Nerves

This morning was spent getting our passports renewed. Because it's been so long since my last passport expired, I had to fill out special paperwork--names and dates and places of birth for both my parents, dates of marriages and divorces, old addresses--and go in person (to the university bookstore) to hand it in. Dave had the usual paperwork that had to be checked over before he sent it all in himself. We each spent $160 because we wanted both the passport book and passport card (although I don't know what good the card really is; I just want it)--plus another $65 for photographs to send in. Insane. But we'll have new passports in six to eight weeks. (We probably should have paid extra to expedite them.)

 

I've been working on a new quilt made entirely out of orphan blocks (the one-off blocks that quilters all seem to collect). I used my AccuQuilt letter die to cut out the name of the quilt and the years that the orphan blocks span (though I am arguably off by one year since I got my first sewing machine in 2016, not 2017--though I think the oldest blocks in the quilt may be from 2017--though that's not really important). I like the starkness of it and the contrast between the black and chartreuse green. I trashed my neck by machine appliqueing those letters down, hunching over my sewing machine to see what I was doing because I just had to use black thread against the black cloth.

 

Eight years of orphan blocks (the ones I haven't used anyway) made a queen-sized quilt (and I still have more that I may or may not add). I incorporated the title into one of the rows of the quilt where it kind of reminds me of an album title. 

Now to think of my next quilt project.

 I took this photo of a painting when Dave and I went with my mom to the museum.  I put it here because this is kind of how I've been feeling this week: All frazzled nerves.

In the last few days, I've had insane somatic symptoms, from hives to crying fits. I haven't been sleeping well. I started a ghost period.  I had a physical therapy session where all we did was balance and breathing exercises and I came home with my back screwed up and my left foot tingling from it and my neck screwed up...It's never ending.