Preparation ...

That's the mode we're in here at Chez Nana. Preparing for something fun ... a long overdue trip to the beach. Not our favorite beach (Hilton Head Island), but we've never been able to say "no" to the beach, any beach. DD and her family and her (step) sister and her family have been trying for almost a year now to get away together to the beach, and they've graciously invited us and their dad and his wife to join them.

 

Since I've been given a respite from ongoing treatment and since DH and I are, as I said, way overdue for some time at the beach (we had to cancel our two weeks in Hilton Head this last May), we decided to leave early and get in a few more days on the beach. We'll be leaving Tuesday morning, so the last few days have been busy ones ... as will today and tomorrow ... as we prepare for this trip.

 

Unfortunately that means that there's been no trip to Homestead Hearth (it's over 2 hours one way), so there's not been anything going on in the sewing room. I'm still debating what quilt block to use in my next quilt. I'm not sure that I'm any closer to deciding ... I change my mind every time I think about what block to use. Suffice it to say that I've got 3-4 blocks that are really high up on my list ... I suspect I'll choose whatever is at the top of the list on the day I head to Homestead Hearth. I do plan to take my Martha Washington's Flower Garden project with me ... even if I don't have time to stitch there on the beach, it'll keep me busy during the 12-hour drive there and back.

 

I also don't know how much time I'll have online ... after all. I've got a lot of beach time to get caught up on, and of course plenty of T time to enjoy as well. But I promise to get you all caught up when we return.

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!

Kathy

OK, Maybe It Was a Bit of a Blogging Break

My next to last blog post mentioned taking a break ... but not a blogging break. But as it turns out, it really was both.

 

About a week after I finished up my last chemo, I started to exhibit some symptoms that I initially chalked them up to that last intense chemo treatment. But over time the symptoms have gotten more intense and enough time has passed that I should no longer be experiencing any symptoms of this magnitude, so I've consulted with my oncologist. He and I are working on figuring out what is going on so we can get them resolved.

 

He moved my CT scan up from the end of the month to last week and moved our follow-up appointment to Tuesday. The good news is that the scan didn't reveal anything that could be causing my symptoms ... the bad news is that the scan didn't reveal anything that could be causing my symptoms. ;-) But there was more good news with the scan - everything looked the way he was expecting. And with my cancer marker staying stable, he doesn't need to see me for 3 months. He's ordered monthly bloodwork between now and October and another scan prior to my visit in October, but other than that, I'm a "free woman" for the next 3 months.

 

I haven't been doing any quilting since my last post, nor have I made it to Homestead Hearth to get fabric for my next project. I haven't even finalized what block I'll make my next quilt from ... I'm waffling between pinwheel, cake stand, scrap jar star and single wedding ring. Obviously triangles will be an integral part of whatever quilt I make next.

 

Since my last post, I have been watching the Ts swim ... their last regular season meet was last night, and they finished the season undefeated. League championships will be Saturday ... when it will be in the upper 90s with a heat index of around 110. :-o Gotta love summertime in southwestern Illinois. Ha!

 

Things should be slowing down next week, so I'm hoping that it will include a road trip to Homestead Hearth and some time back in the sewing room. I've enjoyed a bit of a break from the back-to-back-to-back sewing in May and June and am ready to get back to my needle and thread.

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!

Kathy

One Lovely Blog Award

 
My good friend Katy at https://katyquilts.net/ has nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award.  Normally, I’m not a fan of blog awards, but I have to admit that I like memes that allow us to share a few previously unknown facts so we can get to know each other a little better.  So, I’m going to make an exception and join in.

Like Katy did, I have pasted the award photo and the rules directly.  Here they are:
The Rules:
*Thank the person who nominated you, and give a link to his/her blog.
*List the rules.
*Display the image of the award on your post.
*List seven facts about yourself.
*Nominate (up to) 15 bloggers for this award, and notify them to let them know you have nominated them.

Seven Facts About Me:
1. I started piecing my very first quilt on January 30, 1982.  How do I happen to know the exact date?  It just so happens that we had a blizzard in 1982 that began January 30, 1982.  We got 24” of snow.  I remember starting the quilt after dinner when the forecast was for light flurries.  The Blues were playing in Los Angeles that evening, so I was sewing while listening to the radio broadcast on KMOX, the CBS affiliate in St. Louis.  They kept interrupting the broadcast to announce that the forecast was changing … after several changes, it became apparent that we were in for a significant snowfall and that there would be no way that I was going to try to get out to go to church the next morning.  So I kept sewing … and stopped periodically to take a look at the snow falling. 
 
2. When I was a child, I wanted to be a groundskeeper at Busch Stadium when I grew up.  I thought it would be a good way to be able to watch the ball games and get paid.  Ha! 
 
3. I like food that most people don’t: braunschweiger, liver and onions, oysters on the half shell to name a few.  The list of foods I don’t like is a pretty short one: beets, parsnips, radishes, swordfish, tuna. 
 
4. I flunked chorus tryouts in junior high … you know, the ones where they feel obligated to pass you as long as you can carry a tune. I thought, for some obscure reason, that I’d have a better chance if I sang soprano.  I’ll be honest and say that I couldn’t read music at all back then, so I couldn’t carry a tune and most likely wouldn’t  have passed anyway.  But I couldn’t have failed more convincingly if I had tried.
 
5. I am an anti-pack rat.  I save very little and have no regrets.  DH and I have moved about every 8-10 years of our marriage, and my philosophy on moving is “let’s move as little as possible”.  So when it comes time to pack, I’m ruthless in giving away/throwing away anything that doesn’t have sentimental or legal value or that I haven’t used/worn since our last move.  DH is, on the other hand, a quintessential pack rat and doesn’t allow me to pack anything for him.  ha!
 
6. After listening to my dad replay his round of golf, shot by shot, to my mom as I was growing up, I swore I wouldn’t marry a man who played golf.  You guessed it … DH enjoys golf.  At least he doesn’t regale me with play-by-play of his rounds. 
 
7. I’ve worn glasses since I was 8 years old.  Prior to having to wear glasses, I used to dream about wearing glasses, even poking out the lenses of sunglasses so it looked like I was wearing glasses.  Needless to say, I now dream of not having to wear glasses or contact lenses. 
 
I’m going to be a rebel and pass on nominating any other bloggers … if anyone wishes to play along, join in!
 
I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

Taking a Break

No, not from blogging, but from the sewing room. Ha! Seriously, I worked like crazy to finish my Twinkle Twinkle mini Saturday. Alas, I made it take longer than necessary because as I went to trim a random thread, I snipped into a border that I was getting ready to stitch on. Ugh! I had to cut another border piece. No, it doesn't end there! I miscut the second border piece ... too short of course. Double ugh! At least the third time was a charm. I gave it a quick press and laid it out on my design floor just seconds before dinner was ready.

I see it's not laying nice and flat ... I hope that a good pressing will take care of that because my blocks were trimmed and the sashing and borders were cut per instructions and went on easily. If not, let's hope it'll quilt out. Ha! Regardless, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I still haven't decided what to work on next and frankly, once I had semi-tidied back up the sewing room, I just didn't feel like pulling out fabric bins (which is why Twinkle Twinkle fabric is still in the daybed and why the sewing room is only semi-tidied up). So out came my Martha Washington's Flower Garden. If you remember (and if you didn't, I wouldn't blame you because I can't even remember when I last worked on this!), I'm stitching on the connector hexies. Once I get this step done, it'll be time to join together the blocks to form the stars/tumbling blocks. Of course, I need to baste more hexies for the setting blocks ... I have a few leftover from when I began this project but not enough.

That's how much I got done before calling it a day yesterday. Since I have just two blocks to add connector hexies to (that includes the block I started yesterday - see above), I should be able to get them done today and can lay them out to finalize placement and then start piecing stars/tumbling blocks. Hopefully after a couple of days of hand stitching, I'll have decided what I'm going to work on next.

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a happy Independence Day!

Kathy

Happy Holiday Weekend!

It looks like it's going to be a quiet weekend here at Chez Nana. DD and her family have plans with their friends, so DH and I will be on our own this weekend. And honestly? While I'll miss them, it will be nice to just take it easy this weekend as this last week was a fairly busy one.

 

I got the results of Monday's bloodwork, and all my counts are good. In fact, my WBC was a little high, but my nurse told me that wasn't unexpected since I'd had the Neulasta injector last week. The great news is that I am free to get out and about as desired ... no more extraordinary precautions. Yay! I will have bloodwork again on Tuesday, but after that, I'm done until later this month when I'll have my scan and meet with Dr. Powell.

 

More good news, health wise, is that the muscle pain in my legs is resolving ... I was even able to walk a third lap through the neighborhood last night! As recently as Wednesday, I struggled to make one lap. And the sluggishness that I was feeling seems to be resolving as well. Now if I could just get my sleep habits straightened out.

 

Tuesday and Thursday nights we watched our grands swim. Thursday's meet was especially exciting ... not only did their team continue their unbeaten streak, but they broke 7 team records. And forgive this grandma's bragging, but 3 of those records were broken by my Ts. T#3 broke a long-standing record in the 25-yd breast stroke.

 

T#1 broke his own record in the 50-yd butterfly.

 

And T#2 helps her relay team break a record in the 200-yd freestyle relay. It was too dark to get a good photo of that event, so here she is swimming the butterfly portion of her 100-yd IM.

 

And of course T#4 swam, too. She's got a long ways to go before she'll be even close to breaking any records, but hey, 6 months ago, she couldn't even swim, so we're not complaining. ;-)

Thanks for letting me brag on my grands.

 

I also spent a couple of days in the sewing room. I was able to get 3 of my Twinkle Twinkle blocks together ... I've trimmed one to 9"x9".

 

I've got the pieces for the 4th block cut and ready to sew. After I complete that block and trim the last 3, I'll cut out the sashing, cornerstones and borders. It looks like I should get this little mini finished before the weekend is over ... oops, I don't have anything in mind for my next project, let alone pulling fabrics. I still haven't had time to get to Homestead Hearth to get fabric for the cake stand quilt I want to do, and I don't think we'll get there next week either. So, I'll be making another project using my stash. Now, what block do I want to use? Decisions, decisions.

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great weekend!

Kathy