Well, A Funny Thing Happened . . .

Hello everyone!  Yes, I'm still here.  All that really remains of this cold is a nasty cough and tickle in my throat that has been keeping me awake half the night despite the multiple and varied "remedies" and medications I've tried.  It's lessening day by day, but I find the best way to deal with it is to try to get to bed quite early on those nights when I have to get up for work the next day, so at least if I spend a few hours coughing, I'm still likely to get the sleep I need to keep me functional.  Sooooooo . . . I've continued to stay off the internet and just concentrate on doing what absolutely needs to be done in my world.  One foot in front of the other, step by step, and soon I'm sure my routine will return to normal.

In the meantime, Hubby's been sick but I don't think he's quite as bad as I was.  It's hard to tell, though, because I know there were days when I felt like I was on the mend and then days when another symptom would hit or I'd suddenly have no energy, and I know he's been feeling that too.  Still, he tends to not get coughs like I do--probably as a result of my many earlier years as a smoker whereas he never did pick up that nasty habit.  So we're hoping his recovery will be quicker.

Anyway, what I wanted to follow up on is that green Thimbleberries fabric I was searching for.  Remember that?  Well, when I posted, I'd found a source online; the next day, I had an email from the shop that they were out of the fabric.  Again?!  Figures, right?  The same thing had happened a couple times before.  Fairly quickly, though, I found another source and ordered it, expecting to hear any day that the shop I ordered from was out of it too.  But I never heard, and a couple days passed.  Today the package arrived and guess what?  IT'S NOT THE RIGHT SHADE!  ARGH!  Yes, it's the fabric I ordered, but it's still not quite right.  See?  I told you it's hard to tell the difference between the three colorways of each print.  That sure makes ordering from the internet difficult!  So now I have 1 yard of the darkest shade, 1 yard of the medium shade, and none of the lightest shade--which turns out to be the one I need.  It sounds a little bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, doesn't it?

So I went back to the computer tonight and an internet search turned up the lightest shade at Appalachian Quilts - coincidentally, the shop is owned by a Thimbleberries friend, Cynthia.  Of course, I ordered a yard, and hopefully it will arrive before long and it will be exactly the shade I've been trying to match.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, finally using the Kindle Fire Hubby bought me for Christmas over a year ago, and I'm enjoying it more now.  You may remember that I'd cleared out quite a lot of my books from my library after Thanksgiving, so I'm feeling a little less tied to the physical, paper form of books than I had been before.  That's not to say I don't still have plenty of paper books I haven't read yet--I do!  But the Kindle is convenient too, and there's a lot less book clutter on my shelves and tabletops.

I've also been spending a little time in the Sweat Shop--not as much time as I normally would, but more than I had been a couple weeks ago.  In line with my 2013 quilting plans, I finished quilting the bright Christmas quilt I pieced from strips back around October or November--I'll take a photo and post it soon.  And in the last couple of days, I've returned to piecing the red and cream quilt--I'll take a photo of that and post it before long too, just as soon as I finish piecing the top.

So that's how I've spent the first week of the new year; how about you?