LITTLE FEET

Life has been busy for us this last month. All the lists of things to do had been put aside for a while. The early birth of our grandson took over the top rank in our lives. There no longer was a list of things to do. There were the automatic things we did each day. First we checked on how he was doing. 
Second we went to see him. 
Third we checked later in the day to see how he was doing.

(Above picture is the little foot prints of some of the babies born in the NCIU. The smallest foot print is of a baby weighing only 13 oz ! Modern day medicine and God's miracles are amazing. Just looking at that hallway each day when I went to see our grandson left me in awe.)  

In between it all we did our regular life - eat, sleep, work, and pay the bills.

And in between all of it I continued to quilt or at least sew some. 

Customer quilts have come in and I am working on them to get them back to their owner. Quilting has a way of relaxing a tense soul. When life throws you the unexpected having a hobby to go to is wonderful. Making that hobby into a business can add some stress to the joy, but it is still a joy to work on quilts. My own quilts take a back seat to those I am working
on for my customers, but I know mine are still there. 
Quilting also gives a person the chance to have a hobby that can be done in steps. And it allows you to work on several quilts in various stages at the same time. 

A quilter can be cutting out the pieces for one. Piecing another one, Longarming (quilting) another one, adding the binding to yet another. And yes, I have them going in all those stages at the same time. 

It can get complicated when you are cutting out the pieces for more than one at a time. You have to remember which quilt you are working on. Especially if you are not really using a pattern. 

Tips for help in knowing the different pieces and where they go and which quilt they go with include sticky notes, and plastic containers. If you do have a pattern or write one out, put that into the plastic container. Cut out your pieces and mark each pile of pieces with a sticky note saying the size of the pieces and where they go in the pattern. (Most patterns are marked with 'A', 'B', 'C' etc. )
Also add who the quilt is for if you have someone in mind for it.  Thing like looking at a partially made quilt and wonder who or why you were making it. 
If you have to stop before you have all the pieces cut out. Put all the fabric you have for making that quilt and the rest of the pieces into that same plastic container.  This will ease the confusion when you look back into the container and wonder what that quilt was all about. 
This allows you to enjoy the important things in life with ease. 

Life continues. Our grandson has had a slight set back and even though he was home a short time, he is now back in the hospital for a few days. They are running test to rule out a few things, have him on meds for one thing. He is a fighter, has been since day one. 

(Update Sept 10 PM - he is now home and going well.)


Til next time......
Keep those needles stitching!

Phyllis

JUMPING THOSE HURDLES

AJ at 8 days old

Time flies when your having fun.  Time also flies when you anxiously wait to see a precious little grandchild reach just one more hurdle, one more step towards being able to come home. 

Our little grandson is doing great. He is up to 3 lbs after dropping down to 2 lbs 13 oz as most newborns loose some weight at first. He is off the oxygen; off the UV lights he was on to help with the jaundice; and as of last night he is up to 12mil of breast milk (through the feeding tube).  

I love to watch him when he is awake and looking around. Now that the UV light is off and he no longer has to have the eye mask on all the time he opens his eyes and looks around and looks to where voices are coming from even if he can't really see very far yet.

My Daughter has been able to hold him several times, changed his tiny diaper (even the preemie diapers are too big and have to be folded down).  She is doing well in her recovery and has been busy.  

Our little one still has hurdles to cross before he can come home. One is that he needs to be 4 lbs.  

We have been so blessed. He is so perfect in every way. He has had no other medical problems other than being small and a bit jaundice for a few days.  

We continue to keep him in our prayers and appreciate all those who are praying with us.  

May you all have a great day.  I'll write more soon. 

Til next time - keep those needles stitching.

Phyllis

SOME THINGS TAKE A BACK SEAT

Life is funny sometimes. We tend to go with the flow, or we make waves. When life doesn't seem to go our way, when things don't just fall into place easily we tend to make waves and attempt to make things work our way, and when we want them to. We want to be able to walk the path we have set in our mind.

This does not always work out. As I had learned a long long time ago there is a time and a place for everything. (As for a place for everything, would someone please come get me reorganized ? lol )

A time for everything is another matter. We often find ourselves with our life planned out the way we want it. We know what we want, we know when we want it. Then life throws little curve balls at us. And it is my belief that God is in total control of my life and no matter what I may have in mind to do or when, He will either let those plans work out as I want or He will change them according to the way He wants them. We just have to listen to Him.  Then there are times that things happen and we don't have a choice in altering His plan. 

We find this in our everyday life of living, working, traveling and other everyday things we do. 

We as quilters find this all the time. We find a pattern, we find the fabric, we find the time.  We sit to work on the quilt and 9.5 chances out of 10 our goal gets postponed. Our pieces are cut wrong, our seams are not sewn correctly, our sewing machine acts up, the phone rings, smoke alarm goes off and the door bell rings all at the same time when our quilting is going along perfectly!  

As quilter's we find that going with the flow, no matter how rough it gets sometimes is the best way to go. We tend to stop quilting when everything seems to be going against us. We know it is time for a break from it. When we return to the quilting the things we found that were giving us problems are no longer an issue.  We just needed that 'time out'. 

Yes, quilting for many is a form of therapy. A chance to take a break from our normal life. A time to sink our heart and souls into a totally different world and enjoy the ride.And then we find, as I have found in the last few days, even quilting takes a back seat to life. 

There are times that life really throws you a curve ball and you have to stop and readjust everything to make room for it. But it is worth it. 

Just three days ago my grandson was born 9 weeks early.  From the moment my daughter's water broke my life, my work, my quilting has taken a back seat to her, her husband and the new baby. 

Many hours have been spent in prayer, asking many others to pray with us and for us and them. We have lost sleep, we have adjusted schedules, we have postponed our  'to do list'.  We have done what needs to be done and the rest had been spent wrapped around this new little wonder in our lives. 

Today we heard the wonderful news that he is totally breathing on his own. No more oxygen needed.  He so far as beaten all the time tables they have set for 'normal preemie' milestones.  We pray that he continues this way. 

Today is the first day I'm semi back to normal.  For me it is a day off work. A day I normally would spend in the quilt studio.  And, yes, I will get there yet today.  I have quilt labels to make, a small wall hanging to quilt for a customer and another one to load onto the longarm.  But what I'm looking forward to most is the time I will get to spend with my daughter and tiny grandson. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day.  Take time to evaluate what are the important things in your life and know that sometime we are not given the choice or the time to evaluate the important things.  After all we have this grand baby all planned out, everything in time, everything organized.....baby had other plans!  

Til next time ---- keep those needles quilting, keep those family ties connected.