Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter
My adventures in quilting, my adventures at Hackberry Spring Ranch, and other tidbits of my life.
I finished the quilting on Betty’s 30’s prints quilt. The 30’s fabrics were from a jelly roll that another friend and I gave Betty for her birthday last year. I love 30’s prints and I think it’s a very lovely quilt! Betty is one of my dearest friends and I enjoy quilting for her. She loves me and always loves her quilts. The quilting pattern is Sunny Daze by Deb Geissler.
Happy 4th of July to my fellow American readers! I haven’t worked on any of my own projects since I finished the quilting of my For the Love of Eleanor quilt. All my spare time has been spent quilting on client tops. So, this weekend, I decided to relax a little, and just have some fun.
First, I got out an embroidery collection I recently purchased, after seeing it on an episode of Fons & Porter. It’s called In a Clutch, by Vicki Tracy. I still need to find some magnetic closures, so I can finish out the tab. I don’t think I got the zipper exactly right, but it was fun to make, and I will probably do a few more.
A peek at the inside. The designer recommends finishing out the raw edges with binding, but I just don’t care that much…lol.
But, what I most proud of, is the little project I did today! I made a little apron. I don’t think I have mentioned that my oldest stepdaughter, and her family, just moved back here from Nebraska last month. That means I will be spending more time with my five year old “granddaughter-in-love”. I reckon that we will work on some little projects, such as making those little embroidered clutches, or little quilts…and maybe some cooking together. I often wear an apron while I’m working on stuff around here, so I thought she needed one to wear, too. I was watching an episode of Sewing With Nancy, and got the inspiration to make this apron, from one of her Grandpa’s button-up shirts he no longer wears. It was a nice Tommy Hilfiger shirt, but was just hanging around in the closet. I didn’t have the pattern from the show, so I just had to wing it. This is what I came up with, and I can’t wait to show it to my little Catey, later today. I hope it fits! Every bit of it, including the fabric for the ties, came from the shirt.
It’s even reversible!
The “front” has pockets.
The “back” has her initials. That was not part of the original plan, but I accidentally snipped a hole in the fabric, and needed to cover it up. Thankfully, it was almost right in the center.
I cut two identical pieces, from the shirt front and shirt back, sewed them together up the sides and across the front with right sides together, and turned it back right side out. I just used the original shirt bottom, as is, so that I didn’t have to finish that edge off.
I had fun making it. I’ll take a picture of her wearing it later. Going to get ready to grill some steaks with my hubby!
Betty’s lovely 30’s prints quilt…currently on the frame.
I think I get more search hits on my blog, especially this time of year, about “caterpillars and dill” than I do quilting. Back when I first started this blog, I posted several posts about the Swallowtail butterflies and the caterpillars they begin life as, as I have dill and parsley planted, just so I can watch them. So, I thought I’d share some new pics from the garden. If you find caterpillars happily munching your dill and parsley, this is what they will eventually become, given the chance. This one is drying it’s wings, having recently emerged from the cocoon you can see behind it.
This is one I saw a couple of days before.
Some consider them pests in their garden, but I enjoy watching them go through their life cycle every year. Now, if I could just figure out how to stop the birds from eating the caterpillars. THAT is the trouble I’m having this year.
I’ve been so busy with Mom, and Derek’s college orientation, and just trying to keep up with my customer quilting in what little spare time is left, that there just hasn’t been much time for blogging. Eventually, life will slow back down a bit, and I will get back into a more normal routine. That may still be a while off, though.
I’ve done a couple of allovers for customers, and a small custom job. Since it almost Independence Day, I will share that one with you.
My client wanted fireworks…she plans to add some crystals to them. I used metallic thread in the center…decided I’m not crazy about quilting with that stuff…it was pretty fussy to mess with, at least for me. I used King Tut for the rest…love that stuff. I used my Circle Lord to do the outer border design, and for the inner border, I free handed those little spinning swirlies, in the hopes that they resemble spinning firecrackers.
Hope everyone has a great week ahead!
We found out the bone marrow biopsy was clear. AND…the tumor, which was toward the back of her tongue, and quite large, has shrunk so much injust over one week that you cannot even see it now! Her doctor was very happy yesterday! Next round of chemo is on the 11th. Thank you for all the prayers! Please keep them coming!
I finished this cute baby quilt, for a new client. She made the top, I did the quilting. I call this light custom, as there is no SID, and everything is freehand, no marking required.
I enjoyed working on it.
I took my Mom for her PET scan, bone marrow biopsy, and first round of chemo last week. The PET scan was Tuesday, and we went wig shopping before, as she will lose her hair from the chemo. We made a fun day of it. Friday, they told us the scan was clear, except for the tumor on the back of her tongue. It has grown to the extent that it is choking her some. Really causing her problems eating. That breaks my heart. Anyway, we don’t have the marrow results yet, but I expect them any day. If it has not spread to the marrow, then it is stage 1. He said the chemo should start shrinking it as early as a week. I pray it does. The final diagnosis is Blastoid Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is an even more aggressive form that regular Mantle Cell. So, he also wants to do a marrow transplant, using her own marrow, after she finishes her chemo rounds. There should be six of those, once every three weeks, if she handles them well, and the cancer responds like we hope. She has done very well with round one, so far. I appreciate all the prayers and emails and messages from all of you. Your concern has meant a lot to me. I know several of you are going through, or have gone through, similar circumstances.
This Saturday, my “baby” boy will graduate from high school. Soon, he will be off to college. Lots of changes in my life this year. Changes at home, changes at work, lots and lots of change. I sure don’t have time to be bored…lol. Maybe I will find time to work on some of my own stash projects in there somewhere…soon.
Thought I’d treat y’all to a little video. Hope you enjoy it. Try to ignore what a huge dork I am…lol.
I know I have posted this in couple of other places, such as MQR and Face Book, but for those that only read my blog, I will share an update about my Mom. I may just start putting all my updates here, so that those I interact with in other online forums don’t have to see the same info over and over. Mom’s diagnosis was not a good one. She has Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. (MCL) It is one of the rare forms, more aggressive, more difficult to treat, but it is treatable if caught early. We won’t know how advanced it is until after the blood test results are in, and the PET scan is done. I take her Tues for the PET scan. Chemo starts Friday. My Mom is 73 years YOUNG…she is a feisty little go-getter…not a whiner…good attitude. I know she is scared of the chemo…but she is keeping a strong attitude, and thinking positive. I’m scared to death for her, (and for me) but I’m going to mirror her and be strong for her. I will be glad when we know more about what we are facing, on Tuesday. It’s going to be a rough ride, for sure.
It’s been a rough last few days. We got the diagnosis on Thursday. I was in a conference in Amarillo Thursday and Friday, which helped keep me occupied and probably helped me not fall apart. I didn’t get home til 7:30 last night, and was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. I did get to stop by Mom’s on the way home, and visit with her for about thirty minutes. She is in good spirits, and I know that I have to be strong and positive for her. It took me awhile to “get going” today. I stayed in bed til 9:00 am, and just piddled around at things til pretty late this afternoon. I spent quite a bit of time on phone calls, to Mom and with friends that called to check on me. I had a customer quilt to get started on, and I was just really dreading it. I just didn’t have the heart for it. But, once I made myself load it up, I got started on the stitching, I perked up and really started feeling better…I think it was good for me. It’s a cheerful little baby quilt. Now, I’m looking forward to working on it, and getting it finished and back to it’s maker. Here is a little peek:
I’ve been a bit of a blog slacker, lately. Lots going on in life. I have been quilting. I quilted a Christmas themed friendship star signature quilt for Judy P. She mentioned putting a snowflake in the blocks, so I used my Circle Lord to make a “snowflake-ish” design in the large plain blocks. The pieced blocks were from a swap, with the makers signing the blocks they made. My client had some filler blocks that she added, and requested that I sign one of them with “quilted by”. I thought that was really neat, and was happy to do so.
Also, I quilted this cute little lap quilt for Betty C. The quilting is Linda Taylor’s Feather Meandering pantograph.
My heart is a bit troubled this Mother’s Day. We found out Friday that my sweet Mom has lymphoma. She had a growth come up on her tongue…quite rapidly…she had a biopsy done and we got the results late Friday afternoon. All we know, at this point, is that she will have radiation and chemo. The growth is already so large that it is interfering with her swallowing, and certain foods make her feel like she will choke on them. The ear, nose and throat specialist, who did the biopsy, will be scheduling her an appt. with an oncologist. Hopefully, we will find out who and when tomorrow. I am anxious to know more than we know now, and am praying for a good outcome to this.
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 