It's A Spider in Bits

(Yesterday) 

We had strange weather today. It was cloudy, not too hot, windy in the afternoon and very dry.

Kelly texted early. She was stuck with Kevin (I assume) in an airport in Denver.

My mother texted in the early afternoon, wishing me a happy Memorial Day.

Dave did lots of chores today, both indoors and out and he made cinnamon rolls; I sewed part of a spider and hosed down the outdoor chair cushions and wiped down the outdoor cafe table. We sat out for a bit. I need to sit outside more. I get stuck indoors too much.

We made quesadillas for lunch in the very late afternoon--and so far dinner has been a piece of toast each. I need to figure something out soon because I need to take my meds with some food. 

Gray Kitty is napping on the couch. He came outside with us for awhile and looked around at the things Dave had cleaned up. Then he had a nice long drink from the hose.

In the evening, he curled up in the corner of the sofa and took a little late afternoon nap. He loves to nap. (Me, too.)

But I didn't nap yesterday. Instead, I started cutting out and sewing up a spider. This spider:

Okay, it's not an itsy bitsy spider, it's a spider in bits (and my old pincushion), and it's going to be big (about 9 inches by 4 or 5 inches). A lot of it can be sewn by machine, but a bunch of it has to be done by hand and hand sewing and my arthritis do not get along. Still, I got the abdomen, thorax, and pedipalps cut out, sewn, stuffed, and attached so that the body was complete. That left the legs. The legs are very long and skinny and numerous--eight of them!--and each requires a lot of concentration to sew and the use of hemostats to turn and stuff them. Hemostats don't bother my hands as much as scissors do--or so I thought until I had to turn and stuff spider legs with them. So I've only completed four legs. 

Anyway, I had a bag of polyfil (polyester stuffing) that is probably about six or seven years old and which was not that big but which turned out to be the gift that kept on giving and giving and giving. I mean, not that I stuff all that many things--maybe a pincushion here and there--so I was sure that I was going to die with a partial bag of polyester stuffing unused among my sewing things. But no, turns out this spider is going to take out that bag of stuffing and I'll probably have to buy more if I want to make another spider. (Which I do, because this is my first go around and it is a very amateur attempt.)

Today I worked a bit more on the spider and then on my big circle quilt. I also did some laundry, started clearing out a cluttered area in my room, worked in my art journal, listened to some episodes of Bones, ordered some things we need around the house, and took a shower. I sat outside with Gray Kitty for awhile (until I heard what sounded suspiciously like a mosquito buzzing around). 

What else is going on? I told myself that I wasn't going to order anymore fabric until I had used up some of my older stuff--then the Memorial Day sales ads started showing up in my inbox and the next thing I knew, I had filled a cart with fifteen yards of fabric and two quilt batts and used my 20% off coupon to order all of it sent to my house. Here's the kicker: The fabric is not going to be used for quilts (not most of it anyway). I also ordered a couple of patterns that I saw for pajamas and button down shirts and after watching a very detailed tutorial, I'm going to try sewing some of each using quilting cotton. We'll see how that goes. Other than pajama bottoms and a handful of skirts with elasticized waists, I've never sewn any clothing. But I'm crafty, right? (You're thinking those are famous last words, but in fact, those aren't the famous last words I'm looking for. The famous last words I'm looking for are: How hard can it be? Can't be that hard.)

Now I'm wondering about what to do for dinner.