Airwick156

Well its 3 in the morning once again. That stupid thing called Insomnia got ahold of me and wouldn't let me go. So this is what I did since waking up hours ago and unable to go back to sleep.
A friend of mine that goes to the little sewing group on Tuesdays that I go to has been bringing patterns that she has bought and lets everyone look at them.
She had one in particular that I liked. It is a Beach Ball Quilt with matching Tote bag. Looks easy to do. The blocks are done 10" x 10". There is a total of 13 "beach ball" squares and in between them are 9 patch with borders that go in between each beach ball. The Beach balls you have to cut out a bunch of "pieces" and the center circle. You use that wonder under stuff which I happened to have that I purchased a partial roll of at a yard sale last summer. So I made me a template for the two peices. I then I had 5 fat quarters of colors, red, yellow, blue, purple, green just sitting on the shelf that I actually didn't realize was there, so I am not sure where they came from. I bought a can of sizing and have been wanting to iron some fabric ever since I got it, but got busy doing other things that life expects from us. So I finally got to try the sizing out on these 5 fat quarters. Ironed up pretty good. I was surprised. So then I iron the wonder under onto each of the 5 pieces and then trace what seemed like a gazillion pieces, but actually it was only 112 total or something like that. I got them neatly in a ziplock bag with the pattern paperclipped to it so that the pattern doesn't get lost. So tomorrow, I am going to see if I can do the zig zag stitch all around the beach balls like it says to do. Thats going to take a lot of patience on my part and I am not too sure I will be able to be that patient. But I am going to give it my all. My husband and I like to take the two little dogs and go to the Oregon Coast and sit on the beach and most of the time it is a bit windy. And I saw this pattern and thought I could at least try to make it and that way we will have a "Beach Blanket" to take with us. I am excited to start it. Tomorrow, well today now, in about 12 hours the Superbowl will start. I will not watch it, but I might bring my sewing machine downstairs and sit here and try to do the whatever that is called around the balls. On a practice one since I traced 2 pieces wrong. LOL. So now I think I am going to attempt to go back to bed. Good night everyone or better yet Good Morning!!! Hope you have a good day.

Japonica

Wow, nice person to share!

If I may ask, do you have fibromyalgia? I do and the insomnia can really get you sometimes. Although since I have been laid off (3 years) and have a DH that said I could finally stay home, it hasn't affected me as badly.

Quiltforme

The 3 o'clock in the am is my friend too it has been almost a year since u have been to bed before 3. So sorry I cannot wait to see your quilt!

quiltin chris

from one insomniac to another--I sympathathize with you.
If I go to bed at a"decent time" I am always up and out of bed at 2-3am. I go sit my recliner and watch tv. Many nights I have fallen back to sleep that way. But then a couple hours of sitting and then I have to go lay on the sofa. Then it's back to the recliner again.
If I would begin to sew I would be up all night.

Amongst all this I have arthritis and all the snow we are getting is murder on my joints.
Then I go to work 5 days a week. Sometimes it hurts so much to get up and move.
But at least I can still get up and go to work. And I can do the sewing and quilting.

I hope you sleep good tonight.

Chris

Jill

I was a good sleeper until I hit my 50's and now it has been years of either staying up until I cannot hold my eyes open or get up after laying in bed wide awake and go into my sewing room/office until I get sleepy again. I do not watch TV. I probably should read, but I usually look at the QB or sew. It is very aggravating. I also have arthritis, but not sure if that has anything to do with it because I do take prescription meds to control the pain and stiffness. My doctor told me to get up and move around every 20-30 minutes and I am thinking my brain really took that to heart in interrupting my sleep.

toomanycats

I am excited to see your completed quilt. It sounds really nice. I have never done circles but have seen several quilts with them in it. I too have insomnia along with fibro and osteoarthritis. When it is cold really hurt. No matter when I go to bed always seem to wake up around one or two. This morning I got to sleep in...until 2:30 when the coyotes started howling and set off all the dogs barking. Then Miss Chewy (oldest cat who is 15) decided it was time to eat and started walking on my head which woke up the other two and then one of the dogs started howling besides barking so enough. I got up. Husband actually sleeps through it all. Wish I could sleep like that. Sometimes the bed hurts my back so get up sit in the chair it hurts me, lay on the couch it hurts me, play on the computer, hands hurt and back hurts......ugh.....oh well, getting sidetracked here. From your responses must be alot of us up at night! Should form the can't sleep group. Probably have a humongus following......good morning to you all. I am off to check on the heifer in the barnlot that is waiting to calve. Maybe a new baby by now. I sure hope so.

clem55

I remember going through that for about a year when I was in my early 50's. It was awful!! It was suggested that if I was still awake 15 minutes of going to bed, to get up and do something for 30 minutes, then try again. Sometimes that helped, but not aways. Doctor started me on Ambein and that did the trick. I'd take it 30 minutes before I wanted to go to bed, and without feeling at all drowzy before, I would fall asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. I took it for a couple of weeks and it seemed to stop the cycle.

tomilu

Your quilt sounds really pretty. You have to show us a pic and then perhaps we will need a tut.

Hen3rietta

For a couple of years I had severe aches and screaming shoulder pain that would wake me up at 3 or 3:30AM. Nothing worked, pills, pt,chiropractor, etc. Finally solved the problem with deep tissue muscle massage. It turned out that my muscles couldn't remember how to relax so when they got tight they stayed that way. I still have aches and the occasional pain, but at least the current ones are from identifiable sources or hard labor.

Stitchnripper

I also share the middle of the night thing. Apparently insomnia and menopause are known to go hand in hand. I take a supplement called Estroven Nighttime (no estrogen in it, my doctors approve of it) every night and for "special occasions" where I really can't sleep, take a little Ambien. Not a fun thing, for sure.