Trying to keep busy!

I know it's been a while but I've been having some health issues again.  Golly, you must be as tired of me mentioning them about as much as I am.  I'm not going to go into the sordid details but if you are so inclined, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as we weather yet another blip on the radar.

I've been trying to keep myself busy both at the sewing machine when my knee will allow it and with hand work when my knee won't cooperate. Thanks to a couple of friends, I "rediscovered" the stop/start button on both my machines and this has helped somewhat in that I don't have to use the foot pedal but it does take a little getting used to.

When the pain in my knee subsides, I've been working at machine blanket stitching the houses for my "village" quilt.  Forty-two houses will be included in my quilt village...and that's a lot of machine sewing for a gimpy knee!

Over the past couple of days I've been trying to complete three or four blocks a day and at last count, I have ten more to go and then I can start to assemble the flimsy.  

I'm sure that I've mentioned this before so you are all probably aware that I'm NOT a batik kind of gal, but the person who I'm making this quilt for is, hence the choice of fabrics.  It's not that I don't like them...after all, I'm a child of the sixties who loved the tie-dyed look back then...but they're just not me now.

And when the pain in my knee becomes too much to handle, I work on making the 164 hexies that are required for the next border for my Brinton Hall quilt.

I should be finished those either later today or tomorrow which will allow me to move onto the next step in order to complete the center medallion.

I saw my first Mr. and Mrs. Robin in our backyard this morning, a sure sign that spring cannot be too far off.  We had a dusting of snow the other day which is almost all gone so they'll be able to forage for their worms and berries with ease.  By the time I got my camera, they had flown away, probably back to their nest building.

One last note and that is I hope that those of you who have asked me questions to which I've not replied are wondering why I haven't.  Honestly, it's not because I don't want to but it's because I can't.  You've come up as a "no-reply" blogger which means that you haven't included your email address in your profile when you set up your account and if it's not there, I have no way to contact you.  

Deborah Smith, I would love to answer your questions so what I'd suggest is for you to email me directly by clicking on the little vintage-looking post card on the right sidebar of my blog.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Time to go and give the chilli that's simmering on top of the stove a little stir.

Sure smells good in here!

Happy stitching!