Sailing the Blue

October 13, 2014

It’s Columbus Day.  Yay for the day off, but boo for the guy it is honoring.  I don’t know much about history, but I have heard he was real bad!  Anyway, selfishly, it works for me.  Nothing like a three-day weekend - and a paid holiday to boot.  Government jobs my not be the most enthralling, but the holidays are great! 

I woke today with a sore neck.  It alarmed me, because I plan to start quilting my latest project.  Is this an omen? I thought.  Then I remembered that I have been doing yoga planks to strengthen my core.  And I spent an hour on my hands and knees pin-basting the quilt. 

I was looking forward to the day home alone to putz about the house and get into my quilting, but plans have changed.  Thunder and lightning and a nice downpour awakened us.  My husband is a building contractor and had warned me that if it was raining, they wouldn’t be working, as their job this week is a metal roof.  He has been home a lot recently, but not because of the weather – unless you want to say it’s because he has been “under the weather.” 

Last Monday he awoke with a scrotal infection and hydrocele.  I will let you Google that and you will see that it is a very painful and uncomfortable illness.  He is doing much better than he was, at least physically, but his spirits are down.  The pain is almost all gone, but he is not convinced it is getting better. 

I have been trying to be supportive and caring, nurturing and compassionate, but I am feeling a bit at a loss, as I am starting to wonder, too, if more might be done, and the doctors that he has seen are just missing it.  A third doctor may be in the future. 

My husband’s passion is training.  He rides extreme distances (which don’t seem extreme to him anymore) on his road bicycle.  I think this obsession may have something to do with his condition, but he is adamant that it has NOTHING to do with it!  Regardless, he is not able to get on a bike, or run, or swim, and those are the things that make him happy.  He needs, as I feel everyone does, a diverse set of hobbies.  I see elderly people, men especially, who when they lose their physical abilities, become depressed and feel useless.  He does read, and he IS addicted to his iPhone, but it doesn’t feed him like his physical training.  So, if this thing doesn’t hurry up and get better, he is not going to be a happy camper.  Poor guy. 

On a happier note, I have my son’s flag quilt all pieced and now it is sandwiched and pin basted!  I cleaned my sewing machine last night – removing a pile of lint from under the bobbin and surrounding the bobbin case – and I have a new needle inserted.  I have the various colors of top thread set out and my comfy office chair now in position at my sewing desk. 

I moved my Viking Sapphire 835 to the large school desk that we purchased from my husband’s old high school buddy.  He saw it for sale on Facebook and thought of me!  So sweet!  I have been using it with my Viking Lily, but haven’t used it for any large projects yet.  This is where it will really come in handy having all that surface to work on.  I am excited to see how well this works.  It has been several years since I have machine quilted any large quilts.  I had been opting to take them to a lady who does an all over meander quilting with a long arm, but this quilt, the flag quilt, pattern showed the diagram of quilting it, and it looked like something I could handle, especially since my husband insisted on getting me the used Viking Sapphire 835 for Christmas a couple years ago.  It has a larger throat (or harp) space, and it sews faster, too – amongst other features.  My Lily has been a workhorse, and I still love it best, but it’s a bit slow and small. 

I had a little trouble with the 835 at first.  Bird’s nesting on the back of my quilting.  It was horrible and so disappointing, and frustrating!!  So I took it to a nearby dealer, Sew Biz, http://www.sewbizmarion.com/in, where the owner, Donelle, who for $65, cleaned it and said it worked great for her.  She did point out that the bobbin was very specific in its threading.  There is the tiniest little bit of metal lip that you HAVE to get the thread under.  Since then, it has been great!  Although one day I did have it threaded wrong and the top thread kept breaking.  I got out the manual and realized my blunder.  Whew! 

So I am ready to go – EXCEPT – I have to wait for the local quilt shop to open, so I can get the right thread for the bobbin.  Wish I would have thought of that on Saturday instead of on Sunday.  I have two hours to wait.  But hey, anyone who knows me knows that I can find plenty to fill those two hours. 

So Happy Columbus Day!  And Happy Quilting!