Pelted with Petals

While walking to my car with my arms full of library books, I was showered with pink petals from the flowering plum tree I was walking under. Today's breezes are littering the sidewalks with a carpet of pink.

I am reading backwards through a series of books by Julia Spencer-Fleming whose heroine, Clare Fergusson, retired from flying helicopters for the army and is now the priest in a small Episcopal church. Clare admits to being an adrenaline junkie and always finds trouble in her small town. I'm really enjoying the characters in this series and the action keeps me hooked.

Guess what was on my porch when I got home from picking up my son from school? OK, I wasn't surprised as I met the UPS driver going down, as I was going up my driveway.


Yes, it's my order from Dharma. 5 luscious new colors of dye, electric blue, deep orange, kelly green, fuchsia red and golden yellow. And, what I really had been waiting for... 10 yards of PFD fabric!!! 10 yards sounds and looks like a lot, but I know I'll go through it fast, at least the dyeing part. The creating quilts part is a whole 'nother matter.

First step is to prewash the fabric. Thinking that dealing with a 10 yard piece would be a bit unwieldy, I decided to cut it into 1 yard pieces. In an attempt to get the most for my money, I had calculated that buying the 60" width would be the better deal. I measured out my first yard, made a snip, and then tore the fabric - between the 10 yard length and the 60 width I decide tearing would be more practical.

After a successful tear, I measured another 36", snip and start to tear, and keep tearing, and still haven't reached the other side. Yep, I measured on the 60" side rather than the 10 yard length this time. I had probably gone about 45", so now I'm going to have some really unusual sized pieces to use.

Sounds like the washer is done!