two to quilt

These two quilt tops (the one on the right including a double border not shown) were delivered to my longarm quilter, Laura at Star City Stitchery, today.  She helped me pick out patterns and thread color.  I've mentioned it before, but one of the things I love about her business is that when she's working on my quilt, she lets me know and I can watch on the quilt cam.  If you click on it now you see the Block of the Month sampler quilt for The Crooked Stitch.  It was on the machine when I went there today.

I warned her that I've got two more quilt tops headed her way before the end of the year.  One is the Christmas one I'm working on and one is the Ghastlies one that I'll be making as soon as I get the fabric.  It will have some pretty large sized blocks because of the scale of the fabric so it should go together quickly.

I'm having kind of a rough week - it's so hard to tell when I'm PMSing now since the hysterectomy since looking at the calendar doesn't help! - and each time I read a post about a quilter's retreat or the friendships a lot of quilters have found through things like Sewing Summit or other quilt events, I get envious.  Yes, I have the quilt guild, and one friend I met there, even though our ages are about 25 years apart.  But honestly, one of the reasons I sewed all week and all weekend is that I didn't have much else to do.  Yes, I turned down an invitation from my Honey's sister to join her and her husband for a wine festival, and I am grateful to have been invited.  But I really wish I had friends to sew with or go grab a beer with or go shopping with.  I don't even have family anymore, beyond my dad and my son and the people in my Honey's family who have so kindly (and so recently) accepted me.  Some of the bloggers I read talk about time spent with sisters or their mom and that's just not really an option for me.  Family is forever ... until they pass away.  Still, I've always been somewhat of a loner, and haven't picked up many new girlfriends since my divorce.  Work is exhausting and when I get home at night - and it's as dark as when I left in the morning - I'm grateful I don't have to go back out anywhere to put on my social face, and can just wriggle into sweats and spend some quality time at Old Sally until my Honey gets home.

Still, life would be cool if it had options.  Maybe one day.