Month: December 2023

I sat down last night and watched the final season of The Crown and stitched the final side of the binding on my Ice Storm Quilt. It feels really good to. have it done. It’s been long time.

I’m so glad that my friend suggested using that Octopus fabric for the backing. It’s really quite perfect. And since several people have asked, the fabric is a Brandon Mably design called Octopus in the black color way. It’s a Kaffe Fassett Collective Fabric. I think it’s getting a little tricky to find, especially in this color way.

I bought a couple of large pieces of this fabric a couple years ago. I found some on sale and bought enough for a quilt backing, then decided to buy another big piece because I love it so much. So I have more than enough to make another backing some day.

This is one of the quilts that was quilted in trade for finished quilt tops by Cindy Rich. It was a great deal for me. This photo shows the quilt design nicely. The quilting pattern is called Curly Weave. I don’t know the designer.

Now I need to get this into some good light and trim off all the stray threads. Then it will be ready for gifting to my pickleball coach.

And a couple more photos just cause I love this so much.

I’m feeling better every day, but my cough is still lingering but is quite productive. I did manage to get out of the house Friday and Saturday. It wasn’t raining Friday and my work schedule allowed me to join a group of friends for a pickleball lesson. It felt so good to get out and move around. But my body certainly wasn’t in prime form.

I also went out early Saturday to play pickleball before Rico’s sheep herding lesson. I felt so much better and played better and we were lucky that the rain held off. So I got a good 1.5 hours of play in before hitting the road to find some sheep.

I’m going to play for an hour or so this afternoon. Then I’ll come home and get some house work done. I want to put up a little bit of holiday decorations and I hate doing that in a messy house.

We’ve got some decent weather coming up over the next ten days so I’m looking forward to a little more activity and not being stuck in the house.

Between being sick and all the rain we’ve had, I’m getting a bit stir crazy. I haven’t played pickleball for a week and a half! And I’ve been stuck in the. house either recuperating or fleeing the rain.

I feel pretty good. Much better and almost back to normal…. except for this freaking cough! I’m really quite exhausted from coughing. The good thing is that I’ve been taking a good expectorant and my cough is becoming more and more productive every day. But it’s a lot of coughing.

How many of these is too many?

I’m well into my second bag. The directions say to let one drop dissolve slowly in your mouth every two hours. I’m pretty sure I’m taking one every 20 minutes! If not more!

We’re going to be getting a bit of a break in the rain for a few days. it’s been really wet here. There are land slides, road wash outs and flooding all around us. It’s a lot of rain, but it’s been warm. I keep my thermostat at 68 degrees during the day and turn it down to 63 degrees when I go to bed at night and the last two nights it’s only gotten down to 67 degrees by the time I get up. That’s some balmy nights.

I noticed today that my daffodils are up already! They are usually poking their heads up before Christmas. But this is ridiculously early!

This is the field where Rico has his sheep herding lesson on the weekends.

I have managed to get my boys. out for an evening walk the last few days. It actually makes me feel better and clears my head and lungs a little when I get out and move around. And it makes my boys happy too. They’ve been really good the last week but they are ready for action!

I have a light schedule at work tomorrow and the weather looks good so I might duck out mid day and go and do some practice with my teacher and some other students. I think it would do me good!

I’m slowly chunking away at hand sewing the binding of my Ice Storm quilt. I have three sides done now and should be able to finish the last side tomorrow night, unless some kind of offer for something more interesting comes my way. Like that ever happens…

I don’t love handwork, but the one thing I’m really enjoying about this project is looking at this quilt as it’s crumpled in my lap as I work on it. it’s really pretty and so different from what I usually make.

And I LOVE that octopus backing! It’s so crazy but all the colors are so perfect with the quilt top. I’m so glad my friend suggested it.

I have the fourth side all clipped and ready to start sewing.

I’ve been switching out which quilts I have on the top of the pile on my guest bed. It’s fun to see them every time I walk by. I caught this black quilt in the morning light today and just loved the way the quilting stood out. I just had to take a photo.

Fingers crossed that I feel good enough and the weather cooperates a little so I can get out and get some physical activity.

I ended up sick this weekend. I started feeling something a little scratchy in my lungs last Wednesday. I felt fine on Thursday, but in the evening I felt the same scratchiness in my lungs. When I woke up Friday I had a full blown cold.

I’m pretty sure this happened because I was bragging a few weeks ago that, aside from my COVID case in May of 2022, I hadn’t been sick since the pandemic hit.

So, I do have a cold. I did COVID tests three times over the last few days and they were all negative.

I struggled through work on Friday but was so punk I spent all of Saturday napping on the sofa. I was supposed to play pickleball at a club event at a large indoor facility Saturday night, but that was not going to happen.

I feel much better today. I can tell that I’m on the mend. But I’m a little resentful that my weekend was wasted being sick. I would have been happy to take a sick day or two off of work.

If did manage to hit my sewing room tonight and get a little done.

Some time last week I made the lining for the Aboriginal fabric bag I’ve been working on. Tonight I pinned it to the body of the bag and got this bad boy done. Since this bag doesn’t have any zipper pockets or zipper placket, finishing it was a quick job.

Here’s the finished bag showing the lining.

Here’s a few more photos.

And, of course, I had to add my tag.

This bag will be shipped off tomorrow with one of the pin cushions I made recently.

It was nice to make a bag without having to do all the zippers. I might have to do a few more like this.

I had been giving some thought to what I could do for my pickleball teacher as the holidays approach. I decided that I wanted to give him (and his wife) a quilt that I’ve made. I had the contact info for his daughter because I helped connect her to people at a local medical center recently (she’s in med school), so I sent her photos of what I had and she said my Ice Storm quilt would be the best option for them and their decor.

After I finished up in my sewing room tonight I settled down on the sofa and started hand sewing the binding to get it ready to gift.

Oh man! I do LOVE that octopus fabric for the backing of this quilt!

I managed to get one full side of the quilt done. I feel pretty good with that progress for one evening.

I do LOVE a hand sewn binding. Too bad I hate doing them so much!

I do need to get cracking on a table runner for a friend for a holiday gift. It was a special request!

Last Tuesday was Giving Tuesday and it’s the day that kicks off all of our year end fundraising. I actually went into the office to be on they air live on the early shift.

I hadn’t been live on the air from the studios since the pandemic hit. I’ve been on air from my sewing room for nearly four years! It was fun to be in the studio again. And I had a huge studio all to myself. Probably a good thing since I ended up with a cold.

My boys have been terribly bored with me sick for a few days. Maybe we’ll be able to get out for a quick walk tomorrow.