If I Could Just Stay Awake…

My hip replacement surgery went really well. The doctors and nurses were super attentive. All in all, it was a great day, and the hip no longer bothers me. The incision is healing, and I’m up and around doing stairs - just the few up to the bedroom level, but not the full narrow flight down to try basement studio. I even managed to sew a couple Christmas blocks yesterday. 

I’ve got to make this short and sweet, because the pain meds make me sooooo sleepy. I think I’ll be cutting them back a bit today! 

As promised, here are some glamour shots of the Christmas Stars quilt. DIL Kim and son Ryan came over for dinner on Tuesday evening and picked it up. 

They were totally tickled! 

While Cousin Kim, Ruby and I were out taking pix of my quilt, we added Kim’s House Quilt too. It’s a pattern called Jenny Lane from Missouri Star Quilt Co. 

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I managed to get a few columns sewn together on my Thrifty Block quilt top. This was on Wednesday before we hauled up all my sewing stuff to the kitchen.

The rest will have to wait until I’m back downstairs in the studio. But I am sewing some little 16-patch blocks into a table runner!

Finally, when we got home from the hospital on Thursday, the kitties had rearranged some of their foam pieces into this PI sign! Since my birthday is on Pi Day (March 14, or 3.14), we figuring they were sending a message out to me, LOL. 

That’s about it for now. I’m hoping to be able to stay awake and have more to share next week! Talk to you then! Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Two Finishes!

The weeks are just flying by, aren’t they? I have so many plates spinning that my head is spinning too. Not in an exorcist sort of way (head spinning around on my torso), not in a vertigo way either, but in a “dazed and confused” manner. But one plate took the off-ramp and is now Officially Done. And that is the Christmas Stars quilt. The quilt shop texted me on Thursday that it was ready, so we rushed right down to get it. I immediately set to trimming it, making the binding and finishing it. I even added a label for my son and daughter-in-law. 

It is almost too heavy for me to lift. I’m hoping that my friend Ruby (perhaps with the aid of our neighbor Jason) can hold it up on Sunday for glamour shots. Truly, an 88x98” quilt with lots of little pieces and a thick batting is heavy! I should weigh it. Anyway, this is just a peek for now. I hope to have some good photos next week. But it’s DONE, and the rest of the Christmas shopping (mostly gift cards) will be a breeze.

We visited our friend Terri up in Bountiful this week. We always love getting together with her! Here she is with one of her two kittens, Clancy. She was showing me this quilt top she recently finished (I love those colors!) and Clancy kept jumping up and attacking the quilt (or was it her hands?). Naturally, he stopped as soon as I whipped out my phone to capture it. Silly kitty!

Our Bradford Pear (ornamental) tree is sporting its fiery autumn colors this week. I’m going to miss this tree when we sell the house…

Back to sewing, here is the second finish this week. It’s the second (of three) quilts from my RSC2022 framed 4-patch blocks. 

Quilted with a simple stipple, it finished at 48x54”. The backing used up some large scraps too!

I didn’t do any string block sewing this week. I’m actually saving them for when I’m less mobile and have to stay upstairs for a period after my hip replacement surgery on Thursday. I’ll also have Zip(per) blocks to sew and maybe some more things. I need to make sure I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied and out of trouble, you know!

One thing I’d like to do before the surgery is finish getting this top together. It was one of my RSC blocks for this year. I called it Four in Nine, but Cathy L tells me its official name is the Thrify Block.

I’m adding the sashing and cornerstones to each block, which you can see on two blocks in the upper left corner. These are the blocks with navy blue as the dark constant. The blocks I made with the gray constant will likely be assembled in December. 

That’s all I have for you this week, folks. I’ll be back next Saturday with a surgery report and some quilt progress as well, come hell or high water. And since there’s no rain in the forecast, that leaves only hell. But I’m more than ready. Meals prepped and frozen - check! Thanksgiving groceries bought- check (except the mushrooms, which Bruce can do). House cleaned (housekeeper comes on Tuesday) and potential tripping hazards removed - check! Sewing area upstairs ready - almost. It’s all packed and just needs to be hauled up on Wednesday. So… bring it on!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s So Scrappy blog. 

Not Much Going On

For as much time as I spent at home this week, you’d think I’d have something exciting to show for it. But the time spent in my sewing studio was roughly equal to the time it took to do some laundry. I’d like to apologize to everyone who commented on my post last week. I don’t think I answered anyone, but please know I truly appreciate you dropping by and taking the time to leave a comment. I’ll do better this coming week. But for the last week, most of my time was spent in my chair, staying as medicated as possible (the hip thing). I did make a trip to the hospital to get all the pre-op tests and paperwork done. Exciting stuff, that. Not.

But I did do some sewing as I said, so I’ll share what little I did do!

A mere 15 string blocks at 6.5”

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I sewed together my Chaser blocks into this top:

I love it so much! I hope to baste this quilt and one other in the coming week. Mostly I’ve been gathering things to sew upstairs after the surgery, which is still a couple weeks off. If I can baste several quilts, I can hopefully sit and quilt them in the couple weeks after surgery until I feel confident enough to tackle the rather steep stairs down to my basement studio. I’ve also been cutting out the components for a new large-ish quilt that will be a gift for a very special Weight Watchers friend. More on that in the near future, because there’s an interesting story behind it. Additionally, I’ll bring my Bag O’ Strings upstairs as well as some Zip(per) Block components - I have enough of those cut out for a quilt top too. So, Bruce has agreed to haul my weighty Bernina and my sewing chair upstairs for me. We’ll expand the kitchen table (ceramic surface with a built-in leaf that can be expanded or folded underneath) and I’ll be ready to go!

On Wednesday night, Bruce got a phone call from a number he didn’t recognize. Long story short, it turns out it was one of his best buddies from his Army days who was in the area with his wife Renee. Dennis and Bruce served in Viet Nam together and then finished their tours at the NSA in Maryland. He and Renee came over for a couple hours that night. Dennis is in touch with all their old Army buddies, and Renee is organizing a reunion of the guys next October in Oklahoma (where they have a barn that’s set up as an event locale). Bruce and Dennis were so happy to see each other and catch up!

Next week I’ll continue cutting out the new quilt, cutting and sewing binding for Christmas Stars (due home before my surgery), and webbing the final quilt top of Framed 4-Patch blocks from last year’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge. And all the aforementioned quilt basting. I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me, no pun intended!