2022 Tuesday To-Do #2: First Epic Post of the Year

Welcome to Tuesday To-Do Link-Up #2 of 2022.

I left off with a bit of a teaser last week but today

I am better prepared to show the full deal.

A snowy sew day

This week I have pics!  You know, some weeks that can

be a real accomplishment!  This year has just kind of

started off like that.  In week one, I began PT on my

shoulder, had a re-root canal, visited the chiro and learned

I had a UTI.  And that last part (the TMI part) came in the

middle of peak Covid issues around here so, to quote

my dear mother (who I always miss but esp last week),

I "went through hell" trying to get anywhere with it.

My nurse wouldn't call me back (and still hasn't),

the phone lines were jammed at the dr's office all

day, the walk-in clinics had 4-hour waits and the

MEC had wouldn't answer their phone so I didn't know

what their wait time was but with the 40 or so cars

in their parking lot, I had a good idea.  Trying to find

a Covid test was equally difficult and let me tell you,

employees may (Target, Dillons) or may NOT be very

friendly about it (even managers--shout out:  Walgreens),

that is IF you can get them to answer the phone or even

give you the time of day in the store (again, Walgreens).

 No I don't have Covid (not once) but I was so miserable

that's where I was trying to start out.  And btw, did you 

know they have home UTI tests?  Not to keep up with the

TMI but, well, that info it might be helpful to someone.

Right there with all the other female products at Target.

Anyway, the happy ending there was that I marched my

way right into the doctor's' office right before closing and

begged for any doctor that would see me.  Ten minutes

later, I was out with a prescription called in.  If it weren't

 for that little home test, I'd have not known to push for help

like I did because, though I'm not a "frequent flyer" with

that particular issue, I do know enough that they can

go south in a real hurry.

Wow, okay, that was a lot of digression but you now

get the idea of how my year has started out.  I used to

be a pretty firm optimist but the older I get, the more

I feel pesky pessimism try to push its way through.

Maybe I can still dig deep.  You know the good part

about starting the year out so roughly?  I just got

all that out of the way, right?  It can only go up.

Ha.  Okay, here's my update since I wrote that:

I just spent our 29th Anniversary with some sort of

36-hr stomach bug.  I am in recovery so now things

are going up.  LOL.  And no one else is sick even

though we had all the family over on Saturday.

(Save the cadet who was competing--took 2nd; he

was a little rusty after all the holiday celebrating!)

Usually I leave these kinds of personal things off

my blog but I am finding this kinda funny and,

who knows?  I might want to look back on the

obstacles I've overcome. (Optimism!)

As I mentioned, I do have big quilting plans and that

they have me excited and motivated.  Everyone keeps

asking me if I've made lots of goals for the year, and

usually I do!  But this year I haven't made it past that

one--and maybe to lose another 10+ pounds

 after losing well over 40 last year (go me!).

For 2022 starters, I've actually backed up a bit

and chosen a fall project--one I wanted to do

last fall but things just got way too busy.

If you recall I found this beauty when on the shop hop.

The pic doesn't do it justice but anyhoo, every shop hop

 I try to find one fall project and make it a treat.  And by

that I mean I'm going to get what it takes to make it

right then and there without waiting for a sale, or

seeing what any online shops might offer it for, etc.

In this case, all I needed was the book.  And it turned

out there are plenty in that book that I want to make

so it was a good deal and I walked away happy with

my full-price purchase.  

The name of the pattern is Harvest Pumpkins and it's

a fairly small quilt, just a throw at 45x53 so I will see

what I can do with another border today.

Remember I had chosen this plaid to use...and was

crossing my fingers it would work out okay.  Well,

I think it was an okay decision--it seems to be

working out just fine as far as plaids go.

(Didn't quite get it all in one piece for this post.)

There are only a few plaid-issues but I think they kind of

lend to the home-y style of the quilt.  Hubs feels the

plaid fabric makes it look like fencing or hardware cloth

which also works well with the pumpkins so overall,

I'm very happy with how this is turning out.  Not sure

you can see close enough in the pic but I'm interested

in any thoughts there on how you think it turned out,

especially since I'll be selling this one.

I'm just hours away from my first finished top of

the year, which lines up with my big plans that I'll

get into here in just a bit.

Let's do another bit of backtracking:  I have not

'fessed up on my fabric tracking for the year SO,

here are the numbers I ended the year with:

Fabric purchased:  169+ yds

[holy wow!]

Fabric used: 135+yds

[meh]

So I'm up over 33 yards when I had hoped to be in

the negative.  This has been all for good fun so no need

to try to make me feel better about my sad showing

but it is also a bit eye-opening.  Do I always buy that

much?  I don't think so.  It seems like that was likely

my highest yet.  Do I always use that much/little?

Easily.  I thought it would be a bit more even.

The challenge from this story:  try even harder this year!

I accept!  Heartily!  My first project has me at -5.5 yds

already and I'll likely make the backing today so I'm

off to a great start.

Now my big plans for the year?  Yes, I am looking into

buying a new longarm and taking on a more business

angle to my quilting.  I have enjoyed selling the few

that I've listed so I want to go at this more fully.

I'm also toying with eventually adding the computer

system and offering quilting for others (locally).

I need to try one more time to get the timing issue

corrected on my current one so I can sell it and the

Phoenix frame.  It's just time to move up.

(photo credit)

I know I don't have to tell you all how excited I am!

I have a million things going on in my mind about

all of this so I'm trying to be patient and cover it all.

When I become sure I can deliver on all of my plans,

 this girl is eyeing the APQS Lucey.  I'm attending a

seminar in OKlahoma this weekend to learn more and

then I'll post about that next week.  It will be so fun

to write about these steps in my new adventure!

(Current state of fabric stash as of 8:34a 1/11/22!

Also fabric in drawers, closet--46 bolts!--and the

some random WIPs and precuts sitting around.)

Meanwhile, my immediate plan is to build a

record-breaking amount of quilt tops out of all of

this stash and I need to move quickly because there is

that chance of shoulder surgery in the near future.

(Because PT seems to just be making it worse.)

Which brings me to my to-do list for the week:

1) Finish Harvest Pumpkins top and make backing

2) Cut out another version of the same quilt but 

turn those pumpkins into Christmas ornaments!

3) Attend seminar, take pics and post about it

One last thing:  I did take care of the housekeeping

around here so my tabs/pages are now up to date.

Under the Current Projects tab, I have some general

ideas of my next projects to tackle.   I should have a

post out later this week on that, though--and it's

likely I'll add a couple more when I do that.

Actually, this didn't turn out quite the "epic" length

I thought it would be.  More time for quilting!
Off I go!

Happy quilting!