SaVe me!!!

Well, it has really been busy around here, what with being on the Olympic sewing team and all. 

I’m also participating in a scrap block swap hosted by Katy  at

imagingermonkey.blogspot.com

It is called “Scrap Vomit”, “SV” for short.  All I have to do is make 4 blocks, consisting

 forty-nine two and a half inch squares, and mail one to each of four people.  One of them is Katy, herself.  Talk about pressure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Katy’s description of scrap vomit is  "like the most disgusting mess of fabrics chucked up on a table. Somehow it looks beautiful put together.”

Is this what she has in mind?

The last time I participated in a quilt thing involving scraps, the 12 year old hosting it

(at a local quilt shop) accused me of not making quilts out of all the scraps I brought in. 

Sew I buy scraps - it’s not against the law.  Just because you buy fabric doesn’t mean you have to make anything with it.  And if you don’t make anything with it, you don’t have scraps. 

Sew there!

But now I am really nervous.  Will I be accused of cheating if the pieces I use for the blocks are from fabric I bought that has just been sitting around waiting for me to use it?

Wow, who signed me up for this?

Will it matter if some of the fabrics are pretty?  Will it matter if some of the fabrics have bugs, and trucks, and cars?  How ‘bout the Eiffel Tower?  Would it be too corny to fussy cut some of the squares?  I found a 2.5”fussy cut ruler the other day I don’t even remember buying.

Well, whatever!

 I am going to use this as an opportunity to organize my fabrics, and perhaps get rid of some I don’t think I’ll use (two so far).  I ordered some cardboard, yesterday, to wrap my fabric around so it will stand up and I can see what I have.  I ordered two hundred.  Sounds like a lot.  Forty nine sounds like a lot, but I cut that many yesterday and it didn’t make a dent. 

Here are some of the 49 fabrics that made the cut.

Let the games begin!

Here's what we have so far.

OK, sew, we have the sewing Olympics, the SV quilt along, I also have to make a block for guild for a “quilts of valor” quilt.  I think I’ll use scraps (ha!) for that.

Then there is the Christmas quilt my Olympic teammate, Paula, and I are making.  The big girl bed quilt.  I won’t even talk about my UFO’s, but I think I will finish them after the holidays (is it too soon to say “after the holidays?”)

I think I need an intervention.

The sewing olympics

I'm going out for the Olympic Sewing Team.  It involves a lot of shopping preparation.

I bought a Kona Candy Corn  fat quarter bundle on Ebay. 

I have an Ebay history. 

 Bidding on stuff I don't really want and then praying I don't get it.  That went on till I bought my

second featherweight and swore off. (althougth I did really want it).

Sew, today, I was looking for Kona solid bundles to do Geta Grama's Urban Delight quilt. 

I don't know how I ended up on Ebay. 

I found one of the bundles I had been looking at and thought it was a bargain

 (and free shipping).  Then I got an email asking me for money.  The auction's over??????  Well, I still got the free shipping, even though the price was the same as I had seen elsewhere.  Well, at least it's on it's way (for free, too.)

 Is this not toooo beautiful?? 

It will be a full size bed quilt. 

I really wasn't going to do any more bed sized quilts, but I am

starting to get into color.  I love prim

and civil war fabric, but I've done them

so much.

Below is the quilt I'm making for the what we call

the "big girl bed" (queen size).

and here I am ready to cut some of the fabric.  So far I've

only miscut about a yard of fabric. 

and below is me

finishing up a certain birthday quilt.

quilt, quilt, quilt 

This guy growled at me.

bind, bind, bind

I love these clips.  this quilt is now all done.

But since it is a birthday

surprise (even though the giftee knows she's getting it

and has been seeing it on my blog since January)

I will not show the completely finished quilt

till I give it to her.

Here is a table runner that is almost finished.

A sunglasses case -

finished

This sunglasses case

is a prototype.  I will be making eight of them.

Look who found his way into

the Peacedgoods Studio.

AKA Heart Attack Jack.

I plan to have him sewing before the

end of the year.

My cuz, Paula, and I

are going to make table toppers with this

cute Christmas fabric.

OK

I think that brings you all up to date

on what's going on around here.

Somebody please get me a sweater

It was only 70 degrees

when I got up this morning.  We

had 5 sprinkles last night.  That must have

been what cooled things off.  There was a breeze going

and everything.  We hardly knew how to act.

Jack deadheaded the day lilies while I when for a short walk.

I have a very tenacious case of bursitis

in my hip and I have to stretch three times a day and before I bike (for only

ten minutes)  Here is what it looks like when

I am stretching.

Of course, I am face up on the floor of the back porch.

I had to quit doing yoga in the mornings, because I would see

all the cobwebs on the ceiling.  This is why I chose

to stretch on the back porch, outdoors, where spiders are supposed to be.

Our hibiscuses are blooming.

and here is a morning glory.  I have been pulling out

this vine for years, and after having been left alone for 10 days

it offered me a flower.

I had no idea that it was a morning

glory.  Just a volunteer blown in from

somewhere.

Speaking of volunteers, we have four glads.

Jack planted a row of bulbs years ago,

but they needed to be staked or they fell over.  Just

not Jack's style.  We are all about the wild and woolly here, stick it

it the ground and see what happens,

survival of the fittest.

We didn't bother to take the bulbs out

of the ground in the fall, but last year we had a couple come up

in the middle of the day lilies.

Look how delicate. 

who would think to make something

this beautiful and then entrust it to us?

Jack is golfing today.  He only had to wait seven days from

the heart cath.  I was going to sew, but I did a little house work,

and found the house to be so quiet that I decided to

make a cup of tea and knit.

I usually love being home, alone, on days Jack golfs,

but I admit it is a little lonely, today,

and the dogs and I are just waiting for him to come home.

Camp Carr-diac

What a week!!!
(there's a tree on our fence)

Thankfully we are all home, now, safe and sound.

It all started with Jack having a bit of a heart attack and then a trip to

the ER. They didn't move as fast as they

do on the TV show, but he got great care, and was (after a good

long time and about 12 EKG's) admitted.

After I got him all comfy, I left him to come home and take

care of stuff here.  His friend had come to visit, so he

was not alone.

My car said it was 104 degrees.

Once I got home, and notified a few people, it started to get a 

little dark, and the wind started blowing and blowing and blowing. 

The rest was on the news. 

Thankfully, it had cooled down so we (me and Barney
and Daisy) 

were able to sleep comfortably that night.  I can't remember
the last time I slept with the windows open.  I

ventured out early the next morning to find coffee.  There was one small area

in our city with power, and I found coffee there.  A lot

of people were carting out bags of ice.  Was somebody having

a party????

It had been a while since I had seen gas lines, and it

took me a minute to realize that's what they were--blocks long and

two cars deep.  That lasted for quite a while (days). 

Where was everybody going?

Fortunately, my mom got

power that evening (Saturday).  I had stopped on my

way back from the hospital to check on her

and it came on as soon as I walked in the door. I heard the
micro wave talking (power is on), and I said,
what's that?  and my mom said, it's the micro-wave and I
said, no, you have power!!!!!!!!!
It was all I could do to keep from dancing.  She is
86 and I was so afraid for her in the heat.  I probably
would have packed her up to sleep at the hospital
with Jack if it it had not come on.

 Had I not been there,

she would have had no way to let me know that she had power, and the dogs and I would

had suffered through a very long night.

I tried to tough it out at home, but Barney and Daisy were

panting and pleading.  I loaded them

in the car and showed up on my mom's door step and christened her

house "Hotel Weezy".

Barney made a beeline for the sofa and sighed with relief.

Once I knew they would settle in, I went back home to

get some stuff.  No street lights and no stop lights and no problems.

We all just took our turns.  Who would have thought?

I went back out later to Walmart so we wouldn't starve.  I could

tell on my many trips past it

that it had power and was going to open soon.  The

first time around, it was not open, but people were waiting at the door

because they had nothing better to do and needed diapers.

Luckily, the hotel hospital, where Jack

was recuping and waiting for heart cath (not till

Monday) had power restored pretty quickly, but he never did have cable.  His phone worked and

I dubbed his room "Command Central" because

if you could get a cell phone signal, you could always call Jack. 

He patrolled the halls wearing a heart monitor, a gown and

his shorts.  Captain Carr.

Over time, you could see power slowly being restored.  They
had to move him to Hotel St. Joe Hospital for the
heart cath, which went well.

They put in two stents
and he is better than new and has a
cute little bikini wax to prove it.  They pretty much
followed him all over the hospital
with an electric razor.  That evening
we got power back.  He came home the next day.

I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude.
Grateful that Jack keeps gas in the cars and cash in
the house (the cafeteria at the hospital
could not process credit or debit cards the first day or so
of the crisis).  Grateful for my wonderful
neighbors, who sweat it out and helped
me with the dogs, the garage door, some food,
and company.  Grateful for my sister, who
came to help with my mom in the aftermath.
Grateful that there was no damage to our home.

Grateful they were able to fix the damage to Jack's arteries.
I know people who pray a lot and
probably prayed me through this.
I did not.  Not because I don't believe,
but because I had this quiet confidence (Isaiah 30:15) that
God was with me, orchestrating, guiding, while
I just followed along whispering thank you, thank you, thank you.

Amen.