March

March as been the longest month!  I'm glad it's over...I'm so ready for April and maybe a real spring.

Better...but... at least I'm still sewing.

I'm still not at 100%, so I'm taking it easy for this week as well. At least my brain feels like it's working, again. I have a nasty lingering cough.

Progress...I have made good progress on this top:

Here, it's just laid out for color placement.

It's a neat pattern. It's very forgiving of not-quite 1/4" seams and not quite matching points. The white outlines look good even if they're not all perfectly sized. 

Last night I got the whole top pieced. There's a border to do next. 

A Small Lesson in Compassion

I'm still sick. I managed to drag myself into work yesterday, and I felt pretty bad all day. Time slowed down as I worked at my desk, trying to keep to myself and get something done. I only hope I didn't give it to my coworkers.

Now I'm not even sure I'll be back to normal by Monday!!!

So, being sick all week has reminded me how others may feel, those who get sick more frequently than I do, those with chronic health issues that make them feel spaced out, exhausted, in pain, or dizzy all of the time. Not being able to get adequate rest is another lousy problem. The first two nights my throat was so sore, I could hardly sleep - every swallow or cough woke me up.

One week, whoopee - like that's even close to what many people go through.

Just another reminder to have compassion for others and not to take good health for granted.

PS. I did get to work on some quilting after all.

The flu

I acquired the flu. Most likely, the "infection" my husband had last week was really the flu and he shared it with me.

I have no energy. This is my 3rd day out of work, and they say I shouldn't go back until it's 24 hours after the fever breaks. I still have a fever as of this morning, so it sounds like I shouldn't go back tomorrow. I'm coughing, my through feels like it's on fire, I'm hot then I'm cold, and today I can't talk properly. This totally sucks.

I don't even have the energy to work on any of my quilt projects.

Enough whining for now. Back to my nap.

Charity Day 2011

Usually the guild's charity day is in February. This year it was in March because we got a real, honest to God blizzard on guild day in February. Everything was canceled.

I nearly didn't get to go. I was given the day off conditionally: if The Joint Commission did not come on Monday, I could have Tuesday off. We had a "scare" that they would come on Sunday afternoon. We were summoned to audit charts and give up our Sunday. Only to find out they did not come.

(For those who don't know, The Joint Commission is the main regulatory body in the US that oversees hospitals. They audit all hospitals periodically. The audits are supposedly unannounced, however, hospitals usually have some idea they are going to come.  In this case, our information was not accurate.)

Nevertheless, I got my day off.

I had a lovely day and I think it was a success. We had four project areas: a group that built tops from a common pattern called "Split Decision."Another area worked on strip foundation pieced blocks and making tops out of them. A third group took quilt "sandwiches" and did quilt tying. Others worked on anything they felt like. I did coordination.

I received at least 12 completed quilts for our charity. We have another 6 or 8 that need binding. Several new tops were completed. All of the batting got used up. Several other projects were completed. It was a productive day.

I was glad to be a part of it, and I felt so appreciated by the group. It made me feel even more sad that I will probably have to quit the guild because it is too difficult to get the Tuesdays off every month.