Rockin' on the Porch

A more productive day

2012-02-17T16:36:00.000-06:00

I spent most of the day today playing in the quilt studio :-)! I had to do a search and rescue attempt the other day to find a certain applique project I knew I had started. In the process I found a few other projects, of course. So, for most of the day I prepped the next blocks on four applique projects, and sorted and checked two others in progress. So, yeah, I have 6 different applique projects going at once! But that's okay, because they are great take-along items to work on and if I don't feel like working on one, I can always work on a different one!

Then I decided to make a block called Pinwheel Star from the Fons & Porter's Sampler Quilts & Blocks Winter 2011 edition (page 40) magazine. I really like the block, but I'm going to design it with fewer bias edges -- I want to use this block as a leader/ender project while working on other things, so I don't want to mess with all the bias edges -- I'd rather sew and flip the corners of the flying geese blocks, whereas the design calls for cutting triangles.

I have a couple of other things I want to prep, too and hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow -- I'll be digging through scraps for another quilt!

Gratitudes:
AJ is 8 years old today -- he was a 10 week preemie and now he's a second grader taking advanced judo lessons, playing baseball, and doing well in school! Happy Birthday, AJ!

Being in my own little world, with the cd player on and listening to some favorite tunes while playing with fabric -- what could be better? (Plenty of things, I know!)

Boring News Day

2012-02-14T13:48:00.000-06:00

How boring you ask? I'm sure I heard you!
I have no quilts to show you, nothing fun even on Valentine's Day except for a pic of my big toe -- I had toe surgery a couple of hours ago to remove an ingrown toenail! Whoopee on the excitement scale! Doesn't it just look lovely. Maybe I'll actually do some quilting this afternoon, or maybe I'll just take a nap!

Gratitudes:
I finally had the surgery done -- it doesn't hurt although it did take more than the usual amount of needle pricks to get it numb -- and that's the part that hurts.
It should be completely healed by the time spring finally arrives.
JR is always happy to see me come home!

Another Project

2012-02-02T18:27:00.000-06:00

I have a stack of unrelated projects always staring me in the face. You know the ones: go through the pictures and organize them; clean out that shelf of sewing related stuff and find a place for everything; go through the decorations and toss the stuff that's falling apart and you never use...., etc.

I have a big table in my clutter room (mud room/former sewing room), and I dumped most of the photograph books and boxes on it in hopes I would start cleaning them up. Been there since November! Today, I took some of the loose pages of one of the books and started cleaning them up. These were pics of quilts I made back in the nineties. This was before I ever got a digital camera and I used to get double prints free every time I had the film developed. Why I need 48 pics of the same quilt is beyond me! So, today while I was waiting for my meatloaf to bake, I sorted out the keepers and tossed the rest. The stack on the left is the one I tossed! I still have a picture of all the quilts in the stack, but only one or two! Now if I did that every day for the next 6 months, I might make a dent in the photo department! vbg

I did get my little Valentine quilt quilted yesterday and today I stitched down the binding and the hanging sleeve.

Gratitudes: My daughter -- she was my sounding board today and she helped me make some decisions I've been wavering on.

More Applique

2012-01-22T17:27:00.000-06:00

I spent the afternoon working on my Merry Merry Snowmen block today. This is the first block of the quilt, so I need to prep the next one. Nice to have the first one out of the way though.

Not much else going on today -- wind was blowing pretty hard this morning and it looks like it wants to sleet/drizzle/snow or something, but I can't tell if it has actually done anything. It's too cold to go out to check! vbg

Gratitudes: My girlfriend made me a cowl collar for Christmas and I love it -- it keeps my neck warm and helps to warm the rest of me.

Finished the Top

2012-01-21T15:17:00.000-06:00

I found a red fat quarter in the stash today and used it for the inner border. I think that sets it off better than just the wide pink border. This is just a 25" square quilt. I'll hang it in the little bath with the new shower curtain as soon as I get it quilted.

Gratitudes:
Tim plowed the long drive this morning and I got the short part by the garage snow-blown. Hopefully we won't get the ice/drizzle they're calling for in the morning.

Another Snow (Sew) Day...

2012-01-20T16:03:00.001-06:00

Have I mentioned lately that I hate snow?! I do. Can't figure out why I've stayed in this area all my life -- really dislike winter.
It's been coming down since 9:30 this morning and probably won't end til 9:30 tonight. I've decided to let my neighbor plow the drive this time around -- it's really cold out there too. He has a plow on the truck that used to be Bill's and offers to plow the drive for free -- can't beat that!

So, I decided it would be a perfect day for sewing. Wednesday would have been Steve's 43rd birthday. I met his widow for lunch and afterward I stopped at Acorn Quilts in Rockford to see what was new (definitely needed a pick-me-up!) I found this fabric (it was brand new -- mine was the first cut off it!).

I bought enough to make a shower curtain for the little bath. So, that's what I made this morning. I still have my snowman quilts up in this bath, but it doesn't read obvious Valentine anyway, so I went ahead and hung it up.

In a week or two I'll hang a couple of heart/Valentine quilts in there. One I know I have to add a hanging sleeve to and I need to dig out the other ones to see what I actually have. I also started a little Valentine quilt to hang in there -- just 4 appliqued hearts. I spent an hour trying to find a contrasting or coordinating fabric for the quilt to set off the border, but can't find anything in the stash, so right now the quilt is pretty boring. I'll post a picture when I finish it --- I've only gotten one heart done so far.

Gratitudes:
My neighbor, Tim -- I would hate to have to clear the drive myself today.
I'm thankful I can stay in and sew on days like this.

Winter has arrived

2012-01-12T19:05:00.000-06:00

We finally got "measurable snow" today -- so far about 5" or 6". I spent an hour just before dark snowblowing -- it's supposed to get really windy so I wanted to get the first layer off to make it easier to clean the driveway on Saturday afternoon when it is finally finished!

I finished quilting my Henrietta Whiskers quilt -- this was a free bom from Bunny Hill Designs. Kris and I each made the quilt. I stitched the binding down today and washed it -- to hide all the little errors in the stitching -- not exactly easy stitching around applique pieces!

I do love the quilt and will be quilting Kris' version for her soon. We've just started doing another Bunny Hill Design -- Merry, Merry Snowmen -- another year long project!

Gratitudes:
After a couple of tries, I actually got the snowblower to start and stay running! (Happiness is all relative you know!)
I really don't like snow, but am happy to be safe at home, with plenty of food, heat and enough wood in the garage to have a few fires before I have to go get another supply from the shed!

Final Destination

2012-01-07T16:18:00.000-06:00

The crock bench ended up in the kitchen between the two windows of the dining area. I added a few books, but I think I'll probably add a few more. Granted, it doesn't take much to make me happy, but this little bench with some of my crocks, makes me smile!

Gratitudes:
Babysitting Will and Mikey yesterday while Steph chaperoned AJ's field trip. Got in some good grandma hugs!

January 4....

2012-01-04T16:09:00.000-06:00

and I've already blown one new year's resolution! The whole frugal, green thing. But, I did stay with the green thing, because it's always green to buy primitive antiques, right?! This is the blanket chest I bought today. I sold my old coffee table and couch at the auction last spring, bought a new couch last July and have been looking for a chest to use as a coffee table for awhile. And here it is.

The inside even has a shelf/tray that slides on the top. I think I'm probably going to put some quilts in it.

I haven't filled it yet, but love that I have a space to put candles and small quilts on the top again.

And then I found this little bookshelf (same shop) and I put it in my library (I also sold the four big bookcases I had in the library at the auction). I haven't decided for sure what I'm going to put on it, but the rings indicate to me that this was a crock stand, so I put a couple of my crocks on it. I love old crocks and collect them, so I could probably fill it with crocks, but I think I might add a couple of old hard bound books with the crocks. Haven't quite decided yet, so I'll play with it and try different things. I adore primitives, so this little shelf just made my day!

So, even though I already broke one of my resolutions, I'll start over in my resolve to spend less (especially since I'll be pinching pennies til the end of the month now! vbg :-))

Gratitudes:
Finding treasures and being able to buy them when I want.
Having a friend with a Suburban that likes to antique shop with me! Thanks Kris!

The Depression Quilt

2012-01-02T15:38:00.000-06:00

My to-do list was rather long today, but I got most things done -- and the day isn't over so there's still hope :-)! It's my house cleaning day and laundry day. I try to get everything done in one day so I can play the rest of the week!

A couple of weeks before Christmas I turned a corner and got hit right in the face with a bout of depression. Depression is a really ugly thing -- lots of dark thoughts that you don't have any control over; a feeling of overwhelming sadness; a feeling of what's the point anyway. I knew what it was immediately, so I decided to try to work my way out of it -- it started on a Thursday. I was working on an old project that I consider ugly at the time and really tedious. So, I pulled out the Winter issue of Primitive Quilts magazine, set aside the ugly quilt and cut and started piecing the Country Christmas quilt in the magazine. I even went to my favorite quilt shop and bought some border fabric for it. In a matter of a couple of days, I finished the quilt, and more importantly, worked myself right out of the bout of depression. I'm not saying this is what you should do if it happens to you -- clinical depression really needs to be treated by a doctor and if it had lasted any longer, I would have made an appointment.
This quilt is actually quilted and bound and I'm considering calling it the Depression Quilt, but maybe not! I really love it -- it's only 48" x 48", but that's a good size for throwing on the couch or on the kitchen table! The picture was taken after piecing, but before I quilted it.
I went back to the ugly quilt and finished it afterwards. It was a mystery quilt I didn't want to do to begin with, but Kris cut half the pieces for me last summer and by the time I pieced them into blocks and made another large amount of blocks for it, I figured I had too much time invested in it not to finish it! You may or may not see a picture of it sometime -- the top is done but not quilted.

Gratitudes:
I'm thankful for my stash and for the Primitive quilts magazines -- love all their patterns. It was nice to be able to pull fabrics from the stash on a moment's notice and start piecing.
And, I'm grateful that my one and only bout of depression only lasted a few days.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T16:33:00.000-06:00

And, it WILL be a Happy New Year! I insist.
I started thinking about my resolutions/goals for the new year and I realized that I stopped making lists sometime this past year. I'm truly a list maker and I find that I really accomplish things when I write them down, but when I don't I'm at sixes and sevens all day -- going from one thing to another and never getting anything done or always having that feeling that I should have done something and I don't remember what it was! So, yesterday I made a short list of things I needed to get done:

And of the measly four things on the list, I only actually accomplished two of them! But, it's a start getting back to a normal routine for me. My friend Kris and I write a quilting newsletter for a few of our friends -- the past few times, she's done all the content and I do the editing. Every once in a while I actually contribute something besides the editing, but not lately. Hopefully next issue will be different. But, I did work on the newsletter yesterday and will be sending it out later today.

I don't have humidifiers on my furnaces, so have room/house ones that need to be refilled constantly -- and yesterday I blew that job off! I did, however fill them after church today, so I can still cross that off the list. I did take down Christmas yesterday -- but I didn't put up a lot of Christmas, so here's the stuff I took down:

I do have lots of snowman quilts and a few Christmas quilts that I can leave up for a few more days. The snowman quilts will stay up until I exchange them for Valentine quilts. The other part of that chore was to clean out one of the Rubbermaid bins I keep my decorations in and sort the things again by seasons and put this stuff away -- that didn't get accomplished yesterday, so it'll go on tomorrow's list!

That'll be another resolution on the list -- sort all the bins and put them away -- a little at a time. I'm not going to make myself crazy this year trying to do everything and accomplishing nothing.

This new year - 2012 - is going to be a good one because I'm going to give myself permission to take the time to smell the flowers. I want to spend more quality time with my grandkids and if the house gets dirty, it'll keep til I get around to it!

Gratitudes:
Good friends, Squire and Cindy took me out for dinner last night -- lovely meal, good glass of wine and great friends. And, we were home by 7 pm! My kind of New Year's Eve celebration!
My church family -- a great bunch of people that really care about me, as I do them.

Time is running out...

2011-12-30T14:09:00.000-06:00

YAY! I can't say that I'm sorry to see 2011 go at all. I am so looking forward to a new year and a new start.
I realize I've been among the missing in action for the past few months. A lot has happened and a lot has not happened- vbg.
I had the house on the market for 6 months -- it did not sell, which is okay with me, and it is now off the market. I will be here another year or two. I plan to relax, get some things done in the yard and the house and pretty much get back to living my life. Here's my word for the new year:

Looking back over the past few months, I've had to replace the stove in the kitchen, a whole new furnace (and I have two in this house, so I'm hoping the second one hangs in there for a few more years!), had the driveway sealed (and it's a long driveway), bought a new car -- 2012 Ford Fusion - love it, had my dryer repaired just a couple of days ago, had a tree fall in my neighbor's yard that he thankfully cut up for me, but I think there's another one that I will have to have taken down -- at least an 80' oak tree that could land on his house if it fell; gave up my cleaning lady and found out I can in fact drive a riding lawn mower and save myself some money mowing my own yard -- oh yeah and bought a new to me used lawn tractor. My plan for the new year is to be more frugal and more green -- I've closed off two bedrooms on the second floor so I don't have to heat them and I've started washing clothes in cold water. It probably won't make a nickel's worth of difference and the water heater will probably die on me anyway -- but hey, frugal and green is a start!
The cleaning lady was a luxury I gave myself for the past year -- every other week and it was heavenly, but really, I can clean my house and it doesn't get that dirty anymore.

Another reason I'm happy to stay here for another year or two is I finally have my entire sewing studio in the basement. My DSIL and nephew moved the big fabric cabinet to the basement for me on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I love having it down here.

I still have a lot of organizing to do with it and the rest of the sewing stuff, but I love being able to come downstairs and pick up where I left off at either of my sewing machines or the longarm or just sitting and appliqueing. I put up my design wall (a photographic stand with batting attached), and I have my cutting table and ironing board set up all the time too. The whole time the house was on the market, I had to keep everything put away and neat.
Anyway -- that's pretty much what's been happening the past few months and now I'm going to look forward to the new year. I have lots of new year's resolutions, as usual,, but I'll only bore you with a few of them next time!

Gratitudes:
Family and friends that have "hung in there" with me.
My digital camera -- it was a gift from my daughter and family a few years ago and I hope to use it a lot more this year.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T18:25:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

I'll be back posting soon!

Ah, September

2011-09-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

It's 90+ degrees in the shade today -- can't believe it's the first of September! It was my grandkids' first day of school -- thankfully their school is air conditioned.
I did get out to the flower bed at 7:30 this morning -- but by 8:15 I was done. Made a little progress, but not as much as I wanted. Next time!
Then I went to the shed and put a coat of varnish on my door trim. The shop area stays cooler than the outside temperature, so shouldn't be a problem drying.

Then I came in and did some deep cleaning of my main floor bath (I love fall cleaning this bath -- takes no time at all!). I put up my fall shower curtain (a Moda fabric from many years ago that I fell in love with). This bath only has a pedestal sink, which I really love, and I added an antique medicine cabinet when we first moved in.

And today, I did something radically different for me: I took a page from my friend Kris and hung a couple of quilts in this bathroom. I had a wooden washboard novelty shelf where this one is now. This quilt was a group of lottery blocks I won at guild a good 10 years ago. I put them together right away and love the small size of it. The hand razor and curling iron were my grandparents'. I found them when I was cleaning out my dad's house 18 years ago!

In this spot I had a small 3 shelf unit that is painted blue. I decided to paint it black instead, so hung this little quilt in the meantime. Kris pieced this quilt, then prepped the applique for me (she made one for herself at the same time), and we worked on the applique together.

Neither of these quilts had hanging sleeves, so this afternoon I made and sewed the sleeves on.

I ran to Farm & Fleet today and bought the black paint for the shelf, but I'm in no hurry to get it done -- I'm liking the change of having quilts hanging in there now.

'Til next time.....

Another day

2011-08-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the movies with a group from church -- we went to see "The Help" after most of us had read the book -- fabulous book, and movie -- don't miss it. Anyway, after the movie, we went to lunch, so I was gone about 6 hours (I live a half an hour from the next big city which is where my church and the theatre is!). I came home to this:

This is the back door going out to the garage. That's the very nice trim on the side of the door and the mess all over the rug. My dog, who is 11 years old, btw, not a puppy, did this. He also pulled stuff off the shelf of the bench next to the door, tore up a couple of throw rugs and generally made a very large mess. (He wrecked the trim on the same door last year after Bill died -- everyone said he missed Bill --I said I missed him too, but I don't go around eating the woodwork!). Needless to say, the dog is now being put into his kennel whenever I leave the house. I had my brother fix the woodwork the last time this happened, but I get kinda tired of having to ask people to do all these things that Bill used to do. So, Saturday I took both pieces of trim off the sides of the door, and put them in my car. Yesterday I went to Home Depot, got two new pieces of trim to match, but they wouldn't cut the angle at the top of the trim, so I stopped at my brother's on the way home, and he cut the angles for me! Today, I stained both pieces out in the shed. (Thankfully, we still had a can of the same stain we used on the rest of the woodwork). I'll let them dry a couple of days, then varnish them with the same varnish we used and then will attempt to put them back!....I am woman, hear me roar!

I also spent a few hours yesterday and today working on the yard and gardens. I'm making some headway with the weeding; I've had to rake the grass the last few times it's been mowed -- some areas grow faster than others and it just looks tacky to leave all that grass laying there. I pulled one tomato plant up and all the beans (and picked the last of the beans as I did) and cleaned up the vegetable garden. I've got some pretty tall weeds in the asparagus bed (as tall as the asparagus ferns get and more), so I'm working on that slowly each day. Last week I planted a bunch of mums up by the house and down by the road -- hoping to get things looking good for fall. And this afternoon I pulled some of my fall quilts out and started putting them up. I know it's not officially fall for a month yet, but I needed a change! This is one of my favorite scarecrow quilts from a few years back.

And this little pumpkin quilt is still a favorite of mine. It was a quick design by Kay Steinmetz after a workshop she gave a lot of years ago at guild. I took the pattern home and whipped up the quilt the next day. So much fun to do and I still love to hang it in the hallway or the kitchen every year.

The plan tomorrow is to do some more appliqueing with Kris, and of course lunch out!

'Til next time....

August is almost gone....

2011-08-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

the summer is flying by and I feel like I've been on a roller coaster for the past 3 months! These are pictures of the grandkids when we went to the Wisconsin Dells in June.

This one is Briana riding the sky high bike at the Tommie Bartlet Exploratory Center. That's really a long way up!

I've had my house on the market since the 6th of June -- hence the roller coaster ride. Someone is interested....nothing happens. Big Open House -- well attended, one couple stays for an hour and a half....nothing happens. Today, that same couple came back, spent another hour and a half and still can't make up their minds. So, first I'm leaving, then I'm staying, then I'm looking at other properties to buy, then I'm staying....Now, I'm planning on getting a lot of yard work done and some general outside cleaning; I'll probably go ahead and have the blacktop part of the drive sealed this fall as I was originally planning to do. I'll do some more whipping into shape of the flower beds and all this with the intention of doing it for my own pleasure, not to sell. Next week I'm going to put out my fall quilts and my fall decorations and if someone comes along and wants to buy it, fine, but if not, that's okay too. When the listing runs out, I'll take it off the market for a few years.

I'm getting back into the quilting groove. I'm caught up with Bunny Hill's Henrietta Whiskers block of the month, just waiting for the last block to be posted on the 5th and then I'll put it all together. I've been getting the sewing studio put together the way I want it, so it's a real pleasure to sew in the basement now. And hopefully, I'll start posting more on the blog, with pictures of quilts!

'til next time....

Playing Catch-UP

2011-07-16T17:38:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy summer so far. As usual, I'm way behind on everything -- the yard, the gardens, my quilting, the house, spending time with grandkids...
Steph and I did take the grandkids to WI Dells the end of June -- I just got the pictures off my camera, so that will be another post :-).
We've had some really hot and humid days and finally the past three days have been wonderful, so I did get some weeding done in the garden -- actually found the tomatoes and peppers and beans. Hopefully they'll ripen soon. Also got a little bit of weeding done in the flower beds -- but tons more to do there. I can't take the heat/humidity, so my time outside is limited. Thursday I managed to get out at 6:45 am and spent 3 hours working out there -- it was wonderful. But starting tomorrow the heat and humidity are back for at least a week.
One thing about the weather: I managed to get some appliqueing done while spending my time in the air conditioning! So, here are blocks 5, 6, and 7 of the Bunny Hill BOM - Henrietta Whiskers.

I am now up to date on this BOM and hope I can keep up with it now. I've been catching up with some quilting too -- still have one I need to put binding on, but finished two other small quilts. I'll post them in a day or two.

Take care everyone and hope you're enjoying your summer.

A finished Top

2011-06-13T19:32:00.000-05:00

I actually finished putting this top together on Saturday -- but either my satellite dish or blogger wasn't playing nice, so here it is today. It's only 31" square. It's a Kansas Troubles little quilt from her Summer's End line of fabric and that, coincidentally, is the name of the quilt. I have the binding pressed and ready to go and even cut a backing for it. I won't be firing up the longarm for a couple of weeks though. I really like the quilt and it felt really good getting back to piecing. Next project to piece will be Bonnie Hunter's last mystery quilt that she posted online -- I can't even remember how long ago, but I know I'm only half done with it, so I'll be pulling it out to finish up in a couple of weeks, too.

I drove Steph to her doctor's office and to physical therapy today -- her knee is coming along nicely and she's walking pretty well on it now -- she just had surgery last Friday!

I spent 3 hours in the yard yesterday afternoon -- I can see my tomatoes again, along with the peppers and beans I planted -- amazing what a little hoeing and weed pulling will do. Also got part of one daylily bed weeded before my back and my knees gave out. I hope to get some more done tomorrow. This is two years worth of weeds I'm getting rid of -- I sure didn't get anything done last summer. I feel like I've survived the worst part of losing Bill now (although I know I will miss him for the rest of my life); I feel like I can make decisions for myself now and get some things done that I couldn't handle last year. I have to say I was blessed with a husband that was a great teacher and I actually paid attention even when I didn't think it mattered; so I learned how to do a lot of things even though I never had to do any of them when he was here.

A little advice for all you wives out there: Pay attention. Talk about your finances so you know what's what; learn how to mow the yard, even if you don't have to do it; learn where your electrical breaker panel is and how it works; learn how to change the furnace filter; find out where your water shut-off valves are (we have one on every toilet and faucet in the house); do you have a septic system that needs pumping? Do you have your fireplaces cleaned regularly? What about maintenance on your car? Even if you can afford to have someone else do the work -- it still is important for you to know enough to tell them what to do.

It's 95° in the shade...

2011-06-08T16:22:00.000-05:00

but I had a great day today. Probably only quilters will understand that statement, given my life lately, but it really was a great day! I spent hours in my new sewing studio and actually accomplished a few things. I not only got block 5 of Henrietta Whiskers BOM from Bunny Hill prepped,

but I got block 6 prepped too! That means I have a couple of to-go projects ready, or

maybe they'll be done right here at home -- but either way, they are ready for me to work on!

And then, I pulled out a project that I've had spread out on the top of a Sterilite storage box since I'm not sure when. I think I started it last fall -- it's been so long since I've done any sewing that I really can't remember. It was a Kansas Troubles Project using Summer's End Charm Packs and I had pieced one 4-1/2" block and left all the pieces spread out on the box top and moved it around from the 2nd floor to the basement. Luckily, all the pieces were still together and it didn't take me too long to figure out where I had left off.

So, I made 3 more blocks in a short period of time this afternoon. There will be 12 more blocks in different colors to make and sashing strips and cornerstones and borders to add to make a little quilt 31" square. With a little luck, I'll be able to show a finished quilt top before too long. I really can't tell you how wonderful it felt to play in the studio today....but I know most of you understand!

It's supposed to storm tonight and cool off, so I suppose I'll have to do some outside work then --- unless it rains tomorrow too!

Friday my daughter will be having arthroscopic surgery on her knee -- same knee that was totally reconstructed when she was 17; they can't find the anterior cruciate ligament at all, but they're hoping that if they fix the two side ligaments (can't remember what they are called), and scrape some bone spurs off the knee, that that will tighten it up enough so they won't have to replace the acl at all. As Gilda would say, "It's always something".

Until next time, practice Random Acts of Kindness!

Mikey's Walking

2011-06-07T15:06:00.000-05:00

This was taken at his first birthday party on Sunday, June 5. Now two days later he's proud to carry a toy and walk down the hall -- boy do they learn fast. He did have clothes on earlier in the day -- but after he had his chocolate birthday cake he needed a quick bath!

Other news of the day: my house is officially listed for sale as of last night. I'm going to hate leaving this place -- my quiet spot in the country with plenty of trees and wildlife; but it is definitely apparent that I can not take care of this place alone -- my flower beds need weeding, the asparagus bed got away from me the first week I think, the grass needs mowing and I broke the riding mower and it's being fixed at the moment, lots of trimming needs to be done and I do have someone to do that for me but it's hotter than blazes this week -- at least til Thursday, so I don't want him working in the heat. I've spent months getting the house ready for showing -- cleaning out and putting away "stuff". I think we all probably have too much stuff and I know I do for sure! I've sold a lot of furniture at auction, but I still have enough to fill a house. I finally have a sewing room I love here in the basement -- but that's okay because I will definitely buy a house with a basement that's big enough to hold it all!
Speaking of which, my latest purchase was a "find" in my favorite quilt shop: A primitive table that came from a printing company in the area. It's huge and it's heavy (it took 4 guys to haul it into the basement). It sits between my sewing area and the longarm, so I have all the pieces of leftover batting pieces shoved onto the shelf on the longarm side. On the side near the sewing machines there are two drawers. I have lots of my newest fat quarters and my baskets of sewing notions along with some extra cutting boards spread out on top. This is not my cutting table, though -- that is in the area of the basement on the other side of the staircase.

And finally, I think I'll be able to actually do some sewing soon. I have four of the Bunny Hill Henrietta Whiskers blocks finished, but that still leaves me two behind, so I'm going to try to get both of them prepped today or tomorrow and maybe pull out a long ignored piecing project -- it just feels like I haven't sewn in years and I'm sure it's only been months!

I do love these happy squirrel and bird blocks -- I think this will be a fun quilt when it's finished.

Until next time, remember, Be Kinder Than Necessary!

June 2011

2011-06-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

This will be one last tear filled post and after this I will strive to have lots of positive, joyful and hopefully soon, quilt related posts.

Today is, first of all Michael Paul (Mikey's), first birthday. I have a couple of pics in my camera upstairs, so will post them in a day or two -- he is after all the really bright spot along with the other 3 grandkids of the whole past year -- and yes, tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of Bill's death. And on Tuesday, it would have been Steve and Kim's 14th anniversary. Which brings me to the reason for this post. Today I had to do one of the hardest things I've ever done.
Two days before Steve died, he asked me to buy chocolates for Kim for their anniversary. At the time I was thinking I would buy them and bring them to him to give to her. I suspect he knew he wouldn't be here for the actual day. So, today I brought her the gift of Godiva chocolates Steve wanted her to have on their anniversary. She was working in the yard when I stopped by -- doing what I do -- trying to keep busy. We both cried and I cried all the way home. And I remembered that Steve was taught by the master -- his father -- in how to treat his wife. Wow, do I miss both of them.

Steve

2011-05-28T08:57:00.002-05:00

Steven Michael Talbott, 1/18/1969 - 5/19/2011

Our beautiful, amazing son lost his fight with brain cancer yesterday morning. We were all there with him. He was the most amazing man and accomplished so much in his short life. He was an inspiration to all and he fought long and hard against all odds. We will all miss his humor and his strength. I will miss his phone calls and his love.
But now, he is at peace with Bill -- probably enjoying a round of golf and a rum and coke.

Another Wonderful Gift

2010-06-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

An old friend sent me a gift today. Joan lost her husband about 12 years ago and has since remarried. She and her first husband were our bowling team partners for many years. We don't see much of them because they winter in Florida, but she and Ben were at Bill's visitation.
This is what she sent, and I love it. I will be framing it. And yes, it made me cry, but crying's not a bad thing :-) Thanks, Joan.

Today was a fun day, too. Kris and I went to Acorn Quilts in Rockford to see a binding demonstration by Kay Steinmetz. We actually went to see Kay, so the binding demo was a bonus! Kay is another old friend -- I took my first beginners quilt class at her shop, back in the early nineties -- she owned Quilters Cupboard in Rockford back then. Now she's working a couple of days a month at Acorn and Kris is planning a get-together in Byron that we'll have Kay teach a class at this summer.
It was great getting out and seeing friends, buying fabric (well, really, Leslie has this perfectly wonderful fabric in the back room that is 1/2 price -- I just can't pass it up for future backings!).
And, of course we went to lunch -- always a bonus!

Then I came home and spent about 45 minutes outside in the hot sun (dumb), pulling thistles out of the daylily bed. I've been complaining about it for weeks, so decided a short time spent getting rid of them was in order. There's lots more weeds, of course, but a little at a time should get the job done eventually.

Blessings:
Out and about with quilting friends -- always a fun day.
Kay Steinmetz -- a treasured quilting friend.
Attacking the weeds and finding the tomato plants. I only planted tomato and peppers, so I really should be able to keep up on weeding them!

Thank Yous

2010-06-14T19:53:00.001-05:00

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. The grieving process has just begun and I can tell you it will be long and arduous. I can't possibly thank everyone for all the kind words, so please know that I sincerely appreciate them all.

I'm feeling the need to have a fresh start of sorts and have started a new blog -- I will still be talking about my daily life, and eventually some quilting when I get back to it, (other things have priority right now), and I hope to make it a little more upbeat -- and try to write more often. If you'd like to visit, it's: http://attitudesandgratitudes.blogspot.com

Thanks, everyone, and much love.

It's Over

2010-06-07T19:16:00.000-05:00

Bill passed away at 7:05 last night. All the kids were down yesterday afternoon, including our brand new grandson, Michael Paul, who was born Saturday morning at 4:20 am. We all got to say goodbye and I was with him to the end. He's been getting steadily weaker and actually went quickly, which I am so thankful for. Liver Cancer is one of the most painful of the cancers -- if you can differentiate between them all -- I'm sure every kind is painful. It is extremely hard to watch someone you've loved for 29 years go through it.

We spent today making arrangements, with more to make tomorrow. I feel like I've been on the phone all day and my throat can attest to that fact -- I have a very sore throat and earache, and I'm losing my voice, which does not bode well for the Memorial services planned. Hopefully I can doctor it enough to make it through.

I'm going to miss him terribly , but I know he's in a better place.

Thanks

2010-05-01T18:31:00.000-05:00

For all the comments and prayers. We appreciate them.

We have called in Hospice. All the doctors in Madison concurred that he is no candidate for surgery or chemo or radiation. He was very weak and was sidelined for two weeks with a virus (cough and cold) that zapped all the strength he had. He is hoping to build up his strength in the next few months and possibly go back for chemo. Hospice will send a nurse out twice a week to check on him and do anything else we need. All I need to do is call them, so that is very reassuring. They will manage his meds also and try to keep him pain free.
We spend a lot of time talking -- I think it helps us both :-)!

Keep the prayers coming, and thanks.

God, are you out there? It's me, Joanne

2010-04-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

Let's just get to it: My husband has liver cancer.
So, if you're keeping count (and I am), since September, Steve's brain tumor has come back twice, he's had surgery, a small stroke, rehab and this last time he had stereotactic radiosurgery, which means they bombarded the tumor from every angle possible with radiation; Kevin was diagnosed and had surgery for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and now Bill has liver cancer. We are in the process of getting all our ducks in a row: we met a great surgeon in Madison at UW Clinic today and will be having more tests done and will have to make some serious decisions over the next few weeks. She can take 1/2 his liver, if the mass and other spots are contained in the half; and if he can tolerate the surgery -- he'll be 84 in May and we have to meet with his cardiologist sometime soon and he'll probably have to have another echocardiogram. They are also scheduling tests in Madison, so we'll be driving back and forth, or spending time up there in a hotel, as needed.
I'm going to be spending less time on the computer, obviously, so am taking a break from blogging (you wouldn't notice because I haven't blogged in a month anyway! vbg).

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-28T18:25:00.002-06:00

What? You mean it's over? We missed it? Darn, and we just finished our Valentine tops, too!
The first one is my friend, Kris' and the second is mine. We used mostly her stash of Valentine fabrics (I only had a few, but my borders are my own). I actually finished my quilt and then took the whole thing apart, squared up all the blocks, changed the inner border fabric and put it all back together. Yes, I'm anal -- but ya know if I'd've squared up the blocks to begin with, I wouldn't have had to take them all apart. You'd think after all these years of quilting I'd remember to do that instead of slapping them all together. Whatever....I never would have liked it if I hadn't taken it apart, and now I do!

This was a fun quilt to do together - we have another that we did together -- hers is even quilted and gorgeous. Mine? It's all apart and waiting to be squared up and redone, of course. Kris calls them Garage Quilts or Oil-Change Quilts -- they're orphan blocks melded together. She goes to a lot of auctions and invariably finds quilts that some guy used to lay on while changing the oil in the car - hence the name. They're fun to do and when I get mine put back together, I'll even put up a picture!

Gratitudes:
Getting a short walk outside this afternoon. It was in the mid 30's today. The plan is for another in the morning.
Getting the newsletter printed out today.
Leftover chili for dinner.

Happy Birthday, AJ

2010-02-17T07:49:00.001-06:00

Our dear, sweet, adorable grandson, AJ is six years old today! Happy Birthday, AJ!

Busy-ness

2010-02-04T09:08:00.005-06:00

I have no excuse for not updating my blog more often! I have been doing some sewing -- actually finished two tops, but still need to piece backings. Planning a sewing day with Kris tomorrow -- we're making Valentine quilts from her stash of Valentine fabrics! Should be fun.
I did receive Bonnie's new book the first of last week -- it's great. I read it through the first night!

And yesterday I finally finished "spring" cleaning the dining room. Took me about 4 hours -- so much for doing a little at a time! I did the top of the hutch a few weeks ago and then got nothing else done, so had to finally get it done. It's nice a sparkly now (although I didn't wash the windows yet -- I'll wait til it's a bit warmer out).

My dining room is not that big -- it holds the furniture, but if we turned the table to raise the drop leaf sides, we have barely enough room to put chairs around it without hitting the hutch and dry sink. We do all our entertaining in the kitchen next to the fireplace anyway. And when the whole family is here for Easter or Thanksgiving, we move this table into the kitchen and put the leaves in both tables!
I took all those pictures off the wall, cleaned the wall and the pictures, and put them back -- that's what took a lot of time. And, I'm thinking it's time to redo this gallery -- time to put some into albums and bring out pics of the grandkids that are all over the house!

Other news: Steve had an MRI last Wednesday -- everything looks good and the Avastin is working!
Monday I went with Steph to her 3-d Ultrasound! Really cool. That 11 oz. baby boy was having a great time -- moving all over, rolling, turning and laughing at us - honest! He's doing great and so is Steph -- no health worries for either of them.

Gratitudes:
Healthy boys -- both Steve and the new baby.
Getting something accomplished -- one clean room at a time!
Finishing a couple of tops -- another accomplishment.

Happy Birthday, Steve

2010-01-18T08:57:00.002-06:00

Big 41 today! Funny thing, 2 years ago we were told you'd never see this day. And I think your surgeon is pretty amazed about the fact that you're still here. But the rest of us, we're just glad you're the miracle you are. Twenty years from now I hope to still be wishing you happy birthday on this day. Hope your day is filled with good things.

Rough Week

2010-01-15T18:25:00.001-06:00

Wednesday Steph had to have an amnio. It's been a rough few days waiting for the preliminary results. I went up yesterday and babysat for a couple of hours while she went to her regular ob-gyn appointment and then we spent all afternoon talking. She hadn't slept at all on Wednesday night and again last night. I didn't sleep much. Here's our adorable youngest grandson, Will enjoying his lunch with the other kids.
Steph got the phone call this afternoon with the preliminary results: Everything is A-OK! Also -- it's definitely a boy! We were so worried, that hey, not even going to complain that we're getting another boy instead of a girl! He'll be healthy -- and believe me, that's more important.

So, this afternoon I managed to do a little bit of sewing (no way was I going to tackle the dining room today -- couldn't concentrate plus I think I have bursitis in my shoulder and it's killing me. This is the 3rd Friday Block Party block, called Another Star.

I also worked on a new mystery block of the month -- a row quilt from Claudia's Quilt Shoppe.
These are really tiny blocks. I have 3 of 9 done, so I'll show them when I finish them.

Gratitudes:
The doctors' office was very aware of the worry and fear waiting for test results and called as soon as they got the preliminary results. Full results are due next week, but 95% sure is really good. Thank God.

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-11T18:52:00.004-06:00

Here it is 11 days into the New Year and I'm still working on resolutions! Today I started another one: Deep clean (or spring clean) the main floor of the house. I managed to get the second floor done last year and even though it wouldn't hurt to do it again this year, I'll move on to the first floor. I had planned on doing the first floor last fall, but you know how plans go!
So, today I started in the dining room. We do not use our dining room -- it's basically a photo gallery and a place to keep all the china and other stuff we don't use every day! I don't even have a before picture to show because I was disgusted by the dust and dirt! I only did the top of the hutch today, but plan on doing more on Friday! So here are the after pictures -- trust me, those crystal vases are heavy and so shiny once they're clean! I had to take a picture after I put them back up and then another after I put a few pictures back up there.

I also managed to spend a little time in the sewing room -- another resolution (to spend some time every day in the sewing or quilting room). I pieced a quick backing for a quilt and brought it down to the longarm to be quilted soon. I also cleaned up my mess so it's ready for another day of sewing.

Gratitudes:
Getting my chores done today and a little extra towards my resolutions.
Spending a little time in the sewing room -- always relaxing.
Talking to Steph on the phone.

Happy Birthday Steph!

2010-01-10T09:45:00.000-06:00

Today is my baby's 34th birthday. I hate to tell her this as she's pregnant and down sick with a cold/sinus infection/allergies thing - but these are the best years of your life :-) Enjoy them!
And Happy Birthday from Dad and me!

A week's worth

2010-01-09T17:55:00.002-06:00

I've had a few days this week to quilt and play. Today I did Friday's Block Party Block. This is a 9" block. This block would make a great quilt. But no, I am not going to make it!

Earlier in the week. my QB (quilt buddy!), Kris challenged a few of us to make a Valentines quilt, completely finished with label that she gave us on it. Here's a picture of my messy cutting/sewing/generic table where I was cutting my fabrics for this quilt. Yesterday I put the top together and today I quilted it (have I told you how much I love having a longarm?!). I've put the binding on and pinned the label on, all ready for the binding to be stitched down. I can't show you a picture of the quilt though until we get together around Valentine's Day to show our creations. It's a surprise! Tomorrow I'll probably stitch the binding down and then clean my messy table...maybe.
I also shortened a new pair of bibs and a new pair of jeans for Bill today -- I hate shortening pants and I've been putting it off since Christmas. Decided I might as well get it done and not having it stare me in the face every time I walk into the room. And then I decided that I was such a good girl doing that work that I wouldn't have to cook tonight! I did however, have to run to the store for milk, so I stopped at Subway on the way back and that was dinner. Not only that, but I bought foot-long sandwiches just in case I don't feel like cooking tomorrow either! One 6" sub is big enough for one meal!

Gratitudes:
I'll be forever grateful for my longarm -- what a pleasure to finish piecing a quilt and go downstairs and load it on the longarm and quilt it.
The snow has finally stopped; it's bitter cold, but the roads aren't bad and we have plenty of firewood for staying home.
Having a group of quilting friends to have challenges with.

First Finish of the New Year

2010-01-03T16:27:00.002-06:00

I sewed the binding on the Valentine quilt and stitched it down this afternoon while printing off newsletters -- plenty of time because the printer is being quite cantankerous today! Also been designing in my mind another wall hanging -- wonder if it'll ever see the light of day. Guess I'll have to fire up EQ6 and see what I can come up with!

Gratitudes:
Another lovely day of rest.
Our minister sang a solo in church today and accompanied himself on the piano - quite a talented man and a great minister, too!

Just for Fun

2010-01-02T18:02:00.003-06:00

I spent most of the day working on the computer writing a newsletter. It's finished except for any mistakes that need corrected or last minute additions, so all I'll have to do is print out a few copies for friends that don't have a computer and I'm good to go for a couple more months!
So, in the meantime I spent some time playing with blocks. First is one Judy used to make a really cute quilt. I wanted to make a test block and decide my preference for making this quilt. I love this block, so will be adding the quilt to my list of tops I'd like to start and finish this year!
And then I noticed what fun Jeanne is having doing different blocks every day. So, I decided to join Friday Block Party and do the first block of the New Year. It's called Wheel of Time. I just chose fabrics that jumped off the shelf at me -- I have no rhyme or reason for them yet and I will probably continue doing that for awhile. It's always good to have a few orphan blocks to play with!
I did walk my 30 minutes this morning - yay me.

Gratitudes:
I'm enjoying this long holiday weekend -- even though we are retired here and always have long weekends :-), this particular weekend has felt really nice and relaxed and I've been able to spend a lot of time with my quilting.

New Years Day, A New Beginning

2010-01-01T18:07:00.002-06:00

Starting the resolutions right out the first day of the year! I did do 30 minutes on the treadmill. And I did take the Christmas decorations down and put away my twig tree for another year. And then I spent the rest of the day playing. I zigzagged an edge on old practice quilt sandwiches and neatly stacked them for use under the longarm when it sits overnight -- Gammills tend to leak a drop or so of oil when they sit for a long period of time, so I always put the old practice sandwiches under the machine to catch the drip.

And then I loaded a panel I bought last week at the quilt shop -- just a simple Valentine's Day panel that I added borders to and then quilted it today with an old pantograph: Hearts A Flutter by Lisa Calle. I hope to get the binding on tomorrow and maybe stitched down by Sunday.

Plan for tomorrow -- another 30 minute walk and the rest of the day will be spent working on the computer.

Gratitudes:
The feeling of accomplishment even from something as insignificant as trimming practice quilts to make pads.
The enjoyment of quilting time at the machine.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T15:03:00.004-06:00

Do you make New Years resolutions?

I do. It's a way for me to look back at what the past year has brought and a look forward with a fresh new perspective. I don't make them to stress myself -- more to take a good look at what I'd like to change, improve or even to stay the same. And I don't make resolutions about things I have no control over. I can't take the cancer from Steve's head and I can't determine the gender of Steph's baby -- but I can pray to God about those things.

I make lots of the usual ones: Exercise more (or more specifically, walk 30 minutes 5 days a week). Eat right -- cut the junk out of the diet (this goes good for about a day).

And then I make resolutions about my quilting. These are probably more goals than resolutions, but looking back over the past year it seems that I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked. I have at least 6 different applique projects going and none of them are close to being finished; so my resolution is to work on only 1 applique project this year until it is finished. The rest will wait their turn. The one I plan on working on is Primitive Garden -- it is now going on 3 years old. I really like it and I really want to finish it.
For the first 6 months of the new year I will be working on projects with Kris -- some are finishing quilt tops that are not finished, some will be starting a few new projects. We have contracted to do the program in July for our former guild and I want to be well prepared for it.

Some of my resolutions pertain to my longarm quilting and also to organizing my sewing areas. I've already started one -- sewing scrap batting pieces together. I'm always surprised at how long it takes to do this -- most of the afternoon, and after piecing 9 new pieces of various sizes, I found a couple of more pieces to add to them, so will finish that project later today or tomorrow. And resolve to do it more often so that it doesn't take all afternoon!
I consider these free battings -- it's just excess batting that I've cut off from quilting tops, or sometimes I've cut the wrong size. I use Warm & Natural almost exclusively, so they're all the same and I have plenty of my own quilt tops to quilt with these.

Some of my resolutions pertain to organizing recipes (I tried that last year, and still have stacks and stacks of recipes to go through); finally doing something with the stacks and stacks of pictures that accumulate, and of course the stacks and stacks of paper - receipts and tax info, etc. I did start a new card file system for paying bills this year that works out really well and reduces the amount of paper to be filed -- I pay most of the bills online anyway and it was getting ridiculous printing off copies all the time. So -- some of my resolutions do get resolved!

I resolve, once again, to take more pictures and post to my blog more often. (If I keep throwing this one at the wall, eventually it will stick!).

Gratitudes:
2009 is almost over! I am looking forward to 2010.

JR Update

2009-12-24T10:01:00.003-06:00

An update on JR: his surgery went well. He's not a happy camper with the cone or having to stay in his cage for any length of time. We'll have to put him in it when we head to Wisconsin tomorrow for our Christmas celebration with the kids and grandkids, but he's mostly laying next to me wherever I am all day long! Doesn't he look pitiful here?

Merry Christmas to all and I hope 2010 will be a healthy year for everyone!

One more surgery

2009-12-18T18:05:00.001-06:00

So, just to end the year with good measure, we have one more surgery to get through.
Late yesterday afternoon, I let JR outside to take care of his business (we live in the country, he's 9 yrs old and doesn't like the cold -- he sometimes goes wandering through our woods, but never off our property). I did not go out with him. He came in a few minutes later limping. We assume he chased a squirrel or a deer -- he does think he's Rambo.
So, today we got him in to see the vet and as was the case 2 years ago next month, he has torn the ligament in his knee -- last time it was the right rear leg, this time the left rear leg. Needless to say, his surgery is scheduled for Tuesday. He'll go in early in the morning and we'll pick him up late afternoon.

The vet thought he'd have to put it off for a week -- into the new year, but I'm glad he got him scheduled this week -- I want to start the new year being through with surgeries!

Gratitudes:
The vet did not have to put him out to make the diagnosis - this is one of those good things/bad things. It was quite obvious without sedating him. It also makes me hurt to see him limp.

I bought the Susan Boyle cd the other day -- what a treasure her voice is. I'd definitely recommend the cd.

Listening to my new David Bailey cd's today -- he's a folk-type singer that writes his own songs -- he's a 12 year brain tumor survivor.

Winter has arrived in all its glory

2009-12-09T18:35:00.002-06:00

I took these photos this morning, but could have waited all day -- the snow is still laying heavily on the branches of the trees. We got about 8" of snow yesterday into last night, then rain and sleet, which I'm sure melted some of it, and then another 4" or so overnight. The roads are going to be terrible tonight -- after the plows cleared the snow which was very wet, the temps are falling and the winds are picking up, so I imagine the roads will be a sheet of ice soon. Supposed to be windy all day tomorrow also. The nice thing about it: I'm going to quilt all day tomorrow!

This first shot was taken from our back porch looking northeast towards the road at the front of the house and includes our view of the fields and woods and hills across the road.

This second view was taken from the back porch, just outside the library doors, just looking at part of our woods back there.
I do love looking at the beautiful fresh snow -- but am glad I don't have to go anywhere in it!

Gratitudes:
We had plenty of warning about this snowstorm, so I managed to run up to Steph's on Monday and run into our little town on Tuesday to pick up a couple of gallons of milk. Now we can sit by the fire and watch the world go by.
I made spaghetti and meatballs from scratch today -- just seemed like a good day to do that.

More Good News

2009-12-07T15:46:00.002-06:00

I spent the day at Steph's today and she pointed out to me that I had not made the big announcement on my blog at all. (I am really getting old, because I was sure I had -- I've told everyone to think Pink!). So -- here we are -- Steph's pregnant! YAY! THINK PINK! She's due in June, and she's considered high risk, so is already on light duty, no lifting. Three sonograms have gone from egg yolk to blob with heart beat to baby with heartbeat, arms legs and a head! She's somewhere between 11 and 12 weeks, so we won't know what it is for awhile -- but THINK PINK! (And really, our grandsons are wonderful, so if it is a boy, that's okay, but I will be calling him Katie!)

And, Kevin's pathology report today showed that the margins are cancer free, so it looks like they got it all and he won't have to have further treatment at this time, other than a PSA test every two months for awhile.

Gratitudes:
A new baby.
Good news at the surgeon's office.
A safe drive to and from Wisconsin today.
Bill got the snowblower prepped and wood in for the fireplace -- winter storm heading our way by Wednesday!

Good News

2009-12-02T16:04:00.002-06:00

Kevin's surgery went very well Monday afternoon. We won't have the pathology report til next week, but the surgeon was confident it hadn't spread and he got it all. We left yesterday and expected him to come home on Thursday. However, they are on their way home now!

Steve's new chemo treatment was today and it went very well also. The infusion of Avastin was 90 minutes (for the first one; it'll be 60 minutes next time and 30 minutes each time after that). He was able to eat lunch while he was receiving the chemo and doesn't expect that nausea will be a problem with this protocol. He will continue to receive it every other week for 9 months - 1 year. He will have an MRI sometime in January.
They are also on their way home from Madison (they were able to stop and visit with Kevin before they left -- that's how we know all 4 of them are on their way home this afternoon!)

It's nice to finally have some good news!

Gratitudes:
Obviously -- our sons are doing well today.
All the prayers sent up from all over cyber land for us. We can't thank all of you enough.
Friends and Family.

Steve Update

2009-11-25T11:27:00.002-06:00

Steve started the iv drug treatment (aka chemo) at 11:01 yesterday morning and it was stopped at 11:03 yesterday morning. He had a severe allergic reaction - his blood pressure dropped to 54/31. Thankfully the staff considered that an emergency and they managed to bring him back and stabilize him. He had myriad tests afterwards and was released from the hospital late yesterday afternoon. They did spend the night in Madison, but will be home today. The drug was a clinical study called a vegF inhibitor -- basically it attaches itself to the cancer cells only and kills off the blood supply feeding them. They have decided to try Avastin next week. Avastin was just approved by the FDA for brain tumors -- it is also a treatment for colon cancer and is used for wet macular degeneration even. Hopefully Steve will be able to tolerate it. It has been used quite a bit in GBM patients in the past few years, so it is a viable alternative. It works in the same way as the one they tried yesterday -- attaching itself to the tumor only.
To say we were terrified would be an understatement -- sure brings home the fact that we're dealing with a life/death situation here. Thank God Steve's a fighter.

So next week, Kevin has surgery on Monday in Madison and Steve has treatment at the same hospital on Wednesday -- nice of them to at least go to the same place -- kind of like one-stop shopping.

We had our Thanksgiving last Sunday, but hope yours will be great.

A day off

2009-11-01T15:15:00.002-06:00

I'm basically a homebody -- I like to visit with family and friends, I like to take classes or sew with friends, but in the end, I prefer to be at home. Today is one of those days that I'm staying home (well, after church), watching the Bears win their game (go Bears!), and mostly just taking it easy. I have a quilt on the frame to be quilted and I may do a little work on it, or I may not. I have plenty of piecing or applique projects to do, but I'm probably not going to do anything -- I think my body just needs to not do anything today.
Steve got a day pass yesterday and today to spend some time at home and he's enjoying his weekend. He's hoping to go home permanently by the end of this week, maybe even Thursday. He's doing well in his rehab and hasn't had any seizures for 3 days now -- which helps a lot.

This quilt was made at least 10, if not 15 years ago in a class. The applique is all fusible and blanket stitch -- which is not my favorite way to do it, but I like the quilt anyway. I have it hanging in the clutter/sewing room this fall.

Yesterday I went to a "Creative Day" hosted by a friend of mine. There are quilters, knitters, cross-stitchers and scrap bookers among the attendees, hence the name Creative instead of Quilt day! I brought my "Starstruck" quilt that I started two years ago. I finished the blocks that were half done and started to put it together. I didn't get as far as I should have -- spent too much time eating and talking, but made some progress anyway. I do love the scrappiness of this quilt, so hope to finish it sometime soon.
Gratitudes:
Steve's having a good weekend.
Time to relax, regroup, plan for the weeks ahead.

Steve and a Finish

2009-10-26T13:27:00.002-05:00

Steve has been moved to a local rehab facility that is actually quite excellent. He will be getting occupational therapy on his left hand, which he can't feel (he is not paralyzed, he can raise his left arm, just can't use his left hand very well), physical therapy - walking, etc., and speech therapy, which is mostly focus type. He has been having mini seizures since the surgery. These are not convulsions, and only 1 grand mal in the hospital, but he kind of zones out for a minute or less and then is back. He's having trouble sleeping also. They have doubled his anti-seizure meds, so hopefully today will see an end to them. They are afraid to let him walk while he's having these because he's 6'2" and taller than most of the therapists! He is aware of the seizures, which is kind of freaky, but he hasn't lost his sense of humor and his intelligence is not impaired, so that is a good thing. As soon as he can get the seizures stopped, he can get the needed therapy and go home -- this is only a temporary stay. Once he gets home, he'll be going back to Madison to find out the next step. Staples come out of the incision next Monday, hopefully.

I finally managed to finish the witches quilt. I like how it turned out and the legs hanging free make me smile, but I really don't care for this type of pattern - the Buggy Barn way. I'm going to give this to my daughter, because I think the grandkids will love it.

I spent some time this weekend making backings for a couple of little quilts that have been sitting around collecting dust. Now I have 3 small projects waiting to be quilted, with bindings made too. It's nice to move things from pile A to pile B!

Gratitudes:
Steve is doing better every day and is looking forward to going home.
Getting back into my routine a little more. I need to clean house and run errands on my usual days - it's just a quirk in my personality, I guess.
Getting into the sewing room -- it calms me and centers me.

Steve Update

2009-10-16T18:46:00.002-05:00

Steve had surgery yesterday morning. It was not the chip-shot the doctor had expected. The pre-surgery MRI showed that the tumor had grown to 1.7 cm, so she knew she couldn't use the endoscope. She had to open the entire area again. It took 4 hours, but she got all of the growth, took out all the aneurysm clips she had left there in his first surgery, and cleaned up some scar tissue. He was in recovery for another 4 hours and had a heck of a time coming out of the anesthesia. He basically has the same problems that he had after the first surgery -- right eyelid is droopy because she had to cut into the muscle that controls it -- we expect it to improve over the next 2 or 3 months.
This morning he had another MRI, which showed that she did in fact get all the tumor, everything looks good, no sign of a stroke, but a small area of bleeding on the left back, bottom side and nothing to worry about as it is probably due to the stress on his brain from the previous radiation and surgery. His brain is swelling, but she is controlling that with steroids. He was fully awake and lucid today and hungry! They had to do a swallow test and have him on a thick liquid diet for now.
He is in intensive care, of course, so we only visit for a short time and then give him an hour or so to rest - which is rather difficult when they are constantly monitoring him -- but hey, that's why he's there. Probably be in hospital through the weekend and possibly early next week.

Please continue praying -- we appreciate the prayers.

More quilting

2009-10-08T15:30:00.003-05:00

Here's the ruler I used to make the pinwheel blocks. It's called Lil' Twister and their website is:
http://www.country-schoolhouse.com/

And this is the finished table runner top made from the ruler. It's really a fun pattern to play with.
I finished 8 witches blocks and didn't make legs for the ninth, so saw no reason to finish it. The pattern calls for 8 of them. I'm glad they're finished and hopefully it won't take long to put that top together. I started piecing another twister top as leaders/enders, so hopefully I'll have two tops done at the same time.

Gratitudes:
It was a wonderful quilty day here today -- rainy and cold outside, toasty warm with logs on the fire in the kitchen fireplace, bread in the breadmaker and leftover stew for dinner tonight -- no cooking!

Back to Quilting

2009-10-07T15:32:00.002-05:00

This is what I've been working on since my trip to Madison with Steve & Kim. Stitchers' Crossing had this quilt hanging on the wall in their classroom. I thought it was adorable and picked up the book. When we got back I cut it out. Now you should know that I am not a fan of Buggy Barn patterns -- so piecing these 9 witches is taking me awhile (along with all the time I haven't been stitching at all!). I only have 3 more to piece before I can put them together, so I'll keep at it, but I'll definitely be done with Buggy Barn patterns for awhile.

As my leader/ender project, I've been piecing these blocks. They are 9" finished. I bought a kit that makes into a table runner and the special ruler which is Twisty something or other -- of course the ruler and instructions are upstairs and I'm in the basement, so I'll have to try to remember to photograph it. These are really fun blocks to put together, so I will be making another quilt with this ruler -- and some of the charm square packs I've bought.
Gratitudes:
Getting somewhat back to normal around here -- whatever that is.
Spending some time sewing -- it sure calms me down.
Getting my tulip and daffodil bulbs into the ground today.

More Info

2009-10-07T09:05:00.002-05:00

We now have a lot more information. I think waiting for test results and meetings with doctors and specialists is undoubtedly the most nerve wracking thing. We were pretty much knocked off our feet with Kevin's news, but now we have much more information on both guys. I think I have my feet under me now anyway.

Kevin (56) was diagnosed with very aggressive prostate cancer. On a scale of 1-10 with one being the least aggressive, he is at a 7 or 8. Not a lot of time to waste. The good news is, the scans show that it has not yet spread. The surgeon in Rockford wants to do surgery sometime in the next month -- he has to heal from the biopsy two weeks ago first. They have an appointment with a surgeon at UW Madison to get a second opinion. Basically, he'll have surgery by one or the other and it doesn't sound like he'll need chemo or radiation -- so that is very good.

Steve's (40) surgeon took a good look at the MRI results, called the kids and suggested she remove the nodule without waiting 6 weeks to see another MRI. His tumor was a Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), which is the most aggressive form of brain cancer and it ALWAYS comes back. So, while it is the size of a pea (as opposed to the tennis ball she removed the first time), she wants to take it out. This is a good thing -- and actually makes us feel better to have it out than wait around to see if it'll grow. She also thinks she can do this with a small incision and thread a scope through one of the screw holes holding the piece of skull in place that she removed the first time -- much less time for the surgery and quicker recovery. Surgery is scheduled for the 15th. Probably won't have to do any more chemo or radiation after surgery either.

So, while it has been a rough couple of weeks, we'll make it through. I want to thank everyone for their prayers -- believe me they helped tremendously.
And, I want to thank Kris for getting me out of the house last Saturday and to the quilt shop and lunch and a couple of other stops. It was a great day, even though it was cold and rainy. And I have finally started sewing again -- and actually looking forward to whatever time I can squeeze out of the day to sit at the sewing machine! And next time I'll have pictures!

First you cry...

2009-09-25T16:37:00.002-05:00

And then you dig down deep to try to find the strength to get you through.
We have two sons -- they both have cancer. Bill lost his first son to cancer at the age of 8.
I'll not be blogging much while we walk this latest road. Please pray for us.

September has arrived

2009-09-10T08:12:00.002-05:00

This year is really flying by. I have finally faced the fact that I will never be caught up. I did spend most of last week weeding flower beds, some that hadn't been done all year. I still have one big bed to do and it must get done because I ordered some tulips and daffodils to plant in it. I thought maybe that would give me more incentive to get 'er done.

My quilting friend Kris gave me this charm pack of Gobble, Gobble fabrics from Moda by Sandy Gervais and challenged me to make a quilt. Snowballs from charm squares are easy and I love the fall fabrics, so this was a quick quilt to make. I added the applique because I thought it needed something, but maybe just a print border would suffice. Either way, it's finished and hanging and that's a good thing.

Tuesday this week I went to Madison with Steve & Kim. He's been going every 3 months for an MRI and check up. All of his scans have been clear since the surgery, radiation and chemo. I haven't gone along on most of them -- some have been scheduled at oh dark thirty in the morning. He always calls me as soon as they leave the building, too. So, this time we made plans to do other things after the appoiontments at the clinic and it included a stop at a quilt shop! And no, Kim doesn't quilt, but they stopped for me anyway.

Steve's scan this time showed a small white spot that hasn't been there before. Ian (Dr. Robbins) and Dr. Mehta think it looks peculiar and they aren't sure what it is. So, instead of 3 months return visit, he'll have to go back in 6 weeks to see if it is still there, if it's grown, static, or gone altogether. Ian did say that it does not look like a recurrence -- he actually came back into the room and said that. And I tend to believe a man who only treats brain tumors and even though he reminds us of the absent-minded professor, he has probably seen enough recurrences to know what he's talking about. And he waited to get Dr. Mehta's input and we haven't seen Mehta since the first month or so. It is quite possibly a necrosis (dead tissue -- kind of like scar tissue from the surgery/radiation/chemo). Necrosis is probably pretty common in brain tumors -- at least I've read about it quite a bit.

We were all a little freaked about this spot --- just because we expected the scan to show nothing like all the previous ones. I am not allowed to go back with them ever ;-)! Cooler heads prevailed after we digested the information. Steve has a great attitude and pretty much hit the nail on the head here. I told him earlier in the day that I already had a talk with God and this cancer is not coming back ever.

The quilt shop was Stitcher's Crossing and also had a large yarn section and a large cross-stitch/stitchery section. And, of course I bought a few fat quarters and two books and the new Quilt Sampler mag.

Gratitudes:
Spending the day with Steve & Kim even though the news wasn't as good as we expected.
I have a lot of confidence in Ian and the UW Madison clinic.
New quilt books to soothe the soul!

The Month of August

2009-08-25T18:07:00.006-05:00

While Bill was in the emergency room, our friends/neighbors righted his tractor and hauled it into our shed. Last week Bill and his friend ordered the parts to fix it -- I imagine they'll be working on it awhile ;-)! This first pic is of the wheel which we now think is what caused the accident -- it broke off the axle or whatever it is that keeps the wheel in place (I am mechanically challenged). The second picture shows the damage to the caution sign and the wheel on the left side, which was at the top right when I first got to the ditch. The third picture shows the seat and the bent up spring -- the seat is what caught Bill in the hip and thigh as he went off the back of the tractor. Notice the black steering wheel laying on the side -- it is bent and broken, plus the fireman had to cut the spokes out of it in order to free Bill's leg from under it.

So, Bill managed to survive, but then last Thursday night he had chest pains and nausea, so ended up back at the hospital overnight. They did a nuclear stress test the next day and his heart is okay -- can only think it's an esophageal thing. They did cut one of his blood pressure meds in half -- he does not have high blood pressure and I think too much med was making him dizzy. It's been a trying month. He is home again and went to see his doctor today and everything seems to be fine, again. We are getting to be on a first name basis with the Byron Fire Department/Ambulance though -- and that's okay because they are all great professionals and certainly set my mind at ease when I see them pull up.

A week after the accident, I left Bill to his own devices (with our friend/neighbor to keep an eye on him!), and Steph and I took the grandkids to the Milwaukee Zoo. We had a wonderful day. The first picture is Briana, AJ and Will (who did not want to have his picture taken!). Briana has the patience of Job with the boys. She is truly a blessing. I had to ride the skycar with her because she knew Mom wouldn't! It was actually fun -- even though I don't care for rides either.

This is AJ after having a blueberry slushy! He's 5, need I say more?
And this is Will, age 2 -- the climber. He has absolutely no fear and will climb on anything - never mind that on the other side of that wall was the pond. Grandma added a few gray hairs that day!
We did have a great time and hope that next summer we can plan an outing for every other week when Briana is home (she has to go to her mother's in the summer every other week).

And just to prove to myself that I have accomplished something quilty this month -- I finally finished block 8 of the Primitive Garden quilt!
Gratitudes:
Bill is back home and well.
Grandchildren -- they are so much fun.
I seem to be in a quilting slump, but enjoying reading and wasting time anyway.

Sew....

2009-08-05T14:05:00.003-05:00

Not much quilting getting done around here. But for the past week or so, I had been hoping to get some outside work done. So, Monday, after walking 3-1/2 miles at the Forest Preserve trails in the morning, then cleaning house, I decided to power wash the front porch again. I took the screens down and washed them and then did the porch and washed the windows too. Finished the job except for putting the screens back in. By this time it was almost 3 pm and I was more than ready for a shower. Before I went upstairs to take said shower, I went out to put the screens back in. I heard Bill calling from a ways off.
Bill had been mowing lawn, first with the lawn tractor, then with the big farm tractor -- he does the deep ditch across the road with the big tractor and the perimeter areas of the corn fields and the lane, etc. At first I thought he was calling JR, but JR was in the front yard looking at me and trying to figure out where Bill was, too. Finally, I heard Bill say my name and looked out through the trees and saw the small front wheel of the tractor sticking above the ditch across the road. (It's really a steep incline).

I took off running and as I got across the street and could see Bill pinned beneath the tractor, a car went by and I flagged them down (had no idea who they were). They stopped and the wife called 911 on her cell and the husband pulled a pad from his trunk to hold above Bill to shade him from the sun. Bill was lying face down on the ground with the steering wheel of his Allis Chalmers pinning his left leg to the ground. Keep in mind that my husband is 83 years old!
I know where God was on Monday -- out on a rural road outside of Byron, IL! The very excellent Byron Fire Department came in this order: 1st the chief in his car, followed immediately by the asst. chief in his car, two fire trucks and the ambulance, then the chaplain in his own car (and at that time they cancelled the LifeLine Helicopter because Bill was breathing and talking), and then a county sheriff's deputy arrived and in between all matter of friends, neighbors and passersby. There had to be at least a dozen firemen on the job between the trucks and the ambulance. They managed to use their extrication equipment to lift the tractor enough to cut the steering wheel and free Bill and get him into the ambulance.

So...the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday was spent at the hospital; they took x-ray after x-ray and ct scans right and left (and reported to me that yes, in fact, he does have a brain); he spent the night in the hospital, they did more x-rays and the upshot is...he has no broken bones. He is bruised, has a black eye on the left side as well as bruises on the left side of his face, and an huge bruise on his hip, which is the sorest part, even though the steering wheel pinned him just behind his left knee. The numerous xrays were because they kept seeing something on his femur, but finally determined it was an old injury (and Bill can only remember hurting that leg when he played high school football!). They sent him home yesterday with a walker and instructions not to put any weight on the leg. He's really sore, but really thankful he's alive, plus he feels really stupid! He's mowed that area countless times in the past 15 years and for some reason as he was on the slope, he turned down instead of up and knew immediately it was going over -- he attempted to jump off and that's probably what kept him from being crushed by the wheels, but he did get caught by the steering wheel. Today he switched to the crutches we have and that works better for staying off the leg than the walker. Thankfully, the bath on the main floor has a shower without a tub, so it's easier to access, and Kevin brought the shower chair out today so he can sit while he showers.

Sew... why am I showing pictures of the porch? Because today I went back and rewashed the windows and finally put the screens back! And I haven't gone out to look at the tractor yet. Our friend and neighbor righted it Monday afternoon and managed to haul it back to the shed. He and Bill will work on repairing it (one wheel is broken and the steering column and wheel needs to be replaced, along with the seat and who know what else!) when Bill feels up to it. And you know he'll be back out there mowing as soon as he can! And me... I'd settle for calmer times and maybe taking a stitch or two on one of my projects.

Gratitudes:
Obviously, I am so grateful he wasn't hurt worse or killed.
The Byron Fire Department -- they've been called out here at least a half dozen times -- usually for Bill's heart problems. They are totally professionals and I am very thankful we have them available.
The couple that stopped when I flagged them down -- they told me their names, but I can't for the life of me remember them -- but I am forever grateful they stopped.
Neighbors and friends.
Family -- the boys and their wives came to the hospital when I called and Steph was ready to drive all the way down with Will in tow, but we insisted she not come.
The staff at the hospital -- the trauma crew were not only efficient, but had a great sense of humor too.

Catching Up

2009-07-23T15:57:00.004-05:00

This has been a really busy summer, but I don't seem to have accomplished much at all. This quilt was started at a "Quilt Camp" in June and I just finished stitching the binding down this afternoon. Kris and I each made one, with the same fabrics, but the borders are different. I used mostly her strips and scraps with just a few of my own for this one. I quilted hers in exchange! Monday we're heading to another quilt camp with a Christmas in July theme. We've picked our project and I have my scraps and strips ready to go this time.

Will's second birthday was last week and we celebrated on Sunday afternoon. I just love this picture of big brother AJ helping his little brother blow out the candle on the cookie cake. How precious is that?!

I haven't done any decluttering or spring cleaning projects, my gardens are weed infested once again, and I don't have much to show for anything I've done this summer and yet the summer is flying by. We've had weird weather -- haven't gotten any tomatoes from the garden yet at all and wondering if we ever will; the green beans are fabulous though, the beets are as well, and the cucumbers are probably going to take over the world. Bill has gotten tons of blueberries from his bushes too.

Gratitudes:
Brotherly love
The weather hasn't been too hot.
A quilt finish and I love the finished project.

Happy Birthday

2009-07-16T07:35:00.002-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday, Will.

No one can have a down day with you around -- you always make us smile! We love you, Will.
Grandma & Grandpa

A finish and a Steve update!

2009-06-12T18:29:00.002-05:00

Steve had another MRI on Tuesday and it was clear -- 18 month survivor now!

And I managed to finish a quilt -- albeit a wallhanging and nothing special -- but it's done and hanging!

Not much going on around here -- Bill was sick most of last week, but is feeling much better now. So of course, while he was sick, I ate myself out of house and home -- guess I really am a stress eater! vbg Now he's well and I'm back on track. In fact, Kris and I are walking with the cross country team she coaches 3 mornings a week -- and boy was I sore after the first day and 4-1/2 miles -- and I'd say it was a brisk walk -- not a saunter...and exactly what I need. Even though I was sore that first day I really felt good all day.

I bought a set of dvd's by Patsy Thompson last week on machine quilting and have been studying them. I really like her technique, so will be practicing my own version soon.

Sunday we're having all the kids over for brunch for Father's Day and my birthday. We're doing it a week ahead so the kids can attend the other side of the family's celebrations on Father's Day. I plan on having most of the food made tomorrow so I only need to throw things in the oven on Sunday and can enjoy the day with the kids.

And that's about it at Porchrocker's Place -- relatively quiet but thankful for Steve's test results and that Bill is better.

Quilting Today

2009-05-30T17:51:00.004-05:00

I read Mary's blog almost every day. She inspires me with her quilting -- she quilts on the longarm almost every day and practices the new things when she can. I'm about 3 years or maybe more behind her...not as adventuresome in my quilting, but trying to get there.
This quilt is just 16" x 18" and actually is Kris' quilt that she gave me. I pulled a backing yesterday and threw it on the machine today and jumped right in with a little meander with a three petal flower thrown in there. Dawn Ramirez' DVD - Pajama Quilter was originally my inspiration along with Mary. I'm giving this one back to Kris and let her bind it!

In reading Mary's blog, she showcased a quilt her mother made for her that was quilted by her sister, Deb. I hadn't been to Deb's blog in a while, so I went over there and was totally in awe of what she does with a longarm! Wow, some tiny little all-over feathers as fill in. I will never be that accomplished, but boy, what an inspiration her work is.

So, I grabbed a backing fabric and threw my appliqued tree on the longarm and filled in the background with the tiniest stippling I've ever done. Now, keep in mind, this is my first attempt and I realized after I started that I should have set my stitches at least at 12 per, and didn't want to go back and pick stitches, so did the whole thing at 10 per. Also -- I have carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand (had surgery years ago on the left), and when I finished one section, my hand was so numb I couldn't press the stop button! vbg I still don't know what I'm going to do with the border -- maybe just stitch in the ditch between the borders and call it good. Anyway -- it's not great, but I feel pretty good about it anyway and feel really good about just jumping in and having a go at it.

I quilted one other little quilt today for Kris and just freehanded some little pumpkins in with a little meander...it's a small Halloween quilt.
So, obviously, I spent my day quilting and it was wonderful!

Gratitudes:
JR seems to feel better after having an upset stomach earlier today.
I spent some time rockin' on the porch this afternoon, reading a book - so nice.
Getting inspiration from other quilters.

Saturday's Doings

2009-05-23T18:46:00.002-05:00

I spent the afternoon playing with some friendship star blocks. They are only 6" blocks, and I want this wall hanging to be a ltitle larger, so I added the rail fence blocks. Still contemplating placement and thinking about borders -- I may have to break down and buy a good red or blue to add a border -- we'll see....

It was nice to spend the afternoon in the sewing room -- even though we had a beautiful 80° day outside. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I can spend some time on the front porch.

While I was fixing dinner tonight, Bill was just sitting at the island in the kitchen waiting for dinner to be ready! He spent all day working on the running board for his truck that broke a couple of weeks ago. Ford doesn't make them anymore, so he's fashioning his own -- he did this for the one on the driver's side a year or so ago and it looks like factory installed, but it takes him awhile! Here, he looks like he's pondering life - or maybe giving me the evil eye for snapping his picture!

Gratitudes:
Accomplishing a great deal in the yard so far this week. It's nice to enjoy the fruits of my labor -- no weeds and pretty flowers and a cob-web free rocker to sit on!
Phone calls from the kids - always good to hear from them.
Touching base with Kris after a busy week -- it feeds the creative spirit!

Today in Pictures

2009-05-22T19:18:00.003-05:00

Wednesday and Thursday the temps were in the 80's. Today -- not so much. It was about 70°, cloudy and quite breezy this morning. I had originally planned to do some weeding down by the road, and then power wash the front porch, but instead Bill got the pressure washer out and I did the power washing first. These are the after pictures. You'll notice we have a large Jack in the Pulpit and a Fern growing through the front steps (as we do every year!). I'm all for letting wild flowers grow wherever they want.
This is a shot of the right side of the porch -- there's a swing and a park bench on this side, along with my porchrocker.

This is a shot of the left side -- only Bill's porchrocker on this side!

The view from the porch looking at Bill's garden across the drive. We have an abundance of trees and shade, so the garden goes where the sun is. In front of the garden next to the road is my flower bed -- with lots of hybrid lilies and perennials such as coneflowers, yellow yarrow, black-eyed susans and hollyhocks.

This is a view of this side of the driveway and one of the flower beds closer to the house -- this one has not been weeded yet! The beds next to the road and on this side of the drive have many different colors of daylilies, peonies from Bill's mother's house that I have transplanted twice and my fern peony.

This shot is of the center flower bed nearer the house. I did weed it today. It contains more daylilies, some resurrection lilies that will bloom in July, a clump of Virginia Bluebells that came from the original Talbott homestead in Polo, IL, where Bill's aunt lived, and some hostas, tulips, hyacinths and one of our hummingbird feeders. As I was planting impatiens in the back the other day, the hummingbird came to the feeder there and took a drink not a foot away from me. He looked at me as if to say, "hurry up with the flowers, lady"! And today I noticed he was checking out the petunias I planted in the hanging baskets on the front porch.

And finally, this is the big bed to the left of the front porch, standing on the porch looking out. I weeded part of it today after washing the porch. It has a ton of daffodils, which really spread out a lot this year, lots of different types of tulips, lots of different hostas and a host of annoying weeds -- including garlic mustard which has become quite invasive the past couple of years --- the woods are full of it. I made some progress on this bed, but the daffodil leaves are no where near dying back yet, so no hurry to finish this one.

I've spent three days working outside this week and decided that I'm going to relax and enjoy this holiday weekend. I may spend some time on the front porch reading and I hope to spend some time doing a little quilting.

I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend doing whatever you like to do, also.

Before & After

2009-05-18T18:39:00.002-05:00

JR is a pure bred Jack Russell Terrier. The breeder said he had a "broken coat" which meant that he has long, wild hair. I can't remember off hand exactly when we got him -- either 2000 or 2002. We got him as a puppy. It never occurred to me to have him groomed, because we've never had a dog that needed regular grooming. We give him a bath and cut his toenails and brush him and take him to the vet for shots and whatever.

Anyhow, for years I've been fighting his shedding, difficulty in bathing him, and picking up leaves and stuff that cling to his coat when he comes in from outside. And, finally, it occurred to me to have him groomed -- I told the groomer to make him look like a real Jack Russell (she wasn't even sure he was a JR until she clipped his coat yesterday!). so, here he is in all his glory -- looks like a completely different dog and he wasn't real happy about it at all yesterday, but he's getting used to it and so are we. I'm looking forward to not having to clean up after him so much!

Spring Has Sprung

2009-05-15T12:05:00.002-05:00

It's been really busy around here, although I'm not sure what I've been doing that takes up all my time. Haven't been doing much actual sewing, but have been spending time in the sewing room. I finished quilting these first two quilts and they are now in the stack to be donated or given away. I just used the Bubbles pantograph on both.

This was just a panel I've had in stash and I added borders and quilted it. It's a cute kids/baby quilt.

This third one I put together one afternoon -- always planned on doing a broken dishes quilt, so I made a small one. I haven't quilted it yet, but plan to play with circle templates and do a small Baptist Fan pattern.

I did manage to finish spring cleaning the entire second floor. YAY - that's done. My washer died and in the process leaked water all over the first floor (my laundry is a closet in the second floor hallway). Needless to say, after we replaced the washer, I got to shampoo the carpet in the hallway for the third time. Now that the second floor is finished, the first floor looks much dirtier, so I will be starting on it this summer, hopefully to finish by Christmas.

I managed to wash windows outside and put our screens up, but will be redoing those on the porches when I clean the porches -- I'm hoping to spend more time outside this summer working around the house and in the gardens. The house cleaning will be done after the outside work or whenever it rains -- which has been quite a bit this spring.

Kris and I are still getting together to sew when we can, but she's been doing a lot of substitute teaching and tutoring, so our time has been somewhat limited. I did spend a couple of days prepping my applique projects so I can grab and go when we get a few hours. And this week I have started cleaning out my fabric cabinet -- it was so totally messy I literally could not find anything. I have two shelves straightened and two more to go. I want to make a red/white/blue quilt for the 4th and couldn't even pull fabrics for it from the mess.

This afternoon we have a funeral to attend, but I am looking forward to coming home and doing quilty things the rest of the weekend. Well, I may go to "The Pec Thing" on Sunday -- a weekend antique/flea market show in Pecatonica, IL. They have it every spring and fall and it's a great thing to walk through all the booths and even the exhibition halls at the fairgrounds. I'm not looking for anything in particular -- but I love to find little antique things or something to put in the garden.

So, that's basically what's been going on around here -- obviously it's been ages since I posted or even read many blogs.

Gratitudes:

The trees and flowers are all bursting into bloom or already bloomed and are leafing out -- everything is green. Seems like it happens overnight -- brown landscape one day and beautifully green the next.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T18:58:00.003-05:00

My son made me cry on Mother's Day. We had a nice visit with all the kids early this afternoon and because our Daughter-in-law's birthday and Bill's birthday are also this month, we celebrated everything today. Here's our two grandsons playing. Will is sitting in the baby rocker that was Steve's when he was Will's age -- 40 years ago (and those are Steve's legs in the picture with Will).

We exchanged gifts and had cake and then they all left. I took a nap (we had a wedding in Milwaukee last night and I was done in). Then Bill decided to take me out to dinner tonight, so I went upstairs to get ready. There were two envelopes on the dresser in the bedroom, addressed to Dad and Mom. Mine was a card with a recorded message and the song "Lean on Me" played after the message. Steve recorded the message -- and yes, I cried -- what a sweetheart I raised. It's nice to know he turned out so well -- and so did our other two. In this day and age, I think we're lucky in that respect. Thanks, Steve - I love you too.

I haven't updated my blog in ages and have been busy doing lots of stuff, so I'll have to spend some time this week getting caught up. Not tonight, though.

Gratitudes:

Family.

American Brain Tumor Association

2009-04-25T18:13:00.002-05:00

Steve walked in the ABTA's 5k walk/run fundraiser today at Soldier Field in Chicago. He just sent me this clip he made from the pictures he took. The music is by David M. Bailey, who is a 12 year brain tumor survivor and is now going through treatment again because his cancer has returned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tarW-emqRcM

Happy Easter, Belatedly!

2009-04-13T14:25:00.003-05:00

AJ declared himself a "handsome boy" in his tie and dress shirt. We had to agree.
Will doesn't care about such things -- just give him a ball and some other toys and he's happy as can be.

We had Easter dinner at our house yesterday afternoon and enjoyed visiting with the kids and grandkids.

We had to have Pita put down last Monday, so it's been a bad week. He was getting old, blind, deaf and arthritic and his heart was bad and he started bleeding from his nose -- the vet thought it was probably a tumor. JR can't figure out what's going on -- he keeps going to Bill's truck as if to say, "let's go get my buddy back."

I've been doing more spring cleaning -- I have the laundry room and the main bath on the second floor finished -- all that's left is the master bedroom and bath upstairs. Problem is, as I finish each area, I come down the stairs and see that the first floor needs to be done as well, so I may be continuing the deep cleaning all summer.

Haven't done much quilting in the past week though, but hopefully will be back at it this week. I have one small quilt to load on the longarm this afternoon and still have a couple to stitch the bindings down and as always, lots of applique projects waiting to be worked on. But nothing has a deadline, so I will be taking my time and enjoying the process.

Gratitudes:

We had a nice Easter and the weather wasn't too bad -- temps in the 50's, but the wind is still quite cold.

Progress in March

2009-04-02T18:16:00.002-05:00

My quilt projects in March moved along well. I made two dog fabric quilts, put a border on a quilt Kris gave me, put a border on a panel for a child's quilt and finished my Five and Dime quilt that I made last summer. I quilted all of the above, and bound one dog fabric quilt and gave it to Steph. I finished the bindng on the Five and Dime yesterday (and put a label on the quilt, too), but I'm counting it in March's list. This is Five and Dime (the center squares are raw edge applique). I used a pantograph called Tulip Festival from Lorien Quilting and Willow Leaf Studio.

And here's the back of this quilt. It really wasn't intended to be a reversible quilt; I was just using up stash to piece the backing. But I like the result a lot. It's a great place to put leftover blocks. too.

Spring cleaning- wise: I managed to finish the guest room and I also did the upstairs hallway -- mainly lots of woodwork (there are 3 bedrooms, a bath and double bi-fold doors on the laundry area that open on the hallway, not including the open access to the stairs). I also shampooed the carpet in the hallway twice and the stairs once. I'll do the stairs again when I finish the rest of the upstairs. Next on the list is cleaning out the cabinets in the laundry area - which is basically a large closet and starting on the linen closet in the main bathroom.

Health and weight: My blood sugar is not coming down very quickly. And, I only got in about 4 days of exercise in one and a half weeks. So, of course, to compensate for no exercise, I binged on chocolate and chips! Consequently, I gained and lost the same pound about 2 weeks in a row. I am now back on track!

Gratitudes:

Making some progress on the cleaning projects.

Getting myself back on track to lose the weight.

Actually getting some quilting done!

I've been quilting

2009-03-28T18:00:00.002-05:00

Kris gave me this quilt and I added a simple border. Today I quilted it and the binding is stitched on waiting to be stitched down. I also have quilted the two dog quilts I made and a baby panel that I put borders on. They all have the bindings on, but only one has the binding stitched down and that went to Steph on Thursday. I've just been longarm quilting up a storm!
I finished this one today, and one for Kris, and I have one I made last summer loaded on the longarm now that I hope to quilt tomorrow afternoon.
We also had a quilt shop run last Saturday to Tammy Tadd's Design Shop in Sycamore, IL. What a great shop -- lots of great spring fabrics and I managed to spend a lot of money and bring some of them home. They've all been washed and pressed and are awaiting cutting. I have two quilts I want to make in between sewing down bindings, quilting on the longarm, and appliqueing all the stuff that's waiting. It's good to be busy, right?!

I also received Kim Brunner's new dvds and workbook for making feathers, called Twirly Whirly Feathers. I love it and haven't even started practicing, but she makes it look so easy, I'm trying to find a few minutes to get the sketchbook out and get busy.

I went up to Steph's on Thursday -- thought maybe the grandkids would be off to college before I got up there to see them. Forgot my camera, but that's par for the course. They're doing well and growing like weeds.

And finally, Steve is doing the American Brain Tumor Association's 5k run/walk in April. If anyone is interested in donating to the cause (no pressure here but you all know this cause is near and dear to our hearts -- he's now a 15 month survivor!), go to Steve's blog.

Gratitudes:
A cold, gray, rainy/sleety/soon to be snow day -- great for quilting.
Bill spent the day making bean soup -- yum!

More Spring Cleaning

2009-03-14T18:09:00.002-05:00

I finished the guest room today. I spent 3 hours yesterday vacuuming walls, ceiling and beams, washing windows, cleaning woodwork and polishing furniture and washing curtains and bedding. Today I vacuumed the floor again and shampooed the carpet and everything is back in place. That's two major rooms finished so far this year, so I'm pretty happy about that. I also spent the rest of yesterday and most of today quilting on the longarm, so that was great -- except it was all for other people. I still need to put borders on the second dog quilt and then make backings for both and quilt them. I still have enough dog fabric for one more quilt, but I'm getting pretty tired of working with them, so who knows if I finish the 3rd one or not. Time will tell....

Tomorrow after church I hope to get outside and rake the flower beds -- at least the big one where the daffodils are. They're probably already starting to come up, but can't find them for the leaves. We're finally getting 40's and 50's here this week and I sure hope it stays that way. I'm definitely tired of winter.

Gratitudes:

I have a feeling of accomplishment this weekend -- not only finishing the guest room, but also getting a few quilts quilted. Now I can work on some of my own stuff!

Had another sewing day at Kris' this past week -- we do accomplish a lot in about 5 hours or so of work.

Creative Day

2009-03-09T18:27:00.003-05:00

Every March, on the first Saturday, a friend organizes what is known as "Creative Day". Byron Forest Preserve District has a really nice facility known as the Prairie Center and they rent out rooms to whomever needs them. The room we rent every year is on the main floor, very large with windows on two sides looking out over the prairie trails. It also has a small kitchen. They provide as many tables as we need and there are outlets all along the walls. It is an invitation only get-together and I think there were about 25 there this year. Melody (the lady that organizes everything) brings barbecue in a crockpot and the rest of us bring every manner of other goodies. Basically, we gnosh all day. Some of us quilt, some knit, some do cross stitch and some do scrapbooking, hence the name -- creative. Mel's been doing this for about 8 years or more. We mark it on our calendars and make sure we plan for it every year! It was held this past Saturday. I brought my featherweight and a whole bag full of fabrics already cut into strips and a bag of 6-1/2" dog blocks. These dog blocks were given to me at least 5 years ago by Kris and another friend, Deb. I ran across them a few weeks ago and decided I needed to do something with them, so Saturday was the day. I had planned on just making plain sashing strips, but Kris bought the new Quilt World magazine the other day and I found the pattern that was perfect for these blocks. I spent all day putting the top together (I had lots of frog stitching because I was too busy talking!) Today I fixed one block that I had put in wrong and then added the borders. I have enough blocks to make two more of these and I cut the rest of the strips for those today also. They will probably be donation quilts.

Gratitudes:

We had a wonderful time on Saturday, and accomplished a lot, too.

I blew my diet, but got back on the treadmill this morning, so that's a good thing.

Quilting with friends.

The End of February

2009-02-28T18:02:00.003-06:00

For being the shortest month of the year, February sure takes its time leaving. Guess it's because we're so tired of winter that we're really looking forward to March and spring.

This is the project I've been working on for the past month -- mostly on the sewing days at Kris'. It's Bonnie Hunter's Starstruck quilt. I brought it home this week and have started putting it on the design wall. I have the top six blocks sewn together, but whenever I go past the room, I add more parts of blocks. Next I'll pin a few and sew them whenever I get the chance. It's going to be a big quilt, so it'll be awhile before I finish it. But, I am loving it already. I've been meaning to do this quilt for years, and am glad I finally started it.

I've also been doing some applique this month and finished sewing the binding down on this quilt today. It'll be a gift. The pattern was from a magazine that I was going through and tearing out patterns to file and I decided to set it aside and do it before I filed the pattern. I made some changes to the original, some intentional and some not! I noticed after I had the top together and was quilting it that I left out the sashing strips altogether! Oh well, that made it smaller and it worked out okay anyway.

Other accomplishments for February: I've lost about 5 pounds and have managed to exercise at least 5 out of 7 days a week. My fasting glucose still hasn't come down much, so I'll just continue exercising and counting carbs and testing myself.

I did manage to get the guest room closet cleaned out and put back together this month -- hope to do some more work in that room in March.

And, I managed to get the taxes filed online -- it took me all day, but we won't go into that!

Gratitudes:

Taxes are done for another year.

I'm making progress on my weight loss, deep cleaning jobs, and my quilts.

This and That

2009-02-25T13:57:00.002-06:00

Not much to report on lately -- just been plugging along at this and that. Today I tackled the guest room closets again. I pulled everything out that was on the floor (I've already done the top shelves). I vacuumed and shampooed the carpet in the closet and did the woodwork. I'll give the floor plenty of time to dry and probably put everything back on Friday.

It's totally amazing how much "stuff" I can put in those closets!

I did go through the bins and boxes and threw out a few things and put the Christmas stuff with the other winter/Christmas stuff, etc. I've been putting off finishing this closet just because I was not looking forward to going through all those bins. I told myself I just needed to pull everything out and I didn't have to do the bins today if I didn't feel like it! After I got everything out, it really wasn't too much of a hassle to organize the bins after all.

There's a pile of quilts that I had stacked on top of the bins -- they'll probably go right back on top -- I don't have room anywhere else for them. There's a pile of jackets and robes -- at least one is one of Steve's high school letter jackets -- guess I can get ride of some of that stuff -- and pass it on to the rightful owner!

Anyway -- a finished job that I procrastinated on far too long. Now maybe I can get back to deep cleaning the rest of the room.

I have been doing some cutting of strips and organizing my strip drawers in the sewing room -- still have a lot to do with the scraps, but that's one of those ongoing projects. I've been doing a little applique here and there, too -- just no finished blocks.

Our AJ turned five last week -- time sure has a way of speeding up. Will got his first haircut (yeah, it was overdue -- but he looked so cute with his blond curls). Now it'll probably turn brown, darn it.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T17:51:00.002-06:00

These are my Valentines from AJ and Briana. I could hardly get in the door yesterday because AJ was so excited to give them to me! I went up there yesterday so Steph could do her room mothering duties for Briana's class and I got one on one time with the grandsons. I did send them cards for Valentines day, but they didn't arrive yesterday -- I hope they did today. I never did get around to making any postcards though. Everything's been kinda crazy around here for the past week or so -- I'm looking forward to some down time -- starting today.

I've been diagnosed with Prediabetes (used to be known as borderline diabetic). I have 6 months to lose weight and eat right to bring my blood sugar back to normal or I'll have to be put on meds. I've had my first meeting with the Diabetes Educator at the hospital, and also with a nutritionist. I actually cook heart-healthy meals and have for 22 years, but it's my portion control and snacking that is out of whack. Consequently, I have a new toy -- a glucose monitor. Not so much fun paying attention to time (2 hours after my biggest meal I have to check my blood sugar), and for someone that can eat a dozen Valentine cookies in one sitting, not so much fun cutting back on the junk so I can lose the weight. I did finally get back on the treadmill today, which felt good -- I haven't exercised in over a week. I've also been told to eat a snack at 8 pm -- which for me is not easy when I'm actually trying to lose weight. But it supposedly can make a difference when I do my fasting glucose check first thing in the morning (and that's the one that is out of whack). I don't want diabetes -- so I'll do whatever it takes. And both my kids are now aware of the problem, so they can start earlier than me on cutting the junk and eating healthy and exercising -- in fact, Steve and I have a weight loss challenge going. And Steph is going to challenge a friend of hers to drop one unhealthy habit each. It's a start!

After a couple of hours of paperwork and reading all the info I've collected this week on diabetes, I did actually do some quilty things. Well, not exactly quilting, but I cut tons of strips today to feed my scrap bins and cut some extra to trade with Kris. I made one block to see how I'd like it -- a fussy cut dog print surrounded by bright sashing fabrics. I have a stack of different dog prints that I think will end up being two or more quilts that I'll probably donate. I have 4 different sashing fabrics -- primary colors -- and I think these will make great kid quilts.

Gratitudes:
I have 6 months to whip myself into shape. This was a wake-up call and it actually forces me to lose the weight instead of constantly talking about it and losing nothing. It also forces me to exercise, and I do feel better when I do, so that's a good thing.
Grandchildren.

Valentine's Quilt

2009-02-09T18:20:00.002-06:00

Not a lot going on around here, but I did hit a new to me quilt shop the other day and picked up a couple of charm square packs (I can't remember the name of the line, but it is by Sandy Gervais). So I made this quick quilt for our table and made a couple of napkins to match -- the napkins are 9 patches with the same fabric as the border on the quilt lining them.

It was fun to just do a quick project and put it on the table for this week. I've been plodding along on piecing my Starstruck quilt from Bonnie's site and doing hand applique on my Primitive Garden quilt.

Gratitudes:

My brother's back surgery went very well. The surgeon was able to remove a large cyst from his spine and clean out the area and check the nerves as well. He already has a lot less pain, especially in his hip, which had been excruciating.
We've had spring like temperatures for a few days -- it's been great, but we'll be back to normal winter by Wednesday.

The end of January

2009-01-31T18:02:00.002-06:00

So, here we are at the end of January and I don't feel that I accomplished much this month.
I finished an applique top, but haven't quilted it yet.
I finished Steph's Christmas present, the Valentine quilt. Her dad made a quilt hanger for her too, so that was a great extra gift, but I need to get up there to get a picture because I forgot to take a picture here.
I finished the deep clean of Steph's old bedroom/my extra sewing room.
I started the deep clean of the guest room -- the closet shelf and a couple of drawers in one dresser, plus restacking the very large pile of quilts.
I did get new folders made and a ton of papers filed and reorganized in the desk area. I also got the quilt patterns I've been saving organized in books.
I've started typing up the recipes I want to keep -- that's an ongoing project.
I haven't lost as much weight as I wanted to by this point, but I haven't given up either.

I did sew with Kris yesterday. I worked on my "Starstruck" quilt from Bonnie's site. This is an ongoing project that I'm not in a hurry to finish. I've also been doing some applique projects at home -- I have 3 that I'm working on simultaneously! Two are old ones and I started a new to me one. I've done a few quilts over the years that were designed by the Country Threads ladies and I've got a few of their books. When I was re-organizing in the new sewing room, I found the book with the pattern called: Use it Up, Wear it out, Make it do, or do without. I've always been going to do that one, so I decided to start it now -- no time like the present, right?! Still working on my Primitive Garden quilt, too. I have a few more partially finished applique projects waiting in the wings, too, but 3 are probably enough for now!

Tomorrow my favorite quilt store is having their "Super Bolt Sunday Sale" and I haven't been there in ages, so friend, Jackie and I are going tomorrow afternoon.

So, tomorrow starts a new month and a new resolve to actually finish a quilting project, maybe finish cleaning the guest room and definitely get more exercising and less eating done! We'll be celebrating AJ's fifth birthday in February too!

25 things

2009-01-31T17:43:00.002-06:00

Steve tagged me on Facebook, but I can't figure out how to do this on Facebook, plus I don't have any friends listed there yet! vbg He wanted me to do it anyway, so here goes.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I've always been very proud of how my kids turned out, but don't think I can take the credit for it.
2. I'm an organizing freak, but nothing ever stays organized long.
3. I sometimes feel that decades of my life happened while I stood by and watched, without my concious participation.
4. If I had a previous life, or if I could go back in time, I could see myself as a pioneer woman establishing a homestead on a prairie.
5.I was a very shy child.
6. If my husband dies before me, I will not re-marry. He's the best husband and I don't think he can be replaced -- and I won't settle for mediocre! vbg
7. I was 34 and Bill was 55 when we married -- he patiently waited while I grew up.
8. We've been recycling for 27+ years, but I've only been trying to actually "think green" for the last 2 years.
9. I'm actually quite frugal (not cheap, there is a difference). I'm willing to pay for quality.
10. I hate paying taxes and the electric bill!
11. I could live without the tv, but not a radio or music player.
12. I had great parents and a very happy childhood with a big extended family. I was the third of 4 kids. My younger brother and I are the only two left (except for cousins).
13. I've always regretted not finishing college.
14. Quilting/sewing is a big part o my life -- I'm addicted to it.
15. I used to smoke. I quit smoking about 18 years ago.
16. I'm a Bears fan -- love NFL football, not so crazy about baseball, or basketball.
17. I'm more than ready to downsize -- smaller house, smaller yard, same amount of quilting stash ;-)!
18. I've found that I've reached the point that I don't need or want every new thing that I see.
19. I find I'd rather eat than exercise -- probably why I can never lose weight.
20.I'd like to live in the same town as my kids and grandkids.
21. I've become my mother -- but I'm not upset about it -- she was a great mom. I do worry that the Alzheimer's she had for the last 16 years of her life is hereditary, but I'm already 3 years past the age when her's started.
22. My husband only has 1 vocal chord becaue of throat cancer 45 years ago. He sounds like "the godfather".
23. When Bill adopted my two kids, a friend said, "Now they have a name to live up to instead of one they'd have to live down".
24. When I divorced my first husband, I was awarded $80 a month child support total for 2 kids. And he never bothered to pay any.
25. The day Steve was adopted, you could actually see the weight of the world lift off his shoulders -- that's one of those lifetime memories.

So, I'm supposed to pick 25 people to do this, but hey, do it if you want and let me know!

A New Day Has Dawned....

2009-01-29T18:31:00.002-06:00

We, in Illinois, at least everyone I know, is quite happy to say that Blago has been impeached! He's outta there!
I hope this sends a message to all those other politicals that we will no longer tolerate that nonsense -- you all work for us -- get with the program.
And a side note: The reason he wasn't impeached earlier or even in his first term: He had the president of the Senate in his back pocket and he (the president of the Senate) blocked any kind of legislation that would go against Blago. Personally, I think he retired before he could be ousted also. Just my humble opinion, folks.

We are celebrating tonight!

A little gift

2009-01-22T18:27:00.002-06:00

This is a cute little winter runner Kris made for me -- she made two, one for each of us. Thanks, Kris! I finished the binding this afternoon after spending most of the day quilting another quilt.

It was a lovely day! (Any day with quilting is a lovely day!).

An Exciting Day...

2009-01-20T17:58:00.002-06:00

And I'm not talking about the inauguration! Although, I'm sure that was exciting for many. Myself, being from Illinois, I don't have a lot of faith in any politician, so I'm praying God helps out our new president and he can jump-start the economy. Cleaning up politics is way too much to ask!

Anyway...today Bill had an Opthamologist appointment. Because he was going to have his eyes dilated, I drove. The two-lane from our house to Rte. 20 was relatively slick, so I drove carefully. Coming off the ramp to enter Rte 20, I began to accelerate because the road was clear and traffic was moving at a normal (65 mph) speed. I had not reached 65 mph yet, and all of a sudden we were flying down the highway (20 is a divided 4 lane), sideways -- first one way, then another and finally ended up backwards in the ditch in a snowbank. I swear we were going a lot faster sideways than forwards. I can also tell you that God was there with us. Neither of us were hurt; there was no other car in the immediate vicinity (but plenty on the road, there just weren't any around when this happened); and I managed to miss all the highway posts, signs and trees. Plenty of cars passed us and luckily did not hit the black ice I did -- Bill thinks it's because I was accelerating and the back tires hit the ice (I have rear wheel drive on my car -- not 4 wheel). The county deputy that came out told me (as I'm eye level to his feet because I'm in a ditch and he's standing on the roadway) "It's easier to drive up here than down there!" Sure -- I get a comedian! The tow-truck driver said he can see a lot of the black ice from his elevated position in the truck that we can't see from our car. I had one flat tire, but no other damage, and no one was hurt. I still can't believe I didn't hit anyone else or any other object out there. We are definitely blessed.
Needless to say, the eye doctor appointment has been rescheduled. Oh, and I made Bill drive for the rest of our errands after that!

Gratitudes:
The obvious -- no one was hurt and I didn't hit anyone else.

Happy Birthday, Steve!

2009-01-18T18:56:00.002-06:00

Today is Steve's 40th birthday! (OMG -- I have a 40 yr old son!)
I talked to him on the phone this afternoon and he said it really doesn't bother him to be 40 -- after this past year he feels a lot younger!
I was just remembering his birthday -- he was born at 3:10 in the afternoon on a Saturday and he was 3-1/2 weeks early. My aunt was having a baby shower for me the following week -- so he got to attend his own baby shower.
Happy Birthday, Steve - and many, many more.

I've been quilting a lot the past couple of days. This is the back of a quilt I did for a friend. Isn't it just the greatest -- she appliqued the kitten block right in the middle of the back. I love it.

Gratitudes:

Steve turned 40! 'nuff said.

Cutting Scraps

2009-01-15T15:41:00.003-06:00

This week after finishing whatever project or errand or chore I have planned in the morning/early afternoon, I've spent some time at the cutting table and ironing board. These 4-1/2" squares are the rest of the parts I need for Starstruck (www.quiltville.com), and I pieced the strips Monday afternoon, and pressed them Tuesday afternoon and cut them to size yesterday afternoon!

And this pile on the left is the rest of a bag of strips that I pressed the other day. They are waiting to be cut into strips and squares. I really need to get them cut and filed -- I found while working with the Starstruck pieces that it would be really easy to just pull all the red 2-1/2" squares for the next part, except I don't have enough red squares cut. I'll have to cut from stash for the ones I need now, but I really want to get my scraps cut and filed for future quilts. I have all the bins sorted and pressed and cut into specific sizes now, but I still have a ton of scraps to do.

These are the ones that I did cut from the pile on the left. I am making progress -- just kinda slow. But I'm going to try to work a bit on it each day or as often as I can.

Gratitudes:

Boy, am I thankful for the kitchen fireplace today! It was -20°F at 8 am this morning, wind chills of -30° and -40° all day. It is supposed to be worse tonight and tomorrow morning before it starts warming up again. (Warming, meaning above 0°!)

I managed to pin a quilt on the longarm today, and not rush through the job! Slow and steady wins the race, right?! I really need to rein in my impatience and I was successful today.

Accomplished!

2009-01-12T18:35:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday I finished shampooing the carpet in my new sewing/craft room. I was planning on moving everything back in on Friday, but I was unable to move myself from the bathroom for very long on that day, so I moved some of the stuff on Saturday and the rest on Sunday. This room is now the cleanest room in the house! vbg The dresser between the windows is full of quilts -- I sorted them today so only small table covers/runners and wall hangings are in the drawers -- the bigger quilts are in another room.

I set my second machine up in here before Christmas and was working on a Bonnie Hunter designed scrap quilt a couple of months ago -- well, I started it and then got side tracked making Christmas gifts. I figured out where I left off and actually got some sewing time in yesterday afternoon -- it was quite enjoyable. (JR thinks he's getting away with something because he's upstairs in this room -- I guess he thinks he's not supposed to be because he keeps running out of the room when I look at him!)

I set my antique ironing board up in here for convenience, but I can't iron too much at a time at it because it's too short! I'm only 5'6", but it hurts my back, so definitely built for short people!

Anyway -- the only thing I have left to do in this room is finish organizing the quilt patterns from magazines and that's well on its way (after I found more patterns and magazines downstairs!).

After I finished the Valentine wall hanging, I was searching for something in my other sewing room (!), and found this old applique project. I hadn't prepped Block 8 of the Primitive Garden quilt yet (which I finally did today), so I pulled this project out and worked on it a bit at a time at night and finally finished the top. This kit was bought at the first Chicago International Quilt Festival -- something like four or five years ago now. It was a kit sold at Caryl Bryer Fallert's booth and it's reverse applique. I, however, reversed the tree because I forget that most patterns expect you to trace the pattern on the reverse side of the fabric and I mark the front of my fabric for appliqueing. I pulled some black fabric and added the border and will do some minimal quilting and call it finished. I loved the pattern when I first saw it and still love it now that I finally finished it!

Gratitudes:

Having one room done and having most of the organization that I planned done in there too -- good feeling. I'll finish it completely before I moved to the next area.

My daughter turned 33 on Saturday -- she's become quite a remarkable woman, daughter, wife and mother.

Whew!

2009-01-12T09:09:00.002-06:00

Bill and I were hit with stomach pains at the same time Friday morning. It quickly became stomach flu and was not a fun day. I started recovery on Saturday, Bill is about a day behind me but he's doing better. I'm about 95% now. It sure hits hard and fast and makes one really weak and achy in addition to all the other unpleasantness. And -- it sure did ruin my plans for a couple of days.
We also got about 8 inches of snow total with some freezing rain in between. I'm thankful for our neighbor who came over and plowed the drive Saturday morning -- he does this all the time so he had no idea we were sick. But it was sure appreciated.

I have some pictures to post of things I did get accomplished this weekend, so I'll post them later (after I clean house today!).

January Postcards

2009-01-04T18:06:00.002-06:00

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon making these postcards for the grandkids. (I can't believe how long it takes to make these -- mostly because I'm designing as I go and I'm not that good at it!) I think the kids will like them, though. I do have the plastic envelopes to slip them into and I'll probably take them to the post office tomorrow afternoon - after my house cleaning chores are done!

We got a sleet/thunderstorm in the middle of the night -- very strange to have lightning at this time of year!

Gratitudes:

I slept in this morning -- no point in trying to go anywhere, I don't do slick roads! I needed the sleep too -- haven't been sleeping well at all this week.

Making up menus a week ahead of time -- sure saves the brain from overtaxing itself every evening!

If I'd have done it right the first time....

2009-01-03T18:03:00.003-06:00

I wouldn't have had to redo it today! It was bugging me, so I fixed the obvious messy quilting and added quilting to the hearts -- they needed it. Now it's acceptable (not perfect, you understand), but I can live with it!

Gratitudes:
Humorous conversation with Steph this morning.
Great coffee, 2 hour conversation with Kris today.

It's Finished

2009-01-02T17:46:00.003-06:00

This is technically a ufo - because I started it last year and finished it this year (today). I'm not real happy with the quilting, some parts are okay, some I should have spent more time on. Once again I found myself hurrying to finish instead of quitting for the day and doing the rest today. I also have a nasty habit of not practicing on the whiteboard ahead of time, which I really should do because it does take me a while to get into the swing of whatever I'm doing. I did do some line dancing in the triangle border that worked pretty well -- I actually used a curved ruler to help me stay in line. I'm probably not among the majority, but I do like working with rulers on the longarm.

Anyway -- so this is Steph's Christmas present -- a valentine's wall hanging! She'll get it when we meet this month to celebrate birthdays -- her's, both brother's and her husband's!

So that's the first quilt project for the new year. I'll be picking up a couple of tops to quilt for a friend tomorrow. I also made a quick snowman top from a panel I've had for a couple of years -- all I did was add borders -- so I think I'll do some practice quilting on it next chance I get.

Gratitudes:
Finishing a quilt. Always makes me want to start another right away!

New Year's Goals

2008-12-31T14:13:00.003-06:00

I do make New Year's Resolutions, but I'm not going to bore you with them. Usually after a couple of months, I've forgotten all the ones I make anyway. This year I'm doing something a little different, and hopefully I'll be able to actually accomplish a few things. In fact, I'm going to try to keep a list of the things I actually accomplish each month -- this will be quilt related things as well as other goals. I always have the resolution of getting the entire house deep cleaned -- and I always get one room done before I burn out because it takes me all day or two days to do one room. I still have that resolution -- but I'm going to attack the elephant one nibble at a time! Today's nibble was Steph's old walk-in closet (this room is going to be my second sewing/craft room upstairs, so I guess I can quit calling it Steph's room!) Our builders built the steps to the attic in here with the idea of being able to store things on them -- they are wide and deep.

Anyway, it was pretty trashed because I dumped all the boxes/bags for wrapping gifts all over the floor when I was looking for something in a hurry. The first three pictures are the before.

There's also a window in this closet (because it made the outside of the house look better!). We moved into this house a couple weeks after Steph graduated from high school. She basically was only here summers for a few years when she went to college and a few months before she moved to Wisconsin. I should probably put a shade in the window, but I've just had curtains up instead. But, that is the reason I have old rugs covering the luggage -- I don't want sun damage on them. I did wash the curtains and the window today, as well as do all the woodwork in here. I also folded up the Pack n Play that was in the room and put a couple of other things in here that were taking up space. So the next 3 pictures are the after. The books on the shelves are the quilt binders I've just reorganized and I've put half a shelf of cookbooks in here as well. As I sort through my recipes, I will be decluttering a lot of cookbooks!

Only took me 2-1/2 hours to do this and I actually thought about doing the rest of the room today, but that would defeat the purpose of taking it one step at a time and only taking a nibble of the elephant!

And, having done this today, tomorrow I can actually get back to some quilting! I'm not making any resolutions about stashbusting or ufo's this year -- I'm going to work on whatever I feel like working on. And I love working on scrap quilts, so I'll be busting stash anyway. And I did manage to load Steph's Christmas present (the Valentine wall hanging) on the machine yesterday, so that will be one of my first projects to finish.

Gratitudes:

The feeling of accomplishment and being productive.

This is the last day of 2008!

Working through the thoughts in my head!

1 Year

2008-12-29T09:35:00.003-06:00

Steve is one year cancer free! 1 year ago today he had a 12 hour surgery to remove that tumor from his brain and he has been cancer free since. It's a celebration! He still has two more months of chemo, but after what he's been through this year, two more months he can do!

And, OMG he turns forty in a couple of weeks. I'm way too young to have a forty year old son! But oh, are we glad he's attaining that age -- it sure was iffy last year!

Gratitudes:

The obvious -- we're thankful we still have Steve and he's doing well.

We're thankful, once again for Dr. Crute, Neurosurgeon extraordinaire.

We're thankful for the entire group at Madison.

After Christmas

2008-12-27T16:26:00.003-06:00

We had a very nice Christmas at Kevin & Deb's house this year. Kevin made his fabulous Decadent French Toast and also individual egg casseroles and sausages cooked in apples, and hash browns and strawberries, and...

This is Steph with the two boys -- Will is now jealous when AJ sits on Mommy's lap, so he's learning to get along (or not!).

We've had more of this strange weather too. It was clear on Christmas day, but yesterday it started warming up and becoming foggy. Today it's been raining -- most of the snow we had is gone -- but not all, so it's also very foggy today. I did run a couple of errands yesterday, so today was a great day for staying in.

I've started thinking about my New Year's Resolutions and one of them was to get my quilt patterns organized. Years ago I saved whatever patterns I wanted out of my stack of magazines and put them all into binders -- but I didn't sort them, just put them into one binder after another. So yesterday afternoon and for a few hours today, I sorted the patterns into baby/kid, Americana, totally scrappy, applique, holiday and seasonal, etc. I think I have seven binders. Then I sorted a large stack of quilt related papers and threw out a lot of stuff that I haven't looked at in years. I still need to go through a large stack of magazines again and add the keepers to the binders (I will probably have to add more binders). And then, finally, I'll go through the patterns/magazines/printouts that are in my sewing room -- all I've done so far are the ones in the 3rd bedroom upstairs!

Another resolution is to get my cookbooks and recipes in order. I've already been typing a couple of recipes every day and sorting as I go through the loose ones, but today I sorted through a huge pile of loose recipes that I had in that same bedroom upstairs! I have one file folder (overflowing) that I will go through again as I type them up -- I'm only saving the recipes I'll actually use. I did find a book of hand written recipes that my grandmother on my dad's side wrote out. She didn't always write the name of the recipe, or if she did, it was in Swedish, but the recipe was in English. That of course, is a treasure and I'll not be throwing that out. I also have some hand written recipes that were written by my mother and my sister -- both of whom we lost many years ago -- so those also are a treasure.

So that has been my day -- as I was thinking about the resolutions, I decided there was no time like the present! Typing the recipes is going to take a long time, but getting them sorted and throwing out the ones I don't want is half the battle, so I'm glad to have part of that done. And now that I've separated the quilt patterns into categories, filing new ones will take less time -- plus, I've spent quite a few enjoyable hours going over the books and picking out projects I may have time to try this year! And, I've noticed my tastes have changed and I will be more discerning when I go through the rest of the magazines.

Gratitudes:

The weather has cooperated in that what travel we have had to do has been okay.

Being all together for Christmas.

Actually beginning to get organized instead of just talking about it.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T12:44:00.003-06:00

I could hear the strains of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" playing in my head as I looked out this morning. These three views are from our front porch. I think the snow has finally stopped and Bill is out blowing snow.

We're spending a quiet evening at home, with a simple dinner for the two of us. I hope to be able to go to the Candlelight Service at church at 10:30 pm, but it'll depend on the roads -- I have to drive because Bill can't drive at night and I'm not too fond of driving in this stuff!

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Kevin's for his famous Champagne Brunch (it includes Decadent French Toast - which we all salivate for!). I'm hoping the roads will be clear enough for the kids to make it down from Wisconsin tomorrow -- but I'm sure they will-- they all have 4 wheel drive vehicles (and you can bet that the next car we buy will also be 4wd!).

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy new year.

Preschool Christmas Program

2008-12-19T15:15:00.002-06:00

I went up to Steph's yesterday so I could go with her to AJ's Christmas program. This, of course, is my darling grandson, Will! He's just too cute not to get a picture!

Anyway -- the program was at the church where the preschool meets. These are mostly 4 year olds, maybe one or two 3 year olds. They enacted the Christmas story. AJ was one of the wise men, the boy behind him was a camel! They all proceeded down the center aisle of the church.

When they got to the front of the church, they all lined up and the narrator was saying the baby Jesus was in the manger. (That's Mary waving the baby Jesus in the air so everyone could see He was in the manger!)

They all sang Away in the Manger (there is nothing cuter than 20 four year olds singing that song). They sang a couple of other songs and then wished everyone a Merry Christmas. It was just too adorable.

Then, they had to wait til the teacher finished speaking: I think this shot is typical of the age group! smile

And then they got to file out of the church and we had to give them 15 minutes or so before we could go get him to take him home (Grandma had to go get AJ -- specific instructions to his mom!)

It was a great program -- so much better when it's your own grandchild!

I managed to get there and back home before the dreaded winter storm arrived -- which didn't actually materialize til midnight last night. We were supposed to get 8 - 14 inches of snow. I think we might have gotten 8. Supposed to get more tomorrow and Tuesday, but I no longer believe anything the weathermen tell us! I did manage to bake cookies today while Bill spent a few hours outside clearing paths for the dogs and clearing the sidewalks and paths to the bird feeders. Our neighbor did come over and plow the drive for us, thankfully.

Gratitudes:

I'm grateful I got brave enough to drive up to Steph's yesterday. The roads were clear and I thoroughly enjoyed AJ's program. Because of the weather so far this late fall, I haven't been up there or seen them since Thanksgiving.

Friday's List

2008-12-12T14:58:00.002-06:00

Today I only had three things on my to-do list ...it's not that I don't have lots of things to do, but I only wrote down three that I needed/wanted to get done. One was exercise -- and I did that this morning (whether I wanted to or not!). The second was to load the auction quilt. I not only got it loaded, but I quilted it and just finished taking it off the frame and trimmed in preparation for the binding (which I haven't made yet!).
And finally, I reminded myself that I wanted to type two recipes and try out my new recipe printing for the binder and here they are:

I think this is going to work really well, and while I was picking two recipes to type and print, I threw out another dozen that I will never make. In a little bit, I'll go up and sort through a few more.

Gratitudes:
The Bears won last night! (And I got two more blocks appliqued on Steph's Christmas present).
Finishing my to-do list.
Organizing my thoughts.

Odds and Ends

2008-12-11T15:42:00.003-06:00

So, today was one of those days that had a long to-do list, but quite varied. I got everything done except I haven't pinned a quilt on the longarm -- I'll leave that for tomorrow, but I did make the backing and press both the back and top, so it won't take much to do the next step -- this is the auction top I've been working on, so I want to get it done and out of the way.

I ran errands yesterday and stopped at JoAnn's with a couple of 50% off coupons. I didn't really need anything, so gravitated to the books, of course. I picked up one on fabric postcards. So far I have resisted the urge to make postcards, mostly because I didn't want to add another addiction, plus I'm not nearly as creative as some I have seen on others' blogs. I did buy the book however. Then came home and printed off Mary's tutorial on postcards -- which is written and illustrated so well, I certainly didn't need to waste my 50% coupon on the book! vbg So, today I dug out my non-fusible stabilizer and my fusible web and made up 3 postcards. These are quite un-imaginative, but I wanted to play. I'll send them to the grandkids as they are. Boy, did that not scratch that itch! I have some ideas already simmering, so I've ordered some envelopes and will let the ideas flow ..... as soon as I finish the wallhanging I have to make Steph for Christmas, and finish the auction quilt!

I haven't forgotten the ideas for printing recipes, but that's been put on the back burner temporarily -- until I finish the Christmas gift! I did test my idea for printing them, so we're good to go with that.

I've also been thinking about my goals for next year. Not only the things I want to accomplish, but ideas on how to go about accomplishing things and keeping track of finished things. I also decided that even though I do work a lot with my stash, I will also be buying fabric next year -- I like the look of brighter colors in my scrap quilts, and most of my stash is more on the muted colors side.

Gratitudes:

Having a varied to-do list, so jumping from one thing to the next actually means getting something done!

Being inspired by other quilters -- Mary for one, is very creative. Mel is also very creative and inspiring to me. They both have such great ideas.

Can My Butt Get Any Bigger?

2008-12-11T12:02:00.004-06:00

Kimmy posted this recipe on her blog the other day and then raved about it on the MQP (Machine Quilting Professionals) list and after some trash talking, she named it Can My Butt Get Any Bigger candy! So, I made up a batch and yes -- they're great and yes, they make up fast, and yes -- my butt can get bigger and probably is as we speak! vbg

And a side note: I not only discovered the Candy Cane Kisses, but also Cherry Cordial Kisses and Hot Cocoa Kisses and oh my, they are all fabulous and will be contributing to the size of my derriere!

I'm off to do something constructive with my day now!

December!

2008-12-06T15:50:00.002-06:00

Here it is December 6 and once again I'm late posting the calendar picture -- I think probably 11 out of 12 months I've been late -- pretty consistent, really!

I have been busy. I finished Block #7 of the Primitive Garden BOM. I like how this block turned out -- plus it was bigger pieces, so therefore quicker to applique!

I've been doing a lot of longarm quilting in the past few weeks. And enjoying my Christmas cactus, which is next to the window in the longarm area of the basement.

And this is a picture of a Turning Twenty quilt done by a friend in Christmas fabrics -- I used a pantograph called Tannenbaum which is actually tesselating trees with a star on top! Very easy and very quick -- takes me longer to prep the quilt and load it than it does to quilt it.

I quilted a table runner this afternoon and loaded another small quilt to do tomorrow. I've been using pantographs so much lately that I've forgotten how to do freehand -- so I'll be doing some practicing on this one and the next small runner! Think I'll watch the Pajama Quilter dvd again, and Kimmy Brunner's beginner's dvd -- lots of ideas on those two.

Was supposed to have cooky day at Steph's today, but the snow and wind decided I shouldn't drive today -- I drove home last year in a snow storm and one road was so slippery there were cars in the ditches every half mile -- I drove about 35 mph! I did make some spritz cookies last week, but Bill and I (mostly me) ate them all, so I am not going to make any more. I really don't need the added weight!

Gratitudes:
Staying in by the fire on these cold, snowy days.

Just a little bit of Christmas music on the radio -- not all Christmas all the time, which is an assault on my eardrums I think.

Learning all about my new computer.

2008-11-29T18:34:00.003-06:00

This was a surprise gift I received yesterday from a quilting friend. These are hand stitched 6" Dresden Plates. She bought (I think she said 180 of them) at an auction.

They are gorgeous and well-pieced. Kris said she'd seen some quilts that used a few of these in the corners of borders. I think I'm going to put all 12 in a small quilt for myself -- just applique them to about an 8" background and piece the backgrounds. Can't to start it, but I have to -- I have to start on Steph's Christmas quilt.

Today I managed to finish quilting one quilt and have the second one loaded and all ready to go. Then I made some candy for Christmas and we started writing our Christmas cards tonight after dinner. Tomorrow I hope to spend an hour or so quilting and then spend some time baking some Spritz cookies for Christmas. And if I have time after that, I'll quilt some more! We'll need to spend more time after dinner tomorrow doing Christmas cards too. So far, we have used up the loose cards I found in the Hoosier cabinet, and I have started using one of the old boxes of cards. I will definitely not have to buy cards next year and possibly the year after that!

Next week I should get my new computer. I will need to finish taking stuff off this one and the other old one and try to learn Windows Vista and load all my programs on the new one -- can we say at least 3 weeks of tearing my hair out?! vbg

Gratitudes:

Taking time to baste the entire quilt before I start quilting -- I have learned that this saves me plenty of heartache in the end --even though it takes longer to do as opposed to basting the sides as I go.

Surprise gifts from friends.

Getting a start on the Christmas cards -- better than procrastinating all month!

The top is finished

2008-11-28T19:21:00.002-06:00

This is the quilt I'm making for AJ's preschool auction. I finished putting the borders on today. Now I just need to reserve some time with my longarmer, oh wait...that would be me. Well, I got two more quilts in today to quilt, so this will have to join the que. I have til the end of January to finish it.
I did manage to load one of the quilts today, so it'll be finished tomorrow and I may get the second loaded, but I need to make some cookies this weekend, so the second one probably won't be finished til next week sometime.

Gratitudes:
A day to sit and sew.
Making lists and crossing off the finished stuff!
A surprise gift from a friend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T18:27:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving last Sunday. (That way, the kids can spend today with their in-laws and they don't have to run to two places in one day!) All the kids and grandkids were here, along with my brother and sister in law and their son and his fiance. Food was great, company even better! And I was really thankful that the oven quit working on Monday instead of Sunday! yeah -- the igniter went out Monday, so repairman was here yesterday afternoon putting a new one in.

JR doesn't know what to do with himself when we have all this company. He wants everyone to pet him and rub his tummy, but he avoids the grandkids like the plague -- I'm not sure he knows what to expect from them.

So, having the celebration on Sunday, that leaves today for Bill and I to spend as we wish. And guess what I did! I quilted! This is a friend's quilt that I spent all day working on today. She has some great fabric and lots of eye candy while I'm quilting. This is the first Christmas quilt of the season. I used a pantograph called "Christmas Holly" by Patricia Ritter. I like the panto, but it was printed a little off-kilter on the paper, so I need to go back and straighten it for the next time I use it. I just adjusted as I went along today.

And isn't this a fun backing fabric Kris used?! All I have left to do is remove the basting in the ditches of the borders. My plan for tomorrow is to actually finish the auction quilt for AJ's preschool fundraiser. I have the blocks put together, but need to do borders.

On a sad note, David M Bailey is a 12 year survivor of the same type of brain tumor that Steve has. David is a singer/songwriter/poet extraordinaire. Last week he had surgery to remove a cyst and tumor in the same spot as his first tumor and it was confirmed as a GBM -- the recurrent cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with him as he begins a new round in the fight against this insidious disease.

Gratitudes:

We have a lot to be thankful for and are truly thankful for everything.

Family and friends, food and shelter, and mostly good health.

Having leftover turkey and the trimmings for dinner tonight -- no cooking, just reheating! And we ate the rest of everything except for the turkey, which I put in the freezer today. We had just enough leftovers this year!

Quilting.

Cleaning and Sorting 2

2008-11-21T12:08:00.002-06:00

Boy, three posts in one day with pictures -- I'm surprising myself here!
This is my daughter's old room, on the second floor. A month or so ago I moved my second sewing machine up here with it's table and all. I also opened up my antique wooden ironing board, covered it and bought a second iron to have it easily accessible. This is not my actual sewing studio -- but a second one!
My quilt books and magazines and patterns are a total disaster. I had reduced the number of books a few years ago, and cleaned out the magazines and made binders from pages I kept. But, I've still been buying magazines here and there and need to purge again. I have stopped all subscriptions to quilt magazines, so the number will be reduced!
I also have a tremendous mess of recipe books and papers printed from the 'net and copies of recipes from magazines and cooking magazines -- probably worse than my quilting stuff.
These pictures are the before shots! This is going to be my ongoing project probably for the next year -- the plan is to get a handle on both the quilting stuff and the recipe stuff. It will take a lot of time to go through everything, but it should be easier having it all dumped in this room (I can at least close the door and not look at it! vbg)

Thread

2008-11-21T11:55:00.003-06:00

I had two of those cheap thread cone holders from JoAnn Fabrics. I had them loaded with my thread and hanging on the wall near my longarm. Last week they fell off the wall -- one of the crossbars had come loose and brought both down. I shouldn't have loaded them with the cones, but I had no alternative. So, I charged my husband with fixing them and making them more sturdy. (Keep in mind that my husband is an engineer -- retired, but once an engineer, always an engineer!) This is what he came up with as an alternative: I can tell you it's sturdy and actually screwed into the wall.
We (I had to hold while he used the battery powered screwdriver), hung it this morning. He was surprised to find that I filled them all. So, he was redesigning as we went -- "should have put another rack by raising the top one and fitting another between the two." (There are 10 pegs on the top holding those cones). I will not be surprised if he makes me another over the next few weeks with three racks! Either way -- I love it. I have more thread that I have on a shelf and in a drawer, but these are the ones I use the most -- all Signature cotton.

Gratitudes:
Being married to an engineer!