Contrasts

 We had 4 rather severe storms in a row lately and when we got on the train to go to Amsterdam last monday, the last one was still blowing my hairpins out.

It happened to be my birthday and I was in for a day out. First we went to the Stedelijk museum (mainly modern art) and then we visited the Rijksmuseum. We skipped the Van Gogh this time; it was too busy and crowded to my taste. Next time Vincent!

Matisse

Chagall

Mondriaan, all at the Stedelijk

And Vermeer, Breitner and Asselijn at the Rijksmuseum.

Amsterdam being pretty as always

Then on Wednesday, we took the Ladies to Naturalis. What a contrast! And such a beautifull exhibition of thousands of animals. The Ladies fav were the dinosaurs, ofcourse..

They were allowed to hold a piece of dino poop and a genuine piece of triceratops skin.

Another day for the books!

Yesterday the carnaval festivities started here in the southern part of the country, after 2 years of cancellation due to Covid. It lasts untill Tuesday night and everywhere there are people in silly costumes, cheerfull music is playing, bars are crowded etc

At the same time there`s constant tv coverage of the war in Ukrain. Footage of fathers saying goodbye to their families, people seeking shelter, bombs, tanks…This time it`s not from WW2 or something like that, but 2022 in our backyard, in Europe. It`s horrible, heartbreaking and all because of the delusion of one man.

Keep calm and quilt on

 Lately I noticed that I couldn`t bend and stretch my right ring finger as freely as it should. And while bending and stretching, it made a soft cracking sound. It became increasingly painfull as well. My doctor diagnosed it as a “trigger finger” and sent me to a fysiotherapist. 

I had the intake there yesterday. The therapist asked about my hobbies. Ofcourse she had no clue what patchwork and quilting was. When I explained she said (while typing):”ah, with a sewing machine “ and was horrified when I replied that I am a HANDquilter…LOL

Anyway, she made a brace and told me that it had to stay on 24 hours, 7 days, for starters and that I should not use that finger at all if possible, except to do prescribed excersises. 

I considered myself lucky that it was this finger. After all, you don`t use it while quilting!

Phew!

How wrong was I!! You use it all the time when grabbing something. I couldn`t pull a needle through anymore. And I was making such good progress on the Granny Square!

(The sun made some strange shadows on the picture, but the quilting is visible..)

I didn`t have a needle puller at hand, so I made one myself.

I padded the pair of pliers not to damage the needle and although it slowed me down considerably, it worked. Sort of.

Another nifty tool I gifted myself is a ergonomic rotarycutter. I choose one from Marti Michell.

What a difference this thing makes!! I never ever cut so many layers at once with so little effort. I cut a bunch of scraps to shreds just for fun, because I just couldn`t stop cutting haha. I forgot to take a picture, the orange pieces were the last ones left on the table.

Now let`s order a genuine needle puller and see if that keeps me quilting on (with the wretched brace)…Not quilting would mean I need a psychotherapist and probably a divorce lawyer in the near future.