I don’t like having to run out so often but I’m still making up for being gone a month. There were more errands today but I got my walk in while I was out and had some company for part of it.

I wanted a quick lunch by the lake while I was out too but the snack bar had a sign on the door saying they closed early so I walked over to the pub and ate on the veranda instead.

I did get in a couple hours of sewing after my errands — all the geese are made and I’ve just got 19 blocks left to assemble. I’m loving these geese so much that I’m searching for other quilts to use them in. I’ve got a few drafted that I’ve never made and have found a few other ideas too. I’ve got quilting waiting so I’ll have to decide whether to allow myself one more top after this one or not. I’m tempted to “allow” myself to piece all month without any quilting!

I didn’t see Chris and the girls on Mother’s Day but they took me out to dinner tonight!

I haven’t used my fabric dies to make flying geese before so I wasn’t sure how easy and accurate it would be. I’m happy to say it’s both … easy and accurate.

I’m using the Blue Wren 6 inch finished quarter square triangle and the Accuquilt 3 inch finished HST dies. I just love having these tables beside my machines. Let’s me set everything up within easy reach and I can just pick up the pieces and sew.

I’ll need 144 flying geese for this quilt and in case you don’t remember … this is where I’m going with these.

I cut all the squares for the geese while I was cutting the hourglass quilt so I just had to dig into the bin with my smaller background pieces for the HSTs and cut those. For the most part the fabric in this bin is larger than what I’d call a scrap but usually less than half a yard. They’re pieces leftover from other quilts.

I debated using a single background fabric like I did with the hourglass quilt but I really do need to use more of my scraps and leftovers. In fact, I shouldn’t allow myself to fabric shop unless I’ve been digging in the scraps because it’s scary just how far they go. You won’t even be able to tell I pulled out fabric for two quilts from this bin by the time I put it all back in.

And in case you’re thinking some of these pieces look larger than what you consider scraps, I have a lot of backing fabric that gets trimmed off of quilts that goes into my scrap bins.

I’m not able to spend today with my Mom or the boys but Keith fixed a nice brunch for me — we’ll hike later and then tonight we’ll watch the Lightning play.

I am looking forward to a trip to see Mom next month.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

We bought a new sofa and loveseat before we left for Maine and need to replace the plain rug we have in the living room with something with more color. I know it’s still very neutral looking but it will look great in the room with the stone of the fireplace, the hardwood floors, and trees framed in the windows!

We ordered the 8×10 size so it will take a couple weeks to get here.

I’ve been noticing these flowering bushes since we got home … this one we saw on our walk at the Meadows yesterday.

I’m very ignorant when it comes to flower and tree names so I downloaded the PictureThis app and found out that this is a rhododendron.

I know I just showed a photo of this one but are you impressed that I got the blocks pieced in two days … let’s see how long I can drag out assembling it! You know that’s not my favorite part.

I’ve been keeping up with my walking … the last couple days on the treadmill. While I much prefer walking outside, there are just days that I don’t want to take the time in the afternoon to get outside so I walk at night on the treadmill. Today, I did get outside. It wasn’t a long walk but there were plenty of hills!

When we left GA a month ago the trees were bare and in Maine, the trees were still bare when we left Saturday. It’s so green here now!

It’s also porch season now … Finn gets so excited when we sit on the porch.

I ran my errands today … picking up mail and my prescription, and getting the issues with my voter registration resolved. We have a physical address and a mailing address and the website was not accepting the mailing address and had our status as “inactive”. It’s resolved just in time for the primary elections here. I’ve always voted as an independent and have never voted in the primaries but Georgia is an open primary state so I will take advantage of the opportunity to vote AGAINST some candidates in the Republican primary.

We had a surprise visit from Chris and Rae around dinner time. Rae plays softball and she’d had a practice that was about 30 minutes away so they stopped by for a visit and dinner.

We watched the Lightning lose bad in the first game of the playoffs … I’m not expecting them to make it past this first round but we’ll keep watching and hoping …