Shell Lake, WI

We were in Shell Lake, WI for a number of days recently. There was a Celebration of Life for my oldest brother while we were there. I wanted to spend time with Tom's widow and also my brother Jim who was widowed about 16 years ago. We had a chance to visit and enjoy time together before family and friends arrived. 

 With my brothers: Jim and John in age order, oldest to youngest

LOTS of family came and that was fun. Both our sons came - the one from North Carolina flew in with his wife while the one from Illinois came with his wife and three sons. 

oldest son, me, Ray, youngest son

Our niece, Tracy, has a print shop. She used a picture of this wood carving on the red and blue shirts she made for all of us. (Notice we are all wearing the same shirt in the photo above.)

My brother Tom's nickname was Fuzzy.

One night as we were cruising the lake, we saw this two loons going through a mating routine - bill dipping, synchronized swimming and diving together,

We stayed in a house across the lake from our family cabins and this gorgeous eagle spent a lot of time in one of our trees.

We didn't have a lot of flowers but this one was growing in the sand.

I found prints the first morning right at the shore line. We had lots of rain but we found more tracks another morning and I took pictures. The print is slightly smaller than my hand. We are quite sure it was a gray wolf with the help of an app and the knowledge that there are gray wolves in the area.

We had a couple pretty sunsets.

Before leaving home, I made a list of quilt shops I wanted to visit. I found out the Wisconsin Shop Hop was going on during part of our trip so I collected a few freebees along the way.

At Quilt Corner in Sparta, WI, I found two backs - the blue one will be used for a quilt top I have finished. I also received a pattern for a Reversible Fabric Basket. I think this is my second visit to this shop. The owner and her daughter, a longarmer, are so nice and I enjoyed their selection of fabric.

I found a cute truck panel and some needed green fabric at Busy Bobbin in Rice Lake, WI. I want to do something with quilt blocks around the outside of the panel. The freebee in this section of the hop was a free spool of thread - I received YLI 250 yds. I've been going to this shop for years and they have a good selection of fabric.

In Spooner, WI, at Seams Like Quilting, I bought a pattern, Petal Palette. This section gave out a free block pattern with the option of buying a kit to make the pattern. If you visited each shop in the section, you would have the blocks for a cute sampler quilt. The owner of this shop is always so pleasant to visit.

The Little Gift Shop is Solon Springs, WI, in the same section as Spooner, gave a different pattern for a block of the sampler. I bought a colorful backing. I always enjoy going to this shop - it's amazing the amount of fabric they have nicely displayed in a small space. It was raining hard the day we were there and we had hoped to eat at the tiny restaurant in the back of the shop. Probably due to the weather, there was quite a line of people waiting so we passed.

On our way home, we went to the Nancy Zieman Sewing Studio in Beaver Dam, WI. It's not like going to Nancy's Notion years ago, but it is a very nice shop and the clerk was fun to talk with. We also spent some time upstairs looking at all things Nancy Zieman - it was interesting and brought back many memories. The shop hop was over but we did get a great tip to eat just a couple doors down at the bakery. I found purple backing that I needed, some jumbo clips, a wrist ruler, 

and my big splurge - two fat quarter bundles. I think this will be enough fabric to make Petal Palette (above) and the Luminary Quilt Pattern (which involves some improv). I'm sure I can add a little fabric from my stash if needed.

Now we just need to stay home so I can sew!

Tom's T-Shirt Memory Quilt

My oldest brother, Tom, passed away in January. One of my nieces kept some of his t-shirts for a quilt and I offered to make it. When I found out that there would be a large gathering on Memorial Day to celebrate and commemorate what would have been his 80th birthday, I put the pedal to the metal and finished the quilt with a couple of days to spare.

Tom was a Navy Seabee and served in Vietnam. He was exposed to Agent Orange which was the reason he lived his later years disabled.

The red/white/blue borders on each of the smaller t-shirt pieces, and the inside quilt border are also from one of Tom's shirts. 

My niece gave me a rather rough layout that she thought would work and suggested gray for the background. I was able to draft a pattern from the layout but couldn't imagine gray for the background after auditioning every gray in our house. I went to the Quilt Peddler in Fennimore, WI and Jen, the owner, took one look at the t-shirts and showed me the perfect gray! She only had 2.5 yards, so we decided on a navy outer border, Stars of Valor Navy Flag Texture from Wilmington Prints. I ended up buying the coordinating Stars of Valor Red Flag Texture for the backing.

I decided a simple meandering would work for the quilt and not take away from the shirts. I did add a few hidden words in the meandering - Tom, Dad, Gramps, Fuzzy (his nickname), and Santa (his other nickname). 

I used Dream Poly for the batting - a big change for me since I always use Dream Cotton. I did not want this quilt to pucker so much; I wanted the t-shirts to be readable. I used Glide #1BLK3, Shadow thread on the top and #70187, Ruby thread on the back. The quilt is 65" by 85".

I had four extra shirts and made 16" pillows with them. The pillows are lined and have an envelope closure. It really helped that the shirts were a large size so I had plenty of fabric to work with. Here are a couple:

We had a great Memorial Day - watching the parade, visiting with family and friends, eating some of Tom's favorite foods and treats, remembering and celebrating Tom. People loved the quilt and it went home with my sister-in-law. I'm really happy that I was able to get it finished. Making the quilt helped me - I've never cried so much making a quilt. Now I hope it and the pillows will bring comfort to Tom's family. 

Made with Love

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I've posted so here goes...

Sadly my oldest brother passed away in January. Tom was an Agent Orange 'survivor' from the Vietnam War. He was totally disabled for a number of years. Before that, he was Santa to a lot of people. He was loved by many. 

His visitation and funeral were so hard but definitely helped his wife, children, grandchildren, great-granddaughter, brothers, and sister (me) know how very much he meant to so many people. I miss him.

Four days after Tom's death, Ray had an appointment to see his oncologist for a checkup. His testosterone (affected by his hormone blocking drugs) had to be normal before the PSA score was reliable. We hoped to hear the words "no signs of cancer" in May. Surprisingly, everything aligned on January 30, and we heard those wonderful words - "no signs of cancer". Ray is cancer free!!! His energy level is slowly improving as his body is still recovering from treatment. Hopefully by May, he'll have near-normal energy.

Life has been like a roller coaster and we are just hanging on! We both love ordinary days. We've been able to watch our Illinois grandsons play hockey and indoor soccer. Ray spends time taking and editing his photos while I spend time quilting. 

We recently took a day trip to Olbrich Gardens in Madison, WI, to see the Orchid Escape which was awesome! Here's just four of the many photos that I took.

We were in Chicago on Sunday watching one of our grandsons play his last youth hockey game. He played in the 18U NIHL Blackhawks Tournament championship. The game was at the United Center where the Chicago Blackhawks play. Quite the way to end his youth hockey career!

Grandson #15 in white sweater

We were able to visit our niece and her family in Wauconda on our way home yesterday. It was wonderful to see them and visit their businesses.

Bungalow Printing
Beats Plastic Refillery

We have spent today resting, catching up from the Chicago trip, and trying to adjust to the time change. I've been doing a little quilting and have a couple of finishes that I'll share soon.

Time moves in one direction,

memory in another. 

                           -William Gibson

Our Madison Vacation

Ray kept telling people we were vacationing in Madison, Wisconsin this summer. We knew we would be in Madison five days a week for his weeks of radiation treatments at University Hospital, the closest facility with the technology to treat him. The first week we drove every day and were exhausted. The second week we spent most of the week at a motel. One beautiful morning we took a hike towards Picnic Point, just north of the hospital. Due to a detour in the trail and Ray being tired, we didn't make it all the way.

At the beginning of week 3, we moved to an AirBnb long-term rental apartment. We were a block away from Lake Monona. Our street was very narrow, about the size of an alley. There were no sidewalks and very little traffic. We were located a few houses down on the left.

Looking at our street with Lake Monona just behind me.  

Our house - we had the entire 2nd floor and our entry was the front door.

Our balcony, back stairs, and yard. Also entrances to two lower apartments.

We took walks as much as possible. Here are a few pictures of our neighborhood. 

Lake Monona

Columbine

A colorful mural

Wisteria - oh what a heavenly smell!

Hammock bases

Yard art

Milkweed in bloom with a butterfly

Rowing Club practice

Bike path along Monona Lake

Blooming cactus in our neighbor's yard

Columbine

Capitol from pedestrian bridge over Washington Ave., Madison

The Weed Harvesters were interesting to watch as they 'mowed' the bay and off-loaded their haul. Each harvester was about 8' by 40'.  You can read about them here.

Weed Harvester on Brittingham Bay, Lake Monona, Madison, WI

 Moving one of three Weed Harvesters from our bay to another location.

Team Survivors, women cancer survivors, meet most Wednesday nights and take out their dragon boat. It was interesting to watch the 20+ women of varying ages, working and rowing together.

Team Survivors launching their dragon boat

We did leave our neighborhood for more than the hospital and groceries. One day we enjoyed a short visit to the zoo.

A short but fun visit to the zoo after 35 - 40 years!

We spent a little time at Olbrich Gardens.

One morning, we went just north of University Hospital to Eagle Heights Community Gardens. There are over 500 plots!

The raspberries looked soooo good!

How do you take a good picture of 500+ garden plots???

We met a lot of people in our neighborhood and in the hospital. People were friendly, kind, and caring. The hospital was an excellent choice as was our temporary home and neighborhood.

Ray's oncologist called his treatment "unique and complicated" because of the location of his cancer. Ray had to prepare for radiation each day. His prep really drained his energy and left him extremely tired and feeling weak and yucky, and he also had other side effects. His appointments ranged from 8 minutes  to almost 3 hours. This was not a fun time.

Our journey was so much easier because of some fantastic friends and family. All offered continuing support and more. Our close friends and neighbors across the street went above and beyond by jumping in and doing EVERYTHING that needed to be done at our house, inside and out, including the mowing, trimming, and weeding. We are still a little overwhelmed by the help given to us.

Maybe all of this is so touching because we were given a piece of advice early on by Dr. E-B, an oncologist at SSM Monroe. "You have cancer; you have no control." I can't count the number of times we repeated that line. It was/is so very true: when treatment didn't go well, when we got Ray's appointments for the following week and one was at 7:30AM, the way Ray felt from hour to hour, when his treatment room was running behind schedule, when we drove to treatment during a tornado warning, when he had diet changes weekly, when he rested most hours of the day over and over, when they couldn't do the treatment and it added another day to his schedule, etc. Everything became so much easier when we accepted that we really didn't have any control.

Watching Ray reminded me of how strong he is. He didn't complain; he just endured. He epitomized: "Sometimes you can because you can. Sometimes you can because you have to."

We celebrated successes with ice cream or doughnuts. When he felt well enough, we took walks, went shopping at a store, went out to lunch, went to a farmer's market...

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass;

it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Watching him feel so rotten and having absolutely no energy was by far the hardest part for me. This cancer journey is not over but the radiation is and we celebrate that. Ringing the bell was a highlight!

I ring the bell to celebrate! My treatment here is done...
Cancer does not define me And I'm already moving on.

Ray's shirt:
TODAY IS A GOOD DAY
TO HAVE A GOOD DAY

Most of the side effects from Ray's radiation should disappear within a few weeks. He still has some additional treatment ahead and in about a year, we'll know if it all worked. In the meantime, we are happy to be home and we plan to "dance in the rain".