December 25, 2018

Time to start stitching again

I hereby resolve ..,,, OK, I know it is Christmas and not the new year yet. But I cannot wait. I must get back to stitching, sewing and creating.

The ideas have been whirling in my head. My daughter expects to deliver twins iMarch 6. My fingers are ready. And the eyes?

The new eye doctor suggested I match glasses to tasks. That means buying a bunch of readers with different magnifications.  I will use one when writing on the laptop. Another set will work for hand stitching and reading. I will use a third for reading the newspaper.

Funny, I thought I was losing the glasses with the fancy lens implants.

Still, it was good to learn I can now use readers as much as needed. This is the best the eyes will get. It was unsettling to hear the new doctor disagrees with the diagnosis and what was done. But the world is brighter and less painful so something was right.

Four major projects planned:

1) finish repairing my sister-in-law’s quilt. Her grandmother made this well-loved quilt in the 1960s. The quilt of recycled materials was a reward for breaking a habit. But age and lots of use led to holes in the quilt. The blanket used as batting has turned to threads. The binding is barely there.

She wants to keep as much of the quilt as possible. But I have had to replace some blocks. I found some material in the quilt itself. I found some shopping on the Internet - thank goodness for fabric lovers. The owner also shared some from her stash.

Everything is pinned into place. Some stitching done. But I need to finish stitching the new pieces and blocks onto the quilt.

2) start - and FINISH - the 2019 crazy quilt challenge of  a block each month. Each block must be at least 8-inches by 8-inches. I still haven’t decided if I will use my collection of Japanese materials or finish the calendar hangings. The guidelines allow us to complete  a previous challenge. It would be nice to finish the UFO. But that stack of oriental materials is so compelling.

3)  complete a crazy quilt using 2,020 materials, stitches, dodads, and other embellishments.  The deadline for this challenge is Dec. 31, 2020.

I am combining this with a long-time dream of a fabric Christmas tree wall hanging.

Of course, I have other UFOs to finish:

1) Katie’s quilt using T-shirts collected through the years.
2)) A quilt for my husband
3) A Nativity quilt

... and so many more. Unfortunately, I haven’t unpacked the sewing room so I can’t list them all yet.





August 6, 2018

Sacrifices required


Sometimes you do what you have to do to indulge in a favorite hobby. Yep. Glasses. Add in the special maginfiers. It is not pretty but if I used both I could almost see well enough to add a few more stitches.Oh yeah. I should have said this was a year ago and a lot has changed since then - a few eye operations, lots of eye training and I can see much better.

Day 264-5

1 year of stitches