A disappointing week

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Here are some of the postcards I've received recently:

"Oriental Fan" by Diane P.

"P is for Pink and Purple" by Beth P.

"Beautiful Browns" by Diane P.

"Eclipse" by Amy P. for the Celestial Swap

"Celestial" by Priscilla H.

"Celestial" by Barb E.

Our elderly relative now has an official diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease; this was no surprise. Now we must decide what to do about it. This is a hard decision-- how do you take away someone's freedom without being hurtful? How long can the person be allowed to care for themselves before it becomes dangerous? How do you take care of someone who only wants to care for themselves? Our options are limited and time may be short. The one thing we can agree on is that the next step is to seek legal representation to make sure everything is done properly for the protection of all concerned.

Today I attended my Red Hat luncheon at a local Mexican restaurant. The company was fabulous, the food was okay, and the service was bad. Lesson learned! We had not gone there before--they are evidently not set up to serve groups of 15-20 people. The experience would probably be different if DH and I went alone; but there are better restaurants in town. Why waste our time to find out? I could live on Tex-Mex food, and was really looking forward to trying a new place. Oh, well! And oh yeah--why is it so hard for a restaurant to serve a group by taking orders from the regular menu? We had a choice of three entrees, plus rice and beans (bland) and flour tortillas (which never showed up.) We had to ask for chips and salsa, and asked repeatedly for drink refills. The limited menu didn't make the service any better.

This was not intended to be a rant! Back to the home front.

I tried a new art technique this week-- toilet paper casting. I had no success with it, but others in my Yahoo group did. I must have done something wrong, but for the life of me I don't know what. My castings turned out shapeless and the layers of paper flaked apart, although I was using diluted PVA glue between layers (50% strength--maybe too dilute?) I was disappointed. Maybe the next new technique will work out better.

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Catching up

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These lovely bog iris are blooming just outside our front door. The blooms are small and only last about 24 hours, but they have bloomed repeatedly over the last month or so. They really are a nice surprise to see first thing in the morning!


I finished one of the small quilts I mentioned in an earlier post. I backed it with flannel and tied it instead of quilting it, using multicolored perle cotton. I then sewed the binding on by machine with a feather stitch. This one is destined for my new great-nephew. I have another top done of the same design, I will get around to finishing it soon.

And here's the second party hat for the Fiber Art Traders swap. I added the beading around the bottom and three swags around the top. I think they make a lot of difference. I left the tassels and the hanger as they were otherwise.

I am doing fairly well at getting caught up with unfinished projects. I still have three other small quilt tops that need to be quilted, but at least all the "have-to-do's" are done. I'm going to hold up on swaps for the next few weeks. I want to concentrate on playing with some art techniques, plus there are doctor's appointments and meetings to attend this next week.

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Projects done, and in progress--

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Two weeks since I posted, and it seems like yesterday! I've managed to get a couple of projects done in the meantime. This set of postcards is for a swap called "Fans" for Artsnthemail.

Fiber Art Traders is having a swap called "4 Elements" (earth, wind, fire, water) done in plus-size inchies (1.5" square.) These are my sets; the water squares have small seashells attached, the wind squares have leaves that move, the earth squares have small sequin flowers, and the fire squares have shiny fibers sewn across them.



One of my groups was discussing a method of cutting identical squares from a busy fabric and sewing them into a four patch so that they resemble a kaleidoscope. This is the fabric I decided to use to try the technique.


I cut the fabric into 4 identical repeats of the design, and stacked them up carefully. I then cut the stack into 4-1/2" squares so that there are now four identical squares of each that will get twisted around 1/4 turn and sewn together into blocks:


Here are four of the resulting blocks--maybe this makes the idea more clear:


I still have to cut some sashing and make them up into some small quilts. I'll show more photos when that gets done.


Fiber Art Traders also has a swap going of miniature party hats. This is one that I'm still working on; I covered it with scraps of fabric left over from the Fan postcards shown above. I'm not real thrilled with the fiber tassel and the strap, so I'm re-thinking those.



and this is one that I have finished, modeled reluctantly by Copper:


In other news, my older son's deployment to Iraq has been postponed until June. It can be postponed indefinitely as far as I am concerned! I will be voting for whichever presidential candidate that I feel will get us out of Iraq the soonest.

Our elderly family member has had tests done to determine if there is any brain change indicative of dementia. We have not gotten any results yet, but the cognitive tests were very revealing of the degree of memory impairment already involved. This situation is extremely difficult for all concerned. I am ready to let the situation take its course, but that may not be possible. It would be so easy to turn a blind eye to the problem. But the responsibility is ours to bear, and bear it we will.

On a brighter note, I am due to be elected this week to a new position in Eastern Star, and have been studying hard. I am excited about changing positions, although I am not ambitious enough to want any position more difficult next year. I am not trying to work my way up, in other words. Just holding a position is enough for me.