I finally finished up all the blocks for the Carolina Christmas Mystery Quilt. I was disappointed at first when I saw the finished layout because I didn’t like it. I like both of the blocks but together it seemed too cluttered.
I think my problem is that there isn’t a secondary design that forms when you put the two blocks side by side. (This is only a picture of part of the blocks. The real quilt is huge.)
I’m thinking about using sashing in between the blocks to settle it down a bit. My friend suggested a Christmas print to pull it all together. The cheap part of my brain perked up because those will probably be on sale now!
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Today was the first day I felt able to run outside in a long time. It’s been at least a month. I’ve been trying to keep my fitness level up inside but I just can’t run on a treadmill.
Freckles also desperately needed to go for a run. This dog isn’t nearly as quiet and calm as I thought she was when she isn’t running regularly. She still runs but her target is Riley if I’m not taking her for formal runs.
It is still too wet to get out on the trails so I drove around my neighborhood and plotted out a one mile course plus about 3/10 extra for warm up and cool down. We headed out and I felt great running. There was none of the hip pain that showed up as soon as I started running on the treadmill. The first half mile was wonderful. I was going fairly fast (for me) and wasn’t winded or anything. Then on the second half mile I started to see how much fitness I’ve lost by not running regularly. I ended up alternating walking and running. I wasn’t really tired but my legs were. It probably doesn’t help that I was doing squats, lunges, and deadlifts with weights last night for the first time in a while. I started out already a bit sore. I told my brain to tough it out and keep running. Don’t be a wimp. My brain said, “Whatever” and ordered my legs to walk. So that’s my new mini goal – to be able to run that mile without my brain rebelling and letting my legs walk.
My father wants to run a race with me. I laughed hard at the suggestion. I am slow. By slow I mean very slow. He is winning his age group in races all over the country. (Certain uncharitable people, i.e. me, may have suggested that he is doing this well because most people in his advanced age division are dead – probably from running too much. That’s what he gets for asking me if I was the only who entered the horse show every time I brought home a blue ribbon.) My point is that for him to run with me he would have to be running circles around me or in some other way annoying me. Since the shortest runs are 5Ks and I probably can’t even run that far this is not an option. I’m also a super competitive person so I don’t relish the thought of coming in last. Now if I could find a short trail run that might work. But all the ones I’ve found so far around here are at least 25K. Most of them are called 50K Fun Runs. Really, are they saying that with a straight face? 30 miles is considered a “fun run”? Runners are nuts.
I can see what you mean about the lack of secondary design. Each of the individual blocks is nice, but they don’t seem to need to be together. I haven’t seen anyone changing the layout of this one, but lots of people seemed to group the same blocks together in the Christmas Lights mystery and make a medallion pattern. I wonder if that would help? I once ran a marathon with someone literally running in circles around me and it was not fun. He was very kind about it, but eventually I sent him ahead and finished alone. It is better to just run at your own pace, even if it is alone.