Comfort quilt finished

I can't help it. I love this quilt! I may have to make some blue and white blocks and make one for me. This one will go in the mail today to a special person needing some comfort in her time of health crisis. I'm not sure if she reads my blog, so I'll wait to say who it is until she gets it. The fabric used in the alternate blocks on the front and the entire back is some fabric that Leota found at a garage sale. I love it when I can put to use what people bring me in the form of a comfort quilt for others.


Deborah and I leave for Houston in two days! I just pray Dad stays well enough for me to go and stay gone for 5 days. Since Jim's last day at work is tomorrow, Tuesday, he knows he is going to be helping Joe and Rob keep Dad on track until Judy gets back from Albuquerque on Friday. Yes, we are BOTH going to be out of town. A little scary, but I know we have to live our lives.

I added this picture of my boys and Jim having breakfast yesterday morning. It's rare these days that I get the three of them to myself especially now that Rob is married. April had to work early on Sunday so I talked them both into coming for breakfast. Well, I didn't have to talk very hard! LOL

I still need to get the label ready for the blue and white quilt so I better get going. Need to get my nails done, do some laundry, check on Dad, etc., etc.

Another comfort quilt

I love "quilt-as-you-go"! This one is almost completely quilted as of tonight. The two rows on the left need quilting then I can start putting them together. I'll add the binding, and, poof, it's done! I'm using a very simple quilting pattern so it's going very fast. I'll probably rearrange some of the blocks so the dark ones are not close to each other. When it's totally finished, it will look a bit different because the thin sashing that will hold them together will add to the design. I plan on using a dark blue to sash the front. Maybe on the back, too. I'll post a picture of the back when I'm done.

Not too busy at work, but tomorrow may prove differently. No surprise since it's Friday.

Dad is doing a bit better with the new diuretic they put him on and the oxygen he's breathing. He informed me tonight that the pills in his Saturday box were there because he moved them from the Wednesday box. When I asked why, he said 'cause he forgot to take them Wednesday morning! Guess I'll have to start checking them more closely.

I thought I might finish the quilt tonight, but I am really tired. As long as I have it ready to mail by Monday, I think I'll be doing fine. Have a good weekend if I don't see you 'til next week!

Quilt as I go..

Monday night was spent quilting these blocks. They are from a pile of comfort quilt blocks that have been sitting here, staring at me. lol We've had some ladies lose loved ones in our online qroup so I thought I'd better get at least one of these done in case we want to send one on. I'm not sure yet how I want to put these together. If I use the traditional sashing to connect the blocks, I'm afraid I'll lose the secondary pattern that arises when the blocks are sewn together. But, that's the easiest way for me to do it. If you click on the picture, I think you get a closeup of the quilting. I just picked a design I thought would fit and ran with it.

While quilting last night, I decided I didn't want to cook. So, I called Pizza Hut. While placing the order, I got up from my sewing machine, intending to run into the den to ask Jim what he wanted on his pizza, when my shoe caught one of the cords under my table. I couldn't shake it off fast enough and so I pitched forward onto my knee. Good ol' carpet burn! Ouch. The phone flew out of my hand but I didn't lose the Pizza Hut person on the other end. Picked myself up, walked to the den, got Jim's order and limped back to my room. LOL I tell you, I've GOT to get this sewing room in order before I knock myself senseless!

Early day this morning so I best get going.

No quilting, but some crochet

Well, I haven't cranked up my sewing machine in the last week or so, but I have been working on another afghan. Here are 5 swirl motifs put together just so I can see if I'm going to like it and, thus, continue making a total of 52 "blocks". LOL, yes, 52 of these things! Am I crazy?? Maybe, but this will be a very portable project if I continue to make all the blocks before I connect them all together. I think I'm going to like it, so I will continue...

Dad's visit to the doc today netted him a new concentrator for oxygen use, an antibiotic and another, 5-day diuretic (added to his present Lasix). He looked better when I left about 6:15 this afternoon. I hope and pray he's able to sleep better tonight and that the diuretic aids in removing a lot of the fluid that is building up. This congestive heart failure is not for sissies...

Jim is off tomorrow and then he only has 6 more days to work before retirement. More thoughts on that later...lol I'm going to bed.

Wedding Weekend

These are just a sampling of the pictures taken this past weekend at Rob and April's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful backyard. The wind blew a bit, but it really wasn't too bad. The picture of them on the swing was actually taken a few weeks ago, part of their engagement picture package. The photographer has done a wonderful job and I can't wait to the pictures he took of the entire event. These candid shots were taken by our son-in-law and he did a good job, too! Thanks, RW!

I couldn't resist showing you a picture of my baby boy dancing the Mother-Son dance with me. I wish you could see his face in this one, but maybe the pro photographer will have taken a better one.

Needless to say, I have done absolutely no quilting this weekend. I did show Rob and April their Double Wedding Ring quilt that is only about half quilted. They really liked it. It will get done, eventually!

I'm off to get ready for the day. Dad has an appointment to see about his oxygen levels and maybe a possible infection. Please pray that they can deal with all this here and we don't have to head to Lubbock.

Have a great day!

Where did the week go?

This week has flown by. Maybe because it's time for Rob and April's wedding? We have the rehearsal and dinner tonight. Jim's daughter, Brenda, and her family are on their way from Houston as we speak. They should be here around 1 p.m. I wish I'd taken today off. But, I didn't, so I need to get my rear in gear and get going for the day.

My brother and his wife will be in this afternoon and my aunt should be getting in tomorrow sometime. I think those are the only relatives, on our side, that are traveling to get here. Oh, speaking of my brother, he called last night to let us know that his daughter is going to make them grandparents once more. Their son had a little girl a month ago and this baby is due in June.

Dad is hanging in there. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Please pray that he can make it through this weekend without any episodes. We do have an appointment for Monday morning since he does seem a bit short of breath and is weaker than he has been. I told my brother that if Dad seems worse today, I am taking him in for a check. Unfortunately, his cardiologist in town is out until Nov. 5 and his backup guy in Lubbock is out until Monday. We'll see his primary doc here on Monday and go from there.

Off to start this very long day..

"I Spy Crazy 9 Patch"

This one is made from fat quarters I have accumulated throughout the last few years. Exchanges for birthdays, bingo winnings and other occasions have brought me many different kinds of FQs. Most of these are children's prints.

Let me back up...Last Monday I went to my local quilt group meeting. We left with instructions to cut fabric for next month's program. It will be a Crazy 9 Patch lesson. I couldn't wait. So, I found some sketchy instructions online to help me get started. (We only got cutting instructions at the meeting.) Then, in order not to have another UFO needing to be quilted, I decided to go ahead and quilt-as-you-go this one. Hence, the back of it has the car fabric connected with red strips. I'm not sure I cut and sewed the blocks like you're really supposed to, but it will do. Ultimately, this will be a donated quilt.

Only one more week before Rob and April's wedding. I pray that Dad will stay healthy enough to attend. I'm a little worried about him since he had his flu shot this last Monday. He has not felt well at all, and today seemed to be the worst. He seems to be accumulating more fluid on his lungs, especially his left, and we are working on helping him get back to where he was. His weight has been going up gradually and it worries us. His breathing was more labored today than it has been in quite a while. Please pray that he will overcome this episode on his own.

I really need to finish quilting the DWR but it is so big and heavy that I get lazy to do it. I try to do a ring every day or so, but it is slow going. Maybe I'll have it done in time for their first anniversary! LOL

Halloween quilt (edited)

I edited the post to show what I did to the Halloween quilt today. I took it to the shop and no one seemed to catch on to the fact that I had quilted a spider web all over it so I decided to make it more noticeable. I ran to Hobby Lobby and bought a metallic paint pen and just went over my quilt lines. I like the way it turned out! NOW I'll hang it at the shop! lol Stayed with Dad until 5 and left him sleeping. Joe was home. Dad seems to have had a reaction to the flu shot we took on Monday. I hope he feels better tomorrow.

So, here's what I've done instead of cleaning my sewing room. I saw the orange fabric as I was thinking of sorting through things and decided to make a Halloween quilt. I thought a big spider web would be the ideal quilting pattern. I hope you can see it in the closeup. I'll bind it and hang it at the shop. Stash busting at it's best!
It was another slow day at work, but tomorrow should pick up. Leota had some minor surgery done and will probably not be back to work this week.

Time to take the contacts out. I may have to try to get an appointment with the eye doc sooner than December 10. I've waited this long, maybe I can hold out until then.

No cleaning, more sewing

These are pictures of various ways I thought of to arrange the log cabins I made this morning. I started them last night using the Eleanor Burns, quilt-in-a-day technique. But, I think I'm going to cut them up and re-sew them so they will have the tilted effect, as shown in the last picture. It gives them so much more interest.
I had good intentions of coming home last night and just start clearing out my sewing room. Before I started that, though, I spied some orange fabric and thought, "where is the rest of the Halloween fabric?" I did a little search in some of the boxes and there it was. So, I had an urge to cut up some logs and sew away. Just another procrastination avenue...
Jim and I ran to Dad's this morning for breakfast and while Jim is gone to the base for groceries, I came home to shower and change clothes. I'm now on my way back to Dad's. He has decided he wants to go to the grocery store with me. While I'm getting cleaned up, he is making his list. I'm so happy he's decided he wants to go!
When I get home tonight, maybe I can finish the log cabin blocks and get them ready to be quilted. We need a new wallhanging at work and this will be perfect for this month.

A week gone by..

Here it is, a week since I posted. Everyone is fine, I've just been a little slow in getting things done since Judy and I have given it a really good shot at getting back to the gym. Obviously, I can't do everything! lol I have been working on some quilty stuff. One project I'm quilting on right now cannot be shown until after Rob and April's wedding, whether I'm done with it or not. At the rate I'm going, I'm not sure it will be finished. In the meantime, I have been working up these string blocks. As you can see, I still need the corner blocks.
I've also been playing with more Christmas panels since I've got another order for a tablerunner. I got a little carried away sewing strips on the sides of this little santa globe block but I was hoping to make it a reversible runner. I'm not liking the fabric I used on the back, so this may become just a little wallhanging.

Dad's doing well. He and I went to Muleshoe yesterday to visit one of his co-workers who is now retired. She lives in an assisted living complex. I came away from that visit feeling very helpless in that I can't figure out how to help this lady without stepping on toes, mainly, her family's. She only has one son and he and his family seem to be too busy to even help her get settled into her little apartment. Which, I might add, she's been in now since April and boxes are still piled high and she has almost no furniture except for a rickety old recliner and a not-so-comfortable cot in the bedroom. I could go on, but like I said, I'm not sure how to help her.

On our way home, we stopped by the little "casino" (for lack of a better term) and spent about an hour. By the time we got home, Dad was pretty tired. Heck, I was, too! lol It was all I could do to come home, fix dinner and get to the gym. No sewing last night, except for one string block.

Time to get ready for work.