I'll be right upfront about this ... it's going to be a long post with lots of pictures. I've been so inspired and so (sew) BUSY!!
But first things first, I wanted to share about my doctor's visit yesterday morning. Thank you for all your kinds wishes yesterday -- it went well. After looking at the x-rays, the doc said that the bone growth was progressing nicely and the new growth was encompassing the donor bone. I mentioned to him that I had some discomfort when walking on the heel.
He looked at the x-rays again and noted that the screws do jut a little ... and he brought up last visit's x-rays to see if they were in the same place. They were, which is good; it means that the screws haven't moved from being walked on ... they just stick out a little far. If the discomfort continues, he might go in later on (4-6 months) and remove them. Nice!
He will see me back in two months. During that time I'm to progress to boot-free, full weight bearing walking, starting with an hour a day (which I'm doing right now -- LOL!), and to let pain be my guide as to how much or little I do. And to continue the ultra-sound treatments. So, good appointment. As an aside, when I asked him about his weekend, he told me it was a good one: he'd been fly fishing in Utah on Sunday and snow boarding on Saturday, and jetting about on Friday. Heh. Glad I could help. Hahaha!!
From there we went to one of my all-time favorite places for breakfast . . .
Cracker Barrel!
Yesterday was busy, full of meetings and errands. I did find an unlikely smile popping up . . .
Everything here thinks it's SPRING! I'm afraid they're all in for a rude awakening. Perhaps not, but I don't think winter has given up the ghost yet!
Okay, on to quilty things. First up, NewFO projects! I started and finished the quilt for Ellie:
I started the HQH 25th Anniversary BOM:
I was going to do a mock-up of the tiled pinwheel block I'd first drawn and then put into EQ:
But when I printed it out, it looks so complicated, I need to go back and see if paper piecing it might be easier. I did simplify it by making it just three colors instead of the original five ... that will cut down a little on the bits and pieces, at least for a mock-up block.
And I was *completely* inspired by a piece of art work done by the daughter (Heather) of one of my dear friends (Reda):
When I asked Heather if I could use her painting as a basis for a quilted wall hanging, she said no problem, she'd been inspired by something else! Okay then!
Looking at our flatscreen, I decided I not only wanted it that size, but that it would be the perfect cover for the TV when it was not in use (which is more often than not) and it would give me a terrific place to hang it.
Then I printed out the Scripture (which I'll eventually use to trace onto my fabric to be embroidered) on blank paper and taped it together so I could sketch it out. Mind you, my drawing abilities aren't top notch, but I think it gets the general idea across.
Then I spent some time trying to figure out how to translate this onto fabric. Applique? Fusing? Oh wait ... what about faux applique? That's something I've wanted to try, too! So I got out a little piece of scrap fabric and my colored pencils and went to work . . .
Here's what it looked like after putting on the textile medium to set it. I didn't have a brush and it would definitely need to be spread more delicately, but I think I like the look of this. I would stitch the verses on my four back ground fabric quarters (the green, blue, pink and grey) and then stitch the quarter panels together, and then draw the tree and leaves. I'll probably need to buy more colored pencils -- you have to press really hard to get the color!
I'm linking up HERE at Cat Patches for the NewFO's. There's been some really gorgeous new and interesting work going on that worth checking out!
And then I'm happy to report that I *did* work on the Free Motion Quilting challenge. Yay!! After lots and lots and LOTS (and lots and lots) of drawing out the leaves on paper . . .
I finally bit the proverbial bullet and put needle to fabric sandwich. I think this was a tough design to start with, and it went against what I'd been previously taught in FMQ (that the space you are going to stitch in should always be in front of your needle), so I had some overcoming to do.
One thing I always struggle with is ... nope, I drop my feed dogs (in fact, I need to remember to pop them back up) ... I always, without fail, forget to lower the pressure foot! It cracks me up and it always takes me a minute or two to figure out what's wrong!
I did find Leah Day's suggestion for using a self-threading needle to immediately bury your thread endings incredibly helpful, and I also was encouraged to see Frances Moore, in the tutorial video, stop and start ... in my mind I've always thought that FMQ equaled continuous, non-stop motion. Duh -- it's so much easier when you can stop and reposition your fabric!
I also found that the gloves really, really made a positive difference. My level sewing space if very small, so I definitely need to have a good handle (haha--pun intended!) on my material as I work with it.
It's not great, but it's much better and I do feel a little more confident in my abilities. I should really spend 15 minutes a day practicing FMQ ... practice makes perfect, after all! For the FMQ challenge I'm linking up over HERE at SewCalGal's blog for the January entry. Right now there are over 250 quilters who have participated!!
Okay, that should do it for me for today. I'm headed out to do a little [silver] fabric shopping (and I want to get one of those self-threading needles) and then I'm going to spend some quality time with my darling Ellie (and her mommy) and then tonight it's off to a Stitcher's Group sewing circle! A pretty darn good day laid out, if you ask me!
:)
