Coming Up for Air

I have been among the missing -- spending more than a week trying to get a different computer organized -- almost there; editing and finally sending out my guild's newsletter; actually working in the flower beds yesterday; cleaning house and washing windows on the second floor outside and washing and installing the screens; hauling 3 monitors and some extra computers and parts to the Electronic Recycling drive on Saturday. You'll notice that quilting was not listed among the things I've been doing ;-(! I did manage to spend 15 minutes (well, more like 30 minutes) yesterday late afternoon doing some hand applique. Still working on my Primitive Garden and block 6 has languished for months now. Just a few more flowers (at 15 minutes a day) and I can move on to block 7.
I have so many projects I want to work on, I will need to make a list and go from there. I do have a quilt on the machine that I will be starting on hopefully by Friday. It is a friend's charity quilt for a Hospice facility that is being built. They will have 8 beds and have requested double bed size quilts, so I told her I'd quilt them for her. This first one I will do a pantograph -- Popcorn. I'll post pictures when it's finished.

The photo above is my "big bed" in the front yard -- lots of daffodils (I love the tiny white ones, especially since they've spread into a large clump!), some tulips and wild tulips,which are tiny and hard to see in the picture, some Virginia bluebells, and the hostas are starting to come up. We finally have had two beautiful days in a row and are even expecting a third tomorrow -- temp is to be 79 tomorrow - yay! Weather here has been unpredictable lately -- warm days followed by cold, wet days, followed by cold, windy days and then every now and then it'll get up to 60 degrees. I'm really ready for some consistently warm days!

Steve is doing his second round of 5 days of chemo followed by 23 days off. His blood counts have been great -- really stable, so that's a good sign. He'll have another MRI at the end of this cycle. He and Kim walked in the MS Walkathon held in Rockford yesterday. They raised about $1000, so they were pretty happy about that. Kim has started her 3 injections a week for her MS and seems to be doing okay on them.

I got a phone call from my college roommate last night -- her daughter has MS and has been doing "chemo-like" drugs in a trial at Emory University in Atlanta and she's doing remarkably well -- no longer needs her walker, and her eyesight has returned enough that she can drive.
Modern medicine is truly a great thing.

I see Judy L is starting a new Quilt for an Hour soon. I like the quilt, but don't know if I'll be working along on this one or saving it for later. I'll save the instructions and check the fabric stash for options and decide from there.

Gratitudes:
Steve's biggest side effect from the chemo is fatique.
Jaime is doing well on her MS treatment.
Phone calls from friends.
Warm days and time to work in the yard.