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