What's next?

While I have plenty of UFOs in The Bins, I've been at a tiny bit at of a loss of what to start next. I made my list for the year, but didn't put them in any type of order for completion. One UFO that's been waiting in the wings, not so patiently, is next. 

I have written a little bit about this project--the Stitch & B!tch Sampler from 2016. Cindy and LeiLani and I used to meet once a month to sit and sew. Covid and life nipped that in the bud. Anyway, the three of us had a block exchange that year and, of course, I was tardy with the last couple of months, but we finally exchanged them. I threw the blocks on my design wall waiting for inspiration. 

It didn't come. I think Cindy completed hers first, and it was fabulous! I think LeiLani finished hers, but I can't see where I have a photo of it, so photos of theirs will be posted at some point in the future.

So here's where I am at the moment with it, which is where I was when I pulled it out of a Bin last year:

At some point last year, I had an epiphany moment for how to finish the quilt. I'm not going to tell you how, but after stewing on it and working it out in Electric Quilt, I finally decided how to move forward on it. One big block and several smaller, easy must be created. It will be paper pieced and I'm having the pattern printed at FedEx (it's large). 

And I will try my best to not over think the thing. The quilt will end up larger than I had originally anticipated, but I want to hang it on a wall...maybe in my new studio. I'll do my best to not buy any additional fabric for it; I hope I have enough in my stash. We'll see what happens. I'll be blogging about this one as I move through it, but I'm certain I will want breaks from it and enjoy a palate cleanser here and there. 

For the first time in a very long time, I am making something for me. I sometimes think that I should get all the other things done for everyone else, but I have been encouraged by the Hubs and close buddies to do something for myself, and here we are.

Oh, and knitting! I saw Karen at Stitchin' Post in Little Rock a couple of weeks ago wearing a darling cowl. I asked her if she knitted it, and she told me the name of the pattern, The Shift by Andrea Mowry. I think it's been pretty popular. I bought the pattern and plan to start it up while watching TV with the Hubs when the third skein of yarn shows up. I went to our storage building Sunday morning to find the other yarns and needles, and had to run to JoAnn's to pick up the needles I did not have. We're headed back to Myrtle Beach next month and I'm taking it along--I don't want to spend as much screen time on the iPad as I did last time.

In other news:

We are still waiting almost 3 months after our initial conversation with the builder to sit down and come up with a price for building a home. This is scary. The house plans have been altered to our requests, and now we're determining which lot we want. I wanted to be in it by Christmas and I don't know if that's even possible at this point. Stay tuned.

And another thing--our agency is returning to the office. We've been working from home since March 16, 2020. We officially return on May 2, but we've been told that the occupancy restrictions have been lifted (it was no more than 25% staff in the office at any one time, and for us, that's 2 people), and now anyone can come in, after obtaining permission, and work in the office.

I have mixed emotions about this--I have reasons for wanting to continue working from home and for returning to the office. I feel I'm safer at home (immuno-compromised issues, crummy lungs that are scarred from pneumonia) and it's been convenient to just be home. I've gone through some funk due to the isolation, but have managed to move past it. OTOH, being in the office allows one to converse in person with co-workers and sometimes get things done faster. We'll still have restrictions on wearing masks while in office common areas, but we can take the mask off if we're in our individual offices and the office door is closed. I'm good with those restrictions.

There you have it, and now I'm off to pull the other fabrics out for the Stitch & B!tch quilt. I'm hopeful the yarn will show up in a week or so...depending upon which carrier delivers it...did you know I just got my W-2 this week???

It is what it is. In the meantime, go make!