mail candy

mr. postman brought some eye candy yesterday and don't you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little quilt made by jo morton?  it's in the current issue of Quiltmaker.  i could make this no problem; in fact, i could probably make several as i seem to have some of jo's fabrics here someplace...<grin>!  **** it's a coool morning here, i mean in the 40s.  great sleeping under quilts weather.  and that means great quilting weather too.  that is on my agenda today, quilting on the scrappy pinwheel.  with cooler weather arriving, i need to get this on my bed ASAP.  can't wait to try out the wool batt.  it's my day off and i have absolutely NO errands or chores scheduled so a quilting marathon of sorts is on.  enjoy the day!

ssshhhhh...

some secret selvedge sewing going on in the studio, my lips are pretty much sealed but i can show you this much.  and isn't this the greatest thing?  took my paper piecing books by queen carol doak to staples and had them spiral bound.  now i can trace those patterns with ease!  other than the "just takes 2" project, which is languishing on the ironing board at the moment, i don't do a whole lot of paper piecing, but she has some patterns that work for a project i'm just starting for maine quilts next year.   *** wild, windy and rainy wednesday here, good for a change!   NOTE:  i think i have turned off word verification, so it will be easier to post comments should you desire.  let me know otherwise.....

monday sewing

in addition to my hour of quilting, managed to sew up these units for the ocean waves quilt.  there is no rush getting this flimsy together and, in fact, i might have to order another grab bag of those luscious solids from cherrywood in order to get the variety i need at a low cost.  this quilt takes an enormous amount of triangles, even at the size i'm making, which is giving me a 3.5" square when 2 are sewn together.  not nearly as small as bonnie's gorgeous, huge ocean waves, but because i hand quilt all my quilts, i tend to shy away from too many seams.  *** now off to start my busy day in gorgeous early fall weather!

away they go!

all done and headed for the swap hostess, these 5 little baggies of stars made with jo morton fabrics.  since being, shall i say "indoctrinated" or "exposed" to jo morton's fabulous fabric lines a little more than a year ago, i've jumped into the civil war repro movement with both feet right up to my neck.  there is something about this fabric style that tweaks the strands in my prairie woman DNA, although i don't think any of my ancestors got anywhere near the prairie.  mostly they are here in new england in extreme rural and even unsettled areas.  my great-great grandfather was at appomattox when lee surrendered, but he came back to new england.  anyway, this swap is history; now to wait for the returns....i can't wait!  and would you believe, snow in new england this weekend? 

drought over

after a too-long quilting drought, last night i could finally sit down with hoop and needle for some quilty relaxation therapy.  and it worked, too, because i slept 9 whole hours last night.  still doing the eye drop thing but looks like the eye is coming around nicely.  **** on tap for today?  some household tasks, a few kitchen chores and then maybe back to sewing...and it is such a lovely early fall day too.  1 month, 1 week....won't be long now!

in all seriousness...

if you had been around me this past week during my eye injury, treatment and snail's pace recuperation, you would have heard plenty of jokes about getting a service dog, signing up for braille quilting and the like.  all kidding aside, i was more than a tiny bit frightened about this problem.  when i could not use my eye or open it even, i quickly realized how limited my life was.  i spent a few days just listening to radio and TV, not being able to do any visual things in my normal routine.  it made me even more in awe of one of my heroes, helen keller.  though she had never really known sight or hearing, it must have been like living in a dark, silent cave.  without my normal bilateral vision, i felt like i was in a dark cave, shunned, ostracized, cut off from the normal seeing world.  i'm still not quite back to my usual seeing tasks (last sunday's paper is still waiting), but i can't imagine i'll take any of them for granted.....not ever....and i am more mindful of protecting my eyes in potentially harmful situations i'd have otherwise ignored. 

plenty left

in maine or coming soon?  rest assured there is still plenty of lobster around for delicious eating.  this summer of lobster glut, many lobstermen were selling direct to the public to get the most money from their catch.  we are fortunate to have many of these independent sellers locally so the price doesn't fluctuate as much.  since our last purchase, our seller has only increased 30 cents per pound, still far below many retailers.  this particular batch cost less than 2 pounds of sirloin tips.  **** no sewing at all to report, still chained to the eyedrops every hour on the hour, and well worth it too i say...much improvement since one week ago.  still, itchin' to be stitchin'.....

PA packing

even with only 1 good eye, i can fondle fabric!  the big project for the upcoming retreat is the civil war diary quilt.  i think i have 3 of the 121 blocks done...that's it.  so, plenty more to do.  i've printed the foundations, packed them up along with the book and CD.  next task was to choose the fabrics i wanted to take for this task.  sure, i could have bought more but i really didn't need to.  so, i've narrowed it down to these 2 totes of repro fabrics; the one on the right is all jo morton fabrics.  this should be enough and will hopefully make a serious dent in both the stash AND the blocks needed to complete this quilt.  it's a big one, unusual for me, but i am, of course (no surprise) late coming to the civil war diary quilt party.  *****  and welcome back to the quilty part of this blog.  i've more eye appointments tomorrow but (keeping fingers crossed) so far so good.

the culprit?

not sure but likely could be.  just to the front right is my sewing machine, and just to the front left is the TV and in front of that is laptop.  possibly some debris blew in from the parking lot and got lodged in my eye.  at today's MD visit, 6th in 6 days, am finally making progress toward healing.  not back to full use yet, but maybe by weekend.  slept thru night for the first time since thursday.  kudos to my mom for bearing the total cooking, cleaning, errand tasks, not to mention banking and mailing chores for me and chauffeuring to and from medical appointments.  and because we live in a cramped apartment, when i don't sleep well, often it wakes her as well.  for a couple of sleep deprived zombies, we're doing ok!  i confess, i was frightened but now see that all will be well in time.  with my vacation a mere 5+ weeks away, it was scary, but back to making my lists and checking 'em twice!

just call me jackie...

as in jackie sparrow OR....finding yet another way to use up the solid stash!  please ignore the hair disarray, you don't see jack sparrow running around with brush and mousse either.  seriously, to give comfort to my ailing sinister eye, the pupil has been chemically dilated.  it is imperative to cover that eye unless one enjoys losing lunch the unpleasant way.  i am in near visual drydock, unable to do much of anything that requires 2 good, equally focused eyes.  i can't type for very long either, so this is a short post.  this is a lemons to lemonade moment and one of those days that takes a bit of fortitude to enjoy.  even so, i am thankful it isn't worse, is fixable and that i have access to medical care, all too aware that many cannot say the same, even in this great country.