QuiltsnCats

February 17, 2025 Day 14 of Cycle 2 Feeling good, getting some strength back after hell week. Carol from the quilt club messaged me; she said the bad weeks will increase in severity. I believe her; this one was worse than the last one.  I did go to the Folsom show. It seemed smaller than last year. We didn't win anything.  I sat in the sun in the driveway as Dana shaved my head. My hair was starting to fall everywhere so it was time. I got to go on an outing to Cabellas  and rode around in the electric cart.  Had dinner at Panera. Potato Cheese soup. Good. That was my last day of feeling good. The next day was Stupor Bowl Sunday so I joined Robin across the street and we Watched The King and I and a funny movie. She made a yummy yellow curry soup. The next five days were a blur of nausea and feeling crappy. I have been warned -- it will be worse next time. I am prepared. I think...... I took a lovely bubble bath and shampooed my head. Funny -- I don't think shampoo i...

 January 30, 2025 Day 17 Amazing day. I feel good. Machine sewed binding on a quiltlet needing one, worked on the woven heart pillow top for the swap, discovered Snowy had an ingrown toenail and needed to go to the vet, made dinner, baked muffins and toasted the tops. and caught DH cheating on his AA meetings.  Dinner was good; spirited chicken, kasha, broccoli. Muffins are ok even toasted. Dana's friends Jim and Tammy came to get the leather sewing machines. I got the potato chip quilt top sewed together. Put it in the pile of things to go to a guild meeting, whenever I get to go to one. Made labels as to which month they belong in. Finished the hand sewing on the quiltlet for the next small quilt club -- hope I can go. I'm really feeling cabin fever.  I want to go to the Folsom quilt show. The Potato Chip Quilt They said "Betcha you can't make just one" I say "Oh yeah? Watch me"

 January 28, 2025 Day 15 Miracles happen.  Yesterday I woke up feeling good.  I ate, I created a mess in the sewing room, I felt human again. Today was even better. I did some sewing, although my back gave me some trouble probably due to all the laying down I did last week.  It will probably get better the longer I'm up, I hope so as I've made the decision to brave the crowd and go to the Folsom quilt show this weekend. With all the guilds not having shows due to rising rents I'm afraid it will be the last one, and Folsom is my favorite.  I'll take the walker and wear a mask and probably take my own lunch to be safe but their food is always catered and always good.  In addition to having a wonderful show they have the best raffle baskets. Last year I won two, both cat themed. Speaking of cats, we had a bad cat year two years ago, losing 9 cats in one year. They were all old; between 15-18 years old, all beloved rescues. It was a really bad year as I also lo...

 January 26, 2025 Day 13 I've always said January is the longest month and now I know it is true.  Chemo makes it so.  I guess February, my second longest month, March, and April, formerly my favorite months, will also pass equally slow. It will probably be the longest year of my life. I'm not fond of January and February due to the cold and dark. I love spring. I hope to enjoy it this year.  Today I still have the quasi queasy feeling, like maybe I won't be sick but maybe I will.  I have the pills so I probably should take them. I should also eat but my appetite has gone away. According to the scale I've lost 10 pounds. It doesn't seem like it, I still have this big fat belly, although it does have more wrinkles than it used to.  Reading back when I started writing this journal I see that I bought the pattern book for the Gypsy Wife quilt eight years ago. I'm happy to report I finished the top last summer. It was an adventure for sure. Most the blocks were...

 January 24, 2025  Oh no -- only Day 11 Yesterday wasn't good. I was woken before dawn by the barking dog and excruciating muscle spasms in my back. There was no way to get comfortable or make the pains go away. They knocked the wind out of me.  I finally gave up and got up. Grabbed the computer and looked up "chemo muscle spasm".  One of the causes jumped out at me -- electrolytes and dehydration.  I've always had a hard time drinking the recommended amount of water and during chemo I was told to drink at least 2 quarts a day. I had been slipping in my drinking and had also stopped my multi vitamin and mineral pill due to it being too large to swallow comfortably with my shrunken throat. I also never salt my food.  So for breakfast I had a hard boiled egg with lots of seasoning salt, yogurt for the calcium,  and a nice banana full of potassium. I already take daily magnesium so that was covered.  I drank a Gatorade and lots of water.  Within...

 January 22, 2025 Day 9 Feeling very lazy and generally not good the past several days.  Pretty much kicking back in the recliner dozing off and on.  Still sleeping good at night, sometimes with 5mg cannabis help.  At last the final shot for this cycle. I've been doing it myself but still close my eyes.  No outright nausea/vomiting  but a few queasy sessions that the peppermint inhaler seems to work for. Also sucking on a lot of peppermints. I did manage to sit up long enough to sew some of the potato chip blocks together. Tomorrow the cleaning ladies come.

January 18, 2025 Day 5  The last day to take the prednisone, thank goodness. That stuff made my glucose go to 345. Fortunately it is down by the next morning but rather scary to see it that high.  Last night was the first day of the five shots. DH got the pleasure of jabbing me.  I don't have the nerve to do it to myself yet. I just stood there with my eyes scrunched shut and let him do it. I'm trying to keep a log of symptoms, side effects, etc. so I know what to expect when in the following 8 chemo cycles. Have some vertigo today so I'm keeping the peppermint inhaler and compazine nearby in case the dreaded nausea/vomiting arrives. I'm really hoping I can skip that part. I did an online CraftNapa class by Pati Fried about making vignettes.  One of my creations: Preserved leaf with acorn I'm trying to be productive as long as I can; this is my February project for my little quilt club: It's 11 " by 12" and made from my basket of one inch scrap strips

 January 14, 2023 Chemo Day It almost didn't happen. I spent Saturday and Sunday with horrible stomach pains. Finally about 3am it let up enough I could get a couple hours of sleep. Something must have showed up on my blood test Friday as they called about 5:30 Monday and wanted me to come in for another blood test. I was trying to find someone to tell me if I should postpone chemo but it was after hours and I called every number I could find and nobody knew nothing.  So we proceeded according to plan, got up at the ungodly (if you are retired) hour of 6am. I had a handful of pills to take with food, but I can't eat early in the morning.  I am a night person.  Mornings are not my friend, nor is any food before noon. I managed to get down some yogurt and 12 pills and we headed out, hoping they wouldn't send me home.  I was prepared with my chemo bag of everything I possibly could need and my new minky blankie.   They didn't send me home. I was settled into a...

 January 6, 2025 The Biopsy It didn't work. The doctors said it was a small target and it was hit or miss. It was a miss. I'm laying there in the cat scan machine while the doctor is doing his thing.I feel like coughing but try not to.  My mouth fills with liquid, I swallow. happens again. The nurse starts suctioning out my mouth.  "Well, that's it. We hit a vein." the doctor says it was just too small a target with too many blood veins near it.  I wish they had gone with the original plan of doing three cycles of chemo then checking it on the pet scan. This postponed chemo by a week.   My chemo guide Swapna calls me every couple of days with information on the various pills and stuff I'm supposed to take and about the chemo drugs. The chemo info she sent is 18 pages long. I like that she keeps in touch and gives me helpful hints, Blood test Friday.  She said I will have to have blood tests before every chemo visit.

 December 18, 2025 The Verdict. Finally, the visit with the haemotologist/oncologist. There was the good news, if cancer can ever be good news, the lymphoma is stage one and hasn't spread anywhere other than my neck. 6 to 8 cycles of chemo should take care of it.  Then the bad news. He scrolled down the pet scan to the lungs and pointed out a tiny spot in the middle of my left lung.  Not likely to be lymphoma but there isn't a clue what it is as of now. He's calling it stage four. That sounds scary.  I will be getting that biopsied on January 6. He wants to hold off on the chemo until he finds out exactly what it is so the chemo cocktail can be adjusted accordingly.  I like this doctor; he explains things well and anticipated almost every question I had.  Next step the chemo port installation in two days.

 December 15, 2024 A quilty interlude.   Before Dad passed at one month short of 104 I was helping clean out closets and drawers.  In one drawer were several quilt tops and some applique blocks my great grandmother had made.  I estimated the blocks to be about 100 years old, made in the 1920s.  They were brown with age so I wasn't sure If I could restore them or not.  They were appliqued on a muslin that felt almost like a lightweight canvas,  We sure don't have any muslin like that now.  I held my breath and soaked them in Oxyclean for about six hours. The Oxyclean took away almost all the brown, just leaving a few light stains.  I put them together with red sashing.  Not quilted yet but here it is:

December 14, 2024 Eight years later....  We survived the pandemic, three of the orchid plants are miraculously still alive, my oldest daughter passed, my son is moving to Columbia  and Kipling crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year at the respectable age of 17.  I have quilted up a storm and have quilts piled in every closet and corner.  I have little cartiledge left in my wrists so must wear braces on both hands which is why there will be many typos in spite of proofreading. My days of typing 70 wpm are gone.  Life has been mostly good.  Until recently.  So now there will be the CANCER CHRONICLES. With occasional pictures of cats, quilts, and plants of course. It started last summer.  I thought I had a piece of grape peel stuck in my throat. I drank a lot of water, gargled with soda pop, but it wouldn't go away. It gave me a sore throat. I'm used to sore throats; I get them with my allergies. Fall arrived and my voice left. Laryngitis I thought but...

Last week we shop hopped; an annual event we always look forward to. I volunteered at my home shop early on the first day then went to the three close shops in the time left that day. The next morning we put some munchies and drinks in the car and headed north. We kept getting lost, even though we've done this several times. We only drove about a hundred miles out of our way….. Fortunately the scenery and weather was beautiful and we had plenty of time so we kept in good humor about it, telling ourselves it was one of those senior things. We made it to five shops and then to the same motel we stay in every year and found a new restaurant for dinner. This clematis was blooming at the motel; the blossoms were as big as a dinner plate. The picture on the right is the restaurant we ate at. The fireplace is made of huge granite boulders. I have no idea how they were moved there. Paul Bunyan maybe. The next morning we went to my favorite shop (unfortunately the farthest from home...

I can't believe it -- I've gone two days without sewing a single stitch! Saturday I caught up with Splendid Sampler and 365 Challenge. I'm really disappointed to see we're back to making little dark blocks again in 365 challenge. I thought we were done with those and was looking forward to making the 6" blocks in lighter colors. Getting weary of those dark colors. Besides I was using scraps and I've about exhausted the dark reds and blues . Sunday we met my Daughter at the orchid show. I had some jade plants and other succulents for her so I was happy it was a cloudy day and the plants would be fine in the car while we were at the show. We enjoyed the show immensely and spent more than we should have. I bought 6 small plants; two that will hang on the bathroom wall, and several for the shelves alongside the kitchen window. After the show we went out to the parking lot so I could give her the jade plants and she takes a huge crate out of her ca...

90 degrees today! What happened to Spring?? I'm not ready for hot weather yet. To be honest, I'm never ready for it. It can stay Spring and Fall forever and make me really happy. This week I've been making the corner blocks for the center medallion of the 365 Challenge. To be perfectly honest, I cheated on this Corner 3 below and didn't do the mitered corner. Half square triangles give the same result, are faster, and use less fabric. When I opened the bedroom window yesterday I was greeted with the most marvelous fragrance. so with the help of a walking stick (my back is still not back to normal and I'm hobbling like the old lady that I am) I ventured out t the backyard. I want to bottle the combined fragrance. Orange Blossom Pink Jasmine Lilac Apothecary Rose Pittosporum Tobira I

The camping weekend was fun. I finished the top I started last year. Now to get it quilted. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We filled up the hummingbird feeder and within a couple hours one bossy little male Allen's hummingbird claimed it as his own and was chasing away any other males that came close. Came home Easter evening in time to put together a stripped-down holiday meal of ham and scalloped potatoes. Gotta keep some of the traditions…. Monday -- back to reality and worse. I woke up and went to get out of bed and my back went out. Fortunately the walker was parked in the bedroom as I couldn't even get to the bathroom without it. I have a hitch hiker;  if it has wheels Simba will ride: Tuesday -- Happy birthday :-(  DH brought me flowers and a gluten free pizza for dinner as I couldn't go out. Oh well -- I've had many birthdays so I really don't need any more. Pain pills and muscle relaxants helping with the pain. I even got caught up on...

We will be camping for Easter. Not what I usually do for holidays but DH said he will hide Easter eggs for me if it will make me feel better. Since we got rid of our big old trailer and the site isn't ready for a new one yet we will be using the old tent trailer. DH is range master for the archery club so he will be busy all day and I will be sewing all day. I take one of my old hand crank machines with me and keep busy as long as there is daylight, and sometimes by Coleman lamp after dark. I usually get at least one full size quilt top done a year while camping. This is the machine I take most often. It's a Jones CB, made in England probably in the early 30s. It is a dream to sew with; smooth running, perfect stitch, and always dependable. It will still be working when all of our computerized plastic marvels will be long gone. Don't tell my lovely Bernina I said that… Some camping quilts from previous years:  Double Ir...

I'm slipping on my writing here, but it has been a busy week. I'm all caught up on my various sew-a-longs, done some cleanup in the backyard, and repotted our Jade plants on the front porch.  The poor plants had gotten so big they were tipping over. Parsley and dill have been planted in the herb tubs in the driveway. I have to grow them in the front yard as the back is too shady for the veggies and herbs. Perfect for ferns and violets, though. St. Patricks day I got up early and put the corned beef in the crockpot and we took a trip up to the hills to do some maintenance on our campsite.I hadn't been up there for quite a while and the first thing I saw was our wisteria blooming. It smells so good! We pulled some weeds, filled the bird feeders, and moved a big pile of bricks, starting to get ready to level the ground so we can get a new(er) trailer. Our last one was old and very leaky and falling apart so we got rid of it and are looking for another one. We came home a...

Retreat was wonderful. It was at Mercy Center, a convent (or maybe an ex-convent, not sure) and had nice immaculate private rooms (bathroom down the hall) and the food was good; excellent salmon  Friday night and yesterdays stew and biscuits looked and smelled delicious even thought I couldn't eat it due to my gluten allergy.  No worries -- I aways bring alternative food for situations like this. Friday I put together charity quilt top, my "guilt quilt" -- once I had that done I could feel free to work on whatever I wanted. My 18th charity quilt; I hope some little girl enjoys it. I sat with three of my sewing buddies. Kind of bittersweet since it will probably be the last time we will all be together as two of them are moving. We had a great time and even sneaked off for a couple hours to the nearest quilt shop. Our big well-lit room with view of rain and wild turkeys. Two of my friends busy at work; I think the other one was taking a nap. Two o...

Retreat time is fast approaching; a week earlier than I had thought. So that means lots to do to get ready in less time. I don't even know which projects to take yet. Yesterday would have been a good time to start getting things together and that is what I meant to do when I got up in the morning, but I came across a pattern for a cathedral window pincushion.  I remember way back in the 60s my mother attempted to make a cathedral window quilt but gave up as it being "too fussy and a big waste of fabric".  It was her last attempt at quilting but she went on to do some beautiful crewel work. For some reason, probably procrastination, I dug out fabric from my scrap bin (no worries here about wasting fabric -- I have lots) and set about making the pincushion. O.K. I made the pincushion; I don't know why. I seldom use a pincushion as I have cats and cats and pins can be a fatal combination so I hardly ever use them and when I do they are taken out of a lidded tin an...