I’m BAAAAAAAACK!!

I really love to blog. I know what you’re thinking, but really, I do.  Can it be almost 9 months since I have blogged?  Three quarters of a year! Honestly, I think about blogging all the time. But I have not made the time to do it this year - until now.  After hearing from several of you (Are you OK? Why aren`t you blogging? Are you still alive?) and a  kick in the butt  shove  gentle nudge from a local friend who shall remain nameless (oh heck - it was Bev) I decided there was no better time than now to start writing again.

So much has happened in the last nine months, which should be no surprise to anyone who has a life.  But rather than go into detail here, I will just give a brief recap in this post and then move forward.  Little by little, I will hit the highlights (my son`s wedding) and the low points (the death of my furson Boomer) and everything in between (sewing and stitching projects, etc.).

For the early part of the year, while it was still winter here in Utah, I finished a quilt for my daughter Megan.  A belated Christmas present.   It was large; about 60” x 72 or 78”.  The fabric was Indie by Pat Bravo, my favorite fabric designer.

In February we also spent our usual week vacation in Arizona, but it snowed twice while we were there.  Really. That is what we were trying to get away from!

Here is a picture of the whole fam damily when we went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Wisdom’s.  Bruce and I are at the very right of the picture.  But then going from left to right is Dennis (Bruce`s oldest brother), Kim (whose late mother was Bruce`s sister) but we call her cousin Kim instead of a niece. Then we have Marv (another brother), Annette (Bruce’s remaining sister) and her husband Glenn, then Bruce and me.  Bruce also has another brother Doug who wasn’t there.


In the spring, I began getting ready for the upcoming wedding of my son Ryan and his fiance (of six years) Kim (not the Kim above).  But probably the most awful thing happened about that time.  Bruce was diagnosed with cancer. It was in his right forearm, where he had had surgery last year to remove a supposedly benign tumor.  This time, it was a sarcoma that they suspected (after tests) had metastasized to his lymph nodes and lungs.  More tests. Waiting. Radiation treatments on his arm that resulted in him having to miss our cruise to the Bahamas as part of my son’s wedding. Still more tests. It turned out that the lymph node was just inflamed from the surgery and was NOT cancerous.  And the spots on his lungs were so tiny and never grew (and later could not even be found), so they decided that was not cancer, either.  WHEW!  Everything is fine and back to normal now. He will continue to have a cat scan of his chest - next one at the end of this year, then hopefully just yearly after that.

The wedding and cruise - that is a post for another time. It was marvelous.  It turns out it was good that Bruce was home to stay with Boomer (my cat of 18 years), who had been diagnosed with lung cancer himself about the same time as Bruce had. But Boomer`s was for real, and untreatable. I will do a separate post about this, too, but Boomer died the day after his 18th birthday in July. For the next six weeks I was so distraught and depressed; I just cried and cried. But I slowly began pulling out of it as summer drew to a close and other things began occupying my life.

I did a remodel of one of the rooms of my studio area.  I will explain that in a later post with before and after pictures.  I joined Weight Watchers and have been losing weight. The 6th annual Crazy Quilting International Retreat was held in September in Colorado. Twenty-two of us met in Longmont and had a total blast! Even the road trip there was great. On the way back it was not so fun because it was raining, we were crowded, and I got a speeding ticket. But again, I will do a separate post about that.



And finally, we have gotten two new kittens to help fill the holes in our hearts.




Left:  Darla (female)
Right: Alfie (Alfalfa - male)


Finally, all this year I have tended my DGD London (who is now 4) once a week.  I have pictures to share of some of our adventures.  I continue to stitch in round robins (lots of CQ work to share). And then there is all my work with CQI (I am now the group owner/moderator) and the nasty changes that Yahoo has wrought with their poopey new system, NEO.  I`ve probably missed a few things in this recap, but if they are important enough, we will catch up with them later.

And that brings me current.  Yesterday I dyed lace for my Etsy shop, so this morning I began ironing it.  Then I had to do my weekly grocery shopping.  At lunchtime, my dear best friends Susan and Bev came by. We had chicken salad sandwiches and a side of broccoli salad. Yum!  We visited a couple thrift stores, because this time of year (leading up to Halloween) is a great time to pick up really lovely embellished clothing.  We have been snagging lots of beautiful Indian dresses and ravaging them for beads, sequins, rhinestones, gold and silver metal purl and other bling.

So, if you are still here, and you have made it through this post, please drop me a line or leave a comment.  Let me know how you are doing.  And I hope you will continue to visit and read my blog.

Thanks and hugs to you,