Saturday, October 23, 2010

This Blew Me Away

I received this beautiful quilt in the mail yesterday. The blocks were made by friends from a quilt-related list I've been on for many years. However, I was on "special notices only" for the past few years because it was a high-volume email list and I couldn't keep up.
There are blocks from all over the world in it and it was put together by Sue. She quilted each block differently. Most of the blocks are signed and it's just totally wonderful. It was like unwrapping a collective hug. Thank you all so much.
I took it with me to the quilt shop today and everyone oohed and aahed over it -- not to mention the surprise on their faces when I told them it came from an internet group that I've never met!  Isn't that just amazing?!

Blessings:
Internet friends, of course!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Busyness

My county is having an electronics recycling event -- two days.  And they are taking old tv's and monitors and a whole bunch of other electronic things.  I recycled a couple of monitors a couple of years ago at a neighboring county's event and they charged me $10 a piece and I waited in line for more than an hour.  Since then, that county doesn't accept monitors or old tv's, so we've just been saving them in the shed.  Last night a friend loaded a huge 20 inch monitor and two old tv's into my car for me and today I drove down to the recycling place.  In less than an hour I drove there, (about a 20 minute drive one way), waited in line, had 3 or 4 very nice men unload my car and drove home again.  And, it didn't cost me anything but the gas to get there.  And boy, does it feel good to get those things out of here.  This is where the old 20" monitor was -- I couldn't move it to even clean around it, so you can see the dust on the table!

 My plan for today is to clean out this corner (it's in the basement and behind and to the right of my chair and computer) and use it to start sorting stuff as I clean out the house.  First up will be a lot of paperwork that I have stored in a big Rubbermaid bin.

I think my shredder is going to be working overtime today!  I'll show follow-up pictures in my next blog posts.

While I'm doing this, I have a guy doing my fall yard cleanup.  I finally gave in and hired someone to do the work I knew I would never get done.  I spent an entire day a few weeks ago blowing leaves off the drive and mulching them with the lawnmower -- the next day the drive and the yard were covered!  The leaves are about a foot deep near the house and they are not done falling, so he may have to come back again to redo the leaves.  He's also going to clean out the asparagus bed and the garden and flower beds of all the dead stuff.  This is all the stuff Bill used to do and he did it so often that I never noticed the leaves accumulating or weeds in the asparagus bed or volunteer trees growing in the gardens.  I finally figured that out and decided that I can't do all that Bill did and still try to keep the house up.

Steve is undergoing radiation treatments in Madison five days a week now.  I drive two days a week, his wife drives one (she works full time), and two of his friends each drive one day. We also have offers from others to drive.  We are all very grateful for all the support we have.  There's a country song, "You Find Out Who Your Friends Are" -- we have both found a whole wonderful group of true friends.  

Blessings:
True friends and family.  Thanks -- you know who you are!
My neighbor and friend, Squire -- he's always there when I need him, and he always knows who to contact to get things done around here!  He was a great friend to Bill.
Bob -- he drove all the way over here to haul the monitor and tv's out of the basement and shed and load them for me.  I meet him and his wife, Lynn for dinner once a week.
Deb, Kris and Ginny -- they keep me sane (or they put up with my insanity!)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Every Day is a Gift, Act Accordingly.

Steve's cancer is back.  He'll be doing radiation again - 5 days a week for 27 days.  It will take an hour for each radiation session -- a lot different from the first time, but it still feels like we're starting over.
We are by no means giving up hope; there is a new clinical trial for chemo drugs they are awaiting approval of and that may be the next step.
Please pray for all of us.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

October already!

I'm trying to catch up with stuff around here -- yardwork, cleaning, the mundane parts of daily life.  I couldn't get my right hand wet for two weeks or more, so I got a little behind in things.  And, I couldn't do any quilting or anything else that involved too much movement of my hand.  Before the surgery though I cut out a couple of quilts and was able to put two pieces together and chain through the sewing machine.  It proved to be a great sanity-saver for me.  I couldn't use the iron though, so had to wait til I got the brace off my hand to finish the quilts.  These are the two Schnibbles® quilts I pieced.  I don't remember their names, offhand, but I can say I love the results of both of them.  The second one is going to be a favorite, I know.


I also bought myself a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle the first week after the surgery -- and I finally finished it last night!  I used to love doing jigsaw puzzles, but haven't done them in years because it took away time from quilting!  But, truth be told, sometimes even I need a break from quilting.

In that vein, I've decided to accept JudyL's challenge of knitting socks beginning November 1.  I don't knit -- I do crochet, but have never gotten into knitting, so now is the time.  Mary didn't knit either, but she jumped in with both feet last year and has already made a number of pairs of socks.  When she recommends something on her blog, I usually find that she has valid reasons for the recommendations and so far have not been disappointed with anything I try that she recommends -- I've always loved the pantographs she shows and usually end up buying a few and they become my favorites, too.  I waited a long time to buy a Kindle® after she talked about it, but I love mine too.  So, I asked her some questions about what needles to buy and whether I would need a yarn winder and how much yarn to buy.  Consequently, I have an order in for sizes 16 and 24 circular needles, a yarn winder and a couple of different brands of yarn (balls and hanks) from Knitpicks.  Mary also posted a long blog post about the knitting.  (Just scroll down for a few days ago).
Anyway -- here is my first attempt at knitting -- I've already made a few mistakes, but the good news is that I recognize the errors!  I just printed off some directions from the internet for this first attempt.  This will be a dishcloth.  Next I'll try knitting and purling.  I can't wait for the books that I ordered to get here -- and the yarn and needles.  I've been envious of the great socks that Judy and Mary have been making for a long time, so it's time I jumped on the bandwagon and learn this craft.
Blessings:
Mikey is rolling over by himself now.  He'll be 4 months on the 5th.
My hand is healing -- slowly.
Trying new things.