Happy Birthday Shelia

 Shelia

Yes today is my birthday and I am spending it in my quilting studio with mom doing some much needed sewing time.

Remember my Quilter's Of South Carolina Challenge from 2010...It has been touring the state for the last year and 3 months.  My friend Suzanne picked it up from the QSC spring meeting for me.  So glad to have my 7 Menopausal Dwarfs back home.



 Last night the bee girls came over and we had a blast just chilling.  Ironically, even with all of the fun we each got a lot accomplished.    I thought that I had pictures of everyone but somehow some were just video instead of pictures.  Gina was sewing the binding down on a precious baby quilt for a friend.  It was sea themed and soooo cute.  But the picture was in a video that I sent to Roger and forgot to just photograph it.

Mom was still working on her Orca Bay mystery and all of those tiny pieces.  Here is a close up of one of the blocks.

Below is a picture of Sue's Pat Sloan class project.  She has all of her applique on the quilt and now just needs to do the button-hole stitch around each of them.

 Suzanne was working on her Texas Redwork project which is GORGEOUS!  Below you can see some of the blocks below.

 Suzanne has done some beautiful work on these blocks.  It is going to be a stricking quilt.  She started sewing the blocks into rows with the sashing last night.  Knowing her she will have it finished by our quilt guild meeting on the 9th....hehe.

I am working on my Pat Sloan class project below.

 I got the half square triange border sewn on and I am now working on the final border and the applique vines for it.

Here I am trying to get the vine laid out just like I want it.  Moving around since we are all having to use the ironing station.

 Susan was working on the Carolina Chain quilt for her friend.  It is going to be beautiful.  She was sewing on the brown sashing last night.  Can't wait to see the finished quilt.

 Here is mom sewing on her Orca Bay on her Featherweight we gave her for Christmas.  (Didn't realize when I took the picture just how much stuff we had piled onto the table while working)

Here is Sue working on her Featherweight.  She is sewing blocks together for her take along project.

 And here is "sissy" just worn out.  I think all of the company over the past few weeks has worn her out. 

Hope that you have had a great day quilting.  I have enjoyed spending my birthday with my mom quilting.

While I have been quilting my honey and Roger Jr. have been in Martinsville, VA for the race.  Here is my honey.

Here is a picture of practice for the sprint cup race.

 Roger and Roger Jr. at Martinsville track.

 Roger Jr. in Earnhardt's car.

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Back In The Quilting Studio

Starting off with a picture of my niece Kelly and her husband Jerry.  Kelly and Jerry were so much help to us with caring for dad.  Wonderful woman she has become and a wonderful man she is married to.

Mom and I finally made it out into the quilting studio.  I think we both were ready for some destressing time.  You know that the hum of sewing machines speaks to the soul.  Mom had started the Bonnie Hunter mystery Orca Bay before daddy got sick but had not had any time to work on it in a long time, so that is what she pulled out.  I had to pull out all of the instruction pages so we could figure out just where she had left off.  We realized that she did not have all of the pieces cut for the entire quilt.  While she pieced I continued to cut the pieces she needed to complete the quilt.  Goodness there are alot of pieces in this mystery also.  Below are some of the pieces on the ironing table.

 Then there were lots of paper pieced string blocks again in this mystery, I love to do those blocks.  Mom had some red string blocks and some small blue string blocks.  Below is part of the mess made removing paper from the back of her blocks and squaring up block pieces and trimming dog ears.....whew!  Sure hope my cats don't find their way in here before I get this all swept up or I'll have dog ears all over my house.

 Below is mom sewing away on the featherweight piecing all of thes tiny blocks.  Here she is working on the ohio star blocks 6 1/2 inch blocks  28 with dark stars and 28 with light stars. 

 And below is a picture of mom's first two rows of the Orca Bay quilt.  Just look at all those pieces in just two rows......whew......mom is going to have another beautiful quilt when she gets finished.  So proud of her for putting all of the work into this quilt.  I am so blessed to be able to spend the time with my mother quilting, something that we both love to do.  This time is truly precious.

Taking mom today to her doctor for her physical.  We had cancelled it when dad was sick but today are finally getting it done.  Praying that everything will be good.

Roger Jr. arrived from Florida last night.  So good to see him.  Roger and Roger Jr. have had a trip to Martinsville, VA for the race planned for a long time and this weekend is the race.  They are both excited to get to spend this time together.  I am so proud that they remain close even though they live in different states.  I encourage them to spend as much time together as possible as we never know what tomorrow will bring.  They text everyday and usually talk on the phone every day or so, that is a wonderful thing.  And now with the video calling they can even show each other things they are doing like painting a truck or catching a fish.  Technology is truly a gift at times.

My plan for this weekend is to spend Friday and Saturday quilting.  It is my birthday and I need to put some stitches in some fabric.  I may work on my applique from the Pat Sloan workshop I attended.  I do have pictures to post, but just have not had time.

Happy quilting,

Shelia





Time To Move On

This month has totally been a blurr with dad's illness and death.  But God provides for us a time to heal.  Now it is time to move through that healing process and continue with our life. 

Today I plan to do some piecing with mom.  Funny how the hum of that needle moving up and down into fabric is so peaceful.  How making something out of small pieces of fabric can bring a smile to your face.  I'm pinning pieces together for mom on her Orca Bay mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter.  She was in the process of piecing this when dad became sick.  The fabrics are so diverse and beautiful.  The pieces soooooo small.  I bet this one will have around 4,000 pieces also when it is finished. 

More quilting to come in the next few days as we work through some pain.  Roger and Roger Jr. are going to the Martinsville race this weekend and Saturday is my birthday and I plan on spending it quilting.  My bee girls are coming over on Friday evening to sew so there should be some laughs in store.  These girls have been a wonderful comfort and support to mom and I during this hard time.

Happy quilting,
Shelia

In Memory

Paul Ellis Adams Sr. (1934 - 2012)

Paul Ellis Adams

Greenville

Mr. Paul Ellis Adams Sr., 77, husband of Betty Jean Godfrey Adams for 57 years, went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.

Mr. Adams was born one of six children on July 13, 1934 in Simpsonville to the Late Benjamin Woodfin Adams and Lena Garrett Adams. He worked for many years at Abbey Mills before retiring from J.D. Hollingsworth. He loved to garden and was an avid hunter. He was a member of Mauldin First Baptist Church and a huge fan of baseball and the Atlanta Braves. Paul was very active in the Masonic Order in South Carolina. He was Past Master of Empire Masonic Lodge #213, Past Patron of Empire Chapter Order of the Eastern Star. He was a dedicated Shriner of Hejaz Shrine Center for over 40 years helping raise money for Shriner's Hospital for Children. He was a life member of Golden Strip Shrine Club.

Also survived by his son Paul Ellis Adams Jr. of the home; daughter Shelia Adams Chandler (husband Roger) of Greenville; granddaughter Kelly Black Perkins (husband Jerry) of Newberry; step-grandchildren, Roger Dale Chandler Jr. (Leah) of Panama City, Florida, Rance Chandler (Olivia) of Spokane, Washington, and Lynette Chandler of Idaho; great-grandchildren, Taylor Black and Dale Black of Fountain Inn, step-great-grandchildren, Roger Chandler III, Haley Chandler of Greenville, and Daniel Chandler of Panama City, FL; step-great-grandchildren, Brennan Chandler of Seattle Washington and Jackson Chandler of Idaho; siblings James Adams (wife Betty) of Ball Ground, GA, Joan Smith (husband Vernon) of Easley, and Elane Finley (husband Bob) of Belton; many cousins, nieces and nephews; adopted brother and sister, Charles and Marilyn Hazel of Mauldin; precious friends and neighbors Ken and MaryAnn Wood of Greenville. His smiling face will be missed by his numerous friends and family. He was predeceased by two brothers, Don Adams and Virgil Adams.

Memorial services will be 5:30 p.m. Friday at Fletcher Funeral Home Chapel in Fountain Inn. Masonic Rites will be rendered by Empire Masonic Lodge #213. Visitation will follow immediately after the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Shriner's Hospital for Children, 950 W. Faris Road, Greenville, SC 29605, in memory of Paul.

The family is at the home of daughter Shelia Chandler at 16 Prestige Court in Greenville.

This has been a very difficult time in my life.  It breaks your heart to lose your father but it breaks your heart more to see him suffer.  Although it is tough to let him go I am glad he is not in pain anymore.

 

Shelia

Pat Sloan Is Here!!

Pat Sloan has finally arrived in Greenville!!  We are so excited to have here here for classes Saturday, Sunday and lecture at our guild meeting on Monday night.  Last night our bee took Pat and Greg out to supper at Red Robin....YUM!  We had a great time and such a sweet lady.  I am so looking forward to a little de-stressing and quilting class.

 Roger, Greg and Pat.

 Pat, Susan, Suzanne

 Sue, Gina and Dave

and Me and Roger.

Getting all of my stuff packed this morning as I am heading to the hospital after the class to relieve mom for the night.

Sorry for the delay in updating.......it has been another crazy week with dad back in the hospital.  We did the lithotripsy yesteday and dad did pretty good through that.  He is still connected to bladder irrigation to keep the blood clots from clogging his catheter and has the stent still in place.  Hopefully in the next few days we can pull the stent and see if he can pass the pieces of stone.  The stone was broken into about 20 pieces, (it was a 20mm stone which is HUGE so now he will have 20 kidney stones at least to pass.......not looking forward to this process and have alot of sympathy for what he is fixing to go through)  The doctor was not able to crush it any smaller due to the size of the stone and the amount of space that is in the kidney pelvis.  We also had to limit the amount of time the machne was hitting the kidney due to the previous injury to the kidney from the blockage.  Today we will be watching his kidney function to make sure it does not show additional damage from the lithotripsy.  Keep us in your prayers and I will try to update more later.

Now off to spend the day with Pat Sloan!

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Hexagon Work With Mom

Today mom carried some hexi's with her to work on at the nursing home.  I purchased one of the creative memory hexagon punches and had punched some of her template plastic for her. 

As you can see in the photo she has punches a tiny hole in the center, I need to use a hole punch and make the hole bigger so she can put a pin in there to hold the fabric in place.  But for today it will have to work.

Dad had a much better day today.  He had physical therapy this morning working with weights on his legs to build strength, then he sat up in the wheelchair talking with me and mom for an hour, then he fed himself lunch and ate everything on his plate.  Much better control of his hands today and using the utensils and handling the glasses with beverages.  He was exhausted and ready for a nap after all of that.  He said that the therapist would be coming in a couple of hours to have him walk and he needed to nap before that!  Very pleased with today's progress.  Still making urine and less bloody today.  More prayers answered!

Mom took her Black Magic quilt she made up to the nursing home and put onto dads bed.  He smiled when we put it on him for his nap after lunch.  I think it took dad all of 5 seconds to fall asleep once we got him in bed. 

 A close up of some of the quilting on the quilt.

We have an interested party for my grandfathers place and are to meet them tomorrow.  I sure hope that they are interested enough to purchase and take that one thing off of my list.  Prayers being said for that too.

Off to see my Bee girls for a few minutes tonight.  Seems like forever since I have gotten to be with them.  Could use a few laughs right now.

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Leap Year Day Drawing Winner

The winner of the drawing for the gift bag is:

Quilt Happy

Please send e-mail me your name and address so I can send you your prize package.  Thanks for playing along.

Happy Quilting,

Shelia