Friday, February 10, 2006

No Sewing again......


I haven't been doing much sewing lately, too many other things getting in the way.

My GGD is going to be the next generation of quilt makers. She loves my antique Singer I removed the moter and installed a hand crank in it's place. The first time she noticed it she claimed it as hers and declared she wanted to sew. That year we made her first block, a 4 patch.


She proudly took it home to show her other gramma. Last year with my help she made a quilt for Muffin, her kitty. She sewed the blocks together and I added the back and quilting. She's quite pleased with her work. vbg She will be here for a visit mid April, I hope we can do some more 4-patches. I don't get to see her often and I treasure the special time we have together sewing.

Today I trimmed down more of the star parts and have them all prepped and ready to stitch together. Maybe tomorrow will be a sewing day.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

A Very Scary Night

Had a very scary night on Tues. Just after DH and I went to bed, he started sweating profusely, got up to go and get a drink, got dizzy and went down on his knees beside the bed. He called to me and said he was having "trouble" so I got up and went around to that side of the bed. About the time I got there, he lost consciousness, fell over backward and appeared to be having a seizure. Thinking he had had a heart attack, I called 911 SCARED TO DEATH IN A STATE OF PANIC. Was talking to them as I'm kneeling beside DH when he started talking to me asking who I was talking to....when I said 911, he said he was fine and didn't need the paramedics. When I got him back in bed he was cold and clammy. Had no chest pain, back pain, numbness in his left arm or shortness of breath. All my nurses training flew out the window, my BP cuff wasn't working, couldn't find his pulse or hear his heart with my stethescope. His temperature had dropped to 96.8. I was shaking and scared to death. Yesterday he had an appt for a required physical for work down in Tacoma and I drove him down, afraid for him to drive. All tests were good and he feels fine. We discussed the late night happening after we got home. He had twisted his back doing warm up exercises before getting on the treadmill so was using Bengay. Come to find out, it was old and had separated into a liquid/cream mixture which he applied heavily. Bengay contains Potassium Hydroxide and Potassium Carbomer which are on the MSDA list with a rating of 3 (severe hazard). Both are very toxic.

The reason I write this....pay attention to what the ingredients are in what you take orally or apply to your skin. If you haven't had a CPR course, contact your Red Cross and take one. If you own a BP cuff/stethescope check them frequently and make sure they are working properly. I never want to go through another episode like that again and frankly I have never been so scared in my life. I no longer will take John for granted, all I could think was when it was all over was "Don't you dare die on me, we aren't finished yet".

I am so thankful God isn't ready for John and gave us another chance to be together for many more years. He very well could have. Go give your kids and hubby a big Hug and Kiss, let them know you love them as we never know from one day to the next if we or they will remain with us.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

GO HAWKS!!!

No sewing today as we here in the PNW have waiting years to see the Hawks go to the Super Bowl....

Yesterday was spent braving the rain coming down in torrents for a drive with John to the Union Hall in Tacoma. Had a lovely day, stopped for buffet at the Casino and then off to the Navy exchange to pick up refreshments for today.

Friday I got in another day of sewing and prepping more stars. Another 7 all completed. Won't bore you with the current batch, but wait till I have some green ones for "show n tell". VBG.
I'm having fun putting these stars together without any rhyme or reason, knowing I need many, many stars before I can jump in and start on the Virginia Reel blocks.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

One stitch at a time



I got in some sewing time yesterday. This makes 2 days in a row of grabbing a hour here, another one there. The wedding quilt is starting to look promising. 17 of the 6" stars are together with many more pieces and parts to assemble. They don't take very long as I had a bunch of blue pre-cut before John arrived home. I'm beginning to like the looks of the blues and greens. I've been digging around in my stash but see a trip to my LQS for more lights. My vision is to keep from introducing another color and keeping to the blue/green. I've had a reprieve, the wedding date has been changed from first of May to mid June.






Antique quilts are facinating. While cleaning my MIL's attic on a trip to Kentucky, I found this wonderful quilt laying in a corner, slowly rotting away. I had to rescue it along with several others. It's seen a lot of love, the edges are all raggedy and some of the fabric has rotted. I think it belonged to her mother. I have no idea of it's age, what the pattern is called but I love it. The LaConner Quilt Museum is near by, I keep forgetting to take it with me when I go view their changing venue's.

The rain keeps on falling day after day, so depressing with so few reprieves between the storms coming in off the coast. Went out to check the creek the other day. The ground is so saturated from all this rain it is standing in puddles and running down along the side of the neighbors house. You can't see her house, but this is her backyard or what's left of it.


Yesterday I took advantage of a bit of sunshine to get outside and refill all my bird feeders. The poor birds have gone so long without the suet I put out for them during the winter months. My lawn is a sea of moss and sweeping off the winter debris on the deck was a hazard in the making. It's so slippery with mold My daffodils are poking their heads out of the ground so spring is definetely in the air. I can hardly waite to get out, dig in the dirt and plant the bulbs I never got around to last fall.

January brought John and I a treadmill. I'm into my third week of walking for 20 minutes a day. It's not much, but every minute adds up to feeling better, jeans that don't bind and a healthy heart. I've always enjoyed walking, this fits the bill without getting rained on.


My DIL is quite talented. I thought these were the cutest little Valentines day candy jars she's made. She's not a quilter, but very artistic.

Go HAWKS!!!!