Man! Time flies when you're having fun....or not!

I have been busy.  Between multiple trips to the Cleveland Clinic main campus in Cleveland for hubby's heart issues to busily doing punch needle, cross stitch, and getting some quilts ready time has just become a big blur!

First - hubby:  He has Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and needs to have surgery to thin out the thickening of his heart which is blocking his aorta.  He also has a leaky valve that needs repaired or replaced.   Initially he was supposed to have surgery on July 19 but prior to that he ended up in the hospital due to his hemoglobin being only 7.   So two blood transfusions, 4 IV iron infused, and a week in the hospital he came home.   But not before he had a colonoscopy and EGD which were completely normal.   So next he had to have an encapsulated endoscopy where he swallows a teeny tiny camera which looks like a capsule type pill.   Again, everything completely normal - no bleeding, no redness, nothing.   Decision:  he doesn't absorb iron.   So our GI dr has him going monthly to have his hemoglobin checked and if it starts to drop (it's back up to 12.5) then he'll get more iron transfused.  So yay, green light for heart surgery.   Well, not so fast.   We went back to Cleveland Clinic August 1 for a do over of all his tests for pre-surgery since 90 days had passed since he had them.   This time blood work comes back that his blood takes too long to clot.   So this Thursday August 18 he has to go back to Cleveland Clinic (did I mention it's main campus downtown Cleveland?) to meet with a hematologist and will hopefully get cleared for surgery which is currently scheduled for August 24.   So if he is cleared for surgery, then we have to go back downtown on the 22 for a heart cath, back on the 23rd for his preop work up, meet with the anesthesiologist, and the surgeon, then back on the 24th for surgery.  Gulp!

Now on to fun things.   Like I said, I have been quilting and doing some punch needle, and some cross stitch. Our quilt guild, Lorain County Piecemakers is having a quilt show on Oct 8, 9, and 10.   They had sent an email out to members of the guild about wouldn't it be nice to have a section of red and white quilts.   So, I had a pattern from BirdBrain Designs titled "Snow Much Fun" that I had planned to do in blue and white.  Well, I decided to do it in red and white.

I will work on hand quilting while hubby is in the hospital.

Then on August 2 we had our 45th class reunion and I had volunteered to make a door prize.   I started out thinking I would make the "Welcome Pineapple" by Tara Guernsey, but after I finished and mounted it I was worried that it didn't look right so I had a block left over from the red and white quilt that I turned into a mini quilt.

 This is the Welcome Pineapple.   I need to hone my punch needle skills....

This is the mini quilt that I made for the class reunion.

I have also been working on my Jane Harris Sampler that I started, what, something like 3 years ago.   It was much bigger than I thought it was when I ordered it so it's one of those work on for a couple of weeks, then put it away to work on something else.   I feel like I will never get it finished!  It seems like there should be more completed on this than what is!!!

So this week I have been working on this sampler.  I've also been getting two smalls to work on at the hospital the day of the surgery and for ever how long hubby will be in ICU.

This Saturday, my friends Stacy and Sharon and I are doing a road trip to Sauder Village for rug hooking week even though Saturday is the last day.  Yes, I am a rug hooker too, although I haven't done much hooking lately, ok, not lately like in the past two years!  LOL!   Any hoo, I will be on the look out for a new punch needle as mine broke.  My friend Stacy does a lot of rug hooking and will be looking for wool.  My friend Sharon doesn't rug hook but she is a quilter.  Sauder Village has a nice quilt shop that in the past has had some nice civil war type fabric.  After we do the rug hooking and the quilt shop we will eat lunch there at Sauder Village.   From there we will head to Findlay, Ohio to a cross stitch shop.  I have started doing the "word play" by Brenda Gervais that is a cross stitch for each month.  I need four more and I will have all the months, so hoping this shop still has them so I don't have to order online and pay shipping and handling.   From there we're going to a bulk food store in Shiloh, Ohio.  Then we'll go to a quilt shop right around the corner from there.   Then as we head home we always have to stop somewhere for ice cream and we will do the same thing this time!  :)

So...i think that's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy crafting!
Char

Things I've been working on....

I have been a teensy bit busy creating.   I am working on some redwork for our guild's quilt show in October.   We want to have a section devoted to red and white quilts so I decided to do some redwork.   I've also quilted a small wall hanging from a panel of fabric I bought at the Quilt and Sewing Expo last year.   And, I've even made some maple leaf blocks for a quilt that a group of people are making to be raffled....

Lately I've been trying to work on cleaning/organizing my craft room.   I'm not getting very far though so I've been avoiding my craft room!   I did work in it for about 3 hours yesterday.   I managed to clean out a drawer - I swear it was a bottomless drawer because I kept pulling stuff out and pulling stuff out but finally I got it emptied, went thru stuff that was in there from 2000!!!!!!   Now it holds my journal which I don't write in very often (probably because I couldn't find it), my coloring book and coloring pencils and pencil sharpener.   Wonder how long it will stay that way!  Ha!

 This is the quilt I quilted from a panel I bought at the Sewing and Quilt expo last year.   I was playing around with different thimbles so I'm not really happy about the hand quilting I did.   This is hanging in my kitchen.

 This is one of the redworks I have finished stitching.   I am planning on adding small beads for the buttons and some of the snowflake ends.   Three down, six more to go before I can create a quilt top.

 This is what is in my hoop right now.   Little House Needleworks - Small Sheep Virtue - Friendship.  It went fast and I was in the mood to do something that I could finish in a couple of days.    I need to finish the stitching then decide if I want to frame it, make it into a pillow or what.  

My two maple leaves.

I hope you all are doing well.  

Happy Easter!

Char

Happy Leap Day!

I hope you all have been enjoying the year so far!   Our weather here in Ohio has been pretty darn nice considering that it's February and we don't have snow on the ground!  :)   And we had a 64 degree day yesterday.   We're supposed to get some nasty weather this week coming up but it's gone almost as soon as it comes and I can live with that!

I've had a very busy (and not in a good way) couple of weeks.   My hubby ended up in the hospital with severe atrial fib.  They took him off his old medication which meant he had to be monitored in the hospital and then they started him on a new medication and again he had to be monitored.  But the new medication wasn't doing the trick either so they had to cardiovert him back into normal rhythm.   He was in the hospital for a very looooong week!   Then once he got home he had to go for an EKG on Tuesday, on Friday and then again today.   Thursday he has to go see the nurse practitioner at the cardiologist's office.   The doctor has been happy with his EKG's and his blood pressure so that's a very good thing.   We both were exhausted all last week so not a whole lot got done around my house except a lot of napping.  

I did, however, finish my daughter's quilt.   It was from McCall's quilting magazine 2015 and was a series.   The magazine quilt finished pattern would have measured 95 1/2 x 95 1/2.   I did not want to hand quilt one that big so I made hers to measure approximately 49 x 49.   She loves it.   It's the perfect size for her to bundle up with on the couch.   I'm happy it's done.   So life is swell!

Purple is her favorite color.   I picked this fabric up many years ago with her mind but had no idea what I was going to make.   So happy to see the McCall's series!

Here is a picture of it with me holding it up.....

So now I have a wall hanging of birds and bird houses on my hoop.  I'm just about finished hand quilting and hopefully will sew the binding on tomorrow and the sleeve to hang it by.   Then it will hang in my kitchen.  

I've also been working on a red work quilt.   The pattern is from Bird Brain Designs and is of snowmen.   But that's not a rush...well, not a huge rush.   I hope to have it finished in time for our quilt guild quilt show in October to be displayed with the red and white quilts.  We'll see....

I also have several cross stitch projects in the works as well as needle punch.   I really, really want to get my Jane Harris sampler finished so that may be the priority.   Once I get it finished the other cross stitch projects will go quickly as they're not as big as the Jane Harris sampler.

Thanks for stopping by.   I hope you've enjoyed your visit and will come back again!

Char

Time sure flies when you're quilting!

I have been busy, busy, busy hand quilting a quilt for my daughter.

I'm quilting in the ditch around each star, log cabin strip, pinwheel, etc.   So it's taking me longer than I had anticipated.   But she will love it when she finally gets it!  She has seen it in person and liked it.

I read on The Old Tattered Flag blog about resolutions....I have a better name for it....my bucket list for 2016!  LOL!   She mentioned diets, exercise, that sort of thing.   Well, each year I make a list of projects I want to complete, that I want to start, and then some.   I write it down.   This past year it actually helped me stay on track and I did manage to get quite a few things completed on my list.   But quilting, cross stitching, punch needle, rug hooking are like shiny objects to me.  I swear I'm not going to start another project until the current one is finished.   Then I see people's posts on facebook of their quilts or rugs or cross stitch or cute little bunny punch needle and adorable little punch needle hearts and I want to stop what I'm doing and make those.   I've been strong so far and haven't given in to the urge to do something other than the quilt I'm working on.  But it's hard!  Plus I see those things and think, "oh, I could do those up quickly" forgetting that I'm not as fast at cross stitch or punch needle as I'd like to think I am!  And then there's rug hooking....I haven't picked up my hook since last April when I attended a rug hook in.   What the heck!?!?   Then I see my friend's blog Rugs and Pugs and see all that she has hooked and think, I should set my frame up in my craft room and even if I can only hook here and there a little bit each day or every other day I just might get a rug hooked!   

I've also been babysitting my grandson and two great granddaughters so my daughter can go to her son's wrestling tournaments.   They are ages 5, 4, and 1year.   I didn't think I'd be so tired after they left.   I've only watched them once so far but will be watching them next weekend.  

Sorry there aren't more pictures.  I will post pictures of the completed quilt when it's finished.   And I just might post my "bucket list for 2016"...oh wait!   Part of my bucket list is to actually make the bucket list for this year!   So maybe now I have the incentive to at least make the list!  LOL!

Take care - have a great weekend.  

Thanks for popping in to see what I've been up to!

Char