Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas – I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.

May 5, 2024May 5, 2024

HQAL, SLOW SUNDAY STITCHING and ETC – 5 MAY 2024

Greetings from “No Rain LV TX”. For some reason all the great rains continue to miss us. I have reduced my walk to just a mile establishing the goal for a 20 minute walk and be happy with that. When it is 74 degrees and 95% humidity, it is time to realize that I am now 79 and not 78 (LOL). Anyway, if I get a cooler day I will add the extra 1/2 mile.

I really thought (hoped) that this last week would provide me with loads of time to work on my Churning Through The Stars quilt. We can eliminate Monday thru Wednesday! Monday came with issues trying to find someone to spread 274 yards of crushed limestone on our driveway (includes the Circle). By 1 PM I had that set up for a delivery of matériels on 9 May and on 10 May the contractor will come and spread the limestone for a very reasonable amount.

I just knew that Tuesday would be great!!!! LOL to that one. When we started breakfast at 10 AM, I heard a noise of BUBBLING WATER from the bathroom! When you live in the country one does not have City water or waste services. We have septic tanks and bubbling water from a sink or a toilet means, “EMERGENCY – FIND A SEPTIC TANK BUSINESS TO GET HERE NOW!” It took 4 calls, but on the 4th I found a great company in Floresville that answered their phone and even though they were headed to a different side of town, Rudy turned around and was here within 45 minutes. He had the tank cleaned out within the hour and we were in business again he aLao advised us to go back to Scott Toilet Paper which is proven best for septic tanks!

I checked the records and it had been pumped out in July 2022. WHAT – less than 21 months and one usually has the tank cleaned every 3 – 4 years!!!! He further told us not to use HEB toilet paper anymore because that caused the problem! Cost to save some money on TP – $500.00! Yes I certainly let HEB know that their statement that their TP is Septic Tank Safe is mis-representation to Septic Tank users. I will say that they took back the 2 packages of their TP and that was appreciated. We are now back to Scotts and Rudy has us for a cleaning in 3 years.

In spite of all the interruptions I have been working on my hand projects in the evening and piecing during the day!

I am coming along with GLORY Cross Stitch project. I really enjoy the cross stitching and am anxious to finish this one. This will be the memory of my experience with thumb surgery!

Also working on Block 9 of Moda Holiday Stitch Along project, I think there are 14 blocks total in this project!

During the day I am enjoying working on “Churning Through The Stars”. Maybe I should name it “Dashing Through The Stars”…. Hummm…. I have 3 more Rows to complete and it will be a quilt top! Not sure what I will do with the remaining Churn Dash Blocks since I had a total of 79 made. This quilt will use 32 of them so there are plenty left for another quilt!

I can see the Long Arm will be firing up pretty soon!

The good news for all is that we only have 184 days before we can get our Country back AND the thumb surgery was very successful!

Have a great stitching week. I am looking forward to a quiet one and looking forward to getting the driveway completed and then a day trip to Rockport!!!

Hugs,

Nanette

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.
Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, Connie, and Cathie.

© Nanette Chopin Cook at Doitrightquilter.com 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nanette Chopin Cook and Doitrightquilter.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party, To Do Tuesdays

April 29, 2024

Happy Monday – 29 April 2024 – Post Number 707

I do believe that summer is quickly approaching here in South Texas. A little rain out of all the storms yesterday and into the 90’s today.

Today we are heading to the road matériels yard to decide which type to spread on the driveway. Of course a short trip to HEB and UPS. Doesn’t this sound exciting? Maybe someday I will be writing from “The Duck”!

On the quilting front! Since I have buried the Tulips, I went through some of my books from Jo Morton, Kim Dheil, Susan Smith and a few other quilting books for my next project I wanted to work on. In Susan Smiths Quiltmania book, Somewhat in the Middle. I loved the quilt called Mothers and Daughters with the small Star in the middle of the Block. There were other patterns that I will keep close by for later on, but decided that I wanted to make this quilt, so I tested the block. It is a very easy block and goes quickly, especially with the new ruler I had mentioned in an earlier post.

After making the block I decided that this Star block would look good with the Churn Dash blocks that I had made in the summer of 2022 when I joined in with one of the Bloggers in a Churn Dash QAL. I made the blocks 6” rather than 8” using my 1930’s fabrics and was finished 80 blocks by the end of August 2022. They were put them away while I started the massive “quilting catchup” project and other things. I knew that the 80 blocks would yield at least 2 quilts, but I was not sure how I would set them in a quilt.

Here are the stacks of Churn Dash blocks that I will be working with.

I had one idea to make a “large” 9 patch block, but realized that I could not do that due to limited fabric left of the left over 1930 fabric for each Churndash blocks.

I then decided that I would make a quilt with 8 rows of 8 blocks with the first quilt. Here are a few pictures of my progress.

I tried staggering the blocks in each row, but ended up with the 8 blocks of each color. I also tried to put them on point, but that was not the effect I wanted either. So the above picture is where I am heading.

Well, time to run and have some “out of the house” time and hurry back to the Studio to make another row of Churn Dash and Star blocks. I am really enjoying being back in the Studio and happy to be deeply involved in a project!

Have a happy week,

Hugs,

Nanette

April 22, 2024

My Tulips Died! Post Number 706 – 22 April 2024

Well, it is a pretty day today and so great to see the Sun this morning and weather in the 50’s. Nice, but it won’t last long here in South Texas. We have had some rain off and on, but not enough to really clear the drought problem.

Things I have learned about aging since the Thumb Journey….. I can now understand why older individuals tend to “give up”, “sit more”, and “so nothing” at the age of 79! The 4 months of Recovery time was harder on me than I expected and the loss of my desire to do anything but sit and do hand exercises all day long. It took a toll on my creavity and energy and has caused some Depression!

I will also have to admit that I have really had to push through the desire to just sit and be brain dead and continue walking each day without reaching my Goals. But I have made it through it all and climbing out of the depths of ” I WANT TO DO NOTHING”.

I am still not doing my mile in 20 minutes, nor my one and a half mile in 30 minutes. I can do the mile in 22 minutes and the other in about 33 minutes, but I am not happy with this. So this week I am going to walk a mile and push myself to attempt to get back to at least 21 minutes. I will take a short 3 minute break and do the other one half mile. I will say that the easy way out would be to just quit walking or just do a slow walk, but I know I can get back to where I was before the thumb problem and the depression sitting around doing nothing but watching TV brings to me.

Now, let’s pick up where I was in my early April post. I was so excited about using up the fabrics when I found the Tulip Garden pattern. BUT, after I had finished the 2nd border things went South on this one. The Designer of the pattern made a mathematical error on the first border, which threw Border Number 2 totally off, not to mention the remaining borders. I worked with it for 2 days realizing that I would have to totally re-write the pattern. I tried to work with the Medallion and how to best proceed by re-designing the remaining borders, ignoring the original pattern. I could not envision any way to make different borders fit the Medallion, so I was done with this project as I was just not in the mood. This is the pattern.

This is what I came up with after trying 3 different borders. I had problems with the “dot” fabric and the “border” fabric. As you can see in the bottom left corner. I needed to pass this challenge on to someone else to play with it and gifted it to Lori since she does better with scrappy quilts!

I was so disappointed when this all happened as I was trying very hard to get back into the quilting groove and this was not the quilt to make that happen. I often will gift fabric to other quilters when I realize I am DONE! It is my way of sharing.

So after that lovely experience, I decided to finish In My Garden which is now called Bunnies in My Garden! After putting the blocks together I then had to determine how I would do the border. Dawn Heese designed the pattern and had a scalloped border, but I did not feel that that type of border would fit my fabric selection. I called Jaydee and we had discussions on types of borders that I could consider. She thought an 8″ Piano Keys border would work as it would give the effect of a fence. My final was to do a green 1″ border and 5″ Piano Keys. It is always fun to bounce quilting ideas around with Jaydee since she has been quilting many more years than I. Yesterday I finished Bunnies in My Garden! I am so pleased with it. The colors I selected are cheerful and bright and different from the original pattern. I started this project in May 2022. I should have finished it in 2022, but instead I worked on getting the 30+ quilts quilted and finished! I believe by the time I finished that project I had burned myself out for quilting. (Then the thumb went ballistic).

This is the pattern by Dawn Heese.

And here is my Version of her Quilt.

I am working on my Mode Christmas SAL embroidery blocks – hoping to get them done in the next couple of weeks. They too have been around way too long. I also need to visit Celebrating Mary Brown, a project I started back in September 2019. WOW I am in shock – cannot believe it has been almost 5 years when I was so excited about this project. BUT again I had no idea that Cataract Surgery in October, Clays hand accident, Clays Heart Valve Replacement and a year full of dealing with 3 insurance companies would be coming my way!!!! I call it “Life”! Here a picture of the pattern and where I was in the project when I had to quit working on the quilt in 2021. I had finished 16 blocks. These are the corner blocks and I hope to be able to complete it in the next year. This will be an evening project along with some embroidery, cross stitch, and hand quilting mixed in.

I have all the fabrics needed to finish this quilt and looking back at all I have done since I started quilted in 2001 I am amazed. I really need to throw this depression out of the house and resume with my love of quilting! It has also been 10 years since I started my Blog. I am very happy that I did start blogging as I can go back and see what Life was giving Clay and I and all the projects I have worked on. Great history for me! Maybe I will now begin to become the Happy Quilter again with tons of challenges ahead.

I am now going to consider my next project, but it will NOT be from a FREE pattern! I have so many that I want to make and have plenty of choices. We have to make a run to SA at noon so today will not be too productive unless we are able to get home by 2 or so.

I wonder how many other Quilters are out there that are having some depression with how our world is going to Hell! I have had to just listen to notifications on my iPhone and only watch the News if something happens. I will continue to pray for President Trump’s safety as I put nothing past Democrats now. The countdown today is 207 Days, 6 hours, 59 Minutes, and 55 Seconds. I pray that we make it.

Have a great week, I am now anxious to get back home from SA and select a pattern to start making during the day. A Wedding Ring, Another Feathered Star, or any pattern that will challenge my skills as a Quilter.

Hugs,

Nanette

April 3, 2024

Moving Right Along On to Applique! 3 April 2024 – Post Number 705!

Happy Wednesday, better known as Hump Day for those still working! Monday I spent the day spending money! NO not any fabric, just paying the BIDEN INFLATION PRICES for House and Car Insurance and of course some to Uncle Sam! Worse than going to the grocery store. But nothing we can do in this Biden world. Soon it will become a new world, Trump world! Anyone who is enjoying shelling out all this money for things that we are required to have (i.e., all insurance) and of course the cost for fuel to go anywhere and food that I think is what they call an ESSENTIAL expense to live, of course will vote for another destructive 4 years! There is definitely a problem when the President of the United States calls the Easter Bunny the Oyster Bunny! No wonder we are in the situation we are in!

OK, enough of giving my Opinion, back to quilting.

I have been busy finishing the applique corner Tulips for my Center Medallion for Tulip Garden! I am very pleased with it. It came out a perfect 24 1/2” x 24 1/2” square. Now on to the next border which will be a 2” finished and the next one is made using Half Square Triangles. I am really enjoying this pattern and very happy that I have found a good use for the fabrics. Even though I did not have the same fabric for the Tulip Centers, I am very happy with the fussy cut flowers from other fabric in the fabric line.

Have a wonderful remainder of the week and enjoy stitching!

Hugs,

Nanette

March 31, 2024

Happy Easter, Slow Sunday Stitching, and A Ruler Tutorial – Post Number 704 – 31 March 2024

Happy Birthday to Kathy @ Sewing, Etc. I wish her a wonderful day as birthday’s are special days to celebrate! (I started this post on the 27th, but the Internet died!).

In my last post I showcased an Antler Quilting Design Ruler to make Flying Geese. There is nothing wrong with the Ruler and I will explain why I like the Ruler as the problem is with the pattern and cutting size of the strips for the Flying Geese.

At that time I had made one Flying Geese and really thought that the Ruler was working great. The ruler directions states to use a full 1/4” but after making the FG there was not enough fabric to square it. So I switched to using a scant 1/4” seam allowance and made 2 complete blocks using the ruler, with a “scant” quarter inch seam allowance. After making the second block, I realized that I would have problems with the Star points when sewing the Center Medallion together!

I thought about different ways to correct this issue and went back to my “add more – trim some” attitude. The pattern called for cutting 2 1/2” strips and sub cut to 2” and 1/2” x 4 and 1/2” rectangles and 2 1/2” squares when making the Flying Geese for the Star Blocks. To test my theory of adding 1/4” to the rectangles and squares to now cut at 2 3/4” x 4 3/5”, I then used the Ruler to cut off the corners at 2 3/4”. BINGO! Success it works great and provides me enough fabric to trim down to the required 2 1/2” x 4 1/2” Rectangles with 2 1/2” squares. This provides me with the ability to now sew with a full 1/4” seam allowance for the Flying Geese also. Here are some visuals of the two different ways I tested.

This is an example of what the 3 pieces look like when I used the 2 1/2” strips to cut the Flying Geese pieces.

This is how the block turned out. The block is off 1/8 of an inch or more.

This shows what the pieces look like when I increased the 2 1/2” strip to 2 3/4”. I had enough to trim the FG down to 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”! Notice at the top of the white piece it is a ‘point’ instead of the way the cut is in the photo at the 2 1/2” strip.

This is how the block turned out with the 1/4” increase when cutting the strips. Please note that for my Husqvarna Designer 1 sewing machine I used the full 1/4” seam for the FG and then when I put the 3 rows together I do a ‘scant’. I do this on all 9 patches, blocks with a lot of seams, and Star blocks. If I would have used the full 1/4” it would not square to 8 1/2”. REMEMBER, all sewing machines are different so be sure to check your 1/4” and ‘Scant” seam allowances. With the changes I have made in cutting the strips, I will now again say, that I love this Ruler for corners and Flying Geese.

Now it is Sunday and yesterday I finished basting the Tulips on each corner of the Medallion. I do not baste my applique, but for this section I had to. Doing applique as large as the Tulips I put the 9 blocks together and will applique them today.

I have also finished Block 8 of In The Garden blocks! Block 8 lacks the flowers and circles, but they will be worked on later tonight or tomorrow night! It appears that somewhere along the way I named the pattern In The Garden, but the name is In My Garden by Dawn Heese in her Quiltmania book Flowering Folk Art.

I wish all a Blessed and Happy Easter, remembering the resurrection of Jesus.

It feels so good to be getting my strength back in my body from the 4 months of sitting and no quilting. Each day my arms are stronger, although I have to be careful 2 more weeks for the Tendon in my right forearm to heal 100%. But life as I knew it before the Thumb Arthritis is BACK! And am I very happy about that. My goal for April is to walk each day (allowing for 2 doctor appoints in April) and be back to walking my 1.5 miles each morning without a short break. I am praying that Clay and I remain healthy the rest of 2024!!!

Hugs,

Nanette

March 24, 2024

HQAL and My New Project – 24 March 2024 – Post Number 703

Today is Palm Sunday – early Easter this year! Have a blessed day.

Since this is an HQAL update I will start with it. I figured out that I had 2 blocks remaining for In The Garden. I have been working on one of the blocks that only required some flowers to finish it. I did that, but need to applique the 8 circles on the flowers and it will be a finish.

Block 9 is the last block to complete and I will be putting the blocks together and then working on the border. It has been a long road to get to this point, but so happy that I can still applique!!!

Now on to the new project! I started by looking at all the fabric I had left over from my Feathered Star quilt by Marsh McCloskey. I have a lot of her books that I purchased when I first started quilting and 3 books on feathered stars. That led me to my Abigail Blue 1870 fabrics by Mary Koval. Again I was not certain what pattern I would use that would really do this beautiful fabric justice.

Windom had two free patterns on their website using this fabric and I chose the following pattern. I have already started working on it!

Switching now to rulers. In December 2022 I found a new Ruler that works great to make Flying Gees with folded corners. They are made by Antler Quilt Design – check out their patterns and go to Notions to see the Rulers. I tried the smaller one yesterday for making the Stars. I have always used Eleanor Burns rulers for them, but the new rulers help in making Flying Geese with the rectangle and squares. If you are interested, I purchased them from Amazon. There are two sizes – Mini and Larger.

Today I will be making the Flying Geese sections and hopefully get one star made. This evening will be to complete the flower centers on In the Garden block. All in all it is wonderful to be back to blogging and quilting. Thumb works great – now am happy the surgery was done.

Hugs and have a wonderful stitching week!

Nanette

March 22, 2024

Very Happy Friday – 22 March 2024-Post Number 702

Greetings! This is another update and a more positive one from yesterday. I contacted the hand surgeon to confirm my “limitations” with the Tendinitis in my right forearm. Lifting no more than 10 pounds (I may not lift anything over 4 pounds), AND I can use my Ergonomic Rotary Cutter and start quilting. Of course I cannot do my usual thing of pushing through pain, etc, but at least I am able to start REALLY working on a quilt. I will still continue with the hand exercises and try to be more careful and not hurt the Tendon anymore.

Getting back in the groove will take me a few days to actually realize that I can actually start looking forward to quilting, embroidery, hand applique, and some cross stitch in the evening and work on a quilt during the day!

Yesterday I was remiss in not telling everyone how much my husband had to do for me the last 4 months. He never complained about having to do the cooking and dishes, helping me with bathing, and laundry. He was constantly offering help with things that I was having issues with without use of my right hand. We have been together 28 years this year and I do not know what I would have done without him through back surgeries (3) cataract surgery (we both got to do that one) Carpel Tunnel surgeries (2 each hand) and gall bladder surgery in 1998. We work as a team helping each other through tough times and I know I am so blessed to be married to him.

So here’s to Clay, a wonderful caring husband with a sweet heart and my best friend. For a Choctaw/Irish guy he is great. Of course he has to put up with a Cajun/French/Pennsylvania Dutch/Swiss wife which is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

That being said, this afternoon I am going through some Marsha McCloskey fabrics and her books to see if anything strikes my fancy for a quilt.

Have a wonderful day – tomorrow starts serious quilting!

Hugs,

Nanette

March 21, 2024

Almost Back to Normal! 21 March 2024!

What a life! It has almost been 4 months since I had the surgery to repair my Thumb Arthritis. I have kept up with my walking and being as active as I can with limitations of my predominant right hand. Here is a recap – short and sweet of how I am getting through the 4 month Recovery.

December – Thanks to Caremark they kept my mind going with problems, so the first month was not bad not being able to do anything with the right hand.

January – Things began to improve, out of the casts and into a splint. A little boring, but not bad. I figured out how I could cross stitch using my left hand and did read a couple of books (BORING!)

February/March – Things really went to hell in a hand basket. My foot slipped in the bathtub and to balance myself I used the right hand to steady myself and yes, I used the right hand! Well, I lost the use of the right arm. I could not lift it, etc. Long story short – Doctor visit – X-rays, and 3 Physical Therapy sessions and that problem is resolved. BUT then the PT flared the Fibromylgia problem.

I am finally over the negative effects of PT for my arm last week, but ONLY to do more damage by trying to get a Gator Aid out of the plastic holder for Clay. I used my right hand to hold the 6 pack and the left hand to pull the bottle out! If you ask “why not use scissors to cut the plastic ties?” Answer: STUPID IS THAT STUPID DOES!

That hard push has now caused Tendinitis in the Tendon in the right forearm with a possible partial tear in the Tendon. OH JOY! My doctor told me to keep on with my exercises for the hand and use Arnica Pain Relief Gel (I do not like Steroids) and it has worked! The pain is gone and apparently it will totally be healed in a month! I just need to be more careful, but after 4 months of restrictions it is difficult to not just jump in and do whatever!

Before I really messed up I made a small quilt, playing with a pattern from Fat Quarter Shop for a Postage Stamp block. I finished it last Sunday and it was later in the day when I got hit with the Tendon issue.

As I look at this little project, I realized that our moods appear to impact our choices of fabrics and my mood was not that great! I used a fabric line by Betty Chutchian called Eliza’s Indigo. It is a beautiful fabric line, but I am having a difficult time in firguring out what type of pattern to use to make a pretty quilt! The fabric line came out in 2015 and Moda Blockheads had a post on the fabric.

During the 4 months, I did not read posts as I knew it would only depress me more seeing all the beautiful work being done by other quilters when I could not participate in my beloved hobby!

New goals – I will start by reading posts again and responding to all! Continue to baby the right hand and try not to do anymore damage with stupid actions!

Have a blessed day – it is time to quit typing for the day!

Hugs,

Nanette

Nanette Chopin Cook at Doitrightquilter.com 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nanette Chopin Cook and Doitrightquilter.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

January 20, 2024

Post Number 700!!! HQAL – 21 January 2024 -Almost Back to My Quilting

Happy Weekend to all! Wednesday it will be 2 months since my Thumb Arthritis Surgery and Joint Fusion. I have worked each day since surgery working my fingers while in a hard cast (4 weeks plus the first week from surgery) and 4 weeks in a Splint. I will go see the Surgeon on Tuesday and he will want me to do Physical Therapy. So far the only things I still cannot do is to cook and do dishes and lift things over 5 pounds. I can touch my thumb to my 2nd and 3rd fingers, working on my 3rd finger tip. Hope fully I will have that ability by Tuesday. I do not use the Splint very much during the day, but still wear it at night.

I believe that I have advanced faster than the Doctor said (a 4 month recovery), but I will know that for sure on Tuesday.

I can type and have started doing cross stitch with my left hand. Typing is a trick because one needs both thumbs to hit the space bar.

During the last two months I did sew some blocks together but cannot trim them, so I decided to try my cross stitch to keep my sanity. This is where I have been sitting, reading, and exercising my hand for 2 months. Walking only lost a few days from Surgery and weather so that has also kept me sane! You can see the splint on the table. I can hardly wait to throw it away!!!!!

This is the cross stitch pattern I am working on. VERY SLOWLY

Progress has been slow, but one of the problems was the thread I wanted to use. It was too thick for 2 threads so I started using a single tread and it has gone faster (? LOL) ?). Remember I have to do this with my left hand and I am right handed (surgery hand). This is the outline for the letter “G”.

Of course due to boredom, I have found a new website for quilts. It is Modern Welsh Quilts. I purchased 3 patterns from them. I found the web site through another store that was doing the Pick of the Bunch as a Mystery BOM. I purchased Pick of the Bunch, Titus & Friends, and Perseid. The BOM was only $20 for the pattern, and the other two patterns were $8.99 each. Each of her patterns are downloadable and extremely well written which is very impressive for the cost. I am waiting on a book about the history of the Welsh quilts to arrive. Jaydee knows all about the Welsh quilts so she has helped spark the interest in them. The site is well worth taking the time to review Zelda’s beautiful quilts. They are on my 2024 quilt “List to Do”!

Well, it is time to do some exercises and rest the hand from typing. Take care, stay warm! We are heading into a week of rain each day. I hope we get about 10 inches! We might get out of the drought blues.

Enjoy stitching.

Hugs

Nanette

November 21, 2023

Vacation From Quilting, Thanksgiving, and Belated HQAL Post – 21 Nov 23

I would like to wish all a wonderful Thanksgiving. enjoy the time with your family or people that you love! Clay and I will veer from the traditional meal and have Boneless Spare Ribs (aka crockpot beef), potato salad, and apple cobbler. It will be a quiet day with some football thrown in.

I am sure that you are curious about our maiden voyage in “The Duck”. Well, that has not happened, nor a day trip to Rockport. As usual we have had nothing but unforeseen requirements knock at our door. So for now, hitching up the new Travel Trailer will have to wait.

On 29 November I will have my right thumb operated on and yes, I am right handed! I have Thumb Arthritis at the CMC joint where the cartledge is gone. but also there is a joint that has to be fused along with the removal of the CMC Joint. Now doesn’t this sound like FUN! I have been to a different hand doctor from the one I originally visited with and he a great Surgeon to have for this type of surgery. He is extremely professional and capable of correcting the problem. (OUCH)

Now to the “vacation from quilting” recovery time frame. It will take up to 4 months to recover from it. I will have the surgery on Wednesday (29 Nov) and the next Tuesday (5 Dec) will go back to have stitches removed (maybe). But as soon as the stitches are removed I will be put in a full cast for 2 weeks. THEN the real FUN starts. Therapy twice a week. In 1980 (wow 43 years ago) I had the thumb operated on when I fell and ruptured the ligaments and tendons. That surgery never held, so I believe my Doctor is going to correct that problem with this surgery.

The pain in the palm of my hand started in August and thinking it was from the old 1980 surgery I did not go to the doctor – instead I used a brace to calm the pain. Obviously if I had realized that I had a REAL problem things would be over with and done. Oh Well.

So here is what I have been able to accomplish since my last post of 29 October 2023.

There has not been anymore progress on In The Garden – cannot applique without mucho pain! But I did finish quilting and binding the “lap quilt” for The Duck!

I did the binding by machine. I am very pleased with how the binding came out and my quilting. Win Win for me!

I wanted to save my grey batik fabric and chose a black batik for the backing.

I have selected my entire Jenny Beyer fabric collections to make quilts for the graduates at Jones Academy next May. I finished the first quilt this week. The quilt measures 56″ x 56″ (I think as it is close enough for Government work as the saying goes!)

I will not be working on any other quilting projects unless I begin cutting strips for the next quilt – depends on my mood! I have always had a difficult time with any type of surgery – being such a strong willed individual, it is difficult to just waltz in and let someone else control your body and mind. But I am working on thinking positive and not dwelling on the surgery or the pain that will come. Surgery on hands is very painful, but I believe that my Tylenol will come through for me.

On 1 November Murray A/C installed our new Mini-Split air/heat systems. We love them! The electrical bill should drop like a rock! Thought pictures would also show the units, plus the beautiful work that Clay did to cover up where the window units were before the Mini’s.

This is the unit in the Den – Clay changed out the white cover plus to one that matches the wall.

This is the Bedroom Mini. Since this picture was taken he changed the cover on the electrical plug that now is on the outside of the house, and moved the curtain on the left side closer to the unit to make it even! He also changed the cover to a wood cover and stained it to match the wall! He is such the creative guy when working with wood! Can you tell we love the Southwest look? Must be his Choctaw blood that inspires us!

Now for my 2024 quilting plans – I will be making this quilt using Pam Buda’s fabrics.

I fell in love with this fabric when she showcased it in June. It was back ordered from Hancocks of Paducah and received this week. Going to be a fun quilt to make as I love Reproduction quilts and the fabrics to make them with.

Kathy told me about this pattern last week and thought it would make a great quilt for Jones Academy project. I ordered it through Amazon.

POLITICAL ALERT: I just pray that America can hold on for the next 11 months and then for a President Trump Inauguration on 20 January 2025. It is becoming more and more evident how incompetent the current administration is. We are all suffering from their decisions and DIVERSITY policies. I pray for Isreal and the hostages, but mostly I pray that the USA makes it though 2023/2024 without a terrorist attack. I have a difficult time in understanding why anyone would vote for another 4 years of what we are going through now.

Have a blessed thanksgiving and will blog when I am able on how I am doing with the Thumb Surgery! It is not for the faint of heart so I am working on my Mind – THINK POSITIVE and enjoy the nap! LOL

Hugs to all

Nanette,

October 29, 2023

HQAL – 29 OCTOBER 2023! Not a Lot of Progress on the Quilting Front!

I remember the day we discussed purchasing our new travel trailer in August, and since then I am not sure where I have been most days! If you are living in the same world that I live in (Only when I leave our 5 acres) it is utterly unbelievable. Nothing seems to have gone right here as far as unforeseen requirements. All I know is that I have been drowning in solving problems for Doctors, Business, Insurance, etc. I know I am not the only one who has to do the work of the staff of Physcians, Billing, and then having to work with Insurance to clean it up! AND no trip to Rockport to find an RV park and The Duck is still sitting in the shed!

To top it off my BCBS Federal medical insurance decided to OPT-IN all Retires into Medicare Part D Prescription WITHOUT OUR APPROVAL. May I say that I spent 5 days researching and trying to pin more idiots down for accurate information – that failed. I was finally able to OPT OUT OF THAT MESS. I DO NOT WANT THE GOVERNMENT CONTROLLING MY PRESCRIPTIONS! This is why I say it is becoming a full time job dealing with any business.

During August I began having some pain in my right hand at the thumb area and as the months went on it became more painful and kept me from doing my quilting. So like a dutiful individual who takes care of themselves, I requested an x-ray of both hands to see what is going on and ordered a thumb brace to see if that would help until I got the results.

The x-ray showed a tear in a tendon. I had thumb surgery in 1980 to correct torn ligaments and tendons on my right thumb when I took a fall and put my hand down to brace the fall (don’t ever do that one – just take the fall). The surgery did not work and I did not want a repeat surgery, so I have worked around that one for 43 years. I figured that this could be giving me the problem. (Certainly NOT the 16 quilts I quilted, 20 that I hand quilted the binding earlier in the year!)

I selected a Hand Surgeon from the group I had previously used for hand issues. The Surgeon advised me that I have Thumb arthritis. It is common with aging and occurs when cartilage wears away from the ends of the bones that form the joint at the base of your thumb — also known as the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint (See below) Of course it requires lots of steroid shots (I am allergic to steroids), braces (tried that one and limited use) and if that doesn’t work – the big “S” word Surgery! But before that he made a final decision he wanted me to get an MRI of my hand. At first I thought I would just live with it, but after reading all about the CMC joint I realized that if I let it go it would only get worse, so I bit the bullet and arranged an MRI with my favorite sit down open MRI Imaging place! NO tunnels for me.

So Friday I went for the MRI (I still hate MRIs) and had an appointment with the Doctor’s Physician Assistant (an idiot) just to see what the MRI showed. The Doctor took Friday off (unexpectedly) so I was to see him on his final diagnoses on Tuesday next week! The Idiot PA kept asking for the MRI for my wrist and I told him I had brought the disc to them. He told me that they only got the hand. I told him I did not know they wanted the wrist. The Idiot left the room and I made a phone call to the Imaging people to find out what happpened. They advised me they did not get the one for the wrist.

There were some loud words exchanged after that between myself and the Doctor’s Number one Nurse Rachet (trying to be nice) because I realized that someone had dropped the ball and the Imaging people did NOT receive the orders for wrist and hand. YUP I HAVE TO HAVE ANOTHER MRI. If I were having to pay for the MRIs out of pocket I would be billing the idiot who did not do their job. I was livid. I complained at the front desk very loudly and walked out – told them I would never be back. The problem started with Nurse Rachet assistant to the Doctor because she DID NOT send the prescriptions to my Imaging company. She sent them Friday and they were received. (There is really more to this story but I would be writing a book – this is the condensed version and you are probably already bored!)

On the way home from that mess, I received a call from the The San Antonio Orthopedic Groups’ Office Manager. She had been advised of the situation from the lady at the front desk when I lodged a complaint about having to have another MRI due to their mistake. She was apologizing for what happened with the 2 encounters with Nurse Rachet and the fact that now I had to get another MRI. I told her I would not be using the original doctor and requested that I be transferred to their top Doctor in the Group. So now I have an appointment on the 8th of November for the MRI and on the 14th of November for the Doctor’s appointment where I will know the extent of the damage to the Thumb joint!

On the 19th of October the air conditioner went out in the bedroom – that required 2 full days of trying to obtain bids to replace the unit in the bedroom and Den (other side of the house is central air (4 tons). By the end of the day Friday 20th of October we had a company scheduled to install the new system – Mini Splits in both rooms starting 30 October! The units were installed in the wall, so Clay will need Monday and Tuesday to close up the wall area where the units were. Murray Air Conditioning from La Vernia will remove the old units for us and hopefully by Thursday evening we will have them installed. This time we purchased A/C and Heat. We will not need the air and probably not the heat at this time as we are going to receive a very welcomed Canadian Norther! Should be here within the next hour or so and will be bringing rain! YEA! Speaking of rain this week we received 6 and 1/4 inches of rain! Drought buster and another inch on Friday!

My walk in the morning will be my favorite 40 degrees! YEA!

OK I have accomplished a couple of things that I consider fun and relaxing. I loaded my lap quilt for “The Duck” (if we ever get to take it out on a trip). She is loaded and one row done this last Thursday before the Black MRI day! Rebecca quilted my Irish Spring quilt with red thread and I am doing the same with the lap quilt. I will finish it starting tomorrow (Monday) as Clay will be busy with the wall repair and I will be quilting!

I finished another block from In The Garden Quilt by Dawn Heese. Only 2 more to go and it will take longer because of the thumb issue.

Next on my diatribe is to congratulate our new House Speaker, Speaker Mike Johnson from Louisiana. This man is going to change our way of doing business in the House! Just watch!

POLITICAL ALERT: I am appalled at the colleges who have turned out Students who are protesting Israel in their War with Hamas and Iran! This should show Americans how sick our Education System is. May those people/students never work for an American Company EVER! I saw today where UAE, Saudi Arabia, and 2 other Arab countries contributed over 6.6 BILLION to our colleges. This has to change. No wonder we are where we are in this Country! No more selling of our precious land to China either! OK I am done!

I LOVE President Trump as you all know, and we need him and Speaker Johnson to clean up the mess that the Democrats have given us for the last 3 years. My prayers are with Israel and its people, President Trump and House Speaker Johnson! May they be kept in the Fold and Safe and Sound.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy stitching and rest those hands. I will age another year on 31 October at 2 minutes to Midnight! I will be flying on my broom in the sky!

Hugs,

Nanette

October 8, 2023October 29, 2023

HQAL – October 8, 2023

Greetings from a much cooler South Texas! Today it was 58 degrees when I walked this morning. It is now 83 degrees at 4PM. What a change from 120 days of over 110to 117 degrees! I am working daily to get back to my 1.5 miles in 30 minutes. I am having to start over doing a 20 minute mile and maybe in 2 weeks I will be back to the 1.5 in 30. I am having back issues, so I am back in my back brace -I am the ultimate brace person!

Ever since we purchased The Duck life was not under my control!!! So I cannot tell you all the things I have been dealing with, but mostly I have not felt good most of this summer. First off I did not keep up with the sun nor my Vitamin D lamp (my fault)- My D level was down to 45. No wonder for the last 2 months I could have cared less about anything quilting. (I gave up my Almond Breeze milk in 2018 when they said I was Pre-Diabetic which has 450mg of Calcium).

In September I had the annual female check up and requested a Bone Density test be done. About 2 weeks ago the GYN doctor called to talk about my Bone Density test. I almost fell out of my chair when a doctor called – it had been over 40 years since I heard from a Doctor! The bottom line on that report was that I was either on the verge of Osteopenia and in 10 years I might be at risk for a fracture, or a broken hip. There would be a 3% chance in 10 years I might fall and have a fracture, OR better yet have a 13% chance of falling and break my hip and then probably die 2 years after that because I would not walk (me just sit in a chair?) Well, in 10 years I will be 89 – really, who cares? How can this person predict what and when something would happen to me?

He wanted me to come in and we would discuss “treatment”. Long story short, I decided to try the NOW liquid Calcium Citrate with Magnesium Citrate and liquid Vitamin D to get things going in a more positive way and if successful great, if not I could tell him that my walking, resistance exercises, and drinking a cup of Almond milk each day would be the “treatment”. (Note: I have never been able to take vitamins – my system does not like them) Outcome of 4 days taking the vitamins was not positive as it made me very ill! So I quickly cancelled the appointment because I knew up front he wanted me to probably take Fosomax or some other poisonous drug and I refuse to sit and talk with a doctor who does not understand Celiac or Gastroparesis and would not want to listen to “why I am different”!

Now to let you know that I did research on who was setting the “parameters” (percentages) for the next 10 years of my life. Does it surprise anyone that the lovely World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all the drugs for Osteopenia or Osteoporosis? So I am at peace with not having to waste my time defending my right to say – ‘NO THANK YOU’. WHO wanted everyone to take the Vaccine – how is that one working for many Americans? Not well!

Next on the list of “why I have not quilted lately” involves hearing aids and iPhones. This will be short and sweet. Apple is now controlling how loud you can play music, phone calls, notifications, anything to do with Sounds. YUP – it is embedded in IOS 17. I began to notice something was wrong with my phone a couple of months ago when the sound would go down without me even touching the button and now I know it was IOS 16.7. The last Wednesday I upgraded to IOS 17. WOW talk about an eye opener – MORE WHO!

If you have an iPhone and IOS 17, you might want to look up the new regulation that the Government has now put in all mobile devices that will reduce the level of sound you can listen to. OH YES – guess who has provided the guidance to the world. THE LOVELY WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO). If interested, Google this one, I spent 2 hours with Apple to learn about the Regulation and some states (i.e. California or servers in the Western part of the US) will not let you adjust the level pf decibels you can listen to! Then Friday evening Clay and I spent another 4 hours researching and trying to override the software settings – FORGET THAT ONE.

My hearing aids were acting up since the Oticon idiots put out a new App so I made an appointment to get them re-set or upgraded Firmware! Outcome after the first appointment was lovely I could not hear anyone on the phone unless I went to speaker, Tinnitus would not work, and forget my Podcasts, etc. So the next day I went back and now I am using loaned hearing aids while they sent mine back for replacements. Of course, we found out about the new Master who is controlling our lives after both visits but I will enjoy the new hearing aids anyway.

You will take note that most of the problems I have had to deal with is related to SOFTWARE ISSUES! Anyone ready for more technology and especially AI?

Now on to quilting. There has been ZERO quilting being done here most of the summer, only applique. I am 100% certain that after 20 years I suffered “quilt burnout”! So I have mostly watched a lot of movies, reading, and appliquéing on In My Garden. I finished the Center block for In the Garden and working on the other 3 blocks. And of course The Duck came into the family!

The Duck – We will be making a day trip in a couple of weeks to Rockport to check out the RV Parks and then make reservations for a week or two stay! YEA! I can finally see something other than the Studio and the House! Clay has added so many great improvements to The Duck – the most important – 3 Security Cameras and finished things that Heartland did not do correctly. We are just about ready to make the Maiden Trip!

Today I have been looking through patterns to make for the 10 quilts I will donate to the Seniors at Jones Academy. One of the will probably be made from some patterns that Gretchen has made this year. One of them is Christmas Star here and here. The pattern is available here at Jo’s Country Junction. The other pattern I really like that Gretchen made is her Wintersweet Quilt – a free pattern from here and here is the link to the free pattern. Another pattern I am considering is from the Fat Quarter Shop called Night and Day.

I can always count on Gretchen to find some great patterns that are fun to make and most of them are free downloads! Thank you Gretchen!

Well, if you made it down to here thank you for reading!

I want to offer prayers to Israel – I have a feeling this is the beginning of WWIII and it is starting in the worst places it could. The US is weak with a weak leader, so brace yourselves as we could be next with all the 8 to 15 million Illegal Immigrants that have come into this country compliments of the Liberal Democrats and an Alzheimer’s Patient in charge. Remember included in this group of Illegal Aliens there are Terrorist that were caught, but they have no idea how many slipped in without being caught.

Have a blessed week and I am praying that Jim Jordan will be our next House Speaker. I firmly believe he can bring the Republicans together.

Have a wonderful week quilting, reading, watching old movies, Gunsmoke, and Longmire!

Hugs,

Nanette