What Makes Me Happy — Janet Szabo

I had Ali’s little guy again on Monday. He accompanied me to town and helped me run errands. (I have a car seat, yes, because these little people ride with me often.) Of course, we stopped at Joann Fabrics. He goes there quite a bit and knows his way around, so he went straight to the fabric section. I told him that if he wanted to pick out fabric for some T-shirts, I would make him some. He and WS are about the same size, so I could use the same Oliver + S pattern. He looked at the fabric and then said, “Auntie Janet, what I would really like is a Mandalorian blanket.” Joanns has “kits” consisting of two large pieces of fleece fabric. You lay them out, one on top of the other, and cut 1” wide by 6” deep fringe into each side, then tie the two layers of fringe together to make a blanket. “The Mandalorian” is a Disney Channel series that is part of the Star Wars franchise. This child was an X-wing fighter pilot for Halloween last year. He knows Star Wars inside and out and filled me in on the whole Mandalorian backstory.

I had a coupon, so he got a Mandalorian blanket. We came home, had lunch, and I crawled around on the floor and tied fringe while we watched heavy equipment failure videos on YouTube. Auntie Janet is nothing if not fun. And crawling around on the floor is good for me. It keeps me limber.

Yesterday afternoon, he and his mom dropped off a thank-you note and the suncatcher he made for me:

My life is full of simple pleasures.

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Yesterday was a sewing day. Literally nothing BUT sewing. I started at 7 am and went full steam ahead until about 4 pm when I had to stop and make a salad for dinner. I worked on various projects as I felt like it—a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit some place else—and made more Big O blocks. And then I started putting them together:

As with that red, white, and blue quilt, the blocks look better on the background. (The colors in this photo are close, but not really; what looks like black is instead a dark gray.) Every setting I’ve seen for this block has them butted up next to each other, which is easy but boring. Adding that inch-wide sashing strip gives them some much-needed breathing room. The rows will get a similar inch-wide strip between them, and the assembled blocks will get a border of the same Grunge background. What I want is for the “O’s” to look like they are floating on the background.

I have enough fabric cut for two more rows, but I’ll wait to make those blocks and add them until I see how long these are when they are all sewn together.

Despite those supposedly “difficult” partial seams, the blocks for this quilt came together quickly. I just need to finish it and have the husband help me hang it up. This project wasn’t on the list, but it has gone quickly and I can cross a task off the to-do list that has lingered there far too long.

I also made the 52 large periwinkle hourglass units for the green/purple remake quilt. (Note to self: Needs a name.) I am going to need 104 small navy blue polka dot half-square triangle units, as well, and those will be done next. The rest of the units in that block are 2-1/2” squares and one 4-1/2” square, all of which are cut. The second block is exclusively background and accent squares, and I’ll strip-piece those. When I get that top put together, I will take a break from piecing and start basting and quilting these tops that are piling up unchecked. I also need to write some patterns.

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We will be butchering chickens on Saturday. Butchering day is easily my least favorite day of the year but it has to be done. We only have about eight or so to do, but our pastor, Jeryl, is coming to help and bringing a dozen, and Elysian and WS are also coming to help and bringing some of theirs. The equipment takes some time to set up, so it’s better to combine our efforts. When it is all over, we will be down to one rooster—Dave. He is the best rooster I have ever raised, but he wants to be the only rooster. I plan to accommodate him. I will be sad to see the other rooster go, who is also a good rooster, but such is the way of things. We can’t keep them separated forever.