Secret Sister quilt Top done!

Secret Sister quilt TOP finished today.
For the moment it is 43" x 37", which is odd, but the border can be cut down later. I have enough of the red border fabric to cover the whole back and make the binding, I think.

Took more time than I was expecting. Each step was fairly simple, but with pressing, and cutting and FIGURING. . . . here it is 10 PM. Saturday I can start layering it and thinking about how to quilt.

I like the corner cut in like this. Pretty easy with an on-point block plan, but I don't remember seeing it used much. Gives it a more "old fashioned" look.

My exercise today was the Strength and Stretch class Charlie and I attend for a hour. Today was our Holiday luncheon, but we did the full hour of exercise first. I even was quite responsible in what I ordered at the restaurant--and had no dessert. My pedomoter only reports 1100 steps. That hardly seems enough. Guess I'll have to do a Step Check walking on the driveway and counting my steps myself to see if it matches.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Freedom to work all afternoon on this top

Followed my plan

First day with pedometer

Exercise for today: walking for 10 minutes around the Meijers store before starting my grocery shopping. That was just one circuit of the outside walls of the mega-store. Then there was another 25 minutes in the store actually finding the things I meant to buy.
My pedometer reads 3520 for "steps" at 10:45 PM. That isn't very high. I will have to work on making more moves each day.

After I put away the groceries I sewed together some of the strips of blocks for my Secret Sister. Then I rinsed out a couple of new fabrics for the Mystery. I'm getting ready for new instructions tomorrow. Presuming that Bonnie can stay on her own schedule.

After dinner I took out the calf for the creche so that the ox has some company in the stable. My father made the stable from scraps of lumber for us, and included a small light inside the roof. This illuminates the interior and acts as a nightlight for the livingroom all through the season.
Mary, Joseph, the donkey and the angel are still on the window ledge, but moving along.


Sara

Gratitudes:
SUN for most of the day
friends sharing growing old
pleasant clerks at the store

Secret Sister progress

Despite weather forecasts of bad driving, I got myself out of the house at about 8:20 to go to the "Swimercise" class, and I even got all the contents together for a package to St. Louis and carried them with me. I was about 5 minutes late for the class, but I give myself high marks for getting out the door in time at all--other weeks I would have excused myself. Thank you "Quiltercize" friends for making me accountable. As FlyLady says, "You have to do this for yourself. You deserve it!" But it helps to know that others are working on the same project--even if that isn't Bonnie's mystery.

Having done my exercise, and organized my package at the Post Office, I reward myself by working on the next rounds for my Secret Sister quilt. I sewed the 2.5 inch four-patches together with the red and white fabric as bigger four-patches. They are now added to the middle section, and as I was cutting the setting triangles, I made a cutting mistake. Or a thinking mistake. I had bought JUST what I thought I would need, so now I will need more of this fabric--about six inches! Well, I got it recently because I didn't have any red with this much white in my Stash. I hope there are 6 inches left on the bolt!
Outside this there will be a narrow white sashing, and then a dark red wider border.
I will need to have it quilted and bound by a week Thursday. Since I hear Bonnie is going to tie up my time this weekend with another of her clues, I better work on this now.
Off I go to the local Joanne's!
--------------------

Found it! And enough of the "right" red for the outer border.

I also stopped at an outdoor-athletic store and bought a new pedometer, or STEP-ometer. This is the third or fourth I have bought, the first two fell off my waist and were lost. I think because the clip was not strong enough. So the last one was chosen specificly because it had a real spring in the clip, not just a piece of plastic. That one lasted a lot longer, but eventually also fell off--and BROKE into two pieces. That one only cost $12.

Today the only other one with a good, strong clip was $50. Here it is, tipped up so you can see the metal spring in the clip. Hmm, that's pretty pricey, but I decided I really wanted it for this Quilters-Exercize group ("Quiltercize"?). Need to be counting my steps so I know I need to move around more.

When Charlie got home this evening, he was delighted to find that his Christmas shopping for me was completed, and he was giving my present to me two weeks early! And he didn't even have to wrap it since I was eager to get it out of the box.

This machine claims it will even read my pulse, but it has taken me so long to calculate the length of my step in centimeters and get THAT entered, that I am not reading any more of the instruction manual tonight.

Sara


Gratitudes:
Slimfast to drink for lunch
Slush, not ice on driveway
Success in shopping for grands