Life is good :)

Hello readers!  Due to circumstances out of my control, I have not posted anything because I have not sewn a stitch until yesterday.

The kick off of the new year has been odd.  Many events in my life have occurred in the last 3 weeks that have kind of rocked me to my core.

My mother became ill and had a stroke.  After her being in the hospital for a week and also having  surgery, she will make a full recovery.  Those kind of moments scare the bejesus out of me.  The matriarch of the family, when they get sick, it affects so much.  Because of all that stress and hospital living for my Mother, and Dad being right there at her side, it took a toll on him too.

My mother being in the quilting community had awesome support from her friends in the quilting realm.  Some cooked meals for her, and some came for visits at the hospital which helped break the boring monotony of just being in a hospital.  My Dad enjoyed those visits as well.  I imagine it kept his mind from the stress of my Mother’s illness.  So this is now behind us all.  I would like to send out thanks to all those people who made this whole process a little easier.  Thank you sew much!

Earlier this week I received my yearly review.  This year the company changed up their process and started rating you on the bell curve.  Do any of you remember the bell curve from high school?  You could miss one answer and get a 70% which is failing.  So, after receiving my review which I viewed as unsuccessful, time seems to make things better.  Many of my co-workers who are excellent at what they do also received scores, some below mine.  This was a learning lesson as the message of my review repeatedly said meets or exceeds but I still got a 70%.  Time has calmed the tears and the worries of not being above average like my last review of 94%.  I did agree somewhat with the 70 on one aspect as I do not know all to be known where I work.  This makes room for future growth for my skill set.  So, with those nerves settled, I know life goes on.  Big girl panties on!

And lastly Friday morning on my way to work, I hit a dog with my car.  I suspect I either killed the dog, or severely maimed him.  It broke the plastics on the front of the car and also tore the dirt guards on the underside and in the fender well.  I have paid for insurance on this car now for 5 years, now that policy will payout but the insurance company is still ahead.  Not worried about my car, as that will all work out.  I am just glad I maneuvered the car so as to not get the air bags deployed and not run over the dog with the tires.  Who knows, maybe the dog slowed me down that morning to get me in a better place and saved me from a more severe accident.  Any way, all I can say to that is whew!

So, who is ready for some sewing?  After all these expletives in life !@#$ I can say I am, and finally made that happen yesterday and today.  I started assembling the large En Provence Mystery Quilt Blocks.  They are going together quite fast and accurately too.  I have seven blocks sewn.  It felt so good to turn on the sewing machine and sew with no thought process or effort.  No struggles.  Nice and easy.  Life is good 🙂

I changed the block up a bit.  I like the stair-step symmetry of the light purples being in line no matter which way I turn the block.