More Snow

This photo is a view from one of our upstairs back windows.  It was taken almost exactly a year ago.  It looks almost exactly like I could have taken it today!  Can we really have had so much snow in March two years in a row?

With Edna T. Helberg I say....

               Why oh why does it take so long?
               I'm sure the calendar can't be wrong.
               Sunshine fills my heart with cheer.
               I wish that spring were really here.

It's not literal sunshine that fills my heart - it's the hope of real sunshine!  I know we have another 3 weeks until spring is officially here but wouldn't it be nice if spring were already ushering winter toward the door?

I hope you're staying safe and warm.

--Nancy.
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Not Enough Quilt Time

I don't know what the finished quilt with these blocks will look like yet.  I enjoy looking at the blocks hanging there in no particular arrangement with regards to lights/darks, etc.  I like the variety of fabrics and the sameness of the block pattern.  Repetition with variety is very pleasing to my eye.  I have 18 more to stitch together and some are in progress, other are just cut fabric.  They will finish at 9½" which is a larger block than I usually make.  It will be fun to play with them after they're finished.


Olivia's quilt is still in progress.

The flowers are quilted with an outline around the edges and inside the edges of each flower and down the middle of each leaf, and I've started quilting the rest of the borders.  I forget about working over Valentine's Day and how little energy I have at the end of a day.  It slows down my progress.  I hope I finish it before Olivia is walking!

I've also been stitching a blessing dress and slip for Olivia.  (I wasn't able to get a good photo:  they are all white and bleached out no matter how I tried to photograph them.)  Sometimes my slow pace is because of indecision.  Buttons or snaps?  Embroidery or lace?  Short or long?  Long or longer?  I eventually decide, and then reconsider again.  It's the challenge of trying to make things perfectly.

All in all, I've had too little time quilting!

I'm linking this post to W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and WOW at Esther's Blog.

--Nancy.
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Great News!

It's bursitis! I know most people who have bursitis probably don't think that's a wonderful thing but what's great may depend on the alternative.

You see, I had two hip replacements nearly 11 years ago and things have been great -- until last week when I started to have hip pain.  And then it got worse.  Then I learned I needed a root canal because I had an infection in one of my teeth which wasn't diagnosed for nearly a week.  (Going to the dentist is my least favorite thing to do but this time I was grateful someone cancelled his/her appointment because I was able to get in earlier.)  Anyone who's had a joint replacement knows that an untreated infection, especially in the mouth, can lead to problems for a prosthetic joint.  It seems the bacteria head straight to that artificial joint.  If that happens, the joint is removed and an IV antibiotic pumped in.  After about 6 weeks a new prosthetic joint can be put in.  That's at least 12 weeks of very limited mobility.

My personal physician took blood tests to determine the possibility of infection and they came back normal.  I was so relieved.  But there was still the pain telling me that whatever the problem was hadn't been resolved.  My doctor said she wanted me to see a hip surgeon soon -- "soon" being a repetitive theme in the conversation.  I was able to get an appointment the day after I called.

You know how not knowing is worse than knowing, even if what you learn is worse than what you hoped for?  Maybe that's because when you don't know it's easy to imagine the worst.  That's the situation I was in.  Maybe a bone was broken.  Maybe the joint replacement was worn; or loose; or broken.  I'm not a worrier but it's hard not to wonder about possibilities.

I could have hugged the doctor when he said it was bursitis.  I'm sure he has probably never seen a joyful response to that diagnosis (unless it was from another joint replacement patient in a similar situation to mine).

Bursitis is an inflammation of a bursa, a pouch that cushions the soft tissue over a bone.  There are bursae in all the major joints of the body.  It's pretty painful, it's hard to walk, hard to find a comfortable position in bed, hard to stand....  The doctor was willing to give me a steroid but I chose the other option:  try NSAIDs to relieve the pain and stop doing whatever caused the problem.  I don't know what I was doing that caused the problem because I've only been doing the things I regularly do.  But I've been taking it a little easy.  It is beginning to feel better already.

What a wonderful blessing!

If you want to know more there's a great article at OrthoInfo:  Hip Bursitis.

I hope you're healthy!

--Nancy.
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Quilt for Olivia Rose

In February I hope to finish the quilting on this little quilt for Olivia.

I have nearly all of the center quilted and some of the flowers in the borders.

Too many times I've had the delusion that when I'm done with the center, I'm half done with the quilt. I'm learning not to think that way -- unless the center is very, very large and the edges are very, very small.  Not so with this quilt.  It has a hefty border.  I'll be doing some heavy-duty quilting this month. 

I'm claiming this as my February project for A Lovely Year of Finishes at Sew Bittersweet Designs.

--Nancy.
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Two Blocks

I stitched up two of these blocks...

... and felt fairly satisfied that I'd managed to figure out how to stitch the stars with only the use of graph paper.  (The colors are not accurate.)

And then I was looking at some older photos of these blocks when I was still trying to decide how to join the four corner blocks...

... and had second thoughts about the stars.  Maybe I should have used striped fabric to join them.

I recently read another blogger's encouragement to work in series.  Maybe I should think about a second quilt with strips to join the corner blocks....


This was my pattern for the center stars, cut to the finished size.

Since the graph paper was 1/4" squares and I used a 1/4" seam, I realized that all I needed to do was add 1/2" to the center, and 1/2" to the triangles (though I wasn't positive that would work till I tried it).  I cut the strips for the center at 2" and cut 1 1/4" squares to use to sew the triangles to make the star.  I'm glad I didn't choose a smaller star or I could have been working with really tiny squares to make the star points!

I'm linking this post to
WOW at Esther's Blog and
W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
January 2014 NewFO Linky Party at Cat Patches

--Nancy.
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Big Stars, Little Stars, and Keep Quilting!

My stars.  In the two photos below are different size sashings (if that's what they're called when they're in the middle of a block).  The "wing" blocks are the same size, only the stars and sashing are different sizes.

This star is 1 1/2" wide in the center.

This star is 1" wide in the center.

These are two blocks are side by side.

 

(The outer sashing is there so I could see the real size of the finished blocks.  I will probably use different fabrics in the quilt.)

It helps me to see more objectively when I take photographs and post them.  I don't know what it is about seeing them online that helps, but I think it does.

After I decide which size, I have to figure out how to cut and sew them.  I think the points are sewn like flying geese except at the end of long strips.  I just need to research or play with what size squares to cut and sew diagonally.  Learning is so much fun!

As I was trying to decide which size stars (and, therefore, sashing) to cut to connect these blocks, I decided to do some research to see if there's a "standard" or preferred proportion.  The "wing" blocks will finish at 4".  Is 1" too narrow?  Is 2" too wide?  Is 1 1/2" too narrow or too wide?

I came upon a blog post at Diane Gaudynski "A New Tradition in Quilting":  Embracing the Old, Exploring the New that did not give me an answer but gave me encouragement.  The post was about scale and proportion, specifically about how photographs can give a different impression of size than a real-life view gives.  Anyway, at the end of her post I read:

"Keep quilting! Your work gets better every day."

I really appreciated reading that.  This art and craft of quilting does not come easily to me.  My mind bogs down with colors, fabrics, scale, proportion, quilting designs....  I take heart in the thought that I'm improving!

I'm linking this post to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

I hope all of your quilting efforts are going smoothly.
--Nancy. .

Stars in the Centers?

I have this bunch of blocks -- or at least I have the four corners of the blocks.  I was thinking of joining them with striped fabric but couldn't find anything I liked well enough to use in a whole quilt.

They've been at the back of my mind for a month or two.  Just recently it occurred to me that perhaps stars in the centers would be fun.

One of the problems with my quilt-making abilities is that I tend to "imagine" in bits and pieces.  Oh, wouldn't red and lights look great in this pattern?  And that's as far as my thought process went.  And I made a bunch of blocks.  Then I have to figure out the next step....

Unless I'm trying to make a finished quilt from a photograph, I figure out a quilt as I go alone.  It has its pros and cons.  My real challenge is that I don't imagine very well.  I have to see it to know what it's going to look like.  In some ways it's very limiting.

Anyway, If I'm going to put stars in the centers I'll have to play around to figure out how to make them them.  And then I have to decide whether to use the same fabric for all the stars and all the connecting strips or whether to vary them from block to block.

Oh, to have a visual brain!

I hope you're staying warm.  It's been the coldest winter we've had for many years.  Brrrrrrr.

--Nancy.
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Visit Your Local Fabric Store Day

My daughter gave me this sweet little 2014 Susan Branch calendar for Christmas.

I like to have a small one near the computer and at 7" square this one is just perfect.  There is a delightful main drawing for each month and additional drawings and quotes on the tiny, 7/8" x 1 1/8" date squares.

After I took the cover off, I began reading the tiny writing in the date squares.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this on January 23:

No way!  Visit my local fabric store on my birthday?!!!  What a delightful invitation.  Maybe I will -- if it's not too cold!   

I hope you have a fun visit to your local fabric store tomorrow.

--Nancy.
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Olivia Rose

I've been away for a few weeks tending our grandson and helping his mom as a new baby joined their family.

I'd like you to meet our new granddaughter, Olivia Rose.  She arrived on January 10 at 10:52 p.m., weighing a healthy 9 pounds 2 ounces.  She is sweet and round and fully cuddle-able.  As her aunt said, Olivia has "a proper double chin," though it's not so evident in this photo.  She also has a strong set of lungs which she actively uses to let us know there's a problem.

The facts that her little mouth forms a nearly perfect "O" when she's unhappy, that she weighed 9+ pounds, and that her name starts with an "O" led to her first nickname:  The Big O.  That one won't stick but this one, Ohsie Rosie, courtesy of her aunt, just might.

We had lots of fun with Olivia's big brother, Malachi, who turned 19 months while we were there.  He's a jolly little fellow who awakes with a smile.  He enjoys life with gusto.  We don't get to see him but about once a month so we were pleased that he didn't mind being left with us while his parents went to the hospital.

More than ever before I can appreciate why young people have babies.  Just two weeks and I'm very, very tired -- but very pleased to have been able to spend time with Olivia, Mali, and their parents.

--Nancy.
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From Thanksgiving to the End of December

It seems like I've been absent for a very long time.  December whizzed by while I worked at a candy store.  The whizzing started before Thanksgiving, though, when family visited for 11 days - two daughters, one son-in-law, and one 18-month-old grandson (all for varying amounts of time).  The day after the last one left (when I really, really needed a good rest) I started working.  And then it was Christmas (with no one visiting), and now it's nearly the New Year. 

Next comes the birth of a new granddaughter in the next few days, baby-tending my grandson, and care-giving to my daughter, her husband, and the two little ones.  Yes, I'll be even more tired, but I wouldn't miss it for the world.

In preparation for my grandson's visit at Thanksgiving I made a few little characters that I thought he might like. 

These are "wee folk" made in the manner of Salley Mavor, though not nearly as well done as hers.  Mali looked them over and put them down.  My feelings were not hurt.  Little children are quite open and honest about their preferences.

It turned out that Mali liked these tiny toys much better.

They are regular-sized dice, about half an inch square, and game markers from long-gone games.  His play primarily involved putting them into bottles of various sizes and taking them out again, though he also stacked them.  I was amazed that his attention span kept him playing with these for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. 

Here are Mali's parents.  Dad was attempting to look like he had a belly, too (but he's as skinny as a rail!).  And Mom, rounder than round, had another five weeks to go when this photo was taken!

I spent what time I could on this little quilt.

I stitched diagonally across the 9-patch blocks.  In the snowballs I quilted four hearts pointing toward the center.  On the flowers in the border I'm quilting around the edges of the flowers, edges of the centers, and outlining the leaves.

But I'm stumped about how to quilt the rest of the border.  Echo quilting?  Straight lines?  Fans?  Diagonals?  Diagonals crossing each other?  Nothing seems to be exactly right -- at least not yet.  It will not be finished in time for our granddaughter's birth but I don't think there will be a shortage of warm coverings.

In the past, when major events happened in my life (like hip replacements in 2002), I always looked forward to things getting back to normal.  But they never did.  Normal became something new and different with a few threads of what felt like normal amongst the new.  I'm wondering what will become normal by the end of January.

--Nancy.
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