Since the beginning of March I have been getting ready for my Empty Spools retreat.  Getting caught up on house stuff and blocking out time when I would be away.  Not scheduling anything for this week, making sure there was enough dog food, people food and stuff.  Then, last Wednesday, it was announced that my session was canceled. So now I have a bunch of free time to spend in my own house.  That’s the way I’m looking at it anyway.  Not that I have anywhere to go, or anyone to see because of the, uh, shut-down. Plus it’s going to rain for the next ten days or so.  Rain is needed here as I planted a bunch of stuff, and free water makes things grow better than me trying to remember where the plants are and when I watered them last.

Yesterday I got the nine big blocks of Estella put together.  I just didn’t have the energy to complete that final nine patch.  It is a good thing too, I was knitting at my sewing table last night and admiring the big blocks on the design wall and I saw this:

Yay for quality control, or OCD, I’ll fix it later today. *

Also on the ‘To be finished’ list is the Frolic quilt.  I was really trying to finish it to bring with me to Alsilomar.  I wanted to show it to Bonnie Hunter and maybe bring it to one of the show and tell nights.  I have one more row of pantograph left to do, and binding of course.  I am still deciding if I want to make the Emerald city quilt that I was going to start at Empty Spools.  I have been collecting all the greens and neutral fabric since last June, when I signed up for the class.  I even got a backing for it.  I wonder if I am just sad that I didn’t get to go, and I am holding that against starting this quilt.  Or I am in Quilty Hangover mode after finishing Frolic and Estella, since both were so labor intensive.  I think I am going to do something easy and smaller this week.  Break out the Accuquilt Go and do something a little less mindful.

I started knitting a new shawl last week, the pattern is Fifth Avenue by Knittimo.  I’m using two yarns from Shibui, cloud and pebble, and a mixture of copper colored beads.  I haven’t done bead knitting with a crochet hook before now, and after the first 50 or so beads I had it figured out.  The only thing I don’t like about it is I have to knit at a table where I can access the bead bowl.  This is definitely not a project to knit in bed.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll quilts for Design Wall Monday today.

* Once I got that piece turned around I laid out the giant blocks out to sew them together and noticed 18 more HST’s that were turned the wrong way.  I fixed them and now my blocks are a top.