Catching up . . .

Long time since I posted, but I've had a house guest, not to mention a bout of shingles. Boo-hiss! I'm a cheap drunk . . . used to go to nickel beer night, and take a dime . . . so, I usually respond well to medications, too. Since I last suffered this malady, the medication routine has changed, and I didn't feel so much like a zombie . . . or like I'd been on a 10-cent drunk! The biggest aftermath that I have noticed, fortunately, is a lack of stamina, but that's building up, too, and I'd say I'm back to 98% normal . . . whatever that is!

My house guest has been our eldest niece, who lives about one hour from Lafayette. Her mother is DH's eldest sister, with a 28 year gap between the two of them, not to mention 6 more brothers, and 4 more sisters. Helen, at 92, has been at the nursing home across the street from our home since last May, after falling down the stairs, and breaking her leg and wrist. She suffers the symptoms of Alzheimer's, and Jane, her daughter, is the only person she recognizes most of the time. With our 20 inches of snow, and road closings, we were delighted to have Jane stay with us. She's a wonderful guest, and we actually had a lot of fun. She said it's been the longest vacation she was ever on . . . about 3 1/2 weeks actually, but it went by so quickly, it seemed like a mere weekend.

Knowing my fondness for old quilts, Jane brought this Double Wedding Ring beauty, made by her paternal grandmother. It is a feast for the eyes with the striking red background, and the piecing is a festival of 20's and 30's prints, including some feed sack prints. As the pictures show, it is in marvelous condition.

Last weekend, Jane needed to check in at home, and there was an auction . . . surprise, surprise . . . so, we had breakfast, and piled into the van for a trip to Monticello. The auctioneer is not one of my favorites. For one thing, when the price offered isn't what he thinks it should be, he berates the crowd, telling them they should check "downtown" to see the value of the object. He also will arbitrarily remove items from the sale if he doesn't like the price offered . . which is a clear violation of the law. If it's advertised without a reserve, he has a legal obligation to sell it. Needless to say, his crowd usually thins out pretty quickly, and at the end, he is subject to selling tables full of items for $1. To make matters worse, he makes derogatory comments against a religious entity, and everyone there wonders how he can be so politically incorrect in these times.

We did buy just a couple things. DH scored a small metal Lily thread cabinet, and a box full of old wooden spools. He found about a dozen Lily spools which will go in the cabinet. There was also a grocery sack full of knitting needles, so he bought that for me. (At that point, Jane and I had gone to her house.) There was another cache of embroidery kits of various types, that he bid on, and the lady who won the bid was kind enough to give me about ten circular knitting needles she found in the bottom of that bag. When DH bid on the bag of knitting needles, he didn't realize they had thrown in four boxes of yarns that were under the table. I found more needles in that stash. The knitter had been a maker of afghans, and there were multiple skeins of acrylic yarns included in those boxes. DH will take all that bounty to our Senior Citizens Center, where the ladies make afghans and other items for sale in their gift shop. We finally have convinced them that sending us a thank you note each time we bring yarn is an unnecessary expense. We are happy that they can put it to use, and that's thanks enough.

My sock knitting frenzy continues. I started a pair of a lace pattern, but have decided that using the self-striping yarns is entertainment enough, and I enjoy the rhythm of just making plain socks. I've also knitted another sweater for my grandson's "American Boy", and my grand-daughter's American Girl has a fun little vest with a turquoise yarn with nubbies of pink, purple, yellow, and green. I used the purl side of stockinette because it seems more of the nubbies show. Both were fun, and fast to produce.

It's time once again to "plow" my studio, which hasn't yet recovered from my Miss Mary's Retreat. I need to take quite a few of the UFO's down to the basement to "mature", and focus on finishing one or two tops. I'm sure my knitting frenzy will be put aside for quilting again because next Saturday, a few of us are heading to Bloomington, Indiana, for the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, which will be inspiring. I'm trying to stay on a "fabric diet" for this event. We'll see how that goes!