I was decanting my paper bags of radiatore and whole-wheat pastry flour yesterday when That Man called.

“You said I could call you if we got desperate,” he said. It seemed that the Stupidest Customer had called to say she was on her way and The Poster Queen was heading out the back.

I do not hesitate to tell you that it was the Stupidest Customer. I doubt that she reads recreationally, and anyway I do not intend to give any other identifying information. She is not savvy enough to realize that she is in fact our stupidest customer. She is also a High-Maintenance customer. Our hearts sink when she walks in.

I had just offered to come in as soon as I got the groceries put up when That Man admitted that he was joking. He and The Poster Queen would soldier on and deal with her.

What a relief.

I went ahead to have a lovely needlework-filled day. Here, for example, is the re-started Lotus shawl. Lace on #1 needles and hundreds of stitches goes at a glacial pace, and looks like nothing for a long time. I am just including it out of politeness. Notice, though, that I did get a new packet of stitch markers, so I will not be subject to dropped stitches, however heated the discussions may get around here.

Here is Windblown Shadows, all grown up to be a square. I love the colors and the pattern.

I am using the Thimbleberries variation on the traditional Windblown Squares block, which doesn’t give you an allover design.

But now what? Here are some options:

* Go ahead and make one more row of blocks. Border it with pieced and plain borders and finish it as a bed quilt.

* Replace the two solid pink squares with two more of the pink print, leave it at its current size, and quilt it as a throw for the living room.

* Put another pieced block at each corner and add solid borders between them. Then continue either with pieced and plain borders to make a bed quilt, or stop there and leave it sized for a throw.

Hmmm… Square or rectangle? All print “shadows” or some plain? Pieced or solid borders, or both? Decisions, decisions.

#1 son and I also made this shirt, modeled here by #2 daughter. We used the hand-tinting method. I am not sure that you can see the design, which is #1 son’s original Mr. P to the Sizzle Nut.

And Brooklyn got bigger.

Then it rained, and I sat out on the porch watching the rain fall onto the crape myrtle. Bliss.

I will be going in to work today after church. It is getting close enough to the first day of school that many teachers will find themselves in their classrooms this afternoon, and some will discover that they need one more desk plate, or a package of stickers. We open on a couple of Sundays for these people. Last year we found that they were so grateful that we were open, that it seemed worth doing again this year.

My kids have all done their clothing inventories, we have almost finished the pre-school appointments for hair and eyes and teeth and whatnot, and we will soon be moving into the picking up of schedules, parent meetings, and such. What the kids do not know yet is that it is also time to practice getting up early and to clean their bedrooms.