But I've Been Busy

Wow, 12 days since I last posted. I have been busy.
The raffle quilt is together and I am sewing down the binding. The quilt was layered and tied on Thursday at the Willet Fire Station where friend June goes each Thursday to sew with some women up there. We had lots of room to set up her frame and later to put the quilt on the big tables to machine sew the binding.
This quilt is done in the Disappearing Nine Patch using floral fabrics and a lovely yellow as the center block. The binding is the same yellow. It was made by the Campfire Girls, Ella Mae, June, Jeanie, Pat, Lois Ann and myself to be raffled to benefit a friend who lost her young husband last fall.
After I cut the binding, sewed the strips together and pressed it, I wound the binding on a toilet paper core and put a narrow strip of scrap fabric thru it and fastened the ends of the strip with a safety pin. When I was ready to sew on the binding I just put the loop around my neck and the binding rolled off the core as I sewed. No more puddles of tangled binding around my feet. I anchored the beginning of the binding to the core with a pin and used a pin at the end to fasten the binding until I was ready to sew.
Do you use a lint roller when you sew? Whisk it over your clothing, cutting mat, sewing table and your quilt. I keep one near my sewing machine. In addition I had to try Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Blossom blocks. I did two, one in low contrast fabric scraps and the second with black for the center square and triangles.
Yesterday I drove Bob to the VA Medical Center in Syracuse. He had to see a dermatologist for the lesions on his wrists and back. The doctor said it is not skin cancer but from exposure to sun for many years. (Sounds like pre-cancer to me.) The doctor treated these spots and prescribed a cream to be applied twice a day for a month. Bob was a red head, very fair skinned and always worked outside as a brick mason. So Nurse Ratchett will be doing the home treatments. When we left the VA Bob's mood was greatly improved.
I just wanted to mention PTSD. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Bob is a Korean War veteran. He has PTSD and has nightmares every night. It is hard to imagine living with this since the early fifties. He has done that and hasn't had a good quality of life because of PTSD.
PTSD has been around for many years. It is a new name given to shell shock, battle fatigue and other names. Others have PTSD from other traumas in their lives, accidents, fires, sexual molestation and deaths of loved ones to mention just a few causes.
I'm awake early today and can hear the birds already singing. Thank you, Lord, for these small blessings in our lives.
Chris