Greetings!

Hi everyone!!

I have been busy working....and piecing...and raking leaves. Above are my plaids star blocks...a UFO.  Yes, a genuine UFO!!

I made progress, which feels lovely!!

Are you participating in the Quiltville mystery quilt?  I am!  Above are my step two blocks...sweet little four patches.  I love them!

I am quilting Baptist fans into this quilt.  Plaids again...and making great progress.

Step one of the mystery quilt.

And more of those!!

My kitty Lucky is always attentive to help and run off with blocks if he can.  I just adore him and his big ears.  Darling baby!  Look at those pretty eyes!

There are outside cats here, and one especially touches me.  His owner died, a lady on our block, and the family just turned him out on the streets instead of finding him a home. Before I knew about him, he was emaciated to the point of death.  I have been feeding him morning and night, the best high fat and protein diet I could find for cats.  He is now doing so much better!!  Long story, but he is just uncared for...but no more.  I love him, and frankly, he is a darling baby.

I make this quilt into a baby quilt.  Off to the quilters, and then to be gifted to the next baby that comes along at the hospital.

ON we go!!

Julie
 

Lots of things going on!

Good morning, or evening to you!!!  I have been sewing pouches of different sizes, and I enjoy filling them with different things and gifting them to folks at work.  Nurses love fun pens, lip balm, hand cream and such!

I have peppers, but the raccoons love them, and they get "harvested" by the coons a lot.  It has been very warm here for October, and the garden is flourishing.

Carrots are springing up!

And tiny Marigolds!!  I love these little buddies!

This is Swiss Chard in my planter box.  My mother always used to feed it to us, as children, when we were ill.  We always felt better!  Lots of vitamin B, and lots of loving care, I am sure, made all the difference.

Bonnie Hunter has a pattern out recently, and it is "Diamond Tiles."  I love it!!!  The blocks are small, and just right to use my scraps that you know I love so much.  I am loving this!

Diamond Tile PDF Pattern (quiltville.com)

Above is the link to the pattern.

A scary rooster was near the hospital.  Halloween is near!

My granddaughter has a new Halloween costume!!!!

And my grandson too.  What a fun time of year for children!!

Lucky continues to be a helper and design expert regarding quilts.  His left front foot is permanently disabled, but that does not stop him at all.  He is so funny, just delightful.  I contrast his portly, sleek and well nutritional body to one outside cat that wanders the neighborhood...this precious kitty cannot weight 5 pounds.  I feed her as often as she comes by, and she is precious. Hubby says NO!  when I say can we have her inside...he thinks she is ill.  I think she is starving, bless her!  I keep food out for her, and fresh water.  

The Dallas Arboretum has their annual pumpkin fall display going on, and we went.  I had to kneel down and have a picture.

  So pretty there!!!

More scrappy blocks going on at our home.  SCRAPS RULE!!

Hope everyone is doing very well.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++Nurse's Notes++++++++++++++++++++

Hospice is closed more than it is open, so I end up floating to all kinds of places to nurse in the hospital. Some of the floors do not have chairs for the nurses, and I end up standing for my 12-hour shifts, charting, etc... mostly running room to room, though.  I have learned a lot!  Surgical floor...medical floor...oncology floor...ER...ICU...telemetry floor.  I long for a home unit that I can just sink into and be.  I have been at my hospital almost 30 years, and it has changed from a modern state of the art hospital to an urban hospital with decaying surroundings.  I love the nursing part, but wow...it is different now.

Maybe I am the one who is different.  I had a very significant decade birthday recently, and somehow, it makes me long for freedom.  To get out of the stressful day to day at the hospital, you know?  I would like to affect healthy change in other ways.  To teach wellness, not try and cure disease.  Folks in the USA are not as healthy as we could be!!  Too much sugar, sedentary lifestyles, and too little exercise and nutrition.  I would really love to change that for those who I could reach.  Honestly, the medical system takes care of illness but does not teach much health.  I long to do that!!!

Any thoughts?

Onwards, day by day!

Julie
 

Hand quilting on the plane!

Greetings!!  I have been on a journey!  I got to go visit my grand babies, and had a lovely time.

I wanted to have something to sew on the plane, so I bordered this block and hand stitched it on the plane.

Yahoo!  I have all of these blocks sewn together.  I love this!

Another finished place mat on the plane.  These will go to meals on wheels.

 This piece was one I just loved...an older lady ( I mean in her high 90's)  was selling these, hand made on her Bernina...and I bit.  Pretty, don't you think?

Hope each of you has a great day!!

Julie

Progress on the flags

I have been doing secret flag sewing at night.  Well, not exactly secret...you all know about it!!  But the recipient of the quilt does not.  I am loving working with this fabric palette!

A resident artist lives in our neighborhood.  Every once in a while, she will put a sidewalk chalk drawing out for us children; me included!  I love her work.

On the free table at guild was this lovely cotton blossom applique.  It came home with me.

As did this pretty applique piece!!

These are leader ender blocks, for a baby quilt.  Hurrah for quick finishes!!

Another baby quilt...brights for a baby girl, unborn as of yet...and unknown of, too!!  It is fun to have quilts on hand to gift!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!!

Julie
 

Excitement abounds!!!!!!!

Lucky is very helpful!!  He wanted to be first, and indeed, he is first.

I embarked on a project to organize all of my scraps into colors, and fold them, if large enough to be folded, into a dresser.  I got a NEW dresser!!!  Odd to think I have never had a brand new dresser, but I recently got one for my birthday.  I am using it to store almost all of my fabrics.  Above are my yellows and teals.

Oranges and purples!!  I put a file folder in-between the colors.  

Scraps that were too small to be folded were placed into bags, by color.  This will be perfect for Rainbow quilts, and I have so many quilts planned to use these!!! 

I have touched almost every fabric I own.  Every gifted scrap and piece of lovely quilting goodness!!! It was so much fun!!  And now I have blacks, grays, oranges, teals, pinks, blue, reds and greens all separate and ready to go.  I emptied several small bins, which were getting heavier as time is going on.  Hurrah!!

Now this does not include my 1930's fabrics, of which I have a small bin.  Nor my plaids, nor my reproduction fabrics, of which I have a bin of those too.  But!!!  This is vast majority of everything I own, at my fingertips for use!!

Whoop!!

I found a few fabrics that were downright unsuitable, due to being polyester double knit or just downright ugly.  Out they went.

I got going on pumpkins, due to orange pumpkin fabrics gifted from a friend.  I will have to work on a setting.

These are my 6 inch rainbow blocks so far this year.

My flags, also a squirrel that took me off on a chase!

 And here are my hexie blocks so far for this year.  Nice to work on in the car.

So, I am all excited about the fabric storage dresser!!!  I have three empty drawers, still.

Julie

A soft looking quilt

Hi everyone!  I finished this quilt!  Kind of 1930's, and florals mixed into it as well.  

I have the binding all ready to go as well.

 I got a squirrelish idea to make some flags.  I was off to the races and here is my progress in less than two hours.  Wow!  How fast these are to sew!!

It is deadly hot here.  My garden is turning up its toes!!!

Julie

Lots to tell!

Lots of sewing going on around here, in-between crazy other things!!!  About are my basket blocks.  All put together!  Hurrah!  Kitty is rearranging them how he thinks is best.  I am so glad for good help.  He takes a long nap in the daytime afternoons, so that is truly the only time I can lay out a quilt.  Otherwise...he thinks all things are for his enjoyment and playtime.  Isn't that true?

This is sideways, but hey.  It is done.  My hot pads are burnt up rags, so I made this one out of a leftover block and two layers of batting.  

Well, on the left side is our feral kitty Moustache Cat.  Three raccoons.  and one possum.  All having dinner together without the slightest tiff.  Plenty of food = good friendship.

 I am playing with Jacko lanterns!!!  Not quite that time yet, but it is coming fast.  So....I am making some fun ones.  Happy ones!!!

Now for the drama:

My car.  2009 Rav 4.  I loved it...good mileage, cheap to ensure, and paid for.  Sounds good, right?  Until it would not start.  Replaced the battery, and took off some ignition thing that was burnt up, and I thought all was ok.  Then?  I was driving it over to wash it at the car wash, and go to the store, and was just stopped at the light, to turn down the hill.  The car started shaking!  Hard!  Every warning light in the universe went off on the dashboard! Sputtering, a bit of smoke, and the power steering failed.  The brakes failed!!  The light turned, and I was able to turn it using super nursing powered arms.  Ha!  No kidding, I have strong arms, (turning and lifting patients did some good for them!)  and was able to steer it.  But no brakes, and I was going down the hill.  Why did the brakes fail, by the way?  No explanation of that.  Anyway, the park was coming up, and I was able to screamingly wheel into there, use the emergency brake and stop. I was definitely looked after by a higher power, as there was tons of traffic both before me and after me.  CRAZY!!!! Rush hour on a main thoroughfare.  

Tow truck was called, and they took it the Toyota dealership.  Water pump is leaking, although it had plenty of water left.  Alternator is burnt up.  I tried to jump it and somehow the jumper cables melted.  NO kidding melted!!  Total repair bill is high, in the thousands, plus 5 recall things, as well, which I had no clue of.  

In the end, they would not accept it as a trade...too old. too sick.  Poor little blue car.  I went to a lot of dealerships and drove Subaru, Honda, Prius and Toyota. Considered expensive cars, even...luxury things...SUV's...all the options.  Jeeps too.  The 17 miles per gallon stopped me there.    In the end, Toyota won out, and I bought a newer version of the same car I have had since 2009.  I actually bought it in 2008.   I am glad to have be safe with a safe car to drive again, although I will not like the payments.  Overtime shifts, here I come.

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

I have been working ICU, which I adore.  I had a darling little twenty something-year-old girl come in, with a vague heaviness in her head.  MRI revealed a goose egg sized tumor in her brain, actually compressing her ventricles and causing left to right shift in her brain!!!

A brilliant girl, just finished with her master's degree in data analysis, and just working a year out of school...this was terrifying for her.  Alone in our country, her parents being in India.  She ended up having emergency brain surgery.  They got the tumor, encased, with no ominous tentacles of astrocytoma down deep.  Friends and community have rallied around her!!

She recognized me immediately after surgery!!  Smiles and sweetness.  I love happy endings!!!

Julie