I'll live! And I'm not so special, after all.

Google photo

It got kinda dicey for a little while there, but somehow I seem to be pulling through. If you've been around at all lately, you may have noticed that I have not blogged for a couple of weeks. 

You would also know that Richard's dad passed away. As we were caring for his parents, we had several weeks of difficulties, during which time I was sick. Then there was the week of the funeral and caring for Rich's mom. I was sick then, too. Sicker, actually.


You see, I had a GI hemorrhage. It didn't seem serious, so delaying treatment was easy to do since there were so many other, more serious, events happening. Then I started fainting. Not fun, by the way. It's kind of weird to know you're going down. And you can't stop it. 

Google photo

The fainting happened for a couple days at which point Richard put me in the car and drove to the hospital. Honestly, I had no idea I'd lost that much blood. The first day I got a unit. The second day I got a unit. The fourth day I got two units. One more day and a final unit. Five? Really? I thought it might be a bit much, but what do I know?

Google photo 

In the meantime, doctors were running every test known to the gastrointestinal tract. I got to drink liquids I hope to never drink again. Ever. Ever. Ever.

My PillCam

Doctors were pretty determined to find the leak. They went up with a colonoscopy. They went down with an endoscopy. They went sideways, thanks to nuclear medicine. They tried X-rays. CT scans. CT contrasts. Sigmoidoscopy. 

In all, ten days and nine tests. I even swallowed a little camera. It's not as bad as the liquid stuff. Honestly, they should have started with the camera.


I was a bit of an enigma for a little over a week. But one very determined doctor finally figured out where the leak was. (I had been telling him for a week and a half. It really was time to believe me. And for the record, I was right.)

It's now been a week since the fix and we've returned home. I'm not so special, after all, except to my sweet, darling husband, who has been the best, most wonderful, caregiver. I mean, I get tired of me.


I've been entertaining myself with Craftsy videos and the birds in our backyard. I think the birds are tired of me, too. I've been trying to sneak up but, well, when a muscle spasm hits, I cry. 

Today I managed to delay taking a pain pill for several hours. I regretted it a little once the pain really kicked in, but it means that I am mending and healing and in no time I'll be back to my old, fairly-ordinary, self. Which, it turns out, is the best self I can be.

Gone in a Seam ~~ Finally Finished

I very rarely leave a project in the middle of some step. I like stopping points. But I was working on this Crown Royal quilt top and had to leave it "à portée de main," or in Louisiana French, "à main," as is.

Correctly translated "porté à la main" means literally carried by hand.

But who in Louisiana ever says something in French and means it literally?

Eventually the longer phrase was shortened to "à main" which, when translated literally is the hand, but means to pick up and go. Without plans. As I'm dressed. Without anything I might need later. To just go! We Louisianans love our French and it's those little phrases that our parents and grandparents used in their common speech that we've held onto the most. Even those of us who don't speak French (of any kind) know at least a few of these phrases.

So I would say, for example, I left my quilt "à main" (without getting to a good stopping point) and I could mean any number of ways to have left my quilt. In this particular case, I left with the quilt still on the machine, the needle in the down position in the fabric, and praying that nothing came along and jerked on the quilt top. I don't remember the reason or the rush, but it must have been somewhat important. Otherwise this state of affairs just wouldn't happen. I didn't return that night. (No way!)

The following day I was sick with a virus. Too sick to go to the studio or remember how that quilt top was hanging on (off?) the machine. I recovered just in time three days later to get on a bus to Slidell. That led into Sunday and Catherine's First Holy Communion. Then on Monday I left for Paducah. In all this time--surely well over a week--the quilt top and machine have been patiently waiting "à main" for my return.

And here we are. I've finished the seam, added another strip of yellow to the other side and moved the top to the design wall. Where it will stay until I can load it onto the long-arm. Hopefully that will be tomorrow, but my virus has been through the entire Marcotte Lot and there are still people unable to drag themselves out of bed. Talk about looking "à main" and rough!

Would you like it? The virus, I mean. It will be shipped to you "à main" tonight. No waiting, no getting all dressed up.

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)
Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

Sunday Quilt Inspiration moves to Monday

I am sorry that I can't work on Sunday Quilt Inspiration. I have some sort of stomach ick going on. I've been in bed or on the couch all day. Hopefully I'll be back to myself soon. Until then I plan to sleep a lot and milk the misery--Richard is catering to my every need. Why, he brought me a glass of Sprite only five hours ago and offered a plate of ribs just now. Isn't he treating me well?

Tuesday edit: I don't know where the last three days have gone, but I have a feeling that's they are somewhere under my bedcovers. I've been sick with some kind of stomach bug. 

Today I finally got out of the house and into the studio for a little while. I didn't accomplish much, but I felt good to be in a different room and to handle fabric and thread. I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be better and I'll be able to do more than just turn on a few lights and the machine. 

sick? no, not much

I'm writing that with a touch of sarcasm, of course.  I thought I was sick when I wrote last, only three days ago.  It turns out that I wasn't as sick as I can get.  Cold, flu, pneumonia, or "the Louisiana crud," it really doesn't matter what we call it.  I definitely had something.  And that something was miserable.  

Now I'm feeling only a little better, I've missed most of a week, and I have a lingering cough that can beat me down in about a minute and a half.  I guess I'm writing just to let folks know that I am still here and will climb back on the blogging horse eventually.  

It's just not happening tonight because somewhere in my school bag is a big stack of papers.  At school are a passel of students clamoring for help and attention. And finally, in just a few short days there will be a scary, high-stakes test.  How nerve-racking is that? Enough to bring about a relapse.    I want my life back!

Finally! Presenting a Finish

I actually finished this little quilt last week.  First I needed photos and then, well, I don't know, exactly.  I think life just got in the way.  I did get photos but they are the usual bad pictures.  The weather has been absolutely miserably cold, so going outside was not happening.  I have outside duty early in the morning and take all day to warm up, so no, I'm not going out for pics.

The quilt is remarkably traditional for me: a few four-patch blocks alternating with a block made from some of my mom's fabric, which I found at her house only a few weeks ago.  It works so well with the five in squares that Lane won as a door prize when we went to a quilt show in the fall. 

The fabric from mom's house is burgundy and white but it almost reads pink in the photographs.  The deep burgundy is from my stash.  I'm not so sure I like the blocked border, but I've been wanting to try this for some time.  I'm not going to use it again any time soon, but oh well.  I had to figure that out, I guess.

I used an allover feather quilting design, which I do like very much.  This is the second or third quilt that I've quilted this way.  It's almost perfect: fast, easy and almost impossible to mess up.  I did get carsick though.  I like to loop my feather stem in and out rather than just stitch straight across.  Start adding the feathers to those roller-coaster loops, and after about an hour I was getting queasy.  Did Richard have fun with that!  He teased about getting drunk on my own quilting and laughed at his own silly jokes.  

All I could say was "I am happy someone can appreciate it because I am not in a mood to laugh about nausea."  That only fed his fire, so I stretched out on the couch for a nap, then went back to the long arm after a good 30 minutes.  Of course, I was still too queasy to cook supper two hours later!

Happy Quilting,
Mary

Some Sad Puppies

Our puppies are going through a bad spell.  I sure hope that it doesn't last too much longer, because we are a sad lot.

It started with Candy.  She is depressed since we sold the last puppy on Sunday.  I can understand her sadness, she generally goes through a period of not wanting the babies around her at all, then when they are gone, she mopes around and stays to herself.  One of her favorite activities is guarding the door, but she has just begun doing that again today and only for a very short time.

Cotton has an arthritic hip and this weather has really done him in.  He can barely get around, holds his right back leg taut, and really is too quiet, even for an old man.  His pain must be really bad: All he does is lie under a warm blanket.  I put the hot pad over his hip and side for a while this morning but it's difficult to tell whether that helped.

Finally there's silly Little Little.  She stole a half sleeve of crackers yesterday afternoon.  Ate every crumb and licked the salt.  Although she passed most of it, she still threw up all night. So today she is exhausted and mopey.  She won't move from her perch on the back of the sofa.  When someone says her name, she moves her eyebrows, nothing else.

Didn't I tell you we're a sad lot?  

Playing in EQ7

Every now and then I open EQ7 and try my hand at figuring out how to do the things I WANT to do.  I'm not very good at being patient and learning stuff so that I can do stuff.  The problem is not the learning part--it's the patient part.  I want to learn it as I do it: not learn so I can do it.  

Anyhoo...it's slow, but I'm getting better.  One reason is that I've quit trying to do.  I'm going about it the way regular people go about learning things:  I'm just learning.  Sure, I build blocks, but so far I've not used one block that I've built.  That's because....well, look at the blocks!  It's just so sad.  

I'm blaming this cruddy cough that has plagued me all week...it stifles my creativity.  And since learning a computer program doesn't require creativity, I'm hoping that by the time the cough is gone, I'll have figured out how to manipulate EQ.

There is some good news on the EQ front, however sad the blocks appear: I used EQ to sell a quilt!  Sure, if you're determined enough, and the quilt is simple enough, and the customer is your sister (so you have an angle) it can happen.  It probably helps that the angle is I'll add some of mom's fabrics in the quilt.  

Regardless, I'll be working on this cute red/white quilt for the next few days.  I don't mind setting aside my own project for this one because it's going to a doll of a niece who is moving away.  

She's a fashionable young woman who will know that chevrons are all the rage.  Since I've been thinking of making one for that very reason, I suggested to her mom that we consider it.  Sister/mom is thrilled, niece will be thrilled, and I'm pretty happy, too.  Click, click, click and we're all together in Kansas that fast!

What's got you going to Kansas, Dorothy?  Any new projects?  Any suggestions for EQ7?  Any clue what kind of cold meds I'm on?

Sorry, folks,

not much of a post tonight.  The "crud" has come to Evergreen and decided that we are wonderful hosts.  It's been three days now, starting on Sunday with Lane.  This pic was taken in a good moment, poor baby.

And then today the crud had Richard up at 2 a.m. He's looking a bit like Lane did on Sunday.  We've done the math: it will be Friday before he's back at work.

Imagine how terrified I am that my turn is coming soon.  If you don't hear from me in a day or two, picture me looking like this.  Then commission soup, crackers and Sprite to send to Evergreen.