I started off my day by getting the turkey soup going in the crock pot - and it may be my best batch yet!  Then I got started cutting fabric for Tom's arrowhead quilt.  Nothing ready to show yet, but I expect to make progress over the weekend.

Mary came over this morning, and we sorted a big tub of scraps.  The strips and triangles have been transferred to their respective tubs, while the rest of the fabrics were divided into color piles.  I was very happy when Mary came across scraps that spoke to her, so they have been rehomed! 

I also filled up another bag to add to Jessica's pile:

Alex came over with laundry, and 'as long as he was in the neighborhood' <g> he sampled the turkey soup. Obviously he approved; he had a second bowl.  

The cleaners arrived just as I was heading over to Carol's.  We emptied many more tubs in her garage, which is encouraging - though she still has considerably more organizing to go.  I, however, went home to a clean house!

It's the usual New Year's Eve here - working on a jigsaw puzzle while we nosh, nosh, nosh.  

I did eat some fudge late this afternoon in the hope it will help me stay up longer tonight.

 Today, to mark yesterday's One Year Anniversary of my foot debacle, I 'celebrated' with another PT session.  Nobody baked me a cake, though... <g> 

If you're keeping track, today was session #66 - and the good news is that I continue to see progress.  For instance today on the treadmill I was finally able to move up to 'official' walking MPH (from the 1.9 setting to the 2.0 one) without starting to limp.

But the truly exciting news is that I did my Step Downs without holding on!!!  

This afternoon, while I was waiting for Tom to have his back procedure, 

I drafted the BQ5 pattern to accommodate 6 inch squares.  

After we got home I popped over to TOQS, and found a dark blue that would work.  

So now I am all set to start cutting and sewing tomorrow morning!

Loved this new display for Sherri had for the chickens.  Sadly she needed to cage them because not long ago one of her models "walked out" of the store.

 In the end I decided to let Tom choose the quilt pattern from my stack of possibles, and he selected the BQ5 pattern.  

I really like the effect, and it should turn out to be a dramatic quilt.

However... 

when I checked the pattern, the directions are given for a larger square than I will be cutting due to the way the fabric is 'printed', in 6.5" rows.  That means I will need to redraft all the other pattern pieces to go along with my 6.5" squares.

Good thing that I am not intimidated by math!  

But just to be sure, before I begin cutting

 

I plan to have Mary double-check my calculations tomorrow.

Last evening I found myself fading early.  So when I started nodding off (while I was sitting up, not lying down on the couch!) I gave up the fight and went to bed.  Of course I expected to wake at an all-too-usual ridiculous hour, so was WAY beyond surprised when I looked at the clock this morning...

because it was almost 8:00!

Guess I wore myself out yesterday doing all that hard work at Carol's? <g>

(I actually did hang out on the heating pad last evening 

since my back was grumbling some.)

Soon off to PT, and when I get home 

it'll be time to take Tom for his second back shot.

 While searching for my glasses, I found my MIA face mask; it had slid down between the passenger seat and the door, and was mostly hidden under the seat. 

 When going through the hefty stack of miscellaneous quilt patterns cut from magazines, I found close to a dozen possibles, as well as my MIA t-shirt quilt book tucked in among them. In addition I finally located the four BQ patterns I knew I had "somewhere".  Then I had to decide whether to ask Tom to select a pattern or make that decision on my own. 

 

 When Alex popped over I asked for his input on colors, and he agreed with me that cream would coordinate better than white.  I also need a solid blue, and he couldn’t believe that with all my fabric I didn’t already have the ‘right’ blue - until he went through my blue stacks in the cabinet.  

“Guess you’re going to have to go buy more fabric.”

Getting into the car this afternoon to head over to Carol's 

I found my glasses!!! 

I had checked under the seats, and between the console and the seat - but they were between my seat and the door, resting on the tiny strip of carpet there and basically invisible.

Carol and I made great progress, emptying a lot of boxes in the garage - and I even came home with more fabric, plus a bunch for Jessica.  

We also rearranged some furniture to make room for another shelf/cabinet, a move which had been my suggestion and worked out great.

 It was an easy tune-up at the chiropractor yesterday, and then once back home I finished the book quilt!  While it will need a sleeve if it's going to be entered in the AQG show (and I also need to have a label made) it's 'complete' in my book!

Chas came over with Lily and Logan yesterday, which was a surprise because he has serious allergies to animals.  (Brownie, of course, did find it necessary to go over and greet him.)  Chas stayed for a while, but (wisely!) left before breathing became an issue.

We exchanged gifts, and everyone seemed quite happy with theirs.  I'm looking forward to diving into one of mine, a book by Louise Penny - except that my glasses 'turned up' missing yesterday morning.  

After looking "everywhere" (except, of course, where they actually are...) a zillion times, I did check with both Wanda and Carol, but the glasses did not appear to be at either of their houses.  So I dug out my old pair, but that Rx is out-of-date (and mostly likely I need an update of my current Rx) and the little I tried to read with them yesterday gave me the start of a headache.

Happily the rain (which came down hard, and seemed to continue throughout the night) had held off until dinner time, so we were able to visit with (and feed) Pokey.  The weather has kept her in her crate much of the past several days, so she was good and hungry and cooperated for 'action' photos. 

I'd been crocking a pot of split pea soup all day, and in the afternoon had baked bread (love that aroma), both perfect for a winter's day. So with a variety of leftovers (my faro got a good grade) we enjoyed a smorgasbord dinner.

I've scrolled through my Quilt Idea files on the computer (and there truly are thousands) as well as the stacks of patterns on the my shelves, hoping to decide what pattern to choose for Tom's quilt.  I'm thinking that one of the DQs would make good use of the two batiks (I want to keep the blocks about 6" to get the full effect of the arrowhead design) but still haven't reached a decision.  

Can't start on that until tomorrow anyway since today is already pretty full, with an oil change first thing this morning, then a possible visit with Mary, and another 'attack' of Carol's boxes this afternoon.

 It was cold here yesterday (though not as cold as up at Snowbowl, where Alex spent the day snowboarding) with dismal gray skies reminiscent of my winters growing up.  Today is supposed to be even colder, and with a chance of rain, so it'll be a good day for homemade soup and bread.  

I soaked the split peas and lima beans all night, and this morning diced up some onion, garlic, and celery to add to the crockpot.  But I will need to stop in at the store on the way home from the chiropractor for some yeast before I can fire up the bread-maker - which never even made an appearance last winter due to 'interference' from my foot.

Got the tails joined and the binding onto the quilt this morning, so now all that's left is a little section of hand-stitching.  But that will have to wait; I'm off to the chiropractor.

Yesterday we started 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of barn quilts - 

and today it's almost done!

I spent yesterday afternoon with Wanda.  First I took her for a covid test, which was a drive-thru at CVS (my first experience with that.)  Pretty easy!  

Afterward we made a quick stop at Basha's, though true-to-form <g> I chose the wrong check-out line.

  It had appeared that the woman ahead of us was ready to pay, but there was some issue with the price of her last item, a mega slab of meat she was purchasing.  After (what seemed like) 10-15 minutes (really!) discussing it with the clerk, she went back to the meat department in an attempt to straighten it out - at which point I thought it would have been nice if she'd paid for her groceries that had already been scanned and cleared the line...  

Once we got back to her house I helped Wanda 

with some functions on her new sewing machine - 

though (full disclosure) I was simply reading the manual and screen, 

difficult for her to see.  

The red laser light function is a wonderful help.

I'd brought Wanda some faro salad and apple slaw, and she sent me home with a variety of cookies and other goodies.

This morning I had an excellent session at PT; the step-downs were easy (that's a first!) which understandably made me very happy, plus I traversed the double flight of stairs, across the way, three times! 

This afternoon I got to see Carol's new place, which is very nice.  Helped her go through some of the boxes in the garage, and found the three most important MIA items: her serger instructions (needed so she can finish her DIL's gift), her rotary cutters (she'd had to borrow one of mine), and her scissors.  Also came up with numerous ideas for extra storage (though she admits that she will still need to get rid of a LOT of stuff) that she found helpful.

I'll go back on Wednesday to continue helping.