Happy Halloween!!! How about some pumpkin cheesecake with a yummy chocolate spider web on top? Dear husband decorated this cheesecake and took it to work...and I helped by eating the leftover chocolate. Am I not a good wife?

He also got some cute, cute baby pumpkins so I could decorate our dining room table. I have had the Indian corn for many years, I still think it is so pretty.

And Pumpkin-cranberry muffins too! Yum!!

I love Halloween for one thing...all the kiddos who come to the house for treats. I just love seeing the costumes and the precious little ones running around...fun!!

**************************Nursing Notes*************************************

The Gypsy princess:

I had a tiny little lady for my patient, last day I worked at the hospital, young, drop-dead gorgeous with hip length dark hair and lovely brown eyes. She reminded me so much of the beautiful gypsy girls I had read about as a girl. This little gypsy, however, was very sick, on the vent, when she came in her body temp. was 93.0 F. She had been down for a long time. Blood sugar 1200 (normal is 80-120). Diabetes run amok. She is getting better, but she just strikes me so...a darling gypsy in our midst. As she is on the vent, I braided all that lovely hair, so it won't be too big a mess for her when she wakes up. She will be all better soon...

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Have a great day,

Julie

Gratitude

Hi all:

A wonderful thing happened to me today. I went rushing off to work...too fast. Apparently I dropped my little card case out of my purse...with my debit card, insurance card, and driver's license. I did not notice it was gone until this afternoon...and searched all over work for it. I got home, and my dear husband said, "Are you missing something?" A kind person, I probably will never know who, had apparently found the card case outside the house by my car, I guess, and put it in my mailbox. Now in this world of identity theft and bad stuff...someone did this very kind thing for me. I am full of gratitude and a little bit of shock...and so full of gladness.


Yahoo!

Julie

Friendship nine-patches

Hi Friends!! Whew, I have been working lots of hours at the hospital, and I just had one day off...and worked on cleaning the garage out at home that day. So, this is the first sewing/quilting day I have had for a coon's age! I need to tell you a short story...a story of friends at work. There are several quilter's at the hospital, of varying experience. We decided about 5 years ago to exchange nine-patches. So we did...and I got back several different sizes, I think everyone sews a little bit different 1/4 inch seam allowance. Each block was very precious, but tough to work with. So, mine went on a shelf and were admired occasionally and always loved...but they just cried out to be put into a quilt THIS WEEK! So, I fussed around and came up with this arrangement. Although I tried to square up as much as possible, I don't think one corner actually meets...heee!! But I don't care, I love it and love my dear friends who made nine patches to be loved and used, not gather dust...now the quilt is crying out "press me"!!


By the way, these are the non-pink nine-patches...I have 64 more blocks, all in pinks!!

Sting piecing progress: I tried to separate the bright clear colors from the muddier colors. These are the brights. I am going to make one more row...That orange really sticks out, doesn't it? Hmm, might eliminate that one...

Wonderful mail!! My friend Joyce in Arizona spied some great lime green plaids, and was nice enough to share...I love them!!

And more fun mail! My friend Lyn at http://www.bluebirdquilts-lyn.blogspot.com/ has a new business! She is a talented pattern designer and quilter, and she is selling her work. This is an entire kit for a lovely vintage angel, of her own design. Check her out!!

*******************************Nursing Notes *****************************

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Don't read if you don't want to...this was yesterday at my work, sad but glad too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The precious, grandmotherly lady lay in the bed, still...too still. Not a grimace marred her lovely face. The ventilator whooshed quietly in, out, in, out. The drips infused with a hum of a small pump. She just couldn't wake up, the stroke had done it's deadly work. A lovely daughter quietly shared stories of her courage, her strength, her love of family, friends, church. Tears shed, and quiet laughter too. One quiet tear from the doctor, who has cared for her many, many years. Nurse's too. Prayers from a wonderful pastor...a letting go and a healing. Gathered family had made a decision to let her go, to let her see her husband and parents once again. With no fuss, drips were quietly shut off; the ventilator's whoosh silent. Total peace and a tiny smile on her face...

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Thanks for each one of you, and for each day!!!

Have a great quilting day....

Julie

A Winner!!

Congratulations to Mary of Quilt Hollow! She is the winner in the Karen/Julie Big Adventure Giveaway!

Hope everyone is doing great....

Julie

Blocks and more blocks...

Hi all! Have you seen the above pattern? The pattern is called "Vicksburg", by Bonnie blue Quilts. I love this line of patterns! I was strolling through our local quilt shop, and one of the workers said she was doing a Block of the month, with two blocks each month, and would I like to do it? $10.00/month...I signed up!! So, I got the first installment of fabric and pattern, and found enough fabric to make not two blocks, but four, and I could probably have gotten six blocks out of it. So I have leftovers! Maybe two quilts?? And fabric for a scrappy border...

I like this block best, so far. This will be fun to look forward to each month.

And this little pile of 8 inch string blocks (32 in all) represents lots of time...but the string tub is still full! What to do...just keep on sewin'!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Julie

Do you have time to make one 9 inch block?

Hi friends:

As many of you know, our friend Terry at Terry's Treasures has had some awful times lately: her husband had his leg crushed in a work related accident, and has had to have the leg amputated and multiple surgeries this past week. Laurie at www.ayankeequilter.blogspot.com has organized a quilt project for Terry. Nine inch quilt blocks are needed (nine and 1/2 inch unfinished). I sent one today, it took under an hour to make...do you have time to help a really nice fellow blogger? Please go to a yankee quilter for all the details.

Julie

Mystery Solved!

Ok, folks, this is my version of Bonnie's newest mystery quilt, "Christmas Lights". I think the pattern is darling, but I officially am not thrilled with my quilt! Wish I had made different fabric choices. But, I think with quilting, texture, washing, love...it will be better. My rule was to use only what I had, so this is what I had! (Hope it doesn't end up on padding furniture in a moving van...)

**********************Nursing Notes*******************************

Carrie is no longer with us! I had the pleasure of moving her to the regular medical floor...telemetry, but hey, what a gigantic step! She no longer needs intensive care, so after SIXTY days in Critical Care, she is movin' on! She is making progress by leaps and bounds...and she is a nursing student, and is even able to study a little bit. Of course, this semester is a wash-out for her, but I just know she will graduate and become a wonderful nurse, at least that it is what I am praying for. Chemo continues, and she has lost most of her lovely blond locks, but that will grow back...

Gary (gunshot victim) is doing wonderfully, but he will be in and out of the hospital probably for the rest of his life. Because he is paralyzed from the neck down, he does not cough and clear his secretions like normal people, and these patients also get infections easily...we will see him again, but for now...great news!!!

Sad News (don't read if you don't want to!)

I came into the unit yesterday to a great wailing and commotion...sadly, our poor little mother who I helped with the C-section...did not make it. The night shift coded her for hours...but she just did not make it. Total respiratory failure, despite maximum vent support and even the roto-prone bed, which turns patients completed upside down to try and help open up her lung alveoli. Her mother is just devastated...but said that the baby is normal, eating, burping, crying...all that babies do. So the baby was saved in time, even though very early. She said that at least she has a little bit of her daughter...the baby.

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Hope everyone is doing great...each one of you are so important and adds precious richness to my life.

Julie

Fall Festival Quilt!

Thank you for your visit, friends! I have previously shown on my blog all my quilts that I have made so far, so I thought I could show a work in progress, my latest Plaid Madness string quilt! Thank you so kindly for your visit, and have a super day!

Karen and Julie's Grand Adventure Giveaway!!!!

Hi Friends!!!





This post is worth a LOT of exclamation points, LOL! Karen of http://www.leehaven.blogspot.com/ and I are having a GIVEAWAY! Please comment on this post, or on Karen's post of today...we are giving away the above darling pumpkin, together!








Many of you know that I got to travel to Florida recently, and actually meet Karen in person! It was just so much fun, and a day that I will remember for many years. We went to the Olde Green Cupboard...and I fell in love. Wow, that is one amazing quilt shop! My favorite sections...the whole shop...but especially the Jo Morton's and the wool section. Now, keep in mind, I have never actually MADE a wool project, but a girl has to be prepared, you know? I actually got lost in looking in all the nooks and cranies and patterns. Such joy in my heart that day!








If you ever get a chance, don't miss the chance to meet Karen. She is truly amazing. Karen is just beautiful inside and out, and it was quite humbling to meet her and spend some time with her. I talked , and talked, and talked! I usually don't...but it just was easy to talk to Karen and we had such a great time. She said one thing I will always remember...that whatever God gives you is a gift, (whether it is a good thing or challenging), and who are we to be angry about it? Just use it for good. She uses her gifts to help others. I just cried at her sincerity and amazing spirit.











So!!! Please send either one of us a kind Halloween greeting or comment on this post or Karen's blog at http://www.leehaven.blogspot.com/, and you will be in the drawing!!!





Have a super great day!





Julie

A winner!

Hi Friends! You know, I just been obsessed with plaids lately, and I had some small strings left over from the Plaid quilt from a few post ago. Well, OK, LOTS left over, including a bunch that my friend Joyce sent from Arizona. So, what else to do except make another plaid quilt? This one is small, with 4 1/2 inch blocks. It was so much fun! Really, anyone who had ever want to try string piecing, should give it a go. It is a blast! This is not the final placement of the blocks, I can see a big error in the placement when I just looked at it.

More string quilts....in the McCall's quilting magazine, back in the summer, in their Scrap Quilting magazine, I found the above quilt by Candace Hassen. I loved it, of course, on sight, and am making it below. I am making it bigger, for our bed, at least queen size. Those strings have been making wild stringy whoopey in the string box, because they are multiplying! Since the strings are multiplying, there are more there than ever, and this is another attempt to use them up.
It is strange, I have this absolutely gorgeous new fabric I got in Florida...yet I gravitate back over to the little scraps and strings! Do you do this too??

This is my progress so far. I plan to make 30 blocks.

Drum roll please! The winner of my giveaway from a couple posts ago was chosen by random number generator, and the winning number is Pat, of http://www.alittleofthisandalittleofpat.blogspot.com/. Congratulations, Pat!! Please let me know your address, and I will send you your gift. Thank you so much to each one of you for entering, and celebrating my anniversary, and visiting my blog. Wish I could send a gift to each one of you!

**********************Nursing Notes!!!!!!!!!!*************************************

Carrie is doing great! No more seizures, gaining weight, doing exceptionally well. So, that means she will be leaving the hospital soon for rehab, as soon as financing can be obtained for her.

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Gary, the gunshot victim is doing well, off the vent and talking up a storm. He was a commercial pilot before the criminals who car-jacked him took his active life away from him. His mom is precious, and cares for him at home.

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Now, I just must tell you about a huge thing that happened last time I worked. I got a 21 year old girl from the ER, and she was in big-time respiratory distress. She had gone to the other hospital in town a couple days prior, and they just sent her home and said she had the flu-no blood work. She came to our ER, we did blood work, and she had 295,000 WBC (white blood cells). Normal is 5-10,000. She was diagonosed with leukemia. Now for the kicker...she is eight months pregnant!!!!!!! This is her 3rd baby, the first she had when she was just 14 years old. She received no prenatal care for this pregnancy. We emergently intubated (put a breathing tube in her), and just could not keep her saturation above 90%, which it needs to be for the baby to get enough oxygen. So, we had 5 doctors in the room, and the decision was to take the baby emergency C-section...STAT!!! Well, this nurse(me) had not a clue, as it has been 20 years since I had helped deliver a baby, and that was in nursing school. I got to go over to the Labor and delivery department, and the surgeons had that baby out in under 5 minutes. Poor little one only weighed 3 pounds and a little bit...the little baby boy was purple when he came out, not breathing and not moving. So, he was also placed on the preemie ventilator. I can report that he was doing much better when I left, I went to see him after my shift. He is pink and wiggling!!

Whewwww!!!

We rushed the mom back to our floor, and the baby went the other way to the neonatal intensive care unit. I worked all day long, one on one with this poor mother, and she was alive when I left. Critically, critically ill. Poor thing, she did not have insurance...if she would have gone to just one prenatal visit, this could have been avoided, probably.

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I will keep up posted about her...

Have a super day all!!

Julie

A traveler...

Hi friends:



I am officially a world traveler! Maybe not really, but I have been on two trips in two weeks, and that is a LOT for me. It is funny how we never go much of anywhere, then all the traveling happens at once. This week, we went to sunny Florida! DH had a business trip there, and I went along with one special thing in mind to do...and it was great fun. More about that in a minute, but above...I quilted...a lot! Hand quilted on the bear paw quilt, about 12 hours worth on the trip. I had a couple of days to spend, and I did this, in between enjoying Florida and its attractions. Fun!! Not all done yet, though. Enough quilting to make my fingers sore!

Dear husband had a team building event...you will never guess...in a chocolate factory! YUM! And I was the lucky recipient of the chocolate, as he doesn't eat it. Dear, you need to do more team building!

I also did stitchery...4 hours spent on this, and finished 3 more blocks. Great fun! Only two more to go.

Now for the best part! Many of you know of Karen, at http://www.leehaven.blogspot.com/. I got to see Karen in sunny Florida! I took a drive the first day we were there, and Karen and I met at her local quilt shop, the Olde Green Cupboard. Man oh man! Wow, it is a quilt shop to end all. Above is Karen's quilt that she made for the shop to display. It is gorgeous!! We had such a great time...and I got fabric! I spent way too much $, but have scheduled overtime to cover for it. (do you read justification here?) Hee!!

This was a quilt on the classroom wall...I officially love this quilt.

This little nine patch was about 12 inches square! Love the plaid.

The quilt shop had a whole section of Jo Morton...it was my favorite. I love the Cheddar used in the quilt above, and bought some about the same shade, in hopes of making a quilt soon.

Cute cake stand blocks! Aren't they darling, really? I got some fabric for the background...plotting my upcoming projects.

I truly had such a great time...the day ended too soon, and I will remember it always.

I was back to work today...

************************Nursing Notes*************************************

Update on Carrie:

She had a seizure while I was gone on my vacation, and has been confused since. This is not good. Her young hubby shared with me that her hospital bill has mounted up to the 2 MILLION dollar range. He is scared...and now he has to think about rehab. The docs say she will probably have to rehab the better part of a year. Sigh...poor babies.

New patient: Gary came in today, on the ventilator. He has a sad story... He was a pilot, young, full of life and promise, until...he was car-jacked one night. The criminals shot him through the neck, severing his spine, and making him a quadriplegic. He has been paralyzed 10 years. They caught the criminals...they got out of jail in FOUR years! He is actually alert and oriented, and very nice. Hopefully off the vent tomorrow...

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I think all of us at times are tired, or just out of sorts. Let me tell you, there are lots of people who would love to be in our shoes...just for a moment.....

Have a great day!!!

Julie