Some Sewing, Some Sleeping.

First, let’s talk about the sewing. I was in a sewing frenzy over the last weekend and Monday, and churned out 60 string blocks at 6.5”. Four safety-pinned sets of 15 green blocks. As Bruce would say, “They are a thing of beauty!” Haha. 

For some reason - I think it was my grandson’s wedding quilt I was working on last spring - I never did much with greens when they first came around. So, I’m making up for lost time. I am also working in October to finish up the block sets I need for this year’s projects. Next up was five green Hollow Nines blocks. 

All I have left to complete this block set is 6 blue Hollow Nines, which are waiting with pieces neatly stacked for my next sewing session. All year I’ve had no plan for these blocks, which will total 40 when the blue ones are sewn. But then I saw a picture of a quilt somewhere (Pinterest maybe?) that was perfect, and Ruby had just brought over a bolt of brights-on-black fabric for us to gift to Quilts for Kids. So I cut off about 2-3 yards, and this is the plan in its rough stage:

I’ll alternate the nine-patches with the print fabric for a quilt with 80 squares set 8x10. That’ll yield a kid quilt measuring roughly 48x60”. Simple, bright, effective. 

I did have a single finish, my first of October. This quilt measures about 40x58” or so, if I recall correctly. And with my cat Darla asleep on my lap as I write this post, I’m not getting up to check my records!

The back needed an insert, but I had the perfect green scrap chunk for it. 

The only other thing I got done was sewing together the inner portion of this Block of the Month quilt. I ran out of the cute Tula Pink Fairy Frost fabric for the inter stop border, so I’ll be using plain white. Both that and the outer colored border are cut, and the backing is ready to be sewn too. Again, the backing will need a vertical insert strip because these quilts are being made intentionally “medium kid”-sized. The tops are better suited to slightly older kids, not baby or toddler kids.

The color for October in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Neutrals, which I was planning on anyway. I have four more Gameboard block to finish for that set. Two will be done in browns and two in grays this month. Then I’ll be focusing on trimming down by brown scraps drawer. I can’t even get all the stuff in the drawer. I hope I can remember to get Before and After pix of the brown scraps! I think I’ll be trying to sew 2-3 little quilts this month in brown with other colors. Like brown and pink; browns and golds, and maybe brown and… blue? Green? Whatever wants to come play. I’ve picked out some simple designs - checkerboards, rail fence, and chunky patchwork. 

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Some Sleeping?

The Operative word this week was “some”. I had a cortisone shot in my shoulder this week, and a few of you may know how cortisone can play havoc with your sleep. At least on the first night of the day you’ve had the shot. But the old cortisone-by-pill routine was worse because it lasted longer, along with frazzled days and brain fog. Well, I got through a sleepless night (does 30 minutes count?). 

The next day, ironically, I got the results of my recent mid-September sleep study. I’ve used a CPAP for 25 years this month. It was time for a new machine, which Medicare allows once every 5 years upon a sleep study. My machine is 6 years old and decidedly noisy. Imagine my surprise (and elation), when the results showed that I no longer have OSA - Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I did have a few minutes of low oxygen saturation in the 7.75 hours of the sleep study, but not to the length or level of their minimum standard. So, I’ll just elevate my upper body slightly going forward, and that’s it. The doctors attribute the results mainly to my weight loss of about 3 years ago (70 lbs, most but not all of which is still gone and I’m holding steady).

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The start of our remodeling has been delayed by 3 weeks because the ceramic bricks have to be shipped in from Arizona since the local distributor was out. The re-facing and new hearth of the fireplace will be first, and then they’ll replace the living room carpet with flooring. Once that gets going, the main bath will be next - just cabinet and wall painting and a grab bar in the shower area. 

We’re still waiting for the final bid on the master bath, which will be a more complete re-do; flooring, cabinets and counters, a new mirror, and new tile flooring. Only the existing shower and toilet will stay. I’m anxious to get the “show on the road”. 

That’s all from here. Today I plan to do the fall clean-up of the courtyard. Not sure yet if that will include putting the patio furniture to bed for the season. I’m thinking not. I’d also like to go grab some more bulbs to plant and see if perennials are on sale yet. Wish me luck. Have a great week!