Meet Simon This is another antique top I bought back in the late 80's early 90's. I just finished quilting and binding it. It was sleeting out so will take a full size pic when it is nicer.

Reflection on February. Goals for March

My February goals were

• bind ninepatch on point
• bind baby FMQ practice piece
• finish next two RRBlogger rounds
• quilt and bind Simple Simon
• baste Floral Irish Chain
• baste 7 Sisters

I just finished Simple Simon. I am counting it as done per my goals. I completed everything. Yeah!!

March Goals:

• Quilt and bind Floral Irish Chain - bobbins are wound! Bobbin area is cleaned out. Needle is changed. I am ready to go!
• Continue hand quilting 7 Sisters

Wish me luck!

Hand Quilting Here is a sample of my work. I had made a small attempt at hand quilting about 14 years ago. But pulled those stitches out and machine quilted that piece.

Handwork Hi all. I am here and sewing away. I am hand quilting my 7 Sisters and have machine sewn my binding to my Simple Simon. I am now handsewing it to the back. That is taking forever! I am trying to just sit back and relax and enjoy the process. Once Simon is done I will be moving onto my Floral Irish Chain. Need to have some discipline and get these quilts done, done.

Ugly No More Remember that round robin I showed. The one where the color went a little astray? A friend of mine asked me to send it to her so she could improve upon it. Here it is! I am a lucky gal!

Busy, busy. Hello readers! How are you all? I am still here. I went to my friends house Saturday for our little quilting circle. It was just me and Tirane93 ...bad weather kept the rest away. I took my 7 Sisters with me to begin hand quilting. I made some pretty good progress. This is the first item I am hand quilting and am still trying to figure it out. Tirane93 loaned me two quilting hoops. I have tried three different hoops so far and no hoop at all. I have used the oval hoop the most so far. I am going to forge ahead with that one and really try to work it out. I am getting around 8-10 stitches per inch. Practice, practice, practice!

I had originally decided to machine sew the binding onto Simple Simon to take to my quilitng get together. After I read the right way to bind the diamond shape edge I decided to take my time with it and wait until I had a little more time. Last night I started machine basting around the outer edge. Then I can trim it a little and sew the binding on it. Then more trimming and hand work to come! Joy! How did I pile so much hand work up on myself? It's ok...I am watching my TV shows and getting my UFOs finished at the same time. Works for me!

The Quilting Gods Have Smiled Upon Me I have one item left from my February goals list. How did that happen? I have the binding made for Simon....now to just sew it on. I will probably do that so I can take him to my meeting with my English Street quilters this weekend.

So do I make a new list? Do I make something new? Hmmm.....

• Quilt and bind Floral Irish Chain
• Start hand quilting 7 Sisters

OK so I want these UFOs finished. These are both a queen size so I will be busy for awhile.

How are you doing on your goals for February?

Busy Weekend In spite of work I managed to get a lot done. I basted the two quilts on my February goal list using Sharon Schamber's technique. It was a little fiddly at first and I had to undo the first attempt but I learned alot. The first quilt took a long time but by the second I had it down. I will use this technique again. It does still take time to do.

The other quilty related items were shopping for thread, batting, and mailing off my RR to the next person. Plus I mailed the RR that I wasn't happy with to a friend to work on. She asked if she could try to fix it so I let her.

To finish my February goal list I have to bind the Simple Simon and add a row to another RR. Not too shabby.

Signing off....

DH Update He is active on the liver transplant list. Still, a long way to wait due to his position on the list.

I Have Been Tagged

I have been tagged by Nicole!

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Here goes....

1) When I was a toddler my mother used to catch me eating cigarette butts out of the ashtray. Yes I know....gross....
2) I studied abroad in Neuchatel, Switzerland one college semester.
3) I met hubby while I was over there when we both "vacationed" at the Oktoberfest in Munich.
4) I was born in central NY but had extremely strong ties to the south thanks to my paternal grandparents. I was raised eating grits and other southern delicacies like fried fat back. Many people were very disappointed they couldn't get a rise out of me when they offered me grits and such and I knew what they were talking about and eagerly accepted their offer.
5) I have a little scar/mark on my left thumb that looks like a square root sign. If anyone asks I will try to photograph and post it here
6) I am 6' tall....half my height is legs. i.e. 36" inseam
7) I studied French because my name is French.

Now off to find 7 more people to tag....

Debi, my new friend in real life that I met through an online forum.
tirane93, my new friend in real life that I met through a round robin project and now enjoy quilty get togethers at her home.
Beth, my friend from quiltchat. We are also phone friends as well. Have not met her in person yet but hope to soon.
Tracey, a friend from chat. She has the most adorable little girl.
Saphirz, a neat lady I know from chat. I guess I need to get to know her better as I realize I don't know her real first name. Shame on me!
Bekky, a friend from chat. We have participated in swaps together. She does great work.
Sharon, another friend from chat. I stalk her blog regularly. Really admire her work.

Have fun ladies!

More February Progress I managed to get what I think I want to do to my Round Robin due the 15th of this month, done. I made my piece to add and will have to just sew it on. I wanted to get a few opinions first. I have one thumbs up so far so am going with it.

What's next.....

DH Update We went to the doc last week to see about him being listed on the transplant list. We will know more this Thursday. They took lots of blood tests. His blood sugar was over 600 so they ordered another test. He "forgot" to take his shot that a.m. This will probably keep him from being listed. They gave us his MELD score of 17. I asked questions about his chances of getting a liver at this level. Unless he gets to a 20 or higher he won't get a liver for a long time. Bottom line, he is going to have to get really sick before he gets a liver.

Stats for those that care. If you are a 23 you get a liver in about a week. 22 you get one in about 4-6 weeks. If someone comes in with liver cancer they automatically get a 22. She said there are "lots" of those. And so there it is.

I am fine. Just tired from the emotional roller coaster.

I'm a Quilting Machine Sunday I went into quilt my Simple Simon with the intent to get through a quarter of the quilt. In about 5 hours I got half way through. Last night I decided I would quilt for about an hour and stop. One and a half hours later I am more than 3/4's of the way through. I decided to forge on and a little over 2 hours last night and I am done! I can't believe it! This all on my Janome 6500.


Now I am looking at the picture trying to decide if I should quilt it edge to edge through the center of the white diamonds. What do you think?

Binding decision. You can see the navy blue backing I used. I am leaning toward a red binding. Was thinking a red check since there are so many checks already in the quilt. Let me know what you think!


One final note. My back and neck are protesting a little this a.m. Boy this quilting stuff is hard on a girl! :D

Super Quilting Weekend When I finished up my UFOs I pulled out the next UFO to work on. I felt that if it was out and ready to be worked on it would be more likely to happen. With that said...I managed to quilt half of my Simple Simon. I just jumped in before that inner voice stopped me. I am quilting through the middles of the diamonds which means the lines run diagonally. Before work this a.m. I refolded the quilt and layed it out so I can just pick up where I left off. Feels so good to be getting these done!

My friend Sharon asked me what the difference was between the small medium and large pictures when you uploaded. Here is the answer. Same picture in 3 different sizes.

small

medium

large

Two Finishes I completed my first goal for February. Two UFO finishes. The first is a peach and blue Ninepatch set on point. I bought this quilt top back in the late 80's or early 90's from an antique shop. It is about a twin size.



The second UFO is a panel that I bought to practice free motion quilting on.



These were both quilted last year. I just had to bind them. On to the next project!

January Accomplishments/February Goals

In January I completed:

• three RR's which finished my part for those swaps.
• repair on my 7 Sisters top.
• wrist warmers for dd and her friend.

It was an okay month for me.

February I hope to:

• bind ninepatch on point
• bind baby FMQ practice piece
• finish next two RRBlogger rounds
• quilt and bind Simple Simon
• baste Floral Irish Chain
• baste 7 Sisters

I think that is pretty doable. What are your plans?

Finished My Second Round Robin Committment And I am glad! I got two RRs at one time and here are the results. Hope you are happy ladies!

Round Robin Done Now I just have to wait for mine to come home. It is in Kansas then to Michigan and home. Here is my last round.

I Know This to Be True I have a naughty inner child that I struggle with. She makes me proctastinate. She tells me that what I want to do on my quilt is too hard and it won't be right so find something else to do, something better. I struggle with her and she wins and keeps me from working on things....but then I push her down and quiet her and go ahead and try. I succeed....until I try something new and the struggle begins again. How do I quiet her forever?

Stashbuster Retreat Weekend It was virtual retreat weekend. I went to meet with the English Street Quilters yesterday and took my 7 Sisters top. It had several spots that needed repair and I managed to get it all done. Now to baste it then quilt it.

Today I worked on the RR from my feedsack group. I am half way done. A few more hours and I will be done!

The applique plan



This is what I plan to add to the feedsack RR.



















Here is a shawl I am knitting on my Serenity loom.

Six Degrees of Separation Are you familiar with this theory? Someone sent an email to a yahoogroup asking if they could help them find 2 people by forwarding the information to everyone they knew. The thought being those people would then send that on until they ran into someone that knew someone that knew one of them. I accidentally happened upon a lost friend because of blogs. Can it happen again?

Do you know this person? I met her in Neuchatel Switzerland while I was going to school there in 1983. Her name is Beatrice Ruesch and she is Swiss-Indonesian. At the time her family was living in Engelberg Switzerland. If anyone knows her, or know someone who knows her please let me know.

I seem to be stuck I have plenty I want to do in my sewing room but I can't seem to get in there. I have been plopped on the couch in front of the TV. At least I picked up my knitting and have been working on that. I did work on my round robin row a bit in front of the tv but the next step requires ironing, gluing and fiddling. This is a new technique I have not done before. Is that what is really keeping me away from sewing? Fear of failing? I just need to get over it! Just Do It!! Thanks Nike.....

I had signed up to make 12 - 12", 9" and 6" churn dash blocks. My friend Beth helped me to see it was ok to drop out. Two thoughts behind this action were the pressure of a timeline looming when I had lots of other things I really needed to get done and the recent bad taste in my mouth with swaps. One of my WHIMMS is to make a multi size block quilt. This would have moved me toward that goal. Seriously....I need to get my UFOs going again.

DH Update We went to the doctor on Thursday the 10th. We met with the PA for the Infectious Disease doctor. They were very happy that he would be able to come off the IV antibiotics and asked us to come back today (14th) to remove the PIC line. They tried to get the doctor's permission to do it that day but it was his day off and they could not reach him.

As usual I had my list of questions. The nurse mentioned oral antibiotics. The red flags went up immediately. The hepatologist's goal is that he is totally off antibiotics. I asked about how long he would be on them. How they would know he was done. Etc. We were at a bit of a quandry and the nurse and PA left the room and came back several times. They had no good answers for us. They suggested we come in early Monday and catch the doctor and ask him.

So bright and early we got to the doctors office. He said there would be no oral antibiotics. He said everything looked good and they would tell the Hepatologist that dh is clear. So now we wait 2 weeks and he should be made active on the list. I got a little teary eyed at that point. Partially happiness, partially fear. Now comes the wait for that phone call. To come and get a liver. Fear of the unknown. We are not done.....

I Need Focus. I have goals set to finish UFOs. I had them set last year too. So what do I work on? Other peoples stuff. Let me explain. I am in a few Round Robins. Those are time bound and I have to get them done within so much time. Right now I have three others rounds at my house. I plan, design and belabor each one. I want them all to be nice. And this planning takes time. If I didn't have these to work on I feel I would be less distracted. I am in 3 swaps. Two will be done once these 3 pieces go out the door. The last one will end in December.

So I am feeling sort of stuck right now. I want to machine applique on an RR and use the blanket stitch. I am researching techniques to make sure it looks good...ie procrastinating. I have the stabilizer cut and just have to cut the fabric out. I bought a magazine Saturday that had just the article I needed. I figure if I spend a little time each night on it I can get over the hump on this one.

Why do I do this to myself?? LOL...

GASP That is what I heard when I took dh to the doc on 12/27. Actually I had stepped out to the public restroom as the doc's office did not have an RR. I was standing at the sink washing my hands, heard the door open, turned to see the clean lady backing out as fast as she can. I noticed she was looking at the sign to see which room she had entered. I said, don't worry I am a woman. She had her hand on her chest and was mumbling something about it being a long day, etc. I always chuckle at these events. Afterall I am 6' tall and I have very short hair. I am sure it didn't help that I was wearing my husbands fleece jacket either. Oh well...made me laugh.

While I am on this topic I will tell another story along the same lines. I was in Walmart buying groceries for the Holidays. I heard a woman say sir, sir, sir. She got louder and more demanding as she repeated herself. I am sure anyone would have looked. I turned and without missing a beat she asked me to get something off the top shelf for her and that everything she needed was always on the top shelf. She then said....you are a ma'am aren't you. I assured her that last time I checked, I was. Again, wearing dh's jacket. I either need to get a more feminine jacket and/or get a bow in my hair!

DH Update All the labs are heading in the right direction. His next appointment is this Thursday, the 10th. Antibiotics are scheduled to be done on the 14th. I just spoke to the doctors office and they are ordering an MRI/CAT scan (what is the difference?) to see if the infection is really gone. If it is then he is done. Have to wait two weeks to be made active on the liver transplant list. He is definitely making progress in the right direction. They said the scan can be read the same day it is taken so we will have a very quick answer once that is done.

Quilty content I have three RRs that I am working on. I have made the design for one and am cutting out the pieces. I chose a design for another one and have to look for the fabrics and sketch out my plan. The last one tbd.


Possibilities. In person the maroon is too dark. I like the all white as a replacement or a pieced white and maroon border. How would you piece it? With either of these I think the blue can stay.

Small Round Robin Came Home

I made a 6" center and mailed it around to three other ladies. Tell me what you think....honestly....

2007 What a year. I finished 4 UFOs but had lots of small projects that were started and finished along the way. I did add one UFO to my list this year. It is a baby panel that I practiced FMQ on. I will add binding to it and probably give it to my dd. Not sure why but she wants it. There are 2 RRs out floating about that will come back to me this year. When they do they will go on the UFO list which will put me at 9.

2008 My goal is to complete all 9 of those UFOs. I think I can make it. They are all at the quilting stage so just need to pick one and go to town on it. I am not officially "No Buy" this year but do plan to practice self restraint....as much as possible! :D

Non-quilty goals. I would like to get 10 more pounds off. In order to do this I will need to add excercise. So I will keep it simple...add exercise. Will see how that goes. My other goal is organization and anti-procrastination. When something needs to be done I will not put it off more than a week. On the organization front I am a FlyLady follower. I will complete her challenges that she issues each day and add several 15 minute decluttering sessions per week.

That's all for now. Happy New Year to you all. I wish you health and happiness.

What I Have Been Up To I have been on vacation since the afternoon of the 24th and go back the 2nd. I had lots of things planned and of course didn't get to all of them. I did sew though! Yeah! I have added a row to a round robin as you saw on a previous post.

I completed my part on two Round Robins from the old Quilting 4 Pleasure webring. You can see the pics here. If you want to be surprised Liza and Sharon then don't look!

I did blocks for a 12 days swap last year. I didn't get them all embroidered so asked the participants to send them back if they wanted me to finish. I completed DrBeth's and then I had also made 2 extras for some gals that were in a 12 day swap where all the participants didn't come through. Those just went off in the mail today. The pic doesn't have the writing norembroidery on it. I will see about taking another pic of the block.

Finally, I am adding a round to a feedsack RR I am in. I have makers choice and it is the last row. I have been doing a lot of searching and planning for this round. I have my plan and am executing. If I am lucky it will be done this week and off to the owner by Saturday.

Update on health at the Harris household. DS is fine. I am super watchful and nagging him to take shots. I guess this is how it has to be. DH is a little confused today. This is a side effect of the liver disease. He won't take the meds they gave him for this. I tried to push it on him...no go. Otherwise his health is fine and everything is going in the right direction healing and lab wise. Next doc visit on 1/10 then we wait to see if the infection is gone. Thanks for all your support this year. It has really meant a lot.

Christmas Sewing I finished this feedsack RR I am in. I have one more to complete in this swap and I am done done! Yeah! My addition was the blue stripe, the white stripe and the rail fence row. The guideline was 4" but I needed to add the blue and white to get it to the right size. I added 7" total.

I Sewed! I wrapped all the gifts. I decorated as much as I am going to this year. I have grocery shopped. So when all this was finished yesterday I went to the machine and I sewed. Of course I became quite interesting to dh as the calling of my name began soon after. Once he was settled I managed maybe an hour or so.

I am working on an RR for a friend from #quiltchat. Her RR is a gorgeous red, white and blue all in feedsacks. My addition is squares and rectangles. I added a 1" blue strip all around then a .5" white strip. I was going to add a checkerboard but have changed my mind to use 4" strips, alternated so they will have sort of a rail fence look to them. I will post a picure tonight. I hope to finish it today so I can move onto the next project.

Merry Christmas to all! Hope you have an enjoyable time with your family!

My Son Is Home He got home yesterday. Still very tired. He tried to talk me out of his going to school today. He really needs to get his makeup work so he can catch up over the 2 week break. He will live! This is a short day for them so he can get home extra early for a nap which I am sure he will need.

My vacation starts on the 25th through the 1st. I have big sewing/quilty plans but the obligations are already piling up. Oh well....such is life.

I have been blogging for one full year today! Happy Anniversary to me!! LOL! Not sure if or what I will do to mark this milestone. I think I should send one of my UFOs to each person that posts and let them finish them then mail back to me! No? Really? I will let you...honest! OK how about this? You send me fat quarters?? Still no?? Well had to try. Post and surprised! Evil grin inserted here.

I Don't Know If I Should Laugh or Cry My son and I spent all day in the ER yesterday. He has been a type 1 diabetic for 5 years now. Once in a great while he gets the idea that he is superman and thinks he doesn't need to take all his medicine. So he is now admitted. He is doing okay. I did cry in the ER when I was talking to Beth about what I needed to take care of but quickly pulled it together and got friends to pitch in. He will be in at least until tomorrow. So...

DH had his PICC line stuff changed out yesterday. He called me when I was at the ER and told me home healthcare did not take his blood for labs. I called the doctors office and said "I need you to manage this because I just don't have time to keep up with it all". They are "taking care of it".

Quilty things.....I thought about taking my Seven Sisters quilt with me to work on in the ER....does that count?? I am fine...really. Just need to get this all behind me...soon!

Zoe died yesterday. Her quilt did not arrive in time. She fell into a coma and then slipped away shortly afterwards. I offer another dear chatter in our room many gratitudes as she sent a quilt in the name of the room. She said Zoe knew we all loved her and that is what matters. While I know this is true I am still a little saddened that I didn't get the quilt to her in time. We will miss you dearly Zoe.

Love Quilt is Done and in the Mail! I vowed to bind that quilt last night and I did. My too tired too busy excuse started to wear on *my* nerves. So around midnight last night I put in the final stitch. I had to get this done. Poor Zoe's health continues to fail. I will be crushed if we lose her. I will be devastated if she doesn't get this quilt and we lose her. Again, prayers please for Zoe (Glenna is her real name) that she gets her much needed lung transplant. (The picture is cloudy because my camera was in my very cold car and the camera clouded up)

I have to share the tote bag was perfect! The quilt fit totally into the bag and worked as I had planned! VBG!!

Mark Update Got a call from the infectious disease doctors. They got the labs back (except one). They said things are looking good. His platelets are high (good) for him. 96 where they were 41 or less in the hospital (a normal person is over 150). Other labs look good. The one test that will tell if his infection is going away is not back yet but they can deduce from other tests that is probably is. Good news!

I am Here!!! I have been sewing a wee bit. I found a 3 hour long nap quite helpful and refreshing Saturday and didn't sew that day. Sunday I kicked it into gear and got a tote bag done. I also have the binding done to sew onto the love quilt. I have not sewn that on and I must! The poor dear is in the hospital again. Please send out your prayers and well wishes for zoe that she gets her much need lung transplant along with restoring her health so she can have the surgery. I will try to post a pic of the tote tonight.

Mark update. We went to the docs on Monday. First to the orthopedic. He took out the staples. Looked things over and asked how Mark was doing. Mark twisted it a little because he wasn't wearing his knee immobilizer. He gets what he gets. He prefers to take the risk since the immobilizer hurts too much. We see the ortho on the 27th for an x-ray to check healing progress. Things are as they expect at this moment. Then off to infectious disease doc. Again things are as they expect. They educated me a good bit. I asked about prevention of spread and reinfection. Keep the area clean and dry, keep the bedding clean and dry, wash, wash, wash those hands. We go back to them on the 27th as well. Mark had his first blood draw today so we should have some results to see if we are heading in the right direction.

Love Quilt Got a call from the quilter and the Love Quilt is ready to be picked up. She called me yesterday but I was just too tired for a road trip. I plan to leave work a little early so that I can get over there to get the quilt and then still run an errand. And darn it all! I just realized I forgot to bring my camera. She has more open space to put this quilt so that I can lay it out and take a pic. Oh well....when I lay it out to bind it (outside) I will take a pic then. Nothing else on the quilty front.

DH is managing well. He does wake up in the middle of the night with some pain. He needs to manage that a little better before bed. Physical therapy and home health have been by several times already. The home health nurse asked if DH needed her to come by and clean his room for him. Now I admit it is really cluttered in there but not dirty.... We are seeing the infectious disease doctors on Monday and I plan to ask what I need to do to ensure we do not pass this infection around or that we do not reinfect dh. From what I read so far it is just to keep things dry and clean. Today I woke up and felt a little tired but more rested than I have. This is a good thing.

Tuesday and he is home finally! I cannot believe it took until 6:00 p.m. tonight to get him home but here he is. We got dd's room all setup for him until he is a little more healed. He needs to not have dogs sleeping on his feet.

I had to drive across town to find a pharmacy that has one of his meds that our regular pharmacy doesn't. Luckily I found it at the first (second) place I went. Of course it won't be ready until 9:00 p.m. tonight. I want to go to bed.... Such is life.

No quilty news today...probably not until this weekend. I am trying to get the little loose ends taken care of for Christmas. Would love to be done by this weekend. Still have to decorate so I may get started on that as well.

Thanks for the continued support all.

Monday Update: I know people are coming here for an update so I better give one. Everyone at the hospital was talking about dh coming home today. His lab results are stable. They grew the cultures from his knee and have only identified Staph, luckily NOT the antibiotic resistant one. He has been taking antibiotics since the day of surgery and we will continue this at home with a weekly blood draw.

They are making progress towards his release. The docs have been by and signed off saying all is ok to go. They are waiting for the IV antibiotics to be arranged for home. Not sure how long that will take. I am standing by.

I will be glad when he is home so that I can eliminate all the road travel. I tried to get the house ready for him to come home but didnt quite finish. I will just have to keep at it until it is done. The main thing is eliminating trip and fall hazards. We have some tight spaces so I will have to move things to accomplish this.

Me? Well, quite frankly, I am exhausted. I wish I could just sleep for a couple days but I know what won't happen. I will have early bed if I can get the kids to cooperate.

I handed the love quilt over to the quilter. She said my backing wasn't square so she donated a new backing to me rather than use mine. Sigh....

I did manage to go to a quilters Christmas party with the DFW ladies from the Quilting Passion forum. It was a lot of fun. I brought my friend Amy. She and I were not prepared for the acitivities but several gals donated an ornament for our use and we bought FQs to play the bingo games. A fun time was had by all! I can't wait until next year and I will be ready.

I was talking to someone Saturday night and trying to tell them how I am feeling. I need to move on to that next project. I just feel sort of blah. A feeling of "let down" although I haven't had anyone "do" anything to me. I am sure being tired doesn't help. I know what I need to do next so I will at least pull out the pieces and try to make some small progress there. Hopefully that will get me in the groove again.

Hugs to all of you for your wonderful support!

Happy Friday Well, Wednesday morning before I went to the hospital I decided to sneak in just a few minutes of sewing. I happily stomped down on the pedal and sewed the last seam of the backing. I had the iron heating up so that I could just hop up, press it and run out the door. I ended my seam, shut off the machine, laid the backing out and with iron in hand and was disgusted to see that I had run out of thread so the last 18 inches or so were not sewn. Argh!! In the middle of all this I was getting call after call asking about dh. Yes, I was feeling a little guilty sewing when I should be at the hospital. I turned off the iron and headed out the door. You know the rest (read earlier posts if you don't).

Thursday I came home from work and loaded my bobbin and sewed and pressed that last seam. I packed it all up and called the quilter. I took everything to her and she thinks it will be ready by mid next week. I am hoping it will be sooner. Now to get the tote bag all sewn up and ready to go.

I had told dh I was not going down to see him last night. So of course some things have to happen to pile the guilt on. First he got a call from his dad that his uncle had passed away. We knew this was coming. Even though they were not that close it is still hard. Then I learned that they were having to give him platelets and whole blood. DH didn't know any details of why they were doing that. I called the nurse and asked her. Even though I am on the list for family she said she could not tell me over the phone. I asked her to go down to his room and I would call him. She went down immediately (bless her) and told dh everything I wanted to know then he relayed the info to me. She was in there and answered a few more questions. This a.m. they told him he can go home Monday so he must be doing ok. His Dad is coming over for the funeral so he will get to see dh, which is great.

I have someone taking care of the kids today after school through getting them fed dinner and settled until I get home. This way I can go straight to the hospital. Of course he has a list of things that he wants from home that he told me about after I got to work. I will buy what I think he needs now. The rest he will get tomorrow.

DH is already trying to coordinate my weekend for me which I am trying to discourage him from. I am trying to sprinkle myself around to the kids, me and him. I told him some things may have to slide for now and to just relax. We will see how that goes!

I got the 411 OK I have more information. So let me share and then also answer some questions.

I did take the day off today. While I do qualify for FMLA I also have no savings since it was wiped out when dh lost his job so hate to take unpaid leave. Plus I work unbelievable hours so they should be able to give me a few days off with pay. I only have 4 vacation days and I do hope to spend time with my kids at Christmas time.

They did call and ask about the insulin. I thought we agreed I would not bring it. When I got there they wanted it. It seems that there are so many insulins that are similar. They worked it out...I think. They are not giving him his regular dosages then act surprised that his sugar is high....duh! They finally put him back on his dosing tonight. We will see how that goes.

DH was taking other meds at home. When we filled out the paperwork we disclosed all the meds and dosages. I asked the nurse about them today and she had a surprised look. She mumbled that he should probably take them and quickly left more or less indicating he should take them NOW without her knowledge. So I gave them to him. They are now on his orders.

I still have not talked to the surgeon although he has spoken to dh. I called the office and left a message for his PA. The PA called me back and told me everything. Coincidentally the hepatologist was there and filled in the gaps and concurred much of the information that overlapped the two docs specialties. So read on here is what I know....

The surgery went exactly as they thought it should. They were able to put an articulating spacer in so he will have some movement. This is a good thing. He is in a knee immobilizer from ankle to thigh. He was up and walking on it with a walker already. So things are looking ok there.

I walked into them inserting his PIC line today (not sure if that is spelled correctly). This is how we will administer IV antibiotics for the next 6 weeks at home. The 6 weeks could be more or less. Then they will take him off antibiotics for 2 weeks. At that time they will determine if infection is gone by doing an MRI, culturing fluid from the knee (if there is any) and then visual inspection. If all docs involved the infection is clear they will make him active on the liver transplant list.

Once he is on the list they will only do the new knee replacement if something happens that indicates it. They will do liver transplant as soon as one is available. Then in 3-4 months they will do the replacement. If his recovery from transplant is going well or something happens that indicates need to do the replacement they will go ahead with it. At this pace I suspect he will be all redone by May or June. We will see.

You all are so wonderful. He is much better. Once they get him off the pain pump it will be that much better. I will be writing to lots of people about this experience. Everyone raves over this hospital. I just don't see what the big deal is. I wonder how people that don't have someone there for them asking questions or don't question themselves manage. The nurse did indicate it is an issue for many. She is really trying to fix all the woes so I will be sure to commend her as well.

Don't hesitate to ask questions. I am really very tired and have probably left out things. Thanks for all your wonderful support. Much love and hugs to you all! swooze!

UGH! OK I am a bit stressed and snarky here. Surgery is over. They rush rush rushed to get us back in the pre-OP then the inevitable wait. I had some concerns about some things and the anesthesiologist was very attentive. She ordered new labs and blood products which I strongly felt he needed. Let me just say that 2 of the samples were bad and they ended up sticking him 4 times. Poor guy.

They took him back an hour late. I am sure this messed up some of the things I am about to gripe about. They have this great board that tracks progress of when patient goes in OR, surgery starts, stops and then patient goes to recovery. They also give you a pager that the doctor buzzes about 10 minutes before he comes out to talk to you. The board was never updated. I found out he was in recovery an hour after he got back there. No call or visit from the doc. I was in the waiting room the entire time. Then about 3 hours after he had been in recovery I call back to see what is going on. Some nice chipper lady informs me they are getting ready to take him to his room. I tell her that is great and good thing I had called as I would never have been told. When I asked her who would have informed me she had no answer. I asked her when the doc would talk to me. She said she would page him and then "if" he called her back she would give him my cell number. I received no call.

I go up to his room and wait. He gets up there pretty quickly. By 7 his IV had somehow been pulled out of his hand. This is how they are administering his pain meds. It took an hour for them to get everything re-inserted and hooked back up. If I didn't have the kids at home I think I would have spent the night. I have very low confidence in the staffs competency right now.

To add to all this loveliness I get a call from hubby this morning asking me to bring his insulin. I was agahast. I heard him talking to someone and I asked if that was the nurse, which it was. I asked to speak to her to find out what is going on. She is unsure of his medicine and I explain what it is. She seems to think I don't need to bring his now. Sigh...

So I am taking another day from work and hope this doesn't jeopardize things for me. I am really stressed but just have to do what is best. When I found out anything I will let you all know.

Sorry for the long rant!

D-Day is Upon Us Hubby's surgery is tomorrow, 11/27, around noon. We check in at 10:30. I had nightmares all night long last night that things do not go well. I called the doctor's office to ask a question today and am waiting for that response. We can only go in knowing we have done all that we can do. Hubby is very depressed and mean right now. I will be happy to have this behind us soon. My best friend surprised me today (she had to cuz she didn't know where to go) and is planning to come sit with me at the hospital during the surgery. Keep us in your thoughts please.

Weekend Progress and a Love Quilt. I did get to sew this long 4 day weekend. I got a love quilt topped and have begun piecing the back. I will finish tomorrow....I hope! I am making a matching tote bag. All those pieces are now cut out. I just have to fuse them and sew it together. It will go quickly I am sure. (Please pardon the bad pic. The quiltholder was very wiggly and the door not wide enough)

Kiva You may notice the new link on my sidebar to kiva.org. A friend of mine heard about this organization and made a few loans. I just recently went back and looked to see what was happening with her loans and see that she has made quite a few more.

People can ask for loans for just about anything so read carefully. Many want seed money to start or grow a business and others ask for money to finish builidng their house. The lender that Kiva worked with does charge interest but you do not earn interest on your loan. Read carefully as the terms are listed for the loan. The amount and repayment term. There is also information about the "lender" and their stats on successful collections, etc.

You get your money back after the loan is fully repaid and then can withdraw your money or make another loan. You can lose this money. I would look at this as a donation more or less for this very reason.

The maximum loan amount is $25 right now. Due to it's popularity they are limiting the loans to allow many others to participate. Who knew there were so many philanthropists out there?! So I have made one loan of $25. My plan is to make several others and then just keep reloaning the money as it is paid back.

Preparing for Thanksgiving and the 4 Day Weekend I have shopped for the big dinner and already made the inevitable second trip for forgotten items. I will be baking pies Wednesday night and trying to get things started that can be done in advance. Of course ds thought of one more thing he wants for dinner that day. I see another trip to the store pre-Thanksgiving in my future!

Sewing plans are also in the making. I had visions of pinning a quilt outside. Those plans are quickly waning as a big front is coming in and the 4 days I wanted to work on it are supposed to only reach low 40's. There is also talk of precipitation. Sigh.... It isn't as if I only have that one project to work on....I'll live. Reference my to do list from two weekends ago. Still have those things to get to!

Post Thanksgiving shopping plans are in the making as well. Our tv has been needing to "warm up" lately. So we are watching for sales on an LCD or Plasma tv. DH has his eye on the 42" or thereabouts. Anyone own an LCD or Plasma? Any helpful tips? I heard you want Plasma as there is no "ghosting" when you are watching action such as in a movie or in sports.

If you are traveling for the holiday I hope your travels are safe and happy!

Looking for Input I have makers choice on this round robin. I am open to your input. The border can be up to 4". What are your thoughts?

Round Robin Bloggers I am participating in a round robin with 14 other bloggers from the original Q4P ring. Here are the guidelines for this swap and pictures of completed rounds http://abyquilt.blogspot.com/2007/09/mini-round-robin.html.

The first block is to be 4" square finished. While I was doing the great unearthing of the sewing room I came across a great fabric that has leaves in gold on a brown fabric. It was perfect....but the leaves are too large.

So onto my next idea. I became paper piecing obsessed this year. I searched high and low and found a great PPed maple leaf. I had to redraft it to make it the correct size. I did that and started sewing on it a few nights ago. I felt awful and was having trouble with it. I decided to walk away from it and get some rest. Today one of the other participants was talking about overthinking her block and possibly making it too complicated. It made me think about what I was trying to do. I have now dropped this idea.

My final idea. I have a fabric that I was going to use in the PP pattern. It would be perfect as the focus block. Why not? So I will be cutting it out tonight and getting it into the mail tomorrow!

I had a finish! I joined a round robin on quiltsbykos since I have become....er....uh....addicted to them. I had to add a 2 or 3" border. I have wanted to do a checkerboard pattern but felt it needed something more. My friend suggested a flange so I added that too.

Not as Productive as I had hoped. Here is my progress:

• finish love quilt top and back and deliver to be quilted (get batting) - putting borders on now. Bought the batting. Have decided how to do the backing.
• make totebag for love quilt - have a design in mind
• repair 7 Sisters top - my sewing session got canceled. Didn't touch this
• finish small RR - I have the design in mind and all the fabrics pulled
• finish 12 days blocks - nope
• bind ninepatch - nope
• baste Floral Irish chain - bought more pins
• make RRBlogger starter block and mail - I redrafted the pattern and have the fabrics pulled. Need to buy a small journal to send off with it.

I went to the LQS Saturday night to see what was new from market. I bought a couple patterns, a kit and fabric to make one of the tops. The quilts are for dd. She will have more quilts than me at this rate.

I met a group I see every month at Panera's then dh decided to go shoe shopping. That ate into the day. I sewed after that...really more planning. Did lots of cutting. I am a little bummed I didn't get more done but dh is going out of town next weekend then the long Thanksgiving weekend will be here. More retreating for me!!

Hope you all were more productive than I was!

Stashbuster Retreat Weekend Okay I am a list maker. The Stashbuster yahoogroup has a virtual retreat weekend from 11/9-11. Here are my goals:

• finish love quilt top and back and deliver to be quilted (get batting)
• make totebag for love quilt
• repair 7 Sisters top
• finish small RR
• finish 12 days blocks
• bind ninepatch
• baste Floral Irish chain
• make RRBlogger starter block and mail

This is a pretty doable list. I just have to stay focused!

What Was I Thinking? I don't remember now. I sure wish I had written it down. Quiltmakers was going out of business and I had to buy fabric for a love quilt. I bought plenty for everything except a backing. CRUD! Well I don't mind pieced backs so I will more than likely piece this one. The only issue is that I thought I had enough extras to make a tote bag for this love quilt to fit into. Double crud!

This quilt will be Queen size. I am sure that when I was in that store buying, my mind wasn't on making it that big. Interestingly enough I have more than enough for the borders and sashing....just not that backing. I am going to try to slip into the LQS on the way home tonight. I came to a screeching halt last night on this quilt over this issue. I didn't dare cut anymore until I had a clear path forward on that backing. Again it isn't so much the quilt as it is that tote.

Wish me luck! Note to self....make a note to self next time!

Tuesday Accomplishments Did you notice my weight ticker? I have 9.5 pounds to go before I meet my goal weight. I could make it by New Years at my current rate. When I graduated from high school I weighed 172. I am pleased!

I have the blocks assembled for the love quilt top. I have to add some more sashing and borders. I am happy at the progress so far!

Weekend Accomplishments

• basted Simple Simon
• basted 12 Days
• started the love quilt. Should have it topped in a few days
• Pinned the binding on my Ninepatch on point. Just have to sew it down. (BONUS)

I think I did well. Remember I bought those banquet tables? I took them outside on the driveway and worked on the quilts and took conference calls for work. Very pretty weather but will turn soon. I have to get that Irish Chain basted while the weather holds!

Goals for November

• Baste Floral Irish Chain
• Baste Simple Simon
• Baste 12 Days Quilt
• Repair 7 Sisters Top
• Finish pink and green love quilt and tote
• Finish all swaps within 1 week of receipt (feedsack, small RR and Blogger)
• Finish 12 days blocks

This is a pretty aggressive list but I think I can make it. The Thanksgiving holiday will help with the extra days off. We don't go away and we don't get company typically. I need to get a quilt topped this weekend then I will focus on basting the three tops listed here.

Reflections On October and a Top Secret Photo!

Let me think....what did I get done in October??

• 2 challenge blocks
• a 6" round robin center
• 2 sets of pillow cases
• assembled 3 quilt backs
• trimmed one UFO for binding
• I organized the heck out of my sewing stuff! Not done yet but getting there!

Shhhh............my recipient hasn't gotten her cases yet....don't tell her these are here....

More Winning and Swapping I have had a few wins that I neglected to mention. First I won these 4 season patterns and have received them! Love it! Then I won this quilting book, rooster and sunflower panel (LOVE both of these things) along with a pattern. How funny. I am signed up for a churn dash swap and that is what is in that pattern. Cool! I really wanted those patterns and stalked her site! hehehe The other win was most unexpected but really nice! Oh and I forgot this one and came back to add it. I won these Hawaiin blocks. I did pay postage though as I felt it was a tad high and only fair.

I went to see Mr. Postman this a.m. Some lucky person is about to receive a pair of pillowcases in the size and pattern of their choice. Let me just say I sure hope they like blue. More paper piecing insanity on the cuff but hey, they look great. Picture will be posted Friday or Saturday once they are received. They have to go due North for a few states so should be quick. Do you recognize yourself here? mwaahaahaahaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Eeeeeviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllll!!

Hugs all! I am hanging in there. We have a date set for surgery. No more hoop jumping at the moment. Just hope that nothing changes for the next 4 weeks. Wow that is a long way away!

DH Update. Mark met with the doctor for surgery clearance. His MELD score is up to 20 again. The doctor is against surgery to fix the knee. She still wants the amputation but has agreed (finally) to support whatever Mark wants to do. He still wants the repair. We told her we had scheduled the surgery for the 6th and she let us know she will not be in town that day so we need to reschedule. I checked with the ortho doc's office and the PA said keep that day but the ortho doc came back and said reschedule. If we are lucky it will be the 20th. ***** we are tentative for the 27th now *****

Everyone tells us to act with a sense of urgency but no one else seems to be. Lots of feet dragging and delaying. There was supposedly a lot of discussion going on between the surgeon and the ortho and we asked if the ortho was up on what needed to happen. He said he was at the meeting but now that all seems to have been lost.

I am just so frustrated. I don't know what to do anymore. I want to rest....and not have this to deal with. Imagine how my husband feels. He thinks the liver doctor just wants his leg. She has no bedside manner whatsoever. Once we get the surgery done I am calling to see if we can switch to another hepatologist in the group. That won't happen until knee surgery so we don't have to start over.

Frustrated. Overwhelmed. Lost. I am suppressing many things so not sure what other feelings are lurking out there.

Quilty Weekend I had a very quilty weekend. I got 4 backings ready for UFOs. I took them and the quilts and batting to the LQS to use their tables. I managed to pin baste 1 and began another. The time was somewhat of a loss as the back on the first was so wrinkly and the batting was wrinkled as well. The second I was basting along and got to one end and realized the top was not lined up properly so I would have to redo that one. I did trim a UFO so that I can bind it.

I was so frustrated over my basting efforts that I went to Target and bought two banquet tables so I could let my battings sit open overnight. I set the tables up in my living room and laid out my "Chain of Events". I smoothed it and let it sit going back and smoothing every so often. I let it sit overnight and then pinned it in the a.m. There still were quite a few wrinkles but I managed to get those out. I think I made most of the problems because I didn't press the backing where it joined very well. There is one spot that might tuck but I think I can work it out as I quilt it.

I managed to cut all the pieces for another set of pillow cases. I have the cuff pieced and just need to assemble them tonight then mail tomorrow. No pics til the recipient gets them. Sorry.

No more organizing going on at the moment but I need to. Will focus on my projects and shoot for next weekend to continue on the organizing efforts!

Here they are! All done. Here are the quilts they are to go with. I had intended to make a block for the love quilt but time just flew past me. My friend informed me I was to make her pillowcases to match. She was kidding but I thought it was a great idea!

Updates

Hubby update. He goes to the doc to be cleared for surgery on the 25th. If he is cleared the surgery will take place on 11/6. They are removing the hardware and placing a spacer. If he is lucky it will be articulating which allows some bending. If not he will have to wear an immobilizer and keep it straight as an arrow. This will be followed by 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. After 8 weeks they will go in to sample the bone and check for infection. No infection redo the replacement. If there is infection then more antibiotics. ***NOTE*** If he becomes ill enough that his liver takes priority he can leave the spacer in indefinately. By all appearances I think he will have the replacement later this year and then the liver will be down the road a bit. But I also know that appearances can be misleading.

Sewing Room Re-org update. I spent the entire weekend in my room. I setup the other cabinet that I have and emptied out all the plastic totes of fabric placing it in these cabinets. I took down the entertainment shelving and moved it to my bedroom. I bought a couple cubby hole type storage shelves with fabric "boxes". One is setup and the other will be setup some time this week. My foyer has been cleared of all sewing things save the UFOs, active projects and the cutting table. Things are really coming together now. I think I can finally show progress that can be seen by others! Photos to come.

Homespun Butterflies I have been sewing. Promise! I just chose an insane project. These butterflies will be the cuffs for pillowcases. They are made of homespun and my sewing machine didn't like that blue homespun. It was like sewing quicksand. I have to trim them up a bit.

The Winner Is!!!!!!!!!! Hefty quilter from Queensland, AU. I am going to spend the next few days pulling together a nice little prize for her and will post a pic before sending it off. Congrats Tracy!

Reflections on September I would swear to you that I did a lot of sewing in September but when I go back and look there wasn't so much accomplished.

• FMQ practice swatches
• FMQ baby panel (not bound but purpose to FMQ was met)
• Add a border to Beth's RR
• Finished a LOVE quilt and mailed it off
• Knitted a chemo cap
• Lot's of organizing!!!!!

6 inch RR Here is my 6" RR for the swap on Quiltsbykos. It really is square but the edge decided to curl for the photo plus my angle is a little funny.

Pin Cushion Extravaganza
This pincushion was sent to my by my friend Beth as a gesture of love when we were getting all the horrid news about my dh. Little did she know how disappointed I was that I had missed the give away at Darlene's blog while I was on vacation. I love it! Thanks Bethy!
This little baby was sent to me from a PIF (Pay If Forward) giveaway I signed up for on Kim's blog. I only have 1 person that has signed up for mine so still have two openings. You just have to pledge on your blog to give away 3 gifts to others. I hope you will sign up.

DFW Quilt Gang Challenge I was enlisted into the DFW Quilt Gang while I was at the Plano Quilt show. They handed me a tote and said here is your challenge....hmmmm.....did I sign up for that?? LOL. This is my first time at a challenge and we were to make blocks appropriate for a child. One applique and one pieced. Here are my offerings.

Ta Da!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my 100th post. DD and I discussed what to do and like many others who came before me there will be a drawing. Now to make this interesting I want you to tell me about yourself in a comment so that I can get to know my readers better. Likes, dislikes. Do you enjoy other hobbies, etc. Using this information, DD and I will custom make a little goody bag or box. I will randomly draw from the comments this coming weekend.

Be sure I can contact you or I will have to go to another person that has commented! Good luck and hugs to all!

More Organizing

I just cannot take a picture that shows all the work that I have done. I am done in the room for now until I get some sewing projects with due dates out of the way. I can now get to everything and have refamiliarized myself with what is lurking in there. I still have that stack in the foyer that needs attention as well. I will probably pick away at that as I can but don't want to move too much of it into my sewing room just yet.


This is the 2nd picture down in my October 2nd post. Here is the original post also the 2nd picture down.

More later! Hope you all feel less ashamed of your sewing spaces after seeing mine. I sure have gotten the comments!

Before

After

I can live with this now. There is an improvement for sure. I know everything that is here. I will be moving onto the next area which had that big pile of yarn in it. I really do plan to keep all my craft gear in one room but am contemplating moving the yarn out until I can tidy up some other things. More to come!

Here is the original BEFORE picture.

Yesterday's Post was an Eye Opener! I must say that I was very disappointed that my pictures didn't show more progress than there really is. The two that really show are my baker's rack and my fabric cabinet. There isn't as much fabric there as it appears since I didn't fold it to use the whole depth of the cabinet. I have a lot more fabric than what is shown there in other totes in the room. If you look under my sewing machine you can see two there.

To tell you just how disappointed I was I went straight to the room after posting and worked on it some more. When you walk into the room immediately to the left is my MIL's sewing machine and cabinet. Stacked on top are my batts, magazines and cross-stitch kits. Down on the floor are boxes of miscellaneous stuff and assorted baskets. I sat on the floor and sorted through those boxes. I am grouping things into like piles. I did this for about an hour and came out with a grocery sack of trash, a plastic cart that was falling apart and some empty boxes. I have put away most of what I sorted out. If I took a picture now I still don't think it would show much improvement. I now plan to just focus on that cabinet until I can get it looking spiffy (3rd picture in yesterday's post)! Stay tuned for more progress photos!

I decided that I am going to get up when my alarm first goes off or stay up if I get up before that time and work on something. This morning I spent trimming that love quilt. I should be able to sew the binding tonight. If I am going to preach 15 minutes a day I need to practice it.

Saturday Quilting. I finished quilting a love quilt over the weekend. I need to bind it and then there is one block that needs just a little TLC before I send it off. I will be posting a picture but want it to be received by the recipient first.

**** hint **** it's on the cutting table wink wink wink ****

My sewing room is really coming along. Most of you would see chaos but compared to what I had before it is so much better. Here are a couple of views. This is a work in progress for sure.

The Great State Fair of Texas. Our schools give the kids a day off and a ticket to the state fair. Monday was the day. My husband and I have gone every year since we have lived here with only 2 exceptions for me. We always take the kids. We went yesterday and ate our favorite foods, sampled the new food they were talking about on the news. This included funnel cake, fried peach cobbler, fried cookie dough and many others. It was all good!

Here is a picture of ds and a little lady that sells items from Peru. She has these tiny animal figures that she sells and ds always buys them from her when he finds some he doesn't already have. She is always happy to see us. It was amazing to see my son standing next to this lady. He has shopped with her since he was probably 4 or 5 and is now 14. Aren't they cute?

After we bought from her we were told by another vendor this is her last year at the fair. I hope that isn't true but we wish her the best!

There is another vendor there that makes sculptures of horned lizards aka horny toads. He have been buying a few pieces every year and this year was no exception. Here are some of our pieces. They are pewter and air brushed. Great works of art!

DH update. We have a doctor appointment on October 12th with a new Orthapedic surgeon. Our intention is to have him remove the hardware and let the infection clear then redo the replacement. If the need for the liver comes along in this process that obviously will take precedence.

Welcome to the third installment of my quilt gallery. I grew up in central NY and we regularly went to Lancaster, PA to eat at Good N' Plenty and Fine and Fancy. When I became a quilter Lancaster took on a different meaning. I wandered into one of the Amish stores with fabric with a quilt for my nephew in my plans. This was another step out for me in my quilting skills. Sadly my nephew's mother abandoned this quilt when she took my nephew and left my brother. My mother grabbed it and offered it back. I asked her to hold onto it until he has his own child and then we will give it back to him. The light is a pale lavendar.

This quilt is my first "art" quilt. My friends were having a boy and chose Noah's Ark. If you look closely you will see the animals are felt and removable from little pockets. This was a fun quilt to do.

This is it for now. I have to find more pictures to share. I do have quilts in my Flickr account. See the "My Quilts" link on the left of the blog. Hope you enjoyed looking!