I've Been in Rehab

I'll bet that post title will cause some internet searchers to be surprised when pictures of my blocks of the month come up.  In spite of not sewing a whole lot in the last month, I have done a few more in the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM.  These are (mostly) fun, especially that top block where I constructed the center by piecing strips and then cutting it down to size.  And it worked!!  I'm still new enough to quilting that I'm sometimes amazed by what I can produce, with matching seams and everything.  This quilt has a long way to go as it has a large center piece and then stars in the sashing.  I'm not rushing it and just enjoying the journey.

Speaking of not rushing things, remember the Thimbleberries quilt border?  I'm still plugging away on it.  I sewed one strip of 27 half-square triangles together and came up an inch short.  I tried adjusting seams and couldn't get it to come out correctly.  So I employed my seam ripper and started over.  Last Monday afternoon, I was ready to join two strips together, one with 14 triangles and one with 13 triangles, when our power went out due to Hurricane Sandy.  Probably a good thing I had to take a break as the strip was still short.  When I got back to it this past weekend, I was able to adjust seams and everything measured correctly.  The second strip to go on the outside went together well and now it's just a matter of sewing on the corner block and putting it all together.  Then there will be four border strips to cut and sew and I'll be finished.  But again, why rush this when it's been a WIP for so long?

We were OK during the hurricane.  As I mentioned, we lost power for about 24 hours.  Monday was great as we had lights and heat and I was home from work.  Tuesday, not so much, as we didn't have heat and I knew I had to go back to work the following day.  I was pretty worried about getting a shower as we have an on-demand water heater that needs electricity.  We finally decided to go out to eat around 5:00 on Tuesday with the added motives of getting my feet warm and charging my husband's cell phone.  The lights were on when we got home and all was well again for us, but our hearts go out to those who are still without power and whose homes/businesses were damaged.

My sister and her husband were here from Iowa in the middle of October to attend a convention.  They have visited many times, so I'm always looking for something different to do when they are here.  This time we took the Philadelphia Chocolate Tour that had been recommended to me by several people.  It was lots of fun and actually rather informative.  Where else would I have learned that a restaurant in Philadelphia serves chocolate-covered bacon?   The bacon was good, but the real hit for us were the chocolate chip cookies at Famous 4th Street Cookies.  No affliation, but oh. my. gosh. were those cookies good--just the right amount of butter, chocolate and chewiness.  I'm gaining weight just writing about them.   The next day of their visit was much less caloric, but still fun as we took a trip to Jim Thorpe, PA to take a train ride to see the fall foliage and enjoyed wandering around the town.  We made it back home in time to take in my quilt guild's show and visit our new Wegman's supermarket. 

Thanks for sticking with me during this long post.  I've been glad to hear that those of you in Sandy's path are OK.  Happy stitching to everyone!