Valentine's Day puffy things, mermaid quilt, chandelier QoV quilt started

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY…..I’m sending out virtual hugs and love to everyone!!!

I was up at 5:45 AM on Friday (2/14), to get in a quick shower before heading to Ballentyne for my early morning MRI.  For the past year at least, I have been in pain 24/7….and it has only gotten worse.  It is probably about a 2-3 out of 10 when I get up in the morning, but by the time Michael and I settle in to watch TV…it’s up around an 8 out of 10.  And it doesn’t matter whether I am standing/sitting/lying down/something else!  Some nights when we go to bed…and I sit on the edge of the bed to take my pills….I am squirming around like a 3 year old as it is hurting too much when I sit on a soft bed!  When I went to the doctor’s for my MEDICARE wellness check in January, he was alarmed at my high blood pressure….but deduced that it was due to the pain I was in (my appointment was at 4 in the afternoon).  Anyway, he ordered an MRI once I said I was tired of trying things to get the pain under control when no one had ever looked inside my body to see if they could identify exactly what was going on…..so today was the day.  Now we wait for results and recommendations. 

I was a lazy bum the rest of the morning, once again reading a book, but I finally headed to the studio in the afternoon.  I got a long overdue blog entry out, and wanted to mention something you may not think about.  I have had more than a few people tell me how much they love the blog…and love getting their ‘’Deb fix’’ for the day or the week….but I do not get the same privilege.   I could always do with a little encouragement…you know….a comment or an email indicating you liked something or had questions about something or better yet….telling me what’s going on with you!!!!! I do have a few people who faithfully comment/email and I treasure you and thank you!!!!  Anyway, something to think about…..

After I got the blog out, I started to load the backing for my WALK ABOUT quilt: 

By the time I got that set up, I was starving and headed upstairs.  It was date night, so Michael made puffy things…. potstickers:

and crab Rangoon:

and we watched a Jurassic World movie.

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Saturday morning was wonderful….we both sat in the living room, with the fire on, reading our books.  A gutter guy came by to fix our gutter in 2 places as it was pulling away from the house…and a longarm customer stopped by to drop off a quilt, but other than that, it was quiet heaven :~). 

I hit the studio in the afternoon to start quilting on the mermaid quilt.  I’m calling it the mermaid quilt as this is the focus fabric:

and so I’m doing a quilting pattern of waves….with fish in the waves: 

I spent the afternoon on that, and we had fish sandwiches for dinner while binge watching all 4 episodes of VIENNA BLOOD…..a TERRIFIC series on PBS.

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Sunday (2/16) was a bit more of the same….quilting on the mermaid quilt, and starting another sample for a class later this year.  I am teaching my version of the chandelier quilt….I don’t like all of the versions I see on the internet as I don’t like the way they make the block.  The way it is made, when you lay out your columns, one is long and every other one is short….giving you a big swath of background fabric at the top and bottom of every other row…here’s an example (not my quilt.....picture from Pinterest): 

See how every other row is shorter? When I first started to see these quilts….I loved them…but didn’t like that big swath of background, and every single quilt I saw was like that, so I decided to figure out how to get rid of it…and it was easy-peasy, so that’s what I’ll be teaching.  I also wanted to try to make it as a QoV and already LOVE how it is coming out (I’m laying it out landscape on my design wall).

(I flipped the picture just for you :~) Note the difference between the first chandelier quilt above from Pinterest, and mine below....…all of my rows of colors all go all the way to the top and bottom edges): 

My honey made spaghetti & meatballs for dinner and we watched 3 BILLBOARDS FROM EBBING, an incredible performance by Frances McDormand which garnered her an Academy Award win.

And 10 years ago....

-https://foodandfiberfloozie.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-finished-quilt-michaels-pen-ink.html

-https://foodandfiberfloozie.blogspot.com/2015/02/michael-left-around-9am-on-monday-216.html

*** Lead me not into temptation….Oh, who am I kidding?  Follow me…I know a shortcut! ***