Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Heartbroken - I'll be absent for a while.

We've had a tough couple of months here, with 911, hospital, nursing home and finally husband returned home after all that during the holidays.  No Christmas checks were written, somehow Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went without me noticing.  DH was so ill, slightly recovered for a time, but his illness won out and yesterday January 21, he died here at home.  


I'll write more another time.  


Monday, January 20, 2020

Small projects, basket strings quilts, health issues

Sue made this little quilt (above) and asked me to send it to the collection point, Hugs and Stitches.   I looked at it and LOVED it immediately only to hear that it was ME who started it long ago and then in my fit of cleaning out UFOs, she picked it up and finished it!  Yeahhhh, that's what friends are for!  Sue has been a fresh, excited, participating addition to our quilting community.   We are heartbroken to see her move but understand that moving near family is of primary importance.

Below is a silly kids quilt for same donation as the above quilt, made from a box of scraps from Joan (NC).  Mostly, I was playing and still don't have the right balance or ????  We continue to learn, don't we?   

I saw Bonnie Hunter's Basket Weave Strings  (free pattern on her blog, quiltville.com,) and made #6 quilt from "that box of scraps"given to me by Pat's Creative Stitchery, our LQS.  Carol liked the idea and made the center quilt, and then Sue (named above) made the one on the right!

 We showed all 3 at one time at January Guild for Show and Tell.  That's me on left of above photo.  For whatever reason, we each set the blocks on point.  I sewed my blocks to paper, but don't remember what method the others used.  The suggestion was to alternate lights and darks on each block, but all the blocks are interesting, and the BEST at using scraps.


My blog title includes says "health issues".  Half of November and most of December were punctuated by my husband's health issues.  There were no holidays for us.  Between 911, Ambulance, hospital and nursing home care, he's finally back home.  Months ago, Ms. Victoria of http://victoria-carroll-parkhill.blogspot.com/ made a blog post suggesting "take more photos of your loved ones" .  I'm thankful I had followed her advice, as it originally appeared DH may not get back home.   The crisis was averted for now, medical procedures administered and he's home.  Positive factors are that the hospital and nursing home are both within blocks of my home, and helpful friends and neighbors stepped in during frantic running back and forth during those terrible weeks.  Negative factors were icy and snowy weather, snowblowing, power outages that meant that garage door didn't open, phone and cell service nil for brief times, and no computer, all adding to mayhem and fears.
More learning to absorb.  👎👎

My suggestion:  When faced with medical crisis, if possible take a friend to take notes, to help listen or suggest, correct what one remembers, and mostly, to hold your hand.  At one point, having heard what sounded like the worst possible news, I went kinda bonkers, and I believe the hospital was considering calling for Security -- for usually-perfectly-proper me!