Roses and peonies

What a way to start a Monday or a new week for that matter.  I got up early, cleaned the section of the house designated for today and even though the early morning, it was steaming hot.

Then I finished a stunning applique quilt I started this weekend and just had to add the final touches this morning.  So early morning, with everything that needed to be done, done I had the rest of the day to myself.

I am reading a good book given to me by my daughter and she came over for a quick lunch break from work and it is apparently going hectic by her work with them being short of staff but sadly the ANC controlled Free State health department does not have sufficient funds to employ more people, so they are basically milking the current workers dry.  They were even told not to ask for time off if their kids have a fever and this amidst the terror of swine flu running havoc in our province.

This morning I went shopping for fabric for the third course, by Adria Good, which I intend to do later this month. Now I just need to find some scrap fabric to practice on.

A while ago I had a lady phoning me to quilt for her as she needed quilts for her hand-designed wood furniture and by the sound of it, it sounded great and I agreed to meet her.  What an utter disappointment when she came over with heavily embossed curtaining, way too thick upholstery batting and backing only half the size of the top.  I then gave her a list of my needs but were so floored that I recommended another quilter hoping she’d fall for it.  Turns out, she did go to the other quilter, they too said they’re not prepared to work with her batting and told her to purchase larger backings.  Finally, today, she sent her daughter to fetch the curtaining from me and I am not even distressed by the fact that I lost a client.  I really did not want to do these.

For the rest of the day, I plan to pour myself a glass of cold wine, hit a bed with a ceiling fan and continue my book but first, this is the quilt finished this morning.

Hexagon quilt

This one got to me earlier this week from a first time, self-taught quilter and it is absolutely perfect.  She complained about having to unpick several times and I thought back of how much I unpicked my first quilt but mine did not turn out nearly as neat as this one.

The quilter also had a very good idea of how she wanted it quilted which left me with very little guessing.

Snowball quilt

Another fun little quilt with fleece backing came my way.  The quilter described herself as a minimalist and wished to have large scale quilting.  After pondering designs, she decided on the basic meander just much larger as I would normally stitch it out.  Her wish, my command.

I had a dental check-up today and all is good, now unless something really bad happens, I am fine for 6 more months.

Chevron quilt with paisley print

Off-topic…. I don’t get upset by too many things.  One that immediately comes to mind is cruelty against animals otherwise I’ve been hurt and disappointed so many times by family and friends that I expect anything from most everyone but yesterday was a day that truly upset me.

My youngest granddaughter had her second birthday on 16 October and at the party was a little friend that I got to meet.  One clever little angel who at the age of 2 years 1 month could say the whole ABC.  When one of the adults asked her parents if they were extremely intelligent at school, the dad replied that they weren’t but 2 minuses made a plus.

Then 2 weeks later we learnt that this little soul died.  Developed a terrible fewer, first diagnosed as an ear infection, treated and sent home where the fewer got worse to such an extent she had convulsions.  Her parents rushed her back to the hospital but when they got there, she already turned blue and her heart stopped.  I don’t know the actual reason for her death as this is not something to ask when everyone is so sensitive.  Yesterday was Lexi’s funeral and even if I only met her once, I was upset for the rest of the day.  Came home to our granddaughter who saw the funeral letter with the photo and immediately looked at it, pointing to the face and said “friend”.

Luckily, I had a stunning quilt to finish and at least there felt more accomplished and not so helpless.  This is another chevron quilt with a beautiful paisley print in between.

We decided to stick with the basic meandering and this quilt will go to the quilters’ “secret Santa” at the office.

For those interested, I just stumbled across a page with plenty of free quilt patterns over HERE.