OFF TOPIC (but very relevant to our times)

 I can't go.  DC is a bus ride away and there is a bus going.  I won't be on it.  Too many crowds, too much risk for EXPOSURE to infection.  The March falls on day 4 of my first cycle of therapy.  SIGH

I will attend our local event.  Women's rights are human rights.  I want to stand up  and join in the resistance.  What  is happening in our country is morally reprehensible.  This is no longer political.  This is not about ideology.  This is about saving our Republic: One Nation, Indivisible with Liberty and Justice for ALL.  ( Plege of allegience history)

For those reading this who want to read about sewing machines, likely I will get back to them, sometime.  After all I am addicted.

I don't want to run on and on here about my resistance journey and the little "l"  so I am starting a different blog.  Living with Lymphoma in the Time of Trump

In the meantime:
KEEP CALM and SEW ON.

Oh, and PS  I sewed on Sunday afternoon.  I sat at my beloved 201-1 and stitched away.  The butt is better and I could sit comfortably for the first time in 6 weeks.  Maybe tomorrow before therapy I can sew again.  I have missed it. 

Shysters

 Crooks.  Liars.  Cheats

Should have bought a Prius

Now is my chance

Almost Free Quilt

 I long for a chance to just quilt edge to edge. That was my plan for this quilt; a simple edge to edge with a large motif that I could finish quickly. Instead, I designed a pattern with one thread color change but lots of stops and starts. I used the same color bobbin thread throughout. I also buried the threads before advancing the quilt (most of them anyway) tying off each time I would stop and start.  Yes, it was tedious and I am happy that it is finished.  I have no other quilt tops waiting in the wings.  As soon as I can sit comfortably (don't ask) at the sewing machine I will finish this one

I might be able to keep myself from playing in all that blue space.  I might.....

Wrigley tried to sleep at my feet during much of the project.

 Finished, it is larger than a Queen.  I am keeping this quilt. Every time I would tie a knot, I would think of my brief time helping in the OR.  I never became proficient at suturing and tying. Luckily my stint as a First Assist in Surgery was short lived.  Though I still chastised myself when I would drop the needle on the quilt, horrified that it might get lost.  Better on the quilt than in some woman's belly.(Which never happened BTW)

 The quilting doesn't show on much of the back. Likely after it is washed, some of the texture will appear. 

Here is the center, finished.

 This corner was a mess and I see now the difference in how I quilted the feathers.  

I ripped it out and tried again.  Maybe better, maybe not

This worked best for me.  The purple sketch lines helped a little.

The corner on the border was a bit easier.  I made a minor correction. 

This quilt is one hundred percent scraps.  The batting and thread were new, of course.  I quilted most of it in the stitch regulated mode which is a challenge for me.  I have a hard time with one fluid motion especially meeting the spine of the feather and keeping the plumes plume-like. Since I am quilting for myself the amateurish quality worries me not.  I can produce a lovely meander that is consistent and very professional, if not boring, looking.  Next quilt.  Just because. (With apologies to Linda)

RELIEF

I like the texture in this photo.  You can see the "relief" in the fabric.  I know, not true relief, but that was the word that came to mind so I am using it. 

Besides, it fits with my visit to a very warm and kind oncologist today.  Not that my diagnosis is any better than it was.  Marginal zone lymphoma is an indolent, slow growing lymphoma that tends to creep along.  Hence, chemotherapy may only keep it from transforming to the more aggressive kind.  Interestingly enough, the more aggressive kind, if that is what one gets "de novo," responds well to chemo because it is faster growing and chemo attacks fast growing cells. Not so if the indolent transforms to the aggressive. So why am I relieved?  Because I feel confidant in my care team.  I have also decided that I will respond to this treatment and be back on my bicycle by July, 2017.  Treatment starts in two weeks.  Six cycles at 4 week intervals.  No alopecia (hair loss) but maybe some fatigue and nausea and other GI symptoms that we will not discuss.    Sigh.   The usual neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia,  which will place me at risk for infection and bruising.  No contact sports so I guess my roller derby career is finished. Life is a balance.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

When all those vintage sewing machine parts and manuals became available, I vowed that I would do what I could to preserve them.  I believe that I have accomplished that goal. 

While I am not the steward of these items any longer, I have passed them along to Sew Green Of Ithaca, NY.  Wendy and her husband, Don, came over on Friday and loaded up the UHAUL with the parts and many machines.

I don't think Steven was grieving when he said. "Oh we no longer have over 200 sewing machines."
Indeed, we could have close to 100.  I just haven't counted, yet. I know that there are at least 15 in the museum and four others around the corner in the dining room.  I'll bet there are 8 or 10 in the sewing loft and who knows how many left in the shop?  If I cared, I would count.

BEFORE

AFTER DON EMPTIED IT

 Efficiency ruled.  In less than three hours the truck was loaded and they were on their way.

I was not, nor am I now, sad at all.  I would say I am rejoicing, which is appropriate, maybe for the season.

WRT the political water marks; this is my blog and  I am exercising my First Amendment Rights. No like?  Tough Shit.