Here it is mid May.....

almost 11 weeks after my fall breaking my arm and surgery and I still can't sew.  How depressing is that?!!!

 

So, got together with my daughters and future daughter in law  today.

 

 

My youngest who is expecting her first baby in October, me, my future daughter-in-law and my oldest daughter and we did this.....

 

 

 

Pickled asparagus. 

 

Yum....can't wait for the two week wait for it to get really good and then we can start eating it. 

 

Now for the quilting.....well, I have tried and tried, but the physical therapist is working on the range of motion right now for my wrist and that is showing some improvements, but the fine motor skills are taking a little longer.  I tried working with the rotary cutter the other day and my hand cramped up so bad, that I had to give it up.  I sure need to get something going soon as I will be going on a retreat mid June.  Maybe I will be going  without any projects and just going for the fun of  being with friends.  That really won't make me happy though. 

 

So...for now, no quilting taking place here.  I keep going into my sewing room and looking and touching and wishing and hoping, but for now I have been doing a lot of reading.

 

Here is a list of some of the books I have read recently.

 

Gone Girl

Hostile Witness

Da Vinci Code

The Secret Keeper

When the Bough Breaks

Forgotten Garden

Lovely Bones

The Shack

 

Loved them all even though they are very different from one another.

 

Right now I am reading...

 

The Bet

 

 A friend said it was funny and after the last one I read "Gone Girl", I needed something a little lighter. 

 

So....for now.... I am doing my exercises and trying to strengthen my hand so that I can get back to what I really love to do.....

 

QUILTING!!!

 



Guess who?

 

 

I just got home from a seminar given by these two people.

 

Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims!!!!

 

 

Real Alex.

 

 

 

Real Ricky!

 

WOW.....what a great three days.

 

Yes, it was all seminar, no classes, but highly educational, entertaining and just flew by. We even had a music concert by Ricky, too. 

 

If you don't already know though, Libby Lehman was, also, supposed to be at the seminar but just a day or so before we began, she had a brain aneurysm.  Ricky and Alex kept us abreast of all that was going on with her.  She has had two surgeries, one for the aneurysm, and another for swelling.  She has had a stroke and they won't know the outcome until after they get her out of their induced coma.  It was all very sad, but lots of prayers have been said for her. 

 

I took a few pictures of quilts, but mostly close ups because the applique and the quilting were just amazing.  I will share them here.

 

Alex's silk dupioni.

 

 

 

close up

 

 

Ricky's quilts/quilting

 

 

some sparkle

 

 

 

 

 

 

All I can say right now is that I am inspired and VERY tired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quilting = Mental therapy

Early March, I laid out some very old....and I mean old blocks.  I mean after talking to my daughter, we decided  these blocks could be somewhere around 9 years old. 

 

This was March 9 (four days after breaking the arm)

 

 

I laid them out because I was going crazy after breaking my arm (right arm at that...dominant arm); and I just HAD to do something constructive.  Well, just laying out these blocks put me in pain for a day. 

 

Then a couple weeks later, I decided to pin them in rows.  There went another day of pain.

 

Another week or so, I finally sewed the rows together and ended up with the center for the top.

 (April 1)

 

 

Well, the cast was removed this past Wednesday with physical therapy not going to happen until next Wednesday. 

 

I did some research online about what kind of therapy I would be getting to get the range of motion back in my hand and get rid of the pain that I am having, too.  It all looked pretty painful, so I decided to start taking matters into my own hands and I just started ....doing.  Hey, if I am going to have to endure some pain to get some gain, I might as well enjoy myself. So....I picked up this quilt again yesterday  and just eeked out what I needed with the  fabric I had  for a small inner border and enough to make a piano key border for the final border. 

 

 

 

Here's a  little closer look.

 

 

Now, since these blocks are so old AND the fact that the pattern that the guild handed out for these  charity quilts were just for the blocks, I am lucky enough to have had fabric left over to make this quilt just a little more elaborate than what I am sure was intended. 

 

 

It has ended up to be 77" square and it may not be a super special quilt, but I can't tell you how excited I am to have accomplished what I have  with my limited mobility.  I even had enough red fabric to get the binding cut out for this one, too. 

 

So, yes....quilting can be good mental therapy.  I am feeling so good about this quilt and can't wait to get back to more of my projects that are calling my name.

 

Oh!  My new Millenium is calling my name, too; and now that I have the tension worked out and a little problem that I was having with the encoder, my next post will be some more pictures of my practice progress. I am hoping after the practice sandwich I have on her right now is complete, my next project will be one of my practice charity quilts.  Can't wait to share that with you. 

 

Happy quilting!

Just doodling....

I am going to put myself out there for ridicule, but remember, this is my first attempt AND it is all one-handed as my arm is still broken and still in a splint, but I just had to play.

 

I haven't monkeyed with the tension yet and I am sure I didn't 100% put my fabric onto my new Millenium correctly, but I just had to play (I already said that though, didn't I?). 

 

My butterfly.

 

 

My contemporary blocks

 

 

My crisscross

 

 

Scribble holly.

 

 

Best of the worse Large Popcorn panto.

 

 

Leaves and cherries (scribble)

 

 

More leaves and cherries.

 

 

Meander (I think this is pretty easy).

 

 

Water

 

 

Twirly "e's"

 

 

My attempt at pebbles. LOL

 

 

Even dear husband gave it a whirl. 

 

 

I am NOT going to show you my feathers though.

 

Oh well......practice, practice, practice.

 

 



New baby grandchild coming in October.

I am going to have to start planning some baby quilts.....curtains, bumper pads, wall decorations....so on and so on....  LOL. 

Delivery date ...vs....delivery date

October 11, 2013

 

 

 

My daughter and son-in-law handed out these eggs and this is what we found inside them.

 

 

We are so excited about having another grand baby in the family.

 

Now the second delivery date I have to announce (March 28, 2013).

 

 

 

 

 

Some of you may recognize this box.

 

If not....this was inside it.

 

 

My new baby.

 

 

I am now the proud new owner of a 2013 Millenium from APQS. 

 

I couldn't be more happy with the two latest additions to my family (well, one of them is an almost addition....LOL).

 

 



A little surprise arrived.....

I think Pat over at http://thoughtsfromtaylorsoutback.blogspot.com/ sympathizes with my recent accident where I broke my dominant arm after a fall on the ice which required surgery.  I have been complaining that I can't sew, can't knit and find that the small things of daily living are quite hard.  She had broken both arms in the past.  I can't even imagine.  I don't even WANT to imagine.

But....she put a smile on my face when I got this in the mail.

 

She knows I love French General fabric. From these three FQ I am thinking of making one of the "little quilts" that seem so popular right now.  She sent me the sweetest note, too.  Best of all is the "oh so pretty" sachet filled with lemon verbena and lavender right from her very own garden.  That is super special to me.

 

So Pat....when I can again write with my "not so good hand right now" again, you will get a personal thank you from me.

 

I really needed that ray of sunshine

 

Thank you.

 

Aren't friends the best? ...even when they are blogger friends.