Now about that quilt....

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Current state of Alexandria, missing three hexagon blocks to complete this round.

Painstaking also applies to the sudden reemergence of a pinched nerve in my right shoulder, shoot!

So yeah, a slight detour from how I was going to wax poetically about prepping to move onto the next phase. Or not. Huh. Didn't see that coming.

Nor could I have fathomed what happened to a beloved childhood landmark of mine; early this morning the Bidwell Mansion was destroyed by fire. HEARTBREAKING! Northern California is my birthplace, and I visited the mansion many times in my youth. Makes me ill pondering all that was lost, especially on the heels of the destructive Park Fire that burned Upper Bidwell Park this past summer, and let's not forget the Camp Fire that ravaged Paradise in 2018. Again, I feel queasy considering these events, hard to separate myself from them merely to talk about a quilt.

Perhaps what I need to consider is how FLEETING are possessions, even parts of this planet. Animals become extinct. Natural flora is obliterated by the effects of climate change and human beings' wanton disregard for the elements. And here I am, wishing to discuss the trivial travails of which fabrics are next chosen, or does it matter if there's a possible stitching sabbatical in my near future?

Yet (YET!), our collective personal smallish queries/problems aren't to be forgotten because historic landmarks burn to the ground. There's a saying: Just because someone else has two broken legs doesn't make my one broken leg hurt less. Which seems a bit trite, but.... But the point I was originally going to make in this post before my shoulder got angry and a house burned down is that I've come to a place in this quilt where yes, I have chosen fabrics for future hexagon blocks, but the diamonds leading to said blocks remain a mystery.

Well, not a huge mystery. Pictured above is a test block that I like very much and will probably use in the next round of the quilt. When I get to it. After we get home from visiting family this weekend. And after my shoulder says, "O-kay, you can sew, but for goodness sake, take a break every few evenings all right?"

So yeah, a quilt. Painstaking work. Painstaking to think about what is ruined around me yet I continue to forge ahead with crafty notions. Painstaking but NECESSARY because life isn't static no matter how crappy and stuck it seems. Life needs our courage, our tenacity to rebuild, to move forward, to renew our hearts and those of others by acknowledging the past then stepping away from it to wherever we are led. Sometimes that is to set aside our tools and have a rest. Sometimes it's to barrel onto another project with the sense of previous mishaps as a guide and/or inspiration.

(Like the book I'm currently revising for release next month, lol.)

Whatever I end up doing with Alexandria, I'm grateful for the progress made and joy experienced. If I have to fold it up and put it away for a time, I will return to it with greater appreciation, and hopefully a more cautious manner of sewing. Lessons learned all the time, on a variety of subjects, what life is usually about.

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