It's like having a new garage

I like to keep my studio clean. Besides the fact that my customers see my studio, it is much easier to quilt when you can find your tools. Now the garage is a different story. That is the home of all my batting; where I iron the quilts; there is a cutting table; and of course, my stash is in there, too. It was a mess.

I would like to take credit for this but I didn't even go in the garage this weekend. My cleaning lady had some extra time on her hands and she has been itching to straighten out that garage. It is now organized within an inch of it's life. Take a look.

Here is the batting and some stash. My photo stand and lights are on this side of the garage.


Then on the other side is more stash and of course and my tricycle. I get the 2-car garage for my quilting. My husband gets the 1-car garage for his hobbies; that is trains, baseball, stamp collecting, LP record collection, yada, yada.

I'm OK

I know that I have not posted for a while. I've been in a funk. Today is my son's birthday; he turns 30 and is still in denial. LOL. We had a party for him yesterday and there is nothing like grand-children to snap you back in to place. I loaded up on hugs and kisses and even got to page 2 on my Little Red Riding Hood (on the kindle, no less) before my grand daughter, Madison, decided that she wanted to read the story herself. Hey, it was jibberish but I encouraged her to continue. It is never too early to teach the love of books.

I am over my cold, though it took a while. It was hard to sneeze and cough because my back hurt so much. It just never ends. Well, I went back to the doctor because my back still hurts. She finally found the x-ray (that the hospital lost) from 2 weeks ago and I have something called a compression fracture on one of my thorasic vertebrae. Ah, HA, no wonder it hurts. So my doctor is scheduling me for an MRI and if the insurance approves, I will have back surgery soon. Hey, it's outpatient so I'm OK with that. They just stick a needle in your back while they flourescope the spine to verify they are on the bad vertebrae and then the shoot some glue in there. I'm sure it is a bit more complicated that that but that is how I read it. Recovery time is days vice the weeks I would have to wait for it to heal on its own. So I am actually looking forward to the surgery. Plus I think that fear of the unknown was bothering me. I did not want to malinger and be some sickly wuss who can't stand up to some discomfort. Identifying it as a fracture made it OK to be in pain - oh, I really am hurt.

I have been fortunate enough to have an apprentice for the past week. Her name is Lisa and she has an 8-yr old Gammill without a stitch-regulator. She only used it for her own quilts. So I made a deal with her. I will teach her some cool quilting techniques while she quilts my customer quilts. Of course, I will be supervising all the way. And she is learning and loving the use of the stitch regulator and my IQ. Of course, there will be some monetary rewards also. She does all the work. I can't even pin the quilts on without pain. So far, we have done 2 charity quilts, 2 pantos and panto with borders. I think it is working out.