We had a great weekend, I love it when the family gets together.  Mereth was glad that John and Liz could visit too, and we had a great time playing cards and swapping stories and looking at old photos.  There should be more of it.

 

We spent so much time playing cards that there wasn't a lot of time to do anything else, so no walks on the beach for the dogs, but we had fun.  Dolly was so spoilt for attention that she was in heaven anyway.

Yesterday I cut out a heap of blocks for the blue and brown quilt, and I thanked God for the Go cutter.  Just lately my feet have been so painful, it's crippling not to be able to stand without pain for even a short time.  Of course my job involves standing and sorting the mail, for up to three hours, so that was just a nightmare.  And I have trouble finding a setup that works for cutting fabric sitting down, it just doesn't work for me.  So it was great to be able to cut strips, then sit down and send them through the Go cutter.  I cut enough triangles for 26 blocks, nearly half of what I need, and it didn't hurt too much at all.

I have no idea what causes the painful feet, Bonnie Hunter had a bout  of it a while ago, I've had it before, but never as bad as this.  I don't eat gluten, so it's not an inflammation thing.  It goes away after a while, so I'll just have to wait it out.  I bought a pair of Hideously Expensive shoes with orthotics, and they made an instant difference; I call them my Polio boots as they're so ugly, but comfort wins over stylishness.  (I'm showing my age mentioning Polio boots; we always had kids in our schools wearing dreadful corrective boots and calipers to correct polio damage.  That's not something you see these days.)  The worst thing is not being able to go for our long walks each night, the dogs are missing that; we do a kilometre or so, but it's just not the same.  I hope the cool weather brings an improvement in my mobility.

I watched an old episode of QuiltCam last night while I sewed up 5 blocks;

they go together so quickly, I'll have to make sure I don't rush through this quilt without stopping to enjoy it.  The blocks are so lovely to put together, I'm happy as a clam while I stitch.  It's good to be back at the machine.

The garden is full of flowers at the moment, and the roses are recovering after the horrid summer.

This little bouquet is made of miniature roses, they are about 1.5" across, and the colours are glorious.  My big roses get rain-spoilt and heat-burnt, but these little darlings just bloom beautifully no matter what the weather.  I have to love something so adaptable, and beautiful with it.