Resolutions

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I did. I got to spend the day with my favorite little guy! He was so wound up! I've never seen him with that much energy! He was like the energizer bunny! We had breakfast at my daughter's house and then dinner at my house. And a nice long nap in between!

I've made quite a bit of progress on Spencer's black and white mariner's compass quilt. Here are a couple of pictures of it under the needle of my Bernina. Yes, call me crazy (or thrifty) but I'm quilting this 110 x 110 quilt on my machine! I hope to have this quilt done by January 2nd. Wish me luck!







It really doesn't look this bad....this is just a picture of it wadded up underneath the needle!!

I've been kinda working on Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt too. I'm way behind but I will finish it up sometime next year. Speaking of next year, do you have any resolutions? I have a few, so I'm going to post them to see how well I do:

1. Quilt the tops that I have languishing in a box in the garage. I think there are like 30 of them in that box.

2. Finish up some UFO's and donate those tops that I no longer like or want to Quilts of Valor so that they can be finished and given to a military person who has been injured serving our country.

3. Pass that darn bar exam!! It has been haunting me and holding me back for way too long!

4. I want to draw closer to God. (This should really be #1 resolution).

5. I want to spend more time with my Daddy's side of the family. (I haven't really spent much time with them since he passed away when I was 7).

6. And I'm definately going to do my best to loose lots of weight this year. And take better care of myself.

Okay, that's my 2011 Resolutions! What are your's?

What Have I Been Up To?

Its about time, huh? Its been entirely too long since you've heard from me! So, what have I been doing with all my spare time?

Well, this is one of the people that have been occupying my spare time!





Isn't he just the cutest!! I pick him up from daycare 2-3 days a week because his mommy works till 8:00 pm. So, he gets plenty of Nana Time!!

And, Ive been working on this quilt for my youngest son. Its not complete yet, this is just the center of the quilt.





And, as if that's not enough, I've been bitten by the Hex Bug! Thank you Bonnie! I found a Creative Memories Hex punch from a consultant and went and picked it up this morning.


And I've also been drooling over a couple of patterns and can't decide which one I want to make!







Tomorrow is the 7 month anniversary of the passing of my Sissy. And I still miss her so much. I don't know if I will ever recover from the loss of her friendship and love. I still want to pick up the phone every day and call her. But that can't happen because there are no phones in Heaven.


Well, until next time....and I promise it won't be that long! I'm going to try to start posting once a week (at least).

Love and Hugs,

Pati

I'm Really Not a Slacker!!!!

Okay....okay.....I know I said that I was going to get better at this and I didn't......but I'm gonna try again!

February brought me a new job! Actually, two new jobs! I'm now working at my dear friend Sally's flower shop as the bookkeeper. This is something new for me....I've never done this type of work before. But, Sally is one of my oldest and dearest friends.....we go back to junior high school! She called and asked me if I wanted to work over the Valentine's holiday and I jumped at the chance to get out of the house. Well, after that, she offered me a full time job doing the A/P. I love my job!!! So, I get to be around these all day!!!
My second job came through my son, Shaw. He has decided that he is going to go to law school (just like his mom!) and in order to do that he had to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). He ended up going to the same prep course that I had (unbeknown to me) and met up with my old professor. They started talking and realized that they both knew me. Long story short, Mimi offered me a job working with her husband preparing a bar review course. So, I'm working at that job too and also reviewing to take the bar exam again.

March brought the most devastating blow to me. My little sister and best friend died suddenly of a heart attack. She was here one minute and gone the next. She left behind her loving husband and best friend of 24 years, Trey, and two children, Cory and Jennifer. She was such a good person and I will miss her every day of my life! We were very close and often joked that in our old age she would keep me fed and I would keep us warm. She was an amazing person!

April and May were filled with working two jobs and trying to study for the bar exam. I did start a quilt.....and it has largely gone unfinished until yesterday. I am using one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns, Bricks and Stepping Stones, and using pinks for the bricks with white and mint green for the stepping stones. This is a hugs quilt for me because my sister's favorite color was pink.

June brought another round of surgery for my son Spencer. The surgery was largely unsuccessful. The doctor was trying to reattach his small intestine so that he could function more normally. But there just wasn't enough left after his second surgery in December to do so. He has a great attitude about it and seems to be accepting it all in stride. Pretty amazing for a 20 year old young man.

And my wonderful grandson? Well, he is growing by leaps and bounds! He is now 6 months old and is just a joy!!! Don't you just want to kiss those wonderful pudgy cheeks???



My goal for the next month is to start on Spencer's Mariner's Compass quilt. He wants it in black flannel with the compass in black and white. And I have a couple of small patriotic quilts that I would like to do.

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

It's What????

February 1st already? Where did the time go? It has been a whirlwind for me since my last post ......... in November???? Really? Hmmm....guess I have some explaining to do, huh?

December started off nice and slow. I knew that my son would be having surgery on the 17th (to coincide with his Christmas vacation from school) so I got the tree up, the decorations out, the house was all ready for Christmas. I had my box almost ready to go to my Secret Santa, just a couple more things to finish. Everything was going according to the plan.

Before I knew it, it was the 17th. The day of Spencer's surgery. This was the surgery that was supposed to make him all better. He had been suffering from Ulcerative Coloitis for almost 2 years. His case was so bad that the conventional drug therapies did not help at all. He was even taking Remicade for a period of time. Remicade is for people with rheumatoid arthritis but studies have shown that it has helped on UC patients. But nope, not for this one. So, his only hope was to have a colostomy and iliostomy. His colon was removed and he was given an iliostomy bag. The bag is only temporary until the second surgery, which hooks the small intestine to the rectum. I know....more than you want to know! Well, he did fine with the first surgery and came home on Monday the 21st. Which was also my first day on a new job. I had interviewed for the job a couple of weeks prior. I really didn't want the job, but I figured that some job was better than no job. Ha!

Anyway, this is where it all goes to hell in a handbasket! (By the way, where did that saying come from? My Gram used to say it all the time!) Monday night/Tuesday morning, Spencer starts throwing up and running a high fever. He isn't keeping anything down. I make a frantic call to his doctor at 6:30 am. He started to hyperventilate and if you've never seen someone hyperventilate, it is downright scary! I called 911 and the paramedics got to the house just about the time that his doctor called. The doctor said to go ahead and let the paramedics take him to the hospital and he would call ahead with some orders. My husband went to the hospital with Spencer and I went to my second day at work, with a promise that he would call if things got worse. Spencer went through a battery of tests on Tuesday looking for blood clots or any sign of infection. His white blood count was a little elevated but nothing serious. So the doctor sends him to the ICU with a list of antibiotics and anti-nausea medications.

Wednesday morning at 5:30, my phone rang. It was the ICU nurse and he doesn't have good news for me. Spencer has gotten worse over night and the nurse has called the doctor. So, I jump in the shower and start to get ready to go to the hospital. Spencer's girlfriend is on her way to the house. The doctor called me and told me that things were not looking good for my baby boy. He said that he was going to do emergency surgery and open him back up where they had just been in the week before. Alyssa and I got to the hospital just as he was being wheeled into surgery. They were waiting on me to get there to sign the consent. I gave Spencer a kiss, told him that I loved him and away he went.

Two hours later the doctor comes out and tells us that Spencer has about a 50% chance of pulling through. He had a terrible infection caused by gangreen that had apparently started when part of his small intestine folded over on itself after the first surgery. Almost immediately, Spencer's temperature was back to normal, his heart rate went from 170 down to 120 and his other vitals were starting to return to normal. He was on life support, sedated and airlifted from the satellite hospital to the main hospital downtown. That was the 22nd. He spent the next few days in ICU and started to make an amazing recovery. I spent Christmas Day with him in ICU and ate two hospital turkey sandwiches as my Christmas dinner. He was released from the hospital on New Year's Eve. And he had a 13" open surgical incision on his rearend that made it hard for him to do anything for himself.

My job? Well, it lasted 3 weeks. I was let go for a training mistake. His loss, not mine.

If you are still with me at this point, thanks! I'm still at home with Spencer working on his recovery. Everyday is a little better.

On January 11th, which is Spencer's birthday, my first grandchild was born. My daughter was induced a few days early because she is so little and the doctor feared that the baby was getting too big. I was at the hospital with her all day and was able to witness her little angel being born. Ayden Jiovanni Chernes was born at 3:17 pm at 7 lbs and 4 oz. He is perfect and gorgeous! I never knew that the part of my heart that he opened up was there! I only wish that Steph's Daddy Roy was still alive so that he could be here to see his grandson. Steph is at my house just about everyday because her partner works 12 hour days. So, I've had a lot of time to bond with Ayden. Can you tell that I'm totally in love with this baby?

And I think that just about brings us up to date. I've started sewing again in the last week. I'm working on finishing my Red & White Snowball Challenge and Bonnie's Carolina Christmas Mystery. Both of which I'm way overdue on! Oh well, they will get done!

Till next time!

Pati