Friday, January 21, 2011

Bits and Pieces and BOM obsessions!

HI Y'all!! I am just so ticked with these little tiny quilt blocks...you can still catch up and make this darling quilt too! See Lori's blog Humble quilts here!! These are under 4 inch finished.
Above is Barbara Brackman's latest civil War quilt block...until tomorrow that is!! She posts a new one each Saturday. I am bound and determined to keep up!! Please see her blog here, it is full of history too, and this is going to be a really fun quilt!!
Here is my first Birdie block from Little Miss Shabby...please see her!! For some reason, my pattern printed out a lot larger than the block that was supposed to be 8.5 inches, so I just made it larger...I am going to use all my polka dots for the edgings on each block. Fun!
I just made these out of the scrap bins...1.5 inch and 2.5 inch bins. I don't have any idea what I will do with them....



So, if I do all the BOM's I want to do, I cannot eat, sleep or work!! Sigh...so I will just do what I can and enjoy seeing the rest!!!


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

The hyperthyroid patient:

She (me) has had all the testing, scanning, ultra sounding done...and had my big reveal doctor's appointment today...I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease. I learned that it is associated with other autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus. So, now I just need to decide how to treat it, with thyroid killing drugs, radiation, or surgery. I am not a big fan of any of these options....but will consider each carefully and prayerfully and make a decision this weekend and go for it!


Thanks for letting me share...since this is my diary of sorts, this helps with the catharsis part of dealing with all this...


Have a super week!!


JulieK

Monday, January 17, 2011

Now I remember!!!

HI Y'all!! I am participating in Lyn's block of the month...a stitchery BOM!! It is really fun...please click here and check it out!! I will trim all the blocks at once, when they are all made.
I had forgotten about cutting this UFO out...now I remember...this was a jelly roll!! I wanted to use it all, so I cut it up into 2.5 inch squares, and this is what I came up with. This is my UFO # 6, in progress for January, for Judy's UFO challenge. I have a little more sewing to do, as you can see, but it will be twin sized when finished...just right for a donation quilt!!
To use up all the squares, I am making this border. I should have very few squares left...and the binding was already in the UFO bin! Yahoo!!!





I hope each of you is having a great day!!


Julie

Friday, January 14, 2011

Pieces and parts,...part two!!

HI all!! Can you stand just one more picture of this quilt?? Most of you will recognize the blocks from Bonnie's Quiltville mystery from this holiday season...but I set them differently, and did a different border too...the original border was all on point and bias, and I am too stretchy a kind of gal!! So, I made this one...and really like it!! I would really like to thank Bonnie, for stretching my wings a bit, and coaxing us ever so gently into making a brown, and red, and pink, and green quilt!! I really love it...it grows on me, and I have left it out all day to admire all the colors. This kind of reminds me of Prickly Pear Cactus, so that is the name of my quilt.
The border...you will see is the leftover pieces and parts from the original border, plus extra parts I made too...it was such fun piecing!!!



Now, down to the business of the year!! I am supposed to be working on UFO's.. but Bonnie's quilt is the first one I wanted to finish. I am supposed to finish number 6...this is a snowball and nine patch quilt on my list. Funny thing is, I have no memory of these fabrics whatsoever or cutting this out...now this was not so long ago!! That memory thing kind of scares me...but it also means I learn new things every day...LOL!!! I think the memory thing will get better when the thyroid is fixed. Anyway, I dragged the number 6 UFO box out and laid it out, and discovered that all the blocks are made, and I just have to sew them together. This will be a donation quilt, which is double good for me...a UFO conquered and a giving too...


Have a great day!!


Julie

Monday, January 10, 2011

Pieces and parts

Hi everyone!! I have finished all the blocks for the Bonnie Quiltville mystery! Including the alternate neutral string blocks...but I chose not to use them, as mine were really bulky with the fabric foundation. Instead, I played around with all the pieces and parts and came up with this. I made cornerstones of some of the border strips, kind of a nine patch....I just love that, and the graphic nature of the red zig-zags...love it all!! It is a saturated with color quilt, to me...and the neutral pieces kind of glow! Altogether, just a really fun quilt. Thank you, Bonnie!
Close up...I still have to make a border of the pieces and parts...that is yet to come.
Lori of Humble Quilts is having a doll quilt-a-long!! She posted another step today, and I am done with that...come on next step!! This is proving such a fun quilt to make...would you like to join us???


Have a great day!!!


Julie

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Adding to the Constellation!

HI Y'all!! Barbara Brackman is hostessing a block of the week this year, all about blocks from the Civil War. She is a wonderful quilt historian, and I have read every book she has written. (dont' you just love the library?) I just had to join in! Above is her North Star block...
And her Catch Me if you Can block....both were fun and quick to do. Don't you want to join in? Please see her new blog!! Just click here...
What do you do with your leftover connector triangles? I am going to make pinwheels from each block we make...maybe I can have enough for another quilt!! Really...what do you do?? Her pattern does not make the blocks this way...but anyway, I did!
The roll top desk design wall.....




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


I went by a room several times yesterday while working at the hospital, and heard a quiet murmuring voice...I stopped and listened for a second on the way to the linen closet, and heard a darling man voicing a quiet prayer..."Please dear Lord, continue to bless me as you have this past 91 years, and see to those who look out over me..."....it was so sweet, and heartfelt...He was just a darling man...not my patient but a blessing to me none the less.



The hyperthyroid patient (me), is going for a nuclear thyroid scan on Monday and Tuesday...a two day test, so then I will know what in tarnation is going on with the thyroid storm!!! Not a real thyroid storm, if it were, I would be deathly ill, but I call it my own little private thyroid storm, kind of a little whirlwind instead of the full tornado!!!



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


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!


Julie

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

More progress...


And some more of these blocks done...A lot of quilters are scrambling to get their centers of this Quiltville mystery quilt done before Friday, when the final clue comes out. I have nine more of these blocks to complete....and I am thinking of ways to set them. I know Lori, and Kathy, and Cindy and Wendy and Michelle and Mary Lou and Gail and Jeanne
are all working hard on their quilts...will we make it???



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


The patient was a psych patient, and talked and talked and talked..., and just generally needed a lot of attention. The nurse was in the room, and while glancing at the monitor to record the vital signs, noticed a "lead off" alarm...and noticed the patient was quiet, which was very unusual...and then looked at the patient, who rolled her eyes back in her head, and fell back in the bed. This was not a No lead off situation, she went from talking and smiling to totally flat line (asystole) in two seconds!!! Code called, successful resuscitation at 10 AM. The patient was resuscitated and was totally fine, talkative, just fine!! At 12:10...the same thing!! Resuscitated in a few seconds with Epinephrine and Atropine and compressions...back to talking away again! 13:30... code number three!! Got her back again, just as fast...and screamed for the doctor to come and put in a stat pacemaker each time she coded....


And the patient got her pacemaker, and was so sweet and appreciative, and went home!! And came back and visited and was just a doll...her family said her personality was totally different after the codes and that she was so much better! The end!! The very happiest ending for all!!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Rolling on...RRCB!

HI Y'all!! I hope your New Year is rolling along wonderfully! I have been working on the Quiltville mystery, Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll...and here is where I am in the process. I have all the pieces and parts done, just a matter of putting it all together now. And I guess that is just all for today!!! I would love to know how you are doing on this one, if you are doing it...


Have a great day, all!!


Julie

Summer progress

Well good heavens!!  Lucky likes the kitty quilt.  This is a panel, paired with a cast-off pieced border from the guild.  I fussy cut the ki...