Goodbye March!

It's almost April! There isn't a lot of quilting going on here but hopefully there will be soon.

Ray has a new knee. The MAKO robotic surgery went well and Ray is recovering nicely. Let's back up a little. He had surgery three weeks ago on Thursday, 3-10-22 and came home on Friday, 3-11-22. On Saturday night, 3-12-22, he began having stomach pains. They were so bad that he finally went to the hospital by ambulance at 1:30 AM. The hospital is about 30 miles away. I made it to the ER at 3:10AM (time change happened). It took the rest of the night, many tests and finally a scan to figure out the problem. He was having a gallbladder attack! He's never had a problem with his gallbladder and it was full of stones!

Okay, fast forward to the knee recovery. This past week, he progressed from the little walker (the kind people put tennis balls on the legs) to the super duper walker that seems to be all-terrain. He became even more mobile then and within 24 hours he began using just a cane! He is regaining good mobility and his prognosis is great. He got the staples out yesterday, 3-30-22 and also got to stop wearing those darn TED stocks.

Today, Thursday, 3-31-22, he had Da Vinci robotic gallbladder surgery. The surgeon told us a couple of days after the ER visit that it should be removed. After the surgery, the surgeon told me the gallbladder was in really bad shape and needed to come out. Wow! The doctors all think this surgery won't slow down his knee recovery. We arrived home mid-afternoon and he is doing well with pain.

It has been quite a March. Did I mention that I had a bone density on 3/1 as a follow up to my spine surgery and on 3/8 I had a colonoscopy?! And this morning our VERY EARLY trip to the hospital for surgery was in snow, slush, and wind before the snow plows got to work. We made it on time but not one minute early! I'm thankful that I drive a Jeep. 

We both look forward to April! And I really hope to be quilting soon...

Blue Quarter Squares is finished

Last April, I posted that Joy at The Joyful Quilter had a guest blogger, Connie, who made a table topper inspired by a pattern for a quarter log cabin quilt and I went on a hunt to find a pattern or a picture. I found what I was looking for and made this block.

I guess that is the only time I posted about this quilt. I set the blocks  on point and must have finished the top by July since I stopped sewing then. It was the next up to be quilted a while ago and I decided to do some ruler work in the white squares and meandering over the rest of the quilt using dove gray Aurifil #2600 thread. That took a few days and then the poor quilt waited quite a while for binding. At last, it is done!

Please ignore fold lines.

I did not use a pattern; I just used measurements that looked good and fit my scraps. Each block began with a 4 1/2" square of white. Then I strip-pieced each piece as a quarter of a log cabin. The blocks were trimmed to 8" squares and then sewn into the quilt. 

Here is a closeup of my far-from-perfect-but-getting-better ruler work.

The backing for this 60" by 70" donation quilt is a fun and busy fabric.

The binding matches the blue setting triangles around the sides.

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I've been busy practicing quilting on my longarm and working on the very special gift in addition to helping Ray get ready for his knee replacement. He's had a zillion appointments and we both had to go to Joint Replacement class. We are educated! 

We both had a few other medical appointments/procedures in the middle of all of this prepping for surgery so we've been busy. I am getting more strength and stamina and think I'm ready to be a caregiver. Yesterday I actually cleared some snow!!! Our neighbor clears our snow and we only have a little bit to do. We do have a new battery run snow shovel so it wasn't a huge deal but it's been a long time since I've done it. 

In a few days Ray will have his new knee. We are both anxious to have him feeling better and to do things rather than visit the hospital!

A Little Getaway

Ray really wanted to photograph the eagles so we went to the Quad Cities and looked for some. Sadly, we didn't find many. This is my one photo taken with my phone. Ray got some really good pictures of the few eagles that we did see.

We visited two quilt shops: Quilting in the Valley in Moline, IL, and Expressions in Thread in LeClaire, IA. I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures. Both stores were empty except for the two clerks and one other customer which was perfect.

We spent time at the Quad City Botanical Center. We went just after noon and the place was almost empty. Ray was able to use his tripod which made him happy. I took a number of photos. I loved the pops of color.

Pink Powder Puff

Cacao pod on chocolate tree.

Bunch of bananas and their flower

Limequat - cross between a Key Lime and a Kumquat

The ladies working at the Botanical Center suggest River House Bar and Grill in Moline for a late lunch. It did not disappoint! I had the Oriental Chicken Salad - do you think that's enough chicken?!

Ray was very happy to see Jambalaya on the menu and the corn bread was wonderful.

We left with more than enough for another meal. We did add two pieces of corn bread to our 'leftovers".

The other major stop was Lagomarcino's Confectionery, a chocolate shop. The salted chocolate covered caramels were so good! It's not that we needed candy...

We spent two nights at Element Moline, a fairly new, very nice motel. We would definitely go back there. This was the night view out of our "living room" window.

We arrived home and had messages on our answering machine. Ray was put on a list for knee replacement a week ago. His surgeon found out he could retire and will not be doing surgeries after March. He called to see if Ray wanted him to do the surgery (YES!) or to wait for someone else. Life has been quite hectic getting appointments and all. It'll probably slow down after Ray's surgery in early March.

I've been doing a little sewing - I began a new (gift) quilt. I'm also doing my exercises and getting much stronger. Ray was a great caretaker after my surgery - I have a lot to live up to!

Yes, I cut the quilt in two!

I started Irish Chain with Solids at least a couple of years ago. I added the borders in July of 2020 and it was ready to be quilted in September of 2020. Somewhere along the line, I decided to use this quilt as a practice quilt for quilting with rulers. So I quilted each block with rulers or sometimes didn't. I just practiced on it intermittently.

When I got my longarm, I continued practicing on it. Sometimes I used rulers and sometimes I didn't, Recently I finished the quilting. Then I cut it apart, serged the four sides on each piece, and added the binding. The idea of cutting the quilt came to me  a couple of months. 

I think you can tell this was folded.
I still don't like getting on the floor.

I have beautiful tables that my machines sit on in my "machine room". To protect the tables, each machine was sitting on a practice sandwich. 

I really need to make new covers one of these days.

Now the tables look much better! The quilt was 63" square. One table in the machine room is 30" X 72" and the other is 22" X 72". The quilt is a little short on the ends but it works.

The quilting is all different and all practice. Some of it is rough but it will be fine for table mats.

I used Aurifil #2600 Dove thread and I also used Finesse #3285 Light Wool thread. They both look similar and I wanted to test both on my longarm. The back of the quilt is navy with white circles - it was in my stash. 

I really do need to make some new machine covers. I've been using small quilts that are quite old and faded. I always put the back side out because it looks better.

Practicing on this quilt also included loading a pinned quilt on the longarm, taking it off, and reloading it. It was great practice and helped me become more comfortable. I'm moving forward! 

More Finishes!

We had a pile of toys in our living room for a while. We finally moved them last week; they are going to some kindergarten and pre-school kids that don't have much. Some very kind teachers are spreading them around for us. I'm so happy the toys will be loved again.

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I finished a couple more donation quilts! The quilting is fast but the hand stitching of the binding takes some time. My hands cramp at times so I usually only stitch one side of a quilt in a day. I think all those years of hand stitching, hand quilting, and marking papers with red ink have caught up with my hands. I'm so glad I can still do some hand stitching (which I enjoy) even if it is a little slow.

I began the first quilt, Red Border Postage Stamp, in June. My hastily written instructions (I think from TV) said to make four patches from squares of fabric and some with opposite corners white. And that's all I wrote. So I arranged the blocks to make the white diamonds. I have no idea what the original looked like. 

I used  2" squares from my scraps for this quilt and made lots of 4 patches. I put red borders on this to make the quilt larger; it finished at 58" X 58". I quilted this with a large stipple - it was so easy and fast on the longarm! I used Aurifil #2600, Dove Gray thread. 

The back should be a surprise when it is turned over. It's very colorful - I love it!

The second quilt, Postage Stamps with White, is also made from 2" squares - the leftover 4 patches with white from the first quilt. The scrap box does show a tiny dent! 

This finished at 56" by 56".

This one is quilted with a large loop motif. I used Aurifil #2600, Dove Gray thread. 

 

The backing is not as colorful as the first quilt, but I think it still offers the choice for a reversible quilt.

I finished both quilt tops last July. I think that was about the end of my stitching before my surgery. I'm so blessed to be feeling good and I'm getting stronger which means I do some sewing or quilting most days. Besides enjoying the process, I love finishing quilts. There are more waiting to be quilted so stay tuned.

First projects of 2022 and more

My first projects of 2022 are my first projects using the longarm.

The first one was actually my second practice piece which I decided to finish and use. I took some leftover Christmas jelly roll strips and sewed them end to end. Then I cut 8 - 49" strips. 

I made this 16" X 49" table runner as a QAYG (quilt as you go). Everything except the binding was done on the longarm. Each time I added a strip (after the first), I quilted the previous strip. It was good practice, educational, and I ended up with a Christmas table runner. Not bad! The back is some Christmas fabric from my stash. I used Finesse #3285 Light Wool (light gray) thread.

I made the second quilt at least a year ago. I used scraps from my orphan and scrap bins and added the green because I thought the colors popped with it. I call it the Bright Green Quilt.

I quilted this with a free-hand double loop. The larger loops are probably 4 - 5" in diameter. I couldn't quilt large motifs on my domestic machine so I just had to try something a little bigger. It was fun and so fast! The stitches are beautiful - my stitch regulator is wonderful.

This quilt is about 50" x 57". The back is a bright green that I found at Quilting in the Valley in LaSalle, IL. 

There is a very good chance that I will get caught up quilting my finished tops this year!

Health update:

I was released from my spine surgery care yesterday, 1-18-22! Today I began weaning off of the last pain medicine. That will take 2.5 months.  

My scans show that my hardware hasn't moved since surgery which is great. And they show that bone is forming next to the screws and rods which delights me. I take daily shots for my bone health and this is proof they are working.

I was told 3 - 6 month recovery and I was released from care 3 days prior to 3 months. My surgeon's PA was amazed at my scans and said no PT! I will now work to get back strength and stamina. I need to go slow. I can do that - I have experience, having worked my way back from my first spine surgery in 2011.