It's a Wrap...

 It was a slow process, but I finally finished the final twelve blocks for Afternoon Delight. My hope was to get them done before the end of year so I'm very happy and relieved that it happened.

I decided long ago that I would not do an on point block setting. I want my double nine patch blocks create a diagonal path chain. You can see what  that will look like HERE when the designer Sue Garman was deciding on how she  would set her blocks. 

It will be a while before I get to start setting my blocks. My design wall is full and waiting for me to get to work. I have yet to fire up my machine since my surgery, so I imagine my first task will be to oil her up!

 

Thanks to everyone who commented and sent good thoughts my way. I haven't taken the time to figure out why I no longer get my comments by email. Another job to add to the list! I am getting around without my walker and feel stronger everyday. 

Happy New Year to you all--stay safe! 

Oops...

 I want to thank everyone that took the time to comment or write me after my last post. It's so uplifting to have so much encouragement and good wishes.

 Thank you!

This is the extent of my work in the sewing room. I finally remembered that I needed to print out the October and November Afternoon Delight BOM patterns. I was so happy to see that the December patterns were already available too, as my membership ends this month. Soooo--these are final twelve blocks! It has taken me weeks to just choose the fabrics--my brain doesn't seem to be functioning on all cylinders--lol! It's going to be slow going getting the edges prepped and sewn as I have a bit of tremor in my hands. Hopefully that will clear up soon. 

Thanksgiving is going to be different for us all, but I hope you will be safe! I know I have a lot to be thankful for!

A Little Update

 On September 28th, Mr. Moosebay insisted on taking me to the ER. A week later, I woke to find that my entire colon had been removed, I had lost 20 pounds, was now diabetic, and had an ileostomy . They told me I had been in an induced coma as I "coded" and intubated during the first part of the surgery that was done to remove necrotic tissue. The rest of the surgery was finished the following day. I also had a dangerous C. Diff infection. Thankfully, I don't remember anything that happened before, during and for quite a while afterwards. The surgeon told me that he had done my particular surgery only five times before and he had only two survivors. I was one of them. I had been feeling a little angry that he had taken my whole colon, but realized what a miracle it was that I was even alive and so grateful for all of the efforts taken to make that happen.  I developed hospital-acquired and aspirational pneumonia. I became malnourished and had a feeding tube put in causing me to lose my voice and ability to swallow. 

Finally, after three weeks flat on my back, I was sent to a nursing/rehab center. I worked very hard to get back on my feet and had an awesome team working with me. I was told I would probably be there for up to six weeks, but I am home now after only two weeks. I have nursing care coming in to help with my ileostomy, but I can dress  and shower myself.   

The only time I cried during this ordeal was when I was gathering my things to go home.... 

I was so overwhelmed by how many wonderful cards, email, texts and messages I got with words of encouragement. You will never know how much they all meant to me--that you took the time to think of me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

I'm not sure when I will be up to working in my sewing  room again--hopefully soon. 

In the meantime I will be working on getting  stronger with some help from my new wheels!

Biding Time...

I've been looking for things I can do with my right hand (and a little help from the fingers on my left hand) and decided I could prep the September Afternoon Delight blocks for applique. Hopefully I'll be able to do some hand stitching soon. 

I also managed to complete my paint by number that I started about 2 years ago (I had lost interest in it almost right away). It's not the most creative way to spend one's time, but the more I worked on it these last few weeks, the more I enjoyed it--kind of mindless fun and kept me occupied..... 

....but, not occupied enough to keep me from doing some on line shopping. I splurged on a half yard bundle of Judie Rothermel's latest line of fabric, Coming to America. I don't have any plans for the fabric, but just had to have it! I can't wait until I can't start sewing again!

 

September One Monthly Goal

 

The night before my wrist surgery I was looking for something to occupy myself and ended up marking all of the squares and rectangles for Butter Butterscotch by Linda Koenig.

Because of the screws in my hand (feels more like ice picks!), any pressure I put on it is pretty painful, but I think I can push fabric through my sewing machine--maybe not right away but later in September. 

My One Monthly Goal for September is to get all 348 triangles sewn. I don't think I will be able to square everything up though. My instructions are to NOT push, pull, or lift anything over one pound. It's hard to know if pushing down on a ruler to square up a half square triangle exerts more than one pound of pressure, so until I get the okay from the doctor, I best avoid it! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

August One Monthly Goal Complete

Before this happened.....

...my August Afternoon Delight applique blocks were finished. 

They were my One Monthly Goal for August and, I admit, not a very lofty goal. I didn't want to get too stressed before my wrist surgery on the 6th, so I went pretty easy on myself. I hope to make up for it later this year and get back to completing entire quilts, although that may be what contributed to wearing out my wrist cartilage in the first place--lol!

I was getting pretty desperate to find something to occupy my time (aside from reading and one handed weed pulling). I decided to try my hand (pun intended!) at an adult coloring page from Mary Engelbreit's site.  It was a nice diversion, but after spending so much time on it, what the heck do I do with it? Also, any ideas what the half circle is next to the W? 

Hello thumb--I've missed you! I got my removable brace last week. It's so nice to be able to wash my arm and scratch an itch. I'm trying hard to not do too much yet, but I'm getting pretty antsy!

Linking with Elm Street Quilts HERE for One Monthly Goal 

 

Reading and reading and....

 It's only been a week since my surgery, and I am already feeling reader's fatigue. 

Even though I can't do any stitching, my Lap App has come in pretty handy. I'm using a strip of tee shirt sleeve (from what's left of my go-to mask making shirt) as a phone holder while I read. it's been working great--glad I thought of it! I have two Kindles but they are old school push-button navigation, so I prefer swiping on my phone's Kindle app.

It's also is helpful for reading books--wish I had realized this a long time ago!

I haven't tried a magazine but I'm excited to dig into this one--just arrived yesterday. 

The last thing I worked on before my wrist surgery were the appliques for my Di Ford quilt. It's hard to know that everything is ready to go but I have to leave it all untouched.

  My post-op appt. is still a week away, so I am trying to be good. The most strenuous thing I have done is to deadhead my petunias--lol! Actually, writing this post hasn't been easy. Thank goodness for the undo button! If I post again, I may forego caps and punctuation--just a warning. 

August One Monthly Goal

My One Monthly Goal for August is to complete the applique blocks for this months Afternoon Delight BOM. I have five days to get them done. I'm going easy on myself since after the sixth I will be "out of commission". I'm finally biting the bullet and having bone fusion surgery on my left wrist as the cortisone hasn't been helping with the pain anymore. I've had my Covid test and am self isolating until the "big day". 

I was hoping to get all twenty Clayton James blocks completed before surgery, but only managed to get this far. I've been cleaning cupboards, relining shelves and drawers, washing windows and weeding my gardens. I have been feeling like I will never be able to do anything ever again! My instructions are to keep my wrist absolutely immobile after surgery for up to 6 weeks (possibly longer) to allow the fusion to heal, so I won't attempt to finish any of more of these blocks for quite a while. 

In anticipation of getting back to sewing this fall, I have cut out and made test blocks for several quilts from Linda Koenig's Ratsburg Road Quilts book. 

In the meantime, I will be catching up on my reading! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal here:

 https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2020/08/one-monthly-goal-august-link-up.html

July One Monthly Goal Finish

My July One Monthly Goal was to complete the Broken Star quilt. You can see I did  an edge to edge design--Amoebas Gone Wild. 

I originally began quilting this with straight lines, but when I was almost a third of the way through, I realized that I didn't like the way it was looking--so many lines going on between the blocks and the quilting! Too bad I didn't figure that out before I was so far into it.
Needless to say, the next two days were not happy--especially since my sewing room registered 89 degrees--whew! 

I managed to use up some nice chunks of leftover fabric for the backing--always a good thing. 

And a sweet check that was gifted to me, cut on the bias for the binding--love it! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

The Parade Continues.....

Are you feeling the Sweet William block parade fatigue? I know I am, so here are all the rest of the blocks in one fell swoop. I think I managed not to repeat any of the previously shown blocks. 

Now I have some big decisions to make. 

I am having second thoughts on the yellow gingham alternate blocks (do I really want a yellow quilt?). Also, do I set the blocks like the original quilt or a regular on point setting?

 So many things to ponder! 

Block Parade

Since I have finished all the pieced Afternoon Delight blocks, this is all I have to show for July's block of the month. As you can see, I'm still focusing on adding more green and yellow fabrics.

And here are four more of my finished Sweet William blocks. There's not too much else going on in the sewing room since I'm finishing up my Broken Star quilt. The binding is on and being stitched closed--yay!

More SW blocks coming soon.....