Patti update: She had a little something for dinner last night, and breakfast this morning, and everything (so far!) has stayed down.

Because I wasn't tired last night I decided to start resizing the quilt show pix - and an hour later I was still at it!  This morning I finished that task, so now I can start sharing; let the fun begin!

The hallways of the Rec Center were hung with winners from previous years.  I just wish this miniature SunBonnet Sue had been placed a little (okay, a lot!) lower instead of WAY over my head! 

In this rare case the picture was "better" than the actual quilt!

It's easy to see why this one got the People's Choice award its year. While it was also hung high (and you can see that the top half was in a shadow) the larger blocks at least made it viewable!

Here's a close-up of a block for Pokey.

Naturally I bought a raffle ticket, because "you can't win if you don't play".  Somehow I neglected to snap a pic of the actual quilt, possibly because I was side-tracked by this adorable quilted sign.  (Usually they're just printed on paper, but obviously one of the PVP ladies is an over-achiever.)  Given Linda's affinity for SBS, I'm wondering if this is her handiwork - but forgot to ask her.  We were so busy yesterday!

Before I headed into the main room of the show I stopped in to check out the Bling.

Naturally color was plentiful, and I found an abundance of creative projects. It would be impossible to choose a favorite, but this one definitely ranks high on my list.  Between the expressive eyes, the floppy ears, and the wonderfully outrageous earrings each pup is sporting, 

I found the colors in this bargello butterfly perfect!

Her "Ode on an Eye Surgeon" is quite creative! (text below picture)

"I can not read this chart, I can see all the obstacles in my way...

Dark clouds have me blind, Where's the rainbow I've been praying for."

"I can see clearly now, the cataracts are gone,

Gone are the smears that had me blind, 

It's gonna be a bright, sunshiny day."

And just a few more colorful beauties from the Bling Challenge:

Shortly off to the gym to see what (between my broken toe and my painful arm) I can actually do today!

 Today's quilt show was wonderful!  (And I misnamed it earlier; it's the Palo Verde Patchers.)  The quilts were gorgeous, though I thought the lighting could have been better... and with so many entries in the show the 'aisles' were too narrow to get back far enough to photograph some of them in their entirety.  Pretty sure they only do their show every other year, which means unfortunately I'll have to wait until 2019 for their next one.  :(

I took 169 photos (and that wasn't nearly all the quilts) all of which will need to be resized before I can share them. That's on my schedule for tomorrow.  This one of Linda's quilts won a blue ribbon (very well deserved!) 

Her miniature won a 3rd place ribbon, although when Colleen and Stephanie saw what got the blue ribbon in that category they couldn't believe it beat out Linda's.

I didn't have time to swing by Patti's with the shower chair before my scheduled rendezvous with Linda at the show (between her quilt appraisal appointments and her white glove stint.) Patti was pretty low when I got to her house this afternoon (she's been unable to keep down any food since she started on the antibiotics yesterday afternoon) so I called the doctor.  I knew the office was closed and I would get the answering service, but the woman who took all the information said the doc on call would get back to me within 15 minutes... and I don't think it was more than a minute before he called me back.  

Bottom line is that it's likely the combo of pain meds with an antibiotic that is causing the problem, so a switch to a different antibiotic probably wouldn't make any difference.  He did okay her to just stop taking the antibiotic, which made her much happier.  By the time I left she was in much better spirits, even laughing some.  When I check on her tomorrow I hope to hear that she's "only" miserable from the broken bones, and maybe even up for taking the shower chair on a trial run!

The doorknob on the guest house flipped out again tonight, and Tom and Alex spent a LONG time trying to make it happy.  (It had been working just fine since Tom fixed it a month or two ago, but obviously there is something very wrong with it.) So tomorrow Tom will swing by the hardware store for a new one.  

Alex fixed the dishwasher, but the in-the-wall microwave needs more skill than he has, so a friend of his will be installing a new one on Monday.

Currently it's way past my bedtime (almost midnight!) so I'd better sign off - 

though surprisingly I'm not sleepy.

Starting off my day with a soak is always a great way to greet the day!

Aja was off to work very early, and when she saw I was out in the tub she dropped off Tyga before zooming off.  (It was no surprise to hear that Alex was still asleep.)  She's working a double shift, so it will be a very long day for her.  Glad I have a more relaxing day planned! 

While I was busy pruning out in the hot tub (I can also walk and chew gum at the same time) I made some phone calls:  to Andy (we discussed plans for my trip to Maryland), Wanda (who can't join Linda and me at the quilt show today), and Terry (discussed the summer schedule for my stay at the hot springs, and I also got to say HI to Neil.)

Now that I'm appropriately pruned out, I can get some things done around the house.  Then once it's late enough <g> I will "sneak" over to pick up the shower chair from Alex's bathroom and deliver it over to Patti.  Here's hoping that Friday night she got a better night's sleep than on Thursday!!!

I skipped Bunco last night (was tired, and Thursday evening I had chugged some EmergenC because I had all the warning signs of an on-coming cold.)  Tom and I were watching Inherit the Wind (have I mentioned lately  how much I am enjoying TCM's 31 days of Oscar films?) when Alex and Aja stopped in.  The two of them have been spending considerable time this past week, apartment shopping for her, and thought they'd found something on Wednesday.  Aja's friend can't move in (or help out with the rent!) for a couple of months, until her lease is up, but told Aja to go ahead and get it... and then on Thursday (after Aja had done all the paperwork and put down the deposit, had done a 180.  (With friends like that.....)  

When they got ready to leave and Alex called Tyga, he very clearly did not want to get up from Aja's lap.  Which was funny enough (because Alex is his boy, and he virtually never misses a chance to go with Alex), but when Aja got up and Tyga didn't want to follow her either, it was bordering on hysterical.  Obviously Tyga has missed his "grandparents" lately (and we've missed him), and so they let him stay with us, saying they would come back and pick him up later.

Tom and I finished watching Inherit the Wind, which I hadn't seen in years, and the parallels between then (the Scopes trial took place 90 years ago) and now, with Science taking a backseat to Religion, are frightening.  When Spencer Tracy talked about "ignorance, bigogtry, and hatred" he might as well have been talking about what is going on today in Trump's America!

While I was "busy" with Patti yesterday, Tom and Alex worked in the yard.  Now we've got a rather respectable pile waiting outside the gate for the upcoming bulk trash pickup, and the yard looks better than I've seen it in a long time. 

Our "jungle" is almost <g> unrecognizable without the carpet of downed leaves back there.  However I am not nearly so happy with how much Tom trimmed back the evergreen tree by the north gate since now I've lost part of my privacy shield for the pool.

 In a bit I'm off to the Paradise Patchers quilt show in Sun City West, and asked Tom what his plans for today are.  His reply?  "NOT yardwork!"

I needed to make more sashing yesterday so that slowed things down, but now all 8 columns are together! Alex admired it when he came to dinner last night, and of course once I add the borders it will look even better.  After dinner we watched another episode of the Cardinals' documentary, and then I stayed up until almost midnight reading - when I finished The Other Einstein. 

With today's schedule I knew the borders were not likely to happen today (the gym in the morning, volunteering at school in the afternoon, and Bunco in the evening.)  However, my day did not go as planned  I managed to sleep in until about 7:30, and then, as I often do, I started my day with a soak in the hot tub. Which is where I was when Patti called with an SOS. Instead of coming to dinner again last night (the burritos made with the leftover chicken turned out delicious) she opted to go hiking with Carol after work - and fell and broke her ankle.  

Luckily there were several strong guys nearby who rose to the occasion and carried her down the mountain.  X-rays at Urgent Care confirmed a break, though she says she actually heard it snap.  Unfortunately it starting hurting, a lot, right away (unlike when she broke her wrist after a fall hiking 2015.) Gary, of course, is still out of town, and Patti got no sleep last night after a fall on her way to the bathroom during the night caused her excruciating pain (and possibly exacerbated everything?) 

Of course I immediately exited the hot tub and headed right over, helped her get dressed, and took her to her appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.  He showed us the x-rays taken at Urgent Care, which showed at least 2 broken bones, calling them "very bad breaks" which would definitely require surgery (plate and pins) in order for her to regain full use.  Additional x-rays there in his office proved that there are actually 4 broken bones, and he has ordered a CT scan to make sure there won't be any other surprises when he actually gets in there to fix everything. He was surprised at how badly swollen her foot and ankle are (hard to tell from the angle of my photo), which in turn surprised us since obviously he sees a lot of injuries that cause swelling.  Surgery can't take place until the swelling goes down, and that's pretty much a "wait and see" arrangement.  She'll know more when she sees him again on Wednesday to re-evaluate.  At the bottom of this post I have posted a pic I snapped with my cell phone.  It's not a pretty picture, so if you're squeamish you might want to skip it.

Despite the meds they sent home with her, Patti was still in a lot of pain last night even before she fell on her way to the bathroom. But after the doc put on much better support today (basically a "soft" cast up to her knee) she said that helped some. (Urgent Care had sent her home on crutches, which were set WAY too low for someone her height, with just an ace bandage wrapped around her ankle.) I tucked her into bed, and Gary (who has been out of town all week) could even be home from the airport now.

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PICTURE FOLLOWS

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Those blood blisters are quite 3D, though again it's difficult to tell from the pic.

Tom's chicken was scrumptious last night. I had taken care of the rest of the meal (pasta, bread, asparagus and salad), and Patti enjoyed the gluten-heavy meal (Gary returns tomorrow when of course all of that is off the table.)  With everything else on the menu none of us had room for salad last night (and I had added so many yummies into the greens.) However Patti filled a tublet to take to work for lunch today, and I'm looking forward to having the salad for lunch today also, along with some leftover bread.  Of course some days my "salad" is more like this:

I didn't get right to quilting this morning, instead reading more of The Other Einstein, which I am thoroughly enjoying.  But after I post this entry I plan to get to work on getting the remaining 3 columns sashed together.  Patti was quite impressed last night by how merely sashing them together really makes the color in the blocks pop.

Grace called me back this morning to let me know she appreciated the invite to go see the Maverick's quilts honoring the National Parks but has already been to see it.  She did give it a rave review, which is not surprising.  I've been to their shows before, and they are artists all!  Still no word back from Bobbi.  It's possible she may be out of town grieving with family, or may not yet feel up to being around people or even talking with them. It's only been a month since Dick died.

So instead I am going to spend the afternoon working on the wedding quilt (who knows... maybe I will even get to start on the borders today!?) and instead schedule my visit for next Thursday.  Possibly by then I can round up another partner in crime to go with me.  Wanda called yesterday, and thought she could squeeze it into her schedule for next Thursday, when we could (finally!?) include a trip up to her daughter's shop in Cave Creek (or is it Carefree?) But a check of her calendar shows she will be having company next Thursday.  She's always a busy lady!

Here are a few of the things people were working on at the retreat. and had up on the design walls.

This very simple pattern that would make great use of some of my lumberyard scraps - I love it!

This lone block from happy kid fabrics caught my eye...

and when these others later joined it look how dramatic it is! (I'm pretty sure they are Dee's blocks, even though Misha is in the picture - because the design wall was right behind her chair.)

Ellen was working on some difficult PP blocks (though how she could concentrate, what with being one of the retreat hostesses, plus everything else going on, is even more impressive!)

Now that I'm properly motivated, off to sew!