starting a new project!

Starting a new project is almost always fun!  And I got to do that this week!

But first, a bit of "housekeeping" - updates on things from last week.

Most important, my brother-in-law is doing much better.  He has been weaned from supplemental oxygen and expects to come home in a day or two.  He continued to be quite sick for about a week after being admitted to the hospital and was transferred to the bigger hospital north of us.  He was on antibiotics, steroids and oxygen that I know of.  There may have been more, and it was scary to hear the updates when he wasn't improving as fast as we anticipated.  But when he called the hubby yesterday to complain about the football games, we knew he had truly taken a big turn for the better!

AND. He has tested serologically positive for Covid.  This means he DID have it, but the initial tests were unable to pick it up.  So let Science Katie explain this.  Put on your science hats, folks.  (Or just scroll down!)  Viruses cannot replicate alone, they need YOUR cells to do that.  Once they break in, they take over the cellular machinery with their own instructions to make more viruses.  And those new viruses do the same.  So, very quickly, there are a LOT of newly hatched viruses in your body.  These viruses are what the current large-scale testing protocols are looking for (or rather, their genetic material).  They are in large numbers early in the course of the disease.  Before you even start showing symptoms, there are enough viruses in your body to be detected - and spread to others.  But as soon as they break in, your immune system is like "NOPE!" and knows that virus is not supposed to be there.  It takes a bit for your immune system to create antibodies (flags that it sticks on these viruses to tell the "killer" cells to destroy them) and get ahead of the virus and, eventually, get rid of it entirely.  So, after the infection has been cleared, you will test positive serologically - this is a blood test that looks for the antibodies to something specific.  (Anyone out there ever have a titer test done?  That is exactly this test.)

So here is the craziest part of all for this virus: you may be sicker than you've ever been, show all symptoms of this virus and test negative.  Why?  Your body rids itself of the virus fairly quickly, assuming you have a competent immune system, but this virus sends your immune system into overdrive, creating all sorts of extra problems that are what can make this drag on for months in some people.  Technically you no longer have the virus in your system and are just dealing with your immune system.  I don't understand it entirely (even the docs are still learning), but this is the way I understand it.

And while I'm on my soapbox.  You CAN get infected again.  You will likely not show symptoms, but you CAN shed and spread the virus.  So WEAR YOUR MASKS.  Wearing a mask keeps your germs to yourself.  From a person who has to wear them for 8-10 hours a stretch, talking to people that whole time, I KNOW they suck.  Wear it anyways.  If you wanna skip something, leave your bra at home instead.

Okay, enough Science Katie.

On to Quilty Katie!

Last week, I was midway through a batch of tiny stars that I wanted to finish before I started the new project.  So here are the last 9:

Gabby did not come running for this photo - perhaps she had gotten herself locked in a closet again?  (She loves to explore doors that are not always opened and gets herself locked in my clothing closet about once a week...)

And then I started Well Suited!

I cut and cut and cut and cut and cut and cut and cut...

It doesn't look like much, but this is enough for 64 blocks!  I even gave myself permission to use some Tula Pink scraps in this quilt that I have been hoarding for no good reason.

It looks a little more intimidating here, but I've been here before.  This will be fun!

I had a system of mixing and matching to make sure that backgrounds and colors were mixed up (I cut multiples of backgrounds, but, almost always, only one each of the colors).

I sewed...

...and sewed...

...and sewed.  I failed to take more photos, but eventually I had all 64 9-patch blocks finished and it felt really good.

But then I had to cut the setting triangles so these could be on point.

Ugh.  More cutting.

I decided to cut one and do a test to make sure it was going to be okay...

Ah yes, this will do.  Note to self: pay attention to directional fabrics!

It was then back to cutting and cutting and cutting.  I raided my stash again and cut multiples from many fabrics (I have more in the grey/black colorway as far as yardage, but not variety - at least not in large enough chunks for this project.)

I've started sewing, again mixing and matching so things are (hopefully) well-balanced, but I got only the first triangle sewn on all 63 blocks when it was time to make dinner and stuff.  It seemed to take forever, but these are not quite as quick to line up and sew as the squares for a 9-patch.

I'll be heading that direction again soon!

In the middle of these, I needed to make the hubby a mask.  He is provided them at work (required he wear the ones provided by his employer!), so he just has cloth ones stashed in both of his vehicles.  This worked well until we took my car somewhere and he had no mask!  So I'll make one for my car.  I made him pick his own fabric, which was a nightmare...he will only look at the grey and black fabrics.  As if the entire rainbow is not there!  But...I tricked him...and he found one I like and I decided we both needed one!

His has elastic, mine as ties.  (I like the ties better now that I have tried elastic.  My ears get sore!)

His is boring inside, but mine...

I try to select darker fabrics for the outside, knowing that working in a farm store I'm bound to get dirty without even trying.  If I have a light-colored mask, it will show and I really don't want customers thinking I'm dirty!  But inside?  I can be a little more fun.

And we can't have a post without cats, can we?

Toby went in to be neutered last Wednesday.  At 7 months, it was overdue, but since we just got him a few weeks before, it was as soon as we could do it.  He came home with a Cone of Shame because he wouldn't quit licking the incision.  This is my first round with one of these and he was determined to defeat it.  I ended up taking it off and following him around the house, telling him to stop licking himself, because he kept getting at least one paw/leg through the neck hole.  But he is doing well and you'd never know he had surgery at all for all the feisty he continues to share.

Speaking of Toby.  Every time we let him outside into the kitty fort, he comes in filthy.

(He is also learning to quilt.)  But he has stark white fur on his legs.  It's not as easy to see in the photo, but he had filthy legs.  And a coating of dusty dirt on his darker fur, too.  Soon after, he had cleaned himself up, but in the meantime...

Finn also would like you to know he is helping:

This bin hangs from a hook on the side of my cutting table.  He nearly threw himself, the bin and the ironing board to the floor trying to fish around inside it.  I just put it on the floor.  About the time I got the camera ready, he lost interest.

He also climbed in my project bin, wanting to be the next thing I paid a LOT of attention to.  For a kitten who sleeps smooshed up against me all night, every night, he still wants a lot of loves during the day, too.

He even wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything when the carrier came out for Toby to go to the vet.  In the time it took me to find and catch Toby, Finn made himself comfortable.  He will get his turn (just vaccinations for him) in another month or so, but silly kitty!  (And that is Toby's dinner on the top there.  The vet requested I do a drop-off the night before and they would give him dinner, so of course I made sure he had some good stuff!)

And that, folks, is my week!

I'm having a blah day today and haven't done much of anything, but I suppose maybe with this task crossed off my list, and having seen the pretty photos of my pretty new quilt-in-progress I will be more motivated?

Happy quilting!

Katie