It's Wednesday, and I'm Working On It

Working on my list, that is.  It's not exciting, no pictures to post.  Just getting the job(s) done.

On Monday, when the weather was spectacular, I caught up on my correspondence and took two checks and two contracts to the post office.  I stopped by Harris-Teeter to pick up a whole beef tenderloin (on sale for $8.99/lb), but they had been picked over and none looked up to my standards.  Yes, $8.99/lb is expensive, but when the going rate for good beef cut from the tenderloin is $15-20, I can't resist the sale price.  I get it cut into 6- to 8-ounce fillets and the trimmings ground for the best burgers ever. I use the Food Saver to package and freeze two to a bag -- enough for the three of us.  We eat them sparingly, of course, no more than twice a month (and for special occasions like birthdays).  The rest of the time we're eating $.99/lb chicken so I feel like it balances out.  I can get at least three meals out of a 5-pound roasting chicken, and if my family were soup eaters, it would be more.  Sometimes I make a stock and freeze it, but not always.

Cady Gray and her first quilt

Tuesday I had plans to make the rounds around the counties, but snow was predicted and, if you've been following my blog, you know the trip down and up our hill is treacherous in inclement weather.  (As it turned out it never really snowed in earnest, but it's best not to get caught at the bottom of the hill with bags of groceries.)  So I stuck around home and knocked #2 off my list -- binding for Cady Gray's quilt.  OK, in case you missed it I'll insert a picture of her with her quilt again 'cause every post looks better with a picture, right?  BTW, I flipped the top section so those two narrow "sashing" strips would not be repeated so close together.

Binding is stitched on and I'm more than half way around with the handwork.  I work on things like that in the kitchen in the late afternoons when I'm preparing dinner and need to keep an eye on things on the stove or in the oven.  I have found it a great time and place to trim units and blocks; the counter is just the right height.

Today I did the run around -- dropped a few things off at Goodwill, recycled the weekly assortment of newspapers, cardboard, tin, and glass, made deposits at the credit union, and stopped at Kroger for some essentials.  Next month Kroger is going from monthly to weekly senior discounts (though it will only be 5% rather than 10%).  I will have to revamp my approach to take advantage of the weekly discount, but I think in the long run we will come out about the same, if not better.  Plus, with a weekly plan I can get the same discount at Publix,  H-T, and Target, just without the fuel points.  And, in case you're wondering, I don't shop at the big-box stores; none are close, I don't have the room to store large quantities, and they just give me the heebie-jeebies.  'Nuff said.

So tomorrow will be devoted to updating my first pattern, Irish Grandmother.  I'm enlarging the blocks from 6 inches to 7.5 inches so that more can be accomplished in a class.  I have proposed to teach this at Peg Bingham's Quilt Camp in October 2014.  Keep your fingers crossed that it is accepted.  I'll post pictures when I have more of it done.

That's it for Hump Day.  Hope yours has been productive.

Keep calm, and quilt on!