Contagious!

Patchwork and quilting have been on hold since the beginning of June... I have barely been up in my sewing room except to let Vel and Cleo out during the day. (Toi and Patora are banished to the Tetsu's cat house... Toi loves it out there. Patora is even now, complaining.)

Before even GETTING to the hospital I had worked on two Alabama Beauty blocks from my confinement chair. And once those were done I made "kits" to take along with me to the hospital. Those three blocks got done in a matter of days. So five more blocks.

Unfortunately, since coming home my templates have gotten lost in the shuffle of papers and stuff used in the hospital so the Alabama Beauty blocks are on hold again. That may be for the better because there are probably enough blocks to sew together into a quilt... if I could just come up with a layout idea. I have dark blocks and light blocks which at one point I thought was going to be a good idea but I'm not so sure now...

My hospital roommate, Mrs. Kikuchi longingly mentioned while watching me piece my final Alabama block, that she wished she had thought to bring handwork to do during her hospital stay. But she laughed and said she's never had time to do any handwork even when she was at home (she and her husband run a mom-and-pop shop) so she didn't have any materials anyway.

Mrs. Kikuchi is unfortunately being shifted back and forth from major hospitals while doctors try to decide how to treat her so she probably won't be home for awhile... I asked Tetsu to bring me some of my extra fabric ("grab a handful of anything from one of the drawers!") and my last day in the hospital I showed Mrs. Kikuchi how to trace around the template and hand piece. I got her started on the simplest 9-patch and I cut out lots of 2 1/2 inch squares while she practiced the basics of piecing. See! I'm contagious!

I really would have liked to spend a couple more days with her and pass on a little more of my patchwork enthusiasm but anyway I left her with pins, needles, thread, pin-cushion, template, sandpaper board and fabric. Can you see how she is attached to an IV but still trying to piece her first 9-patch block without getting tangled up? I hope I'll be able to visit her next week when I have to go to the hospital for a post-op checkup.