First finish of 2018

the border was put on and personalized embroidery was added. I need to write a card and find a box to mail it off in.  I have just loved thinking about who the quilt was for and what she meant to me in all the years we worked together.

I thought the foreign postage stamp pattern was good for a retirement quilt.

Maybe vacations will be in her future now!

As soon as I was done I picked up a NEW project and started crocheting. Now why would I start something else? I'm a goof!  I thought earlier today how fun it would be to get all the open projects just a bit away from done and then finish a bunch at one time! It would probably be like eating all the cookies while hot instead of delaying the particular gratification button.

On a side note, it's day three of the antibiotic and I'm not convinced it's working.  Fever is gone but the cough from hell is not.
It's getting old and I'm getting tired.

Hooky or healing?

a smaller group met today for crochet and knitting.  I felt better than I had and figured it was 90 minutes so what could go wrong? Well an unfortunate side effect of the antibiotic happened but I made it home in time to avoid huge drama!  And because of the new side effect and the residual cough and headache, it was a good enough reason to miss choir (the hooky part)

It was worth going though. Not only does the founding member want to call our group hookers and needles (or some crazy version thereof) but we had an awesome talk today. I appreciate her so much. I shall endeavor to do something nice for her. She is an awesome lady.

And! I realized the month doesn't end on Tuesday like I thought! So I have an extra day to get the retirement quilt sent to the recipient. Woot woot.

And I stole the below from another blog. I thought it was funny!

Then or now Tom Selleck can wrinkle my fabric anytime.

Since I was going to the doctor anyway....

It was a follow up visit.  We covered my blood tests. Perfect. Even the urinalysis which lets face it should be done by some space age vacuum system and not a public bathroom stall with a cup so small Barbie would have trouble going in it.  *shudder* but I digress. Blood results all within their normal range.

I advised my displeasure with the surgical consultation. He wanted to do a gastric sleeve procedure but since I probably had a hiatal hernia anyway...we could start with that and what? Just slip on down there, nudge the liver aside and hack out half my stomach?  Good news! It's outpatient, too! I was there for my hernia (not hiatal but umbilical).  He tells me he won't do that surgery because I'm too large and I'd just get another one anyway. Dipstick!

Antibiotics were prescribed and an unheard of shot was given - since I was there anyway I figured I'd get some good out of it and get a little help to get me back on my feet.

So chit chat out of the way and she was quite comfortable and she segued very casually into the weight portion of the conversation. It's the only thing in my medical chart that she would change, she says.  Well, so would I if bad food didn't taste so yummy!

So we/she agreed that I would look at a small goal to start. She tried to be encouraging and really sell the low carb diet.  If I boil them I could have six eggs for breakfast. Ummmm, ewwwww! And secondly, NO!  Gadzooks, who could eat three dozen eggs in a week?

So... First we will stop coughing up a lung and sounding like a strange heavy breathing phone caller.
Then we will consider giving up the heavenly love that is sourdough toast.

Can I really say goodbye to this?

Signs you know you are sick...

Frozen waffles sound delightful mostly because you can lean on the counter while they cook.

Changing from flannel nightgown to clean cotton nightshirt is a calming experience.

Tepid water tastes like champagne.

You crave your mother's eggs because her recipe of eggs scrambled in a pan is so much different than yours.

You're watching daytime tv even though you know there is nothing good on daytime tv.

Blueman offers to buy you anything you want and you can't think of anything better than apple juice.

Blog posts take forever to write because all your clever thoughts disappeared before you start typing.

Fortune cookie says- bad dinner ahead

so... As a bit of a treat and because we were feeling lazy, we ordered from a nearby Chinese food place. It was a little pricey but hey, if it was good, it was going to be worth it, right?

Egg rolls. Greasy, mushy and flavorless.
Teriyaki chicken fried rice. Same. Addition of soy sauce did not help.
Bluemans happy family was good, he thought.
Two extra bags were put into our order. Blueman thought it might have been his crab Rangoon thingies that he likes, but he remembered deleting them from his order.
Turns out it was this:

Total of 24 fortune cookies came with our meal for two.

Had it been chocolate chip cookies, I might have changed my mind from ordering from there again.

Not even two dozen fortune cookies could make this a passable meal!

Quilty post

I finally got all the pieces of my scrappy quilt together today. I showed Blueman who immediately wanted to snap a picture.  It looked so cool in the picture.

Made using scraps from the quilt of valor and a mystery quilt that I abandoned once I saw the finished product.  Stripes were made from donations from my Hoosier bestie and some from the stash of my AZ friends' mom.  The triangles were supposed to all point up but...once attached, I didn't want to remove it having had to remove the previous strip.

Am working on quilting it and need to cut binding strips so it can finish and wing its way out to the recipient. The flimsy is my favorite part, the quilting not so much. I enjoy putting binding on, too.
I just hope she likes it.

Fun day

So I couldn't find the right yarn to complete lavender stripes...but I quickly turned those lemons into lemon juice because let's face it I wasn't feeling sweet enough for it to be Lemonade just yet.  However I'm pleased to report that after getting the yarn home, I found a plan that will work and so far, it seems to be going well. Pics on that later.

I got a new book today and read it clear through. Only one thing I would have changed but otherwise it was good. First in a series so I'll buy the next one next week.

I've cleared tomorrow for sewing. Deadline is looming and I'm hoping it will take my mind off the surgical consultation on Monday. I think I will educate myself on the potential surgery/procedure so I'm as informed as possible before going in.

Oh. And last but not least, while looking for yarn, the following remnant of material leapt into my cart.

Ain't it cute?

Don't tell my feline family. Blueman is convinced they'd be mad!

Change of plans

It starts with one. Our unofficial leader called off for out crochet-knit group. The maternal unit wanted out next (for whatever reason-mostly inability to get along with the most part time member). Then another lady had grandchild/soccer obligation. Another piped up with car issues. We have put it off to next week but I'm still bummed. It was looked forward to all week long! What to do now? I still have yarn to purchase and the maternal unit wants to get a new release by one of our favorite authors, J. R. Ward.

I intend to work on the quilt tomorrow. I'm actually hoping to get it done up to the binding.  She retires end of month and I'd sure like to have it done.

I've been reading at night a bit.
Re-read the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs.
Read Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber.

I'm also trying to be sensitive to the fact that my two best friends have suffered losses recently.

Death talk

One of the blogs I follow, the woman mentioned that after facing the sudden loss of a boss, she and her husband discussed the important stuff like bank passwords and favorite pizza chains.

Another blog, the woman lost her mil rather suddenly and she was discussing the memorial service and specifically how rarely eulogists know the person within the memorium.  How hard must that be to have to stand in front of grieving loved ones and spit out data that family members had given you with no real connection or very little?

Today I went to a memorial service for the mama of my friend. She was well loved and I couldn't help but think that I will be in that position soon. My own maternal unit is not young. Chances are she is going to go before me and will I have told her enough how much I care or will I have regrets?

After the service, Blueman and I did the conversation about passwords and death benefits and stuff. We have plans for what needs to be done. It's not a fun talk but we will begin to get things in order.

Hazel, you were a gem. Suffer no more little butterfly.

A rare intellectual moment.

so the other day I considered how dryer sheets were like toothpaste. Go ahead re-read that sentence if you want. Dryer sheets are like toothpaste. I'm forever looking at the end of the toothpaste tube and thinking, I have about two or three days left and I'll need a new tube. Then five days later, I'll thinking, okay, maybe two or three days and I will need to switch tubes. Incomprehensibly, it may be one to yet five more days and then I will truly run out. As this happens to me every time, I've grown accustomed to the Harry Potter like aspect to my toothpaste tube.

The other day, I thought, wow, I will finally need to buy more dryer sheets. I did a couple more loads of laundry and thought, yep- add that to the list. A week of loads go by and I'm still not able to open the new box. That's when it hit me that either someone was messing with me or I just have no spatial reasoning when it comes to dryer sheets and toothpaste.

I have to wonder how I, who can usually look at things and figure how much I'll need or how to fit this in the box, can be so off when it comes to these two things and what if there were more things like this?  I never miscalculate when I will run out of eggs. I rarely open the drawer and am shocked at the bare spot where clean underwear should be.

So what magic does the dryer sheet toothpaste universe hold over me? I've spent a good few minutes considering this. And when I look around to share my thoughts...

This is what I see. A whole lot if "I don't care."

Maybe I should someone else who is interested in my thought patterns.

Progress

Yesterday was my crochet/knit/fellowship circle. The part time annoying one came again and I miss the six months when she was off doing other things. I shouldn't say that, after all, anyone is most certainly welcome but she sweeps in and acts as though the throne is hers. We are ignored, the maternal unit and I. Frustrating.

However I did get a fair amount of knitting done. Then on a four hour round trip to trade a couple of Bluemans toys for money, I knitted along the way. Who knew I could do so much?  Lavender stripes doubled in size!  I'm nearly halfway done with it, but not sure when I'll get another marathon knitting session in. That was 5-6 hours of knitting yesterday!

Today was sewing on  a quilt with a firm deadline. I fiddled with inner strips to fill in and finally got tired of no "real" progress so I put the top and bottom on. I'll do the muddles and sides next week and then hopefully be able to do the actual quilting the following week.  It's a tight deadline for sure.

I will likely run short of both colors, but I'm thinking creatively of how to extend....

So, tiny steps of progress is still progress.  Now I need to make progress on laundry. Somehow not as much fun!

Bag lady? I think so!

I love totes. Bags. Duffels. Backpacks. And variety.
I keep plastic bags folded and stored in a larger bag for litter box duty, miscellaneous layering of cold products and even packing filler.
I like canvas bags. They are great for grocery shopping, library book transportation and craft storage.
Backpacks are cool too.
I might have a problem.
If you scroll, you might see what I find in my house. This does not include the dozen reusable canvas grocery bags in my car.

I combined bins of yarn and reused this for bags. How organized of me.

Guest room closet is perfect place to hang purses.

I might be a little shamed by the excess...but I will get over it.

2018 to do list

There is no way I could make a full year to do list. My projects started can be 75% done by end of March if I stayed focused.  What I can do us list my ufo's and I'm embarrassed that they got out of control again after I caught up a bit mid last year.

1. Lavender stripes (knitted shawl)
2. Patriotic fuzzy (knitted shawl)
3. X's and O's (crocheted shawl)
4. Suzy's retirement quilt
5. Anniversary quilt for Blueman
6. Fuzzy rainbow bag (knitted)
7. Tan terry cloth redoux (crocheted shawl)
8. Good n plenty afghan (crocheted)

I consolidated my yarn tonight and at least two more projects rose to the top and waved their yarny hands saying choose me next!

I have fabric set aside for my next two quilt projects too.

Whew! When is this working thing over? My crafts are calling me!
Happy 2018!

This is and old pic but #1 on the list

Looking for a forever home

These are the items that will hopefully find a forever home outside my closet this year.

Butterscotch drop

Cranberry cuddles

Patriotic squares

 Coffe cozy

I know there are people in need of my kind of hug, a shawl stitched with love. 

My goal for this year is to walk boldly in my faith and to reach out more. 

Last year made me realize that while I may do something that someone else does, I do it my way with my heart front and center and who can ask for more than that. 

Welcome big scary 2018.

 We’ll take you like our quilts and shawls. 

One step (or stitch) at a time.