Unsewing and Other Stuff

No matter how many years of experience one has at sewing and quilting, there inevitably comes a time when unsewing is necessary. Why do I know this?

My observant blog-reader quilter-friend - Beth - caught my Picket Fence layout mistake when she viewed my last post. Just compare the first design wall photo (left), and my latest design wall photo (right).

It's the left picture that's correct, with the lightest value diamonds positioned with strips standing vertically - not horizontally as on the right.

Of course, by the time I realized my error, I'd sewn 14 columns of diamonds to one another. Oh well. The unsewing is done now. Onward!

Last week I received a UPS delivery - a wonderful gift box from MassDrop! This is how they show their thanks for referring customers to MassDrop. I received this bundle after 25 people placed an order. Thank you to those of you who have registered through me... and ordered!

I received: an Omnigrid folding mat/ironing board; an Omnigrid zippered project case (for carrying quilt blocks and supplies); a 45mm purple Splash Olfa rotary cutter; a fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's True Colors; a pair of Ginger 3-1/2" stork scissors; and a bobbin "Bob" of Bottom Line 60-weight thread. Pretty wonderful, isn't it?!

I used my new project case to take 11 quilt blocks and notions with me to the "Off the Grid" workshop I attended last Sunday with Lee Heinrich/Freshly Pieced. (See our Central Florida MQG post about Lee's visit.)

In 2014, I participated in the Bay Area Modern Block of the Month - BAMBOM. These 12-1/2" blocks have been laying around since then, and were perfect for trying out different modern layouts according to Lee's suggestions. My first attempt was a grid-like asymmetrical layout. It was nice, but didn't speak to me.

The second layout is much more appealing. But it first entails more sewing. The top and bottom blocks, on the left, will become half blocks so the design appears to float off the quilt. And, I'll give the string star a special treatment with a narrow orange flange, and a Kona Bahama Blue frame.  Negative space on the left side of the quilt will be Kona Ash, and sashing and negative space on the right will be Kona White. It's great having a plan!

Monday saw me at the catheterization lab for my seventh angiogram due to PAD (peripheral artery disease). This is the fourth time Dr. Q. has been in my left leg, in the femoral artery. He used a "cutter balloon" to clean out an 80 percent plaque blockage at the top of my eight inch-long stent, and a 20 percent blockage at the bottom of the same stent. He also peeped inside my right leg which is now 70-80 percent blocked. He let me know at my Wednesday follow-up visit that my right leg also needs to be ballooned in the next few weeks. Sigh. As well, I learned that my recent heart arrhythmia, which was "performing" Monday while I was on monitors, is likely related to stress! Dr. Q. has upped my dosage of Tambocor to take care of that too. I'm very blessed with excellent medical care.

So I've been recovering, hanging around the house. Time has been put to good use. I: caught up on the "Open the Bible" study I've been doing independently; unsewed those diamonds; worked on two Keynote (MacBook) presentations I'll give in March; and begun to prepare for teaching machine appliqué to 20 quilters who will make the "Candy Pop" quilt in Beyond First Time Quiltmaking classes beginning February 27. The quilt pattern is in Christa Watson's book, "Modern Quilting With Style."

Guess I have a few things on my plate.

By the way, my younger sis's birthday is today, but she told me she's celebrating National Drink Wine Day! I think I'll join her. Linda