Avoiding

There's this quilt I'm working on ... and I'm not totally wild about it. About 50 percent of the time I love it, and the rest of the time I think it's awful.

I've dealt with it by avoiding it, until today. The recipient of the quilt will be here in two weeks, so it's time to get busy.

But for the last half month or so, I've done other stuff. I think I get most of my sewing done when I've avoiding some other project.

Another pair of Henry pants!





This.



Finally bound these pillows. The blue one is also done, but not washed. And since they spent a month on the couch with the dogs, they need a good washing before I'll show them publicly.







Also, a trout.





And then two bags lined with ripstop nylon. First, an insulated bag. Or a wet bag. Whatever you need it for.



The guts are Insul-Bright. The outside is cotton ticking from JoAnn. The tutorial I used is here.

And then came the toiletries bag.



And two little bean bags/fabric weights from the snipped corners.



There's also been lotso baking! This, in particular.



I don't think it needs frosting. But I added it here because I made this cake for work, but ate the whole top off when it came out of the oven and needed to hide that.

Chowder did a bit better at the dog park last Sunday.



And, finally, Echo came!



I went up to the sewing room at 10 a.m. to start work on the quilt I'm dreading. And I forced myself to clean up in there. When I was almost done, our mail carrier knocked on the door to drop off this wonderful package! What a reward for being all responsible and adult-ish and stuff.

Season shift

That's it. I'm calling this fall. Even though the garden doesn't agree. And it's supposed to be 70 degrees on Thursday.


Go Vikings. I'd add an exclamation point, but it's hard to do when they're 1-4.

That's tomatoes, zucchini, carrots and beets. And gourds, for some reason.



Welcome to the (tomato) jungle.



That photo doesn't quite do it justice. There are probably -- no exaggeration -- 40-plus green tomatoes on those plants. And with the weather we're having, I don't think we'll lose them to frost.



What a beauty.

I have a confession: I pulled the zucchini plants -- with a few blossoms still attached. Honestly, I just can't eat another zucchini. I picked two today. There's still a six-pounder in our kitchen waiting to end up in a cake or some other dish that transforms healthy food into a butter-and-chocolate monstrosity.



That poor little lavender plant in the lower right corner hasn't seen sunlight since July, when the zucchini went bonkers and grew 10 feet in a week. But it smelled like lavender when I pulled away the squash vines today.

Get this -- I had a strawberry from the garden today. I didn't think to take a photo, but the strawberry plant is thriving. Especially in the last three weeks. I know it's an ever-bearing variety, but still. It's strawberries. It's October.

:::

Billings' first dog park opened over the weekend. We took Chowder.



That's what she did the whole time, when she wasn't busy peeing on her own tail. She was so afraid of the other (all very nice) dogs.

Even these guys.



Staying a safe distance from everybody else:



Total panic.



:::

As much as Chowder failed at the dog park, we succeed at the Friends of the Library book sale.



All that = $12. That's a lot of new books there!

I found a great Amish quilt book too. Not patterns, just photographs of a collection. Tons of inspiration.





And this book. Totally impractical, but awesome. And only $1.







We had the kind of day on Saturday that makes me like Billings. We ate at a killer restaurant we've been meaning to try for months. We made out like bandits at the book sale. We went to a party at the brewery. All that happened within blocks of our apartment. We basically did Democrat-liberal-hippie things in this very cowboy town. If we keep having Saturdays like that, my opinion of this place might turn a corner. I also had three cupcakes that day, which played an important factor in my happiness.

:::

I finished up this wonky piano keys quilt during the Saturday rainstorm. It's made with 1930s reproduction fabric. I started this top months ago, and then it just sat around while I worked on more time-sensitive projects.



At first I was pretty "meh" about this quilt, but once it was bound I had a total change of heart. I finished it while we were watching Fargo on the couch and it went into insta-use. That's why it's so wrinkly in the photo.



:::

I got a start on my next project, but I don't have any good photos to share yet. And I won't for a while because I'm off to Seattle on Thursday!