Taking Saturday off

No, really, I did. I'm just in here (at my office) to grab the bucket I will need to transport the soil for Monday's soil-invertebrate lab.

I stayed pretty late last night; I wanted to type up the (long) minutes from the AAUW meeting while everything was still fresh in my mind, because apparently my minutes are Important Records that will need to be filed with the IRS (yipes).

I didn't do any of the soil-sorting I had intended to do. I didn't do it today, either, because I decided I had life-maintenance stuff I needed to do (shopping for things not locally available) and that I probably need to keep up with life maintenance even if it means it's at the expense of getting the research done faster.

(I have a hard time with that kind of thing. I tend to look at stuff like, oh, restocking the laundry detergent I have to use because my skin is a delicate flower and go "Normal people would just go to the Green Spray and get a box of Biz, I shouldn't have to take time off to get my special unicorn-milk laundry detergent." Or whatever. Or I tend to put off my time to recharge until the point where I'm really grumpy and on the verge of crying over some dumb little thing).

I let myself sleep in this morning; I slept until just after 7, which normally I NEVER do (weekdays I'm up at 4:30, most weekends I'm up around 6:15 even without an alarm, so I must have been tired).

I did do a bit of knitting last night and this morning (during Ponies) - I pulled out the pieces of Basketweave and wove in the ends on the body (and there were a LOT of ends; the skeins I used were small skeins) and sewed the shoulder seams and then picked up all the stitches for the collar and started on it. I don't know that I'll finish it this weekend but the one really big task (casting on all those stitches) is done.

After that, I ran to Sherman for the aforementioned detergent and also to go to the Target and the JoAnn's (I needed more white Kona cotton, and I had a 15% off coupon). And I got the new Simply Knitting UK at the bookstore (And the new knit.wear). And while at the natural-foods store, I replenished my vegetable stocks. (I am happy to report they now carry more salad greens; they used to pretty much only carry kale and arugula, which, though I know they're really Good For You, I just can't eat. Too bitter for my taste, yes, even the kale is too bitter to me).

When I got home, the mail had come. Including fabric for two future quilts (one of which was the one I bought the white Kona cotton for). Fat Quarter Shop is FAST. (Well, I think they're in Texas, so they're close to me - but still, they seem very good about same-day shipping of stuff that's in stock).



One is called Storybook - yes, it's a nursery-print line, really, but it has cute fabrics. And I found the PERFECT pattern for it (well, because of that castle print - I was thinking they were more fairy-tale or medieval themed fabrics, but there's a print with a plane on it. Oh well. It will still work). It's called Fairground and it is a design with banners (so I immediately thought "Ren Faire!" when I saw it, thinking about the castle-print fabric). It's a free pattern from Moda Bake Shop, which is a site I sometimes consult when I'm looking for pattern inspiration - most of the patterns are for their various pre-cuts (10" squares, 5" squares, 2 1/2" strips) but of course if you don't buy the precuts, you can cut your own out of yardage.

Also, it seems that that pale peachy pink/teal/grey colorway is a popular one right now - I have a Jelly Roll of a different line of fabrics (it's called Modern Roses. I'm going to do a modified postage-stamp pattern with it, where each group of 16 "stamps" is framed with a solid fabric - except, in my case, I got tonals in that tealish color and the peach to use for the frames, rather than solids. The color really is more of a peach than the orange that shows up in those photos (or at least does on my monitor).

The other one is "Britpop" fabrics - I have a few British themed (or coordinating - one with what look like woodcuts of old bicycles) fabrics that I wanted to make into a quilt, but I didn't have enough or enough variety, so when I heard of that collection, I decided I wanted a 10" square pack to use to fill in. Still no idea of what pattern I'll use but I find often when I accumulate a group of fabrics, a pattern will suggest itself later on.

Also, perhaps to atone a bit for all my fussing this week (I do not deal well with feeling like my time's being wasted, or when I'm not being given all the information I might), here are some pretty photos. I took these on Tuesday before our couple hot days (Well, dangit, 85 in early April IS hot) and before the storms. The forsythia is done for the year now, and the tulip's on its way out:



Already the Forsythia was close to done on Tuesday, a lot of the petals had dropped.



Daffodils. These are actually "doubled" ones that have more petals (Well, tepals, really - the petals and sepals look the same) instead of the "trumpet" of fused tepals, and I admit I like the more traditional shape better.

And the tulip. This one blooms only rarely; I think most of our winters don't get cold enough for bud formation, and I can never remember to dig the bulbs up and chill them over the summer. (Also my vegetable drawers in the fridge are generally too full).



This color, along with the dark red with black center and stamens, are my two favorite color combinations for tulips. (When I was growing up, my mom used to have the red-and-black kind in the garden in Ohio.)