneventful, which worked for me. I had made a plan with Andrea to head to Fremont after work on Friday, intending to take some vacation time but when I woke up before dawn (darn cat!), I started work at 7:00 so I could save my vacation hours. I picked Andrea up at 3:30 and off we went. The weekend had begun!

The first stop was the quilt shop for rotary cutter blades and a square quilting ruler. I got the ruler and Andrea found the blades, which was a 5 pack and all they had, then we headed to their scrap bins. We sorted through the entire bin, filling 2 baggies each with scraps then hit the sale fat quarters, where I limited myself to 4. When I checked out, I was floored when the amount was more than $90. Come to find out, the blades, which I could have bought on Amazon for $10, were $43! So much for supporting local businesses. Oh well. After a stop at Goodwill and Aldi, we headed home.

My intent was to do some cleaning on the weekend but the weather broke and I ended up outside in the garden. I weeded between my raised beds and spread mulch, which had been sitting outside since last year because I'd bought the wrong color. With the plants more accessible, I picked a bunch of tomatoes and some Swiss chard. Nice. While it wasn't hot out, I was still sweaty so took a shower because I was meeting Van for supper in Waterloo.

Van was in Omaha with his mom, who was in the hospital, so we were meeting with his partner for dinner at a new place - The Rude Shrimp Company. It was 2 shipping containers outside and had all outdoor seating. We had to wait awhile but the food was great. Unfortunately we were wearing the only masks in the place and the tables were very close together. It was the most unsafe I'd felt since Covid started. Not worth it and I won't do that again. 

I spent all day Sunday quilting. I didn't do laundry, nor cleaning, nor cooking - just quilting. It's not like I'd go hungry and I don't dress for work these days but a bit more prepared for the work week would have been better. Oh well. You need to go with the flow when you're inspired. Here's a picture of my first blocks. There will be many more for sure.

Week 34 - Back to Nebraska

Despite having a totally relaxing vacation, I didn't feel ready to be back at work. Re-entry was a slog!

It took me more than a day to just catch up at work but by Tuesday lunch time, things were pretty much back to normal. Lorri had called to ask if I wanted to eat in the park, which we've done a few time over the summer. I unabashedly asked for any garden surplus she'd be willing to share, picked up my grab and go from Mocha C's and enjoyed catching up over lunch.  She brought me green beans (I'd specifically requested those so I could make 3 bean salad), a few tomatoes, a funky cucumber and half each of a water melon and cantaloupe. Nice.

I spent the rest of the work week just getting through the days and then knitting at night. I was completely non-productive. I did try to walk at the lake at twilight on Wednesday but my ankle, which had been bothering me since Saturday, was still not right. I realized halfway across the dam that it might not be a good idea to be walking alone, without my phone (I forgot it) somewhere that would be hard to access if my ankle went out. I turned around, deciding that any further walks need to be in my neighborhood.

So, how's this for a slacker? I took 2 hours off on Friday so I could go to Lincoln. I needed to grocery shop and wanted to hit a couple of thrifts before meeting at Anne's house for dinner on the deck. I brought the 3 bean salad I'd made and Rene was picking up chicken strips at Russ'. It was a lovely evening and a nice end to my first week back. Well worth the 2 hours of vacation time and I had enough food to restock my cupboards and fridge.

With my errands and socializing done on Friday, I was ready for a low key weekend. I'd been such a slug all week that I still had some post-vacation stuff to do on top of all my regular chores. And that's what I did, along with some knitting and streaming. Then I got inspired.

I got an email from Pinterest with a crumb quilting pin, which has been on my radar for awhile because I love using things up and have plenty of fabric scraps. It made me think of the grab bag of scraps that Andrea had found at a quilt store and gifted to me earlier in the week. It was sitting right on the bar so I grabbed it and dug in. After watching a quick YouTube video to see crumb quilting in action, I headed down to my craft room and started quilting. OMG! This was SO much fun! I whipped up 3 squares with the scraps from Andrea's bag and then pulled together 2 bag of scraps that I'd gathered when I was organizing the basement and threw them in the wash. 

I went upstairs to watch some TV but instead of getting ready for bed when the show was over at 9:00, I went downstairs to start ironing the scraps, which were fresh out of the dryer. I ironed until after 11:00, at which point I forced myself to stop so I could get some sleep. I could so have kept going.

Many of the scraps brought back memories of past sewing projects - some as far back as high school. Yes, I have 40 year old scraps. It would take a bit more time to get them all ironed but I was super excited to keep making crumb blocks, which I'll share for sure. I know there will be lots more.