What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

So today, I turned 55 and spent the day at Paoli Hospital getting x-rays of my hands, feet, and knees. Fun time! I have had pain in those areas for the past year. I got blood work done last year, and my ANAs were high, which I guess is a sign of inflammation in the body. I got more bloodwork done over a week ago and am still awaiting the results. The X-rays don’t show anything abnormal. The results say normal mineralization, whatever that is.

The worst is every morning waking up ...

Believe it or not, but I still have a blister! Yes -- I'm wearing my Camino shoes to finish them off, so these shoes have a wide toe box, and they are a full size larger than my regular shoes, and I still get that mohawk toe callus on my right foot (baby toe). It's a result of the toe being crushed by the one next to it. And, of course, the side of the shoe. Actually, it's never had a chance to fully heal.

There was a lot of dead skin from the walk, but most of ...

LOL --- I guess I'm in between -- having read some of the Harry Potter books but not the entire collection. I've definitely not seen all of the movies - maybe the first two? I enjoy the books, and it's kind of fun to see the movie right after! I never used to be an audiobook kind of person, and I thoroughly enjoy having a book in my hand! There doesn't seem to be time right now, and the audiobooks are handy! I love that we have options! 

As for notes on the phone? That would be blasphemy! It ...

Autumn has well and truly arrived.  Cool mornings and evenings, the sun is rising later and setting earlier, but we are still enjoying nice crisp sunny days.  It’s time to ring the changes and hang my Autumn quilt up.  I love the rich golden colours in this quilt.  The centre baskets came in a kit sent to me from my pen friend  in South Dakota.  I wanted to make it bigger so put the baskets on point and added borders to make it a wall hanging size.  This was the first time I tried circular spiral machine quilting.

Baskets ...

This week we attended a family wedding.  The venue is so popular that Saturday bookings are not available for the next two years.  So Robin’s niece Hanah (daughter of Kaye and Jan from Nelson where we spent a wonderful Christmas) and her bridegroom chose a Tuesday wedding, followed by a casual BBQ lunch for all the guests on Wednesday.

It was a garden wedding, with guests from as far away as Ireland  from the groom’s side of the family.  When the ceremony was concluded, and the photos taken, we sat outside in the sunshine with drinks and nibbles ...

We spent the day in Palmerston North,  with a long list of things to do.  First up was a visit to Spotlight to purchase a cushion inner.  While I was there a lady wearing  a rather stylish 50s dress stopped me to comment that she loved my dress!  (It was a newish blue denim dress with embroidered flowers on the bodice and skirt).  Such a surprise, and not something which happens much, I must admit.   Of course, I had to return the compliment, as she really looked stunning herself.  A random compliment certainly makes your day and lifts the spirit ...

Life is certainly busy when you are retired.  In between dealing with my sore throat, it’s almost better, thank goodness, we had a few things to do.  First we had our second Covid booster shot.  With an appointment booking system, it was very quick, call in to the provider, register, answer a few questions, go and get the jab, then sit and wait for the required 15 minutes to make sure there were no complications.  And we never felt the needle at all, the practitioner was so gentle.

Covid booster reception

On the way home we went to collect ...

I’ve been “in the pink” again this week, stitching up more pink blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, starting with pink four patches.  The larger blocks are called Colour Chains, I believe, and I borrowed the idea of this block from Mari of the Academic Quilter’s blog.  I remember lamenting not too long ago that I was really had enough of making these four patch blocks, which have been carried over from last year’s RSC.  A count up has shown that I only need two more to have enough to make a quilt. The bottom two ...

It’s been a busy old time these last several days.  I was booked in for my annual mammogram in Palmy and we had a caravan rally to attend the following day.  So to cut down on all the extra driving to and fro we decided to take the caravan and stay in a rural POP (Park over Property) on Wednesday for two nights while we attended my appointment and carry on to the rally from there.  That worked out well.  Gemma enjoys coming away with us and was rather intrigued with the cattle she could see out the window ...

On our last couple of days in Napier we called into the cutest little sweet shop around, visiting here is just like walking back into yesteryear.  Remember all those boiled sweets from days gone by? Lovingly displayed in large glass jars, every type of sweet imaginable.   We replenished our supplies of blackballs for him, and acid drops for her. 

Birdwood's Sweetshop

Where to next?  It was time to purchase some tasty fresh cherries.  I love them and we knew there was a roadside stall reasonably close by.  Robin doesn't care for them, so they are all mine!  And ...

Where did this happen, you are probably wondering?  My neurosurgeon had requested an MRI of my spine to check on his handywork.  So I presented myself bright and early for my appointment to Pacific Radiology in Palmerston North.  What music would you like, I was asked?  After thinking about it I decided on Elvis, after all, I fell in love with his wonderful voice when my girlfriend’s brothers used to buy his records way back then in  years gone by.

So there I was, laying on my back, headphones on, cocooned inside the MRI machine for an hour, listening ...

A totally crazy day. I don't even know why I say that anymore since every day is crazy. I got a lot of paperwork done, but not as much as I would have liked. Hence, I didn't finish the class descriptions for my classes. HOWEVER, I'm going to give you what I have. And that's the information for classes on EQ8.

Note - the class platform is on ZOOM. Zoom is free, but you will need EQ8. I would strongly suggest that you link in through your tablet or a second computer, and use EQ8 on another ...