The Doldrums

I've been absent, I know, but I didn't realize it's been almost a month since I last posted.  Life has been piling on to the point I didn't feel like saying much.  

I mentioned in an earlier post about the cloud no longer accepting my photos.  No sooner had I gotten that situation resolved than I learned my computer memory is nearly full.  So my sweet husband purchased this external drive to store my photos and other stuff I don't need daily access to.

(Don't you love my cool mousepad?)

Then I got a message on my phone that the memory is nearly full!  Thinking the daily dose of great-grandbaby photos might have something to do with that, I asked my techy son and he advised that I should check my phone storage in settings because that message could have been spam.  Indeed, I have only used 1/3 of my available space!

But, really, things have been going downhill since late April when I developed a severe pain in my left side.  I was so convinced that it was a gastro-intestinal issue that I was actually looking forward to the dreaded colonoscopy at the end of July!  Not only was there no GI issue, but I had complications from the procedure and spent nearly two days in the hospital.  The upside of this is I lost 10 pounds! And I'm doing my level best not to put the pounds back on.  

The consensus of the medical community is my problem is in my back.  Medicare won't pay for an MRI until I go through PT.  And while I was considering whether I wanted anyone messing with my back when we don't know exactly where the problem lies, I came down with Covid (along with almost our entire small church congregation).  Yes, we've all been vaccinated and boosted so fortunately most of us only had a mild case of whatever variant is going around here.  

And while down with Covid I developed tooth pain, probably not related.  The upside is I now have a new local dentist -- no more 2-hour drives back to Nashville.

I was able to get a few things accomplished in the sewing room with what little energy I could muster.  

All of the Christmas Cross blocks are finished and the strippy columns are ready to be joined together this week at Devo and Sew.

I also stitched the Zinnia blocks into columns.

After a good pressing, the columns will go together soon.  As is, it's about square so I'm debating if I want to add borders and, if so, how big?  

The big push right now is preparation and packing for Quilt Camp class in a little more than a week.  I have all the students' kits ready to go.  Now I need to make sure I have all my supplies, plus a project of my own to work on while I'm proctoring the Studio on the last two days.  There will be three of us going in my van, so we need to pack efficiently.

Weeks in Review

 Now that my photos have returned from the cloud, I will try to catch you up on the last couple weeks.

Devo and Sew - Several finished Log Cabin Star tabletoppers were shown.  I am so proud of my students!

These gals were my test group for a class I will be teaching at Quilt Camp at Cedar Lake next month.  Some have even been quilted already.

The Mamma Would Be Proud - No more monochrome plates at Chez Smith!

Remember the heated seats I didn't know I had?  Look what I discovered last week:

Yep, a sunroof!  And it's operable.

I spent several days in the sewing room last week, but forgot to photograph my progress.  I'll try to get pictures later this week.  We're heading out for an anniversary celebration at a state park later today.

Happy Labor Day!

Miracles Happen

I had tried everything I could think of to get my phone photos to upload to the cloud.  I deleted bunches of photos from the phone to make room, I read the phone manual, I went to icloud.com ... nothing worked.  Until I installed a new phone ios update yesterday -- and suddenly 50 photos appeared on the computer!

So now I can show you my latest DrEAMi project.

The block is called Crossroads (or sometimes Patience Corner) according to Julie's Quilts and Costumes.  Julie found a handy tutorial for the block at Connie Kresin's blog Freemotion by the River.  

I have 20 (out of 30) 12-inch blocks ready to sew the last seam.  I have used many stray jelly roll strips in a plethora of bright colors (though the above block is not representative of brightness) and still have not made a dent in my strips.  Getting the blocks all together will be my next Devo sew day project.

We have a church golf outing this afternoon and I have not swung a club since last year's outing.  Wish me luck.  At least it's a scramble and I can at least contribute to the team with putting.

Alligator Alley

 Yes, I live in the South, but not deep enough into the South to have alligators ... until I looked up on a recent morning ...

My Mother Would Be Mortified

 The Mamma always preached, "A colorful plate."

So what did I do for last night's dinner?

Orange salmon, orange carrots, and orange sweet potato fries!  At least it was the RSC color ...

Home Again

Truth be told, one of the reasons for my taking a break from blogging was a two-week trip to New England and environs.  (I don't like to announce in advance that we will be away from home.)  I had great plans to work on the computer problems when we had free time, but I left the manual at home!  So photo coverage is limited.

On our way up we stopped at a favorite state park in West Virginia (Hawks Nest), had a great visit with a grandson in Boston (also spent a day on Cape Cod), drove across New York to visit a nephew where my brother and his bride were also present, visited state parks in New York and Pennsylvania, spent one night on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and closed out the trip with a meet-up with my college roommate in North Carolina.  

Along the way, I gave a Christmas quilt to my niece-in-law who tends to go overboard on Christmas decor.

Me, far left, brother on the right

In North Carolina I gave another favorite quilt to my college roommate who has a cabin on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Taken at a Christmas Tree Farm and Winery

All-in-all, it was a fabulous trip (though I never darkened the door of a quilt shop).  And I'm happy to report that my back pain became less and less as the days progressed!  

Hoping to catch up with Mt. Washmore as well as the computer issues over the weekend.

Taking a Break

I would love to show you the beautiful Log Cabin Star table toppers my Devo-mates made in our recent class, but my photos are still not downloading.  However, I can show you some of the progress they made in my class.

I am going to take a brief hiatus while I reorganize my computer files.  In the meantime, enjoy this recent sunrise over the dam.

PS:  I'm almost 100% recovered from my recent hospital experience.  Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers.