Sorry to be gone so long.

Memorial Day before it got too hot I decided to finish weeding the flower garden in front of the house. Big mistake! While weeding I dislocated my artificial right hip. After a ride in the ambulance and x-rays the doctors attempted a reduction. Basically it is an attempt to put the ball into the socket. They were not successful.

From Monday morning at about 7:30 until Wednesday morning at 11:00 I was totally bed bound. The pain was minimal and I was able to just relax and be prepared for surgery.

The surgery was done and only two parts of the artificial joint were needing replacement. After surgery the pain was so minimal that I did not need pain medication. They told me not to be a hero because pain would slow recovery.

Basically I lost 8 days of anything other than watching TV or reading.

Yesterday my daughter called. A fellow co-worker is off work because her husband is in hospice and not expected to be with us much longer. DD wondered if we could put a basket together for a raffle that our co-workers are planning to help our our friend. I immediately thought of the preemie quilt that has never been quilted. Also I recently learned a very simple pattern that can be made in various sizes from a baby quilt to queen size quilt. DD helped me pick the fabric from my stash to make the baby quilt.

I finished the quilting on the preemie quilt before supper and need to iron, cut and sew the top for the baby quilt. I do not think I have the right fabric for the back of the baby quilt or anything for binding. Guess my DH will have to wheel me around Jo Ann's Fabric this evening to get some fabric.

Have a great day

Ohio Valley Quilters Guild May, 2009

Tonight is Guild meeting. James has promised to take me if I don't feel up to driving that far. I had an angiogram on Friday. The results are that I have a wonderfully strong heart and no repairs are needed. Guild will be just the thing to bring up my spirits. I am so limited in activities and cannot lift even my sewing machine. Looks like fabric and a rotary cutter are going to be my next best friends for the next two weeks.

Over the weekend when I was comfortable sitting up I started cataloging my quilting magazines. I wanted to use a database, but found that just a single spreadsheet on Excel will do just as well. I am listing each article. The columns are Magazine Name, Volume, Number, Issue, Publication Date, Article, Page, Regular Articles, Special Articles and A Flag if it is a project or article that I know at this time I want to go back and look at. It takes a while to enter each magazine, but in the long run it will be like a card catalog in the public library and very useful. I plan on entering my quilt books as well so that I have everything in one place. How organized LOL.

Tomorrow I will ask DH if he will get out my sewing machine and put it on the table for me. Maybe I can start sewing as well as cutting.

Have a great day and smile at someone.

Change in priorities

MIL is moving into a nursing home the end of this month. Because of my surgery I was not able to give her the quilt intended for Christmas. My new goal is to cut all the fabric, piece all the blocks, sew the blocks together, layer the backing, batting and top and sew it together like a pillow case and invert it. Then I will tie the quilt together rather than quilt it. I want to have it on her bed in the nursing home before she walks through the door or at least have it on my arm as the first thing to unpack.

All other projects will have to go to the bottom of the priority list for the time being. So many projects and so little time.

Our vacation schedule for 2009 has been fairly well settled. I plan on one week in Gatlinburg in March, one week in Orlando in April and three quilt retreats spread out through the year.

In the meantime I am slowly working my way into the family room to transform it into my sewing room / quilt studio. One item at a time each time I go down stairs. (Stairs are still difficult for me). My goal now is to have everything in place before we leave for Orlando so that I can pack quilting that is minimal in space requirements. Each time I pack I get a little better at taking only what I need and not over packing.

God bless you and keep you and your love ones safe and healthy.

Wheel of Mystery -- Quilt University

On January 2 I started a new class at Quilt University. It is called Wheel of Mystery. The pattern is also called Winding Ways and various other names. On January 9 we got our second lesson.

I have chosen to do a series of different red fabrics one each for the "flower" of the pattern and use black as a background. I am slowly cutting out the red fabric. I have four completed and need 11 more. I may start piecing the blocks together this weekend.

My recover from surgery is progressing. I came back to work on the 5 week anniversary of my total knee replacement (one week early) and will get a final full release on January 20. I haven't tried to drive yet as the knee is the right one and that is used from breaking and acceleration. I will wait for the total release and very dry roads before my first drive.

I have a very full day ahead so will cut this short.

God bless you and keep you safe and happy. Karen

Other objectives

Although I had a four day weekend I did not have the opportunity to do any quilting. Most of the time was spent working in the kitchen, working on a toilet that will not flush and searching for 5 pistols that belong to DH. The kitchen is almost back in pristine shape, the toilet is still not working and DH found 4 of the pistols. Today he will be looking for the last one. Finding these pistols takes a load off my mind.

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with DD, SIL and GS. Jeremy is growing into such a wonderful boy. He and I had a long conversation and I must say he is fantastic. I love him too much to define. After dinner we had some target practice. Wait, you say. Jeremy is only 7. Well that kid can sure shoot a marshmallow blaster. I learned from him. What fun!

I have a very heavy work load during the next 15 calendar days and on December 16 I will be having my right knee replaced. I don't know how much blogging I will do in the meantime. I also need to stick very strictly to my diet so that my physical therapy after surgery is easier. 30 minutes 3 times a day for knee replacement physical therapy and some of it is patient driven. Thank God some of it is a machine that works on keeping the knee flexing. I will start at 35 degrees and end up at 110 degrees flex. After that any additional flexibility will be on my own.

Have a great day.