July Recap and Creature from the Blue Precinct

Today is the first day of August. Actually, I’m surprised that I even realized that because half the time I don’t even know what day it is!  Angela, the leader of our online Rainbow Scrap Challenge, announced last night that the color for August would be purple. I’ll be getting started on those scraps later today.  But for today’s post, I can show you what I worked on and finished up this week. So, I’m linking up to the Scrappy Saturday link-up party there.

My first finish was the pineapple quilt, Pina, that I finished a few days ago. Yesterday’s blog post goes into detail about that, but I’ll throw in a quick picture of it here 

And I finished my monthly color quilt for my “Creature” quilt series. These are donation quilts that I’ve been making this year from scraps and orphan blocks that have been accumulating. This month’s quilt is Creature From the Blue Precinct. Now, you can decide for yourself if you want “precinct” to mean a voting precinct or a police precinct. They’ve both been in the news lately. All this little quilt wants to do is wrap some love around some child! 

Creature From the Blue Precinct measures 40x49”. It should be a great quilt for a boy. I purposely included some old sea-themed scraps throughout. The back and binding is a leftover scalloped print that makes the binding look way more wavy than it is. I’m confident the wonkiness will soften up and look better once it’s laundered.

I also sewed up eleven Zipper blocks this week. I have about thirty-some more to go!

And finally, my dark blue scrap recap for July (picture below).

Top Row:  6 International Sisters blocks, one scrap bucket and 18 selvage half hexies.

Middle Row: 12 Twin Sister blocks and lots of selvage columns (possible future coin quilt?)

Bottom Row: 20 string blocks, 1 Scraptastic Star, 18 Split Nine blocks

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

On a personal note, July was a hot month here in Salt Lake and I felt drained.  I’m sure the Covid crisis and staying at home (mostly; we still have to visit doctors and buy groceries) doesn’t help the energy level or mood. Bruce is doing great. The mechanical arm is coming along in the building/customization process; next week they (Bruce and the prosthetist) will be focusing on the elbow. Bruce has been practicing manipulating a myo-electric tester device with wires hooked up to his stump nerve endings. The occupational therapist has him doing exercises to increase his range of motion and to learn to relax while he’s manipulating the muscles he’ll need. They will also be getting him a steering knob for the car and they’ll teach him how to steer on a simulator when he gets his new arm. The progress is slow, but steady.  

I am so grateful for my family, friends and fellow bloggers. We’ve managed to stay in touch with family via the phone (and video calls) and the rare socially-distanced visit. This week I even got a hand-written letter from a friend, which was so thoughtful! I intend to pay that one forward because it was so cheery.

But I’ve been battling the blues and the “Covid 15”, the definite tightening of my clothes from too much sitting and eating and not enough walking and saying NO to snacks. I hope the lethargy of the hot summer dissipates after August. At least the veggies in the garden are coming on, so there is plenty to do in the kitchen (besides eat) as well as in the studio. And how can I not be happy when a gentle paw on my cheek wakes me up every morning?

Wishing you all a nice week of family, good health and lots of fun, scrappy sewing!

Garlic Knots and Green Things

Is it just me, or does it feel as though we’ve moved through the Bubble of Slow Time and are beginning to acclimate? This week went fairly quickly, with doctor appointments and errands. I did plenty of housework, laundry and sewing, and  the garden is mostly planted  - Bruce will finish up the carrots, pumpkins and sunflowers today.

As far as the stores and economy opening up, it’s way too soon in my opinion. But that just means that we’ll continue to stay home and only venture out as necessary. We still have to do occasional grocery shopping and pharmacy visits. I’m glad our grocery store is maintaining their senior/high risk hours and social distancing. We wear gloves and masks when we go out, even to the nursery (to buy some vegetable starts to supplement our seeds). Restaurant dining? Maybe outdoors somewhere down the road, but not now. We do some drive-through food ordering (warm food only. Salads and drinks we’ll furnish). I’m over 60, overweight (pains me to say that), with sleep apnea, rheumatoid arthritis and high blood pressure (controlled with medication). I’m a walking high risk poster child person.

But you’re probably here for the sewing part, so let’s get to it. May is for sewing our dark green scraps in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It’s so nice that there are plenty of greens outdoors now too. I’ve got to take a walk around the yards and photograph some of the trees and flowers!

Anyway, here are 9 Split Nine blocks. I love playing with all the potential layouts with these versatile blocks!

I needed one dark green Beachcomber block, so that was next.

Here is a sampling of some that I’ve sewn so far. It sorely needs some red and yellow, don’t you agree?

And then the strings. Always strings! There are 14 of these 6.5-inch (unfinished size) blocks. Some may go into a “Creature” (miscellaneous color-themed) quilt. Maybe, maybe not. I’ll be playing with some green orphan blocks this next week to see if I have enough to do something.

This is how I’ve been doing my string blocks lately. Last year I was given a large roll of sheer fabric (think sheer curtain fabric, probably a polyester or other synthetic). After donating yards and yards to some of my Quilts for Kids friends, I saved several yards of this wide fabric for myself, and cut it into 6.5” strips. From those strips I cut out 6.5” blocks. I use them as the foundation for piecing my string blocks. It has the advantage of being lightweight and doesn’t need to be removed like paper. 

The only disadvantage is that they have to be pinned to my design wall, because the sheer won’t stick itself to the flannel. But that’s so minor. They wash up beautifully, too. 

And then I used the rest of my small crumbs to make six crumb blocks. These will go into the orphanage or a that green Creature quilt if it materializes. 

Last week I was pondering layout ideas for my RSC garlic knot blocks, and asked for your input. First, thank you to everyone who responded. Between the comments I’ve had over the last two or three weeks about Bruce’s surgery, the Paula B Blog Hop and the garlic knot dilemma, I’ve been overwhelmed with comments. Thank you! It’s so nice to know that you lovely people are reading along, offering kind words and opinions and just generally being supportive. I’m still working on responding, although I know I won’t get everyone. And several of you are No-Reply commenters, so I have no way to personally express my thanks.

Anyway, the most popular option, which also happened to be the one that Bruce and I were leaning toward, was the scrappy mixed color layout with the blocks all facing in one direction. So, that’s what I sewed together this week. 

My goal for the coming week is to get Garlic Knots layered and basted, as well as the pink and blue Happy Blocks flimsy. As far as quilting, I’ll focus first on another International Sisters wallhanging, then move on to Garlic Knots and Happy Blue and Pink as time permits. 

Bruce continues to improve. The picture below was taken a week (maybe 2?) ago. The “We’re #1” foam hand was sent as a joke to Bruce by his daughter Emily and her husband Chad. They know his sense of humor, and they were spot on! 

This past Tuesday, Bruce had half of the stitches removed from the amputation site. The swelling has really gone down. He goes back in about 10 days to get the rest of the stitches out. He also had a long planning meeting with the prosthetics people, and some of the parts and things for his custom prosthetic have been ordered. He will soon begin wearing a special sock over the stump which will help shape it for accepting the prosthetic. The process will take a few months, but it is well underway. Meantime, the only thing Bruce hasn’t been able to do is trim his left hand fingernails or cut his meat. But I bet that will change when he gets his prosthetic! Seriously, his can-do attitude and total lack of self-pity have kept his (and my) spirits elevated. It does my heart good to see him out in the garden planting and doing all his puttering around. Life is good!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Welcome May!

Believe it or not, after all the trauma of April (and March, come to think of it), we are doing well here in our little corner of the world. Thank you to everyone who has so kindly sent messages of encouragement, support and friendship. We have been overwhelmed with messages of support in every form imaginable (even edible, LOL) and are are truly humbled and grateful.

Bruce is doing really well, and this is only a few days post-surgery. There is still wound care to deal with, and he says there is pain at the site where the right arm was amputated. He sometimes feels as though the arm is still there, although there is no phantom pain (which may mean there is no phantom pain YET). We’ll take it one week at a time. He returns to the surgeon in the coming week and for every week this month. Interspersed with that will be visits to the prosthetist to begin the preparation for an eventual artificial limb later this spring. Bruce’s sense of humor is intact, and life is continuing as normally as possible during this pandemic. We have no illusions that it will be 100% smooth sailing, but we certainly couldn’t have hoped for a better start to this new phase of life. We are counting our blessings.

Last Thursday, Hill Air Force Base did a state-wide flyover of four F-35A (Lightening 2) jets to honor the medical professionals and other front-line Covid-19 responders.  They were in our area about 1-ish in the afternoon, and many people in the neighborhood (including us) were out with chairs and cameras to take pictures and cheer. This isn’t the best picture, but it’s cropped from a larger one. It was nice to see and talk to neighbors - from a distance, naturally.

Spring has arrived, and the warm weather has meant that we can both enjoy sitting out on the patio, drinking our coffee (or whatever) and enjoying the fresh air, birds, garden. I’ve begun the arduous task of spring garden clean-up, but the sprinkler system is going, the patio is cleaned off and set up, and family is coming over (adults who will maintain 6’ social distancing) this weekend to help us in the vegetable garden. We will get it roto-tilled (we have a tiny one for raised beds), and then with Bruce supervising and directing, the drip irrigation will be set up. If we have time, we’ll plant the veggies. If not, I can do that on my own during the week.

The new May color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is dark greens. We did light and bright greens in January. I could do some dark greens strip blocks, but I’m not much  in the mood for dark anything. I was hoping we would have a refreshing, fun color to work on like Yellow! Or Pink! *sigh*  So I may work on my yellows or pinks anyway instead. Or in addition. I have enough of those colors to spread out over more than one month, and it will be cheerier than working on just green again so soon. And/or I may just work on finishing my previous RSC projects that are waiting in line. As you can see, I’m really decisive and focused... not.

Some sewing did get done this week. After I finished all my April light blue RSC blocks, I decided it was high time to use up the remnant chunks of the light blue impressionistic floral fabric I’ve used for 2 quilt backs. Since I was only up for mindless sewing, I decided to do 10” (finished size) Happy Blocks. The blocks will need to be sewn together, then this can be quilted and donated to Quilts for Kids.

And I’m not exaggerating when I said I was only up for mindless sewing. Over the last 2-3 weeks I’ve managed to make 2 other quilt tops for an upcoming (next week) blog hop I’m participating in. Both of those little quilts are Happy Blocks too. Simple and virtually brainless work (unless someone cuts strips in the wrong size. *cough*) One quilt is done. The other one is totally messed up. I tried a new quilting pattern (a simple Baptist fan variation that my friend Louise calls Unitarian fans). Mine turned out to be Satanic fans. After the first row, I decided to switch to simple inverted scallops. I was trying to channel my inner Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Or simple sunsets. La dee dah...The more I quilted, the worse they looked. Think nausea on heat-wavy pavement. It is truly worse than the very first quilt I ever free-motioned quilted (and I am NOT kidding). I gave up. Now I have half a quilt to unpick, but that will have to wait until my eyes unwonkify. That’s the technical term for what happens when your eyes unhook from your brain and go rogue; two of everything.

Alfie and Darla have been upset that I haven’t posted any pictures of them lately. I don’t want to displease the furry overlords, so here is a picture of them regally posed at the front door last evening. The birds were outdoors flying around paying their respects. Or maybe they were just taunting them, I can’t be sure.

The Other Shoe Drops

I finally quilted and bound my On Ringo Lake quilt. It’s a simplified version as I used a good number of the pieces for On Ringo Pond, which I finished last month. This one will be a personal quilt for cuddling, as I like them not too big and heavy.

The final measurements were 54.5 x 64”, and I quilted it in a simple stipple. There are a lot of piecing 

“missssssnakes”, but I really don’t care. I’m just not focused enough to piece together hundreds of little bitty pieces going this way and that.  

I would’ve preferred to have a nice border on it, but I used all the border pieces on the first Ringo quilt, so this is what it is.

The colors are yummy, though, as I switched out the browns for grays. And about 95% of the orange fabrics are from Tula Pink’s Salt Water line. I used this same fabric line in blues for Salt Water Wedding back in 2014.

The backing was a piece that I picked up a few years ago from Connecting Threads.

So, it’s all washed and fluffy and crinkly (just like me!) and I’ll use it as my new lap quilt. I like to rotate them. Do you do that? 

My Bernina had to have the foot pedal cord replaced, but it was only in the shop for a couple days, so that was nice. While I was there to pick it up, I got all the supplies for the 2 Blocks of the Month I’d missed due to sheltering in place. We’re still practicing that, of course, but I did go out and visit the store curbside, with mask.  Anyway, here are the two blocks. The first one is a bit odd because, uh... I messed it up royally. But in my defense, they didn’t give us the right amount of fabric to cut the necessary pieces, so I had to improvise. 

And these are the mostly same blocks I’m making with a busy US State-themed background. I give myself permission to skip uncooperative blocks (I’m looking at you, purples) or substitute others. So, I only did the 4-patch economy squares. And yes, I agree that that pink pinwheel in amongst the flying geese is hideous. That will be getting switched out before I sew the blocks into a flimsy.  It will be a small donation quilt when done.

And here is my Rainbow Scrap roundup for April.  Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog.

Yield: 1 Scraptastic Star, 9 Split Nine patches, 17 selvage hexies, 9 Twin Sisters blocks and 16 string blocks.  That’s 52 (smallish) blocks; a light month.   

If I have any more quilt finishes before month-end, I’ll catch those on the next post.

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

Just when we think life can’t get any more complicated... OK, fill in the blank. Here are your choices:

(A) Donald Trump becomes President 

(B) You lose your job

(C) You catch Covid-19  

(D) You have to have your arm amputated 

The answer is not (A) because DT is already a bloated windbag President (my blog, my opinion). And it’s not (B) because we’re retired, so jobs are not a worry for us. We do, however, worry about our kids and friends and neighbors. And it’s not (C), because we’re all healthy here (got tested this week). So, if you said (D), the arm amputation, you would be correct. Unfortunately.

Bruce had an appointment last Tuesday with a radiologist to discuss the possibility of using radiation to kill the remaining cancer cells in his right (dominant) arm. Long story short, the doctor discovered another tumor had popped up seemingly overnight on his forearm. It’s about the size of a large pimple, but truly it wasn’t there a week ago. Anyway, we (I was requested to join the consultation) were sent back to his original orthopedic oncologist (Joan D. Miles - we love her!) and the consensus was that now is the time to stop playing whack-a-mole with the cancer. And we certainly don’t want it to metastasize to his lungs. So, Dr. Miles and Bruce decided that amputation was the next step. Like NOW. Well, technically, it’s on Monday the 27th. I raised a feeble suggestion of waiting until after Bruce’s birthday on May 3, but they just looked at me like I was an alien (I get that a lot).  

Bruce's first thought was that this provides a lot of new humor possibilities. And we were surprised at how great the grandkids think it’s going to be that Grandpa will have a robotic arm (eventually). They already thought he was cool before because he calls Brussels sprouts “turtle heads”, but the RoboGramp thing just thrust him into superstardom in their eyes. 

We, of course, know that the reality will hit pretty hard. As much as we’ve tried to prepare for this, knowing for years it was an eventuality, there is going to be a difficult adjustment period. The prosthetist told Bruce he will mourn his arm like a lost loved one. But, it’s time. We are ready. And best of all, we have each other and loving family and friends. Oh, and we don’t have Covid-19, so there’s that. 

Finally, I don’t know what my blogging schedule will be like for the next few weeks. It may continue as normal, or I may go dark for awhile. Heck, for all I know I could be shoving Bruce out of my way so HE doesn’t take over my blog. It could happen. Thanks for all your past and ongoing good wishes. Your kind messages mean the world to us. Stay safe. We’ll “see” you soon! 

First Year of April

Is it May yet? OK, ok, I know it’s only the eleventy-hundredth day of April. Bruce asked me what day it was this morning, and I told him it was Sssssssaaaaaaatttttttuuuuuurrrrrrdddddaaaaaayyyyy. And then I realized that meant it was Scrappy Saturday and I’d better get my rear in gear with a blogpost.

Would you like to hear about my ma*k-making this week? Just kidding. Although that comprised most of my sewing this week, I don’t want to share it any more than you want to read it. Suffice it to say that it’s been going on, and the end is in sight. After the current dozen is finished, I retire.

Nine-Patch Madness is a finished flimsy. And I want to thank Jennifer Caplinger (Life’s Little Adventures) again for her inspired pattern for these blocks. I could drool over her basic and beautiful quilts all day. But if I did, someone would probably lock me up.  So you’ll have to check them out and be inspired yourself.

9PMadness joins Harambe Sisters 2 and On Ringo Lake in the To-be-Basted pile.  I’m going to try to get to those this week, “try” being the operative word.  And speaking of basting, what are you having for Easter dinner? We’re in a quandary here. Should we have the traditional ham or the traditional spaghetti?

Bruce is home from the hospital, after a week-long stay. After all the running around in the cootie-filled world to get his prescriptions, 4-point cane (needed for walking because of the huge groin-to-knee incision they made to harvest a donor vein), another trip back to the surgeon’s office at the hospital because he had a fever (slight infection, not the virus thank heavens), and a trip to the grocery store, we are home to stay. And at the grocery store, some idiot man in front of me in the line was blathering to the cashier about how he just couldn’t stand to wear a mask. You’ll be glad to know I let him live.

Anyway, let’s talk sewing some more, shall we? Here are my 9 Twin Sisters blocks for April.

And nine Split 9 blocks.

And a Scraptastic Star...

This is what my four Scraptastic Star blocks look like together. Four blocks down, five to go. Pretend they’re pressed nicely.

Finally, since I want to finish up an old Rainbow Scrap project, Garlic Knots (more traditionally known as Arrowhead Puzzle), I sewed up the two remaining colors that I needed. Here are six red ones ...

And seven yellow/gold ones

I only needed 10 more blocks, but sewing 13 will give me a little fiddle room to weed out another color if it’s too dominant when I begin arranging them next year month in May.

That’s it from the looney bin here at Chez Kizerian.

Attitude is Everything

My friend Terri keeps reminding me of what her grandmother used to say:

This has come to pass, not to stay.

I love Terri! Those words are helping me keep my attitude positive during these trying times. You know, these “fun" times when we’re all quarantined to avoid a killer pandemic while our husband is hospitalized from a major cancer surgery and we can’t visit.

But Bruce is doing very well and will be coming home on Monday. The surgery was 8 hours long and the three surgeons took veins from his left leg to transplant to his right forearm where they removed two cancerous nodules and an artery. He has good blood flow in his hand, no blood clots (they’ve monitored him closely) and a top-flight medical team. The floor he is on is dedicated to post-op recoveries; no Covid-19 patients or staff. We talk twice daily by video chat, and he is back to his silly, wise-cracking self. I miss him and so do the cats. Alfie lays in Bruce’s recliner regularly, keeping it warm for him. And both he and Darla sleep with me at night to cuddle and protect me.

But let’s talk about sewing! There was some of that going on this week, although (understandably, given the above), not as much as usual. I posted a couple finishes mid-week. Since then, Angela at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posted our April color, light blue. Too close to March’s aqua for my personal preference, but I can do this! We’re used to the days running on and on in sameness, so this actually fits right in! We all have those scraps that need to be sewn, so let’s buckle down and get to it!

I did whip my way through all my light and bright blue selvages and tamed them into a lot of half hexagons. There are about 16-18 of them, plus one long strip of leftover bits. I’ll count them before month-end.

The rest of the scraps have been sorted and I’ve got a nice big pile of light blue strips to make blocks out of. The Twin Sisters blocks have been cut (no picture) as well as lots of 2.5” squares for my Scraptastic Star and Split 9 blocks. There probably aren’t enough leftovers to make a Creature (single color) quilt, but I have a plan. Stay tuned.

I’ve been sewing ma*ks (who hasn’t? yawn...). They're for my daughter-in-law. She’s a physical therapist, and their office has run out of masks. This is just a few of those I’ve sewn.  There are more with elastic and a bunch with ties. She is doing a drive-by visit today to pick up a couple dozen.

On the design board are the 9-Patch Madness blocks. I’ve tweaked the arrangement a bit since this picture and will begin sewing these into a flimsy today. These bright, bold colors make me so happy! And I can’t wait to see what others are sewing over at Scrappy Saturday.

Well, I’ll keep this post short. I have a busy social calendar today. First I plan to play in the sand, then head to the local water park (scoop the kitty litter box and take a shower). Then I’m going to visit the local wildlife refuge (fill the bird feeders). Next I’ll be visiting friends from all over the US and the world (via their blogs), time travel to solve a murder mystery (read in my current book). When I get back from that, I’ll probably go tinker with my favorite machinery (sewing machine) before heading out to an exotic restaurant for dinner (leftovers in the refrigerator). I’ll cap the day by cuddling with the remaining wildlife (Alfalfa and Darla) in front of a roaring campfire (the fireplace).

Try not to be jealous.

March Quilt Recap and April OMG

Before March, with all 147 of its days (didn’t it seem like the.longest.month.ever?) ended, I was able to finish up two more small quilts. That brought my total to 5 for March. First to be finished over the weekend was the Seeing Stars wall hanging. This was a sew-along with my friend Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads Quilting. Here it is up on the design wall. I debated awhile about that red and white striped binding, but I’m glad I used it - it’s so cute!

I was never crazy about the fabric I selected, but I do LOVE how this wall hanging turned out. I’ve got plenty extra blocks (in greens and pinks) that I’ll be able to use to make a table runner or topper. That will happen probably this month, because they’ll definitely have a spring feel. Seeing Stars  finished at 30.5” x 36.5”.  And as you can see, Sir Alfalfa supervised and approved of this new burst of color in  the living room. Yes, he’s a Sir now; the Queen knighted him in March, did I tell you? For meritorious service to humankind because of his extreme cuddliness and care of Bruce.  :-)

But as this is an equal opportunity blog, we can’t leave out Princess Darla. Here she is doing what she does best. What you can’t see (or hear) is that she is snoring.  She’s such a dainty little cat, but man can she SNORE! Maybe I need to get her a CPAP. Or would that be a CCAT?

Moving along, the second finish in the last few days of the month was my small version of Bonnie Hunter’s On Ringo Lake pattern, which I call On Ringo Pond. It finished at 45” square and will be a donation quilt for Quilts for Kids.

Here is a collage of the five quilts I finished in March.

Top: On Ringo Pond; Teddy Bear Sailor Quilt (panel for QFK)
Bottom: Turtles and Frogs (panel for QFK)  (oops, I didn’t put the finished quilt picture in the collage, but it is done and posted on my 2020 Quilts Page, link under header); Seeing Stars; Creature from the Aqua Lab

I’m also going to take this opportunity to declare my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for April. The 9-patch variation blocks shown below in light blue were a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project that I sewed throughout 2019. I have 120 9-patch blocks to sew into a top. There are 2 extra pink blocks that will go into the block Orphanage.

So, I’m linking up to Patty’s OMG goal-setting post at Elm Street Quilts. My goal is to get these blocks not only sewn into a top, but quilted and bound and FINISHED by month-end.  Whereas March felt like it was 147 days long, we all know that April is a shorter month. Still, 96 days in April should be plenty to finish the quilt - and lots more too!  :-)

The new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for April is light and bright blue. I say “new”, but my brain is screaming that light blue is just a blink away from March’s color of aqua/teal. I do have some things to sew in light blue, but I probably will wait until we get to the darker blues to make a Creature Quilt. And I don’t need more light blue International Sister blocks, or Beachcomber blocks (both projects continuing from last year). I plan to make a blue scrap bin, but it will combine all blues, so that may or may not happen this month. Instead, I’ll work on red and yellow garlic knot blocks, since those are the two remaining colors I need to be able to assemble all those blocks into a quilt top. I also have lots of selvages to sew up, and quilts to finish; On Ringo Lake (the bigger quilt of the two I was making) and an International Sisters wall hanging to quilt and bind. There is no shortage of projects, that’s for sure.

Bruce is currently in the hospital. His surgery is today, as I write this. I’m waiting for a call from the doctor once he’s in recovery. There was no waiting allowed in the hospital. He will have to remain in the hospital for 5 days so they can monitor the circulation of the blood vessels in the tissue they transplant to his wrist/forearm area. And because of the coronavirus, there are no visitors allowed in the hospital. So that means that Bruce and I will communicate by video chat. Yeah. This first week of April alone will feel like 34 days...

Totalling or Totaling Teal

Just FYI, I learned that “totaling” is American and “totalling” is British.  And while we’re on the subject (and completely apropos to nothing), “selvage” is American and “selvedge” is British. You’re welcome.... That annoying little person on my shoulder (not sure if it’s the devilCathy or the angelCathy) is such a nag sometimes.... May I start my post now? Thank you.

OK, so the solitary confinement is getting to me, I admit it. Well, I guess it’s not solitary, but you know what I mean. This social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic is getting old. And we’ve just barely started. We’ve got a minimum of another 6-8 weeks of this, and more likely closer to 3 months. But I’d rather be alive and stir crazy than be a dead believer of the talking heads who are more interested in the economy than our lives. But I digress...

This week, despite my continuing inability to stop worrying and start focusing, I did get some sewing done.  I basted two quilts and finished one. Here is the Creature from the Aqua Lab...

I quilted it with just a simple stipple using a variegated teal/aqua cotton thread. The finished quilt measures 40” wide by 51” long. It will go to Quilts for Kids. Sometime. I also basted, but haven’t yet quilted, On Ringo Pond (see last post).  I will have that done before month-end. On Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll do a post to round up all my March quilts finished; there will be either 4 or 5 of them.

If the quilt above looks a bit bumpy, it’s because I have it pinned over the WIP on my design board. That project is another Harambe Sisters quilt. The sisters blocks and background setting triangles are mostly pinned in this picture, but they have been sewn. And in turn, they are pinned over the African panel I will be using as the backing. You can see that poking out around the edges. I’m just trying to make sure these finish roughly the same size (after trimming) as it will be a 2-sided wall hanging, like the one I did last fall.

Mostly this week I cut out and sewed some medical ma*ks (no picture - and I’m spelling out the word with an asterisk to defeat the bots that are deleting blog pix randomly when that word is spelled out). I was going gangbusters trying to organize a few groups in the county, along with the county health department, when I realized that everyone was already 14 steps ahead of me. But that’s a good thing. So, I won’t be doing anything but sewing and waiting for someone to tell me where to take them.

Anyway, I made a photo collage of my Teal/Aqua sewing for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for March. I sewed a total of 59 blocks this month. Not shown in the collage are the teal scrap bucket I made (and counted as one block) and the single aqua International Sister Block I made. But that will show up in a quilt top down the road. Here’s the roundup for Scrappy Saturday.

Of the 18 string blocks, five were used in my Aqua Creature quilt; the rest will go into the string block pile for a rainbow quilt at year-end.

Highlights of our week included lots of talking and face-timing with family, a Zoom video conference with my Weight Watchers group and leader on Tuesday, TP delivery (12 gifted rolls!) from our next-door neighbors, a trip in the car yesterday to get curbside pickup at the pharmacy and the bird food store (a shout-out to Wild Birds Unlimited! Their staff is so wonderful), and a quick trip to a local grocery store where we got some milk, strawberries and an onion, but no distilled water for my CPAP. But we’ll find some, I’m sure, within the next couple weeks. The lowlight (and I’m inserting this here at the end because a lot of people probably won’t read this far) is that Bruce’s cancer is back in 2 places on his arm. Surgery will be next Wednesday at IMC (Intermountain Medical Center) here in Murray. His oncology surgeon and a new, more specialized orthopedic plastic surgeon will operate together. Bruce will be losing one of the 2 arteries that feed his right hand, but still gets to keep it this time around. I’ll drop him off on surgery day, go home and wait, then pick him up when they call me to. These are strange and trying times....

Red Strings Finish and December OMG

This week just got away from me, and I didn't get nearly as much sewing done as I wanted to. First, a dear friend B's husband died over Thanksgiving weekend. There are no words. We (Bruce, me and Cousin Kim) went to visit her one day, as we all spent a lot of time together on sewing days. The emotions of a friend passing just knocks one for a loop. Then Bruce's MRI and cat scan came back and there is another spot of cancer in his arm - in the soft tissue just above where the previous surgeries were done last August. So, he has another surgery scheduled on Monday. The good news is that his lungs are clear, and this sarcoma is in an area where they can take it and the surrounding soft tissue (hopefully) without further maiming his arm. And it's not near a bone. We're all thinking it's a one-surgery procedure without having to do tissue transplants or even grafts. Fingers crossed. This is surgery #14 since 2010 on his right arm. 

So, retreating to the sewing studio was a nice, if altogether too brief, respite. I quilted up the Scrappy Red Stars quilt, and bound it with the backing red check fabric.  

I just did a simple, mindless stipple, because that was all I had in me by then; the previous day I'd quilted two quilts (one large, one small) for Cousin Kim. No pictures yet of those. Anyway, this darling quilt (even if I do say so myself) is so cheery! It finished at 36.5" x 48.5", and will be donated to Quilts for Kids.

The red check background is fun, too. I almost hate to give this one away. And since red is Bruce's favorite color, he really loves it. But I'll make him another one in red that's more his size. As Bruce says, they'll make more red fabric!

Scrappy Red Stars was basically an unplanned (squirrel!) project, so I don't get to cross anything off my Finish-Along list.

I also sewed up my Block of the Month block for the local quilt shop class. It's 12.5".

I didn't make any progress on the quilt I'm making for Cousin Kim for Christmas. But since she can't come over on Wednesday for sewing, I'll have time to work on this that entire day.  I'm selecting this quilt - Newport - as my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for December. I plan to get it completely finished from sewing the top together, to basting it, quilting, binding, labeling, photographing and gifting it!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela's So Scrappy blog

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts for the December OMG