Working on it!

Good day!  It is a good day, you know, for I am sewing today!  As many of you know, I am a heart nurse, working in CVICU.  I am kind of fixated on hearts!  I have made dozens of heart quilts...lots and lots.  Above is the latest muse, a plaid heart quilt.  I am working on the applique now, and loving it!

 These are a ton of little hearts, backed with steam-a-seam, that I cut out and can add to projects as the whim descends.

 A little Log cabin!  I started these blocks a while back, and love the red running through them.  So I thought it was the coolest thing ever when Lori of Humble Quilts started a quilt along, with a very cool old quilt as her inspiration! Please go and see it...a very neat variation on the log cabin!! So...I have to do that one too!  Please click HERE...you can start it too, as Lori is at the very beginning of her quilt along!!

 Barrister's blocks...trying to keep up, and I think I actually might be caught up, LOL!!  Love this square in a square!

 And this fun block too!  Nor perfect, but fine as frog's hair for me!

And speaking of frogs...this picture was actually taken at night.  Horrible quality, but this little friend sits in the same place, on the corner, under the street light, eating mosquitoes and buggies.  He is our good friend, and my dog and I greet him every night when we take our last walk around 10 PM.  He seems to be unafraid...


**********************Nurse's Notes*****************

A darling patient, with a recurrence of lung cancer was my patient this week.  So very nice...just a real gentleman of bygone years.  A Korean War vet.  Married for 57 years, with his wife right there with him after his surgery.  He complained of being constantly cold...so I brought him a string quilt.  I wish I could make for every surgery patient we get...but maybe if I could make one a month, that would be more realistic...I will try!!!

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Have a great day, all!!


Julie

Flimsies...

 Hi Everyone...this is a long overdue quilt, one I am so pleased to get to this stage.  It has been done for a while, but I did not show it here...I am hand quilting this one.  It is a signature quilt.  I wanted something different, something kind of original...so this is what I came up with.

The whole thing!  I am so grateful to get it to this stage!



If you don't hear from me for a while, don't worry...I am working a long stretch and also need to clean, clean, clean!!  You know how it goes...it is hard to concentrate on cleaning, when next week, it just needs to be done all over again...Quilts stay done, once they are done!!!



Have a great day, all!!!

Julie

A New-FU, completed to flimsy!

 Hi everyone!!  Hope your Monday is just perfect!!  You may or may not recognize Lisa Bongean's design for Primitive Gatherings BOW last summer.  I was sucked in, I loved the pretty wools so much!  Valiantly I toiled to stay abreast of the block of the week...but succumbed to the trials of time, work, keeping house, family, etc...so TADA!  I at last got all the blocks put together!  I did get the finishing kit with all the wool, but did not use it. ( If you need it, give me a nudge)  I just could not face all that applique in the border, no matter how much I loved it.  Instead, when I recently saw another quilter's project put together like this, it was an "AHAH!" moment!  So here is my version.

And my favorite block, in the center!  I did not sign up this year for her BOW, 'cause I was still working on this one.  Maybe next year again, if I can catch up on some projects.  Lisa is a very fun designer!


***********************Nurse's Notes******************

They were the perfect couple.  Married right after he got back from WW2, she was petite and gorgeous, he a strapping young man, I saw from the pictures.  After he finished engineering school, they settle down to a wonderful life of children and little league and life...................................................
Years and years went by...and this couple came into my life.  I cared for this dear man at the hospital 20 years, and his wife too,  through heart attacks and congestive heart failure...until he passed away last year.  One of the last things he said to us was, "I am so worried about Georgia...what will she do when I am gone?"  ............................Well, Georgia came in last week to the hospital...totally confused. No family came to see about her.  She wandered, and tried to leave, and just was totally bewildered.  I was so proud of our staff, caring for her, wheeling her around in a wheelchair, talking to her for hours...loving her, just as they had all these many years of caring for her and her husband.  I will find out what happened to her when I go back to work...
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Have a good day...every day!  Enjoy each moment...


Julie

A Three bobbin border!

Hi everyone!  Just auditioning a little black border, as suggested...

and then!   I sewed and sewed and sewed...enough to consume three bobbins worth of thread!!  6.5 inch strips, randomly sewn together, for a border.    I just put it up against the quilt to see what it would look like...what do you think?  It adds a lot of weight to the quilt...heaviness, somehow. 

I really didn't mind taking the time to sew all these strips together, because I will use this border on some quilt, sometime, if not this one...or maybe a couple quilts!  It is really long!!!  and prettier in person than in the picture...


Y'all have a wonderful day!!

Julie 

Catching up!

 Barrister's blocks!!  Hope you are doing these...they are great fun, and just six inches when done.  Lots of little pieces for small blocks, but easy sewing.

And Barbara Brackman's new block of the week!  I really, really did not like the second block...so I made this star instead!  A bit wild, but hey, I like it, and that is A-OK, right??



Hope you have some time to sew this week!!  Thank you so much for your opinion on the last post...your opinions are so important to me, I really appreciate your time and thoughtfulness!!


Have a great day,

Julie

Well...now what?

 HI Y'all!  I worked my lots of days in a row at the hospital, and at last have a little time to play with this quilt top.  It is a very pretty thing in person...somehow the black make all the string colors pop! 

And here is the whole thing!  My questions for you...I know you experts out there know!!  Is...how do I border this?  and how wide should the border be?  And should I put a little something in the black cornerstone blocks?  I learn so much from you all, so thank you for your opinion!!


***********************Nurse's notes*********************

I actually "hit the wall" yesterday at work.  For the first time ever, I just had to sit down and take a minute.  I worked for 8 hours at a dead run, non stop.  High stress, patients coming from everywhere, titrating drips, epi, levo, insulin, diprivan, all of it.  Vent patients, demanding patients, truly needy patients, then a fresh one from the EP lab with 7 sheaths that needed to be pulled...and he was on blood thinners (coumadin).  About 6:00 pm, I had about 3 hours of work that needed to be done by 7:00 pm, but I just could not go any more.  I developed a truly sudden, splitting headache on the right side back of my head...thought I was stroking for sure.  I sat down with my head down and just rested...and then could go on.  Now this has never happened to me..I kind of scoff at those nurses that whine all the time...I thought I was tough enough for anything.  Weird...and it was gone after I got home and rested a bit...SO!  I guess I am not invincible!!!

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Thanks for listening friendlies!!!

Have a great day,

Julie

Working a big stretch again!

 Well, those strings just keep calling to me!!  I had a lot of petals left over from my latest string quilt, so I made a little flower power petal play quilt!  I really love this...it is great fun to play with these littlest of pieces that lots of people throw in the garbage.  Fun!!

 This pillow has seen its better days...and I am tossing it out.  I did want to take a picture, so I remember it and the fabrics from a long time ago.

 Rosie says, "don't toss it, Mom...put it in my doggie house!"  OK dear...I will do that!  I love this little girlie dog, by the way...she is just wonderful!

 The binding and quilting is all done on this little strings quilt...I have big holes in my fingers from quilting with a tiny, tiny needle.  Healing quickly, though!

And the biggest thing...I finished prepping all the sashing pieces for the quilt in my last post!  This was what consumed most of my quilting/sewing and any free time this week!!!





*************************Nurse's Notes***************************

\Sadly, the escapee?  The 89 year old lady who insisted on going home from the hospital?  Ended up back in the hospital within a week and will be going to a nursing home....I am so sad about that!!!

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Have a great week, all!!

Julie