Progress!

I spent hours and hours working on my scraps on Friday.  They are so much smaller than they used to be.  Now maybe I'll actually use them. Woohoo!


I also finished up the binding on my Bonnie Hunter Pineapple Blossom for the "niece".  I just have to label it and wash it and it'll be ready for delivery.

Taming Wild Scraps and UFOs

In Gulf Shores this weekend with DBF.  We are supposed to be fishing at least one day if not two on the pier in Pensacola.  The Pompano are running now and that's one of his favorites.  I like fishing from the boat, but the pier is just not my cup of tea.  Too many people (strangers).  Too cumbersome trying to fish over the rail while standing on a stool. Too much sun for me.  Need I go on?


I put the finishing touches on my Bonnie Hunter Pineapple Blossom quilt last night.  Then I made the scrappy binding and attached it.  All that's left is the hand work on the binding.  I figure that while I'm sitting under the overhang enjoying the breeze and the lovely day and the scenery and the shade (did I mention the overhang) I can do the hand work.  I will certainly be happy to finish up this UFO.  I've let it go on way too long.  It was originally intended for DBF's niece whose birthday was back in February.  Can you say P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N?


And at some point, I'll head over to A & E Pharmacy to check out the fabrics.  They have such a great selection.  I could spend hours in there without even thinking about it.  And he won't even miss me.


On the second day, I'll let him to go Pensacola alone and I'll stay here at the condo.  I have brought along my scrap bin and I'll be ironing and cutting and doing my best to tame this wild animal.  And there's a nice restaurant down the road about a mile and a half that I can walk to.  Yes, I can.  It's not too bad.  I've done it before and it was hotter then than it is now.  And they are nice enough to give me a nice sweet tea in a to-go cup on my way out for the walk back.  It'll be a nice break to the day and I won't get cabin fever from being stuck here with no car.  Sure would like to tame that scrap stash.  I have 2 or 3 bins of wild scraps that are just weighing me down. I have to start somewhere and this is it.

Design Wall Monday

Bonnie Hunter's "Pineapple Blossom"

Hip Hip Hooray! Another quilting UFO under my belt!  It's been so long!  It's good to know that I have finally got my butt in gear.  Now, if I can just keep it there. 

I've been postponing working on this Pineapple Blossom quilt (Bonnie Hunter's pattern).  I made it from a batik jelly roll and some batik fat quarters. It was a fun quilt to make and it goes together fast.  You wouldn't know it by me though.  It is actually for DBF's niece for her birthday, which was back at the end of February.  Talk about behind!  

I finished up the very simple quilting this evening and got the edges trimmed.  Tomorrow, I'll work on the binding and I'll be ready for the hand work.

After that, there's only like 15-20 UFOs still waiting.  Somebody light a fire under my butt so I don't get stuck again!

GSQA Quilt Show

Two friends and I attended the GSQA Quilt Show in Slidell on Saturday.  What lovely quilts!  And what talented people we have in GSQA. 

I didn't enter a quilt in the show per se, but my Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt was hung with the others - over 300 of them.  Good job ladies!

Each time, the members from our guild encourage people to enter and I never do.  And each time I go, I am totally in awe of the beauty and precision on so many of the quilts I see.  But I also see some of the quilts and think to myself, I could do that.  My quilt looks at least as good as this one.  I should have entered something.  Maybe next time.....

Deadlines are a Good Thing

I find that lately I have become a total procrastinator when it comes to my quilting.  I had a quilt that I needed to quilt for somebody else and I kept putting it off and putting it off.  It was due on Sunday, April 15 and I didn't even look at it until Friday, April 13.  I only looked at it then because it was the last possible time that I could work on it.

I keep psyching myself out about the size of the job and/or how difficult it's going to be and scaring myself away.  For the next one that comes along, I need to remind myself about how fast this one went and how easy.  Maybe it's just the perfectionist in me coming out.  It would rather not do it at all if it can't do it right.  Part of the problem with that is that the later I start, the more rushed I am and the less satisfied I am with the job that I do.  I think later that I should have done this or I should have done that, but I just didn't leave myself time to think about it.  I spent a lot of time just postponing.  It would have been different if I had been thinking and planning how to do the quilt.  

I need to get over it!  I have way too many UFOs in the closet that I could be finishing up.

Shoulder Pains

I had an Achilles Repair back in August.  It was not my first surgery, but it was my first time in a cast.   I was miserable.  I didn't have the itching that people talk about.  I was just claustrophobic.  I know that sounds silly, but that was the term the doctor used and it seemed to fit perfectly.  I wanted to move so bad and I could not.  It kept me from sleeping because I could not get in any of the positions that I normally sleep in.  And from time to time, it seemed that my foot and ankle would hurt from being swollen up from hanging down. I would have to stop doing whatever I was doing and just lay down and elevate it.  Never, never again!

I also spent a couple of months overcompensating with my arms while using the crutches and the walker etc and helping myself in and out of things.  In the course of all that, I did something to my left arm.  I was having a pain in my bicep.  It was only now and then when I got in a certain position.  At first, I thought that it would go away, that I just needed to baby it for a while to get over whatever I did.  But then time went by and by and by and it only ever hurt rarely when I did certain things.  Before I knew it, it was 4 months later and it was still giving me trouble.  Well, stubborn me!  I finally went to an orthopaedist and was told that it might be either biceps tendonitis or the beginnings of rotator cuff issues, but that either way, I was on my way to a frozen shoulder.  And that's not a good thing.  If you get there, the recovery time is 18-24 months.

I started physical therapy on Friday.  I really had no idea the extent of what I could not do until she started that evaluation.  Then I did a few minor exercises and she did some manipulation.  It didn't take long, and aside from some pain while she was extending my arm, I thought that it wasn't so bad after all.  Famous last words!  On Saturday, the muscles from the top of my shoulder that run up the left side of my neck were absolutely killing me.  I am so glad that I went the first time on a Friday so I had the weekend to recover.  I would have been miserable trying to work like that.  Since then, it had calmed down and I can already tell that I have great range of motion.

When your body sends you a wake up call, don't ignore it like I did!

Fish, Fish and more Fish!



Pompano



King Mackerel

DBF returned home last night from a week of working on the condo and fishing.  He arrived with 3 ice chests of fish - Pompano and King Mackerel.  We will be eating fish at least once a week from now one.  He'll be leaving again on Thursday for another weekend of fishing while the Pompano are still running.  Plus, there's more work to be done on the condo.

Now that he's home, we need to get the lawn mowed.  I was going to do it, but I couldn't get the mower started.  It'll need to be jumped to get it started.  We also need to replant the stuff in the garden that didn't come up. And replant those tomatoes that didn't make it.

This weekend is the GSQA Quilt Show in Slidell.  Can't wait to go see some quilt eye candy!  My AAQI quilt will be hanging as well, which will be kind of neat.  It'll be nice to have access to several quilt shops all in one place.   Need to find some thread.  Hope they have the kind I need.  Even though I know it's probably out there in cyberspace somewhere, I much prefer instant gratification.

Other than that, I'll be trying to get some quilts completed this weekend.  My UFO pile is totally out of control.

Straight No Chaser

I've been watching their concert schedule for a while now. I kept tellling myself that if they came to Houston or Dallas or Altanta or anywhere close to here that I'd drive to see them.  Then there it was.  They were coming to my town.  I rushed out to get tickets and waited impatiently for the day to come.

Wow!

What else can I say?  It was a truly fabulous experience and I would not have missed it for the world.  After the concert, they all came to the lobby and signed our t-shirts and took pictures with us.  They are such a wonderful group of guys who truly seem to love what they do.


If they ever come near you, GO!  I mean it.

If you don't know who they are, check them out at SNCMUSIC.COM