Quilter Fail

OK, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and this is no different.

I finally finished a BOM from Country Threads quilt shop.  Jo at Jo's Country Junction mentioned it last year and so I did it.  I used the colors from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for the fabric selection.   (Got it?  January's block was pink because the Rainbow Scrap Challenge said to use hot pink.)  So I got the blocks all done in January.  Then I saw the layout and didn't like it.  At all.

So I've got 4 Fab 4's going at once.  Yes, I know.  Leave me alone.  Fab 1 are 4 quilts to finish.  The BOM is in here.  Fab 2 are all king sized quilts for our bed.  Fab 3 are all baby quilts.  Fab 4 are all string quilts.  So I've decided to only work on these 16 quilts.  (I have serious quilter's ADD.)  So one week I finish a quilt to the hand finishing point.  The other week I work one 1 quilt in each of the 4 Fabs and do one step.  It could be a small step or a large step.  Doesn't matter.

OK so week one, it was this BOM quilt.  Last weekend I laid out the blocks, made a few filler 9 patches, figured out sashings. cornerstones and the backing.  I decided to use the Machine Quilting in Pieces method by Marti Michell.  I took pictures of the process.  I paced myself during the Stashbusters retreat cruise through the Pacific (I got off in Australia and went to New Zealand and go to Middle Earth watching Lord of the Rings.) By the end of the first disc of Return of the King, the binding was on the quilt.  Hooray!

So I then did a quarter of the blocks for a quilt from Fab 2, and thus ended last weekend.

So this weekend, I sewed a quarter of the blocks for a quilt in Fab 4 and picked out 2 seams from Orca Bay (a row upside down right in the middle of that damned thing).  (I still have some FMQ to do on one from Fab 1.)  I hand sewed down the binding of the BOM quilt while watching TV with my DD on Friday night and Saturday nights.

So this morning, I put the quilt, along with 2 color catchers, in the washing machine.

It unbalanced my machine.  I could just cry.

The sopping wet quilt is in my bathtub.  Another load of clothing has been run through the machine and it's fine, but it jostled loose the tube from the dryer.  I can't win for trying!

And so the story of how the machine quilting in pieces went is delayed.  Stay tuned.

Bronchitis FTW!

Yes, folks, I have bronchitis.  However, this is I think the first time I've had it since I outsourced my dog for her retirement.  So it's been a long time.  And it didn't feel quite the same way.

Monday started with me waking up at 5.30am going 'there is no way I can go to work.'  And so I didn't.  Things got moved, backups took over, etc.  Tuesday I felt better and by the time the day was done, I was climbing the walls.  I needed to go back to work.

And then at about 2.30 this morning I coughed the horrible cough of bronchitis.  The grip of death was on my windpipe.  I didn't exactly get much more sleep after that.  So I called in this morning.  Actually I don't call anywhere; I email.  It's not like I can talk or anything.

The doctor's office opened at 7 and they had no room at the inn.  They sent me to urgent care, who opened at 8,  By 9, I was home, diagnosis and McDonald's breakfast in hand.

Meanwhile I had been running a low grade fever.  But of course the batteries decided to die in the thermometer, so instead of going straight to Walgreens after the doctor, I went home, ate, fished out the dead batteries and then went to Walgreens.  I was home by 10am.

I took one hit on the inhaler, breathed deeply and took a nap.

I then went on a conference call, did some reading and grabbed my kid from school because her bus broke down.  She and I ran to the grocery store and now we are home.

Meanwhile I need to study for my hopefully very last insurance exam.  And take my steroids.