Tuesday morning random

Though today feels like a Monday, what with there being no classes yesterday.

* I finished another quilt top yesterday. This was one I had had the blocks made up for since June or thereabout, and just never made the time to lay it out and sew it up. (Laying out is a step that requires me to have a big chunk of time - ideally, I will be able to leave the quilt laid out where ever I have it, and sew it up row by row from there. But that can take an entire day for some quilts, and until then I either (depending on where it's laid out) can't use my bed or have to jump over the quilt every time I cross the living room.

The quilt is the one using the Walk in the Woods fabric - an Aneela Hoey novelty-fabric collection with kind of a Red Riding Hood theme (although the canid in those fabrics looks far more like a fox than a wolf....) I guess I only ever photographed one block of this. Well, when I get a chance I'll hang the quilt up and photograph it.

* I've also started another top, this one is a pattern called Cheddar, No Crackers and is designed for those 5" square cuts you can buy. I had decided I wanted to make this quilt and knowing I had a $20 off loyalty card for the local quilt shop, I went and bought the fabric and background fabric for it. I'm using a line called Juggling Summer, which seem to be vaguely Asian-inspired designs. I'm using a solid avocado green (almost an Army green) for the background. So this is going to be a very different color scheme than some of my recent quilts but so far I rather like it. (And I see that my LQS has a slightly better price on their charm packs than that site I linked does).

* I had been thinking about a trip to McKinney this past weekend but I didn't go. Part of it is that I do have so many projects ahead, and it's hard for me to drive an hour each way to go to a quilt shop and not purchase anything. But also, when I was in getting the most recent fabric from my local quilt shop, the person who checked out my purchases told me that the 24th is apparently I Love My Local Quilt Shop Day and they are going to be having special sales. (And yeah, yeah, I get that it's a manufactured day, but lots of places do this now and really, it's more fun than something like Eczema Awareness Week). So I thought about how although I *like* going to the quilt shops in McKinney, I have a greater interest in seeing my local shop thrive (especially now that they have yarn). And while they do seem to be thriving - they are frequently busy, and it seems like the side-business of longarm quilting brings in a lot of business (they are up to a 10 week wait time to get a quilt done, which is really pretty high), still, I like to support them. (I suspect part of it is they are the only "real" quilt shop of any size that I know of in this part of the state - or even North Texas, north of McKinney).

So I'm thinking after I get out of lab Thursday afternoon, they will still be open for a couple hours, I can go down there and see if any of the "special sale" things appeal to me.

* I guess the "downtown" type of businesses don't do the late Thursday hours any more? That used to be a "thing" when I was a kid - you could count on the small businesses being open later (like, until 7:30) on Thursday nights, so that people who worked could get to them one day a week. Maybe that's not profitable any more, I don't know. (It's still common for small businesses to be closed Mondays, and most of the small businesses near me are also closed Sundays.)

Now I'm wondering what grocery-store hours were when I was a kid. I know they weren't 24 hours, and I know there was none of the opening-on-holidays thing, because I remember a few frantic trips to a convenience store (like a Stop N Go) for milk on a Sunday or on Thanksgiving.

The Green Spray here is open from (I think) 8 am until 8 pm. That may be more like what grocery hours were some years back.

* I don't know what is causing it - the medications finally catching up to me, or the diet, or whatever - but my blood pressure has been a LOT lower. Like, systolic readings in the 110s and diastolics in the 70s. If it gets much lower than that I think I will call my doctor, even though I have an appointment early next month - I have noticed I get a lot more tired at the end of the day, and I can't work out at the same intensity I once did. I'm wondering if that means I will be cutting my dosage after my next checkup, which I am totally okay with. (Or maybe I can ease up a little on the sodium restriction, which does get to be a challenge to stick to at times). 

* I still kind of want a Sad Keanu action figure (though I think that should really be, "inaction" figure). Maybe I'll buy myself one for my birthday next month. Usually these kind of things I see online and chuckle over, I've forgotten a week or two later (good for my wallet), but I just think of all the fun a person could have with placing Sad Keanu at different places around one's house....