First quilts

Seems like I read a blog recently where they had a picture of the first quilt they'd ever made. So, I thought I'd share a picture of the first quilts I made. I apologize for the poor resolution. I was doing a lot of cross-stitching at the time and a fellow co-worker decided I needed to attend a mystery quilt class at the local LQS. I did NOT want to go. lol I kept telling her that quilting was not something I wanted to attempt. Little did I know... Anyway, at the class, I got the pieces cut and some of them sewn. It was the first time I'd ever used a rotary cutter. I went home, determined to finish the quilt and take it to work to show it off and never make another quilt. Boy, was I wrong. I almost didn't finish the quilt when I realized that the corner block instructions were written wrong. But, I had the blocks done and I was not about to re-do them once we were given the right directions. The corners should have stars, not crosses. But, I liked the crosses, so I kept them. Maybe the realization that my quilts don't have to be perfect spurred me on. This was the first quilt I machine quilted, too, without a walking foot. I'd never even heard of a walking foot. You should see the back of this thing. Okay, no, you shouldn't. But, things like this help a person to see how far you've come.
My first paper-pieced project was this little floral piece. The pattern was a gift given to me for my birthday by the same girl that talked me into going to the mystery quilt class. She wasn't going to let me quit! lol This one is handquilted.

Update on Dad...still in the hospital. Now that they've determined that he has a staph infection and are working on it, he seems to be gaining a little strength. PT walked him down the hall this morning and have promised to come back this afternoon to do it again. His legs seemed stronger when they got him up to potty, too. It's still a waiting game. "Keep doing what we're doing", the docs keep telling us. The surgeon who put in the chest tube was in today and said he'd check the output to determine when the tube comes out. I'm making a prediction here that it comes out sometime today. :-)

This is Wednesday and I would like to go home to work Friday and Saturday but that remains to be seen. Who knows? If they can kick this infection in the next few days, he may get into rehab soon and we can leave him for longer than just a few hours. Judy and I ran to the hotel to shower and change clothes last night and grab a bite. I think he gets a little frantic if he wakes and doesn't see one of us sitting here.