More Critters

Flying Fish?

Some are going to be tree ornaments. The cardinal, hiding behind the rabbit in the front, was too small to work on easily. More to come...

Needle Felting

Ted says that I have become a Felting Fool. I admit it. I've been making a felt critter almost daily since I took the workshop and bought a grocery bag of wool.  Several have gone to live at someone else's house, but I still have a menagerie. And visions of more are dancing in my head!

The first brown bear. 

And the new wool from Judy Shuros!

October!

These women are just a few examples of the superior art teachers in the state of Iowa. I spent last weekend with them at the AEI Fall Conference in Sioux City. 

What happened to September? I think it got washed away in the flood of the Mississippi! We had to take our boats out of the water and off of the lift and the beach because the Mississippi flooded our docks and the sailing club. It is slowly going down, but now it doesn't seem smart to put a dry boat back into the water.  The temperatures have been summery, but we know that that could change over night.

I haven't had time to quilt recently. But this Friday, I will deliver my quilts to the Northeast Iowa Quilters' Guild Quilt Show for judging.

Summer Quilt Project

I've just finished a Grandmother's Flowergarden wallhanging. I began with pieces pre-cut and grouped by Dana Jackson's great aunt. Dana inherited a grocery bag of pieces and gave them to me after realizing that she was not interested in using them. I've had great fun coming up with ways to use hundreds of hexagons.

This quilt is destined for the NE Iowa Quilter's Guild show in October. I'm planning to enter it in "Name That Tune." The name of the quilt must be the name of a song. I have several candidates for the name of this quilt. I was looking or songs from the 30's since the pieces are sugarsack prints from the 30's and 40's. Here are my suggestions, so far:

"Love in Bloom" by Bing Crosby 1934
"The Music Goes Round and Round" 1935
"Thanks for the Memories," Bob Hope 1939
"Sugar, Sugar," sung by Wilson Picket, #1 single in 1969

I'm open to other possibilities.

The border is made from several 30's fabrics I purchased. The binding is 1960's bias tape that I bought at a store that was going out of business several years ago. It matched the color of the flower centers perfectly.

Spring Quilt is finished...

This is my Malanaphy Springs quilt. It frames six flowers that we saw on the Malanaphy Springs trail this spring. Later, my friend Karen and I walked there following her first chemo treatment. It is a healing place!

Second Graders

I've been helping Lower Elementary teachers at North Winn. learn how to use Blogger to share news from their classrooms with parents and patrons. This is a slideshow of second graders this year. Their teacher, Mary Glock, is taking her well-earned retirement at the end of this school year.

Cancer College and Wailin' Jennys

I went to two wonderful performances this weekend. I began with the opening night of Lessons from Cancer College, Nancy Barry's play about her experience as a college professor diagnosed with breast cancer. Nancy's cancer was a little different from mine, but her thoughts through the diagnosis and treatment paralleled mine. I am so glad that she is such a talented writer who can share our thoughts and emotions so well. Her work is being shared through this one-woman play and Kristen Underwood is the one woman. I recommend this play to everyone. I know that Ted could not go for fear of facing his fears again. I'm hoping that he will go later because Nancy's words and Kristen's actions are good for releasing those fears.

The second performance was the Wailin' Jennys at Luther. The music was crystal, and the mood was intimate, even with the CFL full of people. The Jennys are three young women with terrificly blended voices and professional polish plus a male fiddle player who backs them up impeccably. They are going to be playing in Winona on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at St. Mary's College, if you missed the Decorah performance. Their music is joyous and warm.

Another Quilt

Between skiing and blood testing, I have managed to finish another wallhanging. This one is for Katey, Charlie's girl friend, to hang in her office. I'm putting it in the mail today. Katey is a social worker, who works with moms and kids in a program for women who have been in trouble with the law in Cedar Rapids. This should brighten up her office!

Infarction, INfarction, InFarction

Last night on the radio, I heard someone mention a "cardiac infarction" or a heart attack. It made me think: "I had a kidney attack." Not something that you hear very often. I've always thought that the word "infarction" is the kind that middle school kids would like to say over and over, real fast. And it might turn into a word that you usually don't get to say in polite company.

I'm still adjusting medication to control blood clotting. And I'm still shooting myself in the belly twice a day with Lovenox, the high priced stuff. I can't quit taking it until the warfarin has everything under control by testing at a #2-3 level. So far it is 1.6, so I'm getting there. It is taking longer than I expected.

I was surprised to learn that I wouldn't quit taking the Lovenox when I started taking the warfarin. Can you imagine taking two medications for the same problem and not being over-medicated? The nurse in the lab explained to me that the two medications control clotting in different ways, so it is okay to take them both at the same time. The Lovenox is my safety net until the warfarin is in control. At least the blood tests are a stick in the finger, rather than a draw from the arm.

I noted this morning when I took the injection that I am almost through my second box of alcohol wipes. That means that pretty soon I will have taken 200 shots of Lovenox. That is a lot of pokes in a relatively small area of the body. Good thing it isn't into my arm. My belly is several shades of purple, black and green. Sometimes the injection doesn't leave a mark, but other times it makes a bruised streak that looks like I've been punched. Beautiful in some ways, but not all. I'm still amazed at the knowledge of the medical profession.

Playground

These were not taken at North Winn., but the same kinds of activities were happening there. These are the St. Benedict's School students at noon recess. I took the two photos 7 seconds apart and look at how much movement there was between the two! Whew! It makes me feel like I might need a nap!

Simon: Cat-man-do

Quilts for Kids

I have finished a quilt for a very special project. Quilts for Kids is a website that allows quilters to receive fabric that is precut to make a crib-sized quilt that will be given to a hospitalized child. The quilter provides the batting and thread and puts the quilt together, then returns it to Quilt for Kids. They will make sure that it goes to a child who is hospitalized.

I was really thrilled with the fabric: neon colored prints on black backgrounds. The pattern provided was a four-patch. Jazzy diagonal stripes make a border around the four patch panels. Very fun. It took me an afternoon and an evening to finish the whole quilt, including machine quilting. I am not usually a machine quilter. I much prefer slow, but controlled, hand quilting.

The large squares are printed with tools: drills, nail guns, and saws. As I was working on the patchwork, I was thinking of the name for the quilt. Tool Man? I just registered the name of the quilt as Tool Four-patch. I'm hoping that some boy or girl who loves playing with tools will get this quilt.

Happy New Year

I have had so many positive comments about the CaringBridge blog that I am thinking that I should start writing here more regularly. There are plenty of things to write about, other than health and medical issues!

I am doing the Project 366-1 (2010). It involves posting a photo every day of the year on Flickr. I did the project in 2009 and only missed a few days when I was hospitalized. On New Year's Eve, I realized that I like taking a photo a day and don't really want to give it up. I carry my little Canon with me in my pocket almost everywhere I go. Ted has become so accustomed to me having the camera, when I leave it at home, he cannot believe it.