There’s so much going on I just can’t keep it all straight in my head. Home, work, quilting, blogging… I’m not accustomed to this! Bear with my (rather scary) stream-of-consciousness post today!
I work for the local Convention & Visitors Bureau, and we talked about different itineraries for tour bus groups that would keep people in the area overnight. Of course I went straight to quilting! We have seven or eight quilt shops within a 30 minute drive, plus there are over a hundred barn quilt blocks in the county. I downloaded the list of barn quilts and divided them into quadrants, then worked out a semi-efficient map for each quadrant. Yesterday I drove the first quadrant so I could see what worked, what didn’t. Some of the blocks are too small, some too far from the road to see easily from a tour bus. I wanted to avoid turning around, so some maps will need to be rearranged. One beautiful block is out because it’s either turn the bus around on a narrow back country road, or drive over a scary little arched wooden bridge with a 15 ton weight limit. I also stopped in at a new quilt shop, Twin Turtle Quilts, and chatted with her about personal and professional quilty stuff. She has an interesting product that I may be telling you more about, once she has an Etsy shop or some way of selling it outside the shop. The road trip ended with a visit to The Cheese People of Beloit, a shop dedicated to – you guessed it – cheese! I purchased a special online deal for $50 worth of cheese for just $25. I had no trouble spending it!
I saw the doctor on Friday about a suspicious spot on my skin. Fortunately she is pretty sure that it’s nothing to be concerned about, and it will disappear on its own in a couple of weeks. I’ll tell you – I saw that spot on Sunday, made the appointment on Monday, and was in on Friday. I don’t want to mess around with it. During the appointment we also talked about my coughing problem. Spring and summer I’m fine, but when the temperatures and humidity drop, I have problems. If I talk too much (and I always do) or when I go to sleep, I start coughing uncontrollably, sometimes to the point of crying and even gagging. (Yep, too much information.) She thinks it could be allergies, as the inside of my nose was quite swollen. She also things that might be the cause of the ringing in my ears that has continued for several months. She gave me a prescription for Flonase, but I hate the idea of taking a steroid. Some of the side effects are things that I already struggle with, like acne and depression, and I’m hesitant to take it. Does anyone have experience with that drug?
Happier stuff: I have another post going up on the Electric Quilt blog on November 3 that talks about a way to organize your projects so they’re easier to find and use. The person I communicate with liked my idea, so I’m pretty (brace yourself, I’m going back to the 80s for this word) stoked. She sent me a copy of Judy Martin’s Star Power software for EQ7 and I installed it last week. I’ll be posting more soon, along with a giveaway.
At the September Stitch & Bitch, I showed my aunt my Pinterest board of faster, easier quilts that her charity group could make. She liked several of them, including the Kingdom Courtyards quilt by John aka Quilt Dad. The pattern is in Issue 8 of Fat Quarterly e-zine. During show & tell, however, my mom showed a lap quilt that she’d made. (That’s my mom on the right.)
She raved about the simplicity and speed of the pattern, and Karen jumped on it. Silly me, I got a little – well, jealous is a strong word. I decided to show just how easy the Kingdom Courtyards quilt was, and I started pulling fabrics. That was Saturday afternoon. By Tuesday, I had this:
Sorry, the photo is dark because the yard is shaded in the afternoon. Here’s another photo, just so I can enjoy that gorgeous yard. It looks nothing like that now.
I admit, I did not have the actual pattern so I just made it up as I went along, with John’s photo for inspiration. I’m very happy with how it turned out, although it’s still isn’t quilted. I used all of the cut off corners to make half square triangles and turned them into these:
I wasn’t thinking when I put the last row of green triangles on – I should have used more prints, but that’s okay. Originally I was going to use them on the back, but now I think they’re going into their own quilt. That makes three quilts in progress using that same green background fabric, because I’m using it for my 2012 Botanicals BOM blocks, too. I’d show you the blocks – and I do have them! – but I haven’t taken any photos yet.
Speaking of September’s Stitch & Bitch, here are some photos:
That’s my brother helping with the quilts. You can see more on Jeanne’s Cheating on the Farmer’s Wife Part Deux quilt at her blog, Grey Cat Quilts.
Okay, that’s it. End of brain dump. There’s lots more to talk about, but my brain says it’s time to stop.
Piecemeal Quilts 
Since you asked about the nose spray . . . I have been prescribed the same one, but had trouble figuring out how to take it, since I’m not use to breathing through my nose.
The way my doctor explained it, nose spray and asthma inhalers send the steroides straight to the part of your body that needs them, so the dose can be lower and have less effect on the rest of you. I have had bad allergies all my life, and apparently the more recent theory about treating them is to treat the symptoms at the site (nasal spray, asthma inhalers, or eye drops) rather that taking a pill like Benadryl or Claritin which affects your whole body and needs a higher dose.
Obviously, you need to do what is right for you, but you should consider trying the nasal spray, rather than discounting it because of the “steroid” name. As I understand it, the drug will mostly stay where it is being used.
Wow! So many lovely quilts. My favourite, because the colours attract me, is your aunt’s Stringy Rail Quilt!
I wish you all the best as you sort out the nasal/coughing issues.
I’ve used Flonase for many, many years. The inhaled steroids don’t have the side effects that oral steroids do so don’t worry about that. It’s a topical application to the mucous membranes in the nose. No big deal. When I first started using it I considered it a miracle drug because, for the first time, I was able to breathe through my nose. Turns out I was allergic to my cats as well as both species of dust mites. Allergist said the dust mites kept me revved up all the time and everything else just pushed me over the edge. I don’t use the flonase all year long any more since I no longer have cats.