Leisurely Days...

Quote for the Day:

Never work before breakfast; 

if you have to work before breakfast,

eat your breakfast first. 

~Josh Billings

I don't have to return to work till next Wednesday, so I'm really enjoying this time off at home!  I could really get used to this!  :D   I've been doing things around the house that due to my back pain and lack of time, have been put off for waaayyyyy too long.   I'm taking my time, setting the timer for 20 minutes and just doing tasks here and there...mainly cleaning and straightening up types of things.  It's amazing what you can get done in 20 minutes! 

Since finishing my whole-cloth quilt top, my quilt frame has been empty and my fingers can only stay still for just so long.  So yesterday I finished loading the next quilt top into the frame so I can get back to hand quilting.

Quilt top being loaded into the frame...

Here it is, ready for the first stitch!  :)

And of course, I jumped right in and quilted for a couple hours on it last night.  :D  I can't explain how hand quilting effects me.  It relaxes me and calms my mind and can almost put me into a zen-like state!  :)   It really is my "therapy".

I was disappointed in the whole-cloth quilt after it was washed and the blue lines were gone.  Because I had used white thread on white cloth, I felt like the quilting really disappeared.  I wished I had done it in a white-to-gray variegated thread so that the stitching would have been a little more noticeable.

Now that I realize that I *like* to see a little bit of the stitching, I decided to do this new quilt with a variegated thread.  I chose this one by Star.  It is a pale pink-to-biege-to-blue variegated thread.

It doesn't really show up in the blue area, and may not show up much in the other colored areas, but it should look really cool on the unbleached muslin back and in the cream-colored areas of the front.  :)  At least I'm *hoping* it will look good, anyway! 

This is also the first time I've used this brand of hand quilting thread and I must say I'm in LOVE!!!  It glides through the fabric like a hot knife through buttah!  


Since I haven't done any book reviews lately, I thought I'd throw some into this post.

I recently finished reading "Stuff:  Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things" by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee.  I found this book riveting and would definitely recommend it!

On a recommendation I started reading "Wisenheimer:  A Childhood Subject to Debate" by Mark Oppenheimer.  I read about half-way through it before I became too bored with it to finish it. The first part was about his young childhood and was very interesting.  However, once I got to the part about his debating in high school, it really became boring and repetitive so I stopped after reading about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the book.


As for my audio books, I recently finished two that I would whole-heartedly recommend.  First one is "Transition" by Chaz Bono.  It is the biography of Chastity/Chaz Bono...Sonny & Cher's child, and how Chastity transgendered into Chaz.  Regardless of what your beliefs are on the subject, it is an interesting and informative book.  Many, many years ago, as an ICU nurse, I had a patient that was in the process of transitioning from male to female, so you just never know when someone in this situation will cross your path.   

While on traveling to and from Tennessee this past week, I listened to the book "Inconceivable:  A Medical Mistake, the Baby We Couldn't Keep, and Our Choice to Deliver the Ultimate Gift" by Carolyn and Sean Savage.   Excellent, excellent book!   Have the Kleenex nearby! 


Well...I hear my quilt calling to me to come do some hand quilting!  MUST. GO. QUILT.  :)

Loretta