Stuck in Irmo!

We were going to go up to Winston Salem to check out the area and go house hunting but we decided that the holiday weekend was no time to do that.

Dave starts his job there mid-December, so time is getting closer. We'll go in the next week or two.

Left-over pie is the best part of the holidays! I didn't have much on thanksgiving , too full...but a nice big piece of pumpkin last night while watching DVDs and cutting up plaid shirts was great therapy. I'm kind of glad we didn't go anywhere this weekend.

It is my tradition NOT to venture out on Black Friday at all! And we did quite well...only had to go pick up some prescriptions and did that at 6pm when most of the shopping crowd had petered out and departed home to eat their leftover dinners.

I've taken the dogs to the forest the past two days for a good 5 mile hike. They love it, and I love it this time of the year when the leaves are all covering the paths and the smell of the pines is so fragrant! My thighs and buns can sure feel it! Heaven knows, I need to take some time out each day to get THEM (the dogs...not my thighs and buns!!Okay..those do need it too!!)some exercise as well as myself. So I'm going to try to do this at least 3 times a week. I sometimes feel guilty because it cuts into quilting time, but at the same time...I NEED IT.

I'm down to the wire on the last few customer quilts I have for the year. Massage slows down this time of year when people get too busy (and strapped financially?) to think about getting a massage. It works out. When massage is slow, quilting is high...it just works. I'm not sure what I'll do with the massage therapy when I get to Winston-Salem. The thought of starting a new practice all over again is daunting, and I don't want to work for anyone else when they charge 50% to 60% commission. Where I am now I rent my own space, and have built up enough clientele that it is so much more worth it than working on commission. So.....we will see when I get there what happens. I'll keep my license current.....and give it time.



Here's some of the blocks I've been working on! It's helped me to use up some of the plaids as well as getting them cut down into strips for various other projects. While cutting the pieces for each block out of one light and one dark shirt, I set aside the shirt back as if it were a FQ, just in case I need bigger pieces down the road, and cut up the fronts and sleeves and yokes into 2", 2.5" and 3.5" strips. Any small pieces left over are getting cut into squares of the same sizes. After cutting two shirts, I allow myself the pleasure of piecing a block, how kind of me to myself, huh?? *LOL* The drawers are filling with strips, the piles of shirts are going down, and I'm getting a quilt top in the process!

You can see in the trashcan how it is filled with the front buttonhole bands (can't get anything out of that!) and seams, and pieces that had really thick fusible interfacing on them for body. Everything else is useable! I've got a big zipper bag that a comforter came in that holds all the small weird stuff for string/crumb piecing. I can grab it and just start sewing!

Life is Good!