Dancing in September

Do you remember

The 21st night of September?

Love was changin' the minds of pretenders

While chasin' the clouds away

Our hearts were ringin'

In the key that our souls were singin'

As we danced in the night, remember

How the stars stole the night away, oh, yeah

Hey, hey, hey

Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember

Ba-dee-ya, dancin' in September?

Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day

Ok, so I’ve never stopped loving Earth, Wind & Fire, or their song “Dancing in September”. And thanks to some physical therapy and regular (twice daily) exercises this week, I can not only move mostly pain-free (from sciatica), but have actually done some Dancing in September. But as my audience - our cats Darla and Alfie - will tell you, it’s not a pretty sight. Do I care? Not one whit. (Truth in posting: it still hurts a lot in the morning until I do my exercises and the pain meds kick in).

Speaking of Alfie and Darla, they had their dentist visits this week. Alfie had a cleaning and was rated Two Paws Up for his healthy mouth. But poor Darla. Her teeth were cleaned, too, but she had to have nine - yes, NINE - teeth removed. She’d had three teeth removed a few years ago, so out of 30 teeth, Darla has only 18 remaining. All but one on her left side (right, as you’re looking at her) are gone. She and Alfie are littermates and eat the same food. Go figure - sometimes genetics are cruel.

Darla would NOT let us give her medicine. We tried pills, liquids, putting them in some soft food, and begging. OK, so she suffered the pain for a couple days. Once she started chasing her toys and Alfie around on Friday, though, we knew she was going to be fine. 

As for sewing, I can do that comfortably now. As always, I am mindful about not sitting too long at a stretch. I get up regularly to press, work at the design board, do laundry or go upstairs. I’ve even been spreading out my household chores by alternating them with sewing. One of the chores I’ve had to do a lot of standing for is vegetable prep from the garden. I have to say here that I never knew that roasting tomatoes (with some onions, basil, olive oil, garlic and salt/pepper) could bring out such a rich taste in tomatoes. I’m putting up lots of pasta sauce!

As far as sewing went this week, I made some progress, especially once I felt better. I finished up my Rainbow Scrap Challenge light and bright blue blocks for September.

Four 6” Bear Paws (above) and nine 4” Bow Ties (below)

I also finished up one placemat, so I’m linking to Joy’s Table Scraps party for September. I only made one placemat this month because last time we did blue, I made three. The blue solid fabric looks more gray here than in real life - I just couldn’t adjust it to look true.

Finally this month I have my first quilt finish. It’s about time!  This Bullseye Courthouse Steps RSC top has been waiting patiently for a couple weeks at least. Finally this week it got some simple stipple quilting. 

It measures 42x56”. The backing is an old Amy Butler print with a green strip down the center to widen it enough. Naturally, it’s going to Quilts for Kids. Our September meeting is later today! 

Next on deck for quilting is one of the quilts sent to me by McGill in SC. I didn’t want to tackle it until I was feeling better in order to do justice to her beautiful quilts (the second of which will be basted next week).  You’ll see that one next week.

But I did get the top webbed and then sewn together for this scrappy checkerboard top that uses up the last of that light blue denim-look chambray. And lots of dark reds and blues. The pieces were cut (some in squares, some in strips depending on the scraps) and the blocks sewn while I was having the sciatic pain. I can tell. Maybe you can, too, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. It looks fine from a galloping horse, LOL. 

The blocks finish at 8” each, so this quilt will measure 48x56, a nice size for a boy. To add a bit of interest, these blue squares with the white drawings are from a couple fabric strips that depict plans and schematics to make an AT-AT. That’s an All Terrain Armored Transport for those of you who aren’t up on your Star Wars lingo, LOL. Anyway, I hope to quilt this one, too, in the next week. 

That’s it for now, friends. You’re invited to come over and help me pick some garden veggies. I’ll give you some tomatoes and carrots, ‘kay? Better yet, how about some grapes? That’s what we (and the neighbors and Cousin Kim) will be picking this weekend. I’m so glad autumn is here!

Here’s hoping you Dance in September! xo