Recuperation

So I don't have pictures of finished quilts to share or even shots of quilts in progress because I have not spent much time in the sewing room. I did get those bindings done and the weeding and the roto-tilling but as of last Sunday I have done almost nothing. That is because I was preparing for surgery this past Tuesday. It was time to 'have my lady bits removed'. 


I spent Monday on a clear liquid diet which included a couple of bottles of Magnesium Citrate. Let's just say I would rather not have to do that again! Early Tuesday my husband and I headed to the hospital and by 8 I was in the operating room. This was my first time to be in the hospital for anything other than having babies. Also my fist time to be knocked out for anything. Evidently, the surgery went well. All I know is that one minute the anesthesiologist was telling me to think of my favorite place to relax and then next thing I know I was waking up in recovery! I do remember that the OR nurse was a quilter who had just finished her first king size quilt though.


The good news is I have not had any pain really. The worst thing is my abdominal muscles are not happy so changing positions is not too fun but last night I was able to sleep on my side for the first time so I slept better that I had been. 


Miss Lucy is very happy to have her mommy sitting or lying around all the time so she can stay close! I have my daughter and niece here taking good care of me, making gooseberry jam, picking peas, watering the garden, making fancy dinners and fetching and carrying things for me. The doctor says no lifting for 8 weeks. 


I am hoping today to actually start working on those 4 bindings as I watch TV so maybe I can get the girls to take some pictures of some finished quilts for me soon!

Good Weekend

I got a good bit done this weekend and even had some time for reading!


Four loaves of bread came out of the oven yesterday and I got the kitchen tidied up some. Even cleaned out one of my cabinets!


While the bread was rising I swept the great room floor and started laying out a quilt. By the time I was done I had 4 quilts basted. I might have done more but I would have had to start piecing backs and I just wasn't in the mood! 


When all that was done I decided I should get something done outside so I mowed inside the fence and then pulled out the weed-eater and ran through 2 tanks of gas. I was pleased with what I had gotten done and I was pooped!


After church this morning I headed into the sewing room to do some quilting. I quilted all four of the quilts that got basted yesterday. Nothing fancy but they are done!


My shoulders were a bit tight so I laid down and finished the second book in the Hunger Games series and then headed out to the garden. I did the last decent picking of strawberries and picked the peas. When all was said and done I had about 5 1/2 cups of shelled peas. Pretty exciting to get some home grown peas in the freezer!


After dinner I got the quilts trimmed and ready for their bindings. Should be able to get at least a couple of those on tomorrow after work.


This week I have a lot I need to get done including those bindings and weeding and roto-tilling the whole garden. It isn't bad but if it doesn't get done this week it will be out of control!

Some Quilt Pictures

The weather has warmed up here (as usual for our area, that happened on July 5) so I took some quilt tops out to the clothesline for a photo op. This is the one for my friend's Susan G. Komen fundraiser. The pattern is Christmas Ribbons from Kim Brackett's Scrap-Basket Surprises.

This one is for the bluegrass festival and is also from the Christmas Ribbons pattern, just different color choices.

This is the little quilt made from the leftover triangles from the bluegrass festival quilt. It is an adaptation of the pattern Ice Cream Sundaes from the book Friendship Triangles by Edyta Sitar.  

The pattern was for a wall hanging with about 10 blocks or something and I could make 57 blocks from the leftovers. I drew up an alternate layout and discovered I needed 59 blocks so I quickly made up two more blocks, found some fabric for the setting triangles and figured out how big they should be (thanks Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville for the formula for figuring that out) and started putting it together. Since this picture was taken I have gotten the strips sewn together but haven't moved on to the border since I need to do some more figuring so I can add red to the green to extend the points out into the border. 

I finished up a second week of work and while I still am not excited about a full time job I am seriously considering a half time job. I just have to decide if I want to be a church secretary or a bookkeeper more. Each choice has its benefits so it is not an easy decision!

Today is a day to get things caught up around the house. We need bread and I have not had a day at home to make a batch or two; the kitchen is a fright as are several other rooms and maybe I can get a quilt or two basted. I would love to get 6 basted but we shall see if I have the time and energy!

Another Crazy Week (and a half)!

How time flies when you are crazy busy! Let's see, my niece, Brita, was here for most of a week. We didn't get great weather for working outside but we did get good sewing weather. I got two comfort quilt tops finished and Brita cut out two quilts I need to have done by August. The first was for the Olalla Bluegrass Festival and will hang on the stage behind the bands and other acts. At the end of the day they will auction it off to raise money for our local community club. The other is for my friend's Margarita Fundraising Party for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day. They are both from the same pattern but very different colors. I got one top done and the second one started before she headed back home to Idaho. The pattern we used creates leftover HSTs and Brita even trimmed all of those and I made them into some cute little blocks.

Well, Brita left on Sunday and on Monday, our oldest daughter and her husband arrived for the Holiday week. The kids had a sleepover at Katie's house and came over on Tuesday. I started my temporary job on Monday and boy, do I know why I don't want a full-time job anymore! We had a fun day on the 4th and celebrated our granddaughter's 4th birthday (her actual birthday is today). I made her birthday cake - very similar to her brother's half-birthday cake last month - SPIDERS!

Our gift for her was this little shirt and tu-tu that I made out of tulle, ribbons and pom-poms. She is a twirling dancer, nothing she likes more than spinning round and round!

Had to add this picture of our oldest on the helicopter on our 'playground'. She did have a bit of trouble climbing back out!

When she wasn't goofing off, she and her hubby were working on cutting wood into skinny pieces to make a boat!

I realized I hadn't gotten around to posting a picture of this little quilt. It is the one I made as a retirement gift for the person whose job I am doing now. She is a huge fan of Orcas so found a picture online and adapted it for this quilt. She was pleased with her gift.

I haven't presented the following gift but I don't think it's recipient has the time to read my blog right now. She is busy holding her new grandson and playing with his older brother! She gave me the photo in the lower left corner of the picture and told me I should make a quilt for her like it. That was probably 1 1/2 years ago and I finally got around to doing it. I am hoping she approves.

I am hoping to get caught up to date but I think it will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day!

Good Weekend

Does it ever slow down? It just doesn't seem like it around here! This past weekend was a 3-day one for us as my husband decided to take Friday off since appliance repair calls weren't coming in fast and furious. We did our grocery shopping and then he went off with Rebecca to buy wood for her little house and I did some sewing.


In the afternoon I met a couple friends for coffee and left with a job - yes, a real job! It is just temporary but it is full time. I am going back to the job I left about 11 years ago. When I left the job I had 2 kids at home and my mom was in the nursing home and I needed less going on in my life. People frown on you dumping your family so I dumped the job! Starting next Monday I will be secretary/bookkeeper at our church and daycare. Sharon, who replaced me 11 years ago, is retiring and I will do the job while a permanent replacement is found. I am sure I will enjoy it for the 3 weeks or so that I will be on the job but I am not excited about the whole full time thing! Doesn't leave a lot of time or energy for sewing and gardening!


Saturday I got a bit more sewing done and then went to Sharon's retirement celebration. When I got home everyone was gone, buying more wood, but they came home bearing pizza for dinner!


Shortly after I got home from church on Sunday my sister and niece arrived for an afternoon visit. We picked the strawberries, had a little tour of the garden shed, little house and flower beds and then hung out on the Sky Chairs and visited. 


Yesterday I picked more strawberries and did some mowing but mostly I sewed on the comfort quilts. I finished all the blocks for the two quilts and got the rows put together for one of them. I would love to have the two tops done today and the weather seems to be cooperating with a bit of rain!

Whirlwind

Things just aren't slowing down! When last I wrote I was waiting for my son to find out when his surgery would be. Meanwhile, I was working in the yard, on the garden shed and on graduation quilts. 

About noon on that Monday I got a call from the boy and his surgery was scheduled for the next morning! I finished my weeding, took a shower, ran a few errands, threw some clothes in a suitcase, jumped in the car and headed across the state! The surgeon was hopeful that he would be able to repair the meniscus instead of removing it to help Jakob avoid arthritis and a knee replacement. I arrived about 9 PM and we visited for a bit before heading to bed. Surgery was delayed until about 12:45 but we were well taken care of by the hospital staff. The procedure lasted about 1.5 hours and the doctor came out to let me know that it went well but that they had to remove 50% of the meniscus on the inside of his right knee - it was shredded! We headed home after he had a meal and got training on crutches. 

The day after surgery he was up and about some and getting ornery! I stayed around for one more day and then headed home. He is doing well and sees the doctor this morning for his post-op check.

I came home and got busy around here! So much to do! I had farmed out one of the graduation quilts to get the binding hand sewing done so when I got home I just needed to get the labels done. With everything else going on I ended up finishing that project on Sunday morning before church! 

I dropped the quilts off at church to be given to the grads but I couldn't stay. During the night I got  back spasm and I was in pain! I went home and struggled to find a position to be in that would let it relax. Finally, it relaxed enough for me to get a little napping done and by evening I was able to be up and about, even making dinner.

Over the weekend everything got moved into the garden shed and my husband and daughter got shelves, etc. for pots and implements. Here are some pictures from the weekend. There is still a bit of work to do: a new counter top and some pegboard for starters.

The first picture shows our old bathroom sink mounted on the wall. I will be using it for potting plants. There is now drain pipe so that excess potting soil will fall into the bucket below. In the wall next to the sink are shelves for most of my pots. 

These next to pictures show the parking area for the larger equipment. Hanging on the walls you can see all the shovels, rakes, hoes and other tools. In the wall on the side are all the wooden stakes, ranging in length from about 1 foot to 5 feet.

Here you can see a shelf up about the window and countertop. Hooks were added for the sprinkler, hanging pots and two old calf-feeding buckets (unfortunately the nipples have deteriorated and broken  off). On the shelf are some old pots and dishpans that may or may not ever be used. 

Finally you can see our former utility room counter/drawers. Inside you will find gloves, strings, seeds and more pots. The loft area is filling up but it will take an awful lot to get it totally filled.

This week the weather has been pretty nice so I have spent time outside working in the garden and flower beds. The garden is looking awesome and the strawberries are starting to produce. We are enjoying unlimited strawberries! Last night I made a tasty beverage in the blender with lemonade and fresh strawberries. I have also been able to spend some time enjoying the Sky Chairs. 

Today my body is telling me that we are not working outside so I am not too sad they are forecasting rain! Besides, the garden could use some water! I will be heading to the grocery store and hopefully doing a bit of sewing. I am working on a couple more comfort quilts.

Catching Up

Things have been happening around here and elsewhere! The morning of Relay as I was getting things together to pack in the car they roofers came and got the garden shed covered. It was raining quite a bit and I felt bad that they had to be out there on that steep roof but they had it done in about 6 hours. Here you can see one of the guys up there - this was my view from the deck - I wasn't going out in the rain!

Relay was amazing as always, in spite of rain during the luminary ceremony. The Harry Potter quilt was a hit. I raised nearly $750 with it! Our team raised over $4000 this year and our community raised close to $150,000 to help fight cancer! 


I managed to get about one hour of sleep during the event so I crashed when I got home but after a 3 hour nap I was able to stay away a couple more hours until bed! 


Sunday I was pretty lazy but on Monday I got two adorable aprons made for the grandkids. At craft night a few weeks ago, Nadine gave me the pieces for the pink one all cut out and loaned me the pattern for the directions to put it together for my granddaughter. 

I couldn't make one for the little princess and not for her 'bruver' so I found some fun map fabric and put this one together for him.  

We will be putting them to good use on their next visit. We have plans to make a cake with roses on it!


On Tuesday I headed across the state for some quality time with my two favorite little ones (and their parents). We had a great time. The main reason for my visit though was to go to a doctor visit with our son who is going to have to have knee surgery to take care of a torn meniscus. Unfortunately, he seems to have inherited his father's knees. He still has to meet with the surgeon on Monday to schedule the surgery and then I will be able to plan my summer a little more since I will be spending several days helping with his recuperation.


Before I headed home on Thursday afternoon I decorated my grandson's half-birthday cake. I didn't bring my decorating supplies with me so I bought a few items and, after talking the boy out of a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter, I used my 'awesome cake skills' to make a cool spider cake. 


It was good to be home and yesterday and today I got a few things done around the house and got the 3rd blue and green comfort quilt top finished. My goal next week is to get the two comfort quilts basted along with a Christmas quilt and then I will have 4 quilts to get quilted. I have two of the three graduation quilts all done and hope to get the third all finished tomorrow.


I am also hoping for the rain to let up a bit so I can get some yard work in too!