Christmas Quilts All Around

 I have been itching to post about these quilts for a few months now. I made four of them. One for each of my children's families. I bought the kits a couple of years ago and got the centers done. Then they sat around until I had time to put on the five (!!) borders. Part of the problem is that my children are in and out of my house a lot, and I had to keep these hidden. Nothing gets past my girls in the quilt room.

I gave them on Thanksgiving, so they can enjoy them during the Christmas season this year.  The quilt fabric tells a nativity story The Great I Am. That's what is in the squares between the tree squares.  One option for the panel is to make it into a book. I chose to make the quilt. Like I said, four of them.

I've made a decision not to make four identical quilts again. It's too hard to stay excited about the quilt through that many versions. (Although I like them all now that they've been done for a while). Of course, that resolution will probably last as long as my resolution not to make another Christmas quilt because I already have so many. Hopefully no one will notice the new Christmas Quilt kit sitting in my sewing room that I bought a couple of weeks ago, nor the seven Christmas quilt patterns in my stash. Plus, really, all you have to do to make a quilt Christmassy is to choose Christmas fabrics to make it with.

Pattern: The Great "I Am" by Henry Glass & Co.
Size: 60 X 60
Fabric designed by Leanne Anderson of The Whole Country Caboodle for Henry Glass & Co.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

Someone recommended this book recently. I can't remember if I read about it on another blog (I think so), or if someone recommended it on Goodreads, but I requested it from the library and it came right away.

I had a large stack of books to get to, and was going to return this one without reading it. I picked it up to glance through it and was instantly absorbed. It only took an afternoon to read and I loved it.

Turtle is sent to live with her aunt in Florida, and this book tells of her adventures there. It takes place during the depression, but is not at all depressing.

Jennifer Holm also wrote the Boston Jane series (which I also enjoyed).

Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Okay, I really liked this book. It's the sequel to Very Valentine. I was ambivalent about parts of Very Valentine, but ended up liking it as a whole. So I requested the sequel from my library.

This was a fun book, and the story moved right along for me. I would strongly suggest reading Very Valentine first, because I think this one might feel like it had some gaps otherwise. You are much more invested in all the characters in this book from the beginning because you already know them from the first book.

The Valentine books are a trilogy, and I've requested the third book from the library.

A Spoonful of Sugar a Nanny's Story by Brenda Ashford

I found this book very interesting. It was chosen for one of my book groups, and once again this is why I love being in book groups. I read books I might not ever hear about otherwise.

Brenda Ashford was a British nanny, trained at the Norland College. Norland was known for its high quality, very well trained nannies. This is her story. She began her training in 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII. Brenda was a nanny for over 62 years, for over 100 children.

I liked learning about this piece of life I have never experienced.

Car Seat Cover

I also made this cute car seat cover for Katherine's car seat. Audrey bought the fabric and buttons, and found the pattern through Pinterest. I'm sorry, I don't have the reference for the pattern. It was very simple and I whipped it up in no time. It's great to have, especially for Katherine because it really protects her from people getting too close (although she rarely goes out in public - too dangerous, germ-wise, this time of year).

Katherine's Quilt

I finished Katherine's just before they left to go home to Wendover. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

Pattern: forget-me-not by pixie girl quilts
Size: approx 42 X 56
Fabric by Jackie Clark for Benartex

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King

This book is the second in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. I liked it as well or better than the first book.

I've requested the next book from the library already. I really like this series.

W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton

The latest in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series. Like I said about the last one: these later books are much more like her early books. There were a few from around O to S (not sure exactly which ones) that lost their pizzazz.

I liked it. I'm looking forward to the next one. Only a few left!

An Update on Our Baby Katherine

Warning: this post contains some post-surgical photos that might bother the wound-faint-of-heart.

I'll start by saying that things are looking good for Katherine right now. It has been a time of ups and downs emotionally for all of us, and physically for her. For a while there it was two steps forward, one step back for our poor little girl.

If there was a complication to be had, it seemed like she had it.

Here's a brief rundown of events.

1. Katherine on her birth day.

2. Two days old. Audrey finally got to hold her. The purple patch on her forehead (we called it her "sleeping mask") monitored her oxygen.

3. This looks much more uncomfortable than it was for her (so they told us). She's in the middle of one of her pre-surgery echo cardiograms. They found a second hole in her heart from these.  I was there when this was happening.

4. Resting: still pre-surgery. She loves her binkie. Ray said when he was there she was trying desperately to suck her thumb. I guess that makes her my granddaughter!

5. So many machines. And this is not even all the monitors and gadgets she ended up with. Here's what is incredible to me - you pay by the day for each of those little monitors, which are each hooked to a lead or IV into her body.

6. Awake!

7. I brought the kids up to see her. Audrey and Joseph wanted them to see her before her surgery - no scar, etc. This is me and Elizabeth with Katherine.

8. This may be one of my all time favorite pictures of Ray. I may have to have it framed.

9. Those nurses just can't help themselves. If there is a baby girl, she's got to have a bow!
This is at three days old, post surgery. She has her ventilator in, and you can see the feeding tube going into her nose. The white bandages on her chest are protecting her open incision. When they closed her up originally after the surgery, she wasn't oxygenating correctly, so they had to open her back up again. Her chest was open from Thursday until Saturday.

10. A full body shot.

11. All closed up! Still on the ventilator. She was on the ventilator for a week, and she did not like it.  They had a hard time managing her pain for a while as well. It was a tough few days for our little girl.

12. Here's her original incision.  At this point the line going into her left hand leaked some very strong acid, and it burned through the skin on the top of her hand. She had a hole the size of a quarter. It had some problems, but is now healing pretty well. Another scar for our little girl.

You can see how bloated her belly is. That is normal post-surgery, but hers took a long time to go down. That's why she had to be on the ventilator so long.

13. Awake! No more line into her head.  They ended up putting a PICC line into her arm. It failed and they had to put another one in that evening.

14. Ventilator out!! That was a good day. She's still on oxygen, but just a cannula. She has a birthmark on her forehead. It's raised, and has uneven edges. My math major daughter told her siblings: it looks like a fractile. At first the nurses thought it was residue from all her tape and they tried to scrub it off. Some bleeding ensued. Finally Audrey found a picture from before that showed the birthmark, so now they leave it alone.

 15. We are so blessed to live close to Primary Children's Medical Center. Audrey and Joseph sleep here at night, and spend their days with Katherine. The care has been amazing. There are also many volunteer organizations that bring treats and gifts to the children and their families. This cute candy corn hat was just the ticket for an October baby.

16. See where they tried to scrub off her birthmark? I love these pictures of her sleeping.

17. Here she is right before she's going in to get her pacemaker. Her little heart is all repaired, but won't pace on its own. So she had a pacemaker put in last Monday. That was a surprise, and according to her surgeon, pretty rare.  She'll have it at least three years, and maybe the rest of her life. It means more surgeries down the road, and no contact sports. It also means perhaps some hassles in airport security. But no worries: she already has her authorization card.

18. Post-pacemaker, with all her EKG wires attached. She looks much better than she did after her first surgery (still has her bow). Back on the ventilator. Not all bloated.

19. Sweetest picture of all: Audrey holding Katherine. After 12 days of waiting, she finally gets to hold her again (ventilator out).

20. Her new incision: there were a few complications before she got her pacemaker, some of which involved maceration around one of her drains. That's part of the reason her incision is extended. The pacemaker is in her abdomen.

21. Looking much more peaceful.

22. A Halloween costume for our baby girl. Those volunteers are wonderful.

23. Joseph holding Katherine. For the first time in 15 days. Words can't express how wonderful this is.

24. Today! All leads and PICC line out. All drains removed. Hair nicely coiffed (not my doing). She failed her swallow test, but may be able to go home with the feeding tube. Optimistically she may be able to come home in a few days. However, with her penchant for complications, that might not happen.

We are so blessed that she is doing well. There are so many other children in that hospital for months and months. I admire those families and all they do.

October Report

My October has been spent mostly taking care of Audrey's children while she's been at the hospital with her new baby Katherine. Those things have been the focus of my month and have filled my days and my mind.

The one thing I have done consistently is:

First things first: I've kept up on this pretty well these last few weeks. It's been good to keep a small part of my routine where it should be.

The kids and I have had a fun time. We've been to the park a couple of times, and this morning they all helped me rake and bag the leaves in our back yard - no small feat for an eight, six, and four year old.

Last Tuesday we went trick or treating at the assisted living place where my mom and dad live.They loved it, and so did my parents.

Elizabeth, Matthew, Austin

My dad, Matthew, My mom, Elizabeth, Austin

Austin

Elizabeth (all hair credits or lack thereof go to me - not my forte)

Matthew

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

I liked the book, although I think I liked her Edenbrooke just a little better.

A clean romance that is predictable (a romance is predictable by definition). It was an easy, quick read.