Almost Tomorrow!

When I was little I used to count things in the number of “sleeps” left to get to any particular date.

12 sleeps until Christmas.

5 sleeps until vacation.

3 more sleeps until grandma comes.

I have ONE MORE SLEEP until I start my Icelandic adventure!

And no, I am not packed!

Yesterday got me one day closer to having all of the “before I go” things completed.
The inn laundry is finished and yesterday I made up the towel baskets that go at the end of each bed.
The inn is spit-spot and will be ready for retreaters the day after I return home. Whew.
Mail order got out.

The rest of my available time was spent writing the Fireweed Quilt Gift-Away post that will go live on June 18th.
Here’s a photo from when I completed the top and had just finished stay-stitching the outside edge before quilting.
My flight gets home late night on the 17th and I want this ready so all I have to do is stumble out of bed and push publish the following morning.
And before I knew it…without any sewing time happening for me at all…it was time to head to town for the Chiropractor.
I’m happy to say that I am feeling nearly 100% and I am so relieved. And yes, I’m doing all of the things to make sure I can handle the not-so-long flight from JFK to Reykjavik. TOMORROW NIGHT!

I can share a bit of this progress…son Jeff has been working his landscaping magic by taking the bricks from the wall that was demolished by Hurricane Helene and repurposing them to make a much lower retaining wall around where a few bushes and the Generac are.

More soil will be added to level things and help out the struggling bushes – it’s really rocky and uneven here.

Mulch will also be added to beautify the area. But first…he needs to finish the wall, and that will happen over the next week-plus that I am gone.

Making good progress on finishing that long diagonal seam I shared yesterday.

Some questions from folks wanting to see my big handwork basket – here it is. Nothing special.

It’s just a large wicker laundry basket that I keep big quilt projects in, whether it’s a quilt that I’m hand quilting in my hoop, or in this case, the eternal hexie project that has taken up residence in here.

It keeps big things off the floor. That’s all.

I have less than 3 feet to finish that diagonal seam, and I hope to do that tonight.

Speaking of hexies…this question came in from Beverly:

Hexagon graph paper!

You can print your own for free HERE.

For previous quilts I have taped pages together to get them big enough to graph out the whole quilt.

For this one, I only graphed out the units I’d need to see the repeat of pattern, and I’m just free-wheeling it to get the quilt to the size I want by repeating the units.

Get some colored pencils or crayons and give it a go.

For a medallion quilt, I started somewhere in the center of my taped together pages.

For the one I’m doing now I just started in the upper left corner and drew out just enough to get me started.

And at some point I’m going to have to return to this project that has sat on top of my ironing board at home…untouched for over a month.

I’m not sure why it got waylaid – other than I went to Idaho to visit my mom, and since I got back I’ve had retreats going and QPO projects in the forefront and getting our new Leader & Ender ready for July and….well.

It’s sitting.

But I have plans. When I get home. I have plans!