Life's a Puzzle

I had my annual physical on Monday. The doctor declared me healthy as a horse in all areas. Then why the heck am I in constant pain and fatigue and finding it harder and harder to stay upright and walk? Doctor just shook his head and said, "I wish I could help you." Suggested I go back to the pain doctors. So I guess I will, but I have few optimistic expectations. I'm surprised that, with as little activity as I get, that my heart isn't one big flabby pile of struggling fat. But it isn't, and I thank God for that. My liver and kidneys and and all those other internal things also look fine and dandy. And I thank God for that too. I keep telling myself, and I believe it, that my situation could be much worse.

Well anyway, I finished the puzzle Ramey gave me for my birthday. It worried me at first, but it really wasn't as difficult as I had expected. Ready for the next one.

I have spent a little time in the sewing room since I last blogged, but I don't have anything ready to show. Still working on organizing and cutting the bookcase quilt.

Did I mention that I have now had both the Pfizer vaccinations? Well, I have. I still wear my mask when I go out in public however. And I probably will for some time to come. I have a tentative plan to start back to in-person church (with a mask) on Easter Sunday. That is if things continue as they are and no other killer shows up that I'm not vaccinated against.

Now I'm going over to my left sidebar and update my "Books Read in 2021" list.

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On 03/24/2021, Barbara Anne said ...

What a great puzzle and well done in finishing it so quickly!

I, too, wonder how sleep doesn't restore energy or let me feel rested and that I tire out so quickly that its disgusting. That;s the reality of this lupus, 22 years on. I wish I knew what to suggest to you so that pain would go away forever.

You're jumping into the delightful bookcase quilt and I - after buying Deb Tucker's Diamond Recks ruler - am about to start a Storm at Sea quilt. I've had a box full of fabrics for this quilt for a decade and it's time has come. Heaven help us both!

Hugs!
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Birthday Week

My birthday week is off to a good start. Look what the mailman delivered from my friend and blog reader Barbara: a beautiful birthday card and selvages to add to my book titles on my bookcase quilt. Thanks, Barbara. I love them. And they're all ones that I don't have.

The mailman also brought the fabric I ordered for the book shelf backgrounds.

I've been mostly reading and working on another jigsaw puzzle. I think I'll plan to do some sewing tomorrow. It's just so easy to talk myself into not climbing the stairs.

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On 03/10/2021, Trudy Abernathy-Neill said ...

Happy birthday to you! Barbara is very good about sending and sharing fabric and I knew you would like what she was sending. Have a good week there, hope your back cooperates to allow that to happen. All the best, Trudy

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On 03/10/2021, Barbara Anne said ...

Hi Susan! You are most kindly welcome for the selvages that night work well as book titles on your bookcase quilt! As we all have such different fabric stashes, I did hope these were fabrics you didn't already have.

Happy Birthday, sweet friend!!

Hugs!
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Bookworm Fabric

Sister Ramey knows that I'm working on the bookcase quilt. When she saw this on Joann's Fabrics online site, she emailed me a photo and asked if I could use it in my quilt. I immediately ordered enough to back the bookcase quilt.

If you'd like to have some, better hurry. It's going fast, and notice on the site says they don't plan to reorder.

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On 03/06/2021, Barbara Anne said ...

What absolutely ideal fabric for the back of your bookcase quilt!!! Well done, Ramey, in finding it and your quick action in ordering enough for the back of your quilt. Happy dancing!

So you have any of the 2004 fabric that Mary Englebreit that shows various little girls sitting in chairs reading and each is surrounded by a pile of books? I can send you a bit of it if you'd like to use it on you label or in some other way.

Hugs!

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On 03/06/2021, Barbara Anne said ...

Please read that as "DO you have any of the 2004 fabric ..." Thanks. :)

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On 03/06/2021, Denise Fischer said ...

fabric.com has the book fabric


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Pain O'Plenty

No quilt making today. In fact, I don't plan to do anything that requires much movement. For the past eight or ten hours, my pain level has been out of sight, off the charts, to the moon, agonizing. I woke up sometime in the night, about 3:00 I think, and thought my body was on fire. I haven't been asleep since.

I have an appointment with my doctor later this month for my yearly. I'm going to see if there's not some other treatment that I haven't tried that I could.

Have a great day for me, everyone. I'll be hear groaning.

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On 03/04/2021, Barbara Anne said ...

Sorry this is tardy and I hope and pray your pain has eased a lot so you can sleep tonight. Methinks this misery merits a call to your doctor as soon as the office opens.

Big hugs!

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On 03/06/2021, Mary E. Lines said ...

Susan, So sorry for your extreme discomfort Have you ever considered medical marijuana? I know a few people who have been helped tremendously with a small dose......it might be something to consider.
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Bookcase Quilt

I have decided to combine my other chosen pastime (reading books) with my first love (quilting) to make a quilt. In perusing Pinterest, I found several that inspired me. I'm afraid I didn't make note of the quilters who created these, but I'm sure you can find them on Pinterest by searching "bookcase quilts."

For several years, I've collected the printed selvages off my fabric hoping to someday incorporate them into a project, which I have never got around to doing. In fact, I have given away a bagful of selvages but have managed to collected a couple of bagsful and a binful more. I've decided that many of them will make great titles for the spines of my bookcase books.

So I spent this morning going through my scrap basket and cutting different size strips to serve as books. I had already pulled a bunch of selvages that I think will work. I believe not all the "books" will have selvage titles. And I haven't decided what other nicknacks will join the books to grace the shelves.

I've already decided where this quilt will live when it's done--on the hanger in my foyer where I hang seasonal quilts. (I still have the Christmas Tree quilting hanging there, BTW.) I'll probably leave the bookcase quilt there except during the holidays, when I will hang one of my Christmas quilts.

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On 03/02/2021, Barbara Anne said ...

What a stellar idea!! I love the brilliant notion to use selvage information as book titles, too. Hope you have fun imagining what to put on your bookcases and enjoy every part of the process.

Love the bookcase you found on-line, too.

Hugs!

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On 03/10/2021, Trudy Abernathy-Neill said ...

I seldom think or remember to check for ideas on Pinterest and these are all so cute! Good idea about saving the borders /and or salvages, if it is one that I especially like and may want to reorder, I will cut them off with a tiny piece so I will know. You are very organized !!
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