Plans gone astray; top done; cleaned carpet area; and canning clarified

Okay-----plans for the day??? I planned out the next three BOM patterns for September. {{yeah, yeah---nice try zooming in! I purposefully had the August side facing up, 'cept that middle block. Choose not to do that one for August.}}

BUT....as soon as I headed downstairs, these Star Struck rows were still staring me in the face from behind the machine, so I took care of them first off. Then, like many days downstairs, one thing lead to another....

The rows were pieced and were ready for borders. BUT, I really didn't want to schlep up and down the stairs to work on the borders. The carpeted area was still cluttered with tools and all my quilting stuff that hadn't made its ways into my new room. I started tidying up a bit---I really wish I would have taken a BEFORE shot to make this slightly cluttered after-shot look good.

Two hours later : getting sidetracked paid off. Notice the little table towards the center-left of the picture; the one with the blue table-cloth? That's Cassie's sewing area now. She took over my quilting space yesterday and made a MESS of the room! Oh yeah...that's right....I needed to spend 30 minutes right off the bat this AM tidying up the sewing room. Forgot about that! Anyway....on the top-center of the picture is my old sewing table; now house to the little TV setup for the girls to hang out downstairs. Caitlyn's scraps are cluttering the carpet; she'll be cleaning those up before too long! So, the carpeted area is now clean and tidy and ready for me to layout quilts as they get to border stage.

See? It paid off! :0) Star Struck top is done. I haven't measured it yet, but this pic is taken on my design wall which isn't all that big.

I also had an Ah-HA moment-------My Juki98 (used for quilting) uses a different size bobbin and I was starting to get low on bobbins. I didn't want to simply unwind the thread...what a waste! Then it kinda hit me in a "duh-moment"---Use it as top thread since I make so many scrappy quilts anyway.

Part of my carpeted area cleanup involved hoisting a cabinet up to the kitchen (right of pic). With Cassie's help, the cabinet is in place to give DH a lil' surprise when he gets home. We talked about needing more counter and cabinet space. This cabinet was an "OOPS" on DH's measurements when we built in 2004 and we simply chose not to return it for some reason or another; it sat collecting dust for a couple of years downstairs before I threw together my initial quilting space back in Jan 2008. Now, it's up in the kitchen and will be loaded full very shortly.

Finally, for Amanda. I think "canning" is an American term, but definitely not solely an American concept. I use Kerr or Ball glass jars; pickles only require hot-water-bathing while carrots and green beans need pressure-cooking (my pressure-cooker is still on the stove and can be seen in the above kitchen pic). Wait 'til those tomatoes get ripe---this place will look like Christmas with all the red and green :0)

OH! And, I tested the rellish today on top of a hot dog at lunch. It passes inspection! Actually, it tasted just like bread-n-butter pickles; afterall, all the incredients are virtually the same.

Back downstairs I go....maybe NOW I'll actually get to work on the Sept. BOM blocks...