Back to crafting

I'm almost done with the current quilt top (sort of a nine-patch-with-alternating blocks, using a cutesy set of fabrics from some charm packs I bought a while back). I just need to press off the rows and then sew them together.

I have decided the Vignère Cipher code-themed quilt is next - dug out the fabrics, found I easily have 26 different typographic half-yard pieces (even discarding a couple that were stretching the idea of "typography"). I also found I have a *giant* piece - like seven yards or so - of a pale green with script on it that can become the back (or can become the back with a little add-on, if the quilt comes out too large - my current plan will result in a 91" square quilt and that might be pushing it a little - I could maybe make a central strip using some of the leftover fabrics, and then I could make it big enough.....for the longarmer I need width plus (I think) 16"....and usually those fabrics have a 40" usable width, so that would mean adding 27" in the middle. (Or: when I run to Kaleidoscope Fabrics on Friday, if they have a nice typographic fabric that would go, I could get, what....a couple yards and cut and piece a strip for in the center....

The fun thing about this one will be NO LAYING OUT. Once I figure out the best arrangement of the fabrics (can do that sitting at my cutting table), I can just sew.

Eventually I will get my small pink quilt back when the quilting person gets done with it. I think the nine-patch I'm working on now will be the next quilt I take out there, especially if I can find a 108" wide backing I like at Kaledioscope. (The quilt's finished size is 81" square, so that will be  about 2 3/4 yards of it BUT NO SEAMING)

I've also been picking away at the "Socks for the Deputy Headmistress" (am almost done with the cuff of the second sock and wow, do these take a long time) and also Harvest (am almost to the point of doing the bottom hem, and then it's time for the sleeves. I think I'll take it with me and try to finish it over break, but also maybe take a new thing....maybe the Plasma shawl from the new Knitscene, I don't know. (I bought some "plasma colored" - pale blue green - sparkly yarn. Maybe a Dream in Color yarn? I forget. I know I looked around A LOT before finding the one I liked best and the fact that it had that glittery thread sealed the deal for me).

I also want to finish Ocellus, I kind of stalled out on that because of all the little bits. She has her front legs and I have one of the back legs done....but then I have to do the snout and the "ears" and the various decorative things (the funny ridge she has, and the tail, and the elytra....). I *might* make her eyes of felt instead, going to try crocheting one and see how it looks but often, because I crochet tightly, I have to downsize features a bit for the critters I make.

I also admit I want to get more of the good (but fairly expensive!) organic topsoil from Twin Oaks, now that I've cleared more of that side garden....more room for more plants, and I'll have to decide: do I get more herbs, or do I pick out one or two more smallish shrubs/woody perennials that are good for attracting pollinators, or what? Because I know what I want is a pollinator-dedicated garden back there. It's a little too hot in the summers now for a lot of the vegetables I *like* (the leafy greens, green beans, and corn takes way too much space). Not a fan of okra, somewhat allergic to squash (and I also dislike zucchini), not a fan of peppers. And I've had bad luck with watermelon, in addition to being mildly sensitive to it (oral allergy syndrome). Not sure about sweet potatoes or "Irish" potatoes; I know a lot of people who found they either grew badly in our soil or our abundant soil critters ate them before they got a crack at them.

Maybe I get more basil, though - I could make my own homemade pesto and freeze it. And I could eat many Pizzas Margheritas this summer. Or put it on tomato sandwiches if my tomato plants produce....

But yeah. I am very ready to spend a lot of time doing what I want to do and less of what other people want me to do.