Shenanigans

Forgot to mention that H5 is together and H6 is now under construction.

Nostril

I admit to over-futzing and reworking the bits that didn't appeal to me in the daylight.  I frequently manage to undo up to a dozen pieces at a time - until I find myself working backwards and undoing too much.  THEN I have to try and recover all the missing work.

Bad habits die hard, but.... RowH is nearly half complete!  I may have to amend my goal, though, of finishing the row by the end of April.  Drats!  That was going to be my birthday gift to myself.   [sigh]

Motherload

Saturday I woke with a stiff neck.  It was worse than that (boohoo), but more than anything it was hugely incapacitating.  If you glanced at the timestamps of the entries for Saturday you will have noticed the incremental progress was over hours and hours, instead of small bits here and there.

In plain speak, Saturday was a lost day.

Then, Sunday, while my neck issue was much improved (thank you, God), I managed to get myself bitten by the same neighborhood tabby tom that bit Karl at the beginning of the month!  No, it's the truth - as unbelievable as it seems.  We had seen him two times since Karl's bite/attack, and Karl has healed wonderfully in the interim.  Our biggest concern was a possibility of rabies, but the sightings - and ultimate condition of the tom - have allayed our fears.  Another thank you to God.

I was outside spreading birdseed when, out of nowhere, the ginger tabby appeared.  He sidled up to me in his usual fashion, friendly, sweet and rubbing my legs.  I reached down carefully and petted his head, and then stood to go back into the house.  I wanted to get him a bit of food to see if he would eat (wanting to see if he had any issues in the swallowing department - a huge rabies 'tell').  When I went back outside, there he was.  He circled my legs and watched my actions.  When he noticed the food, he lunged at it and began to eat.  [sigh of relief]

At that point I moved back a bit and then picked up the small canister that held the birdseed.  He took notice of my actions, but kept eating.  I hadn't given him much, so I wanted to go inside before he finished.  He was facing away from me and I was at least a good two feet from him.  When I moved for the door, he turned and lunged at my feet, grabbing the top of my right foot in his teeth and hanging on while I tried to break free.

Let me simply say it wasn't a 'love bite'.  I should also add I was barefoot.

I had to scruff and peel him from my leg, toss him away, and then run for the door.

Of course, I washed the wounds (two punctures - one far more severe), and treated them with triple antibiotic ointment.  Kept it clean, uncovered, and dry throughout the day.  Soaked it in warm salt water a couple of times, then went to work on it on Monday.  Sore, ugly red, and the foot was slightly puffy over the top, but I was OK with how it didn't look.  By evening, I was grateful that Tuesday would be a day off, and I planned a visit to the doctor - it was definitely infected.

One very strong antibiotic shot in my rear, and a couple of doses of oral AB later, my Goodyear-sized-blimp-of-a-foot is less painful to the touch and the color is less dusky and blue, too.  But it's still a mess to look at.  Karl continues to scold me (growing weary of hearing "I told you so" outta that kid), but he's glad to see improvement in the appendage, too.

As for VG, well, I have a couple of interesting images I would like to share with you, but they will have to wait for this evening.  I would love to stand at the design wall for a while and try to find the last remaining ten inches of H5 while the light is good and I am feeling up to it.  Happy to have some progress to report for the moment, and to be so close to finishing H5 after too many stops and starts.

Seventy

70"
70"
70"!

Persevering

Have applied heat, and continue to stretch.

H5 has grown to 55 pieces.  Can't work as quickly and efficiently as I would like, but I refuse to keep away from it with this glorious sunshine!

UPDATE: as of 3:47 PM -
Sixty-two inches in place (sort of).

Ouch and boo-hoo

Woke up early this morning, stiff-necked and nearly immobile.  What the heck!?!

In the past, when I've awakened a little stiff on one side or the other, I could always massage my neck or shoulder area, and slowly work out the kink and stiffness in a matter of a few minutes to half an hour of rising.  Today...not so much.  This doesn't happen often, either.  I would say less than four times in a year.  M-a-y-be.

Once I got to the top of the stairs, I immediately took four (200mg) ibuprofen tablets, and continued to work on my range of motion and overall movement.  But here we are - three hours later - and I feel as though my neck is spasming now, nearly locking my body into some very awkward (and painful) positions at times.  I am still continuing to work at slowly increasing my range of motion to the right, and down....and up (in some instances).

This is making any quilting activity painful and undoable.

Poop!

Large and in charge

See, I told you I made a dent in the mess.  I am pleased as punch to have so much room to cut and fuss - and I am going to make a concerted effort to keep it half as clear while I work on H5.

No guarantees, mind you.  LOL

Since I shot this photo earlier in the day, I have managed to get to 43" in place.  Nearly half done.  Whew!

Wahoo!

Not only has H4 been conquered, but work on H5 has begun, and I managed to get quite a bit of the finding/sorting/cleaning done.  I cannot believe how much I found that is definitely needed from here on out! Ever so glad I decided against digging in to H5 before making a dent in the mass of material that needed to be dealt with.



Another image is planned for the near future.  Hang tight for VG delight!

Tonight calls for cleaning

Cleaning and straightening in order to find colors I KNOW live in this stash.  I must be able to snap the head off this Beast-of-the-three-missing-inches (otherwise known as "H4").


I must finish H4 tomorrow!

[sniff]
[whimper]

UPDATE: Ten

10" to go, and then H5 is mine!

As of 3PM EDT (Thursday, March 17):
There are only three missing inches.  THREE.
BOO-yah!

May not be singing just yet...

...but I am whistling a happy tune.

Finished the day (with the time I did have) by placing all but 20".  Will tomorrow be the end of H4 and the dawn of H5?  I am very hopeful, and excited.

Hoping to be singing later

"What a difference a day makes..."

A little over one week ago the progress had slowed to a halt on H4. Sad but true.  However, there will be a good deal of hours devoted this week; and since I am at 71 inches found (and holding), the official halfway line in the sand has been crossed, the ticker tape parade has been had, and the resulting mess broomed up!  My goal now is to finish up RowH and sew together EFGH.  With two large portions under my belt, mentally it will feel like a huge amount of work is behind me.  The load is lighter, and now I can begin to see the faint light at the end of a very long tunnel.

In other news:

The bead represents H4

Susan Lewis, from Jerusalem, asked a question a couple of weeks back and I tried to answer it wordy-word-style, but I feel the best answer would be served by this quick diagram.  So, Susan, if you're still out there, here it is:

Hope this helped anyone wondering about the alphanumeric references.

The oddest thing about this little drawing is that I sketched it out without thinking, and did not try (in any way) to make it accurate - only representational.  It turned out when I labeled it that the rows and columns were exactly right!!  Accurate to the numbers in both length and width.  Was that uncanniness because I have been living with it over several years?  I don't know, but you could have knocked me over with a feather, because I didn't count or plan on it being correct, only 'close enough' to give a good indication for my explanation for Susan.

[cue the crazy coincidental music]

Sunshine

Glad to know tomorrow will bring sunshine streaming through my windows.  Today is gorgeous, but a bit of a waste, since I am not around to use it putting H4 together. 

SO CLOSE to crossing 50% on VG. 
[happy sigh]

Happiness is only a yard away

Less than 39 inches from halfway.

Hide and seek

A couple of days ago I was working (semi-)diligently on VG when, after shutting off the lights and putting it to bed for the night, I found two beeee-YOO-tee-ful inches.  I mean perfectamundo (how many of you pictured Fonzi just then?).

I don't know where these two delightful discoveries have been all this time; perhaps hanging like spiders in a dark corner, waiting for their moment of surprise.  I couldn't tell you how it was they just turned up... totally out of the blue... and not even in a pile of bits from that quilt project.

I can only say - with absolute certainty - that they materialized in a completely magical - no!... make that 'supernatural' way.  As if by transporter beam to my very possession by Mr. Spock himself, directly from the  starship Enterprise.  Of course that's what happened, it's most logical.

Do you doubt me?

One of the one inch sweeties was a little crimped, so I gleefully made my way in the direction of the ironing board, intending to iron them both flat; from there I would place them in a place of prominence, nearest the layout board for my next furlow.  But I'll bet you can guess what happened.

Oh, yes, I did.  Somehow, I managed to become distracted just enough to let myself lay them carefully aside - in a spot where I couldn't possibly lose them or raise a breeze to cause them to float away and become a dusty spot on the floor...under a chair... never to be seen again.

Oh, yes I did.

Once it dawned on me that I'd forgotten to iron those bits, and that I hadn't put them in a place of importance for my next piecing session with H3, well, I was up on my feet like a shot.  Except, I couldn't remember where I had safely placed them, so I tore the house a new one looking for two dinky bits of perfectly colored, and all too necessary, one-inch squares.

Not only had I placed them in a perfect haven of non-blowy safety, but I had forgotten where that place was!

Oh, yes I did.  I know!

This morning, in my usual routine to exit the house, you'll never guess what I found just laying out in the open.  Oh, go on.  Guess.

Oh, you're good at this.  Yes, I did.  Right there, on the desk next to the front door, in fact.

So, if you will pardon me, I am heading over to the iron - right now.  There is an important mission I must complete without any further ado.