Bedroom Re-Do, Part One

One of the most sobering thoughts I had, while ill with the flu, was that if anyone saw my bedroom, I would have to die of embarrassment. In fact, when I was really too ill to stand, and my husband insisted on taking me to the ED, I believe I got extra strength from the idea that if I were to collapse, he would call EMS, and than I would never be able to make eye contact with the fire dudes again. It's a small town. Thus inspired, I have spent the last few days cleaning. A lot of cleaning.
I never had the mirror on this dresser before, because it would have reflected on the Giant Wall of Yarn and Craft Junk opposite it. It is now safe to reflect. I would usually not consider putting furniture in front of a window, but I think in this case it works. The furniture is all that lovely old waterfall style furniture from the 1930's. I've gotten it at yard sales and thrift stores over the years.
Yes, a visit to IKEA for some cable curtain wire and some curtains, and the giant Wall of Yarn is now hidden from view. To the right is my husbands rats nest/ nightstand, and so I have omitted it from the photo to spare his feelings. And who am I to talk? I had to hang a freakin' curtain to hide my stuff! The small grey lump between the pillows id my Eyore doll, long loved.
For those of you who are interested, here is a close up of the long arm quilting- they look like clouds to me. You may notice that the pillow cases match the sashing strips in the quilt. That is because when I was looking for the perfect red, I yanked the top sheet off, ripped off the hems, and called it yard goods. I've since bought another top sheet, plus extra, in case IKEA stops making this wonderful shade of red.

Part Two will have to be after I have it painted. I'm trying to think of some way to convince my husband that he could save us a boodle of money if he would learn to paint, but haven't thought of anything yet.

Everyday Use

Here's a story I had forgotten about, until I was reminded. I think it cuts to the heart of how I feel about quilts, and family, and all kinds of things. Alice Walker's Everyday Use. Who do you think should have gotten the quilts?

Spider Web

Look! Hand sewing! With sock yarn, but still, with my own little (left) hand.
Here's The whole thing- I used the string blocks from here for the side borders. I had to wait for my quilt rack to get home before I got a picture. If I work much bigger, he would have to stand on the bench. I'm pretty pleased with this.

Hello, Chickens

Not much to see here. Just us chickens. Trying to eat- errr-prune- the boston fern. Yup. That's a bout it. Been cooped up quite a bit- rain, you know. Not that we're complaining. We want the drought to end, so that the Big Head who feeds us can let the hose run this summer, so all the little worms come up for us.

Orchid

How crazy is it that I live somewhere that orchids can grow outside? In other news, I either have the flu, or a reaction to a drug, or both. However, I did manage to stagger home from ER, and after some hours of rest, I ate a chocolate brownie. Work called to see if I wanted to cover someone elses sick day, and I had a hollow laugh for them.

Blocky Strings? Stringy Blocks?

Well, something like that. I had a whole bunch of these sewn together and I thought they looked sort of too busy, or something, so I took them back apart and am filing them in the parts department.

I pieced the back for the I Love Lucy quilt but haven't basted it. I was upstairs in the administrator's area of the hospital today, ( they have really, really nice bathrooms up there. Really clean bathrooms, and the bathrooms have vases of flowers in them. Like another world. From now on, if I can manage, I'm going to go up and use their bathrooms all the time. ) anyway, I walked past this conference room and noticed it had a really, really, big table. Really big. Bigger than king sized, in fact. I wonder what would happen to me if I took a quitl and my mason jar of pins up there one day and just pinned away, on that big flat well lit table with the big windows of the view? Yeah, I would be in big fat trouble, that's what, but a girl can dream, can't she?

So, I went and saw a rheumatologist and you'll never guess. He was really cool. He didn't spend a lot of time telling me how lucky I was to not be using a wheel chair, like the last guy. ( and using a wheel chair is something I would cheerfully do, if it were my best mobility option. So far, thought, the feet are on board for locomotion.) He just asked me my goals, and when I said that if I could feel better and have less pain, I would like to. He also complimented my ability to give my own history, and said he liked talking to a patient who asked a lot of questions. Then he sent me to the lab for a few zillion labs, and sent me for xrays of my hands and feet, and wrote me a script for a new drug. If this one, called Arava, doesn't work, I move on to the injectables. So, we shall see.

I re washed the pink wool, and it is smelling just fine, now. Really a nice pretty rosy color.