Stars, Stripes and Fireworks Table Runner---almost!

Almost finished table runner. Click the picture to see larger image.

Some of you know that my plans to finish a table runner and a quilt this week were thwarted by 2 major events. First, our central air conditioning went out. We put in 2 small window units in the bedrooms and pretty much left the house for the weekend when we could. We've added a large unit downstairs and have one for the upstairs, but the landlord and my husband have been busy & that one is last priority....at least for them. LOL! I've worked slowly in there when it was late enough that the fan kept me from being too hot.

The next event was a sequel to an earlier event this year. THE REVENGE OF THE KIDNEY STONE! No sooner had I canceled an "extra" appointment we'd left open "Just in case" when I started having some signs that my last kidney stone was moving. On Sunday night I was in severe pain, but after taking Vicodin & waiting an hour, the pain settled & was gone all day Monday. Well, until about 11 p.m. I told the girls they had to get to bed so I could take the meds (I didn't want to be knocked out before they went to bed). Turns out I should have just taken the pills. Though, they didn't really do anything. By 1:30 a.m. I was in tears in the kitchen. The girls woke up and came to check on me. The beauty of having a take-charge (you can read that as bossy if you'd like!) kid is that in situations like this, she takes charge. She asked if I wanted her to get Daddy up. I cried, "No, just wait 5 more minutes to see if the medicine works." One more crying outburst was all it took for her to tell me she WAS waking up Daddy. We spent 2-4 in the ER.

Bottom line: I had a stent put in today & will have a shock treatment next week to break up the stone. Unfortunately, the ER people prescribed Motrin along with the hydrocodone (vicodin). I hadn't been using ibuprofen much after being told by 2 doctors to slow down on it. Then I took some. Thursday morning. The day I saw the dr. Turns out you can't have the shock treatment until you've been off ALL blood thinners for a week. Thus, the 2 procedures.

Closer look at front & stitching. Click the picture to enlarge.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Or the hot house in this case, I managed to piece and quilt the table runner. I have not bound it yet, so in the picture you see an unfinished product. I will be listing this on Etsy for $35 plus shipping. However, if you or someone you know would like this, I will sell it to you for $30 plus shipping. We can do basic priority or if you want it for the 4th & want to have me ship it faster we can do expedited shipping. It will be bound by the time I send it, of course! And any little bits of thread removed, of course. I typically prefer to show you a finished product, but thought I'd put this one out there for my readers before offering it to the Etsy crowd.

I used free motion quilting using some squiggles and wiggles in the striped areas. Then I used a meandering stitch and stars on the printed pieces. Straight stitching was used for the stripes. If you click the picture of the back (the solid red) you can probably see the design in the stitching better. Remember, this isn't finished so loose threads show up. The thread is ALL red. It just looks light because of the flash. The whitish that you see around the quilt is cotton batting. I like to use cotton batting on table runners so they can withstand the heat of hot dishes, working as a hot pad and table runner in one. This will be trimmed off and I will have red binding around the edges.

Finished this table runner will be just under 20" by 50".

If you are interested or know someone who is, let me know ASAP so I can hold it for you.

Thanks for dropping by!