Well, after months away from the sewing room....I'm back at it! My daughter is finished with treatments, hopefully a final scan will determine that all traces of the cancer are gone and nothing more will be needed! My husband and I have been home for almost 2 weeks....the longest time home since Nov. I think! Nice to get back to normal.
So, of course, I am happily sewing again! I bought nice new upholstery fabric to make new covers for my porch furniture. The old ones are quite faded and crisp new covers to welcome the warm weather sound so good. Another porch/warmer weather type project I'm working on is a small throw knitted with cotton yarn. I started knitting again while away, for something to do and also learned to make a couple of hats for my daughter. I like a throw for my shoulders if the porch is cool or my feet when inside with the fan going. Anyway I am enjoying the knitting and trying new patterns.
Now back to quilting....I finished a small throw for my neighbor who took care of my cat, mail and plants while we were away. I used the pattern from a kit I got at a show awhile back, and made once before. It uses 3 colors and was advertised as a quilt for $20.00. Really enjoy making this little quilt and it goes together quickly. I like the look of this so much I'm wishing it was for me....but happy to give for all the help Sue was to us. Here is a picture of it.
My next quilt will be for my daughter. While I was looking through a quilt magazine at her treatment one day she saw this quilt and said she'd like it. The thing is I've made tons of quilts, some very personal, but not for my kids! Weird, huh!? For my younger son I have a half made quilt featuring guitars that I needed fabric for..... I think that was at least 5 years ago. Since then I did locate some fabric but still need to pull it all out and get it together. When my other son got married I made a personalized quilt for them but it remains unfinished. Claire has a small throw with 'hot guy' fabric on it and that was more of a joke. Anyway I think I should make my children proper bed quilts. So I'm cutting pieces for this one Claire liked and didn't realize how big a project I was getting into......162/5" blocks and 161blocks made up of small pieces to become 5" blocks.....all different colors! Woohoo way to make it hard on myself!!
No quilting going on with me for a while. Too bad, as I miss the creativity, my fabric, my sewing room, my house!
Oh, there are so many projects waiting.....half finished, almost finished, just begun and some just being thought about. Also waiting for me are quilting magazines to read and fabric I bought back in November that I unpacked and put away one day at home in January. (I barely remembered it by then ...)
I suppose the good thing in this break could be that all will seem new and exciting when I return home to get back to the normal routine!
I put my life on hold for a bit. First a wonderful week in the Adirondacks with family back in Oct. took me away in a good way. In the next weeks I didn't sew much and unfortunately didn't start my holiday projects!
During the first week of Nov. I had an awesome time with my sister and quilting pals in PA. Mostly we were fabric shopping, which is always fun!!
My sister sold her house during this period and needed help with finding a new place, then with packing and moving. I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth from DE to NJ on the ferry and trying to talk her out of keeping everything! (There was a lot!)
Finally by Thanksgiving my sisterly duties were done and my daughter drove me back to DE. My son, his wife and the 3 boys also came for T-day and a good time was had by all!
My husband and I were really ready for some time to ourselves and getting back to our usual routine by the end of the holiday weekend. We did get some decorating for Christmas done early in the week and most the shopping was also done, luckily!
That week my daughter was diagnosed with Lymphoma. We quickly left home to be in NJ with Claire and the rest of the family! She was blessed with great doctors who moved quickly to treat her. We have spent the last 2 months going back and forth to stay with our son and his family while helping Claire and keeping her company during chemo treatments.
Claire is incredibly strong, brave, courageous and fun! Yes, through all this she has been fun! Joking and telling stories that amuse the doctor and assistants at the treatment office. She is actually more concerned for her best friend who is suffering from leukemia, with horrible effects from her bone marrow transplant in CA. Finally her friend seems to be on the slow road back to health, her home and family.
Claire is doing well, a scan found 80% shrinkage of the tumor in her chest, and Fri. is the 5th of 6 treatments. After the last treatment, a final scan will hopefully confirm all traces of lymphoma are gone. Though she is easily tired, her overall side effects have been less than some have, but each day could bring more so we kind of wait and hold our breath! Last week a blood clot developed, which adds another complication, but I think we help by driving her places and keeping company, cooking, cleaning!
Her work has been terrific and we've chatted about how lucky she is to have such good people around(and insurance), the things we all take for granted usually. We also have been together a lot as a family which has been great! Claire shares a house with her younger brother who has helped her so much, his great girlfriend is another nice support. In all a wonderful, bad situation!
Just hoping to get back to the happy feeling of bumpy thread on layers of pretty fabric soon.....but then I suppose I'll miss the family!!!
