Finishes, So Many Finishes!

Becky sent me this awesome snowman wall hanging for Christmas.  I love it!  

I had my Ocrevous infusion mid February.  Took Babel to read but was hit super hard by the Benadryl so I had to start it over that night.  Five stars, I really liked it!

I continued to do a row a week on my Sparkling New Year mystery quilt.

I got the first border on it.  It is a little wavy even though I did my usual measuring method.

Today I got the final border on it and I am happy with it!

I spent all day yesterday in bed...have been super extra fatigued lately but today I thought I would try to get in several finishes.  I sewed the backing for my Tea Party quilt which I am sending out to Andi to quilt.  I did a quick iron of the top too.

It took me a minute to realize when I stay stitch my string pieced borders it is MUCH easier if I do it from the top (like picture) instead of with the wrong side up where I have to fight the many seams.  Sometimes I surprise myself by how slow I am to catch on to stuff like this!

This Grassy Creek started out as Barb's.  She did not want to do the string piecing so she sent it on to me.  I have been working on it on and off ever since.  I accidently cut the string pieced borders at the wrong angle so I went with it and it looks fine.  

It is too big to actually get a full picture of.  I was so happy to finally get these final borders on!  Another one checked off my list!

The UFO for February is my Lori Holt quilt.  My daughter is pregnant with baby girl #2 so I plan on giving this quilt to her before August when the baby comes.  I laid this all out but am thinking it is too busy as it is.  I may redo the alternate blocks so it is cleaner.  What do you think?  Obviously not getting that done in February, but I did finish the quilts above (Grassy Creek was on the UFO list and hasn't been picked yet) but soon.

Barb also sent me all her Emerald Jubilee blocks since she did not like the final layout.  I am not sure if I will finish it as I did my Ruby Jubilee or if I will make several quilts with the blocks or what.  Barb said she enjoyed making the blocks but did not feel like she wanted to finish it.

This Amythyst Jubilee is Becky's.  She also copied Bonnie's layout for the most part and it turned out amazing.  We all had so much fun sewing these this year.

 

Sewing with Friends!

I put a border on my Boo Crew Quilt!

Becky and Barb and I worked on our Soul Mates Mystery Sewalong a few weeks ago and got the tops together.  My borders went on later that week.  Not the greatest picture as it is too big to lay out inside and I have not had the energy to take it outside in the heat!

Here is Becky's.  So fun to see two quilts in the same colors still be so different!

                                                

I got out my daughter's old dollhouse for Hazel (who will be two in September) and she loves it.  Here she is swinging the baby doll in the swing.  This kid is so much fun and talks so well.  She signs too but her talking!  She skinned her knee yesterday and said "Nana cleans the ouchy part and puts a bandaid on it" which is a line from a book she has.  She has an amazing auditory and visual memory too!  Blows our mind.  She is starting to tell us about events that happened in the past too.  She just moved up to the two year old room and is the youngest kid in her group again.  The parents go to meet the teacher, etc. and sevral other parents kept asking Hannah and Jeremy how she is talking so well, and commented must not be your first, etc.  She was apprently pointing to things in the room and telling her parents this is x's cup and this is y's backpack, etc.  Most of the other kids cannot name the kids much less the things that belong to them.  We are blessed!

Our last group sewing session Becky and I worked on Ruby Jubilee...barb was a clue behind so did some cutting.  She now has both clues cut but not sewn.  Here are mind.

Here are Becky's!

                                                    

A few weeks ago I attended an online virtual reading retreat.  So nice to have a social life without leaving my bed.  I was in bad shape and skipped Friday night but did join in all day Saturday though laying down through most of it.  These books (and so many others) were highly recommended to us (each person got two minutes to pitch a book!  I did The Thirteenth Tale and got about fifteen people to agree to group read it in October!) and I immediately ordered them.  Many more went on my wish list for Amazon or for the library.  It was so much fun with reading sprints, games, panels, etc.  and I look forward to another one sometime!

Today I sewed my UFO for August together.  This is my lockdown houses quilt made with the bitty block house pattern called Home Sweet Home.  I started these houses in Arizona and sewed one per day til I was really sick of them!

I accepted a job with ASU doing some grading for ASL classes.  Mostly videos of students signing. It is supposed  to be less than ten hours a week.  I am hoping I can do it since everything exhausts me.  I figure I can grade laying down in need be.  If it is too much it will be short lived. Now that I finally have disability I am not desperate to work though I miss it so much.  I miss having my health more.  I go Wednesday for a table tilt test to see if I have dysautonomia.  Whenever I am sitting my heart rate goes up and standing even more so. If I stay out of bed all day my heart rate goes to 120 and stays there while sitting.  I get a horrible pain between my shoulder blades too.  My cardiologist ordered several tests and gave me nitroglycerin.  I am living 70 percent of my life laying down and even then struggle to function.  I still sew but not nearly as often or nearly as long.  

 

Soul Mates with my Sewing Buddies!

Soul Mates clue one is done!  Barb and I sewed with Becky on Saturday afternoon, and we managed to complete our clue one already.  Here are my fabrics again.

Here are my block A's.  I am pretty happy with them.

Becky also decided to go with blue and brown.  Looking forward to seeing how our different fabrics in the same colors turn out!

Here is Becky's block A.

Here are Barb's blocks in Quilt of Valor colors.  This will be gorgeous too!

These gorgeous blocks are Becky's Ruby Jubilee aka Amythyst Jubilee.  She and I and Barb are enjoying this one too!  So glad I have far away friends to sew with as this is my main social life!

I did have my first real outing in over two years.  My daughter got us tickets to go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical.  It was a lot of fun.  She dropped me at the door and I found a bench to wait on til she parked and came in.  The walk in was fine and we had great seats and she even put me on an aisle (I hate to be squished especially by strangers).  The group next to her did not show up so we had a nice chunk of space to ourselves.  She was planning to pick me up but I felt up to walking to the car since the way in was so easy.  I could not have walked in and out as it was a bit of a walk and slightly uphill over a bridge to the car but it pushed me to about what I could do so I was happy with it.  Feel alright today so I do not think it was too much (if too much I sleep all the next day).  

I started LDN (low dose naltrexone) four days ago and am super hoping it will be the miracle I need to lose at least some of the fatigue I deal with daily.  It is good for both MS and ME so I have hope.  

                                             

Chickie Art, Working on a Border and Quilty Gifts!

Hazel loves to do art so she painted a paper plate and got almost no paint anywhere else!  We are thinking she might be a leftie (or ambidextrous) as she seems to go back and forth some but has a preference for her left hand.  This runs in our family a bit--my great grandfather Clarence Rushman was able to write with both hands and my mom's generation does many things with their non dominant hands.  My youngest son Jay is also primarily left handed but he could not decide until he was about five with the help of OT at school since neither was more dominant for him. Here she is with her chickie (Gramala, or LaLa as she calls me helped put the stuff on in the right places since the paint was still wet).

I have been sick since about Feb. 20th.  Hazel brought me a cold (she goes to daycare three days a week now and is a walking petri dish) and it almost went away before I caught her new cold.  This one has lingered and so I went to urgent care Tuesday night and I have sinusitis so they gave me antibiotics and steroids.  I am sleeping in the recliner since the drainage wakes me up coughing all night long.  Looking forward to getting back to my usual sick self.  Speaking of which, I found out I medically passed the hoops for getting disability.  My claim is on the last step where they determine if I get back pay and how much I get per month if my income didn't exceed the limits while waiting (believe me, it didn't).  So relief is coming which is good since we have about run through savings in the past two years with me not working.  We decided to not move this year too since there was just nothing in the area we want that allows four pets.  We did not know for sure about disability at the time we had to give our notice and we did not want to increase our rent budget so...our current plan is to save money each month (one DA starts) so we can hopefully have a down payment and buy a house in the area we want near my daughter.   Then we can settle.  So crossing fingers that will work out or we are likely to struggle to find a place next year too--though we would have more of a budget at that point.

I have not done much sewing (and even my reading has slowed some) since I am so ugh!  This morning I am feeling pretty decent no doubt due to the steroids so may sew today!).  I made and attached the inner border on Packer Bliss and made and sliced up and joined into pairs the outer border.  I would love to get that completed and on today if I can.  

Barb (my sewing bestie) sent ma a FABULOUS box of sewing goodies!  I have not taken pictures yet, but it made my day yesterday.  She sent some red scraps in case I could use them for Ruby Jubilee, a few Eye Spy squares, An entire tablerunner kit and pattern of the type I want to make several of for Christmas gifts this year (I have two other patterns and may try to combine elements of them to use as one uses applique and one uses foundation piecing to do the bows).  She also sent her Grassy Creek parts that she had done up to the reveal.  She decided she did not care for it and did not want to finish it.  I love the colors and will be working on that soon!  She did not want to make the string pieced sashing so that was a huge factor for her.  I could buy the right kind of fabric to avoid doing that or change up the layout, but likely will just make a pieced one since I have plenty of strings.  She also sent me two pair of new hospital slipper socks--I love them and she hates them, lol.  There was also a Quiltmaker magazine which I never got and a few patterns.  Will share pics soon!
 

Not Quite Spring Here but some Sunshine Yellow Sewing Going On!

Kathy's cat Singer used to stay out of my quilting studio since she does not care for my kitty Stash....but since we moved they are both ranging the whole house for the most part instead of keeping to their specific areas (that they imposed).  So she is loving laying in my scraps.

I am trying to do a Christmas Through the Year project each month, but did nothing in February so I made five pillowcases (they are folded) though four of them are going for birthday gifts--I am counting it.

I love the way I organized the log cabin blocks so that I can just go to the next piece without thinking too hard.  I still managed to get a few sewn on incorrectly this time.  My brain fog really makes everything seem more difficult.  I just need to remember that each new piece goes over two seams and they it all works out.

These above are Log Cabin Love from Quiltmaker--Bonnie Hunter's addicted to scraps article, and these below from the same but are called Butterfly Bush.  They will go into two doll quilts.  One for my adopted Granddaughter Lily and one to keep at my house.  I decided to give the second H is for Happy doll quilt (which I had wanted to keep at my house) to my best friend's granddaughter Harper who just became a big sister to Briggs.  He will be getting a Chunky Churn Dash baby quilt.

This month's UFO pull was number 3 which is my Packer Bliss.  I had all the parts sewn (but still need to cut sashing and cornerstones) to make a quilt in green but decided I should make all the parts in yellow and make two Packer Bliss quilts (pattern is Bonnie Hunter's Winter Bliss).  So goal is to get one done for the UFO and then down the line get the other one done.  Finally made a dent in the yellow scraps!

 My disability hearing is on Monday.  It has been close to two years since I applied and more than two years before that since I got sick.  Five years ago this month I hiked the Grand Canyon and was in such good health.  A year later reactivated Epstein Barr Virus which led to all of this.  My fatigue is barely livable.  People have this worse than me, but I am not sure how they go on.  It is the biggest challenge of my challenging life.  So hoping I get disability since I am really unable to work.  I can sew for a few hours at a time again and I can read a lot because I am laying down and/or listening at the same time I read or only listening.  I just finished OT and am still in PT where they are trying to get me stronger, but it is slow going because more activity means more sleep and more pain (lactic acid in legs from two minutes on my sitting elliptical type thing).  It is crazy!

Currently reading "War and Peace" and "Jefferson's Sons."

Valentine's Mini Mystery and Ruby Jubilee in Other Colors!

I finished up the flimsy for Kathleen Tracy's Mini Valentine Mystery today.  Nice and simple.  Barb's is below though she added a roses border on hers and it is cute!

                                                        

I sewed with Becky a few days ago and convinced her to start Ruby Jubilee! She wasted no time in picking out fabrics and whipping these up.  She was my blogging friend before I moved to Arizona and we lived close enough together out there to be in the same guild!  You may remember we did the Quiltville cruise together and lots of hiking too.  Now we sew together online now and then.  SEW much fun!  Barb finished hers up in greens.  It is going to be so cool to see these three come together in three different colorways.  The next issue of Quiltmaker is out digitally and so I know we have plenty of blocks to make in the next few months. I get it on Scribd which I have a free trial of.  I just cannot figure out how to print from it (unless I screenshot and do it that way and it usually does not enlarge well when I try that) and though I have the patterns from Quiltmaker and could go that route, I am tempted to just wait for my actual issue to arrive.  I have plenty to keep me busy!

Recently finished these two books.  I liked them both.

I have been working on R Trail and so it is trimmed, stay stitched, aqua borders cut and added and final borders assembled.  I am hoping to get at least two of them on tonight, more if I have the energy. 

In family and health news:  my daughter, son in law and granddaughter are over covid.  My oldest has it again (I think this is the third time) and it looks like my mom and dad have it too.  My sister thinks she had it a week or two ago.  It is crazy contagious and amazing Kathy and I have not caught it, but with all my medical appointments I feel like it won't be long.  Hazel starts daycare next week so we may pick it up from her (and Hannah starts a new job too) so our exposure will be greater.  I have enough issues without that on top of it.  Not sure if I told you guys but my RRMS was changed to PPMS.  They originally thought I had PPMS, then decided I did not and now the new neuros think that was what I originally had.  Of course, that is the worse type and I have been on meds that do not help the other type which explains my downward spiral somewhat.  I have now started PT and OT and they are putting in for a scooter (I got a walker already) so I can get around if I need to.  May your health be good!

 

H is for Happy and Pine Tree Point Progress

Lots more reading going on.  I do not even think I took pictures of a few of them.  Enjoyed this one, though really weird it kept me turning the pages.  This first half was almost normal and then it took a turn which I expected.

I read this one for a facebook book club I am in.  Have not read John Saul since I was a teen.  Used to love him, but outgrew him.  This one was awful!  Other people in the group seem to have loved it.  I am a snob reader--seriously!

This one was really good!  Will need to read more by Collins.

This quilt top is my inspiration for the one I am making.  Mari is the one who sewed it and though I do not know her, I LOVE her quilt!

Two weekends ago I spent Saturday sewing with BJ (it had been a long while) and Ros joined us for a bit!  Super fun to get caught up with her and BJ both.  Then Sunday I was sewing with Barb but BJ's sewing partner was unable to sew with her so she joined us on cameral too.  During all of that I managed to finally get my trees into a top!  It already has another thin border on it and one cut and ready to go on.  Last I need to make the outer border.

Linking up with SoScrappy!

On Halloween we went over to Hannah and Jeremy's to see Hazel in her costume.  Cutest little ladybug ever.  This kiddo is signing and talking more everyday!  Yesterday new signs I saw were CEREAL, BLESS-YOU, HUSH, BALL, and HELP!  Today so far I saw ORANGE.  So much fun!

I read this LONG (over 800 pages) book a few chapters a day for the most part.  It was good but did not live up to the hype for me.  

Super fast true story I read in a day.

This one was another all day read.  I really liked it.

This one turned out to be really good and made me think afterward.  I had a hard time finding an author with the last name that starts with N (as mine does) for my cross off challenge.  I only have one left--one about a world leader.

                                                 

I finally go to working on Hazel's "H is for Happy" pair of doll quilts.  This is a Quiltville pattern and really fun to make the H's.  I wish I was better at getting the corners on so things came to size.  If I did it again, I would go ahead and oversize my triangles since I had to trim them all anyway.

See?  WONKY!  Oh well, Hazel with love them anyway.

Had the first one sewn up last weekend.

And yesterday during Hazel's nap I trimmed the second set and today during her nape I sewed them together (and am blogging this). Nice I do not need my own nap today like many days!

Currently reading this two books.  One is serious and older language and one is fun.

Jay(my youngest) sold one of his cars today (yay, parking is a hot mess especially in the winter) and it was stolen a few weeks ago and parts were taken...it was half painted, etc.  Not worth keeping.  He planned to sell it anyway so he just got less for it than he was hoping. He also finally found an apartment close to his work.  He has been staying with us and we do not have room so he has literally been sleeping on our oversize chair.  He works nights so this is super fun for him with me and Hazel in the living room.  He also has two cats.  This house is not really big enough for all that but we made do.

I finally saw a naturopath about my health.  She did a bunch of bloodwork and plans to do more.  She is treating me for Lyme (so she can test it after six weeks).  I have had headaches and neckaches and chills from the meds that are meant to show if I have it or not.  Really do not think I do, but I should not be reacting if I don't.  So we shall see.  Meanwhile turns out my thyroid finally shows signs of being jacked up so going on meds for that.  My liver enzymes are up so starting some natural stuff to help with that.  As always (since I have been sick) my white blood cell count is high.  Have not heard back yet on cortisol test but Celiac and Autoimmune testing was normal.  I am still super fatigued but have learned to pace so coping better.