Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday and I'm feeling rather accomplished.

I've been doing a bit of sewing for one of the local quilt shops for a few weeks. Last week, I took 40 half circle napkins and six fabric bowls to them. That was in addition to the original three fabric bowls I'd made the week prior.  These are the initial three. They're autumn, sewing room, and Christmas themed respectively.

 Next came the nested, matching set featuring snowmen. I was given enough fabric to make my own set as well, plus I got to keep all the leftovers and will have enough to make a matching runner for myself!

Then came three more singletons, although two of them are similar.

And then the napkins. I swear I was making napkins in my sleep.

So that's a chunk of recent projects. Here's a look at what Pixel was sleeping on in the last post. I made this for my mother-in-law for last year's Christmas. I used the 10 degree mini wedge ruler from Phillips Fiber Art. The pattern comes with the ruler. I started one for myself and it ended up put away somewhere. It will roll out eventually and I'll finish it. It's really a fun little project.

I was able to use up the leftover strip set pieces as well by designing a coordinating runner.

Pixel really liked the runner too. I was afraid my MIL wouldn't get them in the end! Well not really, since i"m bigger than Pixel. But I digress. The runner's corners and points are all rounded off to fit the style of the table topper better. I was very pleased with the results and so was my mother-in-law. I can't wait to see them in use this Thanksgiving.

I'm off to go have fun with FH and enjoy being alive. Take care!

A Year in Mourning

Or at least that's what it felt like.  I'll fill you in with the Cliff's Notes version.

While I was visiting with my grandmother for the last time I got the call that Marti, my friend I'd organized all the quilting miniatures for, had passed away. We wouldn't be able to make it home in time for her funeral because we were too far away. Plus she'd have wanted me to stay with my grandmother... so we stayed.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the time with my family, but it was bittersweet. Even in all the beauty that is our home. Gus enjoyed himself, despite being confused about sledding on dry stuff that didn't melt.

 Our time together was too short, but isn't it always? We headed home and I was numb. My doctor increased my medication doses and I voluntarily increased the visits to my therapist. Many small family dramas last fall made everything seem more intense and less deal-with-able.

 My grandmother passed in November, two days before FH and I were to celebrate his little brother's wedding. I was sewing around that time. Quilting to be more precise. I focused on projects and just tried to make it through the holidays.

I started to come out of my mental shell in March when another friend for guild, who was very close to Marti, passed away suddenly. For me it was like loosing Marti all over again. I hadn't really been able to mourn her before then.

I was starting to come to terms with things when I was rear ended by a hit and run driver. That wasn't very helpful to my mental health at the time. Fortunately I was only bruised and my car just needed new bumpers. Bumpers plural as he pushed my into the car sitting in front of me as we waiting on a red light to turn green.

Spring came and went without me really noticing. I knew there were things I wanted to do each day, but I couldn't make myself wake up enough to do them. Turns out I needed my medication dose lowered, which we did in July. It took a while for the effects of my meds to even out.

That's ok since I had all the time in the world to wait since in July I tore my lower trapezius muscle and right rotator cuff. That was the polar opposite of fun. I'm still fighting the physical pain from the incident as I type this. My doctor thinks there's a bone spur that broke loose and was hidden by tendons, etc during the initial xrays. Hopefully that will get dealt with sooner rather than later.

So that's where things stand at the moment. Oh and my father was diagnosed with Parkinson's too. Like he needed another autoimmune disease to peck away at him... *sigh*

But I finally have enough mental energy to start posting here again. It will likely be only once a week, like it was last year. I have been working on a few projects off and on for the last year. I'll be trying to fill you all in on those in addition to the current projects.

Here's a something I was working on last fall with a little help from Miss Pixel.

I'll tell you more about it next time. Until then!