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!

Hip Hip Hooray!

The blog post title has a double meaning today. I have a quilt finish and some new string blocks to share, as well as some news about a certain left hip.  Let me back up a bit. About a year ago, I had a bout of sciatica that sent me to the ER, where they did a hip X-ray to rule out the hips, although in the process it was revealed that my left hip had extreme osteoarthritis. Anyway, after the diagnosis of sciatica, some physical therapy and losing 60+ pounds over the last year, I had hoped to stave off problems with the hip. I worked like a madwoman in the yard this year, doing a lot of planting, hauling a full cubic yard of soil and just generally pretending to be a gardening superwoman. The yard is now put to bed for the winter (save two flowerpots that need to brought in), and it looks like I’ll be turning from garden beds to a hospital bed. 

View of Salt Lake Valley from surgeon’s 5th floor office window

The pain hit relatively suddenly a couple weeks ago. So I talked with my dear friend Terri, whose nephew is an orthopedic surgeon. Long story short, I went to see him (such a nice man!), got xrayed again (“the osteoarthritis in your hip is extreme PLUS”) and hip replacement surgery is scheduled for mid-November. I’m sorta scared, but I honestly can’t wait to be out of pain. I’m in good hands. So, listing the house is probably on hold for a couple months, and hubby Bruce is totally on board with helping me out. It seems fair enough to both of us since we’ve gone through his 15 arm surgeries together up to and including his arm amputation. We’re a great team in that regard!

But let’s turn to sewing. In keeping with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s October color of Light Neutrals, I continued sewing 6.5” string blocks. I used all my loose light neutral strings, as well as two of the handmade rolls of strings (two remaining for some future project) to make 3 groups of 15 blocks plus another 13. That’s 58 neutral string blocks. 45 of them will go to Quilts for Kids and the other 13 will stay here and join the 25 I made last week.

I also finished 15 multi-colored string blocks. So the total number of string blocks for the week was 73, and the October total string blocks sewn is 75+75+25+73, or 248 string blocks. My goal is to sew 400 by year end. 

But I’m also working on my annual Finishing Frenzy, and I finally have another little quilt to show. You’ve seen the top before, but now this is quilted and bound and ready to turn over to Quilts for Kids.

This aqua string quilt finished at 42x48”, and isn’t that backing fabric just perfect???

I also made some progress on the next RSC quilt in line by completing this top of blue, aqua, green and purple framed four patch blocks. This will be #2 of three planned Framed 4P blocks, which were sewn during 2022. 

I also wanted to share a picture of my Thousand Dollar Clock, LOL.  That was my nickname for the new range before I read the users manual and tried using it. But it’s great, and  it’s really nice not to have to rely on the microwave and other small appliances to cobble meals together!

When the old range was moved out, we naturally cleaned out from under where it sat for 17 years. Archeologists would’ve had a good laugh, concluding that there must have been cats in the house. Among the treasures: six felt catnip mice, a sparkly ball, 9 colored plastic straws (back when we used them before switching to reusable metal straws, the cats LOVED the neon straws and they’d routinely go missing from our drinks). And … a puzzle piece! Those little imps!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday.