Lost

(I am actually writing this in May of 2020, but inserting it here at the end of 2018 so that you will understand why no blog posts have been forthcoming for so long...Nothing posted between June 2018, and August, 2019.)

The summer and fall and early winter of 2018 were very bad for me.  My beloved husband, Bob, lost his battle with COPD.  After spending 3 months in hospice, he passed away on July 12, 2018.  I had been his only caretaker for over a year, and miss him deeply.  We were married 19 years, 5 days.  He did not know our last anniversary.

At this very same time I had been suffering from an arthritic hip and had gone from walking, to using a cane, to using a walker.  Hip replacement surgery was finally scheduled for me on the Thursday after Labor Day in September.  However, on that Tuesday, just 2 days before my surgery, I ended up in the ER/hospital with a massive pulmonary embolism in both lungs.  I survived.  My hip surgery was postponed until mid December.  It was a very long painful wait.  My life was on hold.  Life held no hope or interest for me.  Bob lost his life, but I felt lost too.

However, December rolled around regardless, and my surgery was very successful.  Recovery, physical therapy, and time have rendered me pain free and back to mostly normal activities.  A year later I have been declared "better than new" by the orthopedic surgeon, and will just need a check up once every 4 years.

2019 was a time of healing for me,  physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Adjusting to widowhood was difficult.  Being alone and not physically up to snuff took a toll.  A lot of lingering health issues have been dealt with and were recovered from. And now, as I write this, in May of 2020, I am finally starting to feel like my old (I use that word carefully these days!) self again.  

But I also write as an encouragement to all who read this.  Life can get very hard sometimes, and can seem hopeless and dark.  But people are very resilient, we bounce back.  I learned it's ok to grieve, it's ok to be depressed, it's ok to sleep til noon if you have no reason to get up.  You don't have to move on at anyone's pace except your own.  But the important thing is to ... move on. Get help, whichever kind of help you need.  Meditate. Pray. Get counseling if you need it.  Reach out, be with family and friends.  Just because you're alone doesn't mean you have to be lonely.  Get a dog!  I did.  Nova is a rescue dog, brought up from a domestic violence situation in Alabama and surrendered to the Humane Society in Milwaukee. Diamond Dog Rescue got her from there and put her in a foster home for rehab before putting her up for adoption. I was the lucky person to adopt her,  because, just maybe she is rescuing me as much as I rescued her. She fills my heart again, and life is so much better with her in it.

Nova and me

I hope to be quilting and finishing projects, tackling UFO's and making more, and finding time to LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH.  Life is good, I'm glad I'm living it again.

Scrap Happy, Final Version

Every border that I sampled on Scrap Happy looked too busy.  Every one.  Because the interior of the quilt is so bright and dynamic, I finally settled on a simple plain red inner border, and a black-on-red print outer border.  The quilt needed a quiet spot!  I'm really happy with this final version, and over 200 quilters agree with me!

Border Decisions

I have all 30 blocks finished now for my Scrap Happy quilt.  Now I need to trim them, and sew them into the quilt top.

Now I have to decide what kind of border to put on.  This is what I had envisioned:

It looks nice in the diagram, but when I started to make it, laying out strips and sample blocks, I'm not so crazy about how it looks.

It might turn out ok, it's hard to tell from such a small sample, and I don't even have the strip wide enough so that the black is above the 4-patches.  I just don't like it!

A second possibility is this:

This one looks a little more balanced to me.  It would be bound in black, so you'd have that last little quarter inch or so to frame in the outer white strip and the colored 4-patches. It would be an easy border to make, easier than sample 1.  I'll just have to try a sample and see how it looks.  Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

A "Scrap Happy" Quilt

My scrap bins are overflowing, so I a going to make some scrappy quilts.  Using the Fusible Grid (see my March 16th post), I am making these blocks:

Some of the blocks will have black corners, and some will have white corners.  They will alternate in a checkerboard like pattern. Not sure how it will turn out, but it's fun making these blocks and goes fast.  Hope to use up a smidgen of scraps this way.

Here is a variety of possible layouts:

     

I'm leaning toward the first layout, although what I originally had in mind was more like the second layout.  I like #3 as well.  I made these in EQ7, a really useful program!  We'll see how this quilt evolves!

Easier Construction

I have one last thought about the Quilt of Valor that I just finished.  When I received my quilt kit, I had directions for the quilt block and instructions to make 20 of them.  I started working making those blocks.  It was only after I started sewing the blocks and rows together that it occurred to me that there was a far simpler way to construct this quilt.  It would have been far quicker, and easier, if only I had seen a picture of the finished quilt, I might have done this entirely differently!

Here is the block, constructed according to the pattern I received:

When you sew block to block, you have to match those blue strips, the white squares and the red squares.  But what if the Block looked like this instead:

AND you added sashing strips and cornerstones: 

+

You'd get the exact same look of the quilt, but with far less matching and cutting.  You could have one large center red (instead of 4 smaller squares that come together).  You could have 4 rectangles instead of 8 squares.  Add a long blue strip between the blocks (instead of 2 rectangles end to end), and a sashing strip with cornerstones between the rows.   I think that would have been much better.  It would pay to study the whole quilt pattern, not just a quilt block pattern!

Quilt of Valor Under the Needle

My Quilt of Valor is coming along nicely.  I WAS able to get more of my dark blue fabric for framing in the quilt center.  SO happy about that!  It looks great.  The quilt top is finished now:

There was a problem when it came to PINNING the quilt, however.  I have arthritis now in my hip, and it has become problematic and painful.  I have a cane to help me get around, but I am unable to get down on the floor to tape and pin a quilt as I have always done in the past for each and every one of my quilts.  SO!  How do I make the quilt sandwich???  I have heard that you can tape smaller projects to a table, but this quilt is rather large  (62" x 80").  Pin half at a time?  I gave that a try.

I laid it out on the design board, all 3 layers, pinned in a few spots and then took it over to my work table.  I used fusible batting, so it stuck together fairly well in that transition, and then I proceeded to pin the top, smoothing things out as I went.  When the top was finished, I flipped it over and smoothed out the back.  I had to move every single pin, because even though I THOUGHT it was tight and smooth, it wasn't.  When the back was re-pinned, I flipped it over to the front again, and did it once more.  This took a long time, a couple days, and was hard on the back.  But I finally was satisfied that I could quilt it with no puckers, and so under the needle it went.  It quilted beautifully, and I am pleased with the finished result.

Finished! (Sorry for this blurry picture.)

This shows the binding, quilting, and backing.

Quilt of Valor Blocks

Interspersed with the  making of  Bailey's graduation banner, I have also been working on my Quilt of Valor blocks.  I have them all done now, and have been auditioning different fabrics for the outer border and inner border.

I don't have enough of that dark blue to frame in the body of the quilt.  I added a lighter blue strip, (on the left), but I don't care for that either.  I think a trip to the fabric store is in order to see if I can get more of that dark blue that you see in the blocks!  

Phyllis, the gal in charge of our QOV project, gave me some yardage of the "hearts and home" fabric for the outer border, and I think that looks ok.  I'm going to add it but cut the fabric WOF instead of the long grain line.  This way, I can sew it with all the hearts facing into the quilt center, and there won't be an "up, down, left or right" to the quilt.  That's one of the things I don't like about directional fabrics in quilts.