Random

Hi all!  Have you ever been so bogged down by what's going on that even though you have things to share, even though you want to share, you just can't quite get to it?

My back is doing better, but I managed to catch the flu or some version of something last week that put me down.  I think I've slept more in the last 2 weeks than in the 2 months before that.  My Mom came up and stayed a few days over the weekend to help out because I never got farther than the living room before needing to go back to bed.

But I am slowly but surely on the mend.  I've met with a neurosurgeon who is conservatively offering steroid injections or surgery as my options for healing my back but he wants more recent photos of my back so I'll be having an MRI done tomorrow.  I've deferred my half-marathon until next year and am realizing how much I've really come to love exercising since I am not capable of it right now.  I told a friend today that my teenaged-self is laughing at that statement as I've never loved exercise.  Apparently I actually do.  Who knew?

I've started and finished a secret-sewing project for a friend that will remain secret for another month or so.  It was so unlike me--I gathered all of the pieces, sat down and began to sew. I sewed through all of my emotions and by the end of the day the project was complete.  I may be at my body's mercy right now, but I can still sew and make beautiful things.

These are threads from it.  So springy.  :)

I photographed the do. Good stitches quilt that I finished weeks ago.  I plan to show it off tomorrow before mailing it to Alternatives for Girls.  

I hung my "design wall" back up.  It's a cheap tablecloth that I'd taped to the wall in my sewing room.  But the tape had come loose and it fell a few months back.  I didn't worry about it over the holidays as all of my sewing had deadlines at that point.  But I, by myself, managed to hang it back this morning with some pushpins.  It feels much more secure now and I've got Oren's Stars hung back up on it to inspire me to finish that quilt.

Up next for that one is a "Star of the East" block.

One thing about the Electric Quilt program (at least my version) is you can always print out both foundation pieces and templates but there are no real directions for sewing.  This block appears to have Y-seams but I'm reminding myself that those aren't really all that bad and convincing myself to just get it done.

It's my month to be Queen Bee in That Stash Bee and I've asked the girls to make me Roman Cross blocks.  I actually saw Lee's Crosspatch block bag in her new book Vintage Quilt Revival and fell in love with it.  It's VERY rare for me to buy a quilting book but I love Lee's style as well as her co-author's Katie and Faith so it seemed the perfect buy to round out my order on Amazon a few weeks back.

I asked for summery colors based on this palette 

via design-seeds.com

and have made up one sample block.

I can't wait to have them all come in and pet them.  :)  I think this will make a great throw for summer months when the air conditioning is a little much or to use as a blanket at the beach/softball fields/etc where we'll be spending our time this summer.

I've just about finished the hem on my February Lady Sweater I started at the end of 2012.  I've still got sleeves to finish, but could possibly, maybe finish this sweater by the end of this February...We'll see.

I desperately need to sort my scraps AGAIN.  I thought I had been doing well with them but found a basket I'd thrown a bunch in and when I say basket I actually mean HUGE basket.  That's going to take most of an afternoon to sort what is big enough to put back into my stash and then trim down my scraps.  

I like to trim down to orderly sizes--2 1/2" strips, 5" squares and strips, 10" squares.  Then all of my 2 1/2" strips go into my bag for that scrap quilt I'm slowly working on.

And finally, my friend Kim is organizing an orphan block project where a few of us will get together to show what orphan blocks we've got lying around and swap them around to make charity quilts with.  I knew I had a few from a bee I did awhile back and found 11 blocks that I'd never put together.  11!!  I think I'm just going to make up one more and send an entire quilt to her instead of saddling someone with an almost quilt.  They were blocks I didn't end up liking that much for the most part so I guess I was never inspired to finish it up...  Well, someone will benefit from that I guess...

And that's my dose of randomness for today.  I'll be back tomorrow with pics of the purple quilt all finished up and ready to comfort someone.

What are you up to on this wintery Thursday afternoon?