Cleaning House Against My Will

So the virus/trojan horse did more damage than I'd predicted and I'm now going through the process of reformatting. That means this is probably my last public appearance for several days until I get everything up and running again

Fortunately, I have everything pretty well backed up already, so although it'll be a pokey process it shouldn't be a nail-biting one. There are a couple of things that are still areas of concern for me but none of it would be catastrophic, just annoying. So I can deal.

I do have to say, though, that the upside to all this is having a "clean" laptop once again. My husband works with engineers who routinely wipe their hard drives annually just to get rid of all the technological detritus that accumulates. I've always thought that wouldn't be a bad idea--I just never bother to do it. Until my hand is forced. But I'm choosing to focus on that silver lining of a clean slate.

BTW, a few folks have asked if I have this or that protection software. Yep. Have lots of it of various well-known and highly-regarded types. All of them were on, completely updated, and functioning. The virus disabled most of them. Hackers are smart.

Just a warning about memory cards

So it finally happened--something I didn't even know could happen. I have a memory card reader in my laptop and frequently at events that I'm staffing, I'm offloading photos from a variety of memory cards as participants choose to share their photos with our organization. It never even crossed my mind that memory cards could carry viruses on them.

However, this weekend, I popped someone's memory card into my laptop and suddenly got messages I shouldn't have been getting and all sorts of random things happening. Fortunately, I have a boatload of virus protection, anti-spyware, and other protective programs loaded and after running a few scans, was able (I hope) to nip the problem in the bud.

This morning, I put my own camera memory card into my laptop to finish offloading my own photos from the weekend and there, lo and behold, was the file name of the thing that I think had caused the problems in the first place. I had used my own memory card after I'd used hers--so it looks like the virus hopped from her card onto my laptop and back onto my card. Fortunately, scans had already taken care of it and I was able to delete it--but I'm thinking it's time to get a new memory card. And I'm going to do another complete virus scan again today just to be sure.

So, fair warning: be careful of camera memory cards from other people. They're basically mini-flash drives and I'm surprised I'd never thought of that before. I did a little googling and it's reportedly quite rare that memory cards cause problems, but they obviously can! From now on, I'm not accepting anyone's memory cards anymore. There are other, safer ways for folks to send us photos so I'll just have to rely on their memories to do so!

Some Pics to Go with Episode 25 "In Which We Consider Thimbles"

If only Podbean would play nicely with multiple photos, I wouldn't have to send people all over the place to check out pictures that go with one of my podcast episodes. Sigh. Sorry about that.

This week's episode is all about thimbles. My sudden interest in thimbles  stems from having inherited about 30-some-odd thimbles used by various relatives reaching back at least three generations, if not further. Pretty nifty keen. As I was doing a little research trying to figure out if I could place any of these thimbles in a particular point in our space-time-continuum, I picked up a little information along the way and decided to share it in an episode.

This is my family tree in thimble form. There are definitely thimbles from my paternal grandmother and maternal grandmother, as well as a maternal great-aunt or two. There are a few that probably go back to a great grandmother, and one set that I suspect may go back even a little futher.

BTW, the classic display case is an antique printers' drawer that used to store letters for printing presses. It was a gift from BFF/BQF Kate--she found it during one of her estate sale haunts and picked it up with an eye towards me being able to display my heirlooms. Thanks, Kate--works beautifully!

Close-up of some of the thimbles, along with my Mom's notes on the back of the box as to who most likely used the thimbles that had been stored within (the two sitting to its left).

The thimbles on the bottom shelf are all advertising thimbles--Prudential, a flour company...a little piece of capitalist history.

These are two of my faves. First off, really nice decorations. Second, the box. I tracked down the name on the box to a jeweler shop in a little town in France. The town and street are still there, but the jeweler's shop is long gone.

We have a French-Canadian branch to our family--they emigrated from Canada in the mid to late 1800s, I believe. Not sure when they went to Canada in the first place, though. So I'm not sure how old these thimbles might be. Also, only one probably was originally in that box--I don't think it would fit two; but the three items were all in one zip-loc bag. They're the ones I'm trying to get some information on from an appraiser just to see how far back in my family these may go.

It's a little bit of a rush to put these on my fingers and imagine my great-great-greats working their own stitchery magic with them. Maybe the thimbles would magically pass their skill along to me...?

Log Cabin--Good Enough for Horseshoes

I got the log cabin pieced today, vertigo be darned. Actually, it wasn't too bad--just a couple of hairy moments here and there when I turned from my ironing board back to my sewing machine too fast. Anyway, the "Use It or Lose It Challenge" is now officially done and I can go back to finishing up UFOs.

Here 'tis, with the help of my lovely assistant daughter. Still not keen on the final results due to value issues I already discussed, but it's not bad. It'll make a nice lap quilt for someone, or baby quilt.

So, my assessment of the Marti Michell log cabin rulers may not be entirely fair as I was also testing out pressing all my seams open instead of to one side. So it's hard to tell what caused what.

Here's what I think I can fairly say:

The rulers didn't speed up the process any.

The rulers didn't add to my accuracy. I think that was for two reasons:  (1) because I'd decided to follow the directions in the pattern book exactly as part of the test, and because I didn't want to spend a long time on this, I was cutting 8 layers at once as per the directions, which is always a little dangerous. If I did it again, I'd only do 4 layers, at most. (2) The way you have to hold the rulers to cut the strips into sections is awkward and I never felt confident I was holding them exactly straight and still because of that.

The rulers saved me from having to do math. That's always a bonus.

Michell (among others) is a huge advocate of cutting on the lengthwise grain--IOW, length of fabric, not WOF. I tried it, although I was using fat quarters so I wasn't dealing with bulk of fabric, which I'd think would be tricky. I know logically it should make a difference but, frankly, it really didn't feel like it did in this case. I've made log cabins before and I don't think I had any better or worse results this time because of using the lengthwise grain. I'm not ready to make a judgment call on this one because I've only really done it this once. Jury is still out.

So, my final verdict on the rulers? I'll hang onto them and try them again at a later point. I'm not 100% sold, but I'm also not ready to give up on them.

In terms of pressing seams open? I am so NOT doing that again. I've read several articles lately extolling the wonders of pressing open rather than to one side. I do press my binding seams open since it makes them lay more evenly around the quilt, but I haven't done a whole block that way. I did this entire log cabin open and found it more frustrating than useful.
1.) It takes a heck of a lot longer. A LOT longer.
2.) I suspect my need to finger-press the seams first stretched things just a hair.
3.) It was alot harder to get my seams to match when putting block to block. I like being able to nest seams more.

There are some circumstances in which pressing open is definitely the way to go, but I'm not going to adopt it as my general operating procedure. I just found it annoying and not particularly useful in the long run.



BTW, here's the "behind the scenes" picture with my other lovely, albeit doofussy, assistant.

"Hey, where'd you go?"

Near finish on a UFO

To all intents and purposes, I finished a UFO tonight. In order for it to count as a finish in my guild's UFO challenge, I still need to get a label on it. But I'll easily get that done next week when I'm back from my work trip. So, drum roll please....the square-in-a-square quilt is done! This is the quilt featured in episode 17, "In Which I Save a Quilt from Almost Certain Destruction."

All sorts of pictures were posted for the blog entry related to that episode, and the only difference now is that the binding is on. Still n' all, I'll probably post another pic next week just to make the finish feel more official!

That puts me up at about the halfway point on my challenge list, I think. Not much of the year left, but I still might have a shot!

Log Cabin Under Construction

It hit the design wall tonight!

So, one problem with my quilting room set-up is that I can only get about 5 or 6 feet back from my design wall. That makes taking pictures a bit of an acrobatic venture: back up as far as I can against the opposite wall, wedge myself into the corner between my shelves holding fabric and my bookshelves on the adjoining wall, hold my camera over my head, aim the LCD screen down so I can see it if I tip my head back in just the right way, flip the flash up, and hope for the best. It's relatively straight, anyway. Usually when I have to get into that position for pictures the quilt looks like it's at sea, all sort of tipsy-topsy.

The picture is of the center of the quilt. I decided to go with the arrangement that creates four light diamonds surrounded by the darks. This de-emphasized a little bit the fact that a lot of my lights--well, aren't so light--and my darks are all over the place. I know, I could've fixed that if I'd been willing to go into my main stash for blues and neutrals--but I decided to take what I could get in my fat quarter collection. And actually, with this arrangement, I think I'll be able to mostly get away with it.

BTdubs, as my kids say, you'd not believe how long I stood there moving and flipping blocks to try to avoid having the same fabric butting up against itself or create a line down the center of the quilt. I'm walking away and looking at it in the fresh light of day tomorrow to make sure I didn't miss something.

I hope to get the top pieced tomorrow, and then it gets put away until I can get my remaining five UFOs done. ("Remaining five" referring to the remaining five on my list for the challenge. I have more than five UFOs in my sewing room although--I'm happy to report--not too many more!)

I'll give my findings on the rulers after I'm done with the top.

Progress on the Log Cabin Front

I ended up with an evening almost totally devoted to sewing. Very unusual circumstances, actually. Normally I don't expect to get much sewing done during the weekdays. But tonight, my husband was out at a meeting, and my daughter decided to make dinner for the two of us, so after I was done with work I moved straight over to my sewing machine and got busy. I got a great dinner for only the price of having to do a few dishes afterwards. I could deal!

I'm still working on the Use It or Lose It Challenge log cabin rulers. Technically, I could now say I've used them and move on, but I would like to at least get the whole center top pieced before I walk away from this project and go back to UFOs. I know--the irony. Creating a UFO and leaving it just so I can finish other UFOs. Only another quilter would understand.

In the name of posting process rather than product pictures, here's what I got done tonight.

I finished cutting all the pieces for the cabin blocks. The log cabin rulers don't mean you don't still have to use your regular rulers. You "true up" your fabric, then lay the log cabin ruler along the edge, line your ruler up next to it, move the log cabin ruler out of the way, and cut.

Nope, this step really isn't a time saver. I could've sliced these strips a lot faster just using my regular method.

The next step is where the rulers do come in sort of handy--not so much from a time perspective, but from a math perspective. I forgot to take a picture of it, but you use the ruler to cut your strips to size. You lay the ruler along the strip and cut to the line marked "A," "B," C," and so forth, to get the bricks of the appropriate size. You'd just need to determine what width of strip you wanted to use in the first place (choosing from a width available on the rulers), and from there it's just a matter of following the letters. Pretty easy. Not necessarily any faster than the usual way, really, just no-math, which for me is a good thing! Whether or not its more accurate is still out to jury--I won't be able to determine that until the blocks are done and I'm putting them together.

From there, though, the process is normal.

Lay the bricks in the order you're going to sew them. Looking at this, though, I realized I'd be sewing blocks with all the same fabrics, so I had to do some randomizing first.



That's better. Messier, but better. I'd already sewn the center together when I remembered to take this picture--but you get the idea.







Partially constructed block. In this one "randomization" worked against me. I ended up with two identical fabrics right next to each other. I have another one with the same problem. I didn't catch them in time. If I were truly randomizing, I'd just let that happen and roll with it. But after those two blocks, I'm starting to watch now and flip fabrics around in the stack to prevent this from happening again.

And this is as far as I got before I decided to call it quits for the night.

It's taking a little longer than usual because--in the name of using this as a learning experience--I also decided to take a shot at pressing all my seams flat this time. Normally I do press to one side, but I've been reading more about pressing flat and thought it was worth a try. I like the final effect (the whole block lays really nicely) but it takes a lot longer as you're in the process.

Also, I was going entirely from fat quarters in my stash--didn't want to buy anything and didn't want to cut into any larger yardage. I thought I had a lot of fat quarters until I was trying to find eight darks in blues and eight lights in neutrals. So not all the darks are as dark as I'd like, and the lights aren't all as light. But I think the end result will still work. Might even be more interesting--who's to say?

I'll post pictures of the finished blocks--won't be for a couple more days. Tomorrow night's my turn for having a meeting.

I'm in Love and Suddenly Have Mad Skillz

Recently, I heard that Janome had put out a new bobbin case and foot specifically for free-motion quilting. I'd had another free-motion foot that worked pretty well but when I heard about the new one...especially paired with the new bobbin case...I thought it would be worth a shot.

Boy, howdy.

I just took it for a spin and suddenly, it's like I actually know what I'm doing!

After a few minor tension adjustments as I first got going, everything settled into a very zen pattern and it was like my years of struggling suddenly clicked. I didn't even realize how much I'd really been fighting the machine. I know--it's a poor work-person who blames her tools and I'm not, entirely. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to machine quilting. But there truly is something to be said for having the right tools for the job.

See my little owl? Isn't he cute? Purely free-form celebration of how smoothly everything was going! (He started out as practicing clamshells but I realized I'd made owl eyes so I just ran with it.)

So Janome owners, give ear. Check out the new free-motion quilting foot--it's metal and has a pretty small hole so fabric flows like silk under it and you can see everything you're doing. Plus you can adjust the pressure of the foot on the fabric with a little screw--boy, did that help! And make sure you've got that new free-motion bobbin case to go with it. The thread just jumps into your quilt!

And I'm not getting paid by Janome to write this. (Dang.)

Prizes for a Campus Visit

I had already warned my daughter: "I get a prize for taking you on another campus visit. We're stopping at a quilt shop on the way home." She rolled her eyes, then packed her e-reader so she could entertain herself in the car rather than have to bear with Mom in a fabric store.

There's a quilt shop, Calico Gals, halfway between where we live and the campus we visited, so I decided today would be a good day to check it out. I'd heard good things about it but never got there before. Other than having some problems in the two traffic circles and one really oddly laid out intersection near the shop, I found it all right. Mind you, I'd only had a bag of peanut M&Ms for lunch due to our travel schedule so I may just have been synapse-deficient at the moment. In any case, it was worth the two trips around one of the traffic circles....

I got myself a cute little Christmas charm pack: Moda's 12 Days of Christmas. I made a few other people charm pack tablerunners last year as gifts--now I'm determined to make one for myself. I also picked up a little pocket guide to embroidery stitches so maybe I won't have to guess how to do my next backstitch or french knot. (Cute little book, btw. Handy.) And finally, I treated myself to an add-on for EQ, Sue Spargo's Folk-Art Dreams. I want to get back into doing wool felt projects again--did a few several years ago, haven't gotten back to it. Love doing those!

I also had the chance to sit down at some Baby-Locs and take them for a spin. It was helpful--now I know what model I'm shooting for. Still pretty sure it's not in the immediate cards. Or, at least, maybe I just need to wait a few weeks for the whole college-tuition-heart-attack thing to abate.

Got home too late and too tired tonight to try to record a podcast. Tomorrow. I promise!

It's Not a Good Sign When...

...you're halfway through recording a podcast episode and realize you never put your headset on.

Oops.

Dang, and it was a good half an episode, too!

Oh well--now I have to run out to a thing at my daughter's school, then take her on a college visit tomorrow, so chances are I won't have another shot at this week's episode until tomorrow night. Keep your fingers crossed that I stay in good voice after being out tonight and all day tomorrow!

...and a new project begun!

In the interest of "the process pledge," I thought it was time for another post about a project in process rather than just pics of a finish. So here 'tis--the very early stages.

I've mentioned the UFO Challenge that I'm co-facilitating in my guild a few times over the last few months. The other challenge I'm co-facilitating is our "Use It or Lose It Challenge." Participants list three items (or books) they've had on their shelves for a year or more and have never used. We are to use each item for its originally-intended purpose before the end of the challenge, or any items we haven't used will go in our guild silent auction. We don't actually have to create a finished product--we just have to show proof that we've used the tool in some way. (Yep--this was another idea of mine because I inherited a boatload of stuff from my Mom that I knew I needed motivation to try out or it'll still be sitting on my shelves 10 years from now. Not a surprise that several women in my guild were happy to join me in the challenge--apparently buying things and not *ahem* using them right away is a common ailment.)

I only have one item to go, so since the deadline is coming up (November), I decided I should take advantage of the break in action between one UFO and the next and, well, create another UFO for myself. So tonight I pulled out my last tool on my list and started to play.

My final tool is Marti Michell's Log Cabin rulers and the accompanying book. I inherited these from Mom. I think she'd only bought them about 6 months before she passed away. She and I had talked about these rulers a lot--we're both huge fans of log cabin quilts. The first quilt Mom made me when I was a kid was a log cabin, in fact, and I still have it today.

That being said, I'm not waxing particularly sentimental about these rulers. If they work for me, I'll be jazzed. If not, I'll be willing to put them in the silent auction.

I was just going to make a single block to test the rulers, and decided that might actually take almost as long as just having at it. I chose the first pattern in her book--not so much that I needed a pattern but just to have the fabric quantities and instructions for cutting easily laid out in front of me. The fabrics I have laid out are all from my stash: fat quarters and one strip. (The red on the top will eventually just be the little center square--it's a little dominating in this picture.) It'll make up to be about 54" square. If it turns out at all nice, I have a someone in mind who might enjoy a cuddle quilt. Meanwhile, a great way to use up 17 fat quarters!

I may get some sewing time in this weekend so I'll try to remember to post more pics as I go. It's fun to do a project that I'm not emotionally invested in--if it turns out, it turns out. Otherwise, I've just created space in my fat quarter drawer for the future!

Finished My Souvenir from Hawaii!


hibiscus
Originally uploaded by sandyquiltz
Well, one of the souvenirs, anyway. The really super-easy-beginner-type souvenir. I've got to work my way up to the other ones.

This is the hibiscus applique piece I started working on when my son was in the hospital at the end of August. I've only ever done one other hand applique project in my life, for a class, that ended up getting tossed at the end. The applique on this one ain't no great shakes, either, but it was still such a cute project I ploughed on through and finished it. I've since gotten some tips from listeners that should make my next attempt at needle-turn applique more successful, I hope.

This marks my first shot at hand embroidery, too--you can tell my stem stitch isn't exactly straight, but take a look at those french knots! Beauty, baby! And it's with thanks to this tutorial: http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/11/french-knot-video-tutorial.html.

The kit included the cute little frame. All the better, since it meant I didn't actually have to do any finishing techniques on the project. Just trim it to size and slap it in the frame. Done!

The Charity Quilts Revealed


charity-quilts-Sept-2010
Originally uploaded by sandyquiltz
OK, so I know I was pretty cagey about not posting any pictures of these while they were in progress, but really, they're nothing to crow about. Or write home about. Or whatever other cliche you want to fill in that particular blank.

But I figured since they were such a topic of [my] conversation for so many months I may as well post a picture--albeit showing as little of each of them as possible.

To recap: someone donated a plethora of 5x7" rectangles to our church--that's not as random as it might seem but it's a long, uninteresting story that I don't want to bother going into. Suffice it to say, we hadn't asked for them. But we wanted to honor the intentions of the donor so I asked another woman (poor thing, she's a brand new quilter) if she'd be willing to piece the tops and I'd finish them off. She got a friend or two of hers to help her do it, and they managed to figure out how to put this very odd conglomeration of fabrics into sets that were something approaching coordinating. I believe they added in some of their own fabrics here and there as necessary. They pieced the tops and then handed them over to me. I then did the backing, quilting, and binding.

Some fast facts: the one on the bottom was Evil. With a capital E. It was the first one and just about made me want to go home and throw out the rest before even starting on them. However, it's malevolence was most likely due to the fact that the fabric I used for the backing (inherited from Mom) was actually sort of a heavy brushed cotton--almost flannel--that seemed all warm and cozy but made it insanely heavy to work with on my sewing machine. Also, I was working on it at a quilt retreat so was using my plexiglass table extender for the machine rather than my usual recessed sewing cabinet, so it kept dragging and catching on the edge of the plexiglass. In short, it was a major pain in my...well...you know.

The flip side of all that grief was I was pathetically glad about how quickly the rest went in comparison. All the backing fabrics I used were inherited fabrics; numbers two and three from the top have the same backing, that doesn't match the front at all but again is a fairly soft cotton that should be comfy. Numbers two and four are the ones that share the same binding (the "extra 198 inches" inexplicable math error). The one on top is the only one I actually like--it's kinda cute!

I bled on the back of one of them. The stain came out, but it seemed somehow fitting.

I just finished dropping them off at the donation site. I'm not sure the volunteers there understood why I gleefully skipped back out the door to my car. "Buh-bye!"

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I got the bindings on both of the last two charity quilts today--wheee! Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day in front of the TV watching some "Great Courses" lectures on DVD, old TV shows on Netflix, and movies, and work on getting the binding hand-sewn to the back as long as my hand will hold out. I'm motivated! I'm committed! I'm determined! I will get those two quilts done by the end of the week--and then I can get all five of them to the donation recipient organization and they'll be OUT OF MY LIFE!

Can you feel my excitement?

Then I can get back to my own UFOs. First up, the binding on my square-in-a-square quilt. I'm hoping that maybe I can get the binding put on that before a road trip next weekend to take my daughter on another campus tour for a late addition to her potential college list. I'd like to have something to work on in the hotel. Sadly, I get carsick if I try to sew in the car so the eight hour round trip drive won't be particularly productive. The other UFOs I still need to finish all need to be machine quilted so I'll try to stay on a schedule of having one project at the machine while I'm doing the hand-sewing on the other. If I can stay consistent, I should be able to make some significant process this fall.

But for the moment, I'm just going to wallow in the Almost-Doneness on the charity quilts. Wheeee.

Getting Jazzed for Houston!

I finally had the time this afternoon to sit down and sort through my catalogue for the International Quilt Festival in Houston this November and get myself registered for my classes. Woohoo!

This is the second time I'll be going; the first time was with Mom several years ago. Mom really enjoyed the round-table style of classes they offer so she and I both signed up for one focused on applique, and I could see what she meant. It's a great way to be exposed to several teachers and their techniques in a short period of time, although Karen Buckley particularly stands out in my memory. I enjoyed watching her presentation and later being at her table for her demonstration. She does great work. And I believe I bought stuff from her. So we both benefitted from the experience.

To the same end, this year I'm taking another round-table style class (on mixed-media in quilting), and then focusing mostly on lectures. I like the idea that I can explore a whole wide range of things and then delve deeper into ones that intrigue me later on with books, DVDs, and the like. I looked at several of the classes, too--there were two offered at the same time that I was debating between, only to find out they were both already closed anyway. Problem solved! Nicely, my schedule ended up in neat little bunches so I'll still have plenty of time for the show and vendors and all the other fun stuff they have going on in the show hall.

Registering was the last step I had to take care of...now it's just packing and going! Well, OK, there's a couple of months between now and then, but still...a girl can dream.

Back in the saddle again...

Just to let y'all know, I did post episode 20, "In Which We Are Relieved," this afternoon (www.quiltingfortherestofus.com). It's a response to listener comments over the last couple of weeks and a little bit of update about what I have going on in my quilty life these days--admittedly, not much, but some new projects started and older ones moved along. Altogether not bad, considering. I also talk a little bit about the international quilting scene as I've experienced it through magazines--while sitting in hospitals--and wonder what folks who actually live in the countries from whence those magazines come would say. So chime in!

I am very pleased to report that my son is doing well. He even made a short trip to the mall today with his sister and cousin to pick up my birthday gift (an expansion pack for Settlers of Catan, our families' current fave game). He was a little tired when he got back, but other than that, none the worse for wear. His follow-up appointment with his surgeon is Monday--keep your fingers crossed or send up prayers that he gets released to move back on campus in another few days. He was getting texts all evening from his BFF/roommate who moved back today about the other folks on the hall and so forth. He's missing being part of the haps.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be a low-key day at the homestead so I'm hoping to get more sewing time in. I got the fourth charity quilt all ready to be quilted; the fifth one has the backing ready and I just have to spray baste it all together and I'll be ready to let that one rock n' roll too. It'll feel amazingly good to have those five monkeys off my back!

Thanks, again, for all your well wishes and support and encouragement over these last couple of weeks. It meant a lot. I'm looking forward to life returning to normal, however we define "normal" these days.

New QFTRU Flickr Group

Finally--I'm getting more organized! I cordially invite you to join the new Quilting...for the Rest of Us group in Flickr. No longer do you have to wait on my schedule to share your pics with other listeners. Which is a good thing, given what my schedule is going to be for the next few months....

Often listeners will send me photos--which I love!--and I want to share them with everyone else but if I'm on the road I get way delayed in being able to post them to my blog. So from now on, just add them to the Flickr group. It'll be our own QFTRU Show n' Tell--woohoo!

Here's the direct link:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/quiltingfortherestofus. Can't wait to see your photos!

The dust is settling...mostly

My son came home from the hospital last night and in about an hour he has an appointment with the surgical practice to check the fact that his incision seems to have re-opened. Bully. We'd originally been told that they weren't going to take all the staples out until next week, then the PA took all the staples out last night before discharging him. And now it looks like he could've still used a few staples in there. Don't know for sure--they'll tell us what's what when we get to the office. Fortunately, he's not in pain--just a little uncomfortable (some of which is psychological--it's a little disturbing to think your insides are open to the outsides).

I took today as a vacation day because I knew it would take us awhile to get into the swing of things with him being home. Sure enough, one trip out to the drug store to pick up some bandages and medical tape so we could rebandage his body parts. And making him his fave homemade soup to try to stimulate his appetite a bit. Washing the blanket we'd brought from home for him to have in the hospital room for warmth and emotional comfort. And now the doctor's appointment. I may take tomorrow off too, so I can rest from today!

Meanwhile, I did treat myself to an early birthday present, my birthday being Thursday. I received a little financial birthday gift early so I just bought myself the EQ7 Upgrade, after checking with my husband that the thought hadn't crossed anyone else's mind. I knew it wouldn't have--that's the kind of thing only my Mom would have ever thought about doing for me, since she had also been an EQ user. I ordered it online so I won't have it for another week or so but at least I know it's on its way. And gee, here I just finally figured out how to use EQ6! I can see another Quilt University class in my future....

I also had plans to put the binding on my square-in-a-square quilt today (see the posting from the podcast episode "In Which I Saved a Quilt from Almost Certain Destruction"), but then decided I really didn't like the fabric I had set aside awhile back as potential binding. That precipitated a dig through my scraps bin to find the scraps from the fabric I'd used for the sashing strips, and fortunately I had a couple of scraps that still had the selvege with the fabric name and maker. I found it online and ordered a yard, so when that comes I'll finally be ready to do the binding.

So my quilty activity today primarily consisted of shopping. Best kind of retail therapy involves fabric.

Wait--I did also prep the Hawaiian applique kit for the next step. I don't recall where I posted about what, now, while I was in the hospital, but I had been working on the smallest/easiest applique kit I'd bought in Hawaii during the hours I was hanging out in my son's room. I finished the applique part and am now onto the quilting and embellishing but decided I needed to press it all out again before I did any of that since it had gotten a bit wrinkled in its travels back and forth from home to hospital. So it's now neatly pressed and pin-basted together so I can take it with me to the doctor later this afternoon and work on it in the waiting room. This poor little applique hibiscus is doomed to a life of reminding me of a not-very-fun time in my life. Hopefully, the memories of having bought it in Hawaii will outweigh the memories of where I actually worked on it!

I'd post a picture of the hibiscus but it's not very good applique so I think I'll wait until it's all done, then do a photo from more of a distance to bring the whole "galloping horses" theory into play. Then you can all think that maybe I actually know what I'm doing, applique-wise. I'm not adverse to using a little photographic trickery.