My Own Bed!

The rehab staff did all they could do make the residents feel at home.  I had beads for Mardi Gras and a bunny on my door for Easter.

Nevertheless, after two months in hospital beds, we opted to sleep in one of the guest bedrooms with twin beds at home because the path to the bathroom is shorter than our bedroom.  Two weeks later we have finally returned "home" to our own bed.   I can't describe the excitement (and relief).

I am definitely improving at home, but still have my bad days.  PT 3 days a week tends to wear me out, but is definitely helping.  Next Monday we are making a big batch of chili to "thank" the PT staff for all they did to help me get out of there!

Still no sewing, though, even though I have my travel machine available on the main floor of the house.  I did go to Devo on Tuesday for a couple of hours and help make kits for our November "sew day" by ironing which I could do while sitting in the wheelchair.  Even though it was great to get out of the house and see everyone, I was exhausted by the time I got home.

On another front, it appears the geese couple have returned to the nesting spot on our bluff overlooking the lake.  She had built a nest there in April 2020 ...

...but a late May freeze caused her to abandon the nest.

There was no further activity today, but we're hopeful.

Pardon the Interruption

 I had an unfortunate incident at the beginning of February that put me in the hospital and rehab for two months.  I'm home, but not yet in shape enough to manage the stairs down to my studio, so there won't be any sewing in the near future.  I'm scheming where I might set up a machine upstairs!

For those of you who heard about my predicament through the Nann Grapevine, I appreciate your kind messages. 

Has It Been a Week?

I have realized that it is easier to post daily if you post daily.  Once you let a day go by, it morphs into a week.  So much for my New Year's Resolution!

Anyway, it's been a productive week on many fronts.  First I chose my starting block for the Stay at Home Round Robin and got started on the first round.

Not being so thrilled with my progress, I put that project on hold.  I did manage to get a couple more blocks of 1863 on the design wall.

I now have 12 of the 27 blocks finished.  My goal is to finish a block a day.

I have determined that I have too much stuff.  Can you relate?  Anyway, it's really weighing me down so I plan to divest myself of lots of it.  Anything I don't think I'll use in my remaining years I am putting up for grabs with my Devo and S'mores friends.  What doesn't get taken will go to a charity in Nashville that supports developmentally disadvantaged adults.  So I devoted quite a bit of time over the weekend to culling through my batiks.  I had no idea how many I had!

Meanwhile, Spring is about to spring! (in spite of the sub-freezing temps)  

And my Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus has no clue what month it is.

Meanwhile, On the Lake

The sun is finally out and the snow is starting to melt.  But at sub-freezing temperatures, the lake still has ice around the edges.

I've used my extra time at home to get some more sewing done.  My chosen RSC project for last week was Labor Day Madness from the Nickel Quilts book.

The process for making the compound triangles results in a second set of triangles that "spin" in the opposite direction.  Those will go into next week's chosen project that I call Pinwheel Madness.

Just Call Me Wishy-Washy

Tuesday rolled around, the day for choosing a center block for the Stay at Home Round Robin 2024. I was stumped.  

You see, I had participated in SaHRR at couple of years ago, using a block I had made after a quilt show where various vendors offered a kit for a block all using fabrics from a particular line.  I was pleased with how that exercise worked out.

I looked in my Orphan Block bin and found three more blocks from that show and my first thought was to use one of them so that I would have a companion piece -- or even the starting point for a whole quilt.  

BUT, I also found an interesting basket block ...

... as well as a collection of big blocks left over from the Women of the Bible quilt I made in 2022.

I was able to pull together leftover fabric from the Bible quilt and was leaning strongly to starting with this ugly dark block that hadn't worked with the other light blocks in that quilt.

Decisions, decisions.   I think I will wait for the first round prompt and see which starting block offers the best possibility.

Talk about DrEAMI!

 I couldn't help myself.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.  Or I could blame it on being snowbound for two days ...

Anyway, remember my RSC block of the week -- Antique Tiles?  Not only did I not stop after making three, I have nearly finished a top!

I had just enough of the bird fabric to make 12 blocks and 12 cornerstones.  whew!  I am now auditioning borders.  It is currently 33" x 42" and will make a nice kid's quilt with a 4" border.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2024

First, a SNOW update -- looks like we got around 5 inches total accumulation.  It's cloudy and currently only 7 degrees.  It is supposed to get down to -2 overnight.  My Wednesday meeting was also cancelled so I'm hoping to make a lot of headway in the studio.  Stay tuned!

As previously reported, my plan for 2024 is to wrap up the FIVE unfinished RSC projects by working on one each week with the month's chosen color.  I managed to assemble Square Dance last week at retreat and will put the borders on it next month when it falls into the rotation.

This week's project is Antique Tiles.  Apparently I never even cut the first piece on that project, so it took me a while to figure out an approach.  The first thing I did was ditch the chosen beige background fabric as too boring and too precious to "waste" on a RSC project.  Instead, I chose a smaller piece with multi-color birds but I first had to see if I had enough of it to make a reasonable number of blocks.  👍

I chose the greens and put together a test block.

Oh, that was fun!  Let's try another ...

... and another ...

This could be a finished project by the end of today!