My Love of Quilting

Great Day

2011-11-06T07:50:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was such a great day. I met Barb and we eat breakfast and talked for a good 1-1/2 hours and then headed to our first quilt shop. Like Barb said it seems like we have known each other for years. I was so out of my norm meeting up with someone I had never met in person and only had talked thru email. I'm so glad I did, Barb is going to be a friend for a very long time. We made it to a total of 4 shops that neither one of us had gone to and I have found a few new favorites. Well worth the miles put on.

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that have great blog friends and I would suggest if you can meet up with that friend. It is so wonderful to find a friend that enjoys that same passion in quilting as yourself.

Saturday

2011-11-03T15:44:00.000-05:00

Saturday is approaching fast and I am so excited because it is the day I finally get to talk to Barb in person. I have been talking (actually emailing) Barb for probably 3 years now and she also is a quilter which is how we connected. Barb's job was helping disabled people apply and get benefits that are out there but probably would not find on their own. Barb answered questions while I was applying for social security for my daughter, Raychel. When you have a family member become disabled it is so hard to get someone the help they need and trying to figure out all the hoops that you have to go thru to get the benefits. Anyways we are meeting! We are going to meet for breakfast and then hit 3 quilt shops. What a perfect way to spend a Saturday.

I know that this is off the quilting subject but just an update on Raychel. Last December Raychel weighted in at 131 pounds which was a hard journey from 76 pounds. For some reason that we cannot figure out right now she has dropped to 94 pounds. She went in last week for a complete physical and her doctor ordered some blood test but the clinic was not successful getting any blood. They were poking her arms and then tried the veins in her feet without success. She went to the cancer center at the hospital figuring they were use to patients that are hard sticks. Out of 10 tubes of blood that they needed for all her test they were able to get 1/2 a tube. I am hoping that it is enough to run the important blood test that might show why she is losing weight. We are working on just thinking positive thoughts and trying to keep her thinking positively also.

Applique ideas

2011-11-03T15:05:00.002-05:00

Mike worked up at a casino in Walker Minnesota this past weekend and brought home these pictures of the carpet. Granted I would not like to have this carpet in my homes but it would make a great applique panel. I also would not use the colors they chose but the leaves and flowers I love. What a great husband.

Vacation with the girls

2011-10-17T06:57:00.002-05:00

My original plans for my vacation with the girls was to leave on Wednesday, Oct 5th, and coming home on Tuesday, Oct 11th, but that got changed. The week before my trip my boss was diagnosed with a tumor in his head the size of his hand and was cancer. I work for a small family owned road construction company and it is my boss, Stevie, and his sister, Shari and are more like family than employers. His surgery was on Oct 3rd and it took them 18 hours and 3 different surgeons. Was a long day of waiting and waiting and even thou it was a long surgery it was a successful surgery. He will still have to do radiation and chemo but he will make it thru that and that is all that matters.

I have never flown from Minnesota going east in the early morning. I have never seen such a amazing sunrise than from a plane at 35,000 feet. I always feel so blessed when I get to experience these moments.

This is what I saw when I came around the corner of the airport. My friends, Jean on the far left, Bonnie in the middle and then Jean's daughter, Laura who was along for the ride. I was so happy to see the two since I had not seen them since we were all in Phoenix this past winter.

When we were taking Laura home we went thru Hershey Pennsylvania which was a very cute town. I love the street lights, a Hershey Kiss.

I have fallen in love with this part of the country. With Jean growing up in the Lancaster area she didn't realize how 2 woman from other parts of the country would be so interested in what she thought was so normal. Jean grew up Menonite and really knew the area and the way the people live. One of the towns we went thru was having a neighborhood yard sales and we had to stop. Most of the homes in this town were either Menonite or Amish which I loved walking thru the yards and seeing what they all had for sale. Most homes had baked goods that all had been baked that morning.

Then finally we made it to our first quilt shop. This trip I really noticed a huge difference between your local quilt shops and the Amish quilt shops. The Amish shops have all the major brands at half the price of the local quilt shops. This particular quilt shop had Moda Fabrics for $5.99/yd and beautiful batiks for $3.97/yd. How could this be. I did load up on 21 different batiks with a particular pattern I have been wanting to make.

I love the simple life.

I could not resist. Unfortunately I was in the backseat trying to get this picture thru the windshield. A little hazy but how adorable is he?

We were stopping at a little shop at a farmer's house that Jean knew and the shop owner's son was out in the field plowing. My husband can't even get our son to help mow the law with the self propeled lawn mower.

2011-09-20T12:46:00.001-05:00

This past weekend Mike actually played guitar with a drummer and a bass player that he had never played with before. The bass player is a promoter of a show that Mike has worked at every year for the headliner band bringing their stage equipment for them. This year it was not needed. The promoter decided that Mike himself and Gene who owns the production company that brings all the sound equipment would put a band together. It was so much fun and I loved seeing Mike play again. We got there Thursday morning and the show was that night but we had a hotel room for 2 nights. We were down in Fairfield Iowa which is in the southeast side of Iowa. On Friday we headed to the Dutchman Store in Cantril Iowa which is Amish and Menonite and the place was packed. I seemed to be more of locals shopping then a tourist place so that made it more interesting. They had groceries, hardware, cookware and of course FABRIC which I didn't buy any because I am waiting to buy fabric in Pennsylvania in October.

On Saturday morning we decided that we were going to go to the Largest Truck Stop in the world. This place is on I-80 east of Davenport. I decided that I was not going to make it all the way to the truck stop so I had Mike pull over at a wayside rest. I could not believe my eyes when we pulled up and sew all the quilt blocks. I was so excited I didn't want to go in I wanted to look around. I need to read more on this but I guess they used the quilt blocks as messages for the slaves traveling north looking for freedom.

This was outside and was the key for the quilt blocks. What I heard someone saying was that different farms would have different quilt blocks on their barns as a secret message. Here is one key:

I wish I could read this better but it is the story behind the blocks and how the slaves made it thru the underground railroad as gentleman working there put it.

I really thought this was worth sharing.

2011-09-19T15:57:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh look what I finally got done

Ok not completely done I still have to hand sew the binding and will ship it off.

I have to say that I spent more time on this quilt than I have any other quilts. I don't do well with just grabbing and putting together and this quilt you cannot think about what colors you are grabbing. I got some blues together that I wish had not happened but oh well, I know she will love it.

2011-09-11T08:08:00.002-05:00

Every year on this day I feel such a heaviness in my heart like every other American. I remember when I would hear people say that they remember where they were and what they were doing the day President Kennedy was shot. I remember being home with my Mom and she had President Kennedy's funeral on but it never stuck in my mind. My husband talks about being in school and the teachers crying and I never understood having that strong of an emotion for something that did not personally effect me until 9-11. Every time I see a picture or anything regarding that day I feel this heaviness in my heart. The National Geographic channel did a interview with President Bush (not my favorite) and I planned on watching it. I got about half way thru and was crying and decided to turn it off for awhile. I remember days after that horrible day I felt guilty walking away from the television because I thought I should not be out enjoying myself because these people in NYC can't walk away and go do something fun. I felt it was all I could to help

In 2009 I went to NYC for the July 4th weekend and was so excited because I had not been there since August 2001. I love that city and needed to see for myself what had been left behind. We headed to lower Manhattan to watch the fireworks and where we were standing was just blocks away from where the towers were. It was lightly raining and we were standing against a building and I started talking to these 4 woman that were standing with me. They started telling me that all 4 of them had grown up in that building and all married and bought their own places in that building. They told me their stories of 9-11 and how for months they walked around and cried. One of the woman told me how her and her husband had gone to South Carolina for a month and their apartment faced the towers and for the 1st time of them leaving town she cracked her windows. She told me that headed right back home within a few days of the attack and she said it was a war zone. She told me how the cab was able to bring them only so far and then they had to show identification showing that they lived in that area. She told me that it was that way for months after. As they were telling me their stories I started to cry and they started to cry. I am so thankful for the rain that night because of that I was forced to stand against that building and meet these 4 woman that made me look at life so differently. When we left that night I hugged them all and thanked them so much for sharing their stories with me.

Raychel got sick in 2006 and I have to say when you almost lose a child so many times you look at life so differently. You become so appreciative of the little things in life but after meeting these woman I even became more grateful for everything. The things that I use to worry about I don't anymore the people that I always knew I loved know now how much I love them now. I never hang up my phone without saying to my friends and family that I love them. My life lessons over the last 5 years have been very hard lessons to learn but I would not trade them for 5 years of life going on as it had. My daughter's life is so hard for her. She never has a day of without depression, anxiety and feeling so sick she can't get out of bed but she has every day to feel these things. Raychel's life was going down a bad road before getting sick and 5 years of sickness has saved her from a life of bad choices. She always says that this illness, how horrible it is and how it has robbed her life she is happy to say goodbye to how that life was.

I guess this is a good day to reflect on many things in our lives.

2011-09-02T09:34:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it. I WON. I am so excited. My arthritis in my shoulders and elbows has been really bothering me the last few months and this will make life a little easier.

WE HAVE A WINNER

Drum Roll Please.... (I'm so excited)

Cathy, Cathy where are you???

You my dear, are the lucky winner of a GO Baby and 3 dies of your choice.!!! Yeah!! A big round of applause for you Cathy.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!!

Travels

2011-08-22T19:45:00.001-05:00

I am so excited about some up coming travels. Back a couple of years ago Mike and I drove our friend Jean's car from Phoenix to her other home in Harrisburg PA. Well I feel in love with the Tennessee, Virgina, West Virgina and Pennsylvania area. I told Mike that I would love to come back to Pennsylvania one day and go exploring. Since being out there Jean has moved to Mountain City TN and a friend and I are going out to spend a week with her in October. The best part is we are going to driver up to Harrisburg and then onto Amish country. Guess what we are going to go to go do for a couple of days. Yes, we are going exploring. All 3 of us love to quilt and Jean grew up Mennonite so she knows a lot of the hidden places in Pennsylvania. I just can't believe that I am getting to do this and go in the fall which is my favorite time of the year. The trees should be turning by then, I hope, and the weather should be sweat shirt weather, I hope.

I can't believe that it is almost Minnesota State fair time. This always has meant the end of summer for me which is ok because by this time I am so in the mood for Autumn. Perfect camping weather in our motorhome.

The heat is on

2011-07-15T19:39:00.001-05:00

This is our forecast for the next 4 days here in Minnesota. It would not be so bad but the humidity is what kills me.

Mike is in Sioux City Iowa and will be home on Sunday so this is my time to stay inside and sew and oh yea clean my sewing room. What a mess it has become, I think it has become the dumping grounds for everything we have no clue what to do with. I don’t do well with a mess around. It is so hard for me to get sewing when I know that I need to clean the mess up before going any further.

I’m still working on Emily’s wedding quilt. I feel like this thing is never going to get done.

I hope this weekend is productive. Oh yea I’m babysitting tomorrow night and getting my brakes done in the morning. What are the odds I’m going to get a lot done?

Applique verses piecing.

2011-06-29T06:52:00.000-05:00

My niece is getting married over Labor Day weekend and this is the quilt I decided to make her for a wedding present. I knew that when I saw the picture I knew that there was going to be a lot of cutting but had no idea. I feel like I have been working on this for a long time, all I have done so far is cut and piecing the individual little blocks together. I know that it will get done sooner or later.

I am so hooked on applique and have found this wonderful blog that I have learned so much from. Erin has videos on YouTube and she is a great teacher. She also has applique blocks that she post on her blog that can be downloaded, how great is that? I think the reason I love applique so much I can sit and watch tv with Mike and can still sew. Also the instant gratification of seeing it coming together so quick. I always seem to pick out pieced quilt patterns that seem to take forever and not with applique except for this quilt I would love to be able to start one day. I’m sure this one would take forever.

Isn’t this just beautiful!!!

After typing that statement I just realized that I really like such a wide range of quilts. I really love the quilt I am making for my niece but I really do love the this applique quilt also. I think back over the years of quilting and how much my likes and dislikes have changed. I remember the very first quilt I made, it was for Mike and it was 4” squares and all in 100% cotton in different blues. I then used a dark blue piece of polar fleece (what was I thinking? Polar Fleece?).

I knew nothing about quilting then, I used a piece of cardboard to use as a template for my squares and I’m sure if I was to go back and measure those squares they would be different in size. When I got my longarm I ripped off the polar fleece backing and used it for a practice piece and now it now sits on the end of the couch. Much nicer now. I also did some organizing about 2 months ago and it was so funny to look at my fabric that I purchased years ago and wonder “did I really like that back then?”. I must have but not sure why. How things change.

My sister in law gave me 2 quilt kits to do for her. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November and was given 1-3 years. Well I am so happy to say that she is doing great. But anyways, she gave me 2 kits and I was able to finish piecing 1 of them and she was so thrilled with how it turned out. She wants to quilt them so I am hanging onto it. So now to start the other one. So 2 Saturdays ago I dropped her and her son off at the airport so they could fly out to California to spend a week with her daughter. When we got to the airport she gave me money and it was a lot of money for doing her quilts. I was very confused by my feelings. I NEVER wanted money for doing her quilts since these are quilts she wants to give to her boys before anything happens to her. I realized that I don’t like doing quilting for money, it puts a responsibility that I don’t want right now in my life. I now feel I have to hurry and get the other one done and this comes from my own feeling nothing she has put on me. I know others who quilt for customers but this is what they do for a living or maybe not. I just feel like it will take the fun out of it for me. I also quilted a quilt for Pat’s sister and also a friend of hers. I now have received 2 checks in the mail over the last week so that made it a little easier to do.

One of the quilts that I did for Pat’s friend

I have a friend, Kathy, who says she has about 15 quilts she would like me to quilt for her and I could not say no, of course. So Kathy gave me 2 quilts that she had already sewn the backs on y sewing them inside out and then turning right side out. I told her I would try. I’m thinking if I sew a piece of fabric on each end I could attach it to my leaders that way. When I get a quilt to quilt all I keep thinking is what if I screw this up? I know how much work goes into piecing a quilt and I would feel so horrible if something happened while having the quilt in my possession. I don’t think I can screw it up to much all I do is a all over meander and I think the only thing that could happen if my tension got screwed up but that is something I would catch really quick. This quilt is Pat’s friends quilt that I did.

I can’t believe that it is the 4th of July already. Here in Minnesota the weather has not been the best and they are saying 95 and humid for Thursday and Friday. Mike and I are going to Algona Iowa on Thursday and then from there La Crosse Wisconsin on Saturday. Mike has outdoor shows so hopefully it is not 95 degrees. This summer is going by so fast!

2011-05-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

This is Sarah, my niece, who is getting married this Friday on the 20th. This is my older brother, Cal's daughter and this is the first daughter to get married and he is very excited. She is going to make a beautiful bride.

I told her and her sister that they would get a quilt when they get married. Well her sister is also getting married over Labor Day weekend in Boulder Colorado. I will not be going so I have to get busy because her wedding shower is June 12. I have the fabric and better get cutting.

Batting

2011-04-20T05:43:00.000-05:00

I don't know about other quilters but for as long as I can remember I have always saved my left over batting after taking my quilt off the frame. I had a pile of it and a couple of months ago i came across this product for fusing pieces of batting together. I believe that I paid about $8/ea. This stuff is wonderful and so easy to use. I could not remember where I had purchased it but when I got an email this morning from Quilt in a Day and it is on sale for $4.50/ea I bought 3 rolls. If you are interested in buying it it is only on sale until April 24th and then will go back up to $7.99/ea

I was very happy to get this email this morning and wanted to share this with others.

Another big benefit this ship by USPS which most people don't use and I only paid $1.70 for shipping. How cheap is that? I don't remember that last time I was offered a cheaper way for shipping.

Applique

2011-04-10T09:52:00.000-05:00

Back in January I purchased this book.

I originally purchased this book because I loved the pattern on the front cover. As soon as I got the book home I started going thru it and came across this page.

I fill in love with this project. I had not done any applique but I had been wanting to learn how to do it. I totally forgot why I got this book in the first place. I have watched a lot of youtube videos that others have done on applique and I have to say I have learned a lot over time. I first start with freezer paper and get everything cut out and pressed. When I start sewing my pieces down I remove the freezer paper so I can practice turning with my needle with a little help from the pressing I did in the beginning. I have tried doing just needle turn but that is a true art and hoping with practice I will get it.

Mine is not looking as good as the one in the book but I know it will be one that I will hang in my sewing room for myself to enjoy.

My stems and flowers on the end of each stem are pinned down. I am amazed how quickly the hand sewing is going, It is so relaxing. I really wish I had this project when we drove from Minnesota to California. This would have really passed the time.

Dresden Plate

2011-03-21T19:32:00.000-05:00

I have been reading blogs for the last year and a lot of quilters were making quilts, wall hangings and table runners out the the Dresden Plate block. I decided that I was going to make a wall hanging. I love the color olive green and my living room, hallway and entry way are now olive green. So this would explain my choice of the center circle of the Dresden Plate.

I know have to get it quilted and then I can hang it.

Finally got the bug

2011-03-19T21:11:00.000-05:00

I finally got the bug to quilt. I didn't think it was going to happen. Thank God it's back.

My two nieces who are sisters are getting married, one in May and the other in September. Sarah who is getting married in May is a very conservative young woman. Her quilt was not a hard one to decide on until I went to the fabric store. I had it all planned out got to the store gathered all my fabric and headed towards the back of the store to check out the thread and there it was. At that point everything I had decided on was now the past. The manager of the store was standing there and gave me her copy of the pattern (which you can download for free) so I could gather all my fabric for the new pattern. I finished the top yesterday and here it is.

This was a fun quilt to make but a lot of wasted fabric with the flying geese. She is really into the blues and browns so I know she is going to love it.

Emily is more of a old hippy even thou she is only 30 years old. She is a director of a opera place in Boulder CO which is where they are getting married up in the mountains. I really hope this is a trip I will be able to make it to. The quilt I have decided on for her is seeing squares which you can find here.

She is going to love this quilt. I am really looking forward to going and gathering all the fabrics so I can get started on this one.

It's been a long time

2011-02-24T07:43:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that it has been so long since I have blogged or sewn.

Jan 3rd Mike and I flew to Phoenix to hang out with our friends that have chosen to move there to get away from the snow and cold. I don't understand 2 days ago we ONLY got 17" of snow in a 24 hour period. Whats wrong with that? I have to say I really missed Phoenix when we were clearing our driveway yesterday.

I remember one time telling my Mom if I was able to retire I would sew every day. Well I was laid off on November 24 until April 1st and I have not yet spent more than 2 days in a row sewing and that was because Pat was here for a weekend to sew. This past Sunday while it was snowing I spent time straightening things up and stood down there looking at what I could start next. I feel very lost and not knowing what to do. I guess this is what happens when you step away from sewing for 7 weeks.

While in Phoenix my friend, Karen, was having me show her how to do some different quilts and rotary cutting. She has such a hard time cutting straight but the sewing a straight seam has gotten better. I bought her this magnet at the fabric store that attaches to her machine and that way she can keep her fabric straight. She also has a hard time finishing projects so I helped her finish 2 and brought 1 home to quilt.

Her porch has a room that she has all her sewing stuff setup in. If I could sit outside and sew I sure would be doing it.

This is Patty's house that we stay at when in Phoenix. She does not heat her pool so when we are there in January and February the water is cold. I love just sitting out on her deck enjoying the view.

We left Phoenix on January 15th and boy was it cold when we got home. We got in about midnight and it was 13 below zero. What a shock that was and we didn't have coats of course.

On January 27 we got in my boss's car with his 2 dogs and drove to Santa Monica. It has been a few years since our dog died so I'm not use to getting up in the morning and taking a dog out the first thing in the morning.

It took us 3-1/2 days to get there and boy was that long drive but worth every mile. We stayed with Stevie a whole week and right off his deck you can see the Santa Monica Pier. I could get so use to that. To wake up and sit outside and hear the ocean is an experience that I think everyone should get to have once in a life time.

Stevie took us to the old downtown L.A. and boy is there a lot of history. We also went to the train station which is something we don't have in Minnesota. The tile work and wood work was so unbelievable. Reminded me a lot of quilt blocks.

While down on the 3rd Street Promenade we came across this store and this is what the outside walls of the store looked like. Some of the pictures are hard to see but I hope you get the idea of what it looked like. My Mom has a treadle machine that has been converted to electric, we are talking about trying to put it back to a treadle machine.

This machine was inside the store. One of the salesman came up and asked me not take any pictures. He thought I was taking pictures of the cloths and I had to explain to him my love for the different sewing machines. He said go for it.

This weekend is hopefully when I get those creative juices flowing again.

Another Year

2010-12-27T08:26:00.002-06:00

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?

2010-12-18T08:41:00.001-06:00

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.

2010-12-06T20:06:00.000-06:00

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

2010-11-28T08:04:00.000-06:00

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.

2010-11-25T20:45:00.000-06:00

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

2010-11-12T13:43:00.002-06:00

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.

2010-11-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-10-09T08:27:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-09-03T20:57:00.001-05:00

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.

2010-06-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

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

2010-06-18T21:05:00.001-05:00

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.

2010-06-18T15:36:00.002-05:00

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.

2010-06-08T06:36:00.000-05:00

I would SO love to win one of these. The time saved for more time piecing and quilting which means more quilts. Go check out Amy's blog.

2010-06-03T15:07:00.001-05:00

So I saw that a lot of quilters were making this Wonky quilt block and I had to try it out. I did not read the directions like I should have and after cutting all the fabric I notice that my both sides of fabric were to be facing the same way. Needless to say I have only enough to do 2 smaller lap quilts instead of 1 large quilt. Boy this makes me mad but no one to blame but myself. I will have 2 very cute lap quilts to give as baby present and my niece who just had a baby will get the first one.

This quilt I saw a picture of back on this site and I feel in love with it and had to make one of my own. I'm not sure why I wanted to make such a dark quilt but it really did get my interest.

Here is a quilt I started 4 years ago one weekend I was at my sister in laws house for a weekend sewing retreat. I finally decided that I would finish it for my boss who is adopting a 6 year old from Russia. I have a total of 63 blocks to make. These are the ones I made 4 years ago. I am about 3/4 of the way thru making the other 60 and it will be so nice to have this quilt made and in the hands of someone that will love it.

Wednesday weigh in

2010-05-26T14:14:00.001-05:00

So last week I joined the Wednesday weigh in over at Stephanie's blog. I started back at the gym last week after a month off and I have to lose weight. If I am going to spend time on my butt sewing then I have to spend time on the treadmill. So here it is

I weighed in this morning and gained 7oz. This really sucks. I have been walking on the treadmill everyday for 2 miles in 30 minutes and to gain? It has to be water. I have to really start watching my intake because I know that is what it is. I told Mike nothing but salads and chicken or pork chops for dinner. I also signed up at the everydayhealth.com website and hopefully by journaling what I eat and my exercise I will see what I am doing wrong.

Blogs

2010-05-04T20:58:00.000-05:00

I was wondering how many blogs others follow? I have so many blogs in my list on Google Reader and I enjoy them all and every so often I add a new one on. Well what happens to me is I will be at work reading thru the blogs I follow and at least every day I print out a picture of a quilt that I have falling in love with and want to some day try and make. I now have 4 3-ring binders full of all these pieces of papers of quilt pictures. Am I the only one that does this? I think if I bring home one more picture and put in on the dining room table when I walk in Mike is going to take all my pieces of paper and shred them. My sister in law laughs at all my papers when she comes over to hang out. I know there is no way I will ever make all the quilts I want to but I sure am going to try.

What a sad day

2010-04-27T20:41:00.000-05:00

Anthony passed away today this is also the day my Dad died 5 years ago. My Dads long time friend, John, died 2 years ago today. This seems so odd to me but like Kris my sister in law said this almost is comforting to have them pass away on the same day to know that Dad is there guiding Anthony thru his next journey. I had to work today because Shari, my boss, is in Russia adopting a little girl and what else is really weird 5 years ago today Shari was in the Ukraine adopting her son, Tom. I think April 27th from now on should be skipped in the future. I have decided that my niece, Abby, who is 14 is probably the most heart felt little girl I have ever known. When my Dad died Abby crawled up into Grandpa's bed laid her head on his chest and said good bye and told him that she loved him. This morning Abby laid her head on Anthony's shoulder and said goodbye to him and said the time he died. If she is this way as a child I can't imagine what a wonderful adult she will be.

2010-04-22T06:59:00.000-05:00

My sister in law, Pat, is coming for the weekend. There is a horse show at the fair grounds that she goes to every year and to quilt some quilt tops. She wants to buy a Quilters Cruise Control for my machine. I really would feel horrible having her make that kind of a purchase, she says she owes me for letting her come here and use my machine. I don't know about anyone else but I love having company come over and sew with me. I love sewing alone but I laugh a lot more when Pat is here sewing. I understand the whole quilting retreats but I would not be comfortable going to something by myself so I have my own quilt retreats here at my house and only 1 comes.

Anthony's parents are still battling about what to do, his EEG and MRI came back the same as last week. The only part of the brain that is functioning is the part that makes his heart beat, his lungs to breath and his other organs working. There is no other brain function there that would by a slight chance be what makes Anthony - Anthony. I had a friend that her daughter was in a horrible car accident and she like Anthony had so much brain damage that her body was just there. It took that family 11 months to finally make a decision to let their daughter go and that 11 months was hell for them. I can't imagine and am so thankful for never having to be in that position to make such a decision.

2010-04-16T21:01:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I have every expressed her how much I love Fridays but I really love Friday. It means that I have 2 full days off work. My job or should I say the work environment is very stressful and by the time Friday comes I need to get away from there.

The other day as I was reading through blogs and I came across this picture of this quilt on Rosebud's Cottage blog.

I fill in love with this quilt and the colors. She was talking about visiting the Moda warehouse and how they come up with ideas for quilts that the shop owners can display. I looked around for a pattern and really could not find anything. I REALLY want to make this quilt so I am going to try and figure it out. I really reminds me of Autumn and as much as that is my favorite season I really am enjoying our unusual Spring in Minnesota. We don't normally have mid 70's in April but who is complaining. Back to the quilt I am going to figure out what fabrics I have and what I might have to purchase and get this quilt made.

Raychel is going to come over so she can do the 10 loads of laundry I guess she has and teach her how to use her sewing machine. She is very interested in making purses, not bags but purses. She has drawn out a lot of designs and hopefully I can help her put them into reality. Her short term memory has been damaged so much from the seizures so this might be a real challenge for her.

My brother and his family have decided to give Anthony a few more days to see if there are any signs of improvement. There is so much brain damage and I guess the only part of the brain that is working is the part that controls his heart beating, his breathing, major organs and his body temperature. They are going to do another EEG and MRI on Tuesday and then meet again on Wednesday morning and if still no change they will move him into hospice. I love my kids, husband, family and friends and not sure if I say that enough but I really do and will start telling them more.

2010-04-15T20:51:00.000-05:00

My brother, Mike, his ex-wife, Sue, their son Mike and daughter Andrea are meeting tomorrow. They have decided that they are going to let Anthony go, he is already gone it is just his body laying there. I still am in shock, I can't understand this is happening.

2010-04-12T15:47:00.000-05:00

My brother, Mike, just sent me a text told me that they had done the EEG and that it showed severe brain damage. This is so horrible. I can't imagine why he was drinking. I guess everyone does things because they don't believe that anything will happen to them, this is what they call human nature. So sad. My heart bleeds for Mike, Sue and their oldest son Michael, why a parent has to suffer like this is beyond my comprehension. I know their pain more than I want to remember.

Addiction

2010-04-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

So how many of you really think you have a quilting addiction? I wake up sometimes and start thinking about the quilt I am working on or the next one I want to make. I have never thought of this as an addiction (and what a great thing to be addicted to) until this past weekend.

On Saturday morning my Mom called me to tell me that my nephew had gone into the hospital on Thursday night for the stomach flu. They were going to send him home on Saturday morning but around midnight Friday night they went in his room because his I.V. was dinging and found him dead. They were able to revive him after 10 minutes but could not breath on his own. He is life support right and will not know how severe the brain damage will be from lack of oxygen until sometime tomorrow. They are not sure how long he had been gone for but his entire body was blue when they found him. On Saturday when my Mom and I were there the Dr came to get the my brother and his ex-wife to talk to them and we were there to listen. She started off by talking about Friday morning when she saw him in the hall walking and his I.V. pole was shaking so bad because of going through alcohol withdrawals. I was shocked. I knew he had gone through treatment 2 times over that last 4 years and had been sober for almost 1 year. His Mom knew he had been drinking but he had ran out of money and started withdrawing. She is trying to blame everyone else right now for what has happened but that could be a very long blog about guilt. The Dr's are saying on Tuesday they are going to have a better idea of how much brain damage there is going to be. They know there is going to be some just have know idea how much until he is taken off sedation and they can arouse him and see what he is capable of.

Back to my question. I know I come from a family of brothers that have gone through alcohol treatment and have all been sober for many many years but don't understand a addiction that is so life devastating. I never realized that my sewing addiction is a addiction until this past weekend. I am so thankful that my addiction is not life threatening and it is something that I make and pass on to others I love. This is not a judgement of others that are battling addictions of alcohol, drugs or gambling that can destroy ones life, just a statement how thankful I am for the addiction I do have.

2010-03-29T19:12:00.000-05:00

On Saturday my Mom was going to go to Raychel's so I decided I was going to go over and give her the quilt I made for her. She had an idea that I was making her one but it was still a surprise. Out of everyone I have ever given a quilt to my Mom appreciates the time and love that has been put into one. She is the one that got me sewing when I was big enough to get up to the sewing machine. I think this is how so many woman my age got sewing and I am so happy she did. My Mom is not a quilter but does understand the obsession

The picture to the right is a quilt that I saw about a year ago on someones blog but never found out the name or the designer. I printed out a picture of the quilt back then and every so often I would pull the picture out and try to see if I could figure out how to put this quilt together. I would realize that it was not something I was not able to figure it out and would put it away. As I was reading one of my favorite blogger, Megan, there the quilt was. She was talking about how she had gone to the quilt shop her sister works at and had taken pictures of the quilts her sister had made. There is was. I thought I was going to piss my paints, I could not believe that her sister had made it and I was that close to knowing what the name of this quilt was. I emailed Megan immediately and asked her to ask her sister the name of the quilt. After doing so I clicked on the picture to see it closer and there was the tag with the name of the quilt. I googled the name and was amazed that the first link was a quilt shop right here in Minneapolis. Saturday morning I called the shop and found out the owner of the quilt shop was the designer of the quilt. After going to Raychel's and giving my Mom her quilt I went to the quilt shop which is only a couple of miles away from Raychel's and there it was. It was so funny now that I think about it, I went in the shop and found the pattern right away went up and paid for it and practically ran to my car and opened it up and started reading. I think if anyone was with me they would think I was weird. Well anyone that might be reading this blog is going to completely understand my excitement. I can't wait to start buying just the right fabric for this one.

2010-03-17T08:01:00.000-05:00

Here is the quilt that I am making for my nephew and his wife as of this coming Saturday. Yesterday I went to the local fabric store to get the backing and they had their 108" backing on sale so I figured why not. I really wanted to get it loaded last night so I could quilt it this morning. I was pressing the backing and opened it up and there was a bunch of ink marks and worse of all a piece of material cut out in the size of 5" x 5". I was so pissed off. Of course it was late and the store was closed. I am tempted to go back return it and go somewhere else to buy my backing. I'm not sure why someone would put it back on the shelf like that.

What I have been quilting

2010-03-15T20:43:00.003-05:00

When we left for vacation we were planning on being gone for 5 weeks but ended up coming home a week early. The week before we left Mike had taken Raychel in for a EEG so the Neurologist could figure out why her seizures were not being controlled with her medicine. Well the first Friday we were gone Raychel called to say that the dr had called and explained to her that since the first EEG 3 years prior there has been a lot of damage done to the front right lobe of her brain. This part of the brain I guess controls her short term memory (which has gotten so bad) and motor skills. The dr wanted to see her the next week to go over all of this and I was sick that I could not be there to hear what the dr said. The day came for Raychel to go and due to a snow storm the clinic canceled all appointments for the day. Raychel agreed that she would reschedule the appointment for when we got home. Mike and I decided to shorten our trip by 1 week and come home so we could both go to this appointment with her. The dr also wanted to put her in the hospital and take her off her seizure medicine and watch her have seizures. Raychel has grand mal seizures and after one she is in so much pain due to her body becomes rigid during the seizure. Well long story short Raychel decided that she did not want to hear any more negativity and she was not going. A friend of the family is telling us to just wait this out and for the first time in 4 years she finally has control over herself and what is going to happen to her. This is very hard to sit back and let happen as a parent but she is 30 and we can't make her do anything. So here we sit and wait for her to decide it is time to go.

In returning home a week early that gave me some extra time before going back to work on March 1st. The Thursday before returning to work my boss called and asked if I could be a little more flexible about returning to work. So this week I went back to work for 2 days and the rest of the month I will work 3 days a week, April 4 days a week and then May I will be back full time. As much as my financial budget is screaming get back to work I love being home and working part time. Mike is screaming we have spent enough time together go back to work (just kidding).

So I said that I would write about what I have been sewing since I have come home from our wonderful vacation. Before I left on vacation I had started on a quilt for my Mom's new bed which she got while I was gone. She said she never realized how bad her old bed was, she no longer wakes up with her shoulders and hips hurting. Well here it is:

I still need to get the binding sewn on and hoping I can get that done this week.

My sister in law came for a weekend of sewing and she was able to get 3 quilt tops loaded and quilted. This was her first time on the longarm and was amazed on how much easier it was from my Janome. This is what she worked on:

There was one more quilt that she did that I didn't get a picture of. The multi colored patch quilt her Mom had pieced about 5 years ago and Pat found it in her Mom's stash of fabric. I didn't like it at first but after she got it quilted I loved it. The other quilt is a kit she found at a garage sale and paid $5 for it, it will be a wall hanging I guess.

My nephew is getting married on Saturday and I am trying to finish a quilt that I am doing for him. Tomorrow I will have to stop and get the backing so I can get it loaded and quilted. Hopefully this will all get done before Saturday and can show pictures soon.

It has been a long time.

2010-03-12T12:25:00.003-06:00

I know it has been a long time since a have posted and just not sure why. There has been so much going on in my life since Jan.

We have a HHR which is kind of like a small SUV. When we headed out on our vacation the car was full from the front to back. I was bring down fabric to AZ for the woman that make quilts for the homeless. My friends work at a kitchen that servers a lot of families that are either homeless or just don't have enough money to feed everyone. They mostly make quilts/blankets for the kids. I was figuring that after I unloaded all the fabric from the car we would have a lot more room but that was not the case, I forget that everyone wants to send stuff back to Minnesota for their families. Our car looked like this all the way home.

We stayed with some friends in Santa Fe and boy did we like it there and then it was off to Apache Junction AZ where we stayed for 1 week. When we left AZ we headed to Vegas where we had never been before. We originally were going to San Diego but we really wanted to see the show "Love" in Vegas so that is where we headed. We never got to see the show due to the fact that the tickets were $109 each. We just did not want to spend that kind of money on a show. We stayed at Bills Gambling Hall which was very nice. We got there on a Tuesday afternoon and left there on Friday morning.

When we left Vegas we headed to Santa Monica which was unbelievable. Mike and I have decided that we want to move there as long as we can live on the ocean. It does not need to be Santa Monica but anywhere along the southern west coast. We have already decided that we are going back there next year for 2 weeks and will be flying this time. This surprises me because Mike has only flown once and said he will never fly again but now he has changed his mind. We have never traveled until that last 3 years and up until then he did not understand the reason for it. Now that he has had a taste of it he wants to go all them time. What perfect timing now that our kids are grown and we can afford to travel with some serious saving. We stayed at my bosses place one block off the ocean. Could life be any better then this?

Went to Vince Beach on 2 different Sundays and absolutely loved it. Mike and I could live there. This guy will just stand there still for a long time and people will go up and get their pictures taken next to him and all of a sudden he will go into a Michael Jackson dance and scare everyone.

The next post will be all the quilting I have gotten done since being home.

2010-01-23T05:19:00.003-06:00

Mike and I are suppose to be leaving in 40 minutes for our 5 week vacation but guess who is still in bed? We really wanted to be on the road by 6am because I think it is almost a 10hr ride from Minneapolis to our 1st stop Wichita KS. We will be heading to Phoenix for a week and then off to Vegas for 3 days then Santa Monica for 3 days and then Pomona Ca for 1 week and then back to Phoenix for our last week of vacation.

My goal will be to try and find a quilt shop in every town that we stay in and am hoping that Mike will cooperate. I will not be doing any sewing for the whole 5 weeks but when we come home that Thursday my sister in law is coming to sew with me on that Friday for 2 days. She is anxious to try out the new long arm which I can't imagine life without it. This is why in the past years I have never wanted to try one at quilt shows because I knew at that point I would absolutely hate the setup I had.

I will try and post a few pictures now and then, would hate to bore others.

Till Later

My Mom's bed

2010-01-07T20:17:00.004-06:00

My Mom is 83 years old and still works. She worked at the local hospital from 1966 till 2 years ago on the I.V. Team. She now works at Costco serving samples and she loves it. She is not one to sit home day after day. My Mom has always put everyone first no matter what. If she knew someone was going hungry she would feed them first before feeding herself. I truly believe that my Mom is one of the kindest woman I know. I found out recently that she has never had a new bed and the bed she does have she has been putting down blankets and foam to cover the springs coming through. My brothers and I put money together and got her a gift certificate to a local furniture store and to buy herself a new bed. She wanted to wait until spring so that the store would not have to deliver in the cold and snow. We told her that she does not need to worry about this since this is what they do for a job. I decided that this new bed was going to need a new quilt and blue being her favorite color I thought i would do something with half square triangles. After browsing around the blogs I follow for some kind of idea or inspiration I found this quilt made by Red Pepper Quilts which I love her work and the colors she uses. I think this quilt will look great in blues. I have started sewing them together and hopefully I can get it done soon and get it to her before I leave for 5 weeks.

2010-01-02T07:34:00.004-06:00

Our friends Gene and Dawn are coming up from Ft Dodge IA today to spend the weekend with us. I am so excited to see them. In the summer of 2008 they were in a really bad motorcycle accident, nothing life threatening, but a bad one. Dawn broke both wrist and is still doing physical therapy. She also is battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from this accident. I wanted to make her something that she could take home with her that she could wrap herself up in when things are just really tough. I had 4 different charm packs and a lot of white fabric and made this. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get this made and quilted. This morning I have to get the binding hand sewn and that will be my down fall of getting it done before they get here. I'm thinking I am going to have to come up with and excuse why I am having to work on it while they are here.

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T06:38:00.002-06:00

I am so excited for 2010 to come into my life.

This past year has been a life changing experience for me. Mike had his second heart attack in 2 weeks 1 year ago today and since has been working out 5 days a week and has lost 60 lbs. He was smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day and quit that day. I am so proud of him.

Raychel 1 year ago weighed 79 lbs and now weighs 130 lbs. She will never work but is able to live on her own and seems to be happy. She has a great team of doctors that make sure she stays as healthy as can be. It has been 1 year since Raychel has been in the hospital which is a huge step in getting healthy. She had been in the hospital 75% of the previous 2-1/2 years.

Justin our son is moving out again come March 1st. He moved back home after a fall out with his roommate and will be moving in with some friends that are buying a house. I love him dearly but Mike and I are looking forward to having our house back. Justin is thinking about having the gastric band done. With everything that Raychel has gone thru due to gastric bypass this will never be an option for him. He is a big kid and after having 2 heart surgeries when he was 11 and again at 18 being extremely over weight is so unhealthy for him or anyone.

Jessica and the 3 kids are such a wonderful thing in our lives. Amazing how grandkids can make you smile. We are hoping that this next year will be better to her and Aaron. He is a cement mason and he has had to go out of the state of Minnesota for work and that is really tough when you have 3 kids. Seeing Dad/husband once every 4 to 5 weeks is tough on all of them.

My goal for 2010 is to spend more time sewing. Mike is very supportive of this and with every ones health on the mends this should not be a challenge to make happen. I really would like to get back into sewing cloths and the grandkids would benefit from this.

Hope everyone out there has a safe New Years Eve and a WONDERFUL 2010.

Till Later

Absent

2009-12-27T08:37:00.005-06:00

I know that I said I was going to start back on writing on my blog about quilting but it just seems that there is so much going on in my life that is private. I use my other private blog as a journal and it is amazing how well if feels to get things down in writing.

Ok so much about that. I finally got Justin's pirate/skulls quilt done and gave it to him last night. It was funny how I handed it to him and he went right into his room with it and within 5 minutes you could hear him in there snoring. I guess he liked it.

I am working on a quilting this weekend for a friend who lives about 3 hours from me. We have come to the conclusion that we are sisters not friends because we are so much alike. Neither one of us has a sister so this works for us. She is really having a rough time after a motorcycle accident. Her body has healed as much as it is going to and now the mind is having to heal. The doctor's are saying she has a form of post traumatic stress disorder. I want to bring a quilt to her so that she can wrap herself in it when she is needing a hug.

My boss and my son each got me $50 gift certificate to Joann Fabrics. I am excited because they are now carrying the Warm and Natural packaged so I want to buy some of that and also rotary cutter blades. I'm sure I will find somethings to spend my certificates on.

2009-11-01T18:23:00.003-06:00

Well adjusting to a longarm from a midarm is such a huge difference. I have found that I have to have both hands on my machine because if not I my machine will have skipped stitches. I must be pulling it weird when I use just one hand. It is very nice to not to have to change my bobbin so frequently. I quilted almost 2/3 of the quilt before I had to change bobbins. As much as I love this machine it is harder on my shoulders. I have been taking breaks and taking Motrin to give my shoulders a break. I have arthritis in both shoulders so practacing will help get my shoulders use to this. I have spent a almost a month getting use to this machine and have not spent anytime piecing. I really need to get back to that so I can finish Justin's pirate quilt, he is being very patient. Here is what I have done so far

2009-10-27T11:58:00.003-05:00

Well I was thinking that I was just going to have 1 private blog for just myself and then I realized that I miss the other bloggers out there that I have met. When I deleted this blog it said that I would have 60 days to change my mind and guess what I did? I miss getting others opinions on what I"m thinking and what I had made.

I have a story to tell and it is amazing how this story came to be. I had hurt my leg and was sitting around on a Thursday night about 3 weeks ago. I was surfing the quilterblogs website. I love this website. As I was paging thru looking at others blogs and quilts I came across this blog which I passed by and then backed up and read it again. Yes Cathy was giving away this longarm . I commented on the blog right away and then thinking no I am going to email her directly. Well within 10 minutes the longarm was mine. I had Nolting ship her a shipping carton and then arranged for UPS to pick it up. I was so excited and could not believe that this had happened. I kept waiting to hear that she had changed her mind and thank God she didn't. Well 1-1/2 weeks later it was at my door. I never had a clue what a difference it would be from my 9-1/2" Janome to a 18" Nolting the control is unbelievable. I was for sure if I was going to have to get a stitch regulator and I found out I don't. I'm not saying that I don't have a huge learning curve in front of me but that's ok. I am frustrated with the tension issue that I am having/had but I think as I work thru it I will come to understand how the tension works. I have read that some people never have to adjust theirs and some that have to adjust it every time they load a quilt top. I have a lot of fabric that I would never use for practice and I'm so glad that I kept all those pieces of batting that I trimmed off. I'm not sure about using pantographs my frame is all set up for it I'm just not sure about being behind the machine. I guess it will be practice, practice, practice. I bought a book on Amazon on Sunday night it is called ABCs of Longarm Quilting I think this book is going to help me alot. I am suppose to go to Mary's a longarm quilter that I have been reading for a long time. She lives very close and is willing to share her knowledge with me and I can't wait.

Well who ever read my blog before is stuck with me again. It is good to be back.

2009-06-15T07:06:00.001-05:00

I promised myself that yesterday I was going to clean my basement and never made it there. My sewing room takes up 50% of the basement and without cleaning it up I am not going to be able to start on the 2 memory quilts I want to get going on. Just seems when summer hits Minnesota it is hard to not be outside since warmer weather here does not last longer than 5 months. Pretty soon I will be complaining about the 10 below zero weather.

I have running to do tonight after work but I have no excuses why I can't start cleaning up in the evening. Hopefully I will have something quilted to show soon.

2009-06-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

Check out Twiddletails giveaway. I love the Moda charm packs.

Have not had much time to sew lately. I have been busy working, busy in the yard and we have been busy traveling back and forth to fix our motorhome. We will be bringing it home on Saturday. I can't wait to go camping.

2009-05-26T06:27:00.004-05:00

Ok so even thou I turned 50 my birthday was a blast and it only lasted 4 days. On Thursday 11 of us went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and had one of my favorite meals. Steak with grilled veggies, refried beans and rice. They usually serve your favorite drink and sing to you but I choose fried ice cream instead. Yummy!

Our friends from Iowa came in on Thursday afternoon and stayed in their motor home in our driveway. I was so wonderful to have them come for the weekend. On Saturday we had about 28 of my favorite friends over. Mike made pulled pork and grilled a turkey and then of course all the different sides. He did such a great job. I think the best presents of all is that Raychel was well enough to hangout on the deck with all of our friends. She made it from 3:00 until 8pm and then headed to bed. Justin our son also hung out for awhile but he had to get to the recording studio. I'm just thrilled that everyone I wanted to be there was.

Yesterday Mike and I took Kris's quilt to her. My brother and her were power washing the house when we showed up so I think she was thrilled they had to stop for awhile. Her she is with it.

Well back to normal life and back to the gym today.

Later

2009-05-20T06:24:00.002-05:00

OMG in Minnesota yesterday it hit 97 degrees, you might say so, but on Saturday we had frost warnings. The weather here can be so weird going from spring to summer. Today it is suppose to be 94 and tomorrow 68. So unbelievable. We have company coming tomorrow from Ft Dodge Iowa and my house really needs to be cleaned. Mike is home this week and seems to think the outside needs all the attention. I will not go work out tonight (so sad) so I can come home and start cleaning.

Kris's birthday is Sunday and I only have a little bit of the binding to finish sewing down. Hopefully I can finish it while watching American Idol tonight. I will take a picture of her with it and post.

Oh by the way I turn 50 tomorrow so weird just the other day I was giving birth to Raychel and she turns 30 in July. I have friends that have journals about everything in their life and I wish I had. It would be so fun to go back and read my life's history, or maybe not there were some pretty rough patches.

These are the things nice about being this 50:
My children are grown but still need me sometimes.
The friends I have are true friends and here for the rest of our lives.
My mortgage is half paid off (we bought this house when I was 35).
I only have 12 years before I can retire and really start to party.
I really know what is important in life because I have learned from my mistakes.
I am friends with my kids not just Mom.

The only sad thing about being 50:
My Mom is 82, healthy, but my Dad is no longer here. I wish as I got older my parents had stopped growing old so we could grow old together. I love my Mom and Dad and am so happy for the life they have given me.

It is going to be a very busy weekend so I hope everyone has a great 3 day weekend. I will have a 4 day weekend since my boss seemed to think I would need a day to recover. The party is on Saturday but I won't argue and will take the day off.

Later

2009-05-15T06:06:00.002-05:00

Last week at this time I was going on and on about how it was Mothers Day and we were going to work in the yard and go to brunch on Sunday and hang out. Well Saturday came and I headed outside and it was cold and windy. Mike did not get home from working until 2am Saturday morning so he was not up for working outside. I was out there for about 10 minutes and realized that it was to cold and windy or should I say that was my excuse for not wanting to be out there. I spent the rest of the day in my sewing room and Mike laid on the couch watching some Indy race. Sunday came and Raychel was not up for brunch so Mike and I went and the food was wonderful. Came back home and headed back into my sewing room. So no excuses this weekend we have work to get done. We are having a party next Saturday, my 50th birthday, and we don't want to wait until the last minute, but kind of feels like we have.

Working on getting the binding sew down on Krissy's quilt and got Raychel's quilt loaded on the frame while watching American Idol on Tuesday. I will work on that tomorrow night after working outside and not before. Again wanting to start on my Mom's memory quilt and will not start on that until I am done with what I am working on now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Cathy

2009-05-14T13:14:00.004-05:00

I know I know but I think I am going to join this 6 week quilt along. And it also is a chance to win a new sewing machine and get a quilt done Check http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ out.

2009-05-08T15:39:00.003-05:00

Thought I would share with everyone a great Moda giveaway. Check it out at Lila Mae's sight. I would love to win these fat quarters but who wouldn't

2009-05-08T06:17:00.003-05:00

Well it's Mothers Day weekend and you know what that means, we get to do what ever we want. Well that's how I would like it to be. I would love to wake up and go right to my sewing room with my coffee and not come back out for the day. What we are doing is picking up Raychel and then go to my son's work where he is a kitchen manager for brunch. Moms eat free where he works which is such a nice treat, not many places offer that. With Raychel being over for the day that means I will spend the day with her and Mike and that is ok. Her and her brother are the reason I am a Mom so I will spend time with them. Saturday we are going to work in our yard. We have a lot of Oak trees and the leaves are very hard on the grass and with Raychel being sick for so long our yard has been neglected. There will be a lot of racking up the dirt and putting down lime to get the dirt back to normal so grass seed will grow.

Mike will be working all day today and I am getting off work at noon to take Raychel to the doctor. I am thinking that I will be back to home by 3:00. That means that I can eat a bowl of cereal for dinner and spend the remainder of the day in my sewing room. I have two quilt tops that need to be quilted and I am hoping to get one of them done tonight. I have made a promise to myself that I will get these two tops done before I start on my Mom's memory quilt so I need to hurry. I am so excited to get that one done and give to my Mom. She is a true seamstress and really appreciates the work I put into my quilts so I always love showing her what I have done.

Hope all Moms have a great weekend and get to do what you enjoy and if not a Mom enjoy the Mom you have.

2009-05-05T06:30:00.003-05:00

I had so much fun at the quilt show. Pat lives 2 hours west of Minneapolis and it is a small town. Very much a farming community and it is so peaceful out there. I was thinking as I was walking from my motor home into her house with my pj's on that I would not be doing this at home. No one near to see me, I love it.

At the quilt show there was probably 75 quilts there and they all ranged from quilters that had little experience to the Oh My God look at this one. There was a woman there doing a Q&A on machine quilting and she was unbelievable. She does all her quilting on her Bernina without a quilt frame. She had done the most amazing work. I seem to really appreciate this work so much more than quilting done on a frame. I'm not being disrespectful to the ones that use a frame and either a long arm or a mid arm, it just amazes me when one does it this way. I had to get a frame after trying it once with my machine on my kitchen table I just could not get it. I know that it takes practice but I did not give it much of a chance. Their Guild had done a BOM and it was fun to see how everyone took those blocks and came up with their own designs. I loved them all. Not much for vendors selling and that was a little disappointing but that's ok I saved some money.

I have decided I am going to do a memory quilt and am very excited to get it going. I will post pictures as I put this thing together. This is one of the pictures of my Mom and Dad that I am going to use.

2009-04-29T05:29:00.002-05:00

I am so excited. I hate to say it out loud but here it is. Mike and I are leaving on Friday and going out to my sister in law's. Mike is going to work on the motorhome and Pat and I are going to spend Saturday at the quilt show her guild is putting on. This will be my first time going to this show. They have one every other year. The first time I was going to go my Dad's funeral was that weekend and then 2 years later Raychel was so ill and I could not be that far from home. Well here I am, it is Wednesday and everything is quite.

I really need a quilt show to help me figure out what my next quilt is going to be. I have a lot of different fabrics bundled together for probably 5 more quilts but I have bought all this over the last few years. As I went through all of it last weekend trying to clean things up nothing really got me excited. Of course all the fabric I just had to have and could not live without is not what I want now. I realized I am one that should always buy for what I want to make now because I probably won't want to do it in 2 years. For example I saw this quilt in a magazine and just had to make it for my bosses little boy that she had just adopted. Well I called all over the country tracking down this fabric and finally found it out east somewhere and had it shipped to me. Well now 3 years later he now is 6 and it probably is not appropriate now. I know no one having a little boy. I guess I could make it and hang onto it for that next great nephew that is born. Now that does not sound fun to me.

Just realized I have to get ready to go to work.

Later

2009-04-26T07:42:00.002-05:00

I am part of the Cottage Quilting Bee and I have not done well at keeping up. When I got February I did the block and sent it out. As of yesterday I still had March and April. These two months had two people sending out their fabrics so I needed to get busy. This has not been easy for me. I am so use to following someone else’s design so I like that it is forcing me to use my own ideas. Yesterday I did two of them and here they are. I did notice after looking at my pictures that I should maybe spend more of my time washing my floors than sewing and then I thought why would I do that?

2009-04-25T07:54:00.002-05:00

Mike is in Council Bluffs IA and I am hanging out at home helping Raychel get back on her feeding tube. She has been off of it for about 2 weeks now and her body is really taking a toll not getting the nutrition she needs. So here is my plan:

I am going to help Raychel, getting back on the tube feedings takes her body a while to get use to and she is already so weak. Hoping by Monday morning she will have a little color in her checks. She is so protein deficient that her hands and feet are very swollen so hoping that will start going down. This is going to take some time to turn around so will just have to be patient. Have to come up with a natural diuretic for her.

Back in Feb I joined a quilting bee and did February's block and have March and April sitting in my sewing room. I am going to drag my stuff up into the living room and find a place to sit down and work on my blocks. That way Raychel and I can sit and watch movies all day and I can get these 4 blocks done and in the mail on Monday. I can also bring one of my machines up so that I can not have to keep running up and down the stairs to sew. This will be a good day, I will post pictures of my progress.

2009-04-23T06:36:00.002-05:00

I was wondering if anyone is having issues when uploading pictures. It use to be I would upload the picture from Photobucket and go back to my post to continue typing. Instead of seeing the picture in my post now it will be all the script regarding the picture. I can see the picture when I go to Preview and it is there when I publish the post. Frustrating when I am trying to post more than one picture and I can't see where they are. Any help would be soooooo appreciated.

2009-04-22T19:30:00.006-05:00

These are pictures of the quilt top I made for my sister in law, Kris. I took these with my new camera. I have to figure out how to take pictures of the entire quilt and have it be clear. Time and patients.

2009-04-21T05:38:00.001-05:00

My new camera comes today I am so excited. Not sure what my first picture will be but what ever it is I will post it.

2009-04-16T20:35:00.001-05:00

This sounds like fun. Not sure if I'm going to join but will probably follow it.

2009-04-16T06:38:00.002-05:00

My big 50th birthday is next month and I have been debating what I want to do. I would love to go camping but finding a campground to go to in Minnesota on the first major holiday weekend is impossible. Might just have a party and hang out with good friends. I have wanted a camera for a long time and have borrowed my daughters but I want my own. I ordered one yesterday. I had my boss check it out and he thought it would be a good one. It is a Kodak and has 14 mega pixels which he said is really good considering Raychel's is 7 mega pixels. I'm excited. Now to decide what we are going to do.

As soon as I get my camera I will be taking pictures of the quilt I am working on.

2009-04-14T08:12:00.003-05:00

My friend, Megan, is having a quilt give away. Check it out.

2009-04-10T06:22:00.003-05:00

After work Mike and I are off to get our motor home. It has been out at my sister-in-laws, Pat, since last fall. We had gone out for Mike's brothers funeral. We drove it out there so Raychel would have somewhere to go if she started not feeling well. She had the service at the farm, it really was more like a celebration of life. On our way home we had broke a fan belt and didn't know it and it over heated and ended up having to have a wrecker come out and tow it back. Thank God for AAA, it would have been a $900 tow. Any way we blew a head gasket and need to go out and start working on it. Well I should really say Mike will start working on it.

For me I get to hang out with Pat. I'm going to bring my pinwheel blocks so I can lay them out on the floor and arrange them in order. I should have this all pieced by the end of this next week. I think I should have it done in time for Kris's birthday in May. I will need to find the backing and that won't be to hard. I really like
finding the backing that is already 108" wide. Will have to see what I find.

Till Later

2009-04-09T06:20:00.002-05:00

Thought I would post a Raychel update. This is a picture of her with my son's girlfriend, Raychel is the one on the right. Back in the beginning of February she had bottomed out at 79 pounds and yesterday at the doctor she weighed in at 95. This was so exciting. After 3 years of being sick I think this is where she has started on her road to a better life. She will never be healthy as we all know life but this is better than life at 79 pounds. I guess my niece had Gastric Bypass last week and we were told 3 days after she had the surgery. Her Dad was telling us that after what happened to Raychel they were so scared, as they should be. The only thing I wanted to say was "Raychel did great for the first 18 months", but I didn't. I will just keep her in my thoughts.

2009-04-07T18:43:00.003-05:00

So this is the pile I started with to make Kris's quilt. This one has been a lot of fun. I am using the Moda Charms. There is 128 half square triangles

And now the pinwheel blocks. I love all the colors. I know that Kris is going to love this one.

2009-04-03T06:16:00.004-05:00

I had such great plans for this weekend. Mike is leaving for Council Bluffs IA today and my plans were to organize all my fabrics and my kitchen. Mike has been having some heart issues since we went to Arizona and he is not comfortable going by himself so I am going with him. I talked to the cardiologist yesterday and they want him to take his Plavix at night instead of the morning. Half of the time in the morning he gets a tightness in his chest, trouble breathing, nausea and some disorientation. The nurse was saying that he might have another blockage but it could be the diabetes. Mike's heart attacks were in December and also diagnosed diabetic at the same time. All of this is new to us so it is not easy figuring out what is what. He checks his blood sugars when this happen and some times it is elevated and other times it is normal. Go figure.

I'm not complaining I am thankful that his heart attacks were not very damaging and this is something he/we can live with.

So if you can't sew the next best thing is quilt shops. I have printed out a map of Council Bluffs with all the quilt shops on it so I am hoping to take the big truck and go exploring while Mike is working. There is a few I am very interested in checking out. Will see.

Winter Storms coming again you would never know it is April 3rd hopefully we will get home on Sunday without to much slipping and sliding.

2009-04-01T06:36:00.004-05:00

First of all I go to type and always change the font color and the option is gone. So I went out of Mozilla FireFox which I use for getting on the Internet to Explorer. I had no luck there either so I guess I now type in black. I guess if this is the worse thing that happens to me today life is good.

I got all done sizing up my 4-1/2" blocks. I try to do this all on all my quilts I make but sometimes I try to sneak by without doing it. It is right up there with hand sewing. I got the idea of the pinwheel layout from Moda Bake Shop. I love that website. I am just deciding now if I want the 4 pinwheels to be in the same like colors of if I want to mix it up. The quilt is going to be a lot bigger than this quilt shown and I do have enough fabrics to do either way. I will have to spend my day at work figuring out what I am going to do. They will never know I am thinking about this passion of mine or would it be considered a obsession?

Ok so I finished this post and checked it out and it posted in Green. I am so confused.