Happy Halloween!!! How about some pumpkin cheesecake with a yummy chocolate spider web on top? Dear husband decorated this cheesecake and took it to work...and I helped by eating the leftover chocolate. Am I not a good wife?

He also got some cute, cute baby pumpkins so I could decorate our dining room table. I have had the Indian corn for many years, I still think it is so pretty.

And Pumpkin-cranberry muffins too! Yum!!

I love Halloween for one thing...all the kiddos who come to the house for treats. I just love seeing the costumes and the precious little ones running around...fun!!

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The Gypsy princess:

I had a tiny little lady for my patient, last day I worked at the hospital, young, drop-dead gorgeous with hip length dark hair and lovely brown eyes. She reminded me so much of the beautiful gypsy girls I had read about as a girl. This little gypsy, however, was very sick, on the vent, when she came in her body temp. was 93.0 F. She had been down for a long time. Blood sugar 1200 (normal is 80-120). Diabetes run amok. She is getting better, but she just strikes me so...a darling gypsy in our midst. As she is on the vent, I braided all that lovely hair, so it won't be too big a mess for her when she wakes up. She will be all better soon...

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Have a great day,

Julie

Gratitude

Hi all:

A wonderful thing happened to me today. I went rushing off to work...too fast. Apparently I dropped my little card case out of my purse...with my debit card, insurance card, and driver's license. I did not notice it was gone until this afternoon...and searched all over work for it. I got home, and my dear husband said, "Are you missing something?" A kind person, I probably will never know who, had apparently found the card case outside the house by my car, I guess, and put it in my mailbox. Now in this world of identity theft and bad stuff...someone did this very kind thing for me. I am full of gratitude and a little bit of shock...and so full of gladness.


Yahoo!

Julie

Friendship nine-patches

Hi Friends!! Whew, I have been working lots of hours at the hospital, and I just had one day off...and worked on cleaning the garage out at home that day. So, this is the first sewing/quilting day I have had for a coon's age! I need to tell you a short story...a story of friends at work. There are several quilter's at the hospital, of varying experience. We decided about 5 years ago to exchange nine-patches. So we did...and I got back several different sizes, I think everyone sews a little bit different 1/4 inch seam allowance. Each block was very precious, but tough to work with. So, mine went on a shelf and were admired occasionally and always loved...but they just cried out to be put into a quilt THIS WEEK! So, I fussed around and came up with this arrangement. Although I tried to square up as much as possible, I don't think one corner actually meets...heee!! But I don't care, I love it and love my dear friends who made nine patches to be loved and used, not gather dust...now the quilt is crying out "press me"!!


By the way, these are the non-pink nine-patches...I have 64 more blocks, all in pinks!!

Sting piecing progress: I tried to separate the bright clear colors from the muddier colors. These are the brights. I am going to make one more row...That orange really sticks out, doesn't it? Hmm, might eliminate that one...

Wonderful mail!! My friend Joyce in Arizona spied some great lime green plaids, and was nice enough to share...I love them!!

And more fun mail! My friend Lyn at http://www.bluebirdquilts-lyn.blogspot.com/ has a new business! She is a talented pattern designer and quilter, and she is selling her work. This is an entire kit for a lovely vintage angel, of her own design. Check her out!!

*******************************Nursing Notes *****************************

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Don't read if you don't want to...this was yesterday at my work, sad but glad too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The precious, grandmotherly lady lay in the bed, still...too still. Not a grimace marred her lovely face. The ventilator whooshed quietly in, out, in, out. The drips infused with a hum of a small pump. She just couldn't wake up, the stroke had done it's deadly work. A lovely daughter quietly shared stories of her courage, her strength, her love of family, friends, church. Tears shed, and quiet laughter too. One quiet tear from the doctor, who has cared for her many, many years. Nurse's too. Prayers from a wonderful pastor...a letting go and a healing. Gathered family had made a decision to let her go, to let her see her husband and parents once again. With no fuss, drips were quietly shut off; the ventilator's whoosh silent. Total peace and a tiny smile on her face...

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Thanks for each one of you, and for each day!!!

Have a great quilting day....

Julie

A Winner!!

Congratulations to Mary of Quilt Hollow! She is the winner in the Karen/Julie Big Adventure Giveaway!

Hope everyone is doing great....

Julie

Blocks and more blocks...

Hi all! Have you seen the above pattern? The pattern is called "Vicksburg", by Bonnie blue Quilts. I love this line of patterns! I was strolling through our local quilt shop, and one of the workers said she was doing a Block of the month, with two blocks each month, and would I like to do it? $10.00/month...I signed up!! So, I got the first installment of fabric and pattern, and found enough fabric to make not two blocks, but four, and I could probably have gotten six blocks out of it. So I have leftovers! Maybe two quilts?? And fabric for a scrappy border...

I like this block best, so far. This will be fun to look forward to each month.

And this little pile of 8 inch string blocks (32 in all) represents lots of time...but the string tub is still full! What to do...just keep on sewin'!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Julie

Do you have time to make one 9 inch block?

Hi friends:

As many of you know, our friend Terry at Terry's Treasures has had some awful times lately: her husband had his leg crushed in a work related accident, and has had to have the leg amputated and multiple surgeries this past week. Laurie at www.ayankeequilter.blogspot.com has organized a quilt project for Terry. Nine inch quilt blocks are needed (nine and 1/2 inch unfinished). I sent one today, it took under an hour to make...do you have time to help a really nice fellow blogger? Please go to a yankee quilter for all the details.

Julie

Mystery Solved!

Ok, folks, this is my version of Bonnie's newest mystery quilt, "Christmas Lights". I think the pattern is darling, but I officially am not thrilled with my quilt! Wish I had made different fabric choices. But, I think with quilting, texture, washing, love...it will be better. My rule was to use only what I had, so this is what I had! (Hope it doesn't end up on padding furniture in a moving van...)

**********************Nursing Notes*******************************

Carrie is no longer with us! I had the pleasure of moving her to the regular medical floor...telemetry, but hey, what a gigantic step! She no longer needs intensive care, so after SIXTY days in Critical Care, she is movin' on! She is making progress by leaps and bounds...and she is a nursing student, and is even able to study a little bit. Of course, this semester is a wash-out for her, but I just know she will graduate and become a wonderful nurse, at least that it is what I am praying for. Chemo continues, and she has lost most of her lovely blond locks, but that will grow back...

Gary (gunshot victim) is doing wonderfully, but he will be in and out of the hospital probably for the rest of his life. Because he is paralyzed from the neck down, he does not cough and clear his secretions like normal people, and these patients also get infections easily...we will see him again, but for now...great news!!!

Sad News (don't read if you don't want to!)

I came into the unit yesterday to a great wailing and commotion...sadly, our poor little mother who I helped with the C-section...did not make it. The night shift coded her for hours...but she just did not make it. Total respiratory failure, despite maximum vent support and even the roto-prone bed, which turns patients completed upside down to try and help open up her lung alveoli. Her mother is just devastated...but said that the baby is normal, eating, burping, crying...all that babies do. So the baby was saved in time, even though very early. She said that at least she has a little bit of her daughter...the baby.

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Hope everyone is doing great...each one of you are so important and adds precious richness to my life.

Julie