Quiltus Interruptus

Well I'm deep into panic mode ... I'm sure I'll never get the stupid thing done. Why do I think I can work full time, go to quilt shows on the weekend, visit family and friends, do my spring cleaning and still complete a dual challenge for the two quilt guilds I'm in ??? Am I superwoman ??? No - just crazy or overly ambitious!

Well, it could be that I was truly inspired - yeah, that's right, inspired! Aha! The one guild's challenge is anything to do with Elvis. Hmm, ok, I'm a wee bit young to have experienced Elvis, but I do remember my aunt taking me to see the movie Blue Hawaii .
Now the other quild used a fat quarter of Laurel Burch's Ocean Songs fabric. So, I decided to make a wall hanging using the Hawaiian quilting technique, with lots of fish - some of them blue of course - and fussy cut some of the Laurel Burch fabric around the outer edge. Well , so far so good.

I do a search on Amazon and find just the perfect Hawaiian quilt book. It appeals to me for multiple reasons, one being that the proceeds go towards the Hawaiian Humane Society, the other being the lovely cat pictures ... (No, there will be no cat in my wall hanging!) So, I order the book through my local University bookstore and it arrives just before Xmas - wohoo! Again, so far so good. I get started doing the applique in the New Year and dutifully work away stitching this thing together.
Then - I get the brilliant idea that I have to do a whole lot of beading, and voila - it's now one week before the challenge is due and YIKES - I'm still quilting it! OMG I'll never get the stupid thing done!!! And I wanted to do a whole bunch of echo quilting around the outside, and a scalloped border - WHO AM I KIDDING?
Now, if only I could get the cat to stop nagging me to "play with me mommy - play with me" or "please mommy, let me sleep on your lap" I might - just might get the quilting done - of course it will be covered in cat hair - but it may just get done!

Wish me luck ladies ~~~

Adhesive Capsulitis - aka - Frozen Shoulder!

While I love Iris SweetiePie dearly, its ALL HER FAULT! While hanging a door into the laundry room, to keep Iris out of the laundry room, I fell off a small 2 step ladder and wrecked my shoulder. OUCH! One of those injuries where you lay on the floor breathless 'cause you can't even scream or cry. Well, that was before Christmas. Its now almost 4 months later, several hundreds of $$ later and I can kinda, just barely move my shoulder.
You always hear about these silly middle aged women (who me????) who experience silly middle aged injuries as a result of a silly middle aged fall. No - can't ever happen to me! Oh yeah?
It's oh so much fun (sarcasm intended) 'cause its one of those invisible injuries people can't see. If only I'd fallen and broken something - I would have had a lovely cast to boast about, and even better I could have stayed home from work! Arg!!!
As it is I have one left arm which only functions at half mast. The physiotherapists keep asking me if I'm in a lot of pain - well, no not really, but this dull unrelenting throbbing ache is really getting on my nerves, and the lack of mobility keeps startling me ever time I reach out for something and miss the mark... Then there's the lack of sleep ... can't sleep on that side you see, well, that's just doing wonders for my sunny dispostion - ha! And they say it could take up to a year to fully recover. AND I DO EXPECT to FULLY RECOVER!

Taxes ! Arg !

Taxes - taxes - taxes. Have I told you that I'm math phobic? There must be a specific cognitive disability for those afflicted with the curse of numbers having no meaning . The larger the number the more meaningless it becomes, especially when the number is related to space, size or money! Oh, I can tell you that 5,000 is larger than 500, but it might as well be 5 mill or 5 gajillion. Comparisons I can make, but relating to big numbers is impossible. Perhaps that's why I'm a pointless person rather than a pointed person (quilt talk).

Anyway, its tax time and once again this year I challenge myself to do my own taxes. Many many, many years ago a sympathetic friend taught me the tricks of using the calculator. I simply do not understand the math of why I press .05 X some number in order to get a percentage, but that doesn't matter. What matters is I can still get thru the complicated mess of doing my own taxes, and come within $40 of being correct (that's my personal wiggle room). This year I used an online website to check my math for me ..... and I was within ----- Ta Tata Da ----- $21.04. Not bad eh? I'm happy - so off it goes to the man so I can get my $$ back!
Yeah!