Inch by Inch

Inch by inch, row by row

Gonna make this pretty quilt grow

All it takes is a needle to sew

And the pattern that I found

My apologies to Dave Mallett who wrote "The Garden Song" in 1975, which begins in the manner! But, inch by inch and row by row is such an apt description of putting a quilt together!

I started working on this quilt just over a week ago. I wouldn't say it is my new obsession....but I have spent a good deal of time with it. Each time I finish a section I want to move on with the next section just to see how it will work. 

Here is a link to the post I put up on Feb. 21 that shows my first step in piecing the quilt. And, here is what the pieces look like now:

I think one of the greater challenges will come when I have to sew the 8 sections together. But, I still have a way to go before I get to that stage! 

Released

I had my last visit at the orthopedic surgeon's office on Friday. Unless I have some sort of problem, I need not visit again. 

After being taken into an exam room, the next thing that happens is that an x-ray tech arrives to take me to the x-ray room. I enjoy stopping in for an x-ray because one of the technicians always decorates the room for the season. The last time I visited the room was decked out for the Chinese New Year. As you can see, the x-ray department is ready for spring (as are many, many of my friends living in the snow zone!)

The ceiling even has butterflies all over! 

The PA checked out my latest x-ray. Everything is where it is supposed to be. He showed me the initial x-ray and explained that the white areas indicate arthritis. There was a ton of arthritic material surrounding the base of the thumb joint. There was a bone chip, extra bone growth in other areas and there was no cartilage. The surgeon removed the trapezium and cleaned up yucky stuff around the base of the thumb. I have full mobility of my thumb, amazingly! Instead of the trapezium there is now tendon that forms some sort of hammock, or support for the thumb. All is well. My left thumb is also a candidate for surgery. I do experience pain from it, but it isn't as bad as my right hand was, and it isn't my dominant hand, so I'll let it be for now. 

At least I know of an orthopedic surgeon that apparently did a great job, and I know they have a welcoming x-ray department. What more could a gal ask for?!!!

A Quilt for my Brother and his Wife

Since I posted quilts I have gifted to my sister, I decided I must post something about my brother so you don't think I'm playing favorites! Here is a reprint of a post I published on 9/3/2020. I made this quilt for my brother and for his lovely wife.  They were not expecting a quilt, and loved it. I'm not certain I would care to do this quilt again, but I did love the birds!  - Dreaming, 2/28/2026

My obsession was started by my BFF. She attended a workshop by Lynne Tyler, and raved about Lynne's "Liberated Birds".  I checked out Lynne's "Patchwork Menagerie" and I was hooked! I adored her simple bird design. I decided that I wanted to make a quilt with her birds.

This was just the beginning...

---of my flock!

I made a bird here... and there. I discovered that each bird had his/her own personality. They became good friends. They "talked" to me!

I positioned my birds on my flannel wall. I tried them this way... and that! I rearranged one side, and changed birds top and bottom. I swapped this guy for that guy. I worked at varying colors and patterns. I stared at my wall, and swapped one bird for another for days! I tried to balance so many variables: color, direction bird is facing, fabric patterns, size, leg color... it just about drove me crazy!

Then came the challenge of putting it all together. Measure twice, cut once... oops! Try again! It was tedious at best, and involved a lot of muttering to myself!

My quilt began with a "charm pack". A charm pack is an assortment of 42 fabrics from a designer's collection. I purchased the pack years ago, and when I saw the birds, decided it met my needs. However, needs were greater than I anticipated. First I had to order more white, Then I needed more dark blue prints. Then I needed more, more, more. As I neared the completion of my birdies I worked on a pieced backing for my quilt with the leftover fabrics. 

Finally the piecing was finished; top and bottom! Hooray - celebration #1!

Next, I very carefully loaded the backing (I needed to keep it straight) and the top on my long arm quilting machine. I quilted some of the birdie wings with swirls or feathers, or added details to their chests. The white fabric was quilted with a meandering leaf design. 

I pulled my quilt off of the long arm machine. Celebration #2: not only was it finished but the backing was perfectly square! Woohoo! The quilt was bound, and sent off to my brother and his wife. He previously shared pictures of their new "cabin" in Idaho. They had tiles with birds on their backsplash. I think this quilt belongs to them! But, to be honest... I am going to miss my little birdies!

Quilts for my Sis

I am the baby of the family. My brother and sister are only 18 months apart. I came along a little later. Judging from the looks on my siblings' faces, I'm not sure I was welcome!

In my previous post I mentioned that my sister suffered a brain injury and must live in an assisted living facility. We are about as far apart in the US as one can be, living in Florida and Seattle. I do get out to see her on occasion. My brother lives a bit closer to her, so he gets to visit a bit more often.

I have made her two quilts. The first was very early on in my quilting 'career' - being made in 2016. Someone hung the quilt up in her tiny apartment. 

For a while my sister lived near Santa Fe, NM. She loves the southwest, and when I saw the fabric, and when I happened upon the embroidery patterns, I was inspired to make this quilt. 

I used 'stack and whack' to create the colorful blocks. I didn't have enough fabric to do more than 4 pieces for each block, but it worked out. 

I used an appliqué machine embroidery pattern for four of the blocks. 

I fell in love with the mottled red fabric. It reminded me of some of the pottery I've seen on our travels. 

I designed some SW Indian-looking motifs and embroidered them using my domestic machine.

Even now I look at this and I'm in awe of what I managed to do.

In 2021 I completed this bright quilt and sent it to her. 

She keeps it on the back of her couch.

She has always loved bright colors!

The last time I visited she was wearing a jacket that my mother quilted. 

Just by chance, I was wearing one I had made....

the first quilted object that I ever made!

(It was made using a quilt-as-you-go technique on a deconstructed sweatshirt.)

A Wondrous Wake-up Call

I had a wonderful surprise this morning. I received a FaceTime call from my sister. She lives in Seattle, in an assisted living facility. Tragically, she experienced a brain injury and because of that she can not live independently. She has no short term memory. Seriously. When we do visit our conversations are riddled with requests to tell her things again.  But, her intellect is intact and she recalls most everything from 15 - 20 years ago, and back. She can even converse in German, or French and if you asked her, she could translate Sanskrit! 

The amazing thing about this morning's call is that she was able to make it. She used her iPad and somehow figured out how to connect with me on FaceTime. My brother and I chatted, and neither of knows how she managed. (It was 5:30 AM in Seattle, and no one was with her) When she used to have a phone she would always ask for my phone number. She purportedly wrote it down, but she could never remember where to find the phone number, or perhaps how to use the phone, to give me a call.

Her land line telephone had to be removed. She responded to sales requests without realizing what she was doing, or remembering. When she was given a cell phone, she wouldn't remember to charge it, or even where she put it down. With new technology it may be that she can have a phone again, but one that will only accept incoming calls from specified phone numbers. My bother is looking into it. 

It was a nice way to begin the day!

My sister and my brother

But, Do We Really Need It?

I find it amazing what one can order through Amazon. I guess folks living on the frontier back in the ages felt the same way about the Sears Roebuck Catalog. 

I found an interesting site on the Internet that describes a few odd items that were listed in the catalog, many from the turn of the century...the last one!

Here are some examples from the site:

Leghorn chickens for $ .12, in 1947

A newfangled auto-mobile for $395 in 1909

A cure for consumption in 1898

As a kid I used to love going through Sears, Roebuck catalogs, especially the Christmas toy edition! And, in the early 70's I remember ordering clothing, and going into the order pickup desk at the store to get my order when it arrived. It was magical! 

Some time in the late '80's the Mister wanted a modem and Telenet. This would allow him to see a print version of the Sears catalog on our Commodore 64, among other things! (This was before Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet! LOL) Imagine that magic! (And, if Sears had continued to embrace access through technology, just think where they might be today!)

So, now we have Amazon....and all of the other tempting sites out there that sell and deliver, just about everything.

 

Some time last week the Mister ordered a drag harrow from Amazon. It had free, two-day delivery with Prime. 

• He got a message that the package had been delivered to a processing center in a nearby town and would be delivered the next day. 

• Then he got a message that the delivery would be delayed

• After that he received a message that they didn't have the package.

So, do we really need it?

He called Amazon and described the situation. They reissued the order.

Surprise! The package from the processing center arrived. The packaging had been cobbled together and taped, and taped and taped.

So, do we really need two?

The next day, we arrived home, and there was a heavy package at our gate. This shipment was appropriately packaged: 

Oops...it's another drag harrow. The result of the 2nd order that apparently wasn't canceled by the processing center once they figured out how to fulfill  the first order! 

The Mister called Amazon, and after going through lots of AI robots was able to talk to a real, live person from the other side of the world. The problem? Amazon wants him to take it to a UPS store to be returned. He explained that the package requires at least two men (better, a fork lift) to pick up.  (He may have pulled the 'age' card to explain why he was unable to take it to the UPS store) The gal finally understood the situation and explained that a truck would pick it up within an hour.

That didn't happen.

The Mister called Amazon, again. This time after all of the AI voices he was connected to someone in the US - amazing! He read through the case, and explained that a truck would be by to pick up the package.

That hasn't happened, yet!

I Have No Right

.... to complain!

I don't have snow on the ground.

I have only seen 3 flakes of snow this year.

It was in the 80's and sunny on Saturday. 

The sun is out, again.

But we are expecting another winter dip in temperatures. 

I brought in some new plants I had purchased, but not planted. Later today I'll cover some plants, hoping they are going to spring back from our 2 weeks of evenings below freezing. Our stag horn ferns are terribly sad. They are large and have been around for a while. but now they are mostly brown. Maybe they will come back once we have more typical Florida weather. 

But I really can't complain.

I could be living in the northeast where the winter storm, Hernando,

is dumping loads of snow and bringing strong winds. 

I have no right to complain!