It's Been A Long Couple of Months!

 When last I wrote, we had just had our annual quilt show, the last day of which I acquired a black eye when a staghorn fern fell on my face.  Later that weekend my family and I flew into Albuquerque to see grandson Jaeger graduate from University of New Mexico in Nuclear Engineering.

He was accepted as an intern at the Sandia Facility, and plans to stay in New Mexico and get his Master's.  We are all so proud of him.  

I came home the next weekend and went to write my Slow Sunday Stitching post, and my laptop, which was two weeks shy of being a year old was not charging.  I took it up to Best Buy and they sent it off somewhere to be looked at.  It was gone for over a month, and I finally got it back.  While it was gone I tried using my old computer, but I couldn't download the pictures as they were in heic format and I couldn't translate them to jpeg.  On my computer that was in the shop I had downloaded a program that translates the photos, but I didn't want to purchase it again.  

After I got my computer back,  for some reason it wasn't downloading the pictures from my phone anymore.  I tried once, and it started downloading pictures from the beginning of time, I couldn't press the button that said "download new photos".  But somehow the last couple of days it has straightened itself out.  It has continued to  have problems the last three weeks.  

July 9th we were getting family pictures in a park down the road from me.  It was one of those days that 3 things happen.  I got in my car and tried to start it.  It took 3 tries and it finally started.  I prayed all the way to my destination but I made it.  I turned my car off, and then immediately tried to start it again and it was dead.  All this stress caused my irritable bowel to start up.  I headed over to the park bathroom, but it was bolted shut.  My family got there, and I told them I needed to use the restroom "right now".  My daughter Kristen told my grandson Keaton to take me to a bathroom.  There was a Starbucks down the street which saved me.  

We got back to the park and the rest of my family was there, including SIL Jeff's parents.  We started walking down the paved path, and I got about 6 feet into the park and stepped on a rock and twisted my ankle, fell on my hip, hit my elbow and scraped the skin off my palm.  Kyleigh and Andrew got me back up on my feet.  My elbow felt a little strange but we went on to take around 200 pictures.  I wasn't in all of them, but some of them, but I smiled for those I was in.

After the picture session was over, granddaughter Kyleigh took me to the ER where I was discovered to have a broken elbow and was placed in a splint for 6 weeks.  I had landed on my hip and ended up having a basketball sized bruise on my hip, but thankfully no broken hip, just a large seroma which gradually disappeared.

The first three weeks I didn't do much of anything but read 8 books.  

After I visited the orthopedist about that time, he said I could take the splint off while in the house, being sedentary. so I started hand sewing again, and using the sewing machine. 

Before all of this happened we celebrated my SIL Jeff's BD in Santa Cruz.  Grandson Jaeger was here with his girlfriend Shiri

In August, we celebrated granddaughter Kyleigh's 25th birthday.  

We also celebrated daughter Katie's BD.  I made her this table mat with an owl on it.  She set it up on her area at work.   

I have been working on some projects recently.  I made three By Annie projects.  I made one of the Two Big Bags.  

I also made the Catch All Caddy.

I also made the Hot and Heavy Bag for my small iron I take on retreats.

All of these are in preparation for a quilting retreat I am going on soon.  Those three bags took over 2 weeks to do.  I had to watch some of the By Annie videos multiple times.  I am proud I got all the zippers installed.  Zippers are not usually my friend.  

My granddaughter Kyleigh is getting married next October, and I started cutting out her wedding quilt.  I am making a double wedding ring, and thankfully I have the Accuquilt die for this.  I have been busy cutting out all the components.  I will need 81 blocks for a setting 9x9.  There are 54 pieces in each block, a total of 4374 parts.  This will be totally scrappy.

I've been cutting for 4 days now.  I have all the centers cut out, as well as the oval pieces.  I am busy cutting up scraps for the arc components.  

Back in May at our second day of the quilt show, an elderly woman appeared with a quilt in a plastic bag.  She asked one of the women at the admissions desk if she knew of anyone that could restore old quilts.   They immediately brought her over to where I was sitting at the Community Service table.  I looked at it briefly and asked if I could take it home, which she allowed.  I contacted her several days later and told her I would do it, but it would probably take 6 months or so, I quoted a price of $300 which is way, way, way low.  But it was my mistake, so I will stay with that price.  

I have been working hours and hours each day on this.  I have been replacing the worn pieces with old feedsack pieces, and the white with vintage pillowcases I am cutting up.  My plan has been to work on the outside pieces first, and replace the binding, then work on the inside.  I took about a month off because of my injury but am back at work on this as my slow stitching project.  I still need to to quilt the big white centers.  It is really calming to work on this vintage quilt.  The elderly woman who brought it in said her grandmother made it for her father.  

This is what I will be working on for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  

Check out the Hand Quilt Along links too!  

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Laura

Thanks for stopping by!