a mostly lost week and the horse quilt

This has not been a good sewing week.

Or a good week most of the days...

Monday I did accomplish a layout for the Positivity blocks.

I got rows labelled and the blocks picked up and no further sewing done.  I didn't go to my guild's sew-in.  I don't even remember what I did, but it was day one of the hubby's vacation, so I'm sure we did something together.  At least lunch, right?!

Tuesday I had to work.  Bleh, but it's okay.  I do like my job and my coworkers are mostly cool, and our customers are generally good people.  It just cuts into my sewing time.

Wednesday morning I woke up with a scratchy throat.  It had been blazing hot Tuesday and never really cooled down overnight, so the air conditioner was getting its first big workout of the year.  I figured it was just dry, funky air.

I was wrong.

After doing my usual cleaning chores and a trip to the insurance people to review our policy (which, thankfully, didn't even happen due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict on their part), I didn't even care if I ate lunch, I was so tired.  My throat was not terribly painful, but annoying enough.  (Sore throats are probably the WORST symptom of illness in my book!)

So I slept a lot of the rest of Wednesday.

Thursday dawned cooler, but my throat was still sore.  I was still exhausted with even little chores.  I slept a lot of Thursday too.

Friday I was scheduled to work.  6am Friday my alarm went off and I went "nope!" and called the boss to let them know what was happening.  I would not be there.  I went back to bed.

A few hours later, I woke up feeling like I had enough energy to throw in a load of laundry and then I went back to bed.  Well, reading, but nothing strenuous.  With naps.

When the load was done, I switched it into the dryer and started another load and figured I'd better take one of the at-home COVID tests I have.  If I'm missing work with something that has symptoms typical for the dreaded plague, I'd better have a test to either let me go back when I'm feeling better, or direct how long I'm out.

Pretty clearly a negative.

My sister-in-law, who barely finished high school and is a classroom aide at an elementary school, offered the advice that these tests are often wrong and you have to take them at the right time.  I'm pretty sure my bachelor of science degree in microbiology, my medical techology certification and more than 20 years doing lab work in those fields makes me more qualified than 99% of the people I know to do this test RIGHT.

(Just in case, though, being a real scientist, I read the directions and asked the CDC for guidance on when taking the test was the appropriate time.)

(Also, I did not throat-punch my sister-in-law.  That would have ruined father's day for most of the family.)

Anyways, I have some other bug that migrated into my sinuses on Saturday, so I decided I was okay enough to attend my youngest niece on my side's graduation open house and present this quilt!

She didn't seem as surprised as I expected, so maybe they've found my blog?  Whatever the case, she loved it and everyone was properly impressed.  I confessed to a large number of swear words being part of the construction, but it was worth it.  (But no, I will not be making another one any time soon, thankyouverymuch.)

The pattern:  Unicorn and Horse Abstractions by Violet Craft

Size: 60x60"

Pieced and quilted by me!

I'm excited to finally have this quilt gifted.  And true to form, I was sewing the label on the morning of the party.  Not that it was a big chore, but I knew I'd do something like that to myself.  (I might not have, had I not gotten sick, but we'll never know now!)

After the party, we took my dad out to dinner for Father's Day and gave him his (pathetic, but he wouldn't tell me anything to buy him and got mad when I tried to get him a new lawn mower, so he got a gift card to Barnes and Noble) gift.  We had a good time, even if our service was subpar.  (We've had this guy before and he was good, so I guess maybe he was off his game that night?)

Sunday I felt even more human, though a cough had replaced the runny, stuffy nose of Saturday.  We celebrated with the hubby's family, grilling meats and playing yard games.  I got a sunburn in the shade (of course I did!), but we had a fun time there, too.  My father-in-law just got a used UTV (think cross between a golf cart and a 4-wheeler), so all the kids (old and young) were taking turns riding and driving around the big yard on it.

And that brings us back to Monday.  Today.

I'm feeling more like myself.  The cough isn't bad and the congestion is minimal.

So I'm trying to catch up.  I basically lost five days.

I've already gotten groceries and have a batch of snickerdoodles in the oven - about half the dough now baked as I type - and will soon get back into the sewing room to finish the stuff I started last Monday and never got back to.

Not many photos, sorry.  Maybe this week will go better?

Happy quilting!

Katie