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

Rainbow scrap, Old Town mystery, Walker Wedding quilt... and all the rest

 The weekend run-down...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - breaking into February's BLUE.

The 1.5" strip bin was sifted; and there weren't a LOT of blues available, so the Dawn's Early Light pile was sifted as well in order to find a nice mixture of blue pieces for 4 of these scrap blocks for the Rainbow Scrap challenge.  I'll be linking up with SoScrappy; be sure to head over there to see what everyone is up to at the start of February's blue month.

Putzin' - putzin' - putzin' along with Bonnie's '24/25 Old Town mystery.  Definitely not in any hurry here, unlike earlier years, so taking my time to trim up each block unit to assist in a neater assembly.  The matchy-matchy of seams CERTAINLY makes assembly much nicer; much more stress-free (err... much less stress might be a better description) ... regardless, piecing the blocks will be MUCH more enjoyable.

... and the first block was pieced this afternoon, waiting on the design wall for the rest.  Clearly, I've changed up the colors of the mystery, choosing only to use what's on the shelves.  Overall, I'm super pleased with how they've been arranged and are playing quite nicely together.  This block almost reminds me of the Hawaii Sunset a few of us pieced back in the years 2012-2014 (give or take).

And PROGRESS on Walker's Wedding quilt.  Whoop-whoop! The top center is pieced!  Next up, to figure a plan of borders;  plain, intricate, pieced, combo...? All these thoughts will be on the docket next weekend.

I've decided to part with the Juki TL98Q.  She certainly gave me many great years paired with the Grace Company GMQ Pro quilting frame, but since the upgrade to the Q'nique 15 almost two summers ago now, I simply haven't touched the Juki.  Therefore, mindset shift; why have it sit in storage when someone may find use from her??

A few other goings-on around the ranch:  time was spent with Bailee girl this morning. 
Bathed, fluffed and groomed in my basement grooming center (ie: former bedroom of one of the girls). 

She's once again a soft-n-fluffy CLEAN golden-doodle who can pretty much beg for anything using those puppy-dog eyes of hers.

The Christmas tree was also finally cleared, and in its place, one of the portable mini-greenhouses was set up in hopes to give my Alocasias some new life.  Additionally, starting up one small tray of 4-6 tomato plants is on my mind.  Just a few; nothing of surplus quite yet.

Livin' the life as best we can with our new-found empty nest household.  
#GrowinOldTogether

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).  

Slow-Stitch Sunday - Sky, Sand & Sea; some progress on Old Town

Made some progress on Old Town mystery step #9 (reveal) this morning before the Packer game at noon.  Another row of Walker's wedding quilt was also pressed; baby-steps with that project; a little bit at a time.  The draw of piecing the blocks for Old Town was simply more appealing than the wedding quilt.

By noon, the feet were propped, crochet hook in hand, and settled myself in with the Sky, Sand & Sea afghan on this Slow-Stitch Sunday, adding a few rows during the Packer/Bear showdown.  The plan is to add a few more rows later this evening when the Lions & Vikings square off.  I can't believe I'm admitting to being excited for that showdown, but.... c'mon man.  It's bound to be a darn good game to watch, even for a Packer fan.

My Beach Life afghan has needed some TLC attention for quite some time.  I never had intentions of using this afghan; rather it was meant to either be gifted to my sister or someone else 'er other.  However, it never made its ways downstairs to the storage bins.  Most of the yarns used were Hobby Lobby's "I Love this Yarn" yarn.  This yarn is currently my favorite to crochet with even though I haven't purchased much in recent years.  It's so soft!! The current Sky, Sand & Sea afghan is being made using the leftovers from this project. 

I'm sure, since I was down in her space on the floor, Bailee couldn't resist thinking it was play time.

Eventually she settled down and took comfort ...

The repair isn't perfect, but it's completely functional once again.

Every sunrise begins with new eyes.
-Richie Norton

 Linking up to Kathy's Quilt for her Slow Sunday Stitching.  Take a peek at what others are working on.