I always get injured!

Tuesday afternoon Richard needed to take the back off the plasma tv he was working on. He only had me to help him (big help, right!). Anyway, to get the back off you have to lay it on its front, take off the base, remove the back, put the base back on, and stand it back up on the base. Richard took one side and I took the other. I figured out real quick that it was too heavy for me, but we had it on its face. Richard popped the base off and used the drill to remove the only screw still holding the back on. Then the back wouldn't come loose so I got a fingernail under the top and slid my finger down the side, cutting my finger open. We finally got the back off and he put the base back on the tv. As we stood it back up the base dropped off, directly onto my left foot. I knew it hit me but I didn't think I was hurt, except for my finger. I rushed thru the house and was checking out my finger when I realized there was a problem with my foot. My shoe was full of blood but there wasn't much pain. Since I am on blood thinners I bleed a lot even from a small cut or scrape. Richard came in there to check on me and found me trying to take care of it all. He immediately started yelling that it was all his fault. I told him it was an accident, not anyone's fault. He helped me bandage it and I sat with it elevated. Then the pain hit. It was as if someone sat at my foot and periodically hit it with a hammer. My foot would jerk hard with the pain and I couldn't hold it still. I took some Tylenol and it helped. Yesterday morning it didn't hurt too bad but I got a sharp pain when I stepped on it, so I thought I should have x-rays taken. Audrey and Jason took me to the Dr's office and to the Imaging Center. In return I took them to lunch at Applebee's in Kanawha City. I had sliders and they were pretty good. My foot improved a lot during the night last night and this morning I could walk without a lot of pain. Putting a shoe on it is still difficult. It has turned all colors of the rainbow. I think if I stay off of it tomorrow that it will be all right. I think I am a total klutz! Richard is still moaning and groaning that it was his fault, but I know that I always get hurt.

Design Wall Monday

Just a little late! Really, nothing new to report. No pictures this time. Made more pillowcases and that's about it. They are great to make because they take little fabric and make up very quickly. Everyone seems to love them. I have given quite a few away to family. Still need to find a fabric to take the place of the cheddar in the bow-tie leaders and enders project. Doesn't look like I have anything in my stash to do it, since I need about five yards. That is for background - the bow-ties will be scraps right out of my (very full!) scrap bins. Got to get started on that.

Eyesore of the neighborhood

This is the house next door to mine. We have tried to buy this house from the owner for at least twenty years, and Dad tried to buy it before that. Mary Thomas, the owner, just refuses to talk to us about it. She is now very elderly, very ill, and in a nursing home. I spoke with her niece recently who told me that she is very contrary and refuses to do anything. She said she would help me if she could but Ms. Thomas will not even discuss it. She didn't pay the property tax on the house last year. I found out that the City of Charleston has a lien against it for unpaid fees (sanitary, fire) even though it has been vacant for years. We used to put the clapboards back on it but we have quit doing that. Richard cuts the grass but that is all we will do. I just hope the city will tear it down. All the other homes in the neighborhood are kept neat and tidy with flowers planted and grass mowed.

Finally!

Here is how the house looks now. I am loving the red metal roof, although the new awning is not exactly what I wanted. We still need to put up the fence, which may wait until cooler weather. Landscaping will have to wait until the fence is up. I think the new garage door makes the house look much more modern, not the 60's ranch style it has always been. Sitting on the porch is like sitting on a fancy patio, since Richard painted the furniture. I have noticed that without the fence and railing on the porch people are much friendlier. Nearly everyone who goes by will speak or at least nod at us. That didn't happen much before.

Design Wall Monday

I missed posting last week's Design Wall. I haven't been sewing much lately. Right now I am pulling fabrics together to make more pillowcases, these pillowcases for CAMC. So far I have six cases cut and fabric pulled to cut at least that many more. It seems like no matter how much fabric I pull and cut my stash doesn't get any smaller. And then any time I want to start a project I don't have what I need so I go buy it. Bonnie Hunter posted on her blog a Leaders and Enders challenge and I have to buy five yards of some neutral fabric to use for background. Bonnie is using cheddar for hers but I don't have any cheddar. I am working tomorrow so I think I will scour the shelves at JoAnn Fabrics for something to use. The rest of the quilt will be scrappy so I can get out my scrap bins! Woo-hoo! This is the Bow-Tie block and won't be the main project but I will work on it while I do other projects. This one will take some time to do.

Two more down, three to go!

The block with the purple around the center is from the quilt shop in Victor, and the other one is from Fairmont. They are similar, using flying geese around the center block. I have been working on these fabrics so long now they are not exciting to me any more. I will finish them; and then set them in a quilt. But I have lost my zeal for them. The bad thing of it is: I have fabric left over and I will probably make another set of blocks from it. I guess that's also a good thing. Now I long to start something else.

Another WV Block Done

This block is from the shop at Harrisville. It involves PAPER PIECING! I hate PAPER PIECING! I do admit, you end up with a very precise block. However, I hate fussing around with PAPER PIECING! And then when I was putting the pieces together I realized I used the wrong fabric for the little triangles on the corners of the center square. I used the gold but was supposed to the background fabric. I decided to leave it gold.

Design Wall Monday

This is what I've been working on this week that I haven't already reported here. The black/white/yellow block is for the EQ7 blog, where they have a contest every month and the prize is software to go with EQ7. They design a block and anyone can sew it and submit it to win. This is the July block. It is a very small block with small pieces. I don't particularly like working with pieces so small. The jewel-colored block is the July block from Jewels in the Crown, the block-of-the-month I am doing. The other block is the WV shophop block from Parkersburg. I still have a few other things going, but I haven't worked on any of them this past week. Hopefully I'll have a large finish this week because I have a king-size quilt ready for binding. I am also going to continue working on the WV shophop blocks. And I want to start a new big quilt, I am looking for just the right pattern. I may sit down at EQ7 and design my own. I haven't done that for a while.