Lovely.

My friend and former manager, Judy, stopped by on her way back to California.  She’d been in the DC area getting together with some of the folks that went to Brazil with her 40-some years ago.  It was an unofficial set of events, in amongst one official event but the Peace Corps’ funds were limited so the others had to come up with some events of their own.

We went out to dinner and then she and I had a lovely chat for a couple of hours before an early crash due to the hour at which I had to get her to the train station in the morning.  She was flying out of the former National Airport (sorry but I won’t say that name on my page!) and the train is the easiest way to get her to the airport.

I’m busy finishing up three projects for my quilt guild.  The two table runners and lap quilt will be prizes in Quilt Bingo which will be held on October 2 (if you’re in the Bowie, MD area, let me know– tickets are $15/for 16 cards).  I have to bury threads and stitch the binding down but other than that, I should be done soon.

The good news is that I can get started in loading up a new quilt on Friday night.  On Thursday evening, I’m going to start a Disciple I class and on Saturday, I’ll be at a laity meeting for my church.  Sunday, of course, is the Quilter’s Bible Study so I won’t be back to my quilting until Monday!  Way too long of a break, but I may be able to get in a bit of hand sewing in the interim.  Even that makes me feel like I’m sewing/quilting.

And, of course, another End of Quarter is upon us– Joy, Joy!

Due to changes for our plans the weekend before Thanksgiving, I’m going to be able to do a quilt retreat weekend through my guild.  As if I don’t get enough time sewing, I’m going to take three days (really about 48 hours) and go sew with a bunch of other people for a weekend.

They provide 3 meals for Saturday and 2 for Sunday, plus a place to plug in and sew to your heart’s content and a place to sleep (cot-like with mattress).  I’ll use a sleeping bag with the mattress and my regular pillow but, I am really looking forward to it!

There will be a potluck on Friday and apparently, everyone brings munchies to share during the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday– between quilt snacks!

I don’t know if it was continued post-episode Vertigo symptoms or what but I had some very flu-like symptoms, including sleeping for about a half hour after work, with no problem falling asleep last night.  Kinda puts a crimp in my sewing time, ya know?

I finished reading “A Place of Execution” by Val McDermid which is about a 12 year old book based on a murder in the early 60s.  Coincidentally, I found out that there was a BBC production of a Masterpiece Classic of the book and I found it on Netflix.  Due to the not feeling well bit, I watched that and, as usual, the book is much better.  There’s a second episode that I’ll watch at some point but I already don’t like it as much as the book because there’s a different twist that isn’t as believable in the movie as in the book.

Monday I had to have continued testing to verify the Vertigo diagnosis.  First I was tested in my hearing but that’s remained about the same– 30% ability to hear anything in my right ear or a 70% loss, depending on whether your glass is half full or half empty.

Then we went on to the Electronystagmogram (ENG) testing.  Lovely.  Really.

In addition to some exercises involving a light bar and laying down, there is the inducement of 4 separate and distinct episodes of Vertigo.  Lovely.  Really.  I flunked miserably, of course (I do have Vertigo, we know), and managed to not be functional for the rest of the day.  I called in sick, took my Antivert and promptly checked out for the day.

I kept thinking: “I’ll go downstairs and sew in a minute.”  Thankfully, I never got around to that minute– my concentration and functionality was pretty much wrecked for the rest of the day.

I don’t know why but I keep trying to tell my friend, Pat, that her birthday isn’t the 13th of September but the 23rd.  Every year, she insists on celebrating her birthday on the 13th.  Every year, I celebrate her birthday on the 23rd.  <Sigh>

I know for a fact that my not getting the date right started after we moved from California.  When we were in California, we would often go to dinner with Pat and her partner, Nathan, to celebrate her birthday so we’d always go out around the 13th.

Maybe in the last year that we were in California we celebrated her birthday somewhere around the 23rd and therefore, that’s the date that’s always stuck with me?   I’ll use that for my excuse, once again but . . .

Happy Birthday, my dear friend– the miles may separate us but we’re always close in our hearts.

Yes, I had fun . . .

‘Nuff said.

Last weekend I started a quilt but then realized that I was cutting it wrong and decided to go ahead with it after all.  On Thursday I realized that wasn’t a good idea.  I’ll finish that quilt another time but I wanted to create a quilt that followed the pattern so I started recutting on Friday night and finished that upon Saturday morning.  The rest of Saturday was spent doing laundry and piecing the recut quilt together but, about two-thirds of the way through, I realized that there was a problem with the cutting on this one, too.  <Sigh>

I finished sewing it (oh, well– nobody’s perfect, except God, and He didn’t make this quilt, obviously!) on Saturday, pieced the batting together (I’ve got more on order but I’m out of anything large enough for a quilt of any size right now) and pieced the backing.  I even went so far as to load the quilt top on Angel, the Fusion, but I didn’t finish that up.

Sunday morning, I was getting ready to go to church– super casual dress was noted on the Facebook page– and then a half hour later another message was posted about how you’re supposed to stay off the roads.  Now what do I do?  I texted with a friend and she said she was going to church but by this time, it was 10:30 and church was starting so I decided not to go.

I went back downstairs and loaded the quilt the rest of the way on the machine and ran out the design– “Safari”.  You’ll see a picture later, after the binding is sewn on.

Yes, I am just a quilting machine!!