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Please don't remind me that I'm poor; I'm having too much fun pretending I'm simply "living green" like everyone else these days.


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Saturday, February 12, 2011

Flu bug and angels

I have the flu.  It's running rampant through Kentucky right now and probably other places too.  I should still be in bed.  I've been sleeping off and on, day and night, since Wednesday afternoon. 

The battery in the smoke detector decided, last night, that it would start to die.  Which meant every 3 minutes it beeped a warning.  After a couple of hours of listening to the beep I decided to go ahead get up and change it even though I felt miserable.  I keep spare rechargeable batteries all the time for different things. 

Well, since I'm up anyway, I decided to take some chicken soup out of the freezer to eat.  Yup, for breakfast.  Chicken soup is good for the flu or a cold.  It will give me strength and help me sleep.  While I wait for the soup I'll fill you in on what I did before the flu bug got me.

Saturday was Ladybug's birthday party at Puzzles Fun Dome.  That's where I must have gotten the flu.  There were lots of kids (with runny noses) zipping around all over the place. 

I spent most of Sunday with the online class videos.  By golly..... I think I'm learning it!  I was doubtful before and now I'm just thrilled. 

Monday I had an appointment which lasted all day.  Actually it was supposed to be a seminar about saving money on utilities.  I knew more than they did so I was bored all day.   As payment for attending I get a portion of my utility bill paid each month for a year.  Not a lot but I'll take it anyway.  Gotta save money whenever I can.

Tuesday I had another appointment.  My annual PAP test.  I was taken to a room that was freezing cold, told to remove all my clothing, then given what looked like a paper towel to cover up with.  Geese!  It was up to me to choose whether to cover the top or bottom half of myself.  When the doctor came in I was covered by my coat and shivering.

When I got home, I started cutting apart the clothing for the two memory quilts I'm making.  There's three bags of clothing to make two queen size.  



I finished cutting the seams out of the clothing of one bag.  I need to buy a bolt of stabilizer before I start the piecing.  The other two bags will get done when I feel better.



Wednesday I finished the quilting on the quilt that's still on the machine.  When I finished it I was already starting to feel yucky so I left it there.  I'll take it off this weekend and take more photos.... if I feel better.

I also had two bags of inherited PIGS brought to me.  PIGS are projects in garbage (or grocery) sacks.  Some people call them UFOs too.  These were given to me to use for charity quilts.


So what did I get in the bags?  Well, there is this candlewick top.  The fabric is quite thin.  I'm thinking maybe I should take it apart and put stabilizer on the back of each square.  If I can work the cost into my budget?  The blocks don't look like they were cut all the same so squaring up the blocks should help too.


There is a lot of age damage to the PIGS.  Like this set of embroidery blocks.  I'm not sure what the brown stuff is.  I should wash these before piecing them together.  If the brown doesn't come out, maybe I can tea dye them. 


There's this set of painted ladies.  A couple of completed ones but the rest are not finished.  The paint is really stiff.  I don't know what kind of paint it was so I can't duplicate the original work to finish the blocks.  I'm thinking maybe I can finish these with my Tusaniko inks.  I'll check to be sure the original paint is permanent before putting more work into these.


These are appliqued by hand.  Enough for a whole quilt.... or two.  I'm thinking maybe some really pretty background quilting in the white area.  The fabric on these is really thin too. 



Hmm.... embroidery block kits.  But look at the staining.  I'm not sure how I will finish these.  I haven't done any hand embroidery in years.  I don't know if the stains will come out so I'm not sure I want to put a lot of hand work into completing these.  I can't wash them first because the design will disappear.  


These quilt blocks appear to be from a block swap or a guild.  A couple of the blocks have signatures on them.  These are also stained.  I think I can wash them before piecing together. 


Another hand applique top.  This will have to be taken apart, washed, and squared up.  I believe I can take this top apart and make two tops by alternating with plain blocks. 


There are three Dresden plate quilts started.  These should be fairly easy to complete.



There are a couple of nine patch quilts with large blocks started.  The pieces are cut, just not sewn together.



Here's another complete top.  It has me puzzled about what to do with it as well.  It has candlewick blocks alternating with yellow blocks.



I was surprised to find every one of the yellow blocks have a pattern drawn on them.  All different like the white blocks.  Hmm... were the drawings intended to be the quilting design?  An applique design?  More candlewick? 



This is where I will let the angels whisper in my ear.  What?  You don't know about the angels?  Let me explain.  When I get clothing quilts or Pigs I never know exactly what the person (passed away) would want.  Clothing quilt designs are, of course, first chosen by the one who brings me the clothing.  I then put individuality to each one.  Inherited pigs are sometimes easy and sometimes difficult to figure out.  When I'm completing either a Pig or a clothing quilt I feel as if an angel whispers in my ear..... "do it this way"..... and I usually listen.  The recipient is always happy because I listen to the angels. 

Hmm... there are those who don't believe in angels.  I do.  I have sons who have passed away.  I choose to believe that...... There is a land where those who have loved and lost will meet to love again.  I choose to believe my sons and I are only separated until I see them again in that land. 

Ok, my chicken soup is ready to eat.  Then it's back in bed for me. A couple more days of rest and I should be back to my old self again.

2 comments:

lw said...

I hope you feel better soon. I love some of the PIGS; the embroidery and candlewicking are lovely. I wonder if oxygen bleach would take out the staining?

Anita Estes said...

Thank you, I am feeling a little better.

I thought about oxygen bleach too. I'm going to try it. Can't hurt to try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.