Going to see the new grandson, the twins and Opportunity Knocking

The day has finally arrived. I am finally going to get my hands on Grady and spend some time with the twins too. The girls are learning how to blow kisses and say "I love you" Have to say it sounds like little lambs bleating but I'm sure it means "I love you Nana and Grandpa". The kisses are thrown using 2 hands and no lip movement. Real kisses will come. If I could figure out how to post the video I would but that will have to wait until I get back. DH will be staying home to take care of the critters.

You never know when opportunity will just slap you upside the head. Yesterday I took some of my quilts in for a couple nurses to see at one of the nursing homes I go to. One person asked if I sold them and I said yes. He asked how much for my red/orange/yellow fracture strip bargello. I named a price and he paid me on the spot! He had just redone his bathroom in a log home in these colors. He has been looking for the "perfect" art for a certain spot and chose my quilt. I am so honored! One of the nurses is now talking to me about making a t-shirt quilt for her college bound daughter.

Today I went to my favorite lunch spot - I treat myself once a week to their food. I just love the Blue Sky Cafe in Fletcher, NC. I digress... I walked in and one of the woman who works there said "...and there is the quilt lady now!" Turns out she had been discussing my quilts (yes, I am shameless and had brought them in for the staff to see one day) with a customer who is looking for someone to do some custom design and quilting/sewing to include bed quilt, coordinating dust ruffle and curtains. She will be in touch when I get back from playing Nana.

Life is good!

Orange Pile Challenge

I have been challenged by Pat Sloan who loves the color orange. I have joined the OP (orange pile) Challenge. Click on the logo on the right side bar. She is also hosting a virtual quilt retreat on Feb 20th through the 22nd. I haven't ever been to a quilt retreat although that is one of the things on my "bucket list". I have participated in a mystery quilt that was fun so I thought I'd join and see what fun I can have. Pat has started a group on facebook for this and she is blogging on it as well.
The first pic you see is my give away for this challenge - 5 orange fat quarters. These will be unwashed since not everyone launders their fabrics before using. I always wash my fabrics.
The second pic is my Orange Pile. I had a lot more orange than I realized. Wonder what that says about me?

If you like orange or are willing to work outside your comfort zone why don't you come join us?

Baby Shower for Baby Mac

My DIL sent pictures of the baby shower yesterday. I wish I could have been there but it's just to far for a quick trip. Looks like they had a great time.

The presents.
















Someone created a cake with baby items and a monkey. What a great idea.























Then showing the quilt I had done for Baby Mac.























The last pic is of a knitted outfit by Baby Mac's other grandmother.

Flying Geese quilt blocks

I subscribe to The Quilt Show blog. The Quilt Show is an joint venture between Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson. They are 2 giants in the world of quilting. They have great quilters as visitors/lecturers and the subscriptions are reasonably priced. Today Ricky Tims demonstrated how to create Flying Geese blocks with just 1 seam. I had to watch the video, it is so easy. I avoid flying geese because I never can get them to come out right. I am going to have to try this. I have been dreading my plan to use this block as a border on a baby blanket. Now I can go sew with no fear. Please let me know if you found this method as easy as I did.

Top Dog and Cat Names

Found a link on the login page for MSN regarding pet names. Check out the weird names people have for their pets. I thought some of our nicknames for the furry family were different. I guess our names are relatively normal. Here are pictures by my DH, Dan Houck, (see link to the right) of Nelson Rockefeller, aka Rocky, aka Full Nelson (of Nelson Rockefeller fame), on the quilt I made for DH several Christmases ago. For those who don't know The Rockefellers were big in politics and charities in NY. Our other kitty is Conway Twitty the Kitty, aka Half Nelson or Little Nelson. Little Nelson is no longer so little. Enjoy!

Please remember to take the survey - link on the right. It only takes a minute or 2 and will help me make this a better blog. Thanks for helping.

Stumble Upon link - Mama Bears

I am trying to beef up my blog. to make it more interesting and friendly. I have created a survey (through PollDaddy.com) in the sidebar to the right. Please take a few quick minutes to give me constructive feedback. I would like you to come back time and time again.

In this regard I have been doing some surfing today and came about or should I say stumbled on, StumbleUpon.com. In keeping with the post regarding the MOM song, In my next life I'm gonna be a Bear. I had never thought about it in these terms but she is absolutely right. I wanna be a bear in my next life too. Maybe not, I don't believe bears get to quilt.

On the quilting front, still no quilting today but I have started the planning for my next projects. While at Mary Jo's Cloth Store yesterday I bought several baby books to quilt. The fabric is washed, dried and ready to be worked on. As I formatted this post I realized that 2 of these panels are about a bear, Paddington Bear. A guess this is a Beary post day. Sorry, couldn't resist.









Paddington Bear Learning to Count, Vol 2















Paddingon Bear's ABC's Vol 3








Beatrix Potter ABC Vol II

Thanks for looking, reading and taking the survey in the sidebar on the right.

Surgery and Quilts

My sister had surgery on her hand today. It was done at the Orthopaedic Surgical Center in Asheville, NC.



Isn't this a neat sign?









Can you see how the tree trunk on the left side of the sign has an image of a joint?

Did you notice it in the first picture?












Thankfully it went well. She is well plied with pain killers. So far she hasn't said anything really funny that I could blackmail her with later. Guess I should have insisted on general anesthesia (just kidding).



Dr. Bruce Minkin of Carolina Hand Surgery Associates was great. He took time to explain to us how he fixed her finger with a pin, drew on the pictures, personally went over her do/don't list. if you need a caring physician to deal with a hand injury in the Asheville, NC area please consider Dr. Minkin.










Here is a great picture of her finger with the pin complete. I hope this isn't too graphic. I'm a nurse so I find this fascinating. Dr. Minkin was able to straighten the bone. The pin stabilizes the fracture so the bone can fill in at the fracture site.


She has described how weird her arm/hand feels. She had a regional block so she got to be awake and involved in her surgery. Apparently the arm weighs quite a bit, we just don't realize it because we have all our muscles working together to make it all work together.

The quilt aspect of this post tonight is the theme her hand surgeon has going on in the office. They have quilts through out. I was very intrigued by the round one. The staff states it is about 20 years old. It is mounted on plywood. I did get to check quite a few up close. They were hand sewn and quilted. Sadly not one of them had a label to tell their story.

Broken hand, no quilting

No, I don't have the broken hand, my sister does. She fell in my driveway on Saturday. We discussed going to the Emergency Room when it happened but we weren't sure it was broken at 1st. She also expected the ER to be busy so it was decided to see how it did. The plan was to go to the ER later, when it might be less crowded. Off to the quilt shops we went, see yesterday's posts. She is a trooper! The hand specifically didn't get better so off we went to the ER to get her hand, ribs and knee checked out. After only 5 hours in the ER it was official - she had a displaced fracture of her "pinky" finger. Knee and ribs checked out OK. Today we got to spend hours and hours at the hand surgeon, who was wonderful! Sis is scheduled for surgery tomorrow afternoon. I will work, DH will bring her to the surgical suite. I will meet her there, stay for the surgery and then bring her home. I am hoping while under the influence of "good" drugs I might hear some interesting info I might not normally hear. Just kidding. We both lead pretty tame lives. If everything goes as planned she will just have a wire to stabilize the joint...worse case is the need for a screw to hold the bone together to heal. I don't think she will be quilting for awhile. We expect she will be able to return home by the weekend. For every black cloud there is a silver lining - we get more sister time.

Another TN Quilt Shop - Tennessee Quilts

Our trip to TN Quilt Shops continued at to Tennessee Quilts in quaint Jonesbourgh. This great shop in right on the main drag into town 114 Boone Street.
















The shop is in a converted 2 story house. Both floors are full to the brim with fabric, notions, really cool tools, books and shop samples. Upstairs there are also quilts on consignment.


We lucked out, they were having a SALE, as my sister can attest.






Here is a shot of one of the sale fabric tables. I don't know if you can see it on your monitor but the colors of fabric Donna is holding matches the colors in her shirt. I wonder if that means those are her colors?















We met one of the Owners, Linda Crouch-McCreadie... She was wonderful - assuring us we could take our time, even though it was close to quitting time. Here she is cutting fabric for their online sales. In the front and on the right is my pile.













There were several wonderful and helpful employees when we arrived. This is Judy. Linda is in the back.

Judy is cutting the yummy fabrics for several baby quilts. Have I mentioned our 2 precious twin granddaughters and that a new one is on the way lately?



When we got there it was daylight. When we left it was dark. The staff and shop were wonderful. Thank you to all who were there on Saturday.

If you get a chance the short drive from Johnson City to Jonesbourgh, TN is well worth the 10 or 15 minute drive. We definitely will be back.

Mom's Christmas Quilt

I finally completed my mom's quilt. I sent it out priority mail to get it to AZ in time for Christmas. There is a story behind the quilt. It is written out on the label. I used my embroidery machine to create the unique label. It is a cross stitch pattern of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to indicate the reason for the season. I used some fabrics that are a reminder of our trip to Sweden a few years ago. For those who don't know, my mom is a 100% American born Swede. When I bought my Volvo they had a Overseas delivery program. We got 2 free airline tickets to Sweden, 15 days of free insurance and registration, a night in a 4 star hotel (really beautiful). We got to meet relatives we didn't know and to visit my paternal great grandmother's birth place. It is still in the family. To commemorate this trip I created a quilt in the Swedish colors, yellow and blue. It is backed with fabric I bought in Sweden (that oddly enough was made in the US) After returning to the US I found the same fabric at my local quilt shop for less money. They have to import and there aren't many fabric shops as we know them here. I have more fabric that will find their way into future quilts. I hope mom enjoys her lap quilt.

Palliative Care Month

I work as a Nurse Practitioner in Palliative Care for CarePartners in Asheville, NC. This post is not about work, it is about a group of wonderful, giving people who provide care to the very ill and how we work together. Palliative Care month was actually last month. One of our very dear members, Barbara Anderson-Friedman, had a brilliant thought about a year ago. She provided cotton squares to a number of the hospital units and asked them to make squares depicting what Palliative Care meant to them and their patients. The blocks were so creative and wonderful, all works of art by themselves. In November the Palliative Care team from the hospital and those out in the field got together for an evening of fellowship to create the quilt top. We had pizza, washed our hands and created. Those who couldn't sew pressed fabric, pinned squares together or just enjoyed the fellowship. One of children of one of our Docs even created a block with a picture of what Palliative Care meant. (It looks suspiciously like his family, but in the pure sense of palliative care that is what it is to him - safety, love and family). That is what this palliative care team is for so many in our community.
We had a great time together. The quilt top is ready for the 2 borders (Yes I will get them done - after Christmas) then someone better at quilting than I, will get the quilt to finish. The plan is to present it to Misson Hospital and it will be hung in a place of honor. Another example of teamwork, love and care we provide to those with life limiting illnesses.

Debbie Aiton (L) & Barbara Anderson-Friedman(R)


Marcie Johnson


Josh Kamell


Nancy Crouch (L) & Jan McNamara Houck (aka me) (R)


Dr. John Langlois


Dr Andrew & Elena Kamell


The quilt top - finished as far as we could go - with Jennifer Kamell (L) & Kerri Spinelli on (R) the rest of us are hiding


Jennifer Kamell, Me, Nancy Crouch, Barbara Anderson-Friedman, Kerri Spinelli