A Little Catch-Up

It's been a week since I posted, so I feel the need to say hi.

Thanks to each of you who commented in my last post, or texted, or emailed, to ask how my leg angiogram went last Friday. As expected, the doc found that the six inch-long stent in my femoral artery - that had been placed there 26 months ago - was blocked with plaque. Since I was mostly awake during the 20 minute procedure, over my head I watched the machine the doc used to balloon out the plaque. At my follow-up appointment on Wednesday, I learned that he also peeped down my left leg and says it's still looking clear (that leg was opened February 15). Suffice it to say that: procedure days are always long, like six hours or more; a few techs are getting to know me by name - "Weren't you in here a few weeks ago?" - and; I'll be forever grateful for the attentive care I receive from Dr. Q. I don't anticipate any problems with my legs for at least the rest of 2016. But, Dr. Q plans to monitor my carotid arteries and heart for plaque built-up which haven't been problematic like my legs have been. In late June I'll return for testing.

So! Getting down to more important things... While I recuperated from my angiogram, I worked on these 4-1/2" (side measurement) Spinning Wheel English paper-pieced blocks, making two more during my down time. I started this a while back after seeing a finished quilt made like, using EQ 7 to draft and print card stock papers. No surprise, this is a long-term project.

I also finished a quilt! No full view pictures to share yet because I want to get outdoors to take proper pictures, but this is the one I made with more than one thousand scrappy 2-1/2" squares. Here's a link to my EQ7 design for this free block. I haven't come up with a name for the quilt. Do you too find naming a quilt hard to do? It seems the more quilts I make, the more difficult it is to come up with a name.

The quilting shows up well because this is what double batting looks like. It's Quilter's Dream request loft poly with wool on top of that. Thread is gray 50-weight Prescencia that I received in a gift box from MassDrop. It might have been the thread that caused me fits as I was quilting. Every eight to ten inches or so, the thread broke. Though I changed the needle from an 80, then to a 90, and finally a 100, and adjusted the tension, and cleaned and oiled the machine (twice), the problem persisted, though became less frequent. Quilting in those circumstances about made me want to tear my hair out. It will be interesting to see how the next quilt goes as I plan to use different thread.

Oh! And my Canon S100 camera was returned to me today. That's why I was able to take the photos above. I'm tickled that it's working, but the fix wasn't free, as I hoped it would be. A sense part had broken. My options were to either fix it for $160, or buy a replacement camera for $335. I'm a smart girl, aren't I?

Friday, April 1 finds me teaching all day again. Ten students have registered for Free Motion Quilting through the Lifelong Learning College. I'm looking forward to seeing a few familiar faces, and imparting my love of quilting to all of them. Will let you know how it goes. Linda