Another Year

I am so thankful that Raychel made it thru this year as well as she did.  Raychel is the on on the far left and this picture was taken on May, 2009.  At this point we were just living day by day with her and not knowing what the next day was going to hand us.  Mel is the one in the middle and on this day she brought Raychel a protein drink made by Bolthouse and it was at that point that Raychel started living again.  She had been living with a feeding tube that was not working and once she started drinking the protein shakes she started putting on weight, her hair started growing back and her skin was becoming not so thin.

This picture was taken on Saturday, December 25, 2010.  Raychel is the one in the black and white checked shirt.  I believe in miracles!

Raychel came over on Friday morning and stayed with Mike and I until yesterday afternoon.  Now Mike and I have gotten very accustomed to just it being us and we enjoy the quiet in the evening.  Well Raychel is not a quite person and we were so happy to drop her off at home yesterday but then I reminded Mike that we are very thankful that she can be loud and annoying at times. 
I am very excited to see what  2011 brings.

Retired?

 

I’m not sure about this being home on unemployment.  I am laid off until April 1st and not sure what people do all day long.  I understand Mom or Dad’s that stay home with their kids but Mike and I don’t’ have kids at home anymore.  Mike’s work is seasonal but in the winter he does work off and on so we are together all day.  He is working for Donny and Marie Osmond for a few days the end of this month so I will have a few days alone.  I love my husband dearly but not sure if I could live the retired life right now, I think I am a little young to be sitting home.

 

I have been sewing.  I had 4 quilts that needed to be quilted.

            

This quilt I am doing for myself.  I always wonder how many quilters keep their quilts for themselves or give them away.  I usually give them away but seems like I have given so many away that I don’t know who to give anymore to.

 

   

I had all these flannel hst left from another quilt (I always cut way to many) and when I got laid off I made a commitment to myself that I would use what I have.  I put this quilt together for Taylor and did not have any flannel for the backing but did have some bright green polar fleece.  It turned out perfect and is so soft.  She loves blankets/quilts of any kind so I know she will love it.

 

    

This is my sister in law, Pat, who just had surgery for ovarian cancer.  She came in last week for 4 days and we had such a great time.  She does a quilt for each of her nephews and nieces that graduate from high school.  Her Mom use to do it but since her Mom’s arthritis has gotten so bad Pat does them now.  Her Mom buys the fabric and the pattern and Pat buys the batting and backing and does the piecing.  Sometimes the fabric her Mom buys is not the best quality and will stretch when you don’t want it to but she makes it work.  We could not find a backing for this quilt in cotton and then we came across this flannel and it was perfect. 

We made it thru all 3 days and on the 4th day she said something about the doctor saying she had 1 to 3 years and I lost it.  I know I am getting older and so are my friends and family but it does not matter how old you or your loved ones it still is not fair.  Her oncologist seems to be more optimistic so I’m going with his opinion.

Huge day tomorrow, Pat is coming into town for a 2 day sewathon.  This is where we pretty much stay in our pj's and Mike makes us dinner and cleans up after us.  I can't wait.  I got 3 quilts quilted last week so I will get the binding sewn on and then will do the hand sewing.  I am so excited.

Drama

Now that all the drama is over (hopefully) I am thinking about all the sewing and quilting that I am going to do over the next 4 months while I am laid off.  Since Mike and I are both on unemployment I will not be shopping for fabric but using my stash as I go along.  I am very excited about this because it will be fun to start on those quilts that I have been wanting to make over the last few years.  I had been printing out pictures & patterns of quilts I wanted to make over the years and then I started running out of room for a place for all these patterns so now I save them to my computer.  I was looking thru the pieces of paper and my laptop and sometimes I wondered why I thought at that time I would liked that particular quilt.  I have gone from liking very uniform quilts to very scrappy quilts.  Problem with scrappy quilts you need a lot of scraps.  I was thinking about going to the second hand store and buy shirts but with that problem you end up with everything but 100% cotton.  My SIL's Mom uses any kind of fabric and I don't like the way it stretches so out of place so the second hand stores are not a option.  I will have to make due with what I have and I'm sure I will be just fine as I look at all my fabric. 

I always think I need more fabric and this is just part of that sewing disease.

OK I know I don't seem to be posting anything positive lately but I truly believe that bad things come in 3's. 

Well the first thing was my sister in law being diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was told on Monday that she has 1-3 years.  I think I cried for 2 days straight.  I asked what the Dr told her on Monday and that was it.  I'm done asking questions that I really don't want to hear the truthful answer. 

The second thing: Tuesday I took Raychel to the Dr because her seizures were so out of control and they put her in the hospital.  She was not very happy being that she has become so afraid of germs since being so sick the last 4-1/2 years.

Mike and I were to fly out this morning to Phoenix for 6 days and because of Raychel we were not going to go. This was not the 3rd thing.

The 3rd thing:  Yesterday Mike had gone to the dam by our house and went for a 2 mile walk, came home and told me he was going to the gym (cardiac rehab at the hospital) to finish working out.  We were in the beginnings of what they thought could turn into a snow storm.  I stopped by the store to get my batting since I was not going to be flying anywhere and had just got into the car and my phone rang.  It was Mike or so I thought.  It was Aaron, nurse at rehab, she proceeded to tell me that Mike had been working out and all of a sudden he went down and I needed to get to the emergency room.  Once there I was told that they could not find a pulse and was not breathing.  They got to him called code blue and started working on him.  They turned him over and were just going to shock him and they found a pulse and he started gasping for air.  His breathing did level off but was very faint.  He is doing so much better today.  They did not even call for a cardiac consult last night and I could not figure out what they were waiting for.  The cardiologist came in this morning and was so upset that they did not call him last night.  He said he would have taken Mike right in for a angiogram but now they are doing it tomorrow.  They are not sure if Mike has a blockage or if it is a electrical issue.  Mike had 2 heart attacks 2 years ago 2 weeks apart so they are not taking any chances.  I think even if he had not had the previous heart attacks they still would be very concerned with the heart stopping. 

With this being Thanksgiving I should say what I am thankful for.

I am thankful that bad things come in 3's.
I am thankful that Mike and Raychel are both going to be ok.
I am thankful that the rest of my family and friends are healthy and are great.
I am thankful that I am laid off from work for awhile and I get to sew until my fingers bleed.  This has always been my dream.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Pat

This is my sister in law, Pat, with her horse and one of her baby goats.  She is/was married to Mike's brother, Rod, who passed away 2 years ago.  She has a farm with goats, cows, chickens, horses and I'm sure there are other critters I am forgetting.  Oh yea Eleanor the dog.  Pat is so strong and she is the reason I ever thought of joining the quilting world.  She planted the seed and there you go the rest is history.  I think she was being selfish doing this because she did not want to be the one with to much fabric.  Her and I have become so close over the years and thru Raychel's illness she really was my rock.

Pat had breast cancer twice many years ago and beat it and everything has been fine.  She came to spend the weekend with me so we could sew and hang out in my sewing room for hours but she was not feeling the best.  She finally went to the Dr this past Monday and found out that she has ovarian cancer.  I have cried this whole week every time I think of her and that is very often.  Even Mike is so saddened by this and he is not to much of an emotional guy.

I am so afraid of this cancer just because of what I have heard about it over the years.  She goes in for surgery next week and I will be there.  Surgery was suppose to be on Wednesday and they just changed it to Friday which is better.  I can go up and spend the weekend with her while she is in the hospital.  She lives in Wilmar Mn which is about 1-1/2 hrs west of Minneapolis so I'm just not sure if her boys will be coming in for the weekend and being there or if they will go afterwards on Friday.

I hate getting old.  It seems the older you get the more your friends get sick.

My sister in law, Pat, came in to town this past weekend to sew.  She had this quilt that her mom had done for one of the granddaughters and Pat wanted to quilt it for her. 

I love when she comes in and we do nothing but sew and snack all weekend.  When she comes for the weekend I feel like there is nothing more important that I should be doing than just hanging out with her. 

We sew and my husband, Mike, takes care of the meals and dishes if he's home.  How perfect is that.

Sunday being Halloween we went out to Jess's for dinner and to see the kids all dressed up.  Jess did Taylor's makeup in and put her in the red satin dress so she could be the devil.  She is getting so grown up.  And then of course Charlee had the monkey suit for the moment but that was not very girl like so they changed her costume.

Jaxson is now 3 and he LOVES Thomas and Train and he understands the whole trick or treat thing and oh yea the chocolate. 

And finally Charlee in the princess costume.  She has started sucking her thumb which is so adorable.  I know she should not be sucking her thumb but with the Rhett's syndrome I am happy that she has something to settle her self with.  The only thing she understands is "kiss" and so trying to get her to not suck her thumb would be impossible.

This quilt I am putting together is left over flannel and so I decided I needed to use it up and this is what I came up with.  The flannel was already cut up into triangles so it really was a no brainer on what to do with it.  I will give this to Taylor when I am done.

It was so funny last night I decided to start sewing the  rows and I made such a mess out of the order.  I finally had to sit back and count from the center out and of course I had 8 on one side and 7 on the other.  Had to do some ripping out and then got everything in order.  Hopefully tonight it will go smoother. 

I am determined to try and use all the fabric I have at home before buying any more fabric for a new project.  I am hoping that I can follow thru with this.

Victoria over at Bumble Beans was looking for people to quilt some quilt tops she had for the Basics fundraiser.  I figure it would give me more time on the longarm and I do need it.  I love doing things for people that are working on such a good cause.  She sent me 2 quilt tops and I'm glad that I am able to help.





These 2 pictures are the first quilt I did and is such a nice quilt.  Last night I got the next one loaded and will get it done and shipped out by Monday morning.

Last weekend Mike, Taylor and I went camping.  Taylor is so much fun to have around.  Her Mom and the 2 babies came and also Justin brought his girlfriend, Sarah and Raychel came for dinner and a bonfire.

I think we biked about 20 miles over the 2 days and Taylor could not believe that Grandpa Mike could be so far ahead of us at his age (56).  Funny how old that is to a 12 year old and is not old when you are 56.  I remember when I was in my 20's and thinking how old 40 was and here I am 51.

We came across this tank and of course Taylor had to get up on it and get her picture taken for Mom.

Mike and Taylor absolutely love each other.  The both are very funny and make each other laugh.  She really does keep us going.

This is the very first picture I have ever posted of myself but I promised her that I would post a picture of her and I.

I have been so self conscience since putting on so much weight.  I have been struggling with my thyroid for quite a few years and finally my doctor told me on Monday no more white flour, sugar, starches and bad carbs.  He guarantees me that I will lose at least 2 pounds a week by just doing that.  I hope so.










Mike and Taylor being goofy.  She hates wearing her helmet but she wears it.  Mike was trying to show how great you can look like with the helmet on or should I say how old (just kidding Mike).















In Minnesota this time of the year is perfect time for camping.  Warm enough during the day and cool enough at night for the bonfires.  We were suppose to go this weekend but we figured we better take advantage of beautiful weather and get the yard cleaned up before the snow flies.  I heard that it is going to be a very hard winter




This is the most recent picture of my daughter, Raychel.  For anyone that does not know she had been very ill for 4-1/2 years.  1-1/2 years ago she weight 80 pounds and at 5'8" that was such a scary time.  She just found out that she has to have another surgery and I am so thankful that she has finally put weight on.  When she needed surgeries before it was always so life threatening so this time won't be that way.  She also has epilepsy which we found out about 3 years ago and because she was always so ill the seizures had always been on the back burner.  Last January she went in for a EEG and the dr called and wanted her to come in right away to discuss the results.  Mike and I had just left for our 5 week trip and I was going to fly home for it and she refused to go.  She promised me that we would go see the dr when I got back home.  Well guess what she finally went last week, yes 7 months later.  The dr gave us horrifying news, Raychel had 20 seizures over the 24 hour period that she had the EEG wires connected.  Raychel started crying and it took everything I had to be strong for her.  She did have a bad seizure during that time and we knew that but the other ones are smaller seizures and were lasting from 1-2 minutes.  Well she is on more meds and hope that they work, unfortunately it takes 3 months of slowly increasing the dose to get to the right amount.  She thought all this time that she was having anxiety attacks and taking meds for that to find out they were seizures.  She is amazing to deal with everything that she has been faced with the last 4-1/2 years.

Been a long long time.

It has been so long since I have wrote anything but have been very busy with work and also having fun.  

This summer we decide we would get all the girls in the family together for a girls night.  Everyone had so much fun just hanging out and talking and bringing everyone up to date with what is going on in every ones life.  My two nieces in the back side of the picture are sisters and one lives in Denver and the other lives in Duluth Minnesota.  The niece in the blue dress announced that she will be getting married next year.  Her fiance is from Ames Iowa and they are going to get married on the family farm and have a barn dance.  What a great idea.  Can't wait.

This is Charlee and Jaxson our adopted grandkids.  Our friends that are the true grandparents live in AZ so we have become the extra grandma and grandpa.  I'm not complaining since Raychel will probably never have children and not sure about Justin's thoughts on the whole parenting thing.  It's ok he is only 27 and a man so will wait and see.

Charlee is 2 years old and she was diagnosed back in May with Rhett's Syndrome.  Mom and Dad are still trying to adjust to this horrible diagnoses but it is what it is and we love her no matter what she has.  She will never walk or talk and that makes it hard sometimes when she is frustrated and cannot explain what is wrong.  Because she can't walk and is getting so big it is getting harder to pick her up off the floor.  They will be coming over tomorrow to spend the night while Mom and Dad go to the new Twin's Stadium for a game.

Jaxson is so precious and love having him come and spend time with us.  He always cries when it is time to go home and that breaks my heart but also makes me feel so loved.  He has his cars and trains here so he comes and can play for hours with them.

This quilt is one that I am making for my boss's little girls which she adopted from Russia.  She is such a sweet little girl and know she will love it.  I do have the material for the backing but and still trying to decide how I am going to quilt it.  I'm thinking a meander would be to much but a stitch in the ditch around the triangles might just be what will finish it off.

This quilt is one I decided to do a couple of weeks ago.  It is hard to tell the wonderful colors in the quilt with the color of my walls.   That is Tera cotta color but really does look rose like.  I'm thankful my walls really don't look like that.

Our friends, Pegeen and Roger, have season tickets to the MN Twins and they took us with them to a game.  We had a blast and how wonderful to sit outside and watch baseball.  All Minnesota needs now is a outdoor stadium for the Vikings.

The Minneapolis skyline is what we saw from our seats.  I love downtown Minneapolis and would love to live down there.  Mike is trying to figure out where we would put all our stuff and where we would park our 32 ft motor home.  The things he worries about.

I can't wait for the long weekend to begin.  We are starting the weekend off by going to the new MN Twins stadium for the first time.  Mike and I are not big baseball fans but we will watch if we are home and they are on tv.  It is all about going to the new outdoor stadium and experiencing the whole American sport plus have a hot dog.  We are also going to take the new light rail train down so we will be able to avoid parking and trying to get out of there at the end of the night.  Saturday morning we are waking up and driving to Council Bluffs.  Mike is doing a Neil Diamond tribute band at a outdoor show at Harrah's casino.  I heard it is going to be a very hot weekend.  I'm ok if it is just hot but in the Midwest we don't just get real hot we get real humid with it.  That I hate.  I am trying to get my brown quilt quilted so I can get the binding on so I have hand sewing to do while sitting around.

I don't know if anyone has ever gotten the bug to do applique but I really have become very interested in it.  I'm not sure why but some of the quilts I have seen are so beautiful.  I think what got me hooked was this:
I found this over at "Don't look now" blog.  

Isn't this just beautiful?  This is why I want to learn to applique.  I going to stop by the library tomorrow and see if I can find some books on different tips.










I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend.

Quilt Show

I am so excited for tomorrow to be here.  I am meeting Pat in St Cloud for the big quilt show at the civic center. Every year they have it somewhere new.  The last few years it has been 2 or more hours away and St Cloud is only 1 hour away.  It is also 1 hour away for Pat so it will be a perfect day.  After the show Pat and I will go 2 hours east to our great nephew's graduation party and then I am off to Rice Lake WI to meet up with Mike.  He is working an outdoor show on the lake so it will be a nice way to end my day.

I am going to join in with the Summer Star Sampler quilt.  I love this quilt but don't have the funds to buy all new Moda fabric so I am hoping to use what I have.  I think this is going to be a challenge to figure out.

Here are the blocks I am working on for the quilt I am making for my bosses little girl that is coming from Russia.  Shari has always wanted a little girl and now she will finally have one.  The quilt calls for 45 blocks and I have 14 done.  Mike is not home tonight so I am hoping I can put a dent in the pile.

 








 
So look closely at these two pictures.   Why in the world would someone or company think that anyone would want to follow a toilet company on Twitter?  I just thought this was so funny.



 






I love traveling thru Iowa every so often you come across these barns with quilt blocks on them.  I would love to put one on my garage but I don't think that will happen.