Don't the couch and desk look lonely? It will be at least 3 days before the rest of the furniture is moved back in. I know it looks kind of gray in a photo but the carpeting is taupe, black and white tweed. Taupe is a grayed beige so I figured when the time comes for repainting either gray or beige will work on the walls.
Today I will be visiting my primary care doctor and next week I will be going to the device lab to have my pacemaker and my incision checked. Only 3 more weeks before I can raise my left arm above shoulder level. Reading the pacemaker manual is sobering. No cell phone or cordless phone within 6" of my pacemaker but using a microwave oven is safe. Lots to remember.
It was a crew of 2 that arrived at 9:45 a.m. yesterday and they had to tear out the old carpet first. At 5 p.m. they were exhausted and still had this wall on the left and around the fireplace to finish. I told them it was OK with me if they wanted to finish this morning and they were happy to leave.
I was surprised when I saw a piece of the carpet close up that it is black and white twisted, taupe and white twisted and plain white. I don't know what percentage of each but I'm really happy with it. I thought it might be darker than my old carpet but it looks to be close. It is made of 50% recycled bottles spun into fiber and very soft.
I sorted 1.5" strips all day. I was looking for the ones that I had 3 or more of. This is one container repacked with one of each of hundreds of batiks, 2 layers in there.
This is the bunch I will be working with. The roll to the left is 2 alike of many batiks, the other larger roll is anywhere from 3 to 8 strips of each fabric.
Today was the big day to take the bandage off my pacemaker surgery site. I was nervous. My daughter-in-law came over to do it for me. The good news: it looks OK, no infection or any of the other gross things they mentioned I might find. My son mowed my grass, DIL watered all of the pots of flowers, more than 20 of them. Then I finally was able to shower and wash my hair......after 5 days I needed that.
I went out to check on the Dahlias and the yellow one is finally blooming and has one more bud. I cut off the last of the burgundy color flowers too. See how tiny the burgundy one is. It is more like teacup size than dinner plate as the package said it was.
Today the big Sandwich Fair (DeKalb County, IL) opens and will run through Sunday, the largest and cleanest county fair in IL. It is usually really hot for the fair, almost unbearable in the center of the buildings on the grounds and this year it is in the high 60s and low 70s for the first time in many years.
Today also the carpet gets laid and I'm looking forward to that. I had my DIL bring up from the basement 2 boxes of 1.5" batik strips that I cut many years ago and I will play with them while they guys lay the carpet.
Thanks everyone for all of your comments and emails. I'm not up to answering them yet, but I really, really appreciate them.
Yesterday morning I went for a walk through the back garden with my camera. This is on a Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant.
Here is one on another Jack plant. I have them coming up all over in the shadiest part of the garden.
Here are 2 little Carnation flowers with some more buds on the plant. It has been dry for so long so I hope they can take the dry weather and not die yet. With our really cool nights ahead this week I think a lot of plants will go into their autumn mode.
I came around to the front yard and saw there were enough nice zinnia blooms to pick a bouquet.
Say goodbye to this 22 year old carpeting with the ridges at the center as you are headed to the dining room. Sunday 3 strong men in the family and my strong daughter-in-law came and moved all of the smaller furniture. The guest bedroom is filled to the brim and some of it is in my sewing room.
Say goodbye to the huge rust stain created when one of the bleeders in the hot water heat system broke and flooded this part of the living room. Notice how pink the carpeting is at the left? It is taupe colored carpeting that turned pink under lots of the pieces of furniture and had a green cast in other areas. I am so happy to see it go. New carpeting comes tomorrow. I ordered it the Saturday before my health declined and I got the Pacemaker.
I am restricted on the movement of my left arm and how much I can lift so I haven't tried to do anything in the studio yet. I'm used to picking up heavy piles of fabric and I can't do that right now. The bandage comes off tonight so I'll know how it looks. I will wait until after my one week check up before I do any cutting.
This is one of my favorite colorwash wallhangings from 2016. I like all of the ones I make but always have a few favorites.
This is my favorite large couch quilt from last year. I quilted it on my regular sewing machine. Here is the story on this one plus a look at the back.
This little quilt was a favorite from the time I started working on it. I love the way the stars intermingle with each other. It's story is on this post.
I have 4 favorites from 2015. This first one is the banner I was commissioned to make for a friend's church. Here is a link to it installed at the church.
This is the first attempt at a colorwash with Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I think it turned out pretty nice and I have been cutting squares to do a larger one next.
I really like this Wonky rainbow wallhanging too. It was made mostly from strips already in the scrap bag. I just had to special cut a few colors including the last one that sort of serves as a border.
This X and + quilt was the rage on the internet after someone posted a photo of a quilt in a show in Japan. It does link back to a traditional block too. I now have the die for the long diagonal corner piece in each block so I don't have to use the connector corner method if I make it again. I really like this one and it is a nice couch quilt size.
Thanks everyone for the outpouring of love and good wishes yesterday. It brought several of us to tears as we read all of them. Last time I checked there were 93 messages of love from you readers of my blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, the heart that almost stopped beating.
I was totally blindsided by the events of the past few days. I ended up getting a pacemaker put in. This is the same person who walked 55 minutes mowing grass 2 weeks ago with a push mower. I was going downhill fast since last Saturday and this is why I couldn't get any quilt finishes in the last few days of last month.
I won't be answering any comments but do enjoy reading them. Thanks for those who sent good wishes the last 2 days either silently, through comments or emails.
I will do a couple more look-back posts in the next couple days.
