Sunday In My Studio

Today I am quilting in my studio.  What a relief.  I am trying to get the quilt finished that is in my frame so I can move on to some other projects.  The quilt in the frame was made by a lady that I work with.  It was her first quilt that she made years ago and wanted it quilted.  It has a lot of problems, uneven, puckers, etc. that I am fighing with to get it quilted as best as I can.  I discussed all of the issues with her prior to starting and she just wants it quilted.  I am using 2 layers of batting; a cotton on bottom and a bamboo on the top to help fill in some of the puckers.  Hopefully it will be acceptable when completed.  The colors are very bright and actually tires your eyes while quilting.

Below is my sweet hubby Friday night after his surgery.  You can see that his "special nurse", sissy was right there with him all evening.  He did great and is feeling much better today, just sore.

Now for some more quilting time.  Hope you have a great day quilting.
Shelia

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understandings.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

This has been a very stressful week for me and I have repeated my favorite verse hundreds of times each day. 

My mom who has been battling pneumonia for the past 10 days and is finally doing better.  She sounded so much better last night.  Maybe we can get her out of the house this weekend for some fresh air......or at least to see the outside again.

My brother who had a third heart attack Saturday is home at my house and is doing better.  His heart cath was not good so we are now on medical management.  His three bypass grafts have reoccluded, his stents have occluded and there is no additional surgery or interventions that can be done.  At age 55 he has a terrible heart.  So most of this week has been spent taking care of him and trying to find a way to provide $600 per month of medications for him.  If he can be compliant with his meds, not smoke and keeps moving he may get a few more years.  

My precious uncle Don who is battling kidney cancer is not doing well and may only have a few days left here with us.  He is one of the most godly men that I know and he has always been a special inspiration to me in my life.  God grant him a special journey.  Well done my good and faithful servent!

Next my sweet husband is having dental surgery tomorrow so we will be a little goofy when my bee girls come tomorrow night.  Boy do I need some stress relief.  Roger is such a rock to me in these times.  Isn't it amazing how God places special people in your life to help you through tough times.

Enough of the stressful stuff.....let's find some time to do some quilting.  Thank you Lord for the ability to take the small pieces of our life and blend them together into a beautiful memory of every special moment.  Quilting is good for the soul.

Many blessings,

Shelia 

Rolling Along

I've stolen a few minutes today to do some piecing.  Stress reduction.  I've watched some TV with Roger, who made me some popcorn....yum...yum. 

 I've completed some of the blocks of each type.  The pieced pink and brown ones with the red/neutral half-square triangles and some of the recut string pieced blocks.  Think it will be pretty.

Happy quilting everyone.
Shelia

Another Busy Week

This week has definately been a busy one.  Working mostly, but I was able to get to see some of my bee girls on Friday night.  WE HAD A BLAST!  I got to try out my new baby, my featherweight.  She sews so sweet.  The girls gave me lots of tips and tricks to using the featherweight.
I worked in the ER on Saturday and when I got home got a call that my brother was having chest pain at work.  He has had a heart attack already and open heart surgery.  I  was able to go with the transport with him to the hospital.  We got home around 2 a.m. this morning........and if you recall my non sleeping good stuff this meant that I had been up almost 24 hours by this point.  He is doing better, no heart attack, his labs were good and EKG were good.  He was admitted for observation and will do a heart cath tomorrow to check his grafts.  Hopefully everything there will be o.k.  Trying to get mom well from pneumonia and keep her at home, thankfully dad is there to keep a watch on her for me.
I am blessed with a great group of clinical coordinators that I work with and Lori and Tamara are switching their schedules around so I can be off tomorrow to be with Paul during his cath.  Whew....thanks Lord for the patience lesson......sure wish I would learn that lesson so I could stop getting so many projects in that area.  Keep us in your prayers.
I think I am going to lock myself in my sewing room for a couple of hours today and see if I can sew some stress into a quilt top.  Thank you Lord for that ability.
My kitties don't see to be very bothered by all the coming and going at all hours.  They just ruffle the covers and settle in for another long nap.....what a life!

Peep Withdrawal

I am really having Peep withdrawal right now.  I haven't been able to be with my bee peeps in over a month.  Our guild meeting was also cancelled due to the snow and ice.   I NEED PEEP TIME!!  I am working this Friday due to the events with Shriner's Hospital this week but hopefully we can get the whole bee group together next Friday at my house.

Roger is scheduled for dental surgery next Friday afternoon so I will be home taking care of my honey and hopefully doing some sewing.  Sounds like a great day for peep time.

The children yesterday at Shriner's were so excited to see all of the ladies and their beautiful crowns.  It is so rewarding to see how our hard work makes them light up!

I'm back off to the children's hopsital again today for another wonderful helping of blessings from these children.  I hope you have a great day quilting.
Shelia
P.S.  Remember the finished block?  Well looking at the diagram I realized that I sewed the half square triangle rows.....yes those tiny little buggers....on the wrong way.  I should have put the neutral side of the triangles toward the inside of the block......so now I'm ripping the outside rows off and resewing them.  Sure glad that I noticed it on the first block.

Shriner's Hospital for Children

Today I am at the Shriner's Hospital for Children Greenville, SC unit.  As a member of the national Shriner's ladies organization we are thrilled to have a hospital in our town.  Today we have dignitaries from all over the United States and Canada here to visit our hospitla.
Hope you have a great day quilting,
Shelia

First Completed Block

Here is the first completed block for the Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt mystery. 

 The first picture is of the block on my design wall and the second picture is close up view.  Seeing the block from far off and up close gives you such a different perspective of the blocks.

Each block has 61 pieces!  Now I have 29 more of these blocks  to piece.  Better keep rolling.

Shelia

Half Square Triangles.......Will I Ever Get Them Done????

Good grief Charlie Brown, just how many of these half square triangles do I have to sew??   Just when I think I am just about finished with sewing these things I find another bag of ones to be sewn.  I have 100 of the 5-piece strips sewn together so only 20 more to be done.  Boy these will sure be cute when finished into the blocks.  Each of these triangle blocks will finish at 1-1/2 inches square.  Now that is using alot of small pieces of scraps.

Guess I better get to doing some other work for a while.  Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Who Needs Sleep Anyway?

This morning is one of those mornings where I am awake at 3 a.m. tossing and turning.  So today I decided to get up and check e-mail and maybe sew a little on my mystery.

There is still ice on the ground.....so what is up with that?  The roads are clearing but there are still some crazy spots where the entire road is still a sheet of ice, and of course some people are driving 50 miles an hour when they suddenly decide that oops I thinks that was ice......crazy!

I'm still piecing on the small half square triangles which are being sewn into sets of 5 for using in block number 1 of the mystery.  The final quilt is going to be beautiful.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish these today and be off to piecing some of the blocks.

Hope you have a great day quilting,
Shelia

Rock and Roll Club

I passed my 18th kidney stone this morning at 2:30 a.m.  This one took 2 days to get out.  Miserable 48 hours.  Hopefully that will be the last one for this year!!

There is still ice on the ground in most places, but most of the roads have cleared except for the places in the shade.

Hope you have some time to quilt today,
Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Over 10 inches of Snow Today

Today we have over 10-inches of snow fall.  Below are some pictures of our house and the snow.  Roger took the pictures when he got home from work today and I worked 12 hours in the ER today.  Hopefully it won't all ice over for tomorrow, but I expect it to be ugly driving to work at 6:15 in the morning.

Today is our son Rance's 32nd Birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RANCE!!  He lives in Idaho so he is very used to the snow, this would be a small storm to him.
Have a great day quilting,
Shelia

Sunday Quilting

This has been another busy week.  I worked 60 hours this week, so I was pretty tired this moring.  My sweet husband said that he wanted me to quilt some today to relax.  What a honey!!  Since we were going to watch the playoff games I decided to set up a table in the living room and sewing on my string blocks for the Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery quilt.  I still have 18 more to get pieced.  Bonnie is sure working us hard for this challenge.  Here is a box of the pieces I've been sewing on for the blocks.

Below are pictures of the final 18 of my string pieced blocks. I just finished them while watching the first playoff game.  WOW, I sure am glad to have them finished.  Now I need to trim these up to 8 1/2 inch blocks.

Then in Bonnie's instructions we are now going to cut them into half and sew them 4 together to make a new string pieced block. 

The new blocks will have four of the cut triangle string blocks sewn together like below.  We have to piece 20 of these new blocks that will be 11-inches square.  The remaining triangle string blocks will be used for setting triangles.

Boy this is really going to be a beautiful quilt when it is finished. I can't believe all of the small piecing we are doing for this full size bed quilt.

Mom is still piecing right along and is currently working on her string pieced blocks.  We had to piece 60  8-1/2 inch string blocks for part of this quilt.

It is suppose to be a huge winter storm tonight.  They are predicting 5-6 inches of snow after midnight tonight.  It will be interesting getting to work in the morning.  My cat Whiskers must have gotten the word from the weatherman because he has settled in for a long winter's nap out of the sun porch.

Hope you have a great day quilting,
Shelia

New Years Eve 2010

We are in Florida at Roger's Mom's house.  It is a beautiful 70 degrees here.  Since mom and I are working on the mystery quilt I decided to bring my machine and pieces with me.  I have been able to spend a few hours here and there piecing.  How wonderful to have a tranquil setting to piece away some stress.

I was able to get 42 of the string pieced blocks pieced, all of the 600 quarter square triangles pieced, the half square triangles pieced and the strips pieced that I need to cut into 4 twosies.  WOW!!  All while watching TV and visiting with family.  So glad I took my machine.

The weather was gorgeous as you can see throught the trees. 

Look at the beautiful sun rays pouring through the live oak trees.  Wonderful.  When we left Greenville there was ice still on the ground from the snow we had Christmas Day.  What a difference 500 miles makes. 

We hope that you have a wonderful new year full of special moments you will always treasure.
Happy Quilting,
Shelia