Log Cabin, Aching Joints

Dear Mandella,

Who would know from the little stacks of fabrics on my work table would come these two lovely blocks? I finished eight of them yesterday at my mom's house. Yes, that was after dyeing 18 skeins of yarn. I ache all over, but it's all worth it.

The blocks above are just 2 of the 64 required for the finished, king-size quilt. That does not count the borders which are comprised of long, thin strips of fabric (1" wide, just as the rails in this log cabin block) that will run perpendicular to the edges. If I can get 8 of these done each weekend, then it will be only 8 weeks until the main blocks are done. I figure that if I can get this whole thing put together and over to the quilter by October I'll be doing really well! Sheesh!

There are 17 pieces in each block. Yes, we did the math(s): 17 x 64 = 1088 pieces. Each block will then have 9 border strips; that makes another 252 pieces, and none of that includes the mitered strips on the corner squares. Fortunately, all of this is done on a tissue-paper foundation. Or, not. All of that pinning, ironing, and trimming has given me a very sore right shoulder. *sigh* I'm willing to suffer for my craft!

My home, of course, is a pig sty. The dining room is still set up for dyeing yarn; there are baskets of (clean) clothes in the living room that need to be folded; there are old towels littering the bathroom where I rinsed the yarn this morning and wiped up the drips; and there is an old girl sitting at her computer at 5:00 a.m. who can't sleep because she aches. OK, that and the dog woke up early. I'm going to try to get some sleep again before I tackle some of the clean-up.

Hugs!

Judith