A Stupid Accident

On Saturday morning I was getting ready to make a Costco run, which involved an ice chest in Girlie car’s back hatch, and while backing out of the garage, I smashed the rear window as I had left the hatch door open, and it didn’t clear the low garage opening. In my Maine garage I would have gone right through with the hatch door open.

It is interesting that my RAV4, which warns me of all sorts of possible events while backing up, didn’t make a peep about the hatch door being open.

It was one of those totally stupid life moments. And it left me with tiny pieces of shattered glass all over the back of the garage, obvious damage to the back door, and a case of the shakes. And a loss of confidence. For sure.

So, let’s skip to today–Wednesday morning. Son Mike came right away with plastic and tape and soothing directions of what to do and what to expect. (Son Bryan was away with the family.)

USAA, on a Saturday, set the required insurance in place, organized the repair, and got me a rental car. Better Collision had an inspection spot ready for me on Monday, and I dropped off Girlie there and felt she was in good hands. There was additional drama as we got a really bad thunderstorm, which I tried to beat in getting Girlie to Better Collision, as we weren’t sure the plastic would be totally efficient, and I got caught in it just 5 minutes or less from finding the repair place. But Mike’s plastic seemed to hold until Better Collision could get her under cover.

Enterprise car rental picked me up at Better Collision, and I came home with a bright white Toyota Corolla, which I can drive until Girlie is fixed and which will stand out in parking lots. And the best news is that Better Collision called yesterday and, assuming parts are available, Girlie will be ready to go again some time Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. And I can drop the rental car at Better Collision and Enterprise will pick it up there.

What has amazed me is that all these systems are so efficient and helpful. In all my years of driving, I’ve really never had an accident (knock on wood) that required this level of help. And I’d also like to say that there have been so many, many very nice people along the way who have helped me fix Girlie and to manage without her.

My nerves are another matter though! And my friends have been busy telling me of their car mishaps that they also classify as stupid moments that should not have happened. At least two friends have smashed hatch doors and the window backing out of a low garage. And, yes, that has made me feel much better. Accidents happen. And I think my own new rule will be NOT to open the back hatch door if I am leaving home unless it is OUTSIDE the garage.

To soothe my nerves and temporary loss of confidence in my sweet situation here, I’ve been sewing a lot since that Saturday morning. As always, quiet time in my studio restores me.

I’ve completed the second set of the Summer Camp mystery quilt (Modern Quilt Society) and am looking forward to the third round this Friday. These blocks are just so much fun. The blocks on the 3rd and 4th rows were made by cutting a set of blocks from the first set into two pieces and adding borders–a process I thought quite clever.

My backing/field fabric came yesterday, and I washed it last night. It’s a deep olive green and will be perfect. And the backing for the quilt from hell and its lighter batting came as well. The first of the 4 needed borders is almost done.

I’ve been sidetracked a bit with the half-square triangles made with solid scraps these past two days. OK, I’ve been side-tracked a lot. I am intrigued and engaged. Here’s where that project is as of this morning. I’m not going to use the dark green sashing I don’t think. I’ll put the aqua sashing in that spot. And there will be a third row. Then what? The blocks are 20 inches finished, and I’m loving how the secondary patterns are emerging. I’ll get the gold and light red sashing blocks sewn together today. But I also want this quilt to be more modern, so I may take the half-square units out on the top and sides in some way to be yet determined.

I took this picture of the design wall some time yesterday, so you can see the three projects I’m working on now. Then I stored the mystery quilt blocks. The red quilt blocks are stacked up together to make room on the design wall for the growing half-square triangle project–which is, by the way, eating up scraps like crazy.

I’m still wondering about the sashing color for the red quilt. I was thinking green, but I’m not sure. I don’t want it to remind of Christmas. I’ll try some other color choices later today. I don’t want pink. Maybe a soft lavender, like Kona thistle?

For now, before we get more rain, I need to take the rental car to the grocery store. I’m still not ready to make the Costco run though. But…soon.