New England in the Fall

Our plan was to travel to New England to take in the fall sights and to visit family, Mr. G's sister in Massachusetts and then on to NH to check in on my Dad for a few days. On the drive up north, the foliage didn't disappoint. My sister had warned me ahead of time that Dad was getting weaker since he'd returned home from rehab a few weeks ago; and yet, even with that in mind, nothing prepared me for how much physical decline had occurred since I saw him last, six weeks earlier. It quickly became apparent that he needed to be seen by his doctor ASAP; getting up and walking was out of the question, he was unable to move at all without acute pain! Last Monday, through a series of stops where he was unable to get any accurate diagnosis whatsoever, it was ultimately determined that he needed to be transported to a larger, more comprehensive hospital via ambulance. Once there he was seen in the Emergency Department where a broken and displaced right hip was revealed through a CT scan! It was the final piece in a weeks'-long puzzle being dropped into place that ultimately completed the picture. The sad truth of the matter is that the fracture had occurred back on the 12th of September, it is barely detectable on an x-ray done at that time and was overlooked. Now, with new information, he became a patient of the Orthopedic Team and hip surgery was scheduled and performed right away. 

He had a partial hip replacement late last Wednesday afternoon and came through with flying colors! He was carried by his own resiliency as well as a raft of prayers!

Here he is, the morning after getting his new hip. He's on the mend and back in rehab as he heals, gets stronger and back on his feet once again. He's been through a LOT, and, at 97 years young, it's going to take time.  

Here he is, on his birthday back in April of this year. I'm eager to see that smile return to his face. The sights that I'd hoped to see up in New England this fall weren't quite what I had hoped for, but, I must say, those two thumbs-up following surgery last week might just be one of the best sights I've seen!

Back home in North Carolina again, yesterday afternoon was an especially GOLDEN one.

Life is Good!

Good Luck!

I am continuing with my deliberate efforts to use up ever-accumulating scraps! This is the Good Luck Pouch that I recently made for our oldest granddaughter. I used leftover squares from the Amarillo Sky quilt. I made the small one, measuring at 8"W X 3"H, it's a perfect size for stashing small treasures while traveling or when she's on the go. She loved it. I followed the instructions to a "T",  and really was pleased with the way it went together. All of the seams are finished and bound on the inside. I found a few zippers laid back and some Soft & Stable in the stash closet, I suppose I was holding on to them for just this reason?! (More Good Luck? I'd say so, yes!!)   

I hope that she'll get lots of use out of it. I still have enough left over squares to make the companion, larger (10"W X 4"H), pouch as well. I might just do that; waste not, want not, right? If you're looking for a quick and easy gift idea that's as useful as it is good looking, I'd consider this one; click on the hyperlink above to download the pattern by Center Street Quilts!

Life is Good!

Blessed!

I had a wonderful weekend in the Capital City with our daughter and oldest granddaughter. We shopped, baked bread and bagels together and I began my very first needlepoint project. It was all so much fun! I left yesterday morning with a happy heart and sweet memories of time spent together to head back home, all went well until I entered a section of Interstate Highway that's a current construction zone. With about 80+ miles to go I was cruising along and all of a sudden I hit something in the roadway, there was a terrific “bang" and I immediately realized that I had a flat tire! Traveling at 65 mph, and being in the passing lane, I had to carefully work my way across two lanes of traffic to the safety of the side of the road beyond the breakdown lane, I wasn't sure at all how bad it was but,  needless to say, it was a stressful situation. I called roadside assistance (the most well known and trusted one that we've been members of for many years) and spent way too long navigating an automated call system before I could actually talk to a live human. Once she understood my situation I was transferred to the actual service dept. who communicated with me through a series of text messages, indicating that it might be 40-45 minutes before they could arrive. In the meantime, I exited my car as the high volume of cars and trucks whizzing beside me was nothing short of hair-raisingly scary. I called 911 and they contacted Highway Patrol who indicated that they would send someone to find me. I stood far away from the car, down an embankment, waiting... and waiting... and waiting. No one that I'd called was showing up.  And then, all of a sudden, one of the NCDOT trucks (stock photo, above) pulled up behind my car! He turned all of his flashing lights on and got out and placed cones in the breakdown lane around my car. I approached him, assuming the roadside assistance service sent him. He told me "no, this is a free service that the state provides; your tax dollars at work" he said. He pronounced my tire as "shredded" and helped me to get out the spare, changed the tire and told me that I was good to go. He wouldn't even take a tip but gave me a survey to fill out. His name was Isaac and I told him that he was my hero! He said that he hears that a lot, he told me that he was actually my knight in a shining neon green safety vest!  All of this occurred and still no Highway Patrol or roadside assistance program anywhere in sight. I canceled the call into them and with Isaac's help was back on the road! I was lucky, I know that. Until yesterday, I had no idea about the North Carolina Department of Transportation Incident Management program. He told me to put *47 into my phone in case anything like this ever happened again. I did, and if you're reading this and live in North Carolina, I urge you to do so too. Isaac received a glowing review from me. Interestingly, I never heard back from our roadside assistance membership program; I would have thought they would circle back after I canceled them, but nope. Today I am counting my blessings, I have four brand new tires on my car and a grateful heart for my roadside hero who happened by at exactly the right time. 

Life is Good!

Free Quilt (and a Bonus Quilt, too!)

Yep, you read that right! You, too, can have a free quilt if you work from your pre-cut scrap bins and your stashed yardage. What are you saving it for anyway? (A frequently asked question of myself!) SEW, these churn dash blocks are being created solely from my 3.5" bin and my 2" bins. 

Choosing four 3.5" squares, I place them RST and, using my Folded Corner Clipper, bisect them. Save your "extra" triangles (the smaller ones) for the *Bonus* project!

Lay out your freshly-cut (larger) triangles and find whatever coordinating 2" squares you like to round out your block. Stitch this block together (I sew the HSTs together and then the top, bottom and side square pairs first so that I can "web" the block like I'd sew a 9-patch).

At this point you might like to stitch together your bonus triangles into a 4-patch.

I've been putting mine together as I go along with the larger, sashed, Churn Dash blocks. These bonus triangles are trimmed up at 2.5" (finishing to 2") and will make a cute runner or table topper. All this from fabric on  hand, and I haven't spent one penny! The Churn Dash blocks are 8", (7.5" finished). I've been cutting my sashing from some flax colored Essex linen that I've been hoarding and the cornerstones from a piece of eons-old black fabric at 2" (1.5" finished). SEW, there you go! A FREE QUILT, and a bonus quilt to boot! What could be better? I'll share my progress as this continues to come together...

Life is Good!

Birthday Season and Other Blessings

It's birthday season! Yes, Augie had a birthday on Monday, last week it was Lucy Ann's turn, she's now 15.🤯 We had the pleasure of celebrating with our lovely granddaughter at brunch this past weekend. 

Augie was blessed on Saturday at our church's official "Blessing of the Animals" service, it's quite a feat for our 6'8" pastor to get down low enough to bless a dog who stands 10" at the tallest! 

Gregory will be turning 15 next month, he's rebuilding a Mini Cooper in our basement, he'll be prepared when he gets his Learner's Permit! I can't believe I'm even typing those words! Where has the time gone? Those who've read this blog for a long time will remember when they were babies!

November 2010~ Lucy Ann giving her cousin Gregory a kiss on the nose! 💖

We continue to be blessed with great weather: the dahlias are still putting on a show, 

it seems like I'm cutting one or two every day right now. 

For months I had been wanting floating shelves beside our breakfast table to hold goodies and seasonal displays. Mr. G came through with an even better installation than I had ever dreamed of, I couldn't be happier; he even made a frame for my cross stitch! 

 Blessings abound~ for sure and for certain!

Life is Good!

Birthday Boy!

Happy 3rd birthday today, Augie!

You're one great pup! 🐾

Life is Good!

Quilt Show!

I mentioned the Belknap Mill Quilters Guild in the previous post, they have provided a quilt on every bed in the rehab facility where my Dad is currently residing. It just so happened that the guild was holding their annual quilt show this past weekend. After telling dad "good-bye" I was able to stop and visit the show on our way out of town. The show was held at a local Community College, this clothesline of colorful quilt blocks led visitors from the parking lot to the entrance door. I was impressed with the attention to every detail behind this show. The publicity and promotion team is to be highly commended, there were posters and lawn signs advertising the show everywhere, also many businesses in town showcased quilts in their front windows along with show information. If one didn't attend, it was because they chose not to, certainly not because they didn't know about it! 

I snapped a few photos of quilts to remember, there was so much to see! I loved the scrappies, of course, and am always looking for ways to use up my pre-cut bins full of scraps! The applique quilt shown here was so interesting: it is composed of all batik fabrics and each block is individually finished and bound; somehow these were joined together in some fashion to hang as a whole, it was just beautiful. I loved the fact that there were "viewer's choice" awards for each quilt category. I voted a LOT! I also bought a book of raffle tickets but, apparently, someone else won; I never did get "the" call. 😉

Since returning home, energized and inspired completely by the show, I have dug into my bins and begun constructing 8" Churn Dash blocks. And, as usually happens... bonus triangles result... and SEW it goes!

Life is Good!