Jennifer's Meltdown and lovely fall

Just when we thought it was over, back we went to the hospital for 2 units of blood.  Some of you might know what having an ANC of zero means and hemoglobin of 6.7, which is why blood was required.  My oh my, this never ends.  I struggle with complaining, because my daughter is the one going through the drama, not me and I feel I have no right.  Nope, parents are along for the agonizing ride with nothing to do but clean up vomit and turn off the alarms on the chemo and blood machines, because they are "nearing the end of infusion."  I do dream of a boring life once again, that is not an insult at all.  Where the phone rings all the time and both babies are home and safe and I have nothing more to worry about than keeping them off my computer because they like my monitor to see their friends on Facebook.   

On a happier note, it is fall and this is the view out my back door; out my kitchen window.  This is our back yard where even fairies wonder what the heck went wrong?  

It's not all bad, I did get in some really nice retail therapy.  I attempted the 50% off sale at Baer Fabrics.  This was a fabric store that was a Louisville institution for a long, long time, but, could not survive the sad economy.  Alas, I did not bring my camera inside to take a picture of the 2 hour long wait to get checked out.  For me, some buttons just weren't worth the wait.  

So on I drove to Happy Heart Quilt shop which is way, way over on the other side of town from me.  But, like visiting an old friend, I was greeted with Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz fabric and many other panels and quilts hung all around the room.  There was one quilt that was made and hung, The Rosebud Lane Quilt.  It's been out for a while and I've tried to buy the complete set of 6 block patterns and the assembling the quilt pattern, but, have had no luck in getting them altogether, until yesterday.  I took it as a sign and knew I must make that quilt.  What is it with women and fabric...we must have....arrrggghhh!....smile.  

Paducah Quilt Show

The world of quilting has it's great times and not so great times. Things can be outstanding and sometimes underwhelming. Such was the case, in my opinion, concerning my 4 days spent in Paducah, Kentucky for the 24th annual American Quilters Society (AQS) quilt show. The wonderful, outstanding part was the place we stayed, the lovely Fox Briar Farm. We had a great room, delicious food, which was served in 3 courses by very nice local women that seemed to have stepped be right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The farm has cows called Belted Galloways. I've always called them blanket cows, cause it looks like they have a blanket on their backs. The Galloways are from Scotland and fair better in colder climates, you can see the longer hair that helps keep them warm. Besides being a Bed and Breakfast during the quilt show, it's a working farm and the cows are all the work. There is one horse, cause you know this Kentucky, what would a farm be without one. The picturesque setting included a lake with geese and fish that jumped. There was a porch that wrapped around and a few dogwood trees to complete the setting.

The show was it's usual of hodge podge rambling venues contained in 3 buildings that can be daunting to navigate for first time visitors. The underwhelming part, to me was the quantity of show winning quality quilts. I wonder if their aren't more quilt shows competing for the really great quilts and those quilts can't be in 2 places at once so they are spread around the country. In the years past, it seems to me at least, that there have been many more "show stoppers" in this quilt show. I don't know, it just occurred to me, the plethora of quilt shows can't have all the quilts at once. Maybe I'm wrong, any thoughts? The winning quilts were certainly worthy and deserved the prizes they won. This is the grand prize winner, inspired by her grandmother's handkerchief.

The usual gossip, I heard it was in the paper, so maybe it's not gossip, the $20,000 winner didn't want the money. So, that means the she can keep the quilt and it does not go to the museum. I've heard that before, but, someone told me the person changed her mind and took the money. I don't know for sure, I think even at $20,000 if it took me 2 to 10 years to make a quilt worthy of this prize, it still wouldn't be worth your time...but, I'd take the money.

There were lots of familiar beloved faces, none more so than Elenore Burns. Ricky Tims rode a Harley Davidson onto the stage for his show, complete with fog and lighting like Chuck Norris coming out of the burned out barn to save the day. He was pretty good, but, the woman that sang with him, really blew him and all of us away, Cat Bowser, I think was her name-just a singer/comedian, not a quilter and soooo funny.

Here's my purchases. I'm getting into wool rovings and hand sewing a Grandmother's Flower Garden, which before it was called by that name was known as a mosaic pattern. I got this fabric to put in a scattering around the quilt, more on my progress later. I can never go to a quilt show and not find some very unusual embroidery items, this is silk ribbon embroidery thread. I've got another needle threader that works with bigger eyed needles. I did get it through a big eyed size 12 needle, but, it's not worth the effort. Use the heart shaped Clover needle thread for your size 12 needles. We also didn't have a bad meal, the Whaler has great butterfly fried shrimp and Toucan's had the best tuna fish sandwich I've ever had. Food in Paducah can not be mentioned with Patty's Settlement, home of the mile high meringue and pork chops-this can be split very easily between 2 people. Here we are, my mom and me relaxing after a wonderful bit of R and R. Now it's back to business and time with my daughter, who is still undergoing chemotherapy.

Nope the book case did not fall on my head!

Whew! It's been a busy time around here. I've been to a concert with my DD #2 and saw Andrew Bird at the Brown. We sat in the front row and I got great pictures of his striped socks-so cool. A man really has to be secure to kick off his shoes and wear striped socks! Of course it really helps to be cool if you are playing a violin and guitar, practically at the same time.

Next we went to an auctiongot this beautiful quilt for $110.00. It was a lovely day started about 10:00 and we got to the quilts after many, many tools and other old estate items from a probably 100 year old farm. I really wanted this but, you know when you go toe to toe on the bids with one other person, and you've already gone over your limit, you live in the satisfaction that you made them pay for it. I was quite happy with my wonderful Cinderella find. There was no label and no one attending knew the story of the quilt. Once again-put your labels on!!!

After the auction we signed up for scuba diving lessons. We are on board to learn how to dive here and then we plan to go to a reef somewhere in January or February. I can't wait. I've always liked the water. We used to have a boat, but, I was the only one that wanted to go out on it, so we sold it. Now, my DH wants to do this and so far so good. We are having a crash course hopefully before the weather gets too cold. We have to have 4 open water dives in a quarry before we are certified-there's wet suits for cold water but, warm water, I think is probably always better...smile. Then we played poker with guys and spouses at one of the fellows from Bob's work. We didn't win, but, you know I hear their names and it was nice to get to associate a name with a face for a few hours at least...kinda fun. And last but not least, my super sensitive, of late, DH surprised me with Salsa dance lessons just in time for us to dance on the rooftop of a club downtown for the Latino festival. It was nice viewing the Ohio river from a different perspective, feeling the breeze and watching the talented dancers. Then it was our turn, we got up and remembered our steps, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow and did that for a while. We tried our turn and walk through, but, it was so crowded, I just knew I was going to elbow some one so we left kind of early. Quite enjoyable that my husband would put so much thought into surprising me...touching...smile.