Wool Stress Balls

the only use I have for pantyhose!

the finished product!! I like these much better than the plastic stress balls. they feel warm in my hand. this bunch came out softer than the last batch, but what can I say, wool alchemy?

I’m back, just a bit.

I decided twitter was a bit rough and tumble for me. I don’t actually understand the modern world enough to keep up. I’m the dork who says the thing and then people say the things and then I delete the thing….

anyway, I still feel the need to write crap, so here it is.

Am I better? I dont know. its complicated. I dont work as a nurse anymore, but that has more to do with falling and breaking a few vertebra, as well as an uptick in rheumatoid arthritis. I also had a bit of a concussion. More on that, later.

The end of the blog

I’m going to leave this up as a remembrance of my life before PTSD. Things have changed a lot for me. I don’t work any more. I struggle to sew. I struggle to knit. I go to therapy twice a week. I’ve lost friends. Some have announced they are “not comfortable” with me any more, some have just drifted away as I have stopped doing my old activities.

But all is not lost. I have the support of a wonderful husband and my teenage sons have shown what good men they are going to be. I am training a PTSD service dog with the help of a specialized trainer and not only has that gotten me the courage to go out in public more it has been rewarding and fun! I have found an art therapy group and made some new friends there and learned more about art making. I slowly make progress. The future exists for me now. I’ll finish with a quote. “Be kind for everyone is fighting a hard battle”.

Thanks for reading all these years. Laura

Yarn stash

So I was looking for that certain ball of yarn, as people do, and when I was done the stash looked like this:

Hmmmm. A bit much for the family to put up with. Also two of those bins were just random bits and bobs that needed to be sorted and reunited with their yarn families or tidied up or something. So after several hours it looks like this:

Which really, trust me is much better.

OK so I’ve really gone over the edge now

Yes I who never ” got” featherweights have two one white one black. I love the white one more for some reason.  I mostly make free pieced quilts where the seam allowance is not important. But when I do want a quarter inch I sew on one of these little tykes. The just have the darling squeal factor nailed!

Oh so pretty!

Its a frister and rossman   with red lily decals and I had to have it. Sews a beautiful seam. Came to me already restored by the previous owner and I still feel guilty that I didn’t pay enough.

Not everyone can be pretty

Some of us are more froggy than otherwise…….

Turning Twenty Shirts into a Quilt

I am the last quilter to the turning twenty pattern party, I know. Its been around so long I couldn’t even find the book. But here are twenty shirts 17 men’s 3 women’s made into those big blocks. I’ve never made such a light colored quilt before. Of course it is just a top. I am twenty or more tops behind on quilting. Needs ironing too. I don’t iron them before I store them because I have to iron them when I get them out. Definitely a fast top to make!

Puppet obsession

I’ve worked out a pattern based on but not I denticle to the puppet I made in class. Now that I am making them I have to figure out what the hell to do with them. I just get more and more eccentric don’t i

Coin quilt

From the Missouri star quilt company tutorial on YouTube called coin quilt with pizzazz