Wow, what a week! Now what?

I've had an amazing week so far: two concerts from two of my favorite performers - Owl City and Lady Gaga.

Owl City was in Indianapolis on Sunday and I was soooo happy to be able to go. I spent the evening with my friend Natalie, her exchange student Mia and two of her friends. Despite being pretty sick, Adam was all kinds of awesome. One thing I really enjoyed about the concert was the audience; it seemed like everyone there knew the words to all of his songs and proudly sang along. I love that about his music.

Another great thing about the concert was one of his opening acts: LIGHTS. Oh. My. God. How come it's taken me so long to discover her music? I downloaded almost all of her songs off iTunes on Monday and have been listening to it sooo much.

I haven't been listening to her solely though. Another musical obsession is Lady Gaga. Way back when the tickets for her show went on sale, I liked what I had heard from her, but really didn't know much about her and her music other than she dressed rather bizarrely. Since then though I have downloaded all her stuff on iTunes as well and love just about everything she has done. I find her weirdness fascinating - I don't ever know quite what to expect from her.

Her concert was such a great experience. My friend Amy went with me and we had the best seats! Like the first/secondish row on the left side of the stage. Lady Gaga's show was such a production and it was so fun to be in the middle of the crazy crowd that was so into her music and having a blast. It was a great night for people watching - a ton of people went to the extremes with their outfits. It would have been a perfect night except for the near-toxic levels of dry ice fumes rolling off the stage right at the level of my head. Yuck!

One thing I really admire about Lady Gaga is her self confidence in doing whatever the heck she wants. I can't imagine being able to withstand all the awful and horrible things that are said about her. I wish I was more like her in this regard. My worries about what people think of me and my actions sometimes feels nearly as suffocating as all that damn dry ice.

I'm kind of bummed that both concerts are over. Now what do I have to look forward to?

In a medical update, I had to go in for an MRI on Monday. The experience itself wasn't that bad; I'll have to come back and post about whether I can say the same thing about the results. I should have some kind of news about it Monday when I have another pain management appointment.

So far I've been feeling a bit better with the new medications, but I am so not happy about how much the new prescriptions are costing me. Not sure what I can do about it, but hopefully something. The whole medical money situation - from prescriptions, doctors' appointments, X-rays & MRIs and wheelchair repairs - is depressing as hell. I hate that a really stupid phase of my life is costing me so much. And it will likely to continue along the same path.

And now, for the obligatory quilt photo, is a picture of part of the disappearing nine-patch quilt top that I made at quilt camp. I'm really looking forward to finishing this, but I need to find a fabric for the back of it. It will end up being a lap size quilt.

You might think ...

... That my lack of posts indicate my lack of quilt- and craftiness lately. Definitely not true! I've been working on all kinds of projects (lots of knitting, especially.

You also might think that after spending the entire weekend at quilt camp that I'd be ready to take a quilting break. Not true either! There's just something about spending a weekend at camp that invigorates my creativity and urge to do more and more.

I am really happy with what I was able to do during my time. While it's not usually my style to be really organized and know exactly what I will do during quilt camp weekends, this time I made it easy on myself. UFOs ONLY! (My secret title was UFO No Mo' - just a tad different from their '60s theme). So challenging to only bring those items, especially when there are like 70 other quilters around with piles of fabric, new patterns and fresh projects. By packing strategically though, it really helped me focus. I only brought supplies needed for already started projects. No extra fabric whatsoever. That was tough! (Although a heck of lot easier to pack.)

My tally during the weekend:
- finished the machine quilting on this quilt. (This photo was taken at a previous weekend at quilt camp!) I was able to get the binding cut and sewn on. Working on hand stitching it to the back now. Yay!

- Was able to sew together version No. 2 of the quilt I made as part of the Old Red Barn Co. quilt-a-long in July. (I just went on a search to find a post about the first top and realized I've never posted about it. Great blogging there, Christy!)

Anyway, back when I decided to do the quilt-a-long, I wanted to use my jelly roll in the Charisma line.



I wanted the fabric to go a long way though, so I added some other fabrics that I found in my stash and a few that I got at Joann's. That, plus I like using a variety of sources and usually prefer to not use fabrics all from the same line. I'm also usually too cheap to buy "designer" fabrics! This gave me enough strips to make two lap-size tops with mostly the same fabrics, but with different color placement. I have two different fabrics for the backs of them and think I will piece the backs to use both kinds on each.

- And finished the top of the disappearing nine-patch that I am making with the four charm packs I bought a while back.



Go me! I hope to download some of the photos I took later this week.

In the meantime, however, I'm joining lots of other quilt bloggers and am going to pretend that I will do a Sunday Stash post every week. The stash isn't the problem at all, it's the me remembering/getting around to do the posts!

This is waiting for the "perfect" pattern. I adore these patterns and colors!

It's a Hoffman Bali Pops in Kiwiberry.



I also, ahem, added a teeny tiny little bit to my stash this weekend. More details on this later. :D