AWOL

I know, I know; I've been AWOL with no clue as to when I'd return or why I had disappeared. The last you knew I had my cast taken off and I was footloose and fancy-free again. Well, let's just say that was a very short lived state! Sigh. After a few days of catching up with all the tasks that required two free hands I contracted some sort of virus that presented with almost every symptom you could name: sore throat, headache, body aches, cough, congestion, nausea, fever... all of the above. However, the over-riding and longest lasting symptom was that of fatigue. I was wiped out. Some have suggested this may have been COVID, maybe it was, I had no test and was too sick to worry about that, I wouldn't have done anything differently anyway. I never left the house for ten days and really didn't even begin to feel anywhere even remotely like myself again for two full weeks! It was awful. This past Friday was the day that I turned the corner, there's life among the living again and I plan to participate fully! Whew. Moving on and catching up...

This bridge represents the road back to recovery; this is where I spent last weekend, on retreat! What a wonderful chance to just sit and stitch and visit with friends, it was the best of all therapy. I completed the table topper pictured above on Friday, I had already stitched up the pumpkins that formed the borders so they were ready to go. This is one of the Riley Blake Designs from last year's monthly table topper of the month program, this pattern, Pumpkinz Squared was a Lori Holt original. I can't wait to get it quilted up and on the table.

Take a look at this grand retreat space we had in which to work; isn't it the absolute BEST? My set up is in the lower right corner, on Saturday I pulled out the Snowflake blocks from a pattern by Wendy Sheppard, linked here. I got all twenty blocks pieced before the day's end, I felt like I had really accomplished a LOT. After I brought the blocks home, I arranged them on the design wall, moving and shuffling, until I arrived at the layout pictured below.

They will have sashing strips with stars in the intersections, a great winter quilt!

Here's a pinned-up version of how the intersections will appear. I plan to quilt this one with a panto that I've had for awhile, Swirly Snowflakes, I may even quilt it with a silver thread. 

With one more morning left on retreat I started the first block of Strawberry Jam; I guess you could say that I covered three seasons while I was away for the weekend! This was a limited edition kit that I purchased through A Crafty Fox last summer. You know I just had to have this; even though I rarely buy kits she had me at "strawberry"- throw in "limited number available" and I was on it! 😉 This quilt has twelve blocks with the cutest pieced lattice-style sashing. Stay tuned. 

One more thing happened during my blog hiatus, this precious boy celebrated his first birthday! He's pictured here with a chew stick that he got from his favorite canine friend. 💗 I celebrated a milestone birthday too, near the end of last month, but with the wrist and the crud it sort of all got lost in the shuffle; when I broke a molar after biting into a pretzel and spent the morning in the dentist's chair last Thursday I realized that I might just simply be falling apart! My Dad always said that aging isn't for the weak; I believe that he's right, these last few months have been taking all my strength! Ha! 

Life is Good!