Well, imagine that, it's Tuesday again!

Here I am back blogging on a Tuesday. Here's a photo of my great-niece Becky's quilt -- I've named it "Rising Star" and put on the label "Made Especially for Becky -- who is the rising star". I thought that was pretty cool -- I'm not usually very creative with stuff like that. Maybe that's not very creative either, now that I think of it! LOL. I'm still in the process of finishing up the binding, but should finish in the next day or so. These blocks are left over from my Shakespeare in the Park, when they were just too much color and the greens didn't flow with the greens in the snail trail blocks. Pretty decent for leftovers, I think!

This is a Joann's block of the month -- I fell in love with it, although it is a technique I had never tried-- machine applique. This is the center block -- I've since purchased (with coupons of course!) 2 more blocks but have not begun them. I don't think it's too bad for my very first machine applique. And no, I have no idea where I'll put this quilt -- it will be huge when done and here we go again, another one on point! However, I am rewarding myself every pay period with another block kit. The kits are pretty cool. They come with the backing fabric and all the fabrics and the patterns. You trace the patterns onto the fusible web, iron it on, cut them out, place them on the base fabric, iron it on and then do the machine applique. You can also do needle turn applique, but I'm really not into doing that, so I chose machine applique, but it still takes a lot of time (AND THREAD). Right now this is just one block stuck up on my wall (with pins yet!), but eventually, I think it'll be a gorgeous quilt! And no, I have no idea how I'll quilt it. Maybe I'll do it QAYG and try some stippling in the free spaces. Heck, I don't know! This one is on the back burner for now, but I want to get all the blocks while Joann's still has them.

Shakespeare in the Park is still with my friend Barb, the long armer. I am anxious to get it back, but I know she's got many quilts in front of mine, and that's a huge quilt. It'll cost an arm and a leg to get it out of hock when she finishes with it! But it'll be worth it. Barb, Diane and I are quilting over Labor Day. Their significant others are out of town and we're contemplating a mini-retreat. That would be fun, but if not, my plan is to get at least one wall of my bedroom painted that pale yellow to go with my Shakespeare in the Park quilt. If we do a mini retreat, well . . . the walls will just have to wait!

All else is good for the moment, and now it's time for me to get back to work. Have a great day!

And here are the pillow shams I made for my Shakespeare in the Park. Looking forward to it coming back from Barb, my long arm quilter!

Ricky & Natalya

I just had to post this adorable photo of my grandchildren!

It's Tuesday

Tuesday seems to be my day for blogging. As mentioned earlier, my friends and I had a sew day where we made X-block patterns. Here's a photo of my flimsy -- without borders (which are sewn but not squared up or added as yet).

The top is actually square -- it's just where I hung it up to snap a quick photo and the edges are falling off. Diane's and Barb's look completely different -- but just gorgeous! They used different X-Block patterns. Here's photos:

This is Diane's X-block -- cool, huh?

And this is Barb's -- her's has what are called "belly buttons" and is a lot more difficult. Gorgeous, huh?

So yesterday was my Mom's 87th birthday. We had a whole weekend of birthday stuff, and it was great. My sister and brother-in-law (although he wasn't here) took us all out to Red Lobster on Sunday and we had a wonderful dinner and a great time. Before that we went to "The Ugly Truth." Warning about that movie -- my 87 year old mother, sister, niece, and 18 year old great-niece (as well as my aunt) went. It's a bit raunchy and I couldn't stop laughing at all of us sitting there watching this rather racey movie. But it turned out OK. My niece and great-niece and I went to see Harry Potter Saturday night. Trixye and I spent the night at Mom's (Trixye did super well, I was so proud of her) and Mom got some rest on Sunday morning. I had to work yesterday, but Mom and Sandi went out to dinner at Olive Garden, and my niece and great-niece stopped in for breakfast. I think she had a good birthday. I laid out the star quilt I'd planned for my great-niece and she loved it -- she said. I hope it's true -- lots of work to be done on it yet. I also got to see the quilt my great grandmother made (or is that great great -- I'm not sure, I think it is), that my great-niece has. Lovely scrappy split rail, all done by hand, with the most beautiful even stitches, just gorgeous.

I had to ruin it a bit due to more trouble in Meghan's world. It is so hard to be so far away and not be able to help. Now she's got cancer, and has been denied MediCal (California's version of Medicaid) so no insurance and they've referred her to a place that only charges 10%. But 10% of thousands and thousands of dollars of treatment is out of reach. I'm sure she'll figure it out -- I only wish there was some way I could help her.

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a quilt for my sister. She likes things very luxurious, and she wants a queen size. Having just finished a queen size (which is with Barb, my long arm quilter now -- I'm sure it won't be done for months), I'm not quite sure how to attack this one. She doesn't really want geometric, which as you know is about all we do! Then she looked at the comforter on her beds and realized they are geometric in design. Part of me wants to attempt a double wedding ring -- but I think that may be past my skill level. I know I need lots of extra templates, etc., to even attempt one. I'd like to make her one for Christmas, but I'm just not sure what she'll like. She wants jewel tones -- maybe I could find a nice quilt as you go pattern and come up with a queen size. Any ideas anyone? Any patterns you'd suggest? What are jewel tones anyway? Golds, purples, sapphire blues, ruby reds? Would they clash? Maybe with the right pattern . . . . scrappy or not? I don't think she'd like scrappy. It's scary to try to make something and just hope she'll like it. I want to do it . . . . just not sure what to do! I'm open to suggestions!!

Oh, Talya is healthier than she's ever been, she's talking, beginning to walk, etc. Had a minor ear infection yesterday (to top everything off). But she has insurance and the doctor treated her. Kids and grandkids -- God the worry! I try not to worry, but I don't succeed.

Did I tell you I gave Mom my One Block Wonder for her birthday? She was at my house a few weeks ago and claimed it was her favorite. As many of you know, it's my favorite too (well, one of them -- Double Delight and SITP are too) -- but isn't that why we quilt? To give the ones away that people actually love? So I did. I hope she didn't feel it was a "left over" or anything, and I know it doesn't match a thing in her house, but she did claim to love it back then -- I hope she still does! It was hard to give that one up. So much of "me" went into it.

Started to design my shams for my Shakespeare in the Park last night, but with the phone calls from Meghan, etc., I lost interest. But I do have a layout. Can't work on it tonight-- going to the American Idol concert. A birthday gift from my friend Lynn. I think she's the only friend I have that is addicted to AI as I am. So this will be the third or maybe fourth time we've gone to the concert. Third, I think. I'm trying to pull my mood out of the basement so that I can go and enjoy it.

Anyway, any thoughts, ideas or suggestions on a queen size quilt (not past my ability level) for my sister would be appreciated. I know she wants one, and I want to make it. I'm just somewhat intimidated by the size and scope of the project, and what pattern to use. . . . and whether she'll like it once I've finished. But I know she really wants a quilt. Help!!

Billye

It's been forever (again)

Since I posted. Lots going on quilty and otherwise! First, here's a photo of my (nearly) completed Shakespeare in the Park:




I say nearly completed, because I've added a small yellow border and a 6" green border -- just to make this already gigantic thing bigger (and at the suggestion of my long armer, Barb, who didn't want my star points cut off when it was quilted.) Just need a bit more of the green -- 3 of the borders are on. It'll be about king size, but will fit nicely on my queen size bed (I like them bigger).

This is a photo of a gift my friend (long armer Barb again) and I made for our friend Diane. We gave it to her for her birthday when we went to her house for a sew day on Saturday.

That Saturday Diane, Barb and I worked on X-Block quilts -- using the same tool, different fabrics and different patterns. Diane, who had not even chosen fabric yet, is almost done with hers. Mine is in process -- I cut a couple blocks backwards and have remade those, and am at assembly stage. Photos to be posted on completion. Barb is so busy -- we'll see hers (which is GORGEOUS) when she gets it done.

I have completed my Double Delight -- I think I posted photos. Have completed my 5 yard quilt, no photo since it's no big deal. I'm also working on a hand quilted wall hanging project that should be completed this week. I have a stars quilt in the works for my great-niece -- left over stars from the SITP -- I hated them when they went with the snail trails, but they're kind of cute in a quilt by themselves--and plenty of them too!

As is true in most lives, not all is good, but not all is bad either. My granddaughter, Talya, is doing so so so much better. She's actually the poster child for the procedure that they did. It was 100% successful. She's still on the kidney transplant list -- but nearly 19 lbs. now. It is my understanding that when she reaches 22 lbs, they can do another procedure to help her get even better. Still, her kidneys are not right, and that procedure won't fix them either. Eventually she will likely need a transplant.

My daughter, her mother, on the other hand, has had a rough time the last couple of weeks. After a gynecological scare of being told she had very aggressive cancer, a biopsy was performed on Friday, without anesthesia and they were able to see the tumor on her uterus. They asked her and she opted to have it removed (still without anesthesia -- OUCH!!). They believe they got it all. They did 7 biopsies of the tumor -- 6 were negative, one showed Stage 1 cancer. Not sure what kind of cancer. She's on her way now to have a PET scan done (pray that's negative), and she'll probably need some radiation therapy. And no, I have no idea how they'll handle all that because even though the baby is so much better, she still isn't well enough . . . . no insurance for Meghan, although Talya has MediCal (Medicaid in Florida). Fun fun fun! I don't plan to go out to San Diego unless there really seems to be some way I can help out. I can only afford one trip -- well I can't really afford even one trip -- but if I go, that trip needs to COUNT!


I will update as more info comes in. Back to work for me! Hugs to all.

Billye

Tuesday am - it's been a while!

I haven't posted in forever, I know. Some good news -- here's a photo of Talya sleeping on the pillow and pillow case I made her -- she's doing so much better they were actually able to decline a kidney that was offered for transplant. Despite kidney failure a couple of months ago, when she missed a couple of doses of antibiotics (for the UTIs) due to spitting them up, whatever, her kidney functions were up. The doctors took a risk and took her off antibiotics and, amazingly, she's doing great!

Hmmm....I can't seem to load up a photo -- any photo right now! Darn. I was going to post one of my Double Delight from my long arm quilter -- Barb -- who did a fantastic job! I can't wait to pick it up from her.

I've been working on my Shakespeare in the Park for months. I got almost all the blocks done and laid out (about half) of it on my bed to see what I thought. I hated it. I didn't use the same fabrics for the background in the stars as in the snail trails, and I used too many colors in the stars. I just didn't like it. So . . . I've almost finished recutting for some light yellow stars using the same fabric for background as in the snail trail blocks. I'm pretty sure I'll like it much better. The snail trails were "lost" in my opinion. Again, I'd post a photo if it would let me. Probably some sort of blocker here at work.

My great-niece has requested a quilt after the one I made for her Mom, my niece Mischa. I made a pineapple quilt for her, and she loves it. It's flattering for people to ask for one for themselves, and I'll be happy to make one for Becky -- she just graduated high school with super high honors. One of the girls here at work asked me if I sold them. Diane and Barb and I are making an X-Block quilt (Night Weave I think it's called) mid-July at a sew date at my house. Each of us will be making our own. I'm looking forward to that!

Work has been OK -- busier and a little less worrisome about being laid off. Sometimes I'm really busy (last week) but then this week, not so much. Of course, it's only Tuesday! It's a good job, I don't work particularly hard (certainly in comparison to my last couple of jobs!), I make good money, have great benefits, and work with a group of good people around me, some of whom are beginning to become friends.

One of those friends has gotten me hooked on "The Bachelorette". Yeah, I know. Not my kind of television either usually. And yet . . .I'm hooked!

That's enough for now, since I can't post photos. All is OK. I'm a bit down today, but I'll bounce back up. I always do!

Wednesday Afternoon

So here's a photo of the 7 shirts quilt I'm making for my DGS, Ricky -- it's made from 7 men's shirts. I don't care for plaids, so this is what I ended up with. The back is made from the backs of shirts (and a couple of sleeves) and they are sandwiched. I plan to just do some easy quilting with "X"s across the blocks (thanks Diane for the idea) and slap that binding on and be DONE! LOL. I've enjoyed making something new and different for me, and repurposing. Plus I think it looks like a VERY manly quilt! I hope to get it off in the mail in the next week, together with Talya's quilt and some changing pads and diaper/wipes cases (and for Talya, a medicine case). My sister bought some bonnets as well, and I have a rather large box of soda tabs to send -- people at work have been collecting for us.

As most of you know, Talya is going to need a kidney transplant, and the measurements and a lot of the tests have already been taken to put her on the transplant list. She'll need 3 in all as she grows up . . . but today was a good day -- her functions were up, and the doctors are confused -- it's not medically possible. Except . . . it's happened. Our family knows it's from the prayers of all of us, all of you, and from people we haven't even heard of that have heard about her. Thank you everyone. This is a very trying time and will continue to be, but we keep trying to be positive and think positively. I've not been posting partly because I've been, shall we say, less than cheerful, but I do believe God has His hand on that baby. Please say a prayer for my daughter as well -- she's being pushed beyond her limits and pulled in so many different directions -- finances, stress, sickness, Ricky's school, in-laws, lack of friends or emotional support -- just pray for her too, OK? She's been amazing through all this -- and I'm incredibly proud of her.

I want to make a couple more changing pads, etc. before I ship the box off, and I want to publicly thank Diane for teaching me how to make those too! What a great friend she is, and an incredible teacher and generous person!

Everyone take care -- I'll post more when I have more to post!