Slow Sunday Stitching

Another week has flown by.  I have done quite a  bit of hand stitching.  I got my Ella Maria Deacon blocks done for February, so I am all caught up till the new blocks come out on Monday.

I'm participating in the #100hexiesin100 days challenge on Instagram with @sewfoxyma.  Each week is a different theme, and this week was things we treasure, or collections.  I have a large collection of nautical/lighthouse, sailboat fabric, so that was my theme this week.  Next week is rainbow.  I only have 1 rainbow fabric so don't know what I will do next week.  

For my Slow Sunday Stitching this week, I will be working on more of the nautical hexies.  I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  

A new Hands All Around:  Alcott block came out this week.  I had made block one in a 12 inch size, and block two in the eight inch size.  When block 3 came out, I decided to make both sizes in all blocks.

The last thing I have done this week was make a new cushion for John's chair.  We had 1-1/2 cushions sitting on his chair.  These are cushions that have 2 pieces of foam around a gel pack thing, and sheepskin top.  He is a big guy, but doesn't have much of a bottom, and he is constantly shifting around so it doesn't hurt.   We had one of those Roho cushions but that tends to start going flat.  I found I had a piece of sheepskin upstairs from one of my daughter's twin beds when they were teenagers, so I cut that up.  My sister had given me some nautical decorator fabric, so used that for the bottom.  I even put in a zipper!

Before

After

We have  had a good week.  I needed my car smogged.  My SIL owns a used car lot right next to a smog place, and I had asked him if he could take my car to work with him one day and have it smogged.  He sent our grandson over the next day to pick up my car and get it smogged, and brought it back.  I asked my SIL what I owed him, and asked that I make some  chicken enchiladas, so I did, plus I gave him some French Dip sandwich material which they had tonight.  He was in 7th heaven for both!  

Also this week John and I had our first shots done.  

Don't know if John will be going to get the second shot done.  He is saying right now "no".  He is basically home-bound.  We got him into the car, which is a big deal.  I had thought the vaccine center was drive-through, but it wasn't.  Had to get him into the wheelchair, and get him inside.  Luckily they were fairly quick.  That's when he started saying he wasn't coming back for the second one.  The doctor came over to talk to him and stated they would make the appointment anyway, the one shot was 80% effective.  He also stated I could drive him up next time, come in and tell someone and they would come out to the car and they would give us the shots there.  We'll see if I can talk him into it in the next three weeks or not.  Once he has made his mind up, he doesn't usually change though.  

The only thing I haven't gotten to this week, which I need to start working on, is my free motion quilting sampler.  I signed up for HollyAnne Knight's Free Motion Quilting Academy last fall, and I had to drop out of my classes because of John's problems.  The new semester started in February, and I still haven't been working on it.  I would really like to graduate in May with the Spring group, but I need to start doing my different motifs on my sampler quilt.   I need to set aside time each day to do this.  Days seem to get away from me.  Like the day we got shots I had gone grocery shopping in the morning, so that day was gone.  My evenings are usually for hand work and spending with John.  Just need to get better organized.  

We had a nice visit with both daughters today and 3/5 grandchildren, so a good day all around!  I watched the two youngest while Katie went to the hairdresser, and then she bought us a nice Mexican lunch back.  Then later on Kristen and Keaton came over and visited for several hours.  I provided them with the Unstuffed Cabbage Soup with Meatball Soup by Paula Dean.    I sent Kristen and Keaton home with our leftovers which was quite a bit.   My chest freezer is full to the brim, so I have been sending my girls home with the leftovers I don't want to be eating all week!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching

I can't believe another three weeks has flown by since our last Hand Quilt Along.  Since then, I have gotten a few things done.  I finished this Ella Maria Deacon block.  

I also finished another Kathy Schmitz One Stitch at a Time blocks.  

These week I also had a couple of other finishes by machine.  I finished this block for the Pieces From the Past Sew Along by Melva Loves Scraps. 

She gave the instructions to put it together, so I went ahead and put my blocks together.  

This will be a gift for my grandson Jaeger who graduates this year, and he is 6'+ , so I am going to add another row of 12 inch blocks to make it longer.  These blocks were originally published in the Kansas City Star Newspaper in the 1930s.  I also have a book of Kansas City Star blocks so I am going to choose 4 more from that.  

This week I also got the last row on my Stay at Home Round Robin that was organized by Gail @Quilting Gail.    The prompt this week was to add pinwheels.  I made a few more log cabins from last week, and added to the pinwheels from this week.    This now measures about 64 inches square.  

Another one of my slow stitching projects this week has been making hexies.  There is a 100 hexie challenge in 100 days on Instagram and I have been doing a handful each night.  My papers are for 3/4 inch, so they are pretty small.  I had won some charm packs last year and used up one pack.  

This week, I will continue working on the hexies, I have a Kathy Schmitz older stitchery to work on, and I am prepping some Ella Maria Deacon blocks to applique.  

Check out the other Hand Quilt Along Links below.  

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, and Sherrie

I will also be linking up at Kathy Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Be sure and head over there and see what others have been up to.  

Sunday, March 7th is a bittersweet day for me.   March 7th was my mother's birthday.  She would have been 89.  My mother died in 1997, so she has been gone a long time.   My mother was 17 when she got married, and I was born when she was 18, 10 months later.  These are a couple of crazy quilt pieces in which I printed the images on silk.  

She lived a tough life.  She was born in rural Arkansas in 1932 the youngest of about 7 children.  Her oldest brother was murdered, probably for his paycheck.  Her mother once carried one of the babies to the Dr. which was a number of miles away, and when she got there the baby was dead.  Her mother died when she was 10.  Her father was elderly when she was born, and had mental issues, so she went to live with her oldest sister Eva who was 20 at the time.  She moved to Maryland when she was about 17 which was where she met my dad.  In 1968 while I was in Europe with a religious group, after I had graduated from high school, she contracted the Hong Kong Flu and it went to her kidneys and she got glomerulonephritis.   Because she was out of work so long, the telephone company fired her, and this set her into a tailspin.  I don't know whether she was bipolar or schizophrenic, but there were several times she ended up in mental hospitals for shock therapy.  After that, for the rest of her life she was doped up to help her function.  I have been missing her today.  

Anyway, that is it for today.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Slow Sunday Stitching, Organizing Away

 It's been a busy week since last Sunday.  I am satisfied I have had a very good week, getting caught up, and organizing my sewing room.  Actually I am sewing in the kitchen where I can hear John when he wakes, and knocks on the wall.  So right now it is supply room.  

If I sew in the room it is on this counter in front of the lamp on the left side.  Last week this counter was completely covered with "stuff" I had set there when I had taken the shelf down and evaluating whether I wanted to keep "stuff" or not.  This is it in its clean and tidy state.  

Those three drawers under the counter on the right side are part of my Civil War reproduction stash, sorted by color.  I reorganized them, as it had gotten a bit of a mess.

The rest of my Civil War reproduction stash including neutrals and browns were in a similar drawer in the closet, located behind these containers of cut up scraps on the left.  So every time I wanted one of those fabrics, I would have to move everything to get them.  

I decided to put something else in that drawer behind those containers, and put the Civil War neutrals and browns in a container that fits underneath the counter, so they are more accessible.  

In cleaning up one of my piles of "stuff" I found my Christmas napkins that had been set aside because they needed ironing.  I finally got that done too!

I also managed to get some sewing done.  I finished this last Ella Maria block.  There are some puckers, but it is staying the way it is.  The newest 4 blocks came out earlier this week.

I also was able to make the news Hands All Around block #2 by Barbara Brackman @ Civil War Quilts.  

A private Christmas mystery BOM

In addition, I was getting ready to prep the last 2 Cassandra's Circle blocks by Barbara Brackman, @ Civil War Quilts.  I decided to lay the blocks out on the floor to see what fabrics I would use next, when I discovered I wasn't two blocks behind, but 4 blocks behind.  I probably stopped being able to keep up monthly when John had his problems back in November.  

I've got the four months of templates cut out, now just need to prep the blocks.  I will be working on these as my slow stitching project this week.

Also I will be slowly stitching on this One Stitch At a Time block from last year by Kathy Schmitz of this squirrel.

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.    Head on over there and see what everyone has been up to!  

Remember Monday is the start of the Show Your Stripes Blog Hop.  My day is on Tuesday.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Time again to check in for Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.   I got a little more worked on this embroidery from Kathy Schmitz's One Stitch At a Time Club, and I will be working on this again.

I'll be linking up for Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over, and check out what everyone has been up to.  

This week has had its ups and downs, and I am feeling out of sorts.  I was trying earlier in the week to get caught up on the Ella Maria Deacon blocks.  These two blocks I have had trouble with.  The patterns said to add seam allowance to the templates, which I used my Add a Quarter ruler for.  Last week, I was working on this block, and when I got to the outside sections they were too small.    I trimmed the center block down, but still it was not enough.  I finally ended up doing this one over again.

Then this week, I was working on this block. This wasn't going to work either.  The outside sections were too big.  

I stopped right here, discouraged.  I packed EMD things up and set them aside right now.  I spent the next two days reading all day!

My granddaughter Kyleigh is leaving for college again next week.  I wanted to make her a Valentine's cushion and ended up doing two.  I found this in the Cricut Designs, I bought some iron on vinyl and made up these cushions.  This is what we always say to each other, and I loved them.  

Speaking of Kyleigh, she has been designing and crocheting sweaters for their Chihuahua Ronald.  He loves his sweaters.  Apparently he doesn't like the hat so much!

One piece of good news this week was that I had an interview with a resource center for possible respite for me being John's caregiver.  We are eligible for funding.  I need to get back to them next week about this.

The other downsides of this week were that my eldest daughter Kristen called and told me that our two grandsons, who just went back to in-person school last week, are now in lockdown for 2 weeks at home, and none of them would be over for at least two weeks.  Apparently someone in Jaeger's school tested positive this week, so everyone coming in contact with him are in lockdown.   That is the one highlight in our days to seeing our grandchildren and daughters once in awhile.    Our COVID numbers are terrible around here.  Since 12/31 our county has had 29 deaths, 1929 new cases as of Friday.  

The other problem this week was that Friday John seemed to be somewhat weaker.   He had trouble standing up from the toilet and required a lot of my strength and effort.  He weighs probably 100 pounds more than me.   I did finally get him up from there and seated again in his chair.  Last night he had gotten in bed, and was trying to scoot up to the top.  I noticed that the sheets had come loose in the top corner and I couldn't fix it with him sitting on the bed, so had him move over to his chair.  I had already gotten him ready for bed at night, which included taking off everything on the bottom half.  I changed his sheets, and then went to get him back up out of his chair.  He requires a lot of my assistance, I usually take hold of his one arm, and pull him up by the seat of the pants.   Because he had no pants on, I couldn't pull up the seat of his pants.  I tried putting on the belt around his chest that PT had given me, but even that didn't work.  I finally ended up calling the Fire Department who helped him get back to bed.  

Last night I didn't get much sleep at all, worried what we were going to do if I couldn't get him in and out of bed.   I don't want to place him, I think we can still manage, but it was on my mind all night.  

Hope this week turns out better, and hope everyone is healthy and safe.  

HQAL, Slow Sunday Stitching, Giveaway Prize

Since the last check-in for Hand Quilt Along I did finish my Father Christmas top, which I had previously shared.    The Father Christmases were all hand-appliqued.  I started this around 1999 with the guy up in the right hand corner, and he has hung around my sewing room lonely until around 2018 when I started working on a few blocks at a time.  I am thrilled to finally have the top completed.  It probably won't be quilted until next year.  

While this was not hand work, I also completed all 12 blocks of the QAL by the Sea by Partners in Design.   The last 4 blocks, and all 12 blocks together.  I have a plan for another larger block, but this also will have to wait till next year.

I finally got one more tea towel embroidered this week.  These are iron-on transfers from Quilters Revolution.  

I was also able to finish up a couple more blocks from the Ella Maria Deacon from last month.  I am trying to finish the last one up, as next month's have been released, which I probably won't be able to get to till after Thanksgiving.

The hand-quilting and stitching links are below.  Check out what everyone has been doing!

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, Monica and Sherrie

 

I will be linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts.    Check out what everyone has been doing there too.   I will be working on my last Ella Maria Deacon block, and I also have another Stitcher's Revolution prepped to stitch.

This week has been a  hard one again.  My husband has been home, is till bed bound.  He has had BP issues this week, being too high, but it is probably because he has been in bed.  It is not usually this high when he is sitting up.  This has necessitated calls to the Dr., changes in medications.  

We have had multiple therapies coming in everyday 2-3 which take up most of the day.  I am helping him with some exercises in bed.  Home Health has been worried enough about him that they have are coming all weekend.  We collected a specimen for urine testing today, and hopefully that is clear.  He is still eating poorly off and on, though this evening he asked for more pasta which is good.  But his appetite has been up and down.  

I finally picked up all my quilting stuff out of the kitchen and dining room to get ready for Thanksgiving.  BIL Roger has been a big help with John and helping me move furniture to clean carpets.  I had hoped to get a few more things prepped for hand sewing, but I am tired, and couldn't get myself to do it.  

I was able to get an appointment on Monday to get a cortisone injection in my knee.  My knee has been hurting so bad at night I can only get 2-3 hours of sleep, and it has been killing me with the barometric pressure changes.  

One bright spot this week has been a package I received from Tasmania, Australia this week from Kim @Sarah Lizzies.  I won one of her beautiful Parisian boots.  Her pictures here do the boot justice.  I won the cream colored one.  My picture does it no justice at all, poor lighting on a gloomy day. The boot is exquisite, and came after a particularly stressful day with mix ups with a couple of the therapists coming over, and things seeming to be falling through this way and that.  I love the boot, and so much appreciate Kim and all the work she put into it.  It made my day for sure, as did her beautiful note!

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure and visit the other links above.  

Slow Sunday Stitching, Another Rough Week

I didn't get much sewing done this week due to what is stated below.  I did finish some hand stitching on my last QAL by the Sea block by Partner's in Design.  The block last week was the lighthouse.  These are the last 4 blocks.   I think before I put these blocks together I want to do a mermaid for my complete quilt.  

I also finally finished this Ella Maria Deacon block.  I have been working on this for two weeks it seems.  My applique was off, but it is going to stay as is.  Maybe I'll make a notation on it that John fell when I was working on this block.  I have two more blocks to do for last month, and I will be working on those for my Slow Sunday Stitching.

I will also be working on my last month's block of Cassandra's Circle.  I still need to prep the block for that.  I laid the other blocks on the floor today and took a picture.  

I also got the last two borders on my Father Christmas quilt.  

I will be linking up at Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over and see what other's have been working on.  

This week has been another rough week.  Trying to get information out of the rehab facility my husband was placed  in was like trying to pull teeth.  Last Monday, I was waiting to pick up my grandchildren, a nurse helped him call me.  He was telling me was depressed, was barely coherent and crying when I told him I loved him. I sat waiting in the front of the school crying myself.

 Monday afternoon I asked the Dr. at the facility to give me a call back.  She called me at dinner time, and told me they had not been able to work him with yet,  that he was very weak, and he told her he did not feel he was making any progress.  I told her I wanted him to come back home with Home Health.  

The team meeting was the next day and they discussed his progress/lack of it and it was decided he would be sent home on Thursday, after his brother Roger had gotten here from North Carolina Wednesday evening.  

Wednesday afternoon I had a video conference call with the OT and PT at the rehab showing me how to get him up, and into a wheelchair.  I didn't find this particularly informative, but they tried.  For one thing, they had heavy plastic shields around their face, had heavy accents, and I have hearing difficulties in the best of conditions.  I sometimes have to see people's lips.  They had masks on and heavy plastic shields.  I am generally able to get him up from a chair or bed and grabbing onto his walker than it took the 2 of them to do.  

They brought him by gurney transport on Thursday.  He has been on an antibiotic for a week which can cause diarrhea.  Right before he left, for some unknown reason, they gave him a rectal suppository.  He has had diarrhea since he came home andis in diapers (which he wasn't in before).  We have had 2 bed changes today and a lot of laundry.  I was thinking when you have a little baby and they have a blowout or a messy diaper, you lift up their legs and clean them up, roll the messy diaper out and can clean them up.  A 270 pound adult  it is not that easy.  

He is not really able to walk, in fact he slipped to the floor tonight when Roger and I were trying to move him to a chair to eat dinner.  He only had to take 8-10 steps to get to the chair.  Fire Department was out to pick him up again, one of the same guys from two weeks  ago.  He did request to move to his chair this morning and we were able to do it without problem and get him back to bed.  

He is eating a little better now, but the first few days, he had a couple of bites of tapioca pudding, Jello, 4 bites of pancake this morning, a couple of Ensure.    He  told me has not been bathed the whole time he was gone (10 days), and they had not given him a toothbrush to brush his teeth.  But the big thing that got me was giving him a suppository when the antibiotic side-effect is diarrhea.  I was so worried about him yesterday, he was not eating much, drinking much, sleeping all day.  His breathing was even when he was sleeping.  He has asthma, and he kept snorting and coughing when he would doze off.  I finally put on his CPAP mask so he could breathe better.  He was on oxygen off and on in the hospital, and rehab, though he doesn't have it at home.  

We are due to have Home Health be started on Monday.  He has been ordered nursing, occupational therapy, speech therapy and maybe a bath aide.  

Hopefully he will be able to get some help  with the therapies at home.  He didn't obtain any help the 10 days he was out of my care.  He is much better emotionally here at home at least.  I couldn't in all good conscious leave him there, with no access to seeing him and very little talking to him.  Our daughters have both been to visit today and he has seemed in good spirits.  

I hadn't mentioned it before, but last week walking around my bed, I stubbed my baby toe on the drawer underneath my bed.  I asked my Dr. for an x-ray, and apparently I have a nondisplaced fracture and they told me to tape it to the  4th toe.  That hurt worse, so I took the tape off.  Tonight when  John went down on the floor again, his walker ran over my baby toe.  It is swollen more now.  I guess I just need to wear shoes in the house or something.  

Well that is it for this week's saga.  Hope you have a great week, and hopefully we will too!

Slow Sunday Stitching

If you just want to read about my Slow Sunday Stitching, you can skip to the bottom.

This week has not been a good week for us.  Monday night, after watching The Voice, I helped my husband into the bathroom to get ready for bed.   He is a fall risk, and I always walk behind him.  As we were walking down the hall, his legs were really wobbly.  By the time we got to the bathroom, his legs collapsed.  As he is a big guy and can't get up by himself, we called the firemen to pick him up.  He was so weak when they were here, they advised taking him to the hospital to be evaluated.  I drove up to the ER and they would not let me in, even though I explained I was his caregiver, power of attorney and he had some cognitive issues.  They ran tests and scans and didn't find anything.  He told them he  had just come on that night, where if they had allowed me to give the history, I would have said it was about 2 weeks.  I would have told him he has difficulty finding words and getting out what he wants to say.

About 2:30 a.m. the Dr. finally called me back and told me what was going on, and they hadn't found anything.  They kept him till Wednesday morning and sent him to rehab.  I was finally able to speak to him before he left for rehab, where visitors are not allowed either.

Wednesday I received calls from the rehab facility asking for his history.  Thursday morning, I received a flurry of calls, from therapists, nurses and the Dr.   Apparently he had some garbled speech, and shaking, and they were afraid of mini-strokes and took him back to ER for an MRI.  They kept him overnight, MRI was negative,  They kept him overnight again.  I insisted on going into the ER yesterday to be with him before they sent him back to rehab.  I was able to spend about 5 hours with him.  He said they didn't give him dinner the night before, but not sure how accurate that was, because I also heard they were worried about him choking on food.  

I asked him how he was when I got there, and he said he was confused.  He cried multiple times when I told him how much I loved him, and that he was no burden to me as he is constantly worried about.  I was able to get him to eat miniscule amount of food for breakfast and lunch.  They brought him sausage for breakfast but told him he couldn't eat it because they were worried about him choking.  That was what he wanted to eat!    I told him when I was there I cleaned a great big dust ball off our headboard and it fell on my pillow.  I did get him to smile when I stated we should "fire the housekeeper".

Today I have spent the day trying to call him, or speak to someone.  I was finally able to speak to his nurse tonight.  I suggested his food intake needed to be monitored as he has been trying to limit his food, and it is really not adequate for his size.  

This is particularly hard, as about 3 years ago, about this same time he had a really bad patch, and both happen around our anniversary, November 16th.  We will be married 45 years on November 16th.  I am terrified of him not making it out of rehab.  If he is not eating, he is not going to get stronger. 

Anyway, my usual activities have been disrupted this week, mainly from worry.  I have been cleaning house.  I deep cleaned the living room, which is where his hospital bed is.  And as he has asthma, I want to keep it as dust free as possible.  But also because he is in this room 100% of the time, it is hard to get a thorough cleaning.  I borrowed my daughter's carpet cleaner and it is cleaner than it has been for several years, and all ready for him to be back home.

Also John's brother Roger is coming for a visit until after Thanksgiving.  This was already scheduled and I am hoping Roger is able to see John while he is here.  

I have been too distracted to sew.  I can't seem to sit still, and I am not watching TV at night like John and I do together, so haven't been stitching.  I did get this Ella Maria Deacon done last week before all this started.

I also got my Father Christmases together.  I still have a sashing and a border to put on.  I hope to do that this week.

So for Slow Sunday Stitching, hopefully I will be able to work on the rest of my Ella Maria Deacon blocks done.  I also hope to prep some more applique for when my brother-in-law gets here, so I have something to do while he is here.  I am going to have to take down my quilting machine in the dining room, and my sewing machine in the kitchen.  

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over there and see what everyone is up to!  

Thanks so much for stopping by and listening to me ramble.