David Byrne Baby!..Jennifer's night out before all day tests

Jennifer 

and I had a nice outing.  What a great concert!  It was at the beautiful Palace Theatre in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.  David Byrneand company, of which there were lots on stage, put on a high energy and entertaining show.  

While I can't say that Mr. Byrne left everything on the stage, like some other bands that I've seen, you can tell he is a seasoned professional and had a very polished act, complete with dancers, backup singers and multiple musicians, you certainly got your money's worth in this show.  His interest in all aspects of entertainment, music, stage and film were certainly evident last night.  Lights and dancers were used for complete dramatic effect.  

Seasoned professional, class act that he is, he came out on the stage in elegant all white. His voice is still strong and very recognizable.  He played mostly from his newest album with Brian Eno, who by the way, seems to be an inspiration for lots of artists, of which I like.  But, when he reverted to his Talking Heads days, he really brought the house down.  "Burning Down the House" and "Same as it Ever Was" had the crowd all up on their feet and dancing.  

Mr. Byrne came back for 4 encores-unheard of to me.  He seemed to really be pleased that he had such an appreciative audience and might have been somewhat surprised that people in Kentucky would bring him back on stage so often.  I wish I had taken a picture of one of the band members filming the crowd, while requesting one of those encores.  

At one point he performed a song while all on stage sat in chairs!  I wondered if this was to calm the house down, as people were standing and dancing a lot by then.  

It was an unforgettable night and one that preceded today, which bring lots of tests and hopefully for a few months at least, our last visit to the hospital for Jenni.  My goodness life does go on.  

Quilting and Soccer...smile

I've been busy, busy, busy, making a king size quilt by hand sewing.  It's a 1 inch hexagon quilt using the Tillie's Mosaic as the inspiration.  It started out as a nice project to bring to the hospital while my daughter, Jennifer, got her various forms of treatment for cancer, over the last year.  My progress has been slow, as some days I just didn't feel like doing much, let alone sew.  But, Hooray, Hooray, glory day!, Jennifer finished her last round of chemo a couple of weeks ago, and tomorrow we go in for all day testing, head to toe.  The Dr.s are confident the cancer is in remission and she can get the line out at the end of October.  This is no port, if only...it's a central line, which runs up the inside of her and comes out in two lines exiting out her side.  That will truly be the end of the ordeal.  

As you can see I am in heaven today, because there is a soccer game on while I'm working on my quilt!  This is not my beloved Liverpool or Spain, but, for me any soccer fix is good.  As you can see my progress is coming a bit slowly and as I'm having to make up the pattern, more or less, as I go.  I'm changing it from the original pattern by Karen Witt.

  

First sewing machine for my daughter, Chelsea.

Off we went on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to Hancocks in Louisville, Kentucky, where they were having a sale on their sewing machines.  Being a person that is very picky about sewing, material, and notions, of course I want to buy the best.  But, in reality, my mom wanted to buy the first sewing machine for her 4 grandaughters, which, as you know, if we really want quality machines, this could run into the many thousands of dollars.  Also, since I don't know if Chelsea and Jennifer will even take to this most wonderful hobby, my better sense took over.  Practical Julie had to ask the main question to answer for a first machine, in my opinion, is: mechanical or computerized?  The computerized Janome we tried was $100 more than the mechanical Janome.  Of course it had a few more bells and whistles, but, again, the mechanical had just as good a stitch and most of what the computerized machine had, except for the automatic speed control, which I never use on my machine anyway. That being said, we chose this lovely mint green mode, Janome 2139n.  Now, I'm not recommending this machine, as we haven't really tried it out yet, that's another post.  But, suffice it to say that DD #2, Chelsea, is heading back to Bowling Green, Kentucky to Western Kentucky University with the above mentioned new sewing machine.  Also included in our newbie sewing experience:  8" Gingher sissors-on sale=woot woot!; Schmetz needles Universal size 80/12;  and 2 spools of Mettler grey thread.  These things are all good for the first time sewer. 

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.  

It's that time of year

We can always laugh at things...

Machine Quilting and Hand Sewing

Once again, Jennifer's blood is not good enough to be given her chemo treatment, so we wait until Monday.  It never goes on schedule, but, what does?  Only 2 more treatments to go.  WooHoo!

I've been staying busy, learning my new Mac.  It's the best, I can't believe I took so long to convert.  All I heard was how difficult it is to learn, but, it's really not.  If I can learn it, anyone can.  It's got so many cool things on it, not the least of which is the 24 inch monitor/computer.  Ah well, using the "little grey cells", as Hercule Poirot says of the brain cells, is always a matter of stretching your brain and learning something new...I can use that...smile.

 Anyway, I've been busy machine quilting my Grandmother Margie's quilt top.  All I did was feathers running opposite directions.  This fabric is Laura Ahsley material.  I don't think they sell material at any of their shops, if they even have shops.  I really like the casual easy style she has.    My challenge is how to bind it with the prairie points.  I think I'll just fold over the excess backing and whip stitch it down.  I'm a little mad at myself for not thinking/planning that out better, but, that technique gets the job done.  

I've also been busy on the Tillie's Mosiac pattern.  I'm hand sewing the 1 inch hexagons and want to make a king size quilt.  But, this bit of finished product has used 2 yards or there abouts, of the white on white material and I'm concerned I won't have enough to make the KS quilt.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when I run out.  That's the beauty of the internet, you can find almost any fabric, as long as you have kept the salvage edge, which is printed with the information necessary for looking up fabric.