as usual, July is more than I can manage

Work is stressful b/c of one person who's arrogant and presumptuous, but everyone thinks he's a great guy. (Which he probably is when he's not telling you how to do your job.)

Garden is going slowly - its the coldest time of the year, with the least things growing. The back garden gets the least sun, and when it rains, it gets very damp in there. I'm a little worried the chickens are getting bored. They've scratched up most of the ground in their pen, but

I think I need to move them on, but there's not really anywhere to move them on to right now. I put them in among the fruit trees in the front yard on the weekends for a couple of hours, but the ground there is looking pretty bare, too (although I've also gotten a lot of stuff dug up, because the chooks clear the surface, I start forking up the deep-rooted weeds, and they promptly come over and try to 'help' by scratching up the dirt...

Needed in the garden: more perennials that can survive a couple of chickens scratching them to death.

I made more brandied kumquats last night. The last set didn't go so well, although the brandy is quite nice, just not quite as sugary as I'd like, and there's a residue which I think was a result of not quite cleaning the kumquats properly. So far, I haven't died from drinking it yet...

Have Thursday off to spend with saramund and her family who are up from Vic.

I signed up for Camp NaNo. Twice. Don't ask.

Have finished my homemade2homemade just need to get it mailed off.

Nearly done with not_primetime PH I picked up. Neaaaarly.

Finally, I'm joining in on an instagram quilt-along. The goal is to make a block from a book by a well-known modern quilter, photographic one block a day every day for the next 100 days. I don’t usually participate in these things, but it’s something I’ve planned to do for quite a while, so I figured this is a good time to start using up my fabric scraps from this one designer, who makes lovely designs but they’re kind of hard to use in quilts.

You can make the blocks ahead of time and just post the photograph of the block on the day, but the going will be pretty intense. I’ve cut out the first 10 blocks, which will give me a bit of a head start, but I need to get sewing them this week, and then start cutting/bagging the next 10 blocks. The trick will be to keep on top of everything...

But isn't that life?