Monday's Moves

We had a wonderful family celebration for Erik's birthday last night. Our family tries to get together as often as possible, but it generally ends up being only once every 4-6 weeks. It's always so good to see one another when we are able to pull it together and schedule a date. Then, this morning I walked with my good friend Sue. We took our vacations at different times this past summer, and so I don't think we've walked together since May. Hopefully, we'll get back on schedule now and continue our weekly Friday morning walks.

Speaking of walks, I'm terribly out of shape at this point. I had a good start on my exercise routine earlier in the year, but summer always throws things off, and so it's been a couple of months since I've done anything. This week is my week to get back to normal and settle in for the winter rains. Tomorrow morning, I'm heading back to the pool and lap-swimming.

Also today I had some time to get busy with the top-stitching on the Leaves table runner. I'm trying to get this one finished before the end of the week, so I can have a nice fall runner for my table. Here's where I left off on Saturday:

Recall that I was somewhat dissatisfied with the leaf on the left. I was wishing there was more contrast between the two fabrics.

I decided to start there with my top-stitching, and I chose a thread color to match the lightest pinks in the batik. Now I think there is a better demarcation between the two fabrics.

It takes about an hour to stitch around the leaves and then each of the inner sections. I was able to finish two of them today.

I'll have some time to work on this tomorrow, and so I'll start with the red leaf in the center. Originally, I thought I would simply stitch around the edges of the appliques when I quilt this, but now I'm thinking I'll stitch around the edge of the leaf, and do a more free-form version of the leaf veins for the interior of the leaf.
There are leftovers from last night's dinner on the menu tonight, and so I can have a little break from cooking for the evening. We're expecting rain for the rest of the week, and so I'm planning to get some Dutch oven meals on the menu starting tomorrow. Also, I have a turkey in my freezer that I'm going to roast, sans all the stuffing and side dishes. We can have hot turkey sandwiches (one of my personal favorites), and then I'll pull the meat off and use it in soups through the winter. Our local grocery store always publishes coupons at Thanksgiving for free turkeys with a big grocery bill (I forget what the amount is, but it's always easy to hit it). The turkey in my freezer is the freebie I picked up last year. Time to use it, don't you think?
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