Facing Facts

I'm coming to terms with some facts in my life. 

I AM a QUILTER.   
It's what I DO.


I also am 53 years old.

Gone are the days when I could set up a big basting frame and thread-baste for 3 hours straight and still walk upright when I'm through. 
I also do not have room at home to set up such a frame except when the weather is nice and I can do it in the yard.

I cannot conveniently make bed-sized quilts right now......I just don't have the room to lay them out OR baste them.  So, I am going to make the quilts I WANT to make, that fit my current situation........until I can no longer do THAT.

So......having mulled all of this over, today I treated myself to this little beauty.  (Big Thanks Cheryl J. for the pingpong table inspiration !)

I have spent DAYS not quilting because I couldn't baste and didn't want to start something new until I had reached a point of quilting with the zigzag top.  I really like it and want it to be my next quilt .  I also really like the flannel that I bought for the back of it, and I think that I am going to hand-quilt it.  We'll see when I get time to try it and see........this polyfil 80/20 batting feels kind of stiff, so it might be a nightmare to do by hand.

Anyway, back to my new 'helper'

I searched online for a 6-foot folding table, and found a price of $39.00 at Wally World.  It showed that my local store, surprise of surprises, had one in stock.......I didn't notice that the site said that store prices MAY VARY.  In store, it was $44.99.  I argued the point, but lost.  I decided to go ahead and pay the extra, though, as they have changed the table and the newer ones that they also had did not include the carry-strap/handle, and did not lock closed on the end.

They only had one of this older style and I like those features enough for it to be worth it to pay the markup.

I bought silly little plastic clamps that are really too small, but they were the best buy I could make locally today.  I lay the quilt out and wondered how well it would go, but I'm pleased with the finished results.  I think it actually came out better than if I had put it in the frame or if I had clamped it tight, as the flannel tends to stretch so easily.  Tonight's work seems to have come out just right for THIS job.

I even basted the backing over the edges

 incase I DO hand-quilt, as I suspect it'll take awhile and I'll want to snooze under it now and then when I nap.  Hubby uses the flannel quilt that Jodie ann made for us when he had his first stroke.......in fact, we almost fight over it (nicely, of course), so finishing this one will be just in time.  It still won't be a snuggly as the all-flannel one, but it'll do.

I did get one bit of sewing done a couple of days ago, when I was just going MAD for a little pieceing  in my life (thankfully, I do have PEACE from the LORD). 

 Anyway, my bathroom in this trailer has a clothes dryer placed beside the toilet, and a shelf above the toilet.  I have to put the hubby's shower bench on top of the dryer and I hate how it looks, so I took lots of my old browns and blacks and pieced up a nice long curtain to match my jungle-animal decor and hide the uglies.

Tomorrow we drive back for another 2-hour evaluation for the hubster.  Blessedly the snow that was forecast for Tuesday has slowed down in it's track and we're supposed to have rain and 46degrees tomorrow, with the 1 to 3 inches of snow coming in tomorrow NIGHT, after we are back safely home.  I praise the LORD for this HUGE BLESSING, and yet, still would not object to a prayer or two offered up for our safe travel for tomorrow.  Thanks for that !

Goodnight, now.