Immovable Deadline Versus Irresistible Issue

I have been simultaneously a headless chicken and an energyless sloth.  Argh!

I've got a sewing project cut out and bagged for England (a flannel rag quilt for Jazzy, to equal Squiddle's, and keep them both warm in bitter weather) and I have the fabrics for their Christmas pillowcases ready to cut and bag up in the morning.  The tree is decorated and on a timer.  Jazzy gave a jar of quince jam to his teacher today for a Christmas gift, and I have another ready for Squiddle to give to his teacher tomorrow.  Transportation to the airport is arranged, all that's left is... packing.  And laundry and dishes and deep-cleaning the three bathrooms, and and and.  At least I vacuumed today?

I ALSO had the unpleasant experience of taking Squiddle to the optician today and finding out just how bad his vision is in one eye.  The school gave him a screening test back in OCTOBER and didn't let us know until THIS WEEK that he needed help!  We managed to get him an appointment before we leave, and found out he is severely amblyopic, and will need both glasses and to wear an eyepatch at least two hours each day to strengthen his vision.  Unfortunately, given how long it takes to order glasses versus when we are leaving, we will not be able to take care of this until we get back, a month from now!  Why didn't the school let us know sooner?!  (I'm not upset about the glasses, and neither is he so far.  I'm upset that we can't start helping his vision get better for a whole month.)

Sorry.  I'm stressing.  Hard and fast deadlines going up against my child's health does that to me.  At least our Christmas cards got mailed out?

Triumph!

I finished the Scrap Stars quilt yesterday, along with the coordinating pillowcases.  Two weeks and two days, start to finish.  Eleanor Burns I'm not.  This morning I got up at the usual time, fed the cat, made banana muffins from the last two bananas which were just past their prime, and tossed the quilt and pillowcases into the washer with a couple color catchers.

We then got the children up and dressed, fed them, and I put Jazzy's laundry away (everyone else's was put away yesterday).  I packed Squiddle a lunch (he gets a cafeteria lunch one day a week and this week he chose to have it yesterday), then tossed the quilt and pillowcases into the dryer on the way out the door to school.  The color catchers were a medium blue, but the light colored sections of the quilt didn't, at a quick glance, show any staining.  Which is why I use the color catchers for the first wash!

After dropping the boys off at school, Wonderful Husband and I went to the bank to talk with financial advisors, then picked up our prescription refills.  I dropped him back off at the house and made it back to the school just in time to pick up Jazzy.  Now to (metaphorically) make hay this afternoon!

ETA: Turned the last dozen quince into another six jars of jam.  Repotted ten or so strawberry plants.  Culled through the remaining bag of cranberries and tossed the good ones into the freezer to be used up at Half-Thanksgiving.

Ugh.

I woke up at 4:45 this morning.  After not being able to fall asleep until midnightish.  And it was one of those waking ups where you know after a couple minutes that you're not going to be able to go back to sleep.  So I got up, did internet things, had a lapcat for a bit, until I felt ready to tackle quilting.  (Which involved a trip out to the cold garage to look for my quilting gloves.  Luckily, I found them in the third box I tried.  I have no idea where my binding clips are, but that's going to be an adventure for another day.)

I spent a good chunk of the morning quilting, until my sister and niece arrived and we all packed into her car to go up to Poulsbo and the Sons of Norway Scandinavian Bazaar and Julefest.  Which was quite nice.  It's a cute downtown, right on the shore, and we got a couple ornaments and a couple Christmas gifts.  There was also The Quilt Shoppe right opposite the bazaar, and I popped in there and picked up a few things I probably don't need but was really intrigued by.  Nice little shop!

After we got home, I quilted a little bit more, to where I can say the quilting is more than half done, then I crashed for a little bit.  I've still got a bit of a headache, but I've taken painkillers and it's bedtime in a few minutes.

(And, yes, I realize there are no pictures of the quilt.  It's going to be a present, and I don't want to give away the surprise to the person it's for.)