Roses and kitties!



 

See what my wonderful husband bought for me yesterday? Just because. He knows that being on crutches has been difficult, so he decided to cheer me up with roses and lemon tarts. Yum! 

 

The kitties are doing their part as well. I spent some time sitting out in the sun room over the weekend, and all four kittens decided to join me. Here's Callie peeking from her new hiding place.

And here's Sinbad, waiting for his chance to attack! "Let's see those whiskers again, Callie," he's thinking.

One of the maintenance workers at the school donated a water cooler box to the cause this spring, and the cats LOVE it! It's completely open at one end and has a hole in the other end. They spend all of their time lazing around on this box if they're not in my lap.
 

And speaking of being in my lap. All of the cats hate the cast and won't come near me when I'm in the bedroom. But if I sit down somewhere, my lap is fair game. Especially for Sinbad. I think he's feeling a little neglected.

Here he is all cuddled up in my lap. And see that sweetly curled paw?

Here's what that paw actually looked like (see below). There were claws there as a gentle warning to not wake him up. I let him sleep for about two hours before too many of my own parts went numb and I had to stand up.

 

 

The only sewing I've done since the surgery on Aug. 1 was to bind the Christmas quilt in the picture below. Can's see the quilt? Well, that's why it took me over a week to get it done. I guess all of the kitties have been missing me. Maxie and Tessie hopped up on my lap every time I worked on this binding. I love my kitties!



I know, not much quilting to show lately. Hopefully, that will change in another two weeks if I can get rid of the crutches then. Fingers crossed!

Debbi

A couple of finishes

I'm still down quite a bit after my foot surgery, but I get my stitches out this afternoon. Yeah!

I'm still on crutches for another three weeks and in the boot for another two months. My heel is raised right now, but I expect to have the wedge gradually reduced until my foot is flat again in the next couple of weeks. Soon, I should be able to get back to machine sewing. Yippee!


In the meantime, I finally finished binding another of my Christmas quilts. I'll have to take a photo of this with its new white binding. It turned out nicely. I still need to make and attach a label before I can call it finished. Maybe this weekend... At least it's done in time for Christmas this year. Only two more of the Christmas quilts to finish up. : )

 

 

And before my surgery I finished my Stashbusters quilt (photo below). My lovely neighbors took such fabulous care of my kitties, dogs, and chickens that I gave this quilt to them in thanks. I did not get a finished photo of it to show the beautiful black binding or the lovely quilting that Mom did on it, but I was in a hurry to get it to its new family. It was well received, so I hope it will be well loved and well used. 

Classes began again for me this morning, so I have to get back to work. Have a great day everyone!

Debbi

 

New applique project

Here it is! My new applique project. Well, a picture of the pattern anyway.





 

Sorry for the glare at the bottom. Here is a different photo, at an angle but without the glare. Isn't it gorgeous? It will finish at 90 x 110. Every bit of it is applique except for the sashing and inner border. I'll be doing needle turn applique.

I bought this pattern off Craftsy.com a few months ago, and have been waiting for just the right time to start it. Now that I can't machine sew for a couple of months, I'm ready for some hand sewing. The pattern is by Sindy Rodenmayer. I LOVE this pattern. I figure it will only take me about 20 years to complete. More or less.

I've already started the first block. Unfortunately, I've been doing as much tearing out as I have sewing. While I love the pattern, this is the first applique pattern that I've tried that does not have a layout sheet. I'm trying to determine placement by eyeballing the pattern. Not as easy as it sounds! I managed to get the middle floral pattern sewn down nicely, but I've sewn down and torn out several other portions so far.

Terrible color on that blue center. Here is a photo that shows the true light blue color.

 

I'll continue to take and post photos as I progress. I plan to start back to work on Monday, so I'll only be able to work in the evenings and on the weekends again. I had considered taking Monday and Tuesday off and returning on Wednesday for the in-services, but I really have a lot to do, so I'm going to give it a shot. I can always head home early if I have to. My students don't come back until the 19th, so next week is still fluid.

 

I have lousy light here in the bedroom, so I'll try to crutch into the sewing room tomorrow and get some more sewing done. That is if I can work over Sinnie's head! He's so upset about the cast and the crutches that he won't even come into the bedroom. When I sit in the living room, dining room, or sewing room, however, he immediately hops into my lap and refuses to move. He has never been a lap kitty before, but he's learning quickly. Poor sweet. I have another nine weeks in a cast. It's going to be a loooong nine weeks for the poor kitty.

 

Well, time to catch up on my blog reading. I'm waaaay behind!

 

Deb

Limping along...

I'm back! Again.

After spending the majority of this spring and early summer doing pattern testing for a new pattern designer, I've finally started working on a project of my own. So where are the pictures of this new project? I'll have to take some tomorrow. I'll tell you this much though, it's very large, very bright, and very applique. And it will be very pretty! When I finish it in about 20 years. : /

So what has bought on this big new project when I have so many UFOs waiting? The necessity for a long-term hand sewing project.

Yup. Surgery. Heel surgery, to be precise. I won't go into boring and gory details, but the good news is that I will be able to walk without pain again for the first time in years.

The bad news is that I will be on crutches for six weeks before graduating to a walking cast for another four weeks. After that I will be in sandals and work my way back into normal shoes. The total recovery time for this surgery is from six months to a year. Since it's my left foot in a cast, I can still sew on my machine once I get off my crutches in another five weeks. My machine is in a corner and not accessible without gymnastics that are inconceivable with crutches. Ergo, needle turn applique it is. And to keep my spirits up, I've chosen bright blues, oranges, greens, yellows, and reds on a black background. I already have part of the first block finished, so I'll have something to show you once I figure out how to get my camera back to my sewing room when I don't have hands free to carry anything. : ) You may have to settle for camera phone photos since my phone is small enough to carry in my pocket and my camera is not.

Okay pain meds kicking in again, so goodnight.

Deb