Today I’m having one of those days when I have no energy whatsoever and a zillion things that I need to do and those that I do get round to aren’t turning out the way they should at all!

I really want to finish my bearpaws, but with 25 of 32 blocks done I swear I will go into total meltdown if I have to make another half square triangle….at least for a little while. I’m trying very hard not to think about the fact that even when the bearpaws are done I still have a very long border of very small half square triangles still to make……by the time I’m done I will have made 720 in total. That’s really too many for any half-way sane person to contemplate. So I have very tidily packed everything away in its storage box and it’s now looking at me woefully while I try very hard to ignore it. I think you can have too much of a good thing and right now it’s triangles.

I decided instead to clean out my fridge, which I suspect may have something wrong with it as it had more ice inside than the inside of my freezer. I’ve never seen a fridge like it and I don’t think this is how it was meant to be. I only bought it last year and it’s one of those high fallutin’ fridges that don’t have proper switches, just a white plastic strip that you gently touch and it responds – a bit touch screen really. Except it doesn’t. Respond I mean. It took me about 10 minutes to get it switched off and then when I’d done the deed and cleaned and defrosted it all it resolutely refused to switch back on until I bashed it quite hard with the back end of the rolling pin. Now it won’t cool down. Every time I go to check if it’s starting to get cold it’s a degree or two warmer. So if I’m not here tomorrow you’ll know that it’s because I’ve got salmonella from the chicken we’re having for dinner (which is already a day over its use by date, but we won’t go into that….).

I then realized that it’s already Tuesday and I have a piano lesson tomorrow and I haven’t tinkled on the ivories even for one nanosecond since last week. Ontop of which the daughter who was supposed to give me some music to practice is now in Budapest and doesn’t have a phone with her. Tomorrow could be really ugly. I may infact welcome the onset of the salmonella.

Today was also the day that I would find the two identity cards that I have somehow made magically disappear over the last two weeks. I know I had them 2 weeks ago when I went with my son to open a new bank account…since then they have evaporated into thin air. I’ve turned the house upside down everyday for a week looking for them, but no, nada, nichts….not to be found. I have now rung the local authority to find out what I have to do in such a situation. It is not pretty. Not at all. I shall be jumping through hoops to sort this out. In the company of the Swiss police. First step. Locate a local police station….

The sun is also shining and I should be madly scurrying round taking advantage of the weather to get my cutting back for the winter going before the weather really breaks, but I really just can’t be bothered.

Time for a cup of tea and a little nap I think…..

Maybe this is the onset of old age….either that or my body has totally succumbed to lazyitis.

Helen

I was down in the village this morning – and have to admit, it’s October, the summer is over and autumn is really with us now. It all felt rather grey, damp and subdued, with people going quietly about their business and no-one standing in the light drizzle chatting.

Thankfully, down at the farm things were a little brighter and it has clearly been a great year for pumpkins. I feel a little soup-making coming on later this week….

Helen

I can’t believe that this quarter is already over. I don’t feel like I’ve been super-productive , but when I put this mosaic together I saw that I’d probably achieved more than I thought….and I haven’t included all the ballet costumes and I think there’s one bee block missing because I couldn’t track down the photo (and yes, before you ask, I do have a great big mess going on with my photos and I changed operating systems this quarter which made the mess a whole lot worse!)

So here’s what I’ve been up to…

The stats are looking a little healthier than they were too…

Fabric is up 32.6 metres. I know that sounds dreadful, but three months ago it was twice as bad….so I promise there’s still hope! I’m trying really hard to get it down to break even by the end of the year.

Yarn is just short of 3km down over the year as a whole….whoohooo….doing well there.

Neither of there numbers include my WIPs because I only count yarn and fabric once the project is finished. There are quite a few projects that aren’t too far from being done, so things could change a lot!! (That’s what i’m telling myself anyway!!)

How has your quarter been?

Helen

Yes, I’m still making bear paws….and will be for a while. 21 done and 11 to go, so I guess I’m two-thirds of the way there, which doesn’t seem too bad. The process is rather calming as there aren’t an awful lot of points that have to match and I have a nice little production line going.

The more I look at these blocks, the more I realize that they have my 85 year old mother’s name all over them. They are definitely in her colours. I’m thinking of trying to get the quilt finished for Christmas. This means no hand quilting of course, but I can live with that.

My only slight issue is that I’m not sure my mother really gets quilts and she’s probably far too set in her ways to actually use one, but I’d be thrilled if someone gave me a lovely quilt for Christmas, wouldn’t you? It’s the thought that counts, but I’d really like it if it didn’t just end up in a drawer waiting to be used for best, like most of my gifts do….

Helen

We had a huge storm here overnight – the thunder was so loud overhead that I woke up thinking the house had been hit by lightning – scary stuff in the middle of the night, but the prize this morning was a day as clear as a bell, with the first changing colours just starting to be in evidence. There isn’t much that can beat a perfect autumn morning if you ask me.

I’ve had a marathon half-square triangle session this morning – the Brrr! pattern says I need 720! Not sure I’ll get there, but after Zigzag last month I feel like an old pro and I’m churning them out.

Putting them together into the bear paws isn’t a biggie once the triangles are ready and waiting. This is nice calm, meditative production line sewing. Just what I need right now.

I also got two more Sew Euro-bee-an blocks in the mail – from Celine. Aren’t they gorgeous! I’m so thrilled with how this project is turning out. I think I may have told you that before…:-)

Happy creating!

Helen