Sewing Aqua and Friends

It’s hard to feel motivation to do much when you’re entering the second week of a 100-degree+ heat wave. Ask me how I know. I’ve felt like a slug. Yet I do manage to find time for HOA meetings indoors, (working outside for than 10 minutes at a time is nearly impossible), take naps, swim in the evenings, and do laundry in between naps. And I’ve been drinking lots of water and, if I’m being honest, new Diet Dr. Pepper with Coconut. Simple pleasures… 

But even though I’ve been Missing In Action from blogging for a couple of weeks, I have been sewing. What’s not to enjoy about sitting at my machine with a very green view out the window, the fan overhead whirring softly, good tunes playing in the background, and fun scraps lining up for their turn under the needle?! 

Here’s some proof that I’ve made progress with July’s Rainbow Scrap Color of the month, Aqua (and teal, and all the blue-greens):

Three Color Stix blocks:

One 16-patch star to finish at 12”:

And three Windmill blocks to finish at 8”:

And yes, I finally got my design wall up with the help of my friend Ruby. She also found a 100-yard roll of white flannel she had stored from her days as a home dec seamstress, and gifted it to me/us (our little sewing circle). 

It’s been so nice to have a design board again, even though space in the sewing room is at a premium. You may notice that there’s a quilt top lying on the table. 

The Anne of Green Gables top is ready to be basted, finally! That’s my primary job for today. Along with meeting another set of contractors to get a bid for resurfacing the irrigation ditch that runs through the condo property. Yeah, fun times…. But I digress. The Anne top measures 66x80”, and when finished will be a gift for my friend Ann. 

Since I’ve finally caught up on some serious sleeping, I may even have enough energy to cook something for dinner tonight! But if the energy is gone by supper time, there are always ingredients for sandwiches or salads.

And just to make this a more colorful post, here are some pictures of my little courtyard garden…

My echinacea (coneflower) is loving life. The rhubarb next to it, however, is being eaten alive. But the ground has been treated and the slugs and snails are history. But the plant will die back naturally in the heat anyway (for the season) and I will keep a closer eye on it next year. I’m finding that we’re having to deal with a lot more pests in this condo than in the old house - ants, snails, and wasps here at our place and other plant diseases in the trees and shrubs of the condo complex. And I’m learning a lot. 

I don’t think the petunias (clumps of green) are loving their too-shady spot, but everything else is happy enough. Begonias are real troopers for sun or shade. And the blackberry bush in the back corner - a cutting that I transplanted from the old house - is actually bearing fruit. Three whole berries so far, LOL, with three more on the way. But that’s OK. Our old bush started out that way, too. Next year it will grow and produce significantly more, and then by the third year, look out!!

The hydrangea is loving its life! The little plant in the white pot is a bell pepper plant. It seems to be doing well, too, although I don’t see any peppers yet. But there are buds. What is it waiting for??

And here’s Ringo the (cockatiel? Macau?) bird standing guard over the courtyard. My granddaughter Lauren and I painted it together years ago…

******************************

Now, the rest of this post, which I’ll try to keep brief, is personal stuff that you can skip if you’re just here for the sewing. But I have to let some people (and my personal record) know what’s been going on. 

Bruce’s annual cat scan to check for cancer after his 2020 arm amputation came back in May showing an enlarged lymph node. This in itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but the doctor ordered a biopsy. The results said non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a very treatable cancer. Since the doctor herself is an oncology surgeon (who Bruce will continue to see annually), he was referred to an oncology specialist for the new cancer. He has had a series of three monthly blood tests (and treatment for slight anemia), and the specialist revised the diagnosis - CLL, or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. It’s not the horrible acute leukemia, but a chronic type wherein the bone marrow is making cancerous white blood cells. It is verrrrry slow in progressing, thankfully, and some people have lived 30+ years with it. Since Bruce is 76 and relatively strong and healthy, and because CLL is relatively easy to control, this is likely something he can live out a normal life span with. But still. This is his third cancer. 

On a brighter note, as I may have mentioned before, we are in the process of making a VA (Veteran’s Administration) claim, and expect that due to his Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam, he will be granted 100% disability. But that process will take months. 

The final news for this week is that our contractor let us know this week that it was time to make our lighting selections and the vent/fan selection for over the range. Wanna see the pendant lights? 

These will go over the kitchen island - not sure yet if we’ll need 2 or 3. But the MAIN news is that demolition begins a week from Monday, so I’ll be spending this week packing up the kitchen. Luckily, all the fancy dishes, rarely-used items and decorative items (cookie jars, Pyrex) were never unpacked from the move. So, I only have the basic pots, pans, dishes, glasses and silverware to do. And the pantry will stay the same, so that’s good. And I get to figure out meal prep with a refrigerator, microwave, toaster and barbecue only! I see a lot of dining out in our future for 4-6 weeks! Hey, in this heat, it sounds good to me!!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday.