The White Nightingale Begins

 

After I cut the strips for the White Nightingale quilt, I matched them into pairs and in a session of what my pal Julie calls "power sewing" I sewed all the pairs together, then I pressed the seams open.

Then I subcut the strips into smaller chunks.

This does not take long. In the tutorial I wrote that this is probably the easiest quilt ever to make, and I am not joking.

After another session of matching chunks, sewing and pressing, this is a selection of the blocks randomly arranged on my ironing table. This is all looking exactly like what I expected. A happy riot of color.

That's the good part.

In the middle of this - because I don't spend all day every day in my studio - I was working on the spring cleanup in my front yard. Experts suggest you do not rake up the leaves in the autumn but wait till spring to allow the good bugs a place to live, so I do that. Since I am not as young as I used to be, I tend to work out of doors in small bursts. I'll rake for about an hour one day, then bag the leaves another. Works just fine.

Except.

The other morning I woke up with what I thought was a bug bite on my forehead. When a couple of days later the itching went down into my eyelids I got a little nervous and contacted my pal Susan, a retired trauma nurse who also happens to be a quilting buddy. I took pictures (no I am not sharing them with you). She suggested I go to Urgent Care, because it was a Saturday.

Turns out it was Poison Ivy.

Good thing I wear gloves when I work out in the yard. Naturally I have taken all the precautions - discarded the gloves and washed all bedding, clothes and related items in hot water in the Sanitizer setting on my washer. I've also contacted the maintenance department in my development and they will spread weed killer to the area.

I was prescribed antibiotics and steroids, and told to avoid the pool and my swim class until it cleared up.

So that's that!