Scraps of time

Work went very well today, no doubt because of the prayers of various friends. And I am thankful. If I have another day like this I will be all caught up ~ at least for the moment ~ when I leave the office tomorrow night. Which will make coming back on Monday a little less scary.

On the way home I stopped at Jo-Ann to buy two spools of thread, cream for the current quilt and red for the second monthly kit quilt I've taken on. Beginning in February, I've gotten a gallon Ziploc bag in the mail each month, and last night I prewashed the February fabric and hung it to dry in the shower. This morning, about fifteen seconds after my eyes decided that we were awake, I was at the ironing board in the dining room, pressing ten pieces of fabric. Tonight I started cutting pieces out.

It's a clever design, and not just the quilt top. She includes seven labels for Ziploc bags, one for each of the major motifs. And she tells you how many pieces of each size to cut, in each fabric, and which Ziploc bag they should go into. I started a load of darks, set the timer, and went back into the dining room. I made little tick marks as I cut each set of squares and tossed them into their respective bags. At this writing I've wrangled three of the ten fabrics, and my ankles were starting to swell a little from all the standing. So I am officially done with that for the night.

Between Jo-Ann and home, I swung back by the nursery where I bought the first batch of plants on Saturday. I could no longer find the identifying tag for one of the plants when I posted a picture on Pinterest. And if this arrangement turns out as well as I hope, I will want to repeat it next year. Assuming the stump is still holding together.

Anyway ... inside the stump I have dracaena, two kinds of zinnia, and some neon green sweet potato plants.  And in the planter that's been sulking upside down beneath the bushes, I have Magilla perilla and "Showstar" melampodium. Because I will not remember what these are, should they live more than two weeks.

Four days after planting, they are still alive, and the zinnia has tiny buds. There are tiny ants traipsing all over my sweet potato vine. I'm hoping they won't eat much.

My brain is still going pingety ping. My body is starting to whine about sleep. The timer just went off, again. I hope that means that my socks are dry and I can go to bed.

Did I mention I found the second dragon claw on Saturday? The two of them are reunited and parked on a shelf here in the living room, out of harm's way, while I decide what I want them to do when they grow up. And I ordered a second turquoise lamp finial from eBay last night before I went to bed. I've put the first one on a floor lamp here in the living room.

I may get some more squares cut tomorrow morning before work, but otherwise I hope to finish tomorrow night so I may begin putting the central medallion together while I wait for the AC dude on Friday.