More putzing: Rainbow Scraps w/mini 4-patches, Walker's quilt, and we got our run done.

Does anyone else set their alarm on weekends?  I mean, I do, but I don't know why since I'm up most days between 5-6:00 AM regardless of said alarm or not. This morning... Bailee and I rolled out of bed and started the day with some coffee (me obviously, not her) while updating the blog, but then put some plans in mind for the day of putzing.

There is something to be said about a great "putzing" schedule!  With 💙blue still in mind from SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap challenge, the set-aside box of left over 1" strips from the Omigosh quilt was dug through.  Plenty of blues and neutrals remained, and these tiny units are crazy adorable.  

And WHY do we wait so long before changing our blades?  Or, maybe you don't... I shouldn't assume. 

Always on the hunt for a deal, after Christmas, I stopped in at JoAnn's on the search for some replacement blades (and a cutting mat) knowing they would be needed soon.  #STICKERSHOCK at the pricetags!  I passed up all options and not having many more shopping options in our area, I went off to peruse Amazon.  These titanium-coated blades were found after a fair amount of searching, reading reviews, repeat.  The reviews for THESE seemed decent, so the purchase was made.  My goodness!  The ol' adage 'you get what you pay for' went by the wayside.  I've been quite impressed!!  Besides, being a frugal ol' fuddy-duddy, TEN blades for the fraction of a price elsewhere has been quite impressive!  I have another set in the cart for when I place my next purchase of Bailee's treats. 

Walker's quilt definitely needed to be on the agenda today.  I'm going the easy way out by edging it with simple borders.  Two smaller inner borders were added today before closing up shop; next week the final set (or two) will be added.  It's currently 89"x89" and is intended for a king size bed.  I think I'll be shooting for 105"x105"; this post back in July has certainly been helpful on how the different sizes fit a king size bed.

As hoped, Bailee and I hit the snow-covered roads for a run as well.  The day TRULY has been quite nice, all things kept in perspective that we live in NW Wisconsin.  No wind, low teens, and dressed for the weather, we set off to complete a 5K training run.  However, we were both feeling pretty good, so we turned it into a 5-miler.  Can she get a whoop-woop!?!

A few weeks back, some snow-boots were purchased for her and she's taken to them like a fish to water.  

Post-run snack of choice:  Greek yogurt with apple slices.  We still have probably 2-dozen apples left downstairs in the root cellar from our harvest back in October. [the January update of that process]  The apples are showing some dehydration with their skins, but inside they are still crisp -n- juicy!  

I'm off to fry up some taco meat for a Taco Bar potluck the 7-12 staff is hosting tomorrow for school.  
Then tonight... full intentions of putting the feet up, turning on the Super Bowl (most likely background noise), and will turn out a few rows on the Sky, Sand & Sea scrap afghan.

What a glorious day!

Happy Sunday.

Today's link ups:
SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Kathy's Quilts Slow-Stitch Sunday

UPDATES: Rainbow Scrap '25 (DEL); Emme Groomed; Old Town; and SMART goal

Meet Emme, the sweetest cockapoo ever!  Her owner struck up a conversation with me at Friday evening' basketball game, which led to me spending some JOYFUL time bathing, fluffing and grooming her yesterday morning. Seriously, JOYFUL!

There are some dogs who are cute, and then there's EMME! Her demeanor is top-notch; happy puppy. 

And once all dolled up, she and my Bailee played outside in the fresh 4+ inches of snow that fell overnight.  This is the first real snowfall we've had up here in Wisconsin this winter.

My goodness - seriously!  This much cuteness should be illegal!  She's sooooooooo soft, and huggable, and LOVEABLE!

After she departed, and a quick lunch... and the snowfall keeping me from running outside...
... the afternoon was left wide open to simply putz-putz-putz.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge was 100% in mind.  So, two-birds-with-one-stone:

The Dawn's Early Light red-star piles have been growing as my leader-ender.  However, with those units nearing completion, time was spent organizing the next unit.

PERFECT TIMING!  Blue strings!!!💙

Years and years ago, Bonnie's scrap system was implemented in the quilting space, so grabbing the bag of blue strings allowed me to get cookin' on these units straight-away once the papers were cut.

About an hour of late afternoon time was also devoted to assembling a few more Old Town quilt blocks;  half of them from the reveal step have been checked off the list.

What a gloriously 'putzy' afternoon in the loft!

And theeeeeeeeeen, the tiny voice in my head started saying, "just get on the treadmill.  C'mon, you have a streak underway of hitting those 10K steps daily; don't let this weather (and a small groin-muscle annoyance) break the streak!"

7:30 PM reality:

SMART Goal achieved:  8:15 PM

I'm nursing a small strain from a run earlier this week with Bailee.  Old age... what'cha gonna do?!?!  So this was nothing fancy; no running... but a good powerwalk for about 40 minutes on the ol' treadmill helped me check off Day #27 of 10,050 steps (cuz 10K would simply be too boring). 

#SmartGoals - you've got this!

Today's plan:  putzing, and an attempt at a 5K, groin-permitting.

Happy sunshiny Sunday morning.  

Linking up with SoScrappy '25 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Design Wall Monday (a day late) - Status of Log Cabin Blocks

A new favorite word recently seems to be "putzing."

We're empty nesters, and we've transitioned quite nicely into the empty-nest household.  Don't get me wrong! NATURALLY we DO love our girlies, specially when they come home... but we always have roughly a bazillion irons in the fire to keep us busy.  For example, currently, the hubster has been spending hours and hours in the kitchen processing a few pigs he and a buddy butchered up on Sunday; these are a couple that he's been raising since September.  He has a long night ahead of him yet, too.  Oy.

So, I ventured to the quilting loft, and sifted about.  T'was time to get a beat on the status of the classic Log Cabin blocks that seem to have been around for quiiiite some time.  A quick search on the blog says these have been around since at least 2014.  Whoo-hooo, how's THAT for a UFO?  (WIP??) lol

Twenty-six 10" blocks are completely finished, and twenty-two are nearing completion after just a couple more colored strips are added to the edges.  Forty-eight might just cut it;  this would result in a 6x8 layout; 60" x 80" before borders... yup.  Seems like that'll be a plan of action.

So, although they aren't actually up on the design wall YET, tis good a day as any to be linking up with Small Quilts & Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday. 

And my day job update -- there are certainly days where life is GRAND in the mathematically-delicious world of education!  Today was a good day; in EVERY class! Amazing mathematical-minded cherubs are definitely in the making.  

Pre-Calculus example of determining roots of polynomials.  
(no nightmares allowed, people!) - ha

It's definitely what they say:  "Do what you love and love what you do!"

Happy Tuesday.  Hoping your day was amazingly awesome as well.

Running action today: Hill workout

Let's do this! Old Town & Walker's Wedding quilts on the docket (& a photo-dump)

 

Behind-the-blogging scenes, Bonnie K Hunter's Old Town 24/25 mystery quilt has been seeing some leisurely activity recently...

But today, Walker's Wedding quilt needs to be #1 priority.  Tick-tock, tick-tock... #OnADeadline!

... a photo-dump from this past week's FRIGID week; #NoSchool on Monday nor Tuesday. 
Whoop-whoop.

Sure... looks like a great morning for a run!

DECEIVINGLY beautiful sunshine

The struggles of long-runs in Wisconsin;  after mile 5, no more hydration - LOL.

no running outside for Monday, though!

YouTube to the rescue!  A 45 minute run through Arizona ensued

Tuesday - #anothersnowday (*cold day) - Wine bottled and racked

Sampling is a given!

Three different flavors bottled; kept them all dry for a change of pace.

Root/Wine cellar restocked

Weekly recap of training [Running 2025]

Not a lot of quilting or crocheting going on around here this week.  Most school days end with coming home and gearing up for one training run or another.  I know most of this blog's followers are quilting friends met over the years, but if anyone is also on the Garmin fitness app, come join me as a Connection: (Garmin profile)

(Garmin profile)

Monday: Long & Strong & Fast via NRC Interval run (8:00/10K pace; 4:00/5K pace; 2:00/mile pace - repeat x3).   Ended up tallying 6 miles.  Roads were clear and dry so I wore my Brooks Adrenaline 23s; truly my favorite running shoe currently.  

Bailee and I put the sun to bed that night, which isn't all that hard.  More and more minutes of sunlight are coming our way daily, but the sun still sets right around 5:00, so Bailee and I are donning our safety harnesses glowing ever-so-brightly, for most of our runs. 

Tuesday: Just a simple 5K recovery run with Jen, a colleague, directly after school (~11:34 pace)

Wednesday: An even easier run - "Bring It Down" via NRC; working to hold a tempo pace of 10:30s for 15 minutes after a warmup.  End up tacking another 1.86 miles to the tally.  But Bailee and I weren't done with that simple task, so we added a powerwalk of 2.8 miles @ 14:32/pace as a cooldown.

Thursday:  Powerwalk time with Bailee for the 'rest day.'  We clipped along nicely for 3 miles @ 13:58(!)

Then on Friday - man, I was dragging.  Body was tired.  Mind was tired; t'was the first day in quite some time when I couldn't wait for the final bell to ring in order to simply GO HOME.

I ate.  I rested.  I ate some more.

And Saturday morning was an entirely different story.

Bailee and I start the day with a powerwalk of 3.29 miles (14:08), then a different colleague (Lisa) reached out to see about walking 3 miles in the mall; check. And THEN... laced up during a light snowfall for an EZ long run around our town's lake.

The New Balance Hierro V7 Trail Runners were worn due to the snow cover.  They are heavier and quite a bit clunkier, but the traction seems to handle the covered roads decently enough to keep me feeling confident with my cadence and strides.  

This morning, the week was wrapped up with a short, easy recovery run with Jen after a few fresh inches fell over night.  We wound up driving into town in order to run roads that had already been plowed.

I thought today would bring on some quilting, but in full honesty, I've had my feet up for much of the afternoon, watching Virgin River (and now the Packers).  

2025 Rainbow Scraps (Pineapple Blossoms & Connectors); Recovery Run with BDog

That glowing sphere is certainly a beautiful sight after some dreary cold Wisconsin weather lately, HOWEVER, it is some deceivingly beautiful morning sunshine.  She was pretty darn-tootin' chilly this morning.  
-2F, feels like -15F; wind 8mph (7:29 am)

Paul kept a strong, hot, wood-furnace fire burning all night, so the quilting loft was mighty sweltering as I ventured up at 8AM.  Shorts and tshirt it t'was (LOL) as I began piecing and pressing the wedding quilt rows together.  There are clusters of seams that gather at many intersections, so I took my time (painstakingly so) pressing the row seams open... and after three rows pieced, I righteously lost interest... at least for now 😂   

I'll always give ADHD credit for all the projects, hobbies and past-times my life has endured, whether obsessively accomplishing to finishes OR leaving them behind until obsessed enough to pick them up again.

Hence, SoScrappy's 2025 Rainbow Scrap Challenge took over for much of the time remaining in the morning.  Her color for the month of January:  PINK. 💞

Most of my bins (2.5", 2", 1.5") are fairly void of pinks, but found enough to make up a couple of Bonnie K. Hunter's Pineapple Blossom blocks (including BONUS pinwheels), and a couple of self-designed 8" connector-style blocks.

LOL... then this girl won me over.  She seemed antsy.  And hot in the loft!
So, we layered up and hit the pavement for a 45-minute recovery run after I initially said "no way, jose'" this morning due to those temps!

The day had warmed to 7F (feels like -6F with winds still at 8mph), and my running gear consisted of:
 -thermal tights under a pair of thermal pants
 -thin cotton short-sleeve shirt, under a long-sleeve wicking shirt, under a 'cuddle-dud' long-sleeve, under a crew-neck sweatshirt, under my light wind-breaker.
 -stocking cap, fuzzy warm gloves and scarf that wrapped around my lower face, covering nose and mouth.
Outcome:  perfectly comfy, sweaty even, although that head-wind on the final stretch tore through the scarf covering just a wee bit; nothing unbearable though.

Today's quote courtesy of Real Simple Quotes

Make it a great day!
Happy Saturday!

Apple storage; Back to school; Interval training

Back in October, many of my weekends were spent harvesting our apples.  On October 20, I was reaching my limit of APPLE processing!  For others who preserve anything, I know you know the feeling of: 'Limit-Reached.'

Some time was spent researching different ways to process and preserve apples, and one site suggested an intriguing method.  Namely, the best of the best apples, blemish free, were individually wrapped in newspaper and then stored in our root cellar.  

Fast-forward two months to last night, I grabbed a few from the top layer; they were pretty much as crisp and juicy as freshly picked!  

Our root cellar stays right around 40 degrees F, so this specimen was also perfectly chilled.  Chopped up and mixed together with some light greek (vanilla) yogurt and PB2 powder -- you can bet it was a great lil' evening snack.  CONCLUSION: definitely going to keep this method and will continually track monthly progress to see how long these apples remain stored in good condition.

"Mrs. S, we're twinning today!"

It was back to work today after the nice, lengthy holiday break.  A handful of absences (staff and students alike) were observed; the crud-bugs of cold-n-flu season have been around our area over the entire break.  Ughers!  I kept my hand-sanitizer readily available in the pocket of my vest -- no lie!  lol.  I can just fathom all the bugs floating around with the ultimate goal of wiping us (ie: me) out for the weekend.  Nope-nope....not gonna happen!

Today is always the toughest day of the school year, IMO.  After almost 2 weeks of "their own schedules" - OY! It's not uncommon to see dragging feet from the teens (specially when the same is true for many of the adults in the building 😂), but... today was pretty darn good!  Only a little bit of extra patience and grace was needed.  This teaching thing really has some perks and is a pretty good gig.

No quilting on the docket today, but definitely stayed true to the training log...

Today's run was some Interval Training;  5x5:00 @ 10K pace (roughly 9:30/mile pace).
"Being back" (running) feels great, really!  The mental anguish of knowing I was completely back to square one in September actually wasn't that big of a concern because....well... MINDSET!  Speed/pace/times -- all were kept in perspective of 100% beginning stage versus where I left off waaaay back in 2013.  I can't even really say WHY I got back into running.  The whole fitness shift started in August after returning from my FL vacation visiting sis;  and it started with nutrition.  I simply wanted to eat better to feel better.  Anyone who knows anything about fitness and nutrition knows the saying, "you cannot outrun a bad diet."  Being empty-nesters now, it was MUCH easier to manage nutrition, and (not meaning to flex here) the first 10 lbs melted off without any extreme effort; nutrition and lots of walking with Bailee-girl, essentially.
I guess the running just started happening on its own once I dropped those pounds, and then a colleague of mine (also a former athlete, now busy teacher-mom) joined me in a pact of being accountability partners.  Then... race websites were perused... a local-ish race was bookmarked... a certain half-marathon registration link was followed one night when I was in an up-beat, awesome mood, and... v'iola!  Race-date placed on the calendar, training plans set up in the NRC app, and.... there ya have it. And here we are.

And THIS girl has been on most of my runs.  She is my other accountability partner!  Truly, a woman-runner's best friend!!!!!!! 💗🐶🏃.  Can't imagine these runs without her, as I've said before. But I'm not sure about the meteorologists up here;  ummmm, this picture does NOT portray "18 and mostly sunny".  

...and a good day, t'was

Happy Thursday!  Make it a great day 🙌