Travel Nightmare!

Part of the reason I haven't posted was a short trip we took out to Nevada.  It wasn't the vacation that caused a long delay it was the MS episode brought on by an absolute travel nightmare with SPIRIT airlines.

Orange is the MS color...

Lesson learned: if you hear an airline you are booked with is having issues with employee contract negotiations rebook with another airline.  When we heard Spirit was having problems we called only to be told "a judge worked this out today.  Just check the news."  Sure enough there was a comment from the pilot's union saying they would abide by the Judge's order.  The next morning the pilots did not show up for our flight.

Lesson learned: if a customer service agent tells you to take the refund because they cannot book you on another airline (said there was an email from corporate telling them they had to keep the customers on Spirit flights)  take the refund immediately.  In Chicago when our second flight was cancelled the supervisor booked us on American Airlines and told us to cancel the reservations we made on our own credit card while inline.  You know that didn't work out...we ended up paying for both the AA tickets and the Spirit tickets.

Lesson learned:  discount airlines really mean discount.  The callback from a supervisor happened almost 8 hours late at 0150 - that is almost 2 am.  And she threatened to close the case if I didn't talk to her right then!  Needless to say that was over a week ago.  They asked for week to figure things out.  That was a week ago today...who knows.  Maybe they'll call a few minutes before midnight?!

That is only the tip of the story...in the end I ended up being so tired from the flights and the waiting and then the many hours on the phone that I had an MS relapse.  I was only able to stay one night at my guild retreat and am having to cancel a long list of commitments for the next month.

Now enough whining and complaining...back to sewing and writing!

Back from the quilter!

Today two quilts came back from Patty Lennon, a local longarm quilter who is in my guild.

First is a quilt I am making for my sister.  I used Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern only I put it on point!

Changes it a bit.  I've made at least 4 of the regular so wanted to try something just a bit different!

Of course then I had a table-full of 2-1/2 inch strips from making my sister's quilt-top so I played with another Bonnie pattern...think this one is Carolina Chain?  (Can't get to my books right now...)

This is really a fun pattern and uses a lot of scraps!  Now I just need to make lots of binding!  Plus set up my old Bernina...that machine just powers through binding!

Which is helpful.  As I said I can't get to my books...mainly since the MS has crept up on me.  I went to the guild bee feeling a bit weak.  By the time I got home I could barely make it into the house.  Right now I am back to using a walker.  It happened that fast!  Hoping it turns around just as quickly!

On the design wall...

First I have to say one of the best things I've done for myself in a long time was putting up a design wall!  I love it...so much easier on my knees and so much easier to audition options.

Which is what I am doing today.  I'm trying to cut and pack the last bits for the retreat.  Today I have to decide on the sashing

Option one is above...a wide grey "striped" with four patch cornerstones.

Option two is slimmer sashing in white on white with single red cornerstones.

The pattern is from Pat Sloan's website.  The second option is closer to what she uses.  The quilt is going to be queen size.  I've made a lot of table runners, wallhangings and pillows in the past few months so I need to make some bed size projects!  I had an huge container of 2-1/2 squares and even a Queen size quilt hardly makes a dent...

Guess I'll let it set for a bit then make a decision.  I like them both so not too tough of a decision...worse when you have several options you don't like!

Did find a bit of another "favorite fabric"...this will go into the quilt.  The last tiny bit...

My MS thought for this week....

Retreat prep and MS awareness

I love going on quilt retreats however I have found them more challenging with my MS.

First, the noise!  I love being a room full of quilters but that is never quiet.  The constant talking, laughing, and occasional screams (a finish!) for a person with MS is exhausting!  It isn't just with quilters.  It takes a lot of energy to process constant stimulation like this and it happens when I go to other workshops.

So I try to keep my projects simple.  I know I'll have difficulty focusing and that I will tire quickly so I avoid projects that require a lot of thought.  For our next retreat I'm packing up this Pat Sloan project that pretty much uses two sizes of squares...and since it is scrappy no problem with putting a fabric in the wrong place!

Also, I don't start a new project from scratch.  When fatigue hits there are cognitive difficulties.  I remember one year when I was embroidering a witches hat...I must have spent an hour reading and rereading and rereading directions!  Sometimes there isn't enough coffee on earth to make things make sense...that is when a hand quilting project (already marked) is great...following lines with one type of stitch is sometimes all I can handle!  Also when hand quilting no getting up and down to go to the ironing stations!

Which leads to my second point...kit up as much as possible.  For the Traffic Jam  Quilt I have cut a quilter's bazillion 2-1/2 inch squares...made about 80 four patches and even made a few of the finished blocks.  This means as little thought and movements as possible (now if they could just set up a caffeine IV I'd be set!)

And just in case always have a backup project.  So say my leg is a but numb so even the walk to the ironing station is tough and my eye is wonky so I can't thread the needle to do hand quilting...go to project number 3.  For this retreat I have a stack of 10-inch squares (mostly from my stash with a few cake layer squares) that I will trace a huge hexagon onto.

So MS just requires a bit more planning...and coffee...

A late spring clean-up!

The last few days we have been doing some late spring cleaning...

I think the new sewing room used up all my effort this year and we just realized that the garage and garden hadn't gotten as much attention as needed this spring.

a spinning wheel from England...really?!

Amazingly we found a lot of stuff "missing" for years!

Like this Queen vintage hand crank sewing machine that I bought at an auction in England.  That is right...it was in the back of the garage still packed in a moving box!  I'm trying to get this little machine operational...otherwise it is just a big doorstop!

Our goal is to get through all the moving boxes put in storage about 7 years ago.  Making some tough decisions...we packed up my husband's to the ceiling yesterday and made a trip to the charity shop/Goodwill donation stop.

put these aside for a friend...knew I had them just not where!

Three extra irons, a bread-maker only used once, a set of china still in the box...stuff like that!  Our rule is if we don't like it well enough to use it or have it in the house then it has to move on...still lots to do!  My neighbor helped by taking a doll crib, two chairs, and an old frame...why is it other people's "stuff" is always more interesting than what we have in our own garage?!

But I have to move slowly!  Last spring the neurologist made some big changes to my MS meds.  After trying it for a couple months I decided it wasn't working...made me a bit too much of a zombie!  I'd rather clarity and joy with a bit of pain than total numbness!  So last week it was like waking out of a fog and of course I then immediately over-did it!

That is ok though...I have lot of quilts to hand-sew binding on a some BBC mysteries to catch up on!

Watson on guard in the backyard...

and Dobby keeping an eye on Watson...my own version of the "odd couple"

Not quilting but planning...

Things are slowly getting better...

but I still haven't felt up to sewing or (more dangerous) working at the cutting table.

So I've spent some more time trying to decide how to sort my fabric stash when I move back into the sewing room.  (my husband needed to get this bookcase out of his parking space so the move in has sort of started!)

repro blues in the dresser drawer...

I think I will continue to keep the reproduction fabrics in the spare bedroom.  Holiday and shirt fabrics will stay in their own boxes.  The Kaffe fabrics will be kept in the cabinet.  Wool will be in a separate cabinet along will the hand embroidery threads.

one of several medium boxes with blue fabrics...

Other fabrics will be sorted by color in large or medium containers.

I will have my own "pre-cuts" to include 6-1/2 inch, 3-1/2, 2-1/2  and 2 inch squares.  Strips will be in 3-1/2, 3, 2-1/2, 2, and 1-1/2 inch.  That is 7 medium size boxes.

This will reduce my storage space...or at least consolidate some of it.  The biggest challenge will continue to be the project boxes.

I've cut these in almost half during the last 12 months but there are still too many!  I don't want to put them too far away (like the to shelf of the closet) because of the old "out of sight out of mind" saying.

Worse are these baggies containing bits of fabric that I'm not even sure why I thought were important enough to bag up!  Most of these are getting reincorporated into the stash...

Then there are these project bags...such a mess!  I have one friend who hangs them neatly in a closet.  Doesn't work in my smaller closet so I'm going to move these into project boxes...

So much work to do still!  Need to go get a cup of tea and think about it...

An MS delay....

I was feeling bad for myself.  I didn't go this year's AQS show in Paducah because I was sure the addition would still be having work done on it...well, it isn't finished but just learned they will not be working on it again until Tuesday!

Then I woke up last night in pain...I mean fork in the eyeball sort of pain.  My MS/optic neuritis has kicked in.  So, it is just as well I'm not in Kentucky which is 9 hours away from home!

Me in Paducah a couple years ago with the Super Quilter...

The Opt. Neur. screws with my depth perception (crowds could be tough!) and makes my color perception a bit "off" (not a good time to view quilts!)

Some postcard quilts from friends..

This may be the toughest thing about MS...very unpredictable.  I knew I was trying to do a lot last week but was trying to pace myself.  Maybe I didn't do as good a job of that as I thought or maybe it is a reaction to the poison ivy on my arms?  Who knows...

So today is a stay in a dimly lit room and stay very still while taking lots of meds and drinking herbal tea...with luck this will be a short one!

Hope to have more on quilting and quilts in a day or so....

Another basket weave...

Brownie claiming the latest quilt...

I started a quilt not on my list for two reasons...first, a friend had asked me to make a quilt for her daughter and second, an artist had asked how to construct this diagonal weave.

Dobby overseeing the new quilt construction....

This is a simpler ( though still at least intermediate level) way of sewing the "basket-weave" and I worry that it may still be too difficult for someone with no sewing experience...Instead of piecing the woven pieces this time I just used striped.  Wow, cut down about 60% of the piecing and still get a similar effect!  Also, used larger squares for the center...twice as large!  Needless to say this is coming together so much faster than the first one!

I got another "new to me" quilt this week.  I'll have photos of the entire quilt later this weekend.  I love the Dogwood and Blondie (US cartoon characters)  fabrics in it!  Need to do some research but I'm thinking 50's...

Also have done some fabric cutting for Bonnie Hunter's 2014 challenge.  I changed up the pattern a bit...I'm using 3 1/2 by 8 inch cut rectangles instead of 3-1/2 by 6.   I made some test blocks and I like the longer block...For this I am cutting a bit from all my repro stash...gives me a chance to actually see some of my fabrics in a quilt instead of on a shelf!  Even with the extra 2 inches this is going to take a lot of blocks....

And sewing, cutting, typing, well, just about everything is slow right now.  Left arm is not cooperating and goes between numbness/uselessness and wicked pain (think of how it feels when you leg goes to sleep and you take your first step...)  Anyway, I can still push fabric around but not doing anything too fine....but this too will pass!

A few finishes...

I haven't been as good sticking to my list of projects this year and I'm not gong to let it bother me!

"Cherry Churndash" - finally cut into some of my Cherrywood fabrics

MS is nicknamed the "snowflake disease" because it has so many symptoms and those symptoms can vary so much from patient to patient...or even during the course of a patient's disease...or how about for one patient in the time from breakfast to lunch.   It sort of reminds me of New England weather...

Last week's snow on our Nandia bushes

So it is difficult picking projects to work on...yesterday my hand was too clumsy to applique so I played with fabric; the day before my arms were too weak to handle the quilt that needed to be quilted so I cut strips from my scrap pile; today my eye is to wonky to handle a rotary cutter or thread a needle but I think I can run some squares through the sewing machine....

Not being able to quilt or sew is dangerous for me...

I go on ebay...(this Egyptian applique was listed as a "vintage Scandinavian textile?"  )

or I bake...these brownies did not last long....

BTW...did anyone else notice they changes the size of the Baker's Chocolate squares!  Now it takes and entire package to make a pan of brownies where it used to take half a package.  The package is the same size only thinner!  They need bigger notices on the box.  I've made these so often I don't even read the recipe...I just tossed half a box into the double boiler with the butter.  Luckily it didn't look right when it was all melted together and I check the box! (ok..not about quilts but I consider anything about chocolate a public service announcement....)

Did any of you work on the waverunner project with Victoria Finley...must have been about 4 years ago!  Anyway, I dug out mine and gave it a good press.  Think I'll machine quilt it later this month!  Already have a plan and for me that is half the battle with machine quilting!

Finally, with the recent cold weather we have had some really interesting birds at the feeders.

I put a suet feeder out when we had the ice storm and was really happy to see the woodpecker that I hear all the time but rarely see, come to the feeder!  I looked him up online to see what kind and borrowed the photo as he is very camera-shy and very fast!  The wings are really beautiful!