woohoo for Friday

I started my day with an appointment with my ot person-we have decided I am pretty much done wearing my splint and I have a few new exercises added to my list to do each day. I went on into work from there and decided to leave early as I was not feeling 100%- some tummy bug bite me last night and it seemed to be acting up again. I decided to run out and check out the second guild quilt show in a series of four that are happening in my local area right now. I found the perfect handmade oak extension table for my featherweight. Too bad when I reached for my wallet I found I had left it at home! No worries, I have to be back in that area tomorrow and I will swing by with my wallet in my pocket ready to spend. I am also dropping off two quilts ready to be hung in the CCQ show on April 2-4th-check out here for more information on that show.
Tomorrow is the last weekend I am in charge of selling raffle tickets for the CCQ opportunity quilt.
We will be at Fabric Depot..oh...another good reason to have my wallet handy I guess.
However, the best news is when I settled in at my machine tonight, I put in some wonderful quilting time on my FAB challenge...my hand is feeling ever so much better and I had such a great time doing it. I just have one small area left to do in another color.

That will have to wait...time to rest the hand and wind down for the night. It's a jammed packed weekend with lots of fun ahead. And, I seem to have tamed the tummy bug too-sigh of relief.

make it a weekend filled with joy folks...

Alice and quilting on Sunday

After two days of spending all my time at this quilt show I am happy to be staying home today.
The quilt shown behind me is the Clark County Quilters Opportunity quilt-benefiting the YWCA of Clark County-in particular two women's programs. (you may have to scroll down to an earlier post)

The quilt is made of various guild member blocks submitted for this quilt plus additions from the designer/maker of the quilt, guild member Cathy Erickson and quilted by Val Pellens a guild member longarm quilter.

This quilt will be shown at AQS Paducah later in April-we were all thrilled to hear it had been accepted into the show.

After two days of all that, last night I headed over for some Alice time and gave her parents a chance to go have dinner out as adults alone. My son commented without recent Alice photos I seem to be down in having comments posted! So, I am correcting that today. I gave Chung the long green scarf years ago, and it became one of Alice's favorite toys- as a baby, perfect for playing peek-a-boo, which she still plays but now, it also makes a fine cape. She is such an active on the go child! I love running after her - she will chant, you can't catch me! We had a grand time once she got over her parents leaving without her. The other photo is the nest she made of her deflated jumping castle-too bad it got several large holes in it. It is so hard to snap a photo of her laughing I was thrilled to catch her in this one.

Today has been a lovely day to spend some time finally doing some free motion quilting on the FAB challenge top. I am making progress by setting the timer for 15 minutes of quilting and than having a break. It is so wonderful to be back behind the machine working some stitching magic. I can not show any photos until after it has been received by it's owner, but, I will share photos when I am able.I also need to snap a finished photo of the rainbow rail quilt, now sleeved and ready to be handed in for the quilt show in early April.

cutting is a start...

My cast came off on Tuesday, March 10th. I was fitted for a splint and on Friday had my first occupational therapy session. Ruthann is also a member of my quilt guild and had quizzed me on my cast at our meeting-as in, where exactly did I break my hand? Well, on Friday, she could pull up my xray on her computer and we both had a look at exactly where that break happened. A diagonal break between the knuckle of my little finger on my right hand and my wrist. Which means my little finger and the next finger over tendons are the ones that need the MOST exercising to lengthen and loosen up. Moving that little finger sideways and making a totally curled fist is major painful and beyond doing very well currently. Still, that is why you do your exercises and know that in less time than wearing the cast my fingers/hand should be working "back to normal". She made a new splint for wearing at work where I live on a keyboard/ten key machine the majority of my day. That splint rocks. I was good and left it at work. I love being able to take my splint off and enjoy the luxury of using both hands to put on body lotion. Those simple tasks are so much easier with two hands! So, she loaned me a special rotary cutter (the cleverness of choosing to work with a quilter) so I could do some cutting and make sleeves for the fast approaching quilt shows. I finally have something current, quilt related photo to share. This will become the sleeve of my rainbow rail trip around the world - a class I took with Billie Lauder a few years ago. It usually lives on my side of the bed (it's lap size) and only lacked a sleeve for entering into the first guild quilt show, due date for quilts being March 30th.
I need to take a new photo of the quilt, as I seem to only have one of just the top.

What I found using the new rotary cutter is, a huge difference in how you hold it-obviously and how much easier it is to use. It really needs a new blade, so I switched back to my old rotary cutter shown, after putting in a new blade in it. I would have done the same to Ruthann's except it looked more complicated to take apart and then, gosh, what if I could not put it back together?

So, I will put this new rotary cutter on my wish list and one day it will be part of my tool box.

The other cutting I did was for a backing, which is now pieced for the secret FAB challenge quilt project. I am taking it along today to sandwich and be ready for quilting next. Today is my charity group monthly meeting day. It was pushed back to this date for this month only, and will give me a chance to see how I do longer at the machine. After a small amount of cutting, even wearing a splint, I need to stop and rest. So, baby steps will be how it is for as long as it takes.

I am so glad to be able to do some quilting stuff. My knitting continues on my own now that classes are over. When I get to the toe bind off, I will revisit the techinque we were shown. No worries, I can always go to the shop and have a hands on help session. They will get done.

Despite the rainy weekend, it's been filled with joy and I hope yours has been too!

Sunday post- Quilt Show anyone?

I was contacted by Connie Colten to list our guild quilt show at her site-she has a dedicated listing of all quilt shows, big and small across the United States..you can contact her at quiltqua"at"gmail dot com. And I am putting up a graphic of her website. The link on the graphic is not live-so to visit her website and find a show nearest where you live check it out here.

When I figure out how to put this on my sidebar, you will be able to use it anytime. I really need to update my blogger site computer skills! Right now I want to spend my time on knitting-final class later today and I am going to try figuring out how to knit the heel gusset using my book diagram, ahead of class and then have the teacher check it out. We do not seem to cover in 2 hours all that she hoped. On the other hand maybe I need to be patient and learn her method of how to knit the next part. After all, it is why I paid to take the class, rather than just learn on my own.


woohoo...two more sleeps and my lovely purple cast comes off.

Meanwhile I have submitted 2 of the 3 tax returns on my do first paperwork list. I also mailed off photos and applications for the first guild quilt show that are due this Thursday.

Today before knitting class in the late afternoon, I need to do the two applications for the 2nd guild quilt show. The post office is on the way to knitting class. Always good to combine trips.

On the more- good- news coming my way front-my sister is likely flying out in May for a visit. She has not been out since 2005, for our mom's funeral. Her husband died two months after our mom and with teen aged sons to raise on her own, it just has not been possible for her to come out on her own. Another excellent inspiration to clear the fabric room and install a guest bed.

Our plan to declutter went by the side when I had my accident. It will pick up steam once I am back in action. I have to say I have managed to do some clearing up in the sewing room. It is just more wearing to work around having a bulky cast on one of your hands.

Well, time to go make 50 or so copies of flyers for our MPS show and get this final mailing moving along.

Enjoy the day!

down the knitted path

When knitted socks hit blogland I was very inspired. I promised myself I would knit some one day. I signed up for a knitting class that finally filled up and was really going to happen-on days that fit into my life, at the nearest yarn shop to where I live. Despite my cast, I found I could knit well enough to keep up with the class last Sunday. We were expected to do homework and here is my result. Yesterday I sat all day at a quilt shop selling tickets for a guild opportunity quilt, chatted with the owner of the shop and knitted. It was a delightful day. And, yes this color of yarn is close to the color of my cast!


Today we are off to enjoy an artwalk event and check in at the studio of one of our favorite local artists. He has invited folks to visit him at his studio this weekend. I have one of his very small pieces hanging in my work space. His name is Christopher Bibby. I will have to take a photo of it when I remember to take my camera to work-maybe tomorrow. We will probably enjoy lunch out and back home in plenty of time for my 3 o'clock class.

This class has taken my time away from the quilting path lately but I will be back on it very soon. I have been blogs this morning and being so inspired-so many wonderful quilts going on.