How time flies...

Names have finally been picked.

Boo Radley



Little Girl





 
After 137 pictures I had exactly 7 to choose from to post! Getting them to sit still and get a focused picture was like trying to hold water in your hands!
When we first brought them home he was rather active and she was shy and quiet. Boy after seven weeks their personalities have sure changed.  Boo is still active, but he is much calmer and very attached to me. Little Girl on the other hand is FAR from shy.
At the last weigh in two weeks ago she weighed 2.7 pounds and he weighed 2.8 pounds. I'm sure they have grown. I can look at his long legs and see he has.

Now I have to get in the sewing room and pack for the retreat!!!

Diane

What a ride and finally a picture

I bet you thought I forgot I had a blog!
I remembered, I just was not in range of an internet that would let my computer work properly.
Once again we did the whole Thanksgiving loop. Our house to Papa's, then to Grandma's then home again. You know that song Over the Rver and through the Woods? Well we had many many rivers and huge woods plus a few aunts, uncle and cousins to add to the song. This was a bittersweet loop this time. There were lots of tears, some frustrations, lots of hugs and kisses and prayers.
It is hard to realize just how old our parents are and that we will not have them forever. My husband's father is over 80 and just starting have memory issues. He has always had a really amazing memory. Seriously amazing. Almost maddening. Now, not so much. He couldn't find his truck last week in the Wal Mart parking lot. Not that, that is a such a horrific thing, but his age is starting to show.

My father is at the stage of his life with is dementia and Parkinson's and stroke and ... he is becoming almost like a child again. Only a child with great strength. I have arthritis and he squeezed my hand so hard I cried. Man, he has always been so strong and still is, he just can't walk very well and he can't remember if he took his medicine or if he ate or took a bath.
I took my new doggies to see my daddy. he has always been a lover of Chihuahua's so I knew he would love a visit. Sure enough, he did! But the problem is he wants one of his own. Moma is not pleased with me. I really didn't intend for that to happen. He is pretty adamant about it too. He IS gonna have a dog! Oh I am so glad I live 17 hours away!

I'm home for a few days. I hope to get some sewing done with pictures to post.
I do have the red border on the Shepherd's quilt top. Do you think the red border should have been wider?

design floor used instead of wall

Later,
Diane

Meeting the surgeon

What a stressful day. Not only is EVERY street in Florida named with a number, but whoever the city planner was at the time , had a wicked sense of humor. they names ALL the streets around the hospital the SAME TEN NUMBERS!
At one point I was on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street. Of course Google maps nor my GPS differentiated between the two just called both 3rd.  After I drove around looking for the office at 200 3rd St, I discovered there was no 200. I found some nice nurses who were out taking a smoke break and asked them where I needed to go. The answer was...
Go down the street, around the curve to the other side of the hospital and you will find ...wait for it...wait for it...3rd Blvd! Grrr!
So I do this...grumbling the whole way.
Next I call the Dr's office because I still can't find the building. The answer was, "We are in the new building."
Me: "I'm new to the area I don't know new from old, what does it look like."
Her:" It is the new terra cotta building on the left."
Me:" Uh, Mam, ALL the buildings are terra cotta colored."
Her:" Yes, but we are the new one."
GRRRR! Honestly that was the conversation. My confidence of ever finding this doctor was going way down, along with his abilities to cut on my child if he couldn't hire staff who gave better information than that.

I know, it really was my fault I should have made sure I knew where I was going before I left home, but I just figured with a GPS, Google maps, and a cell phone I would be fine. Apparently I was wrong.

Finally we found the office. Joseph meets the doctor and is examined and told he will not need surgery...yet.
He has pulled or strained the groin muscle and pulled one in his back. The doctor said since he has had a hernia in the past, and now he has a strain he could possibly get another hernia but at this moment in time it was not a hernia and he couldn't fix something that wasn't broke.
Praise the LORD! I am thankful my son does not have to have surgery. That he doesn't have to be put under.

Anyway, I am thanking everyone for their prayers and emails. Thank you , thank you!!!

I may, now that he isn't going into the hospital, go to Houston. Ray said he needs to stay home and work as there are tons of things he needs to finish before the end of the year and no time to do it. He said if I would go away he could work 20 hours a day and not feel guilty.
Let me think about it...this was just told to me about 15 minutes ago...

Design Wall Monday

No work done at all!
Surprised?

I will remedy that today I hope. I found some border fabric that I think will work so hopefully I can get dinner in the slow cooker and sneak in the sewing room.
Tomorrow Joseph has a consult with the surgeon.
Wednesday Ray starts two weeks of vacation.
I may not get another chance to visit my sewing room so I had better hop to it!

Later,
Diane

Joseph update

Joseph is feeling much better today. Praise the Lord!
He had managed to pull a muscle in his back at work when he was trying to not bend or move wrong, protecting his hernia. Poor baby!
In the ER they assessed him and decided to try something. The doctor said if it was his hernia or a kidney stone (due to the location of the back pain) this wouldn't affect him, but if it wasn't the two and was a possible pulled muscle he would feel relief in minutes. They gave him a shot of something, and in 5 minutes he was felling relief. In 15 minutes he was relaxing and in 30 minutes he was asleep on the ER bed.
The doctor talked with Ray and after watching him and examining the hernia again released him to come home and rest.
Ray said he slept the whole way home. He slept for 6 hour on the couch with hardly a movement. Ray and I both found spots and slept too.

This morning Joseph is feeling human again!
Thank you for the comments and emails.

Diane

If one more thing...

Anyone who knows me knows I don't handle change well. I like a solid schedule. I like knowing I get up at the same time each day, eat at the same time, etc. Sounds boring to most people but I do better that way.
Since bringing the puppies home my schedule has been more like when I brought my babies home. Total chaos!
I'm starting to get a schedule going for them, finally! Two nights in a row Joseph wakes me up in the middle of the night. He is having pain in is lower right abdomen. No fever, no nausea, just pain. "Do you want to go to the hospital"?
"NO"!
"Ok, so what do you want me to do".
"I don't know, make it quit"!?
Thursday he got to feeling better and went on to work and said it never hurt again. Ok, this is good. Friday when he wakes me up at 3am hurting we all started trying to figure this out. Pulled muscle? Appendicitis? Gas?
I called the doctor as soon as she opened and was told to bring him on in.

He has a hernia. :^(

That was Friday. We have a surgery consult on Tuesday but Ray has just taken Joseph to the ER. He is in a lot of pain and hasn't slept well in days. He just can't stand the pain any more. I hope and pray someone can help him. It is so hard to watch him in pain and not be able to help.
later,
Diane

It wasn't so bad

I don't want to do it again, but I took off the brown staff and replaced it. I managed it but I grumbled the whole time. Now you watch, the original brown will show up tomorrow in plain sight!
No matter, I like the new brown better I think. I went ahead and appliqued the staff curl before I misplaced this one. The star came out a bit more curved than the pattern called for, but I never claimed to be good at applique. LOL I would love to be, but that is not my talent.

Now off to bed!

Later,
Diane

Word of advice

No matter how bad your sewing room looks, no matter what shape your cutting table is, don't ever, let me repeat that, DON'T EVER clean up your room/area in the middle of a project!
I have lost a piece of brown fabric that I need to finish the shepherd's staff! UGH! I have looked everywhere...well not everywhere apparently because I can't locate that stupid piece of brown fabric! But I have searched and searched and can't seem to find it.
I could rip the border off and then rip the brown out and start with a new one but I really don't want to do that.
Please learn from my mistake, don't clean an area until you are finished with the project.

I'm going back in. If you don't hear from me in an hour send the search dogs as there has probably been an avalanche and I am on the bottom.

Wish me luck,
Diane

Ta Da!

I got busy today and while chatting with my friend Linda on the phone I got all of my sheep made. :)

I'm having so much fun!

Now to decide about the borders. Since I am using only my stash fabrics I am having just a bit of an issue...of the fabrics I like I don't have enough...the fabrics that are just a bit off  I have plenty. Isn't that how it always works? Ok so I found a green for the first border. The pattern calls for another lighter green for the next border but I don't have one that looks good so I am looking at a gold piece that looks promising. Then the red is a whole other issue. I have three reds that I have plenty to do the last border and binding but each one is either too pink, or grey or wrong style. That is the problem with buying for your stash and only buying a yard. I have learned if I like it and have no plans for it buy 2 yards, that way I can do most anything with it.

What do you think so far?

More later,
Diane

Superior

Have you heard of what Kelly at I have a Notion is doing?  She is offering a needle exchange program. No not that kind of needle exchange! She and Superior Threads partnered up and are offering to exchange one of your old sewing machine needles in exchange for one of the new Superior Needles. What an great way to get to try it out before you buy! Head over there before the promotion ends and give one a try! I received mine in the mail Saturday and I'm putting it in the machine as soon as I finish this post. Sadly this is the first chance to get to sew. I tried to do some last night and today I am ripping every seam I sewed. :^( Pitiful!

Off to sew!
Diane

Design Wall Monday

Can you believe? I actually have something for this Monday! I never make Christmas specific items, choosing to make winter items instead so they can be out longer. I love this quilt though so I decided to make one and choose colors that make it more "everyday" and not so Christmasy.

The yellow and orange to the right is a Linus quilt I have not finished putting together.

This is from the Star of Wonder book from Heart to Art by Nancy Halvorsen. I just love her designs...so much so that twice I have bought duplicates of her books. DUH!

What's on your design wall?
Diane

My cup runneth over

I have tons of 2 1/2" strips. Every time I get down to the last little bit of a fabric I go ahead and strip it. Apparently I use a lot of 1 1/2" and 2" but very few 2 1/2" strips. My smaller strip drawers have some strips but not even 1/2 of the drawer is full. The 2 1/2" strip drawer is full to the top. 

 I was trying to find a fabric I knew I had cut up but was having a hard time since there were so many and they were not sorted by color.

 I looked and searched and made a big mess on my table... There it is!! Woo Hoo I knew I had it!

Then I decided to sort the strips by colors. I hope this will aid in using the drawer more since I now know what I have.

Much better, don't you think? Now that it is sorted I see I have a lot of light strips so I think I need to get busy. I am going to try and finish up a few projects that I have started and then decide what my goals for next year are.

Normally I am not a goal kinda gal in the sewing room. I enjoy piecing so much I figure any time spent sewing is good enough, but...You knew there was a but coming didn't you?

I feel like I need to get a bit (just a small bit) organized in what I have and how I would like to use it. I have enough projects and fabric to last me well into the next millennium. I don't have a real problem with that and I only feel guilty occasionally. I just need to use what I have so my husband and or children won't send it all to the dump if I die before the Lord comes back.

Later,

Diane

What in the world?

Does it look like I'm busy?

Or does it just look like a mess?

How about this?

This is what I do when I don't know what to do.



I make piles!

 Lots of piles!

Trying to get my mind on a project.

Sorting through boxes from the move...still.

I put this on my design wall a week ago...that's it, not more work on it. That is what I do when I am under stress. I don't function well. So there it sits. Maybe I will get to it today. It is a Linus quilt for Mobile's group. I have had it since August! Boy I am slow!

Clean up after the party

I have been having a great big pity party for the past little while. I mean a GREAT BIG WALLOW of a party with lots of music. Have you heard this one? "Oh I'm so mistreated" or how about " No one Understands" or the biggest hit "It's not Fair!" Those have been playing a LOT around here lately. 
I have been silently fuming. For those who really know me, you can get off the floor laughing, I really have been suffering silently. There is no reason to get the husband upset since this affected him too.

Have you ever been mistreated? Have you ever been the one on the losing end of the deal? Have you ever been taken advantage of? Of course you have! So why do I feel so alone in this? Like I am the only one who has been betrayed.
be·tray  (b-tr)

tr.v. be·trayed, be·tray·ing, be·trays

1.

a. To give aid or information to an enemy of; commit treason against: betray one's country.

b. To deliver into the hands of an enemy in violation of a trust or allegiance: betrayed Christ to the Romans.

2. To be false or disloyal to: betrayed their cause; betray one's better nature.

3. To divulge in a breach of confidence: betray a secret.

4. To make known unintentionally: Her hollow laugh betrayed her contempt for the idea.

5. To reveal against one's desire or will.

6. To lead astray; deceive. See Synonyms at deceive.

 

#3!

#6!

These are the thoughts in my head...

Betrayed by those who are nearest to me? Sure! But then again how could you be betrayed by anyone not close to you? Think about it, only those near you could betray you.

I am reminded of a song years ago that was talking about how Christ was betrayed by a kiss. Someone who was close enough to him to be able to embrace him and kiss him was the one who hurt him. The pain wasn't so much the betrayal, but the action coming from one He loved.

That is how I am feeling right now. I was hurt by one close to me. One who used love to get what they wanted and then ground my feelings in the ground.

 

I read some words today that I hope will help me through this. Really I just want to get on the other side of this. I am tired of this knot in my stomach. I am tired of these feelings. In a few weeks I have to be face to face with the person(s) who did this and I really want to reflect Christ not myself.

 

Diane