Sunday Stash Report

I work part-time for a local retail concern, usually 24 hours a week plus nearly an hour travel time each way. Due to business needs, I've been assigned to work 30 hours a week for the past seven weeks or so, which is cutting into my sewing time significantly. It's also cutting into the time I can devote to reading blogs, and I miss doing that terribly. Right now I'm on Day 4 of an 8-day stretch at work. Thankfully I'll be taking another week off at the end of the month.

Still, I've managed to get in at least a few hours of sewing time each evening, and this week I've put all my efforts into the quilt I'm working on for my good friend Koleen. This is the Christmas one with the 25 12" blocks. I've finished all the blocks now except 3, and I hope to finish those tomorrow evening. I've spent the last two evenings working just on the block that goes in the very center of the quilt. It contains 93 pieces, and I was just overjoyed when I finished it and it measured almost exactly 12-1/2".

Just for a change, I managed to get most of the fabric used for this quilt from my stash. With the blocks I've completed this week, I busted another 2-7/8 yards out of my stash. And for the first time in over a month, I've added ZERO to the stash. Hooray!

On my one day off last week, I shot down to Tony's Sewing Machines in Biddeford to pick up the sewing table I ordered at quilt show in July. The company who makes the tables had some software issues, which delayed the assembly; and I still don't have the plastic template that fits around the base of the sewing machine, but hopefully they shipped it out Friday. In any case, it's a well built table. No vibration when I sew on it, and that was important to me. I ordered the extension too, and I'm so happy to have that extra space. I also bought a chair while I was down there. It is so comfortable, and both the height and back are adjustable, so it's perfect. I really love the new arrangement! Many thanks to Margo--if it hadn't been for her posting a photo of the table she bought on her blog, I might never have known about it.

I've gotten exactly 2 grape tomatoes from my plants so far and will have another tomorrow. The plants are loaded with fruit, but they're ripening so slowly I'm afraid we'll run out of growing season before they all ripen. We've had nice weather lately, but today was supposed to be 86 degrees, which the tomatoes would have liked, but I know it was cooler than that. Well, we'll just have to hope for the best!