Monday, Monday

So far this has been a fairly uneventful day that followed a basically lazy Sunday. No sewing or hand work but I did consider it however briefly. Pam and Norma are issuing a challenge to we 5 FAB members and the result is a pass along gift to a fellow FAB. After a run through my pattern files yesterday, I totally know what I am doing on this super secret project. SSSSSSSH

I took the picture of the tshirt quilt before I had added the top and bottom borders. I sewed the side ones on as part of the row itself which made that far easier but needed the master bedroom floor to deal with the rest. I was done with the top by Wednesday afternoon. The backing fabric arrived on Friday so a quick pre-wash, ironing and piecing job happened. Now to deliver it to the long arm quilter.

There is a new quilt shop that opened near the longarmer's place in Boaz (AL). We met them at the Geraldine Quilt show in late March but one of the partners was the guest speaker at the quilt guild in Jacksonville recently. Some of the girls in my group were talking about going up there. I said I would be headed that way soon and they could ride along with me if they wanted but the date was undetermined til I got that top done. Saturday morning the phone wires were burning up between our homes so it looks like we take our little field trip on Weds. afternoon. It works out well as Beverly has one to pick up from the same longarm gal. Woo hoo--always a fun time with friends.

So what have I been doing between Wednesday and that lazy Sunday? I spent a good chunk of three days quilting Sarah's heart memorial quilt
shown HERE. Fairly wide crosshatching around the center medallion and stitch in the ditch around all the heart block components--a little time consuming but it looks good on front and back. I knew that the side borders and the sashing bit needed some fill work done there. I stink at free motion and asked Aline if she would do the honors there--she had done such a lovely job on her Red Velvet Cake quilt. Then I found out that she had HAND done that but she was still going to take care of it. What a pal! I didn't get a picture of it before I passed it off yesterday afternoon other than the one of Skyler giving it the kitty stamp of approval. You probably won't believe this but that was the first time he seemed even remotely interested in sitting on one.

The heart quilt was the first one I had quilted in months in some time. I know I had not tried to do any since my machine had gotten back from the shop or Skyler had come to live with us in early April. No quilting in almost two months? That has got to be a record for me. Pat has a long arm and offered to quilt a few of the tops that will be going to Pam's M2M project so that lessened the stack a bit though I needed to un-pin them before I packed them up. (Thanks again, Pat!!) I still have a couple here that I will tend to and will start that after lunch today--Pippi's Memorial quilt and a Grandma's Scrap bag that my mom sent most notably. The rest stay here for WTIL donation.

So how is Skyler doing after the declawing procedure? The front paws look pretty good--no bandages with the laser procedure. No bleeding, swelling, drainage but the whole thing took the wind out of his sails. They shaved his pretty white fur on the front paws and a patch off one of the hind legs too. I suppose that was for the IV meds he received. Much less active since he came home on Friday though he shows signs of wanting to play today. Naturally his gait is affected a bit and he is apt to lift one paw off the floor when he is sitting. All in all, recovering nicely, I would say. The little booger hates the antibiotic though. I'm a nurse so I can get it in his mouth but this morning I found out that I can't necessarily make him swallow it, LOL. Still being a mean kitty mama.

Other than that, DJ's and my trip back to IL has been changed around a bit. Saturday he mentioned an idea he had---how about I fly back to IL a few days ahead of him? He would leave in the time frame we usually would, taking Skyler to be boarded for a few days on the way out of town. He suggested that I check into the airfare online. If it was reasonable and our families were amenable to pushing it back a week, then we would book it. So I'm flying up to Bloomington one way and then riding/sharing driving chores on the way home. We usually stop overnight on the way up so even though the first day is long, he feels he can handle it. I won't feel like he just drug me in and out in three days and barely got to see anyone. Maybe we can get a few more of those quilts pinned, Mom. Woo hoo and thanks, DJ!!

That's it for me---time to make some sandwiches for our lunch----till next time and thanks for stopping by.