Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Luxuries and treasures.

There was one specific luxury that I really looked forward to when the kids were both finally at School.

There were of course, quite a few that tantatalized me, - the idea of coffees, lunches and sewing, all carried out in uninterrupted peace, sounded great. The sheer joy of being able to walk into a shop without my son saying in a painfully clear voice, "I don't like this shop, this shop is yukky" and the restfulness of grocery shopping without him rolling under the supermarket shelves and disappearing up the aisles-laughing all the way and calling "find me Mummy!!!"-all appealed. (They tell me that every child has their stage when they cause trouble, I am working on that being my DS', leave me in ignorant bliss there please people!!)

But, the most appealing thing was the luxury to be sick in peace.

You know, being able to lie in bed for at least 8 hours in a darkened room, with complete quiet and no interruptions? No-one running up the house every 5 minutes to cuddle you, bring you their teddy, report on what Elmo did on Sesame street.......

Last year I din't get my weeklong annual flu and this year I would say it is well and truly setting in and guess what...the two little darlings are here with me!!!!

Have done a fairly major repair job while being at home. It reminded me of Atet talking about her first wonky quilt, well here is my first and if I had known that it would still be getting dragged around 9 years later I may have changed some things, but as I had less that no idea I probably wouldn't have!

I managed to cut out and sew some squares together, then I sewed them to an old sheet and sewed satin ribbon over the joins. Then I went to a hardware store and got some kind of lightweight foam, turned the edge of the sheet and sewed it together, put a line of stitching through it to hold the foam in and, there you have it, a quilt!!!! It is very fondly known as "warm doona" and is the first one layered on at night. The old flannel sheet was the first to go, I have already replaced most of the back with better quality flannel but now it has reached this point, almost a crisis!

I cut off all this rotten edge, reached into the trusty op shop reserves and found satin ribbon, and reinforced the 2 trimmed edges with that. The sick daughter did not feel up to the paparazzi but you get the point.

Here is the next one I made, 3 years later and with a little more assistance, but didn't realise you were meant to do things like measure the middle and keep things straight, I just added to whatever edges were there, which worked ok until it came to the quilting and the finish...then I just had to jam everything into the binding. And does it worry the daughter who layers this on second when she goes to bed?? No, not a bit.

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I may go and lie on the bed and wait to be the cuddle machine now, have a good day, Tracey

11 comments:

Sweet P said...

Nice repair job on the quilt. I hope you're feeling better soon. There is not much else worse than being sick and not being home alone to get well in peace and quiet.

Joyce said...

I have lots of free time now but sometimes I would like to have the little cuddlies back. Even my grandchildren are getting too big for that except the youngest and he's in Australia so we seldom get to cuddle him.
First quilts are treasures no matter what we think of them later.

loulee said...

(((HUGS))) Hope your feeling better soon.

Tonya Ricucci said...

you figured out the answer yourself. Does it matter that this quilt was made wonky? Not in the least.

Carol said...

Oh Tracey, you poor chicky, I hope you get some good sleep and feel better soon. There's nothing worse. You definitely need some cuddles.

~Bren~ said...

Hope you are feeling better soon. My little guy seems to be coming down with a cold...not fun for a kid who is afraid to blow his nose!

atet said...

Nice repair on the quilt -- and nope, wonky doesn't matter in the slightest if it's loved!

Hope you get some time to be sick alone!!!

Susie said...

Sending you ((hugs)) It's hard to be sick and be Mom at the same time..

Unknown said...

Hope you all feel better really soon

Susan said...

Amazing what you learn as the years go by, isn't it? =) Your repairs look great. Sorry you've all been sick at the same time, but I guess it will then be over with. This year's flu sounds like a nasty one.

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh I so know this! It never fails, when I get sick everyone else is sick too and they expect me to take care of them!