It's my birthday today, and it was Keryn's yesterday- remember we wrote about it here, and here, and also here.  If you haven't read those posts, it's worth it as the story seems to be pretty unusual.

When I moved to Crystal Brook I was friendly with a lady in her eighties who I discovered had been a midwife  around that time-(late  1950's). I told her the story of our birth and she seemed very doubtful. "I've only heard of one case like that," she said and mentioned Mum.  I cried "That was US!" I'm very glad the story had a happy ending, or I wouldn't be writing this. To put it in perspective,  Keryn was  born at ten in the morning after an eight hour labour and I wasn't born till the following day at ten that night. Apart from having to spend time in a humidity crib, I seemed none the worse for my experience. And if we hadn't each had our own placenta it might have been a different ending too.

But here I am today, sewing yet another project and wondering where it's headed. I've been making these blocks for ages (think years) and my original plans have been discarded. It just wasn't working the way I wanted, so I've decided to finish this any-old-how and start again if I want to.

I think the block itself was from a Pat Speth  nickel pattern and it's a delight to sew. Very easy and the pressing makes it fit together beautifully. I wanted something very soft, with almost no contrast, but I think perhaps these might be too subtle....read boring.

I was playing with the idea of them set on point, but now I just want them done without fiddling with setting triangles. My new revised plan will explore that possibility and for now I'm concentrating on finishing all the cut out pieces and getting the blocks in one piece. It will be quite large, which tends to happen when you sew without specific measurements in mind.

I uphold the sentiment of "no work on your birthday", but I have to continue quilting  a huge Wedding Ring top that has to be finished very soon. I've nearly done the ditch stitching and today I'll focus on the borders, which are full of spectacular applique. I'll probably spend about six hours standing up, after that my feet feel like they're imploding, so that's my limit.

Also hindering me was a thorn that I got in my finger a couple of weeks ago. I dug out some bigger ones, and thought this was too small to bother with. I ended up with a red painful lump about 1/4" away, and the original entry point had healed up completely. It got so sore I was trying not to bend that finger at all, not conducive to good quilting. So last night I got out the soap and sugar  and made a poultice, and though I haven't taken it off yet the pain is almost gone.

I googled it out of interest and while I couldn't find an acceptable scientific explanation (but lots of references to doctors dismissing the idea) I just know it works. My Gran did it, my mum did it, now I've taught my kids to do it. It's a wonder someone hasn't tried to market it!