Saturday, January 30, 2010

A little more progress

And so it goes...more on the blue and yellow sampler. This is maybe 1/5 completed now...at least the top.
I made a bunch of 4 patches a while back, as you may or may not remember. I have been wondering how to set them together. How about this block? I think it is a fun one! Remember, if you see a few strings on my quilt blocks, it is in your imagination. :)
I put the edging around the little crib blankie. This was great fun to do! This will be sent off to cover some NICU infant.



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


A trucker, 40 years old, a tough, big guy, was on the road, about 1000 miles away from home. He got the sniffles (let's call this gentleman Fred) in Utah...developed fever in New Mexico...and by the time he hit Texas he was really, really sick. He went to his doctor and got some antibiotics, and headed back out on the road for another 3 days. Long story short...he came into our hospital severely short on oxygen (hypoxic). He was my patient...and became more and more aggressively angry and confused (no oxygen to the brain). Ended up on the ventilator...and on the roto-prone bed, with severe white out pneumonia in both lungs. This bed turns patients completed face down, to promote oxygenation to the lungs. It is an ominous sight for a nurse...

Guess what the culprit was? H1N1 flu, and a secondary bacterial infection. Poor guy...he is recovering now, still on the ventilator after two weeks and now has a trach. I will keep you updated on him, he has a precious wife and family who are wonderfully supportive and desperately worried about him.


Get those flu shots...and get to the doctor if you get sick and take this one seriously, people. This flu is a killer of two of my patients this season so far.....


Now on a lighter note...



************************************************************************



Have a super week!!


Julie

Monday, January 25, 2010

Quilting, friendship, and magic.

Hi Y'all: Here is where I am at on the blue and yellow sampler...maybe 1/6 done with the top. It is going together so smoothly...kind of a little magic, spurred by the gift of the pattern by a wonderful friend. Several of you have asked where you could get the pattern...I don't think they are making it anymore, and I got this one as a gift. Some of you are set at "no reply", so I could not answer. I will call the original seller and see if they still sell the pattern at all.
Above is my first angel block of the BOM that Sandi designed at www.legacyofstitches.blogspot.com. This was insomnia driven...which means I did this when I was supposed to be sleeping! Thank you so much...to so many of you who suggested some cures. No luck yet, but I am trying every suggestion...all of them! Herbal tea, melatonin, and I have a schedule visit to the MD coming up...maybe I can find the answer. I just know I can't keep going with 2 hours of sleep a night! I will be a nut case (at least a little worse than normal) LOL!!
I often wish I could knit...well, I think that is silly of me to say, since I have made no effort to go to formal classes or anything to learn. But! I can crochet!! So I made this little neonatal ICU crib blanket out of leftover baby yarn. I have enough yarn for 2 more, so I am working on those, then I will send them off so they can help some little one retain warmth! I am putting a white border on this one.


Have a most wonderful day! I made strawberry cake for dear husband, with jello in the mix, and strawberry topping...it smells heavenly! Vegetable soup too...so dinner is done.



Hope each of you has a wonderful day!




Julie

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Doll quilt progress

Here I am on Lori's antique doll quilt. Just a couple rows to go, and the top will be completed, This has been great fun, thank you so much for sharing your pattern, Lori. Hard for me, though...and a few mistakes. A great learning experience for me!!
Here is where I am on the blue and yellow sampler. Just a small bit, but January is done...yippee!


Hope you have a most wonderful day!


Julie

Monday, January 18, 2010

Insomnia quilts...

Hi Y'all!

I have started on a year long quest...to make a blue and yellow extra big sampler quilt. The blocks are all kinds of different sizes. My friend Debi gave me this pattern last year, and I have been waiting, and cutting out kits for each block...and waiting for January. So...here are January's blocks! The quilt is amazing when it is finished, and what fun it was to just grab the pre-cut kit and have fun putting the blocks together. Some blocks are applique and some are pieced. Thank you again, Deb!! Stay tuned...these flowers will grow!

I can't sleep, ladies...do you know why? I really need some help, so any suggestion would be wonderful. Is Peri-menopause the reason? Anyway, I can't sleep, so I hand quilt. I completed hand quilted this bear paw quilt is the wee hours of many nights. and some quilting took place on trips to Florida and New Jersey. Now it is done and ready to wash and cuddle with. Thank you to Judy at Patchwork Times, she and her quilt was the inspiration for me. Of course, I had to make it my own way....scrappy!




I am off work today, so off to clean and wash clothes now. And I have one nursing fire safety class to attend this afternoon.


Have a super day,

Julie

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

What I did today...

OK...I did clean bathrooms, did laundry etc. Also, I went to lunch with dear husband, near his work, that was fun! In between times, though...I put the last border on the latest plaid quilt. I just love plaids! This quilt is so soft...so homespun good! I have found my niche, my very favorite. I asked my friend Finn a couple of years ago, "What IS my style?" These plaids are just my style! So whatever that is, that is me. What is your favorite...your style? I would love to know!
I made a sample block of the log cabin, and here is why. I found a cache of blocks, groups of them already cut out...and I have no idea what they are! I know, I know, dementia comes early in my family, but if I have only made a sample block, I would know what the pile of cut fabric was supposed to be! Don't suppose you have ever done this?
A very dear friend sent me this for Christmas. I am so very tickled!! It is the very best tea ever...It has been mostly consumed by now...and a clothesline! Why, you may ask? Fabric covered clothesline baskets! I have been cutting strips for this today too...progress to come. Thank you dear, dear lady...you know who you are!


I also worked on my Cheddar doll quilt that Lori of Humble Quilts is showing us how to do...that takes me forever! But I am steadily making progress. No picture because it looks pretty much the same as last time I showed it, with the addition of side triangles.


Back to work for me tomorrow...so I have had fun working at home and playing today!!



Hoping you have a wonderful week!!


Julie

A day off

Hi all: I finished Kaaren's First Friday Freebie, the above stitchery. I so loved doing this! It was my insomnia stitching for the last couple of nights. Something I can stitch to be quiet so as to not wake the rest of the houshold, yet accomplish something.

And...what is the world? I am sure you can figure out that this is a cut out log cabin quilt. The stacks of brown fabric are hiding a lot of different colors! This should be fun to do...I am sewing this one differently, though. Usually I make block by block, but I am going to chain piece this one, and hopefully make a little quicker progress.


Pressure: I sometimes feel a little pressure in that I need to sew something, so I can show you all that I really am sewing! How twisted is that...this is supposed to be for fun, after all. So I guess I am just going to concentrate on whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. Should be fun! That is what I am after, after all!!


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


A man came in for a simple knee scope procedure...in and out in 30 minutes. WELL, the best plans of mice and men, right? He ended up having a major heart attack in the recovery room, so he got to come to me in Cardiac Critical Care. He ended up with 3 stents in his heart, and now he is back home again. A person just never knows one day (or breath) to the next what will happen...so I am determined to enjoy life to the fullest and do good things with each breath I am granted!!!

***************************************************************************


Have a fabulous day...hopefully I can report back that I actually accomplished a lot!



Julie

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

CC blocks are done!

Hi Everyone! Above are my completed Carolina Christmas blocks...and this is not all of them. This will be a humongous quilt...hopefully my husband will love it! He is a big guy and needs big quilts to reach all the way down to his toes. This may or may not be the final arrangement...I am waiting for inspiration on how to set them together.
My friend Joyce in Arizona sent some lovely red pieces, already cut to size, to go in this quilt. Isn't that the coolest? I loved her fabrics! Above and below are a couple of my favorites that she sent.
Plaid!! Love it...thanks Joyce!
Ignore the threads, I am a cut-all-the-threads at the end of the quilt top kind of girl...but this is my version of Lori at www.humblequilts.blogspot.com's antique baby quilt. This was tough, tough for me to do...scrappy, but controlled, and I actually had to pay attention to what I was doing. It was a great skill builder for me. Can't wait for the next step.

I am pretty sick...have been fighting a cold kind of thing. I just don't have great tolerance for this...I have stuff to do!!

Hope each one of you has a super day!


Julie

Hexies, rainbow quilts and plaids!

Good morning to all!!!  Above is a hexagon, for English paper piecing.  My kitten Lucky has discovered them, and decided that they are great...