Monday, December 22, 2008

Oooh, Have I Been a Busy Girl!

I've had burble-gut for a few days so I have been barred from the kitchen, but pretty much stuck at home. Just as well, all I get to eat is the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. What this means is... I've had more time to make stuff!

Playtime at Azkaban socks are finished. When I told Tiny they only took 2 1/2 months to complete, she was noticeably unimpressed. Phooey. My last socks took well over a year! So, if my count is correct, this is the 9th pair of socks I have made!I started a new pair. I'm calling these Soy Toys because that's what the fiber is: Soy! It's in our burgers and our paper--why not our socks? The fiber is a woven kind and it's worsted weight, so the sock will be thicker and pillowy. (10th pair)
The TV show, Fringe, was recommended and recommended to me, so finally I watched the pilot on Hulu last night. It's pretty darn good. I had avoided it because it sounded really violent--it seemed no more so than Battlestar Galactica and Heroes... And, while watching it, I got some work done on the final Red Thread panel. Isn't it shaping up to be cute? Okay, the snowlady doesn't have eyes or a mouth, but her nose is quite distinctive, don't you think?
I'm part of a group that holds me accountable for finishing up quilts and expects at least one every quarter. Well, I haven't done that this quarter so I thought I'd get back to Cielo. Remember, I pinned it and put it away? Okay, maybe you don't, but I did. I put it inside a cupcake box and tucked it away, all ready to go.

So yesterday I pulled it out and started to pin the edges. Then I took a gander. A really good look. Then I went away and came back. It was still wrinkled. Pretty badly wrinkled. I asked myself, "Do I want it done or do I want it done right?" Then I sighed, because I knew I had to iron the thing. I pulled out all the pins in half of it and wrestled it, by layers, onto the ironing board. (You non-quilters may not know this, but you can't just iron a quilt. It may have polyester in the batting or something equally unfriendly to heat.) Then I repinned and unpinned the other side and ironed. After this arduous exercise, arduous because it involved folding down my table to expose floor space and pinning on the floor then putting the table back up to pin the edges and support the quilt for ironing (twice over!), I was finally back where I had started. Minus the wrinkles. Mostly.

Oh, gimme a break. I'm looking for good. Perfect is reserved for the heavenlies.

So I was ready to quilt. Yay! I had a reasonably large spool of blue Guterman so I got to work. I got about halfway done and ran out of thread. Yes. Out. Reasonable isn't good enough. (sigh) So I went out this morning and got more. In the rain. Will this saga never end? (eyes closed, back of hand to forehead)