Last Monday morning I dropped Paul off in Morris, MN where he caught a shuttle to the Mpls. Airport. After a summer of cooking, eating and sloth he decided to spend the month of October in Flagstaff getting back in shape by hiking in the mountains. As such, I will be “home alone” all month. He left homemade bread, ground coffee and lots of excellent leftovers which will get me by for a while and with a full pantry and loaded freezer, I should make it through the month. I have my October “to do’ list compiled and am busily completing projects and getting things done around the house, yard and garden so we are ready to close up the lake house and road trip it back to Arizona by mid-November.
First up was completion of the quilt I started at the quilt retreat last weekend. I cut the batting and the back and put together the “quilt sandwich” as it is referred to in quilt land. I dyed the whole thing a peach color which blended all the different scrap piece colors together and gave it an antique look. Next came the actual free motion quilting which is both difficult and time consuming. I have an affinity for this part of quilt making as I like to draw and doodle. It is a counterintuitive drawing process in which the sewing machine needle remains static while the sewer’s hand movement of the quilt creates the pattern. It looks easy on U-tube videos but is actually quite difficult and I haven’t advanced beyond a simple meandering pattern. It took five hours to finish the quilting and my hands paid for it the next day. After completing the final binding I called it a wrap and ended up putting approximately 45 hours into making my “simple” scrap quilt. I haven’t figured out if quilting is worth all the time and trauma on the body but I sure do like cuddling up in my new lap quilt in the evening while the wind and cold rain rage outside.
After the quilt marathon, I took a break which included lots of reading and several long afternoon naps this past week. I am still cooking and freezing eggplant and made tomato soup with the last of the cherry tomatoes. Now I have to shoehorn it all into the already full freezer. It seems there is a legitimate reason most folks invest in separate freezer units. Took in the Art Meander again this year and came home with several new pieces I must now find places for in my already full house. I am always amazed at the wealth of creative talent out here on the prairie.
One of next week’s tasks is to harvest the rest of the carrots but with the freezer full and the canning equipment put away, I don’t know what to do with them. Friends and neighbors tell me they store well so maybe I will pack them up in a burlap bag and transport them, along with our canned goods, back to Flagstaff for use through the winter. I also need to pull the tomato plants out of the raised beds which is always a wrestling match. I still have lots of fresh herbs to harvest before the first predicted freeze hits later this week. This also means it’s time to let nature have its way with the annuals but “to everything there is a season” and it’s been a good one!