The bears are procreating...Hee!

Good morning, everyone! I hope you all are having a marvelous day...I am...I am off from work! The towels and linens are in the washer, housework is underway, the big catch-up from several days at work at the hospital...I know you understand how it goes. Above are my bear paw blocks; I have managed to make a couple more in between all the chaos of work and home business. I like the scrappy goodness of them! Thank you to Judy Lauqidara for the inspiration for these blocks.

Remember the kitchen sink quilt? Everything in here but the kitchen sink. It is mostly quilted (hand), and bound now. It sure was fun! All from 2 inch strips. It will make a great TV quilt. This one was inspired by Bonnie from Quiltville, who made some of these blocks. Thanks Bonnie!

This is a little notebook cover, made for a co-worker. Sometimes people hear that I am a quilter and bring me fabric and scraps that they just do not want any more. A nurse at work brought me some little fabric scraps, and I decided that I should just make her something that night and bring her fabric back to her! So this is what I made for her. She liked it!

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I wrote out here what happened at work these past few days...but I just deleted it. It felt good to just get it out...but do I really want to read it again later? I don't think so...just suffice it to say that I am glad I am off today, glad I am not up to my armpits in a Code Blue...just glad for the happy sounds of birds and tip-tapping of the keyboard, the washer running, the doggie pushing his bowl around, the wind lightly blowing...all good things!

Gratitude's:

Health

The ability and job to work (employment)

Family, always

You, my dear blog friends, always you all!

Have a happy day!!!

Julie

Ok...DD is truly...Done, Done! Wheewww!

Yahoo! the quilt top is finished. Whewwww! I am not good at borders, I measured and measured and carefully applied, we shall see if it will work or not. But done is so sweet, so good! Big thanks to Miss Bonnie at Quiltville for this pattern.
Above is the Be-attitudes top finished, almost, for the Be-attitudes quilt. The picture looks a little dark, but truly the colors are cheerful and fun. This one is probably a hand-quilted one, so it will be some time before it is done.

How is your day? Monday, Monday???

Gratitude's:

a little sewing machine that works, my $ 69.00 Walmart wonder.

a little old dog, still faithful and waggy-tailed, even at almost 17 years old.

a little supper all ready to go! No more cooking today.

Have a happy day!!

Julie

DD is almost...done-done!

Great excitement...the middle of the Double Delight mystery quilt from Bonnie at Quiltville is complete! Whhhewww, those long seams, matching all those corners were wicked...but fun.

Here it is with the first border. The quilt feels much more completed (it told me so), and all those edges are now "sealed" in. Somehow more finished. I think a plain outside border will be great, I just don't have a big enough piece of fabric to do it that looks right. Oh, darn...I may have to go to the fabric store! Wellllll, someone has to do the hard jobs.

I have pieces left over! I am just playing with them...do you think a long pillow would be fun to display on the bed too? I will play and think about this!

Thank you for putting up with the many pictures of the DD in progress...it has been a labor of a long time, and very much enjoyed.

Gratitude's!

Life-sustaining rains

Precious family

Going out to dinner with DH tonight!

Early flowers blooming

A job! So many people do not have this right now...I am truly grateful.

Have a happy, quiltish day!

JulieK

A little St. Patrick's day quilt!

Hi to everyone!! It seems that I post once a week...that is when I am off and the house is down to a dull uproar, and I have a quiet moment to myself. Thank you to those who have signed up as followers! Wow, how fun, and thank you for following my work!

Above is my nod to St. Patrick's day. This pattern is from Kim at www.kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com. She was so gracious to share a wonderful pattern and tutorial with all her fellow quilt bloggers, and I just fell in love with it! Please take a moment and see her quilt...it is just the best! She is also soooo funny, and many of her posts just make me giggle. Thank you so much, Kim!
Another famous blogger/quilter is Judy Laquidara. She and many of her readers are doing a Bear Paw quilt! I love it too. I did not get signed up for some reason for her e-mails, because I did not know when I would have time to work on the quilt, with my crazy work schedule, but I love it so much, I am following along on my own. Above is my scrappy block, and I plan 12 blocks altogether for a lap quilt. It was quite fun to sort through (not really, just pick up whatever was next in the stack) my fabrics and cut them up! 2.5 inch strips, and 4.5 inch squares...so the whole block is 14 inches. Fun, fun! Thank you Judy for the inspiration!
For those who are thinking spring may be forsaken, I have evidence to the contrary! I was surprised to find this beautiful Iris blossom in the garden this morning. See the still winter pale grass behind it? But I bet the grass is greening soon! I just love flowers so very much.
Did I ever show you my fish? This is a patchwork fishy...stuffed and with some beading in the bottom to give him weight. Button eyes...he is ready to take a swim!


Hope everyone has a wonderful, happy day!!

JulieK

Progress report on the DD

Well, I guess the picture says it all! This is where I am in putting together Bonnie of Quiltville's DD mystery quilt. Lots of little seams to match there, but it is going together well. Seems like I am slower than I used to be!!

Other news of note is that I went to my DS's and D to-be DIL's bridal shower...it was such fun! I got a manicure and pedicure... FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! Pretty cool, huh? This old farm girl is just not used to all that pampering...it was really fun to do...once!

Have a happy day!!

JulieK

I saw the Robins!

I was out working in the yard, a little raking and early preemptive weeding, and I saw our robin couple who come every year! A great big sassy male and his diminutive robin bride. It is so warm here! About 80 degrees...so nice! I have some buds and some flowers coming along, too. Above is my progress on Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's DD mystery quilt. I still have lots of pieces left in the box to put together, but I am making progress.

I changed the colors from Bonnie's selections, and don't know if I like it as well as Bonnie's, but in the interest of using what I have on hand in the stash...it was a good choice for me! Some of these are real Indigo fabrics from the quilt show several years ago that I have been hoarding...I really should stop doing that! So I used a great deal of them in this quilt.

Remember this one, above? I finally got all the embroidery embellishment done! Blanket stitching that is...I still need to add buttons and a few little special things to make it more my own. But at least it is together.

Here is my little armchair caddy all done, complete with scissors peeking out of the pocket. Don't know how I ever lived without it! Thank you to you awesome bloggers with all your fantastic ideas!

This little quilt is hand quilted, and of course the binding is on but not finished. I quilted it in black thread and just had so much fun doing it!!!

Hope everyone has a super good day! I have a meeting at work, but then it is back to work outside...making hay while the sun shines! It just can't stay this warm outside...only just February, and the weatherman is predicting freezing temps later in the week.

Gratitude's:

Warm springlike weather

Precious friends checking up on me

Dear Husband

Dear Son

Coffee in the mornings...Yum!

Julie

Glad and some sad news.

These are pretty, don't you think? Some windblown tulips, for Valentine's day, from my DH. I just love them! Pretty, pretty, on the dining room table. I hope you had a nice Valentine's day!

This is just the beginning of a little caddy. I made it of pre-quilted fabric. I have seen some really fancy ones on some of your blogs, which I just love, and I just made my own simple version. I will make one with embroidery and fancy things later...of course it needs to be finished.

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I have had some challenging patients this last week. One patient fell about 2 months ago, and has been slowly bleeding into the space between the skull and the brain ever since. He came in with mild stroke symptoms, and the CT scan showed the bleed. He was wisked off to emergency surgery, and two burr holes and a drain later, he was back to me. After one week, he has almost fully recovered!!! Yahoo! He was walking in the hall last time I saw him on Friday...he is the father of one of our nurses.

My other patient was diagnosed with cancer on Friday. When the wife was told, she fainted. The doctor and I caught her luckily before she hit the ground...poor dear lady! I hope he comes off the ventilator, he is still on it last time I saw him!

And for the sad news...one of our nurses did not show up for work 2 days in a row. Not like her at all, we have a pretty dedicated team on our unit. We called and called and finally sent the police to her apartment, and they found her passed away in her living room. We are all just devastated at work. We do not know a cause yet, but Lori A., we are missing you so much. She leaves two sons.

Since this is a diary of sorts for me, I am going to mention things about my work periodically, so skip this part if it is not of interest at all to you.

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Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

Julie