Glad that weekend is over

Whew, that was a brutal weekend of work. I think I'm getting too old for this, but there are 2 1/2 years to go before I can retire, and even then it will only be with the minimal pension. I spent the weekend working on the Alzheimer's unit. That has got to be the worst disease. It robs the patients, mostly men, since they are vets from the 2nd world war, of their minds. Some of them know who they are, but none of them know where they are, let alone why. It's no surprise then, when some of them fight the idea, literally, of some stranger, to them at least, coming in and undressing them, taking off their diaper, and proceeding to wash their private areas. Reasoning doesn't work, because their ability to reason is gone. All they know is that these strange women are stripping their clothes off. Most of them are cooperative, but there are 3 or 4 who fight, tooth and nail, again, literally. Most of the time, if they are fighting it, we just leave them, and try again later. But, when they are "soiled", there is no choice but to get it done. There are no male staff on this unit, so it is up to us women to look after these men. To say that it is difficult is an understatement. But, the weekend is over, and I don't have to go back to work until Friday, so I've decided that today is my play day. I'm going to work on the mystery quilt, and on my 100 block challenge blocks, and I'll come back later tonight, or tomorrow, and give a progress report.

Design Wall Monday Nov 29

There isn't anything too terribly exciting up on my wall today. I gave in, and decided to participate in the Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery , so that's what is currently on my wall. These are the strip sets for step one. I haven't managed, obviously, to get them cut into their 2 inch segment, yet. Maybe this week, depending on what else is going on. I've worked this past weekend, as well as having to go in today, as well. And, for some reason, I just can't seem to get up any energy to do anything else. My body just doesn't want to wake up, which could make this afternoon's shift interesting. My get up and go has definitely gotten up and went.  Oh well, this too shall pass. The second picture here are the fabrics I think I'll be using for step 2 of the mystery. A continuation of the purples used in step 1, and blacks, since I think they will have a good contrast with the purples. Both pictures a rather blurry, for some reason, rather like the way my brain feels, today. Definite brain fog going on here. (sigh) I did get a lot more than this accomplished this past week, but most of it is secret, Christmas stuff.  I'm hoping to keep up with the 100 block challenge blocks, as well, so they are on my to do list for this week. But, for now, it's off to work I go. To see other design walls, go on over to Judy's Patchwork Times

100 block challenge

  
So far today, I have gotten all of the bindings made, and the fourth square for Teaquilt's 100 block challengs  finished. These are picks of the first 4, so far. I'm hoping I'll be able to keep up. So far, it has been an enjoyable thing to do. So, now I'm off to get those bindings actually sewn onto the quilts. Whether I finish them by hand or machine will probably depend on how my shoulders feel after wrestling 3 quilts though my machine. I much prefer the look of hand stitched bindings, but, these are quilts destined for charity, so, I don't know if I want to take the time to do them by hand.

Today I will.....

Today I will make a list of all the things I want to get accomplished today. It's cold and wet outside, the kind of cold and wet that is almost cold enough to snow, but doesn't, so it is just damp and dreary instead. But, we are warm and snug in here. Sometime before I got up this morning, Scott was up and built a lovely fire. So, I'm sitting here on the couch, with my laptop on my lap, all warm and toasty, not particularly wanting to get up and do anything. It's days like today I wish I could move all my sewing stuff down here to the living room. But, I think that would cause major revolution in the house, from my wonderfully patient, and understanding, husband. There is already a quilt on the floor, waiting to have it's ends tied in, another quilt on the rocking chair that I just finished tieing the ends in. The table beside the couch is covered with applique and knitting stuff, and books, and papers, and thread, and needles, and.......... I could give in, and enjoy the fire and work on some applique, but there is other stuff I want/need to get done. So, I will exercise some self discipline, (have I mentioned before that is not one of my strong points?) and make a list and work towards getting it done, so, here goes.

1. Make the binding, and sew it onto the 3 completed quilt tops.
2. Make the 4th square for Teaquilt's sew along
3. Take pictures, and write a post about the 4 finished blocks.
4. Decide whether I'm going to hand or machine finish the bindings.
5. Do some more work on some Christmas presents.

That should pretty much take care of the day. If there is time left, I will do some more on the Pineapple Nine Patch quilt, and see if I can get it to the finished stage.

Design Wall Monday Oct. 22

I don't have anything new up on my wall today. I'm still concentrating on getting things finished. But, I thought I would share one of last week's finished, which I am so happy with. My Pieceful Kwilter Bom is finished, and waiting for quilting. I made the mistake of going through all my unquilted tops, and discovered that there are at least 10 of them. When the Pineapple one is finished, hopefully this week, that will make 11. Yikes! Join me with a cup of something warm, and come on over to Judy's Patchwork Times to see more design walls.

The day after the Friday sew in

 This is a quilt that I've been working on for the past year, as a  BOM  sponsored by Shannon at Pieceful Kwilter It is a lovely quilt design and I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and it is finally added to my finished list, and added to the growing piles of my own quilt tops that are waiting to be quilted. I seem to be doing more piecing that quilting these days.

Thank you, Shannon, for all your hard work in designing this, and in writing and posting all the instructions. I'm really happy with the way this quilt turned out, although I do wish the stars in the gold fabric had stood out a bit more. But, I wanted to use the aqua fabric there as a tie together, because I used that fabric somewhere in each of the sampler blocks.

Then I was able to get some work done on my Nine Patch Pineapple, which meant that there was a lot of sewing going on here yesterday. I was able to start at around 2 in the afternoon, and kept on going, with a few breaks, until about 11:30, when my eyes got to the point where they would no longer focus. I noticed, though, after most of it was together, that one of the pinwheel sections is turned the wrong way. Drat! However, the good news is that I have one of those units left over, for some reason, so I might be able to applique it on top of the offending piece, with no one the wiser. (giggle) I started the day with 23 out of 30 blocks for this quilt done. I finished up the last 7 blocks, got them all arranged on the wall, and then got them all sewn together. There was still time after that to get the first pieced border sections cut, and they are in the process of being sewn. I am doing this quilt along with 2 other people in a sew along with Teaquilts . There is a picture there of Tea's finished quilt. She did hers in reds, and it is stunning. The quilt pattern is from a book called "Geometric Gems", and there are several other quilts in the book that I'm itching to do. But now, as usual, I am working the weekend, so won't have much time to scroll through the Friday sew in posts I'm going to go grab some lunch, and then go work on some of the border units before going in to work at 3, even though I would much rather stay at home and play with my fabrics. (sigh)

Friday night sew in

The is a Friday night sew in coming up this Friday. I'm not usually able to participate in these, since I work most Fridays. But, I have this Friday off, so, I'm going to do it. I'm, going to commit to having this coming Friday for sewing, and, hopefully, the whole day, and not just the evening. Maybe I can get the Pineapple top done that day. There are a lot of people participating in this, and it will be fun to see the posts on Friday, talking about what they are working on, and then on Saturday, to see the results of all that sewing. Go here to see more info, and the list of all those who are joining in.