Working on the brown half square triangles

My quilt room has become unmanageable, again.  Bits and pieces of things here and there.  This happens when I start to use too many things as leaders and enders or when I can't make up my mind what I really want to work on.

I usually can't make up my mind when I find myself with very little time.  I don't want to get into something big, when I know I won't finish it, so I tend to pick little odds and ends things, that can be completed in the time that I have.  Unfortunately, many times I under estimate the length of time a task will take and end up with parts everywhere.

Yesturday, I felt I had to do something to take control of my quilting space.  Earlier in the evening I completed my labels for the units under my longarm quilting table, I put things away, and I sewed up all the remaining brown half square triangles (HST).

I finished all of them.  When I started, I had about a quarter of them done.  These are the HSTs for the Brown Bear Paws quilt.  There are 25 large blocks needed, with four paw blocks in each, which makes 100 small blocks.  In each small block there are 4 HSTs, which means I just finished a total of 400 HSTs.  Wow, all done!

I even started to put a few sets together, while working on another block.  Now I can put this aside to work on the stuff on my list.  I have a somewhat clean quilting room again and I am ready to tackle another quilt to the finish line.

Non-quilting related:

Yesturday during one of the doggie washroom breaks, I was admiring a corner of my garden.  I have created a bit of an oasis in this little corner, with the help of the neighbours backdrop.  All the greenery in the upper half of the photo, except for my little maple tree, are bushes from the backyard neighbour.

This little area has changed already three times this spring with the different focal points.  Last week the bush on the right that is seen behind the green umbrella was cover in white blooms, as well as the one on the far left.  Prior to that, on my side, to the right and behind the chairs, the abundant red and pink tulips were in full bloom.  Now, it is the backyard neighbours purple lilac bush, with there blooms so full the branches are sagging from their weight, the side neighbours small young white lilac bush, that is seen beside the red Japanese maple, and beside the one chair, on the left, under the red Japanese maple, is a large bleeding heart plant in full bloom, surrounded by other plants waiting for their turn to shine.

The constant in this garden are the side neighbours pyramid emerald green cedars, behind the chair on the left is a globe yew, in the far corner is a columnar yew, and behind the waist high rod iron fence is the yellow rimmed leaf euonymus bushes.  All of these I see year round.

I love it!!!  Yes, I see the imperfections too, like how the added waist height fence needs to be painted and the Muskoka chairs also waiting to be painted a vibrant turquoise blue, the new grass round the patio bricks struggling to stay alive, and some weeds I haven't yet pulled from between the tulip leaves.  

But you know what.......one has to look for the beauty in things and I choose to see the beauty in this, my little oasis.

Enjoy this day.   Take the time to smell the roses.  Otherwise, life will pass you by without your experiencing the whole show.