Cuss, Cuss, Goose and Magic Hubby for Rent…

Observations of the Day:

– My cancer medicine that I have to take for five years was throwing me into almost daily migraines because it stopped my production of estrogen. I also had a DEXA scan that showed I had thinner bones that what was expected of someone my age (but not yet osteoporosis). I had to stop taking the cancer med for a week (which restarted my estrogen and made my head hurt) and then start taking the new meds which has the added benefit of building bones. Night one – hubby woke me up from a vivid nightmare. I fell back asleep and continued having bad dreams starting from the moment he woke me up (so I wasn’t sure if he actually woke me up or I dreamed it). It was awful. Then, after waking up to go to the bathroom, I fell back asleep dreaming bad guys were after me and Puppylove. I didn’t let him go no matter what. THEN, I woke up with the worst migraine that I’ve had in years. Day four – still having the worst headache in years! Why am I telling you this? Because I actually have been trying to sew.

– Here’s the bonus block (Grandmother’s Choice) for the Lexington Sampler. NOTE: the website says these patterns will only be up through August 8th, so hurry up and grab them if you haven’t already. You can access all patterns and documents through the above link. EDIT: they are still available from NCQ’s Quilt Block Challenge Facebook page until tomorrow (8/8/18). I was singing along with Travis Tritt to “Anymore” when I finished.

– I started working on Piecing the Past’s BOW, but after making the same mistake three times, I moved on. BTW, if I get it finished and it comes out halfway decent, I may enter it in the fair.

– Always a glutton for punishment, I decided to start yet another BOW – Pat Sloan’s “Merry and Bright”.

– This is block 1 – Home for the Holidays. It was insanely easy and just what I needed with my pounding head. “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations finished it off.

– Because I was on a roll, I did block 2 – Hang a Wreath. I’m not happy with my color choices, but in true “me” fashion, I didn’t look in advance where they’d be going. When it was completed, I was having a “Party All the Time” with Eddie Murphy. I forgot that Rick James was in the video.

– Although my head was still hurting, I was feeling pretty good about my sewing so I went back to Piecing the Past’s “Summer At the Cabin” BOW.

– A few words about this BOW – tiny pieces, they want you to refer to their “unit piecing instructions” and you will cut your pieces crazy big and waste a ton of fabric cutting them down after sewing each element together. They do, however, tell you the square up size for each unit so the block goes together nicely. That should be a law!

– You can access all the project documents here.

– Block 1 – Glorious Sierra Mountains. Why, oh why, do we have all these strips???? I HATE strips! I listened to advice from a reader and cut my border strips AFTER I assembled the block. That worked out much better for me. I was listening to “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal when I finished.

– This next block (block 2) is called “Road to California”. Didn’t I have trouble with a block before with a similar name? Teeny, tiny, horrible flying geese that you have to refer to that unit piecing instruction sheet to figure out. Oh, how I wish I had taken a picture of those goofy looking things! Because the pieces are over cut, I had to square them up (with a lot of waste) to make them resemble anything close to a goose! I think it came out ok, but goodness gracious!!! Was it karma that “My Own Worst Enemy” by Lit was on when I completed the darn thing???

– I complained too soon about block 2! Block 3 – Cabin on Rustic Road is turning out to be my own personal quilting hell on earth – and that was just the cutting! Haven’t finished it yet so stay tuned!

– I think Piecing the Past is charging .99 cents for the past week’s patterns. I’ll continue to post the links as I get them done.

– My sewing room is coming along nicely although I really don’t understand why hubby has to stop to eat and sleep. Here is my rolling work/cutting table that he built:

– This is my really bright LED light that will go forever before working out. I also chose a teal for the trim and a grey for the walls. The cabinets will be whitewashed.

– Hubby said that it’s been a year since I started, and I haven’t quilted anything yet. I informed him that it’s actually only been a little over seven months! Anyway, to make him happy (since that’s what I do), I quilted two blocks. I’ll show you when I get the quilt put together but it’s from NQC’s Pleiades quilt block challenge.

– Magic hubby story – sometimes when my machine is acting funky, all it takes is for hubby to come in the room for the issue to resolve. It is usually a problem with my needle not wanting to move over to my ¼” mark. This time it was a presser foot problem. I had put on my walking foot to quilt and then tried to put my ¼” foot back on. Every time I clicked over to my true ¼” position, the needle would strike the foot! I took it off and put it back on many times to no avail. I called a friend and she couldn’t figure it out over the phone. This morning I asked hubby to come up with me and just stand there while I took it off and tried again. Worked like a charm! I will rent him out to fix your machine problems for a nominal fee. Then I went back to “Summer at the Cabin’s” block 3. Ick – sewing teeny, tiny strips are worse than teeny, tiny geese. I hope this block doesn’t knock this out of fair contention.

– There is SO MUCH going on around here! But I’ll stop for now. Until next time…