I'm Still Here

 

 



I've been back at work for seven or eight weeks now and am once again discovering how much that interferes with sewing time.  Work has been busy as I adjust to two new schools, but this past week, I felt as if my head was above water.  At least I wasn't running through lists of things I needed to do through my head every night.

This fall, though, it's not just work that is taking up my time.  I've been going to physical therapy in the evenings to relieve the lower back and shoulder pain I've had for six months.  Sometimes the treatments and the exercises have caused the pain to spike for a day or two and I usually don't feel like sewing when I get home from the appointments.  I'm happy to say I've gotten a lot of relief and will probably be finished with therapy next week. 

Speaking of time consuming, we bought a new car.  Thank goodness I only do this every 8-10 years as it's not a quick process.  I love my new machine and will post more about it later.

Sadly, we also had to make a trip to Colorado for the memorial service for my aunt who passed away just a few days after her 94th birthday.   I wrote about her in this post.   What I didn't include at that time was our last in-person conversation in which she said to me, "I've had an amazing life."  That was so true.  After that visit, she continued to decline cognitively, but the week before she passed away, we had a wonderful conversation on the phone.  I'm sure she had no idea who I was, but she asked about me and told me it always brightened her day when we talked.  She touched so many people and some of them who worked with her more than thirty years ago took the time to write very moving tributes.  My husband and I took an extra day to go up to the Rocky Mountains and that was peaceful and healing as well.

The quilt above is about the only thing I've done this fall other than two more blocks for my BOM.  This quilt was for friends who had a little girl at the end of August and it was shipped off to them before she was a month old.  The fabrics (love them!) and pattern are from Pat Sloan's company, The Pieceful Quilter.  It was super easy although I couldn't bring myself to be as random about the pieces for the border as directions called for ("cut pieces of varying lengths"--too imprecise for me!).

I've been keeping up with you out in blogland and it seems that lots of you are having a busy fall, and have taken short breaks from posting.  Now that things are getting into more of a rhythm for me, I promise to be a more regular poster.