February, 2017, Continued to be Eventful!

Life continues to be full of surprises; some of them pleasant, some not so pleasant!

My birthday was February 16, which made me almost ancient!  My DIL made Chicken Enchiladas for my dinner, and my son had this cake decorated for me.  He told the girl it was for a quilter and to try to do something that looked "quilty".  Here's the result:  (See the squares at the top?)

A couple of days after my last post, my DIL and I went to Waco for the Heart of Texas Shop Hop and the Homespun Quilter's Guild of Waco Quilt Show, both in the Waco Convention Center.  We arrived at 10 AM.  We decided to see the Show first so we wouldn't have to carry anything we might buy.  It was a very good show, with some very striking and beautiful quilts!  Here are a few of my favorites.

Ring of Fire, perhaps the most striking quilt there!

A bargello; probably my DIL's favorite

My Favorite-beautiful applique and quilting!

Interesting - Can you find the block(s)?

Gorgeous use of vintage handwork!  I AM going to try this sometime!

Historical marker in front of center; Fountain below.

Water flows over the top all the time

It is a beautiful tribute!  May we never forget the cost of our Freedom!

Next we walked the Shop Hop floor.  Vendors were there from all over Texas, one from Arkansas, and one from Illinois I think.  We enjoyed looking at everything, but I didn't need a thing, and my DIL didn't have much money to spare.  I bought a couple of things for her; 3 yards of red "heart" fabric for a backing for her GD's heart quilt like mine, and also a 24" 10-degree wedge ruler.  The vendor had a table topper made with the ruler, and she remarked that the topper would look great on my coffee table; it will be somewhat like a bargello thingy.  We both liked it, so I bought it for her.

For myself, I bought a pattern by Nancy Rink Designs, "Strip It Three Ways".  We saw it made up, and I liked it; don't know when I'll get it made.  Then at one booth, we watched a demonstration of  the Westalee Ruler Foot and various Westalee rulers.  I had been reading about them on Amy's Freemotion Adventures site, and I knew from her blog that the foot would work on my Janome 8900, though I had never really thought I would want the foot, much less the rulers. Yet I was intrigued to see them in use.  They were a bit pricey, and we walked on.  Later on in another booth, we saw a display of them, and they had posted a deal that was not quite so costly.  Okay, enough of this rambling; here's what I bought!

The foot was in the first package; it's on my machine below.

See the notch in the front of the enclosed circle?

I stitched about 10" on a scrap sandwich to make sure it fits my machine, and it does.  I then used the starter ruler to stitch an oval.  I was satisfied with it, but had to quit at that time, and I have never gotten back to it, except to take the picture today.  I think maybe someday I'll be able to learn to use the rulers, and oh well, if I can't, maybe my DIL can.  I just have to make the time, and right now that's not available.  Can you believe that?

We were both about worn out and decided to head home soon.  She left me at my house at 4 PM, and I showered and changed to dress clothes, and arrived at my town's Convention Center at 6 PM for the Annual Firemen's Award Banquet.  It was so much fun to see all those guys I used to work with, but that thing lasted until 10 PM!  I just thought I was tired when we left Waco!  Now I knew what tired really was!  But I wouldn't have missed it for anything!  It was a delightful evening!

The next week was pretty quiet.   My son took me to get 14 big bags of mulch for my rose garden, and we got that out on Tuesday.  Of course,I (we) had pruned and fertilized the roses the week before. Doesn't the rose garden look pretty?  (Sorry it was shady.)  I should take a new picture.  Today, six days after this picture, all the roses are fully leafed out, and two have two blooms open and more buds forming!  I guess the fertilizer is helping!  Also in February, we had 14 days that were over 80 degrees; that always helps!

 I went to church quilting on Thursday, and then on Friday, my DIL came over to use my table to sandwich her GD's quilt.  That's when the fun began again.

We were in my guest bedroom for some reason when all of a sudden I fell.  I don't know what happened; I didn't pass out; I didn't hit my head.  My DIL thinks I tripped over my own feet. I just collapsed in the 15" wide space between the chest of drawers and the Barrister's bookcase full of quilts, in the picture below.  My "rear" exactly fits there!  The bed is about 15" from the bookcase.

I had no place to go so I just crumpled down, feet and legs going every direction!  Scared my DIL to death almost.  The right side of my body from shoulder to ankle scraped down the edge of the bookcase and indeed knocked the glass second from bottom to the floor, but it didn't break.  I was able to get on my knees after a few minutes and pulled myself up with the bed.  I didn't bleed anywhere, but boy, do I have the bruises!

I realized my shoulder and arm were hurt pretty bad, but I was determined we would get her quilt sandwiched, so I kept quiet.  My right lower arm seemed to work fairly well (and still does) in spite of the huge bruise just below my elbow, but I could not, and still can't, raise my arm from the shoulder,   My son insisted and took me to the doctor Monday, and after lots of x-rays, I learned I have no broken bones, but my rotator cuff is messed up, not enough for surgery, but therapy will be necessary.  I guess that will be scheduled next week maybe.

I didn't feel like going to church Sunday, and I couldn't have played the piano for SS anyway.  In fact, I haven't done anything much since I got home from the doctor Monday.  Now I can move my hand just fine if I don't have to reach up or to the side.

I guess we could sum all this up by stating that this old lady is just an accident looking for a place to happen!

One thing I have done is some catching up on printing my blogs for my notebook.  Remember back when APQ closed down our blogs there?  I did manage to print all those before they were deleted by APQ.  I'd hate for that to happen here; it's my record of all my quilts!  I had already printed a lot of my Blogger ones, but I did more this past week.  I think I still have a few more to print.  I hope my kids (and my DIL) appreciate all that ink someday! *giggle*  Have any of you been printing yours?

So that's my February!  And now it's March 1, 2017!  I'm hoping things get better for me.  I did a little thinking and planning yesterday on what my next quilt might be.  I can't believe I haven't sewed a bit since before Christmas!  I think I've read almost every quilting blog online, and a lot of them are really good!  I've really enjoyed reading about all my bloggin' buddies have been working on.   I'm looking forward to trying to get something started soon.  I just have to have something to show in March!

Don't give up on me yet!

---"Love"