My Best Friend

Today is a very sad day. I used to fly to Kelowna to visit a very special friend once or twice a year. However, Bonnie L-W was diagnosed with lung cancer and liver cancer in September of 2011. She was given chemotherapy treatments which messed up her mind. Her platelet count was too low to have the last 2 treatments and she was my friend again (her thoughts were clear). We had really good chats for a couple of weeks.

Last week she was admitted to hospice for care. Her body was shutting down. The hospice people were very good to her and her family. Her kids (now young adults) were with her when she passed away (they held her hands while she went to sleep). She passed away peacefully.

Her pain is gone and her family's pain has begun. I just pray that the Lord will comfort them through this very difficult time. Bonnie L-W was a very vibrant Christian lady.

A new phase has begun in her family's life.

Linda

UFO's

I was reading Bonnie Hunter's blog earlier today. She used the above picture to start off her post and the essence of it is to stick to one kind of project at a time.

We all have UFO's and quilts that we want to make and sometimes we become overwhelmed with the number of projects that need to be finished. She was saying that she likes to work on one project until completion.

I have way too many UFO's to count (or that I want to admit to) and so I have decided to pick one at a time and work on it until it is a quilt top, wallhanging or table runner etc. Then it will be time to pick the next UFO and continue through the year and hopefully see some progress with finished projects. The project will then go into another pile to be quilted.

I also like the idea of having one kind of project at a time. That would mean one machine piecing project, hand piecing (I am piecing hexies), redwork, and one project to be longarmed. 

In the evenings I like to have projects to do in front of the TV. I can do hand piecing and redwork but I also like to intersperse with knitting, cross stitching and crocheting. This keeps life interesting.

Anyway, be sure and read Bonnie's blog for some other tips and comments.

If you feel like commenting on my blog, I would love to hear from you.

Happy stitching,
Linda

An Unproductive Week

Last week started off badly. I woke up last Monday with a dizziness problem. After going to the doctor, I was diagnosed with vertigo. Within a short time, I realized I actually had the flu. Wow it lasted for the whole week. As of today, I feel OK as long as I don’t move around a lot. Needless to say  this gets in the way of my business – quilting customer quilts.  I have one custom quilt to do, and then 9 other quilts have come in last week.  I have fibromyalgia and so pain is always present. However, I have been having lidocaine infusions which really help with the pain and for me it has taken some pain away. The last infusion was 8 weeks ago and I am ready for another one (this Thursday) and I can tell that my fibro pain has come back. Can’t wait for Thursday.

I have a custom quilt on the frame. I will post pictures of it once I have finished it. The centre part of the quilt is all one design, then the inner  border has another design and the outer border yet another design. So far I have quilted the top outer border, the top inner border and 2 rows in the centre of the quilt. It is going to look spectacular. I have also asked the customer if I may enter it into two local quilts shows and she has said that would be fine with her.  This is exciting for me as I have never entered a quilt show before.

This coming week is a busy one too. Tomorrow I am going to West Lorne to get some pointers on my embroidery software. Wednesday is Bread and Butter Society in Exeter and on Friday I am taking a class with Heather Stewart to make a Jester’s Diamond quilt. I will post pictures of this quilt too. I have been busy getting ready for that class by precutting some fabrics.

I hope this week is better. I want to get some sewing done on my UFO projects. 

Have a great week stitching,

Linda