Life Is Good

Sorry I hadn't posted lately but I have been busy at work.
I finished my Straggler Calender Quilt and back. I will post pictures after I contact the person I fashioned by quilt after.
I am a nurse. I am other things but I am a nurse by profession. I am writing this because this is so close to my heart and every day of my life I relive this scenario.
Everyone, and I mean everyone needs a DNR. THAT DOES NOT MEAN anyone is going to let you die. It means if we find you dead we leave you dead. You are brain dead 4 minutes after you die. There is no quality of life left. You are a vegetable. Someone will wipe you butt and a tube inserted into your stomach through the abdomen will feed you. You will be turned side to side every two hours.You may end up with a bed sore on your sacral area the size of your dinner plate. Your heels may turn beet red, then purple, then open up and turn black with a hard scab.
I have never met anyone that made it to the other side and came back knocking to be let back in. Sometimes death is a blessing. Get a DNR.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, young, old, rich, poor, black, white, red, yellow or blue needs a Power of Attorney. It does not have to be your favorite niece, favorite son, loving spouse. It means someone you can trust. Someone that will carry out your wishes. Someone that knows what your wishes are and is willing to stand up and fright for you when your cannot fight for yourself. If you are frightened to let anyone know what your wishes are for whatever reason, get a Living Will put it in a sealed envelope and give it to someone you trust or an attorney. Tell them, "open this up only if something happens to me and I cannot make my own decisions". Do not trust ANYONE with something as precious as your life.
We were all born to die. That is a no brainer, a given, or what ever you know to be the truth. What we do in between being born and death is all that counts. You cannot go back. You cannot do a retake. This is the real thing. If you want to do it, do it. Take that chance. Step out of the box. This is your life. Make the most of it.
Lovingly yours.
Jeri

Straggler Calender Quilt

I have finished the strips for my Straggler Calender Quilt. I love the way the strips turned out. I started out with 12 1/2 inch strips but cut them down to 10 inch after I changed the sashing and border. Hopefully, I will finish the sashing and border this weekend and quilt it during the week.

This is the baby quilt I made for my co-worker. I really like the colors. I am going to try quilting it on my short arm machine rather than the long arm. I hope to start quilting it on Sunday afternoon.

I enrolled in the one day machine quilting class through my quilting guild. Cindye Baily is teaching the class. I have put so many of the quilting gadgets I have bought over the years in my sewing tote. I want to try them out in the class.

Back to sewing the sashing.

Jeri

Focus, Focus, Focus

Have you ever had a week where nothing went right? That was my week. I worked to much, ate to much, spent to much money and slept to much. I had a week of to much of nothing.
I started the week out looking at what I was working on and got depressed that nothing was finished. Started wishing I did not have to work, had more time to quilt, blah/blah/blah.
That only lasted a day (thank God). Then I realized I had too many irons in the fire to be working and quilting. Shouldn't the quilting have come first. I only work to have a place to store all my sewing machines and fabric. Anyway, once again I have decided to concentrate on ONE quilt at a time and one leader-ender quilt. I need to look at my January blogs but I am sure this was one of my New Year Resolutions.
So, this week I worked on my calender quilt. I am home sewing and cleaning this weekend and hope to finish off the top and the back before Sunday night. I will continue on with my star leader-ender quilt but everything else is on hold.
Wish me luck.
Jeri
p.s. Maybe I should rename by blog Jeri's Quilting Blues. What do you thing?

PC Quilter Working

I would like to let you know that I had a happy week quilting. I did not accomplish all my goals but I did complete a baby quilt top for a friend at work. I plan on quilting it this week.
I have completed all 56 of the pink and white nine patch squares. Now I have to cut them up.
I completed 10 Stash Pot Pie blocks. I need to sew them into a row.
I completed 7 Happy Houses.
But most of all the PC Quilter for my HQ16 is working. You will not believe how I have been trying to make it work. I decided to call my technical adviser (son #1) for help. He came over, sat down, touched a key and said "you need new batteries for your keyboard". How was I suppose to know I had a wireless keyboard and it required batteries? Duh.
Now I know you are wondering how I got the computer in the first place not to know it was wireless. To make long story short I traded it with my daughter. She go my laptop and I got her PC. My daughter and son sat it up. It has a 19-inch monitor that is mounted on the wall (put up by son #1) and is not internet accessible (my preference) but it has wireless capability to have internet access (if I knew how to use it).
So this week I am going to practice my quilting.
I will post photos tomorrow. My camera is charging.

To Do List

6-7-09

Work on the tutorial for Sunshine and Shadow

7 Nine Patch and Sixteen Patch Blocks

10 Stash Pot Pie Blocks

Cut up some of Pink and White Disappearing Nine Patches

Quilt 2 small quilts

I will also post my treasures I got in the mail this week. I received three packages.

Blog more later.

Jeri

Goodmorning Monday

This is the day I have been waiting for for a week. My on-call is over. No more 5am wake-ups. No more 3am calls. No more worrying if 11p-7a staff will call out. It is over for seven weeks.

If I was with you I would kiss the ground you walk on. Jump up and down and shout praises. Make snow angels in the sand (it does not snow here). I think I could even fly without wings. My headache is over.

I must clarify something. I get up at 5am everyday but not to answer the phone. I get up to start my day quilting. I quilt every morning quilting for one hour (more if I can slow down time-LOL). I never could get up and start getting ready for school or work. I have to ease into it.

I have been nosing around in other blogs and you do not know how much talent I see out there. Quilters are very talented people with vary vivid imaginations. Some of the color combinations I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams. Keep up the good work.

I was over at Nadine's blog at Friendship Threads nosing around. She has an antique Trip Around the World I would love to make. You "need" to go see it. I love antique quilts and Amish quilts. This one is beautiful. I am going to add it to my ever growing Quilt Wish List.

Now down to the business of the day-My To Do List.

To Do List

6/1/09

3 Block of the Month Blocks

20 Happy Houses (no sides)

15 Disappearing Nine Patch Blocks (make 2x6 blocks)

30 Strips on the Straggler Calender Quilt (I have 70 strips cut)

7 Nine Patch and Sixteen Patch Blocks

One day for the PC Quilter (it is not up and going)

I know this sounds like a lot but most of what I am doing is sewing things together I have already started. I will pin for a day or two and then I have a pile of items to be stitched next to my sewing machine and I sew away. Easy as pie.

Plus, some time the first part of this month I need to make a baby quilt for a co-worker. I have a cute simple pattern my quilting group makes for the hospital nursery. Very easy.

I feel obligated to take something to eat to work today. An off-call celebration. I need to stop at Dunkin Donuts and buy two dozen donuts. Talk to you later.

Keep quilting.

Jeri