Finally! At last! I have had a great couple of days! It’s so good to feel healthy again. Progress reports were due on Friday, so I was able to leave school with very little to do. I went to Stripper’s Club on Saturday morning at my local quilt shop. Stripper’s Club was a hoot – a new quilt each month made solely from 2 and 1/2 inch strips. This one is very forest-y – hence the name “Into the Woods.” I have never worked with a set of Bali Pops before, so it looks like even more fun.

I got home and had lunch and a nap – but still had the bulk of the day ahead of me. I knew I wanted to start on the new quilt, but I have a bunch of projects going on that I needed to work on. So I told myself, no new quilt until I get more done on my Desert Heat piece. Well, let me tell you….

…by Saturday bedtime I had taken apart my Sunrise piece and started taking the quilting out in order to incorporate some changes suggested by my arts group. I had wrapped a lot of clothesline to create a Christmas fabric bowl, I was ready to put final borders on the Heat piece, and I had almost 40 strips sewn into 2-strip sets.

I think I’ve stumbled on a new way of working – literally have a bunch of things that can be done at the same time, especially if I don’t have to change the color of thread! Momentum continued on Sunday. I did my lesson plans for Monday, opted to not score papers (and I’m here to tell you everything is already done for the week!), and continued to sew. All the borders are on Desert Heat, and it looks fabulous. All the strips are now in groups of two, and I have several groups of four together. But I also had to tell myself, no more sewing until I finally hemmed my new brown pants. Which I did (only took 6 weeks), AND ironed them, and continued sewing.

It is so good to finally feel healthy again. Monday was a good day at school, I got everything done, didn’t bring anything home from school, got a few more four-strip sections together, and finished wrapping the bowl. Today I was incredibly productive, with lesson plans done for the week, ALL papers marked, quiz created for Friday, and ready to do a new set of progress reports.

I was so organized I left early for the bus…..big mistake. On days I take the bus, I need to take a later bus. Why is it teens feel they have to be loud and full of foul language when they’re on public transportation? The bus was pack and LOUD. Definitely a later bus – I am committed to trying to lower my carbon footprint this year.

New NCIS tonight, and in the meantime, I have some strip sets calling my name! Pics will follow….