Back fixed, slowly getting in the swing

The surgery went well and I am home being bored silly. Paperwork and TV are not my idea of fun. Today I started quilting. Half a good idea...half a bad one. I did get the quilt done, but now my back hurts. Tomorrow I will do things slower and pace myself.
Mr Wazoo has been working every day and between quilting and mowing he has been very busy. By 8PM he is dozing in the recliner, and by 9PM he is sawing logs in bed. I'm so happy that he has been keeping up with the dishes and taking the dog out for walkies. He'll be relieved when I'm 100%.
Here are a couple of the quilts we've done last week, and some photos of the class I taught in Venice. I had a great time there. The ladies were fun and all got the project close to finished!
Until next time, Cheers!

Mr Wazoo did this nice Irish block of the month

He quilted this fruity table cloth, too

He also did this watery beauty

And he loved doing this bright quilt

We both worked on this giant quilt

Mr Wazoo did this one, too

I swear I am going to make a quilt like this! I love the color placement. Mr Wazoo quilted it

He did this one today

This is the quilt I did today, not too big, but still too much for one day

some of the quilting. Next up, the Venice class! Enjoy the slideshow.

This photo slideshow created with Smilebox

My favorite quilt link party

I was reading one of my fave blogs (Nifty Quilts) and she linked up with Molly Flanders Makerie  for a show your favorite quilt blog entry. So here is my favorite quilt. I made it from a pattern in Sandy Bonsib's Sweet Treat book and added the applique to the border for a little extra punch. It was definitely my favorite to make and show.
Thanks to Mary for the opportunity to show it to you.
On the home front, my back surgery went well and I hope to be back at the machine next week.

Yippee!! Raffle quilt finished!

I finished the guild raffle quilt at 7PM and I am so tired!! Yesterday and today were 8 hour days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were 6 hour days and Friday was a four hour day. This doesn't include breaks and lunch...it is all quilting time. Yipes! I am so happy to have it off the rack and ready to go to the binding person.
I have Monday and Tuesday to prepare for my class and trunk show in Venice, all day Wednesday I will be there, Thursday evening is my other guild, and then Friday I will be off to the out-patient surgery place to have my back fixed. I think next weekend will be a wash out, but Monday I plan to be back at the machine for at least a couple of hours.
As for the raffle quilt; it turned out very pretty. It will be displayed, sent to quilt shows, and used for fund raising in local trade shows for the next year and a half. The show and drawing for the quilt isn't until February 2015. I'll blog about it when there are tickets to be had. I suppose it will be the standard one ticket for a dollar or six for five dollars.
Now, sit back and look at the finished product.

The quilt is king size, and features beach scenes done with machine embroidery

The inner border is pinwheel blocks, with background squares quilted with pinwheels

The central wedding ring area and the outer border have arcs of feathers with two sizes of piano key quilting treatments in the background

Each corner of the central area has a seaside motif in the quilting

The colored squares have a pinwheel feather in the quilting

another corner motif

The outer border

A look at the back

Moving along nicely

I worked all day on the guild quilt, and have almost all the background quilting done! I will finish up the last outside part of the last border, and then it's on to the colored areas. Hopefully, the entire task will be done by late tomorrow afternoon. At lest I hope so, because I have to prepare for my class and trunk show in Venice on Wednesday.
Enjoy a few shots of today's quilting progress.

Good news...Bad news

Bad news...I went to the back Dr today and I need surgery to fix the fractured vertebrae. On the bright side, it should help with the pain. Hopefully, I will have it done in the next couple of weeks and get back to my life as I knew it.
Good news...I am working on the guild raffle quilt and making nice progress despite being able to work for a few hours at a time. I did finish the king sized Sylvia's wedding quilt (from the Jennifer Chiaverini books) that I posted a view of last week. It is a fabulous quilt from a sweet lady.
Tomorrow, I will be playing a bit of hooky by taking my Red Hat peeps to a musical called Burt and Me about Burt Bacharach. I love the music and look forward to a fun afternoon out.
Here are a few peeks at the quilting in progress on the raffle quilt, as well as the finished quilt from last week.

Sylvia's wedding quilt- 140 blocks, all different

some of the 6 inch blocks

more fabulous blocks

border treatments

Guild raffle quilt

'football' quilting

I'm working the background first

feathers added, next comes the background fill

one of the embroidered blocks

Sat down and laid up

The surgery went well and I am now in recovery mode. I am so glad I have never been a bored housewife...daytime TV sucks! I have watched two movies and started viewing the series Vera on Netflix. Mr Wazoo is holding down the fort, cooking (?) doing dishes, and quilting. Molly doesn't understand why the big black thing is taking up her spot in my chair. Relegated to the sofa, she sleeps when I sit and goes along whenever nature calls and I have to get up. She steers a wide berth around the walker...it's pretty scary.There hasn't been a bit of pain. Better living through chemistry! Rehab starts Thursday, so I am taking it easy until then.
Tomorrow is Nifty Fifty and I think I will be sitting with my feet up making hexies. Sounds good!
Until then, here's what I can do with a cell phone and hours to waste.

Molly keeping me company

Big Black. My MD put his initials on my knee so he wouldn't mess up. Just some bandaids now!

Hmmm, Giada makes pizza. Okay.

During the pizza segment, I fell asleep. Oh well, it looked good. Molly never moved.

Great quilting day!

I set to work right away early this morning and by 6pm had all 140 blocks quilted!! Some of them stumped me at first, but the ideas came and the quilting progressed well. A half hour with the heating pad at lunchtime was the only pain control needed. My back is feeling better and I am happy that I didn't have to take pills today. I hope tomorrow goes as well. I may get the lion's share of the borders and sashing done.
Here are a couple of pics of the blocks. The photos aren't too good, but you get the idea.
Off to bed, and dreams of quilting!

Beautiful quilt in progress

I am working on a stunning quilt made by a friend in Venice, FL who now is not able to see well enough to continue piecing quilts. What a loss for the quilting community! Her quilts are always beautiful works of needle art and testaments to the quilters who preceded us. This one has 140 different blocks, each one is six inches square. Yowza!! Some of the pieces are really tiny, but all are perfect. No corners cut off or wonky square shapes...perfect. The applique blocks are equally wonderful, some done with machine, but most with invisible hand stitching. Her choice of fabrics is calm and sophisticated, using mostly Civil War reproductions. I just had to share it.
I finished the stitch in the ditch today and will venture into the free motion quilting tomorrow. I plan to repeat the same simple pattern in each block so the quilting doesn't overpower the wonderful blocks. I am not sure about the sashing treatment yet, but it will come to me, I'm sure.
My back is doing better today after a good and restful night's sleep. I sure don't plan to over-do it with the quilting. Four or five hours at the machine is the limit. Oh well, I got a bunch done today, so I am happy.
Mr Wazoo is struggling through a tee shirt quilt that isn't very well stabilized so it is somewhat wobbly and stretchy. The customer had never made one before. She did a pretty good job, but the quilter has his work cut out for him. I have every confidence he'll do it well.
Gotta go get some supper going...Somebody found fresh sweet corn at the market and he wants it for his supper. Mmmm, me, too!

some of the blocks

that's a quarter laying on the block

even tinier pieces

more blocks

aren't they wonderful?!

the mister is working this one

Woe is me!

One week home and my back isn't any better. In case you are wondering, I took the grandkids bowling in Texas and POP went my lower back. I couldn't unbend at first and couldn't swear (grandkids, remember) but it was as horrible as my other back tragedy a year and a half ago. Rats!! After a few hours, it had abated to a steady pain from the back radiating to both hips. Couldn't walk, sit or lie down without pain. Bummer. The rest of the trip I just gritted my teeth and went with the flow. The 1400 mile ride home was the final straw. Back at home, I went to the doctor and had some x-rays done. It looks like I may have compression fractures in my lumbar and sacral areas, so tomorrow, I am off to the MRI tube to see what the answer is. With Tylenol, Ibuprofen, muscle relaxers, steroids, ice, heat and rest I am upright and mobile and able to sleep at night and quilt 4 or 5 hours a day. Not too bad. Of course, I still have the torn meniscus in my knee, and the surgery is September 9th. If my head doesn't come unglued and fall off I may recover from all this!!
Mr Wazoo is back at the machine and did two matching twin quilts since coming home. I have been
s-l-o-w-l-y working on a custom quilt that has to be done by September 8. (I will have to take a week and a half off after the knee is fixed) There are quilts in the line and time is ticking away. I feel like I am swimming in mud with all this going on, but I am sure it will all work out fine in the end.
Thanks for letting me vent. For being so nice, I will now show you some more pictures of my vacation. ha ha ha...no slides, thank Heaven!

Phyllis and Ed, wedding day and 70 years later

grandkids in bumper cars

Jenny times the underwater handstand contest

Chikako whooped Andy at air hockey

Devin drives the killer taxi

Hot shot Hana scored big in the shooting game

Mom and Dad blowing out the candles on one of the cakes (yum)

happy cousins

cousin group hug

Even the boys were happy to be together!