Still MIA For A Bit

 Well, I've been MIA for a bit and I apologize for that. My husband had his total knee replacement surgery on the 14th of this month. It went really well, took a bit longer than expected and when the surgeon came to see me right after, his comment was, "A bit more than I anticipated from the x-rays. His knee was...a mess." When I asked if that was his medical technical term, he just repeated, A Mess.

He's doing his PT Monday, Wednesday, Thursday on site and every other day at home and is coming along really well and I'm very proud of him. Having been through all of that many years ago, long before they were doing replacements, I can verify that it's extremely painful but so worth it to fight through it all. He'll make it through the other end and be more the better for it. 

Having said this, I am his chauffer, therapy coach, chief cook and bottle washer, laundress, fetch and carrier and pretty much anything else he just can't do though if I think he can, I'm pushing him to. I'm behind on the quilt and am going to try and get to the store now that I can leave him unattended and not worry about him doing something stupid. I've really got to get my batting so I can get it to the machine quilter or I'm going to run out of time for anything. I'm hoping I can get it to the store on Monday for her to pick up on her regular day which is Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

If anyone is squeamish, don't look, but this is one of the best knees I've seen after surgery. It's so much more colorful now though. The bruising will keep changing for another week or so as the scar tissue tears and heals. Can't help that. This was eight days out and it looks fabulous! I am so impressed with this surgeon.

The Top Is Done!

 Well, I managed to get the top finished yesterday, thanks to Thing 1 for the use of her machine after mine died. My new machine came today and it's the BOMB! (I know, showing my age, I don't care!) I'm hoping I get a few years out of it at least.

This was very much a lesson in mixed media use and what not to do. I used a kit purchased from Colorado Creations Quilting called Genna and Gerry which you can also buy as just the pattern. The woman does a wonderful job putting the batiks together in the kit. Everything blended together, no jarring out of place colors, the instructions are clear though I must admit, I much prefer doing 9 patch in a strip rather than actual patches, but it worked. This was my first time using batik however and the jury is out on whether to wash them first or not. I opted not to. I rather wish I would have prior to starting, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it would have made.

Batik by nature is rather stiff and feels thicker to hand than the panel that it surrounds. The panel also has quite a bit of give because it's lightweight and the batik is not. The dye and wax used in the color process for the batik makes it...less than giving. I don't know if that would change had I washed it first, but I have another kit I'll be working on later in the year so I might try washing that to see if it makes a difference. 

I'm also hoping to get just the plain part of the border machine quilted which will cut down a bit on time for me, but I'm waiting for the woman who does the long arm to call me back. I don't know if she'll just do the border and if so, if I'll need to quilt the panel first or not. So, Monday, it's off to buy the cotton batting and my Gutermann thread along with some other threads I'm thinking will work. In the meantime, here's the top, finished and waiting for the next step. I think I like it.