A Day To Catch Up

I needed a catch-up day, not to be confused with a ketchup day- see yesterday's post and below; but I digress- things have been piling up around here and it was high time to get back to basic tasks that had been put off for one reason or another.  Hannes joined me in the sewing room for a good stretch of time yesterday, something that he hasn't done in months. Mr. Goodneedle was using a big woodchipper out back and I believe that the noise and the vibration of that piece of machinery drove him to seek a location far from that, where he felt safe. Years ago he always stayed with me in here, back then he would jump up and sleep on the back of the sofa while I quilted. It was wonderful to have his company again  (apparently he needed a catch up day too, one that included napping 😉) it felt like old times. 

I got "Elephant Love" quilted and off the rails. How to quilt elephants? With a heavy duty needle, their hides are very tough! 😂 Sorry, I couldn't resist. I used the "African Samba" pantograph on this one, it seemed like a perfect match. This one is for Lynneigh, because she loves elephants and I love her. 💗

While I was catching up I started watching a new series on Discovery+ entitled "The Laundry Guy". Here's a still photo from the first episode, wouldn't you just know that the first laundry challenge to come his way would be an antique quilt? The premise of the show is this: individuals with particular laundry/stain concerns take them to Patric Richardson, also known as "the laundry evangelist",  for him to tackle. He demonstrates and explains how to remove them and, then, further care for the item.  I love this show, check it out!

An update, or "catch-up" on the ketchup "shortage". Mr. G and I were out running errands last evening and we stopped for a quick bite at a drive-thru on our way back home. I noticed a sign at the pick up window that stated "ketchup available upon request", that's new. My husband asked for ketchup to which the restaurant employee manning the window asked: "you'd like a little bit of ketchup?" "Yes", Mr. G responded. She readied the order and passed the sack out to our car. When we pulled our food from the bag to eat, here is what we discovered. Again, NINE(!) packets- for an order of fries! Maybe nine is the default setting, maybe nine packets is a "little bit", OR, maybe, there really is no shortage after all! I didn't toss these packets but, rather,  put them in the "bank" when we got home, our new rainy day fund!

Life is Good! 

Got Ketchup?

I first heard about a potential ketchup shortage from a friend a few weeks ago. She read an article explaining that the recent pandemic which has driven restaurant dining to take-out and drive-thru almost exclusively for the past year, has seen abundant waste of ketchup packets, tossed liberally into the bags along with the food. Case in point: this photo contains nine ketchup packets; the actual number excavated from the bottom of the bag after a recent stop at a fast food establishment for our dinner, sandwiches for just two people with only one order of fries! It's no wonder that a shortage of packets is imminent if this is the case everywhere. And, of course, as soon as any "shortage" is mentioned out come the hoarders and opportunists. I did hear a report of someone selling these packets on ebay for a huge mark-up! The line in the above-linked article that cracked me up is when ketchup is referred to as the "cornerstone of the American diet".  If that's true I think that it's a pretty sad commentary on American dining. I have been grocery shopping and, apparently, the ketchup scarcity isn't for bottles on the shelf, but instead for these individual packets, although I did see lots of ketchup in grocery carts checking out. I'm not too worried about this so-called shortage catching me unaware and bereft of a needed commodity, I don't use ketchup anyway. But, just in case, I suppose that I'll hold onto these, after all, they're as good as money in the bank. 😉

Life is Good!