TUESDAY again

The pool was reasonably comfortable today.  This in contrast to yesterday when I thought I would freeze; something about the pool heater that works slower than the cold front moving down from Canada. Twenty minutes was my limit - had to get to a hot shower.
Today was much better; yes it was cool getting in but once activity began I became accustomed to the water.  I keep forgetting that the reason I avoided swimming for decades was that I really do not like being a) wet or b) cold. As the season gets cooler and cooler it stands to reason that I can expect the pool to be a colder experience but what's the idea of a "heated" pool if you are shivering?

The challenge of learning to swim before the year is out may not happen. Try as I do to float, kick and stand up - I have some obstacles to over come. Can put my head in the water and float IF I'm holding on to the railing. Can float off with a kick-board if there is 'push' room to glide and stand up.  At first I could push off but was afraid of stopping to land. Now I can land but the push off is scary. Well, not scary exactly - I can head to the wall or rail but pushing off to 'nowhere' floating free in the water is terrifying. Why? That I cannot tell you. I can push off from the teacher's one-hand lead but doing it alone is a whole other story. Sometimes I get confident and think I can do it, push off from the wall and stand up when I need to breathe. Losing balance and not getting my feet to the floor fast enough spells disaster; never seems to happen the way I planned. Due to schedule conflicts I did not have a Monday lesson this week and have a few more days to practice before next week's lesson.  Can I do it?  Stay tuned.

Meantime I had a getaway to Wrightsville Beach, NC for the 2013 TMQG Quilt Retreat.  Missed last year and was anxious to do it again. Took way more projects than I could possibly finish is two+ days; less the shopping time in Wilmington.  Besides the bright color & white scheme I began to do some random string-piecing on the diagonal so I'll have some blocks to use in a donation quilt.

Bright hues for a baby's blanket.

Diamonds for a new project

Diane's grey scheme

Diane at work.

Becky busy with triangles.

Who goes to a quilt retreat and forgets white thread? Moi!
So what to do, find local quilt shops of course. There happened to be TWO with a short driving distance and within a couple of hours the thread shopping had only cost me about $70. Must have lost focus???

Just as I felt I was making progress catching up with soon to be due quilts, disaster was happening in the Philippines. My quilting partner Cissa who helped with a quilt for the Japanese Tsunami quilt has moved to Houston so I guess I'm on my own for this disaster.  Perhaps I can convince Spoonflower to host a "Philippines Quilt Sew Date" to take scrappy blocks and make up some donation quilts. That is once I establish a reliable relief resource to distribute the quilts to survivors.  The Nine-Patch made out of 4-patches that I took to Retreat and did not touch would make a good beginning.

Grey seems to be the color of the moment - not only have I seen lots of grey-neutral print fabrics but my pregnant 2nd cousin wants a grey & white color scheme for the baby's room.  Who am I to argue? But my scheming involves lots of pure hues against white - that should fit into an otherwise neutral room.  Quilter Diane found a herringbone pattern in a graduated grey that was striking. Makes me wonder about the backing fabric for the baby blanket - maybe grey so in case they don't like my scrappy blocks they can turn the quilt over and go with the grey.  Maybe.

The Blockade Runner offers great views of the harbor especially at sunset - unfortunately I got only about 20 minutes of sunset time one night and none the next. Did enjoy a delicious dinner at 22 North, a mere .4 miles north of the hotel where 10 of us had dinner Saturday evening. Before I realized the time was flying by it was Sunday morning and time to check out of the room, gather up the sewing tools in the ballroom and reload the car for the trip home. Much as I love my life at home it does a soul good to step out once in a while and do something else.

Reality again and tomorrow - pool practice at 7:30 a.m.
Another try to conquer the free-float.  bb