Meet Lovey

Lovey is Max's little tiger buddy.  He got him from his auntie after he was born but wasn't really attached to any particular toy until the last few years.

Lovey sleeps in Max's bed and accompanied us to hospital after Max's most recent mishap.

Well I needed to find my long lost quilt mojo, distract Max from anymore daring stunts til current injury healed and at the same time repay Lovey for all his kindness.

In the quest for my Mojo I started sifting through the UFO tub containing Max's Monster Trucks Tote bag...from LAST January.

Working on the bag was all too hard with a bored 6YO and I discovered I simply wasn't keen on the pieced sections I had previously cut out to replace the dainty stitchery on the front of the bag.

I needed to use it up in a way to make best use of the pre-cut fat quarters.

I tried to be discreet when asking max whether Lovey liked cars.  Max said Lovey likes computer games better but he likes cars too.

I was inspired by Crafty Pug's quilt for her little boy's favourite toy and the chopped up FQs would be just enough to make a Lovey Sized quilt top!

 

Max then chose another FQ for the back.  Due to the direction of the print, I needed to add a bit of extra fabric to get the size right.

Lovey's quilt measure 16" x 20"...and I can't believe I have a FINISH!!!!

January Block Swaps Sent and Received

Well this is a bit late!  BUT I did need to wait til the last of my blocks were received then I lost internet access for a while.

First my group 1 swaps. This is my last month with group 1!

So...my first partner was Jolanda from Portugal.  Jolanda requested a block with squares and rectangles in pink, yellow and white so I made her the Antique Tile block:

And this is the lovely pink Baby Bunting from Jolanda:

 

My Second January partner was Debbie from Canada.  Debbie wanted any block in pink and brown.  I have really been loving Old Maid's Puzzle lately so I made it up with some delicious reproduction prints.

 

And I got another lovely Baby Bunting in blue from Debbie

 

My next swap is really exciting!  It's the very first swap from Group 2!

My partner was Lynette who requested Solomon's Star in Blues on white

 

And Lynette made me a Baby Bunting from the most beautiful peach fabric!

 

A huge thank you to all my swap partners!  I loved swapping with you!

Never a dull moment

But I'd really love a dull moment!

Last night DH took Max and his scooter out for a walk.  Less than half an hour later he called me to pick them up.

I'm so glad Max was wearing a helmet.  It took the brunt of his fall.

He had some nasty grazes on his hands, arms, one knee and face.  He knocked out an already loose baby tooth and cut the inside of his mouth quite deeply.

A trip to emergency ruled out any broken bones or more serious head injury.  Thankfully they agreed not to stitch the lip which is very fat and sore looking.

He was so brave!  I was struggling to hold it together and it took even more self control not to bash up DH.

Max was so brave!  He only cried a little at first.  I'm so proud of him and spoiling him rotten today.  He's doing arts and crafts then we go shopping for soft desserts and toys and all kinds of things to make me him feel better.

Lumps and bumps and stuff

I saw the GP for my follow up in regard to my parotid issue.  He's put me on another 10 days of antibiotics.   My parotid had improved out of sight but still a small painful lump remains.

He has ordered blood tests to rule out some auto-immune disorders but I really thing it's a waste of time.  The fertility specialist ordered much more comprehensive auto-immune and genetic tests only a year ago and they all came back clear so I can't see things changing in such a short space of time.

I also changed the date of my surgery.  It fits in much better with our schedule but the downside it's 2 weeks later than before (now on 19th April).  The other good thing is that the anaesthetist that the ENT originally chose for me is working on this date and while I don't know how much he works with regional anaesthesia, I've been told by many people he's REALLY nice and willing to be flexible.

Now that things have settled into a routine I hope to start sewing again.

When It Rains...it Pours!

And I'm not talking about the weather!

A week ago...(it feels like a month ago!!) as I drove away from the ENT's rooms I noticed a sore, swollen lymph node on the left side of my neck.  I would have mentioned it at the appointment if I'd noticed it earlier but these things rarely appear at convenient moments.

I adopt my favourite form of treatment (ignore it and it'll go away) and 2 days later I have a very sore cricket ball sized bulge on the side of my neck.

I find a doctor who can see me and I'm convinced it's to do with whatever is breeding in my left sinus.

Doctor diagnoses parotitis/silaidenitis and tells me to have an unltrasound to confirm and start taking antibiotics.

I loathe antibiotics so I defer til after the scan the next morning.

As usual I'm plagued with yet another rare (or at the very least unusual ailment).  In my case it's been most likely caused by a dry mouth since none of the other risk factors apply.

A week later only a small bulge remains but I'm still cranky about it.

I feel like I haven't sewn in months but really it was just a few weeks ago.

Other than that DS is back at school (wahhhh!) but his teacher is lovely and very enthusiastic and its rubbing off on him which I'm thrilled about!

Here are the promised pics:

Just before getting in the car...

I did have some lovely classroom photos that my little monkey deleted from the camera while I was talking to his teacher after school.  He replaced them with about 10 self portraits.  Here's one:

I took a couple of replacement shots after school

 

Last one is below.  I also added a photo from the same time last year.  Just to clarify - he is in grade 1 this year and at his school (K-12), Preps wear sports uniform (kinder/preschool wear a modified version) and from grade 1, full junior school uniform applies.  He looks so grown up!  I'm disappointed they only wear ties in winter.  They suit him!  Click on each pic for a bigger version.

A plan and a tentative date...

Well I saw Mr ENT this afternoon and I was somewhat surprised that I was absolutely correct in my CT analysis.  Hmmm...Radiologists get paid heaps of money for what I did.  Makes me even more cross with the report on my previous scan.  How can someone mix up the index and middle finger???  Anyway...I digress...

The doc was really nice about my GA phobia and found a couple of anaesthetists who are REALLY nice.  The one I'm getting (if the date we picked goes ahead) actually has a special interest in regional anaesthetic as opposed to general.  I can't ask for much more than that.

Finding a suitable date is such a pain.  In theory I could be sliced and diced in less than a week but with DS starting back at school it's more practical to wait until just before the next school holidays.

I'm booked in on Wednesday 6 April which is in the last week of school.  It's a morning op so we have to BE THERE at 7am.  DH is going to love me *lol* 

So...as far as the gory bits go - he doesn't use packing (yay!) OR splints which surprised me.  Instead he uses "lots and lots" of industrial strength sutures which come out after 6 weeks.  I'm not sure I prefer that alternative!

DH wants me to have a sleep study BEFORE as well as after the op.  Doc and I both think it's pointless but he said he'd arrange one to keep DH quiet.

So I'm down for a septoplasty along with a FESS to trim down 3/4 of the offending turbinates and suck out the ball of goo from my sinus.  The 4th turb that I was worried about can be left well alone so no risk of getting poked in the brain by accident.

As gruesome as it all sounds and as fed up as I am of surgery, I'm really looking forward to breathing better.  The Doc is very optimistic and confident that I'll notice a big difference.

Not much craftiness to report.  It's toooo hot to even look at a quilt much less make one!  We don't have air con so I'm uncomfortable to say the least.  We spend little time at home!!!

Other than that we got DS some new uniforms for school and monday is the big day (again).  I really should be used to it by now but I'm not!!

CT Scan - nothing crafty in this post!

Yesterday's scan was as uneventful as I expected.  I'm an old hand at these though not usually on my head!

As you can tell from the time stamp on this post, I'm losing sleep over this whole issue - but that's nothing new!

I insisted on taking the films with me.  I don't see the ENT for another week so I need something to torture myself with until then!

My sister who had just come back from a 2 week spell in Hawaii (she has such a hard life ;-P *lol*) was at work on her day off so I couldn't get a free second opinion (or first opinion in this case) on my scans.

This meant I'd have to to the best I could on my own.  How hard can it be?  Afterall, I've always got Dr Google, right?  And the radiologist who reported my last CT couldn't tell my index finger from the middle one.  At least I can do that much!

The first thing that struck me was how hideous the human face looks on a sinus CT.  I look like a demented alien...an ugly one at that!  This is before I even started looking for deformities in my nose!

Well...let me tell you it doesn't take an expert to see my nose is a complete mess!  My findings are as follows:

*Septum is really badly deviated towards the left side - in several places!  The lowest place is so bad it explains why the ENT couldn't get his camera into my left nostril more than a few cm.  I thought he was just being slack when he pulled it out and started on the next side at that point.

*Inferior Turbinates (thanks Dr Google!) which are the lowest ones are huge.  There is air around them but very little.

*Middle Turbinates are a mixed bag.  The right is filled with air which really didn't look good until Dr Google informed me it's called a Concha Bullosa and really isn't that big a deal.  The left turb looks...kind of normal!  At least it did on initial inspection but later I noticed an air bubble higher up.  A little too close to brains and eyes for my liking.  :-/

*My left maxillary (cheek) sinus has a big grey blob in it.  It's in the same spot in all the different views so it's not just a smudge on the scan.  It's not air or bone so it means it's either tissue or snot or something like that.  Back to Dr Google I go to see what it could be since I couldn't sleep.  The first few entries that came up were somewhat unnerving but further reading it looks like it's a polyp.  Seriously gross!

Now my only concern is to make sure I get a nice anaesthetist who will be prepared to work with local anaesthetics/nerve blocks alone.  If he asks very nicely I might allow him to give me a tiny bit of happy juice provided it doesn't make me fall asleep.  There is no way anyone is going to be messing with my face unsupervised!!!!

From a pain perspective, what I've read seems positive.  Bone pain is the worst and I've survived 4 of those surgeries so this one shouldn't be too awful...except that there is bone involvement in the deviated septum.  Yuckity yuck!

I am really REALLY not comfortable with the idea of people doing things to my face...but if it means I'll stop being tired...and how much more crafting time will that give me?

And if I'm not too dopey I can hand sew in hospital.  That's the down side with wrist ops.  There's no crafting to be done during the boring hospital stay with one arm out of action!


The ENT is keen to do the surgery asap - hopefully within a week of seeing him next.  YIKES!

If I don't laugh I'll cry...

But it's yet another surgery for me!

Thankfully not my wrist again but my nose.

I've been battling airborne allergies for at least 10 years (at least then when I was diagnosed) and until recently a steroid spray meant I got some air through my nose, BUT over the years I got more and more tired and exhausted and sleepy during the day.

About 4 years ago I finally saw a doctor about it because it definitely wasn't related to being a new mum by that stage.  Blood tests showed nothing and I was told it was because I was chasing a toddler etc.  A few more theories were put forward since then and all ruled out until a few weeks ago when DH informed me I have sleep apnoea.

There is a family history and the most common side effect people complain about?  Daytime tiredness, sleepiness, downright exhaustion, lack of concentration, headaches...the list goes on and it fits all my symptoms exactly...even ones I would never have associated with it!!!!

I'm really annoyed no-one thought about it sooner.  Aside from being potentially dangerous, I've been feeling sooo rotten for years by now.

I saw the ENT again yesterday.  18 months ago when my ears started hurting he warned me I'd need my nose fixed and I happily kept using my spray and hoped never to see him again *lol*

Well spray no longer working and me not breathing meant it's crunch time.

He scoped my nose and throat with his little camera.  Definitely have a deviated septum (quite badly) and turbinates need reducing but to what degree and whether anything else needs doing will be determined by the CT scan I have this afternoon.

He's not going to start slashing soft tissue out of my throat for which I'm extremely grateful!  It can lead to problems of its own aside from being really REALLY painful!!

I will need a sleep study done after my nose has healed up and since my throat tissue isn't too big, we're both hoping the nose job fixes the sleep apnoea.

So it's another hurdle before we do more IVFing but worth it since I'm too exhausted to do any baby wrangling in my current state.

As petrified as I am of people messing with my face, the thought of being alert and able to do...stuff is quite exciting!

December Swap blocks Sent and Received

I'm a little late in posting pics of my December Swap.  My partner was Larain and she requested any block in yellow and white.

This photo was taken by Larain since I forgot to take one before sending off the block!

And Larain sent me a beautiful Baby Bunting to add to my collection in PINK! (apologies for the bad photo!)

Thank You for being my swap partner, Larain!

Thank you also to my January partners whose blocks I have received.  I plan to make my January blocks tonight or tomorrow and I'll let you know when they get sent out!

UFO Domination begins

I mentioned a few posts ago about the Confused Quilter's UFO Domination challenge.

Visit her blog or Flickr group to join!

I was intending to start once I'd finished piecing the top of my Roll Roll Cotton Boll Mystery quilt.  No such luck.   I'm massively behind in the RRCB and with the flooding in Queensland, charity quilts are needed now.

I promised DH I wouldn't start on any til I finished DS Dino quilt and the quilt that's supposed to cover one of the sofas.  They're both on the UFO Domination list so that's excellent and I have 2 more UFOs which I wasn't planning to finish this year as part of the challenge but I think I will since they were supposed to be charity quilts all along.

So...I've quilted another chunk of the dino quilt. It's taking sooo long!

Here's a progress report

My quilting is very wonky and wobbly because I seem to have lost the ability to smoothly move the quilt around while I freemotion the design on.

I simply don't get it. I'm sure I could do it a few months ago when I last worked on the quilt. I double checked that the feed dogs were down.

My wrist is getting stronger not weaker since my last surgery in September so it can't be that but if I have slightly wet hands it seems to help. Maybe I should try those quilters gloves?

Right now I'm just grabbing handfuls of quilt and pulling it around. It doesn't make the quilting look any good. Any thoughts?

Exciting news!

Sue from Quilting Block Swaps Australia has entrusted me with co-ordinating a sister group to enable new members to keep coming now that her group is at capacity!

Click on my new button for a visit!

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Step 7 (Spoiler Alert)

Step 7 is the big reveal!

I was right in regards to the block layout!  I'm in no way ready for this step though!

I'm still pressing and trimming HSTs from step 5 and plodding on with string blocks from Step 3.  I haven't done step 6 at all except to make one sample block and I'm liking how it looks.

I decided it looked better with the green triangles next to the block rather than abutting the string blocks.

So...we have our pieced block...

...and the string blocks are halved and restitched to make alternate blocks

 

Side by side...

This is what the pieced block will look like once all the alternate blocks are added.

The variety in pinks and purples is huge though so all the blocks will look a bit different.  I can't wait ti start putting them together buuut there is still the issue of the border which wont be resolved til tomorrow night!!!

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Step 6 (Spoiler Alert)

I know I know - this step came out over a week ago and has since been replaced with step 7!  The delay in posting and completing this step is partially due to all the re-organising and spring cleaning  I've been doing and partially being unsure how to proceed knowing I wanted to make the quilt a bit longer and not wanting to wait til the end to make extra units.

Step 6 added to my suspicions about the possible layout.  I can now post these because Bonnie has revealed the block in step 7.

These were my suspicions (which I'm very pleased to say were correct!):

The first part of Step 6 has us stitching last week's HSTs into strips of 5.  I think I'm seeing a pattern emerging which is giving me a clue as to how many extra units to make.  If 4 strips of these HSTs make sashing or borders for one block, it makes 30 blocks.


Step 4 has us making 30 sets, the other HSTs in step 2 are also divisible by 30 - again 4 per block.


The 60 string blocks from step 3?  2 per pieced block?  Perhaps cut in half diagonally and used to set the pieced block on point??


So...IF we are indeed having 30 blocks it would make sense that they might be set 5 across and 6 down to vaguely resemble the rectangular queen sized quilt Bonnie has in mind.


This still doesn't factor in the units from Step 1 which in step 6 require triangles added on the ends to make parallelograms.  They just don't seem to fit in anywhere!


I decided to trust my guess and make enough units for an extra 5 blocks from the units that give me a clue as to what's going on and I'll wait and see as to the rest.  I needed 5 more sets of Step 4 and 100 more HSTs from Step 5.  I already made enough extra Step 2s.

I wont make any extra Step 1s til I see the border design altho I think from memory there are a few extra.

So...here is what part 1of step 6 looks like: (I haven't sewn them togeter since I'm still pressing and trimming)

And part 2: (haven't sewn them til I know how many to make but I did cut pieces)

Quilt goals for 2011

The Confused Quilter has shared her organisational bug and yet again blogged a great idea - to put down on paper (or on screen as the case may be) quilty goals for 2011.

In 2011 I want to:

Complete my RRCB quilt and have it on the bed
Make Melly and Me's Sleepover bag in a class run by the Drapers of Mt Macedon
Make baby gifts for two pregnant friends (and some who are TTC and will prolly be pregnant soon!!)
Start my Dear Jane
Start my Nearly Insane
Make Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads quilt
Learn handquilting

Finish all my UFO goals (see post below)

UFO Domination 2011

The Confused Quilter has started a flickr group and given me just what I need.

My UFO situation is fairly dire and we got a bill for DS's school fees for 2011 last week.  We're still picking up our jaws off the floor.  Let's just say they're a little more than we expected!

So...I'm guessing quilt classes and fabric shopping will be one of the first things to cut back on.

I'm going to do the odd class and I still need to finish collecting Sandi Henderson FQs for 2 specific quilt but other than that it's stash shopping and UFO finishing!

Click on pic below for more info

I'm not totally certain which UFOs will be targeted or how many.  If I'm not realistic, I'll get all disappointed and discouraged.

Here's what I have so far:
Handbag quilt - needs unquilting, requilting, binding and test washing

Aqua and Chocolate quilt - needs basting, quilting, binding and test washing

Lizzie Mae's Medallion quilt - finish centre applique, piece blocks and assemble top (not
 quilting this as yet) (pic is of original pattern)

Max's Dinosaurs - needs quilting finished, binding and test wash

Max's car quilt - applique blocks finished, assemble top, basting, binding, test washing.  I'm using this pattern by The Country Quilter

My fabrics are quite different.  I first saw this quilt in a magazine made up by Magic Patch Quilting which is where I bought the pattern and mine looks more like theirs.

Max's Monster Trucks Tote Bag - finish cutting fabric and make it! The pic below is the original pattern by Natalie Ross that I'm using.  It will obviously be made up of non-girly fabrics given the recipient!!

 

DaChintzy Code Mystery Quilt - finish piecing (not quilting at this stage) 

Pinwheel Sampler - finish remaining blocks by hand or machine and assemble quilt top (ideally quilt and bind but probably too ambitious!)

Aster Manor Sampler - finish remaining blocks by hand and assemble top (ideally quilt and bind but probably too ambitious!)

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Step 5 (spoiler alert)

I finshed the piecing of this rather daunting step last weekend/earlier this week.  All that remained was to cut apart the squares (I used the 8 in one speed piecing method) and worst of all - pressing and trimming down 600 2" HSTs!!! (and some extra plain squares)

I used 2 types of green in place of Bonnie's constant red fabric.

Here are just a few units but I promise I've made them all!!

I pressed about 25% last night and hope to finish today...or I'll wait until I need them and press/trim as I go.

I've hardly done any sewing in almost a week.  We have been decluttering, reorganising and maximising  what little space we have (Thank you, Ikea).  For the first time in 2 years I'm (relatively) pain free and able to do things like spring cleaning etc.  It's a great feeling!

I'm so unfit as a result because for the longest time even walking was painful as each step would jar my wrist so it's exhausting but I hope to get my energy back soon!

So back to RRCB...I still have 30 string blocks to go along with trimming down the HSTs.  I'm still no closer to figuring out the layout which is one thing I especially love about this mystery.  It's really exciting!

I'm hoping to make the quilt a little longer so if I add more blocks I'll need more of each piece but not knowing how they will be used means I can't be sure how many extra to make.  Maybe I can simply add an extra border at the top and bottom??

I'm desperate to know so I can plan ahead!  Clue 6 comes out tonight and i can't wait!!  I know I'm going to love this quilt.  I already love the units and colours and fabrics and the scrappiness of it!

December Friday Night Sew In Session II Results

Overall a very productive evening.  I planned to keep plodding on with my string blocks and maybe deviate to Step 5 of RRCB once it was auto published.

That is until I saw it.  Click the link if you dare but I don't want to talk about it!

I did cut the fabric for this step though:

 

I also made 10 more string blocks which now brings my total to 30.  I'm halfway - 30 more to go!

I would have liked to  pull an all-nighter but my wrists ached and if not for all the metal holding my left one together I'm sure it should have fallen off!

Also DH came home with my yummy Lay-By from Lorraine's Shop. 

Now I'm itching to snap up whatever she has left of her little bundles of Farmer's Market and Mezzanines fabric!!

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Step 4 (Spoiler Alert)

This was a nice easy step which has allowed most of us to catch up with Step 3.  Not me.  I still have only 20 finishes string blocks and another 5 half done.

Step 4 saw us pairing a neutral strip with a green one (or aqua in my case) and  cutting 4 x 2 patch units along with an extra 4 matching aqua squares.  This step could be done scrappy but I followed Bonnie's lead.

We needed 30 of these sets.  I chose 15 of the slightly more subdued neutral and cut 2 strips of each to try to tone down the wildness of some of the string blocks!

November Quilt Block Swap

I know I'm late posting this.  the end of year stuff with a Big School Boy still has be a bit unnerved!

My November Block Swap partner was Robyn and she requested Sarah's Choice block in pink, pale green and crimson.  Here is the photo she took since I forgot to take one before I sent the block off!

 

In real life, the background fabric is less red - more of a very very dark pink.

In return Robyn sent me my first yellow Baby Bunting block!  Click on the block swap tab above to see the other blocks I have received.

 

Apologies for the dodgy photo!  The block itself is wonderful!

Robyn is a beginner quilter but I'm sure you'll all agree she did an amazing job on this block!

December FNSI Results for Session 1

I definitely didn't do as much as I thought but I did get 5 more string blocks made:

 

That brings me to 20/60! Still a long way to go!

Here is a pic of all the finished tissue holders for Max's teachers.  he gave them out on thursday which was his last day of school.