Fevers, Rash, Herbs and Cross stitch

Today was an interesting mixture of highs and lows. I met a friend and former co-worker today for lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant not far from home. I had not seen her since I retired in December. She is almost retired but is still helping them out on a consulting basis. We spent a nice hour and a half catching up. She brought me a lovely cross stitch piece that she began for me last November. She is an excellent stitcher and I loved it completely. As soon as I choose a frame it will hang in a place of honor in my sewing room.

While we were eating I got a call from my granddaughter. She has had a rocky start to her first semester of college. Earlier this summer she got a tattoo on her back. Over Labor Day weekend it became infected leading to a few hours in a walk in clinic. Several days after that was a trip to the ER because she was so sick that she almost passed out in class. 

The red area was very enlarged and had to be lanced and drained. Almost a week has passed and I thought all was well until her phone call telling me she was sitting in the Student Health Services with a rash over most of her body and a fever of 107. So off I went to 

take her back to urgent care for blood tests. They determined there was no virus present and her condition was a delayed allergic reaction to the antibiotics she had been taking. By then her fever had gone down to 102 and they sent her back to the dorm assuring us that she was on the mend. 

After that excitement I got home to find my husband talking to a furnace repair guy about replacing the furnace. We just replaced the central air conditioner back in April. To take my mind off the dollar bills that I imagined floating down the drain I busied myself hanging a few bunches of basil and oregano that I harvested this morning. At least I’ll be cooking in a nice warm house this winter. 

A Fine Autumn Day

Good morning. I hope all of you are enjoying this September morning. We had a lovely rain last night which made the grass even greener. The bees and butterflies are busy in my zinnias outside. I was going to take a photo of them from my sewing window but realized how much the screen needed to be taken down and washed so I went outside to take a couple pics only to have the squirrels scold me.  Sassy little creatures!

I love the cooler temps and the lovely fall colors. This is my first autumn since I retired last December. I am loving every minute of being outside and spending time bike riding and dog walking with my hubby. Friday I had a minor bike accident which didn’t produce any blood or bruises but left me a little achy so I have been keeping inside working on some fall projects. 

The above little table topper is just waiting for me to sew down the binding which I will do tonight while watching tv. 

The round table topper and the two mug rugs will both be gifts. They were quick fun projects. 

This blog has been quiet for several years now so it’s time to wake it up and share some bits and pieces of my life again. The fragrance of my Sweet Autumn Clematis is filling the whole yard.

In the meantime maybe I will meet you on the bike trail. 

A Slow Week

This has been one of those weeks where nothing much has been accomplished.  Our house has been hit hard this winter with the awful bug going around.  I think I am on my third round of various symptoms so I haven't done much more than go in the sewing room and look around this week.  Nothing much has changed with the guitar quilt I am machine quilting for my grandson but at least I am working on the outside borders now.  There is another quilt that I've been hand quilting and is almost done.  I only have about six inches left on one of the borders before I can put on the binding.  And I realized that this is the first time in a long time that I only have one quilt waiting to be quilted.  Usually there are several in the works.  I made this house wall quilt last summer and put it away for a while to get some others finished.  I  think this one will be done on the machine.  I need to put it up on my design wall again for a while and let it speak to me and tell me how it wants to be quilted.

 I've been drinking lots of green tea to try to get healthy again.  I found this cute photo out on the web and since the cup is cuter than the one I'm using right at this minute I thought I'd post this one instead.

I've started knitting a cute little baby cap to give myself something different to do.  Seems like my shoulders are stiff from machine quilting and my elbow is stiff from hand quilting.  So let's see what this little project will do to me.  I'm not really such a whiner usually.

In the meantime while I go to fix another cup of tea Oscar sends his greetings and is wondering when the grass will be green again.

Have a lovely weekend.  Hope you have time for a little stitching.

One Day Closer to Spring

This past weekend was windy and damp but a good one to stay inside and work on projects.  The machine quilting has begun on Liam's quilt.  I am slowly getting back into the groove.  When I first started it was like the machine had a life of it's own and would hum along at a wonderful pace and my stitches were lovely and uniform and then all of a sudden I'd be zooming along the patch like a participant in the Indy 500 creating tiny ridiculous stitches.  Then in the effort to regulate I'd have them too big for a while.  I made the decision to not rip anything out because when looked at the quilt as a whole it will look fine.  (Fingers crossed,)

I finished the shawl/poncho that I had started knitting the weekend before.  This is the second I have made from this pattern.  The first was oatmeal colored and a heavier weight.  I love it and wear it often.  This time I wanted something a little lighter weight.  I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Our grandson Michael (fourth from right in the back) has graduated from Navy Basic Engineering school.  By the smile you can tell that he is pleased with his decision to join the Navy.  We are so proud of him.

As if it knows spring is almost here, one of my amaryllis plants has produced its first bloom.  There are several more blooms to open on this plant.  My pink plant hasn't started to develop buds yet.  I am so ready for spring and to be outside filling my flower pots with new soil and baby plants.  Hope you all are having sunshine today and a wonderful project to fill your day.

Olympics and a Little Stitching

I hope you have been enjoying watching the Olympics as much as we have.  I always say I like winter Olympics better than summer ones.  It's probably because it's cold and gloomy outside and this is a great way to see wonderful athletes compete and exceed in less than balmy conditions.  While I grumble and moan about the snow and the wind, they let it energize them.

Saturday morning I made my coffee, happy to realize that I had a full day of stitching and sports watching in front of me.  I had decided earlier that this was the weekend for a good pot of chili and a nice warm quilt to stitch.  Nothing was going to dynamite me out of the house.

My daughter and her bulldog Baby came over for a while in the morning.  By the time they got there we were in the midst of a beautiful snowglobe type of snow.  Oscar was glad he got to have a playmate to romp around outside with. The snow only lasted about an hour but it was long enough for the dogs to get wet and tired from their play.

After they left I got started putting the last few borders on the quilt for my grandson.  I pieced the back all together and then came to a stopping point because the packages of batting that I had were too small.  A larger one would require a trip to my local quilt shop and I wasn't going out the door.

Annoyed I pulled out my knitting and settled in to watch some figure skating.  A few days before I had started knitting a shawl and it was coming along nicely.  I don't know about you but I can't just watch tv.  My hands have to be busy.  I could have picked up some hand quilting to work on but at the moment the cat was settled into the middle of that project snoring softly.

So while the chili bubbled on the stove and the skaters blades flew over the ice a world away, my fingers were kept busy with yarn and needles.  A lovely way to spend a late afternoon.  The sunset was lovely too. 

Warmer weather and wind have melted much of our snow but rain and ice are predicted here in Iowa for tonight and tomorrow.  I hope you all keep warm and have something satisfying to occupy yourself with.

It's called the "Bleak Mid-winter" for a Reason

February - the words of the song "In the Bleak Mid-Winter" fit it perfectly.  Snow on snow on snow.  That is apparently what we are going to have for a little while longer.

We had almost seven inches of snow yesterday and it's supposed to snow again tonight and Friday.  It is so satisfying on a snowy day to know that there are several quilting projects waiting for me to keep me busy.

I have loved working on these little six inch block of the week patterns from Moda.  The project has come to an end now and I just have to figure out how to set them together.  I have 63 blocks.

I am going to redo the Snail Trail block because my rust and yellow fabrics don't seem to have enough contrast.









This weekend I finished this little wall quilt, except for the tabs on the back to hang it .  Right now it's just pinned on top of another quilt.  It will be a gift.

So I content myself with the whir of the sewing machine while the wind blows outside and the snow flies and Chloe remains contented to curl up on my old afghan created in a bleak mid-winter long ago.