Wednesday's Adventures

Progress was made on the silk quilt for my daughter and son-in-law today. The quilt is all cut out after 2 additional trips to fabric stores for more fabric. One set of blocks are complete. These are 12 inch blocks so this quilt should go together quickly. I did find out that an unknown fiber content of one of the fabrics was obviously a polyester. It was purchased in the home dec part of a store and I thought it might be silk -- wrong! When I went to press a seam yesterday it melted away under the iron. Oh well, the block was recut and sewn and I'll just be careful with the rest of those fabric pieces. I'm certainly not going to make another trip out for more fabric. I need to get to sewing.

Repeat of the Unexpected

I have to smile when I think of how yesterday went. It was day two of my week off. My plans were to spend time in a couple fabric stores, have lunch out and then spend the afternoon working on the silk quilt for my daughter and son-in-law. My start for the stores was later than I expected so I thought, "I'll just do the Mill End Store". I hadn't been there in months and I love the fabric selection there. I wandered up and down the aisles for more than an hour, feeling all the fabric. Fabric must be felt not just looked at. I found 4 pieces that I thought were a perfect addition to the silk quilt. After purchasing them I decided I better get home and have a quick lunch (no going out) and get to sewing. On arriving home, I checked my receipt because it seemed like the tab was a lot higher than I expected. I had been charged twice for a piece of fabric and had overpaid by $18.00. If it had been less than $5.00 I would have written it off as just an unfortunate, unexpected incident, but $18.00. I decided I better go back. Now it's about a 20 minute drive to Mill End from my home so it looked like it would be about a one hour round trip. At least I had company this time. My daughter decided to go with me, so again we wandered the aisles and she felt inspired to sew something. The money was reimbursed and I was home by about 3:00. I did get the quilt cut out, but no sewing has yet to be done. Oh well, there's tomorrow, but who knows the unexpecteds of tomorrow!

Dealing With the Unexpected

I've been around long enough to know that most days don't go as expected. There is always the unknown that happens, things out of our control. My first day off was no exception to that rule. And as usual my expectations for what I could accomplish were much higher than was possibible in a day. But if I've learned one thing in life, it is that since life rarely turns out as you had hoped or wished you better find contentment and joy in what you have.

I started out my day by taking care of my granddaughter while my daughter-in-law and my other granddaughter went to a doctor's appointment. That was a good time. I went grocery shopping with my daughter, Callie and my granddaughter and then we came home and made lunch for my daughter-in-law, Kristine and Leah. Every minute spent with Leah is a joy. She is almost 2 months old and considering she was not expected to live at all, every day that I see her is not an interruption but a delight. Holding her and loving her, despite all the difficulties she has brings great joy. We know our days with her won't be as long as we would wish, so having her as part of my day was wonderful.

In the afternoon, I planned to start a silk quilt that is for my daughter and son-in-law who got married last fall. It was supposed to be for their wedding, but hey, if they get it by their first anniversary I'd say that's doing really well! So I cut some of the fabrics (see phot0). I have never made a quilt out of silk so I can see it's going to be a challenge. Working with fabrics that don't have the stability of cotton may require some different techniques other than the typical 1/4 inch seam. After cutting one set of blocks I could see there wasn't enough fabric to do the whole quilt. So I need to go hunt more fabric down.

Meanwhile, a customer called and had thought I would have her quilt done by now. I had planned on doing it last week but didn't get to it. So I quickly put the quilt on, worked several hours and got it done, and she came and picked it up. Another unplanned event of the day.

It wasn't really frustrating though, but just part of living. There's always a choice to get bent out of shape and frustrated or 'go with the flow' and enjoy the unplanned. I did have time to hang some antiques in my kitchen (see photo) and work in my yard. So what unexpected events will be in my day tomorrow?