Organizing

My house is still in a mess, i haven't been able to really get going too well. When my mother moved in with me, she moved into our second bedroom, which had been my sewing room, guest room. One of my best memories is the look of happiness she had when she first got here, and saw her room ready for her with her little sitting area with her recliner and bookcase and TV. She also had a big dresser with a mirror that my brother had brought down, and it looked nice and gave her some of the privacy that she wanted. I got a hug for that, and my mother was loving, but not in a physical way. I am in the process of trying to get things organized to move back, but now it just seems like "mother's room".
Part of me wanted to just have a sewing room, as I had given my queen sized bed to my daughter when my mother got her hospital bed, but then there are guests who we may have occasionally, who would be more comfortable in a bed, than on the couch. Also, there are times when my husband is ill, or is snoring too loudly, that I like to have a place to go.
I have ordered a new queen bed and headboard, and it should be 3 to 6 weeks, and I have 3 folding bookshelves to put in the walk-in closet for storage of fabric and misc. quilting and sewing items. I have acquired an embroidery machine since I moved out of my sewing room, so I'm not quite sure how I will fit that in. I guess that I need to go in there with a measuring tape and do some figuring. I am weird in that not only does it have to work and be efficient for my comfort, but also, it has to be attractive or I won't really like it. I wish that it could be all self contained, but I think that pressing and cutting may have to still be done in the family room, or dining room. I dream of having a short arm, but I don't know how I'd ever fit that in.
I have acquired another box of scraps too, and I am hoping to do some cutting and preparing of the fabrics ala Bonnie, and then have strips ready for future mysteries and possibly do some crumb blocks. I am kind of tired of the same old fabrics, and would like to have them used up. I don't have a big stash, but I can see how some people feel that the scraps are breeding behind our backs.
It will come together, and I will get back to my Carolina Straightaway, and my Orange Crush, soon I hope.

As you can see, I have a lot of work to do.

Getting Back to "Normal"

It has only been 2 days since my mother passed away. My brothers both left this morning, one had been here since Easter and the other just got here yesterday. No more nurses round the clock. My mother was with us for about twenty months. It is now back to just my husband and I, and it will be an adjustment. There is more to do than I had realized. Hospice has to pick up medical equipment, and another company will be coming Monday to pick up a CoughAssist machine and my mother's hospital bed. My niece in Iowa is planning to leave this week to drive down here, and next week-end everyone will be back (including nieces, nephews, grandchildren etc.) here to just get together at the park or somewhere not determined yet. I ordered a bed for my mother's room, which will now be a combination sewing and guest room, and it will be a few weeks before it gets here. Meanwhile, I have sorting and organizing of my mother's things, and the same for mine to go back into the room. It is hard to go through my mother's things as it feels like an invasion of privacy. I am starting to feel like my blog is a real downer, I feel like it is me, me, me, and I'm getting tired of myself. Hopefully, it will be better when I get back to working on things, meanwhile my apologies to anyone who had the patience to wade though this.

My Mother Passed

My mother was under hospice care at home 24 hours a day from Sunday until last evening at 6:55 PM, and then she passed peacefully away. It is a sad time, but we all know that it is a release for her, and at least she is not suffering anymore. Her disease was a cruel one where had she lived she would have just continued to get weaker, until she wouldn't have been able to move any parts of her body, and with her age, she was ready to go. Until the last week or so, she was still able to get back and forth to the bathroom with help, and able to read and do her puzzles, so at least she was spared the worst of it.
Now, there is just some sorting and such to do, and getting back organized, and then hopefully, I will get back to my CC and OC. Right now, I don't feel much like it, but it will come.
In June, we will take her ashes back to Iowa, which she loved, and have a graveside service and then she will be settled and hopefully completely at peace, and we will feel we did our best for her.

Hospice

I am the caretaker for my mother, who has lived with me for about 20 months, and been diagnosed with ALS for about 3 years. Since January she has been on hospice, and as of this past week-end she has been on critical care, and we have had a nurse in our home for the past 24 hours. They feel the end is near, and so I won't be working on anything for awhile, but hope to catch up sometime.
Hospice has been wonderful, and they make a hard time much easier for all concerned. They are keeping her sedated and as comfortable as possible.

Orange Crush

I have plans to start my Orange Crush and have gotten the fabrics. I am grateful that Bonnie is taking 2 weeks before the next clue, as I am still lagging behind as usual. The sunflower material is for the back, just because I like sunflower material, and the fat quarters I will use for the lights and darks for my 4 patches, along with whatever else I dig out of my "stash". I use the term loosely, as mine is not very impressive, but we will see what I can come up with. The only fabrics I haven't gotten yet are whatever will be used on my borders. I plan to make 2 lap sized quilts rather than 1 queen sized at this point. Who knows, I could change my mind.

Carolina Crossroads

I have been plugging along slowly on my Carolina Crossroads (mine will be a Carolina Straightaway lap sized) and was thinking about using a red, white and blue in the center instead of a neutral, but I think that it would be too busy, so will follow the plan. Also, I got my rail fences turned the wrong way, but this was good enough for me to kind of get the idea.

Granddaughter's Christmas 2006

Well, here I am again, I can't seem to stop. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I'm about to run out of things to write about and it's only my second day. I'm the queen of squares, and I'm hoping that I will get out of my comfort zone. I have a feeling that the Orange Crush is going to help with that problem. I'm still working on the Carolina Crossroads (my version of it) and it has been mostly squares again, but tiny ones, so still a challenge. For Christmas a couple of years ago I made quilts for all my granddaughters, and yes they were all charm squares. In my defense, I did have six of them to do, so quick and easy was my excuse. I also make rectangles, quite a stretch. For the past 4 years I have made pillowcases for family children, and have probably made about 125 all together. They are kind of like potato chips, and I make the ones that start out a tube and end up all finished even without the serger. It's almost like magic.

New at Machine Embroidery

I am new to machine embroidery, but have lots of plans for things I want to try to do. I did fleece blankets for several grandsons for Christmas, and due to them having the names on them, they were well received. I also did towels for my DD, DGD, my DD's friend, and my brother. They all were suitably impressed. Even though my skill level is about a 2 on a scale of 10, they aren't aware of it. I did a couple of hand towels for myself with the old world Santa's on them, and they are my favorite things I have done so far. I'll post a picture. The one is in Irish. I got the spelling of Merry Christmas in Irish off the internet. I just need more energy and time to keep up with my ambitions.

New Year's Eve Sudoku

Not a mystery, but still comeraderie and sociabiltiy involved, was the Sudoku quilt on Stashbusters. Stephanie Driel, came up with the idea to get a group together for the Sudoku, and I liked mine enough so that I use it on my bed. I have a queen sized bed, and it is a little big for my sudoku, but my DH and I like it there just the same. I got to use my new embroidery machine on this one too, as I did an embroidered Sudoku in each corner of the quilt. I'm posting 2 pictures of this one, one on the bed. I call it Sumo Sudoku, as it got a little bloated compared to the original.

Simply Squares Mystery

The first mystery I took part in was the Simply Squares Mystery by Marge Gordon on CyberQuilters 4-C-Bee's. I liked the experience so much that I have taken part in more since, and plan to hopefully finish the ones I have started and do more. I am posting a picture of it, although I only have a picture of the top with borders, I didn't get another picture of it after it was finished.

Another SIL had surgery for breast cancer recently, so this one also had a home to travel to. She called it lovely, and said that she used it when sitting or laying on the couch, so it will hopefully be well used. I sent some rice bags for my BIL with it, and she says he uses them everyday. We live in Florida, but they live in Rhode Island, and I guess that feet really can get cold there.