Progressively In Reverse!

Another work week is done.  Today is the day I sleep in a little bit, catch up the laundry, pay some bills and just generally be a bum.  A day to recoup my mind, gone numb after too many hours of sitting in front of the computer, too many hours of keeping track of everyone & the days progress in the flurry of work activity & too many hours of workplace politics. 

Somewhere in there I did manage to aide in bringing laughter to work this week.  I looked up the requirements to bestow Sainthood on one of our Nurses, finding a webpage called Sainthood for Dummies, added some personal observations, and printed it, after she declared over lunch that she felt it would be easier to gain Sainthood than it would be to fulfill the requirements to achieve her RN Level 3.  She is a happy soul, completely unvarnished, whose tales of adventure usually have us shedding tears of laughter.  I've never met anyone who tattles on herself or is willing to share her most embarrassing moments better than she does!  Her one woman lunch break floor shows are guaranteed to send you back to work with, at the very least, a grin and a snicker!  Sainthood would be a stretch for her.  God love her, she even approached some of our Doctors, with the completely serious face of one of those people who stops you in the mall to ask you to take a survey, and would read through the sainthood qualifications and ask them their opinion on whether or not she might qualify?  She is absolutely our much needed and best ever comic relief!  My only regret is that she is only there to bestow us with her special brand of humor 3 days a week!  It's true, one does have to be a bit on the crazy side to work in the OR.

Also somewhere in there, I did manage to accomplish some more reverse sewing on my now, infamous, Country Charmer.  Picking stitches is one of those things that one can do in front of the TV, when ones mind and body are numb from the activities of the day.  As long as your eyes hold out, anyhow.  Each night Country Charmer has been draped across my legs and over the napping bodies of two contented, warm little dachshunds who cuddle up to me as close as they can get.  They sleep, I pick.  Last night was declared burger night, hubby picked them up and I picked up some extra picking time!  I hadn't really monitored my progress this week that much, and at 10:30 when I decided to call it quits, I gave it a better look.  I was very surprised by what I found!

The un-quilting that remains on this 35 block quilt is all captured within this frame!

 

This is the only block that is still completely untouched by the seam ripper!

 

And this, to me, is still a mystery...

why would anyone ever think to smother such a cute little bird that was clearly meant to sing?

These blocks centers have truly been the most difficult spots to unstitch with so much lines of quilting crossing over and so many curving lines of stitches that have been so tiny and tight that made them next to impossible to slide the point of the seam ripper under them.  This is when I really have to open the sandwich, say a prayer, take a deep breath and work from inside the layers, using one hand to keep opposing tension between the back and the batting to stretch a tight stitch as much as I safely can to get the point of the seam ripper in to pop it.  It is a miracle that only 2 (knock on wood) little birdie centers will need to be replaced.

 

~Nancie Anne