Midweek: a birthday, travel preparation, and design wall

Look who had his 77th birthday today!
My gift to him was a box of handkerchiefs (his request) and three new-to-him books by the Durrells, two by Lawrence and one by Gerald. (We have enjoyed Gerald's writing for years and we loved The Durrells in Corfu on PBS this fall.)




This morning I took my sewing machine to the shop for an overdue tuneup. I didn't buy any fabric but I did buy two wool applique kits at 50% off.  They are May and June from "Bertie's Year" by Bonnie Sullivan.  I got all the pieces fused for the May kit. I'm going to use DMC floss for the applique and embroidery.

Bertie in May will be my take-along handwork for the ALA Midwinter Meeting  in Atlanta.  I leave tomorrow morning and return Tuesday.  My roommate is my longtime friend Pat. We are flying out and back on the same flights.   I  have printed the documents that will be easier to read on paper and bookmarking those I can read from my iPad. I have my schedule as completely worked out as I can, knowing that interesting opportunities will present themselves once I'm there. (The conference is at the convention center next to the football stadium where the Falcons will host the Packers for the NFC championship. 100,000 people are expected on Sunday afternoon.)

The conference will be a test for my foot. I plan to wear sneakers -- my regular size (8) on the left and a 9.5 wide on the right. At least the laces coordinate!  I went to the podiatrist yesterday. The wound has healed fine, but the peroneal tendon is still inflamed. (I had never heard of the peroneal tendon, but I certainly know I've got one since it hurts.)  He gave me a prednisone shot and said to continue taking ibuprofen and applying the ice pack when I can.

On my way back from the doctor's -- it's about 12 miles from home -- as I was turning left at a busy intersection (US 45 and IL 120) at 4:30 p.m. (heavy traffic)  my car began running roughly. I was able to turn the corner and pull into a shopping center parking lot. Thank goodness for AAA! The tow truck came in half an hour.  The office personnel were closing up when we got to the auto shop and they parked my car inside the garage for overnight.   It turned out that the sensor light came on because the oil was down to a quart! I had neglected to get an oil change for months....and months....and months and there was a slight leak.  Fortunately the repair was finished by late this afternoon.


My WITB ("what's in the box") assessment uncovered purple triangles. This was the class project when Mary Fons came to our guild for this workshop in October, 2015. I figured out why I haven't finished this project. It's too darn much purple.  I *like* purple. This is just too much.


Rather than rip out several hundred seams I recut all the pieces -- from 5" to 4".  You can see the size difference in the second photo.


I put some of the recut triangles to work right away in my WITB / Spare Parts / Kitchen Sink project. (See the top right and lower left.) I have the upper left quadrant sewn together.  Arranging and rearranging these blocks has been great fun!

I'm linking up with other quilters at Midweek Makers .