Finishing Touches

I have finally  been really working and finishing up some things.  I put borders on my Pumpkin Hill quilt - it is now ready for quilting:

I got bindings on my two plaid quilts.  Here's quilt one, I called it Mad for Plaid.  It's a double friendship star quilt with piano key borders.

I got these plaids in an exchange and used up every single bit of them in the blocks, border and back:

And finally, my Plaid Madness quilt.  These blocks were from a block exchange held during one my guild retreats.  I added the large bear plus a few other blocks to fill out the space.

Finishing things makes me feel good, like I'm finally accomplishing something.  Things have been really depressing lately, so this was a bit of what I needed.  Why am I depressed? - the sun has been shining, we are all healthy here, little things are going well, the big things seem to be taking care of themselves... no reason for it.  Time to shed it all and get out of my funk.  Finishing those bindings was a first step in the right direction...

Belated Birthday

My birthday came and went... it was nice.  I got some very nice gifts... a beautiful gold necklace from my husband - I LOVE it... a few gift certificates... a candle... some lovely cards.  It was so nice that people thought of me for my birthday.  Joe took me out to see the play Bus Stop at the Kentwood with dear friend, Millie. 

The rest of the week and a half since then has been kinda not very productive.  I've done a little sewing - put a binding on one of my two plaid quilts, worked on borders for Pumpkin Hill, but all in all, it's been very little.  I did mail a few fabric postcards out for exchanges. 

I think I'm a little depressed.  My friend Debbie was gone for half last week visiting her sister, who has breast cancer.  It might be her last visit with her.  I feel so bad for her, I can't imagine what she is going through, but it has to be hard.  My heart simply aches for her.  I wish there was something I could do, but there simply isn't.  Another friend hurt her knee and the doctor thinks something is torn.  She might need surgery - she goes in for an MRI on Weds.  Compared to all this drama, my little infection is nothing, clearing up nicely with the antibiotics.  Still, I am sad...

I wish this was where I could start a sentence with "But, on an upnote..."  but, I have nothing... it's just not a good time I guess.  All this angst is playing heck with my creativity and productivity.  I guess it comes down to just having to push through and persevere.  Somewhere, on the other side, there's a light.  So say the existentialists.

I just have to look for the light... without going into the light... it's not time for that yet ;)

Maybe the light is a little pampering.  I think maybe I'll get acrylic nails this week.  But then I think about the expense of keeping them up... I'll have to think about it some more.  Gah, I'm babbling.. Good night.

Mercury Strikes Again

Mercury is in retrograde again.  "Mercury the wise communicator—and universal trickster—turns retrograde... sending communications, travel, appointments, mail and the www into a general snarlup!"  It's supposed to last from August 3rd to the 26th.  I can attest to the fact.  My computer died on the 8th. Of course I hadn't backed anything up for ages.  The computer itself (ie the motherboard) is fine - it's the hd that died.  I've sent it out for data recovery.  The manufacturer is going to replace the hd (it's still under warranty thank goodness).  Unfortunately, all this work will take time.  Until then, all I've got is my old laptop which runs at a snail's pace, and this little notebook I'm typing on now.  It has a keyboard barely bigger than the one on my phone.  Doesn't have a slot for my camera's memory card, and even if it did I don't have any photo software on it to crop pictures for example.  So I probably won't be posting here much for a few weeks at least.  Damn Mercury anyway... :P

The Happiest Place on Earth

Yes, we went to Disneyland again on Friday.  Haven't been for almost 15 years.  Got to see the updated Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours, plus our first visit to California Adventures.  We had a ball, although I have to say that it was a LOT of walking, and for the first time I can recall, we didn't stay from opening to closing... :(  ... we are not in such good shape as we once were.  I developed blisters on one foot and with my plantar fasciitis the day was torture on my feet.  All that limping caused my calves to cramp up as well.  We arrived at DLand at 8am and stayed til almost 8pm.  I'm sure all that walking was good for us, but right now, two days later, it's still tortuous just to move around.  I have to say, it was fun walking around the place again, and walking is not something I usually call fun these days.  We went on Splash Mountain early in the day while the lines were short and walked around soaked for a couple of hours - We ended up in the front two seats!  Joe's phone got so wet, it stopped working for a while and his belt was ruined by the chlorine.  We rode Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, Little Mermaid, and Small World, saw Captain EO again, it was all great fun.  They have this new show called the Jedi Training Academy which was fun to watch.  I wish they'd had that when my son was little - I think he would have enjoyed it a lot.  The parade was fun to watch as well, and it was our last activity at the park.  Thanks to a friend who works at the park, we got to sit in the reserved section for the parade, so the view was great!  We also got in for free, which made the day even better! 

So much for our anniversary!  Actually Friday was the day before our anniversary.  On Saturday we went out to dinner and then saw Cowboys and Aliens.  It was entertaining, fun to watch... nothing deep or anything, but I'm glad we saw it.  Why is it all these alien beings never wear clothes?

Anyway.  Today we played a little D&D, and I did a little sewing - putting borders on Pumpkin Hill and Folk Art Cats... at least I try whenever Pan, the sewing room cat, allows me to work at my machine.  No new pictures today.... I will try to get something up when I have something new to show, and a place to take photos of it.

I do have to remember to mail out birthday postcards this week, as well as working on my dragon postcard... lots of scales and glitter to paste... wheeeee... I love working with glitter!

BOM Madness

I finally got the final block in my folk art cats block of the month.  I didn't want to do a red kitty in a santa suit, so I just did my own chocolate kitty.  (Nothing else in the quilt was really indicative of a calendar, so why put a christmas kitty in the 12th spot?).  Anyway - I haven't put the borders on it yet, but I'm working on them, as my own cat, Pan, allows... she won't let me get near the machine without trying to 'participate'.  Makes it impossible to sew sometimes, especially when I'm already wrestling with a full sized quilt...

I also finished my Pumpkin Hill quilt (except for borders, again, same problem - trying to sew around a cat).  Here's the quilt so far, all constructed including the applique panel on top, which was the final block:

I had a lot of fun with this one, even though the style is SO outside my comfort zone.  I'm usually all about the piecing, but as I've said before... this is the year of applique and I'm doing so many different things than I usually do. 

Lots of things are happening that are positive right now... I am looking forward to a trip to Disneyland for my anniversary this week.  I get to see a play for my birthday the following week.    That of course includes a dinner out as well.  Things have generally been going well lately.   I haven't broken a fingernail in 3 weeks (that's a record for me).  These new gel nailpolishes make a HUGE difference.  I bought myself a lovely birthday present (a new Mah Jongg set - not new, but new for me).  I have had lots of energy lately.  My family (even the furry ones) are all healthy (knock wood).   Just little things but they all add up. 

Mercury is in retrograde until early September, and that is a time when things are supposed to go wrong, esp. with travel and communications.  I hope since it is happening during my own sign, that everything remains on a positive upswing.