Design Wall Monday

Don't you just love checking out blogs of others on Mondays to see what they're working on?  I enjoy it, even if I don't always comment on someone's blog - I should more often!  The only problem with checking out all those blogs is, my day disappears too quickly!  Head over here and see what others are revealing.

This is what's been on my design wall, or the bed, or the sewing machine, or wherever this past week.  Yes, I've been working on three projects at once, bouncing back and forth, and I still need to work on some of the items from my Getting It Done list!  

Easy Street being guarded by Raven - block rows are pinned together & ready to sew.

Had been on design wall but didn't like individual block positions so took it down; was going to put Easy Street back up but laid it out on a bed instead - easier on my back!

This is Bella Luce, it's on the Getting It Done list, and I'm much further along than what I 'planned/hoped' to accomplish.

I hope you're getting some sewing in today, because I'm not, at least not yet, maybe later.  Enjoy your day whatever you are doing.

Stash Report Week 3, 2013

I'm happy to report: nothing in.  I would like to report something out, but not yet.  Linking up to Judy's reporting at Patchwork Times.  How'd you do this week?

Used This Week: 0 yards
Used Year to Date: 0 yards
Added This Week: 2 yards
Added Year to Date: 2 yards
Net Used for 2013: -2 yards

Cat Tails #8

There are times I'm not sure which of the two fur-babes is 'top' cat.  It seems lately though that Flame may hold that designation.

Here she is guarding my Easy Street blocks making sure they don't escape. 

And this smug look? Well, she's sitting atop the cable converter box which sits at the back of my desk between a file folder holder and a stack of 'stuff'.  Right behind it are two identical boxes with towels in them (just for the kitties) that sit atop respective 2-drawer file cabinets.  Raven had jumped up onto the desk and attempted to get past her to get to one of the boxes and Flame promptly decided no way, Jose' and bit Raven's nose, to which Raven then found a different route.  Flame was not about to move for anything.  And, upon Raven's getting into one of the boxes a different way, and trying to say howdy to Flame, Flame decided to nip at her again and remain smugly seated as you see above.  Guess we know who the Cat Queen is...at least on this day.  The day before they had a wrestling match on the dining room's tile floor - ouch!

Wahoo Wednesday

Well, something like that. :)  It's two "W"s so it sounds good, right?

Quilt-y stuff:  The MOST Wahoo! part of today, was that my learning-to-quilt student and I were finally able to resume our lessons.  She is such a dear, sweet young woman, and eager to learn.  She homeschools three young ones, so there are some interruptions, and I have to say "Better her than me."  The kids are good, and she's very good with them, and I'm sitting there trying to stifle laughs because of the dialog at times.  

She is starting with a very simple structure of just 5" squares pieced end to end in rows, with no specific pattern - scrappy.  She got pre-cuts for most of the blocks, but also cut some of her own because she found a fabric she really liked.  (Isn't that how a stash is born?) And I was amused as she showed me the tools she used with which to cut them.  She had a cutting mat and a rotary cutter - all good though the blade seemed a bit dull.  However, she didn't have an acrylic ruler, so she laid her fabric along the marked lines on the mat and using those and a metal ruler (like an engineer? might have) was able to cut her fabric.  I think she will be purchasing an acrylic ruler in the near future!  I suppose she could have gone completely retro and used scissors :)

I also showed her a few gizmos that I personally like to use, and a few tips to sew an accurate 1/4" seam.  She has a basic machine but doesn't yet have the 1/4" foot, nor does her machine allow her to change needle position and the feed dogs extend well beyond 1/4" to the right of the needle.  It does have a small indented mark that reads 1/4" about an inch or two in front of the needle.  I placed blue painters tape in a line along the front of her machine as a guide - the machine also has the top loading, visible bobbin, so the tape couldn't be placed over that unless she wanted to remove it every time she needed to change the bobbin. 

Health stuff :  I'm praising God that my health is returning, though there's still just a little yuckiness feeling in my chest.  The back pain is back to 'normal' - note, I did not say gone for it is never gone, just better than the days (weeks) it flares up.  The yuckiest part of today, is I think I'm going through medication withdrawals.  Over the last few weeks/couple of months, I've had rounds of antibiotics, Vicodin, codeine cough syrup, and six consecutive days of a Prednisone (steroid) treatment.  The steroid has been the most recent having finished up the night before last, and this morning I woke up feeling very much equivalent of 'medicine head' or jittery and shaky, very weird and not something I'm acquainted with.  It didn't dawn on me that that was what it could be until I was on my way to my PT appointment and confirmed as likely after talking with a friend who was on steroids awhile back for an even longer period of time who had experienced the exact same feelings.   I am feeling much better now.

I'm having PT 3x / week, and was assigned stretching exercises today to do before I get out of bed and after I go to bed...and anytime during the day I feel I want to lay down and do them, hehe.  The part I enjoy about PT the most is having the electrodes attached to my lower back and then I get to lay on this giganto moist heat pad with my knees bent for 15 minutes.  Today, she didn't hear the timer go off and left me there for about 30 minutes...aaahhhhh :)

Design Wall Monday

Having a late go of things here today.  Had to take care of some of those personal responsibilities of life; it's all too easy to let things slide and I've already done that way too much during my less than stellar health issues of late.  The back was playing happy today (praise God) and that helped a lot! Physical therapy starts in the morning.  But, I'm getting side-tracked.  I'm here with a shot of what's on my design wall.  Remember those Sawtooth Stars of a few days ago?  Well, here's the top half, minus the right border, of the project they're in.  Each block is not in it's final position, but laid out just enough so that I could get an idea of how it was coming together.  Just pinned to the wall, I was really struggling with how the pattern didn't seem to be showing very well, but when I took the picture, it tightened it up, and I could see the design a whole lot better.  Hasn't it been suggested to get one of those front door peep hole things to look through for that reason?  Some things show best from a distance.

I'm already getting restless to find a new project to get started on, but there's a list of January "Get It Done" items I need to review, and get to work on too - after all, those are my goals! as well as new projects and finishes.

Linking to Judy's Patchwork Times where busy, busy folks are showing their design wall activity, check them out :)

Cat Tails #7

So the other night I went into the bathroom and what do I find?  Miss Raven making sure she was properly made up:

 

She was sitting on the end of the counter in the dark, guess that 'night vision' helps.

Seriously, Again? and The Hobbit

For the last few days, I've been again feeling a dull ache in my chest, and sure enough, started coughing again yesterday.   Will this crud ever leave?  And of course, Marty's been home with the flu (verified) all week, then I hear on the news that there are three strains going around, of which you can catch all at different times.  So this morning I decided I'd nip this in the bud right off the bat and headed straight to my doctor's office (it's also an urgent care center so don't have to make appointments).  It wasn't real busy yet, unlike when I went in right before Christmas, and I was seen and out and off to the pharmacy and home in just a little over an hour - that's good  time here!  They did a flu test, negative, thank You Lord!, temp was normal, bp was ok, I've lost about 5 pounds :) and he didn't hear any 'loose stuff' in my lungs.  No real 'diagnosis'.  But I'm coughing and my chest is tight like before, so he prescribed some cough syrup, and some Lidocaine patches for my lower back. Also an antibiotic Rx for if "(I'm) not better by Monday". 

Marty said I'm grumpy when I'm sick.  And here I thought I was less grumpy because I wasn't talking as much back in December.  Funny huh?

Despite this condition and believing I'm not contagious, and because the movie is getting toward the end of its run, we decided we better get out to see The Hobbit.  In the series, that's the only book I've read, and that, only within the last couple of years, but I still found myself not remembering what was to happen nor in what sequence those things I did remember.  I enjoyed the movie and thought it moved along quite well for being nearly three hours long, but there were a few spots I just plainly found silly or corny.  I didn't find the fat Orc King to be cohesive with all the other orcs (the make-up etc).  He was CGI and to me it just didn't fit with everything else and made me think it was a bit of an attempt at a pseudo Jabba the Hutt.  Just didn't work for me.  I still give it a good thumbs up.  Originally I'd wanted to see both the IMAX 3D and the normal screening, but at this late date only the IMAX 3D was still out at our theater, so I had to hunt down some old contacts I still had - hate wearing 3D glasses over my regular glasses.  I'm actually glad it was still in 3D as otherwise, I'd never get to see it that way.