Resolutions were hard to come by this year. Maybe it was the "do one of these every month" checklist attitude of last year's. The ones I came up with for 2022 are real in that they really are things I have consciously told myself I should or would like to do. So here goes ...
Finish the 50
On my 49th birthday, the advent of my 50th year, I made a list of 50 things to see, do, and so on. I did not make all 50 in that year nor did I finish the 50 in the next couple of years. I recently found my original list showing items checked off as completed. There are six items left, though a couple involve doing more than one thing. Here goes:
Visit Monticello. (I haven't been there since one of The Sons went with his third grade class.)
Visit Montpelier. (I haven't been there since they removed the DuPont renovations.)
Do the "guilt trip" book. (This is an art project I thought of years ago but have never done--an atlas to some things that can make all of us feel guilty.)
Write seven poems.
Do nine sketches.
Read a book in Spanish. (This one originally had a specific book listed, one that I have since given away. I'll find something, though.)
Quilt Binding
As I struggled to sew the binding on my latest quilt yesterday, I kept repeating that I need to get comfortable with machine-sewing a binding. A secondary resolution would be to learn how to blind-stitch a binding by hand. I cannot seem to hide my stitches. A couple of times I have asked someone in the quilt guild how to do a binding, and no one has offered more than "you blind stitch it." That isn't enough for this binding-challenged quilter; hard as I try, I have never been able to hide my stitches.
Workouts
Around Thanksgiving 2020, The Washington Post Local Living section had a review of more than a few workout programs do-able on your own from online sites. The person who did the reviews, a former bouncer and security guard, closed with the program he said he purchased and continues to use. I figured that was a pretty good review, so I bought a year's subscription, a subscription I just renewed. I started at the bottom of the bottoms since I then had a lower back problem. It's body weight training and gets more challenging as you work your way up the list of classes. My resolution is to stick with this for at least another year. I know it's working because there are things I could not do a few months ago that I now can do.
Weight
Don't gain any.
Domesticity
Since I'm now friends with the Instant Pot, it's time to get to know our new convection oven.
The hard one will, I think, be the quilt binding one. More profanity accompanies a binding than accompanies a new, level-up workout class, and believe me, I sometimes compare workouts by how many times in each I swear at the screen.
Happy New Year! Tomorrow, it's back to the pandemic and Omicron.
5 comments:
Hey, I've got a metal case like the one he's balanced on! Does that count as starting that exercise routine?
Hubby recently bought a countertop convection oven (Thing 1 informed me that this appliance is the same as an air fryer). He calls it his "Easy Bake" oven. I've learned to let my meals rest a bit before taking a bite, as things can get lava-level hot in a very short time. We're still experimenting with which cooking techniques do and don't work for some foods. They never taste bad, but the consistency can be a surprise sometimes.
Have fun experimenting!
Bird 'Pie
(Trying again)
Quilt binding: This Youtube video from The Ruffled Purse shows precisely the appliqué/hand binding method I've been using ever since I learned it from Irma Gail Hatcher (who passed away last July). Except for continually catching her extra thread on pins and clips, etc., it shows very nicely what kind of stitch to take. If you have a closely matching thread, the stitches will hardly show as long as you pull them snug but not tight. Appliqué stitches should be a bit less than 1/4"; binding stitches can be just a bit more.
Thanks for the link to your post, Jean. May you check those final items off the list this year! I machine sew bindings, both sides.
I machine sew bindings, both sides. I'm making quilts for donation and the time spent on a binding could be put into another quilt. My time on invisible stitches was on rolled hems on handkerchiefs where a machine stitch simply won't do.
Post a Comment