A Dream Come True and Company's Coming!!

I want to thank everyone that has left comments and sent me emails on my eye problems. The eyes are doing much better thank goodness. I can see so much better than before, but I am having pretty severe headaches behind the right eye. I am hoping part of this is from allergies.

I don't have to wear glasses to drive, but my closeup vision isn't what I was hoping for. There is the "trifocal" area out there (if you are 40 or over you are probably familar with that,lol) where things are a little blurry and I definitely have to have "readers" for closeup. I am hoping that everything will settle down by the end of August or so and I will know what limitations I am going to have. I have not done a lick of sewing this week and have slept mostly. I think that is the best medicine for me right now.

One dream I have always had has come true however! I always see these young gorgeous girls with the sunglasses in their hair, and some older gorgeous women also, for that matter. Anyway I have always wanted to be able to do that, and Voila! I CAN!!!! lol

Here is a picture taken after I had my hair cut and repurpled with my sunglasses on. I took a picture with the sunglasses in my hair, but my right eye is so red that it is gross and I didn't think anyone would want to see that, lol.

I also treated myself to a pedicure, and I took this picture so you could see the purple slides the tech put on my feet after my pedicure, lol!

All of this I had to get done because Sharon is coming to town next week and has threatened me if I am not purple, lol. I am now ready for the Papparazzi Princess! And did I say I am excited about it? Well, yes, I really am. I have my camera battery all warmed up!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend and has a wonderful weekend! And thanks again to all for stopping by to see me!

But I Don't Have a Prostate!!!!

The prostate (from Greek προστάτης - prostates, literally "one who stands before", "protector", "guardian"[1]) is a compound tubuloalveolar exocrine gland of the male mammalian reproductive system. Women do not have a prostate gland, although women do have microscopic paraurethral Skene's glands connected to the distal third of the urethra in the prevaginal space that are homologous to the prostate.

Intraoperative floppy iris syndrome occurred in approximately 2% of a cataract surgery population and appeared to be caused by tamsulosin, a systemic sympathetic alpha-1A antagonist medication that is the most frequently prescribed medication for benign prostatic hypertrophy.

The male population that uses Flomax has some ungodly percentage of thie floppy iris syndrome. Flomax is used with men that have prostrate problems.

Nowhere is there an indication that I can find that I should have this. None of the meds I take, nothing, but, I DO!!!

So here is the poor pitiful person after her cataract surgery today. No makeup, patched eye, hair in great disarray.

I was supposed to have this surgery last week and I didn't get my hair cut or re-purpled because I wanted to wait until the surgery was done. I intend to get it taken care of this week. Well, Aud, in one of her HSN moments, ordered this volume shampoo, conditioner, and concrete pomade. She has been bugging me for a month to use it so last night I did. Hah! My hair feels like it is glued together, I want to wash it out, and now I can't for a couple of days, lol.

Do you feel sorry for me yet? lol, well, no need. I have enough for all of us.

The surgery went well, it lasted over an hour of course, and Doc explained about this iris crap. She put me under long enough to give me a local in the eye area and then woke me up to do the surgery. That was rather interesting. Not fun, but interesting. Evidently, when my iris is touched it starts moving around, and she went to great lengths to keep it from getting in the way as she removed the cataract. I intend to ask her tomorrow on followup if she used a dremel tool to remove the cataract, I swear I heard something that sounded like a dentist tool, lol.

And, of course, it is going to take a good two weeks for my iris to settle back down because they don't like to be fiddled with. I think that means a month or more, knowing my luck.

Looking on the bright side, she did fix the astigmatism (I don't think that is spelled right, sorry). So, it is done at least, perhaps one of these days I will be able to see real good. Hope springs eternal.

Thanks to everyone who sent me good wishes. I really appreciate them.

And if anyone wants to know more about this floppy iris stuff, there is a plethora of info on google, including some fascinating U-Tube videos, lol.

Star BOM Block 1

Well, I managed to cram this together, lol. It's a good thing you can't see the back. Hmm,hmm, my eyes are getting "worser and worser", lol. I wanted to get this done before I had my eye surgery on Monday. Maybe the next one won't take me as long and will be a little straighter. One can only hope.

Hope everyone is having fun!

Star BOM with Judy

Since I don't have any projects I am working on, I decided I needed to join Judy Laquidara in the Star BOM she is so graciously doing online.

These are fossil ferns, and I am going to do this quilt scrappy. (she hopes)

Another Week Already

Wow, not sure where this one went to, but I managed to blow off a great deal of it. I did a little stash busting of some quilt stores, and did a little reading. I was trying to get my reading done before my eye surgery, but that got cancelled today for some reason, not sure why. I will find out next week.

I had ordered a new quilt rack from a local gentleman that makes them for me out of walnut and he bought it over to me this week. Isn't it magnificent? I need to rearrange the living room so I can get this one in a corner behind a chair, but for right now I am just enjoying looking at it. It is 8 feet tall and wider than usual. Aud's remark where is the next one going? We are running out of wall space, lol.

Here are some Moda Muslin Mates that I bought from Web Fabrics. I wanted to see what these looked like and I had not seen them before in a group. There were some dark ones which I did not buy, surprise, surprise! lol

And here is my yummy Portugal and the pattern I am going to use to make it. This will be a quick quilt to make; now to find some quick time to make it!

And here are two batiks I found at Quiltworks that will be perfect for backgrounds. I try to buy them when I can get them; they are hard to find when you need them.

Last on my buying spree was this ruler from http://www.cozyquilt.com/ . Supposedly this comes in handy when you are making some of the stripped quilts that are out there right now, so one must be prepared.

I took a mini vacation during the middle of the week and just read. My arthritis was giving me fits so I took Kim's advice about books that she liked and went to the library and checked out Sara Donati's Into The Wilderness series. Let me back up a bit, I checked these out for Aud several weeks ago and she didn't get them read before I had to return them, so I ordered them from Amazon and they had come in. Aud had read part of the first one and loved it. So, since I was hurting from the A and really didn't feel like doing anything but pouting, I just read for 3 whole days. I hate to put a book down once I start it so I just didn't. I read the first two books in this saga. I love them. They grab you like the Diana Gabaldon books do. I try not to get on a reading binge too often because this is what happens, but these books are definitely worth it.

There are 3 more of them in this series I think, but I have an Amazon Kindle coming...it should have been here today and didn't come, which upsets me. I will order them for the Kindle because the print will be bigger and I figure I can read some maybe while my right eye is healing. More about this Kindle when it comes next week. It is basically an e-reader. If you want to look at it, go to Amazon.com...it is on their opening page.

Ok, I am out of words for now I think. Hope everyone has a terrific weekend. I am going to be working on my Peace and Plenty applique blocks. Only 3 to go, so I need to catch up.

Designer BOM,Patterns, Other Stuff

Have you ever had a disjointed week where you never found your groove? I am raising my hand high on that one this week! I think it is because the moon has been full.

Started off with Dr's appt, the main word there is EXERCISE! I told them they tell me that every year, why don't you just not subject me to all of that blood work and save us all some time and trouble and just call me and say, "The Doctor says EXERCISE".

I have some rheumatoid arthritis markers showing up and they want me to go to a specialist for tests. All I can say is ^&*!!!! I won't go where they want to send me because it is downtown so they are going to send me to their first choice, but I can't get in until October or so. So of course the last 3 days I have hurt all over my overweight body! Even the fat is aching! Other than that everything is fine. Low cholesterol, low blood pressure, etc, the picture of health.

Then to the eye doc on Thursday and I am scheduled for my right eye cataract removal on the 29th of this month. I will be so glad when all of that is over.

A friend of mine woke me up at noon, told me to get my lazy *** out of bed and meet her for lunch, so I did. Then I had a Starbucks Green Tea Frap with Raspberry Syrup....ooooh..that should add some time to my exercise routine for sure!

So here I have deposited myself in my chair for most of the afternoon and then to make this an official screwed up week, Aud and I went to get some KFC. All healthy stuff here, right?

Anyway, what I am getting at is this. I am looking at Quilt Stores on the internet, and of course I usually end up at The Fat Quarter Shop. This time was no exception. Have you ever just wanted to spend a little money just because you haven't lately? lol....well, that's where I was and I decided to look at her patterns.

If you haven't looked at the pattern section on Kimberly's web site you need to treat yourself to that. She has patterns buried in there that I have never seen anywhere else. Not only does she have patterns for "real" quilts, lol, but there is even a separate section for charm patterns. I should have stuck to looking at fabric! There are some neat, neat patterns in there, like this one and this one (not a good picture but the pattern has definite possibilities) and this one (great for all of the Moda scraps we all have) , this one , this one , this one and don't forget all of the Miss Rosie's . There are patterns in there for paper dolls and any and every kind of bag and purse and tote. I know this sounds like a commercial but I really found some great patterns on there, and you can actually SEE them, which I can't say the same about a lot of places. It was very soothing to be able to just sit and look at them and decide which ones I "couldn't live without".

Of course I did manage to pick up some fabric while I was at it. Have to make my monthly payment for Emma's college, you know, lol. As Sharon would say, "I'm just sayin!"

Did manage to get a little bit done this week so far.
Block Two in the Designer BOM I am doing from The Fat Quarter Shop. This is going to be a gorgeous quilt if the first two blocks are any indication.


These are some more of my batik blocks I am working on. Running out of wall space, lol.
I guess that is all for now. Have a great weekend!!!

A Little Quilting Going on Here!

I am so excited! I have actually gotten a little quilting done this week. My quilting room looks like a complete disaster. I took a picture of it and decided it was too bad to look at, lol. I never let it get so cluttered. I have actually hung up another design wall 20 x 40 in an area I found on a wall, and made a "hanging design wall", which is pictured further down. I have so much up on the main design wall right now I am running out of room and I don't want to take anything down at the moment, don't have time, lol.

This is Peace and Plenty Block 11.

I have started my batik quilt I wanted to do and here is one of the blocks.

Another block from the batik quilt.



Others from the batik quilt. I have already changed the one with the pink in it, lol, I don't like it. It feels so good to finally be working with batiks again. I love all of the colors in them.


Moving right along with my Web Sampler, I have the house and its border done. I still have so much to do, not sure it will be finished by Sept 1 after all.


Here's another view along with all the "stuff" that is scattered everywhere.


And here is my hanging design wall. I have a hook over the door, so I just took a hanger and pinned some batting on it and then pinned the batting to a hanger and put the blocks on. Just think you could have lots of hanger design walls, lol.

And, I put my Janome Platinum in a new sewing table that I purchased from SewEzi. Their website is http://www.seweziusa.com/ . I am so pleased with this table. It folds flat, has wheels, a carrying handle, and a "suitcase" type slip cover to store or take it in. They custom fit the acrylic inserts to your machine and I ordered this one day and it was here 3 days later. It is just the right size too. Just thought I would mention this in case one of you is looking for a portable solution to a table.

Aud has shingles and is having a tough time with them which is not good. I got an all clear on my cancer which makes 2 years out, and I have an appointment with the eye doc on Thursday. My eye has improved enough I am hoping she will schedule the right eye so I can get through the eye bit before something else on me goes haywire, lol.

The only other thing I know worth noting is I have a new LG HDTV that is just super. I never knew TV could look so good, lol. I am watching stuff I never watched before because it is so sharp. We have other HDTVs in the house, but this one is in my room and I am like a kid with a new toy, lol.

I guess that is all from me for this week. I keep saying I am going to post more frequently but that just "ain't happening" at the moment.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead of them!

Catching Up

Hello, everybody. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. It was certainly hot enough here. I tried to stay in the a/c as much as possible. Not a lot of quilty stuff going on around here so I haven't posted lately, but I finally decided I better at least say something. I am doing some quilting stuff, but nothing that is showable yet. Just bits and pieces of things. And the Piece and Plenty takes lots of time, but I am working on that. Will post a picture of one block pretty soon. I am almost finished with it.

My version of what I took a class in on Saturday. It is called Mirrored Silhouettes. Of course I didn't finish it, I never do, lol.

This is the sample of the wall hanging I was looking at to do mine.

It's a few days late, but what is on your bed for July? This is my patriotic quilt that I made about 3 years ago (I think). It has hand embroidery, hand piecing, paper piecing, and plain old piecing. The quilting was done by a lady from Missouri named Penny Roberts and she did an absolutely wonderful job on it.

This is Roger and Laurie and Aud. Laurie is Keith's mother and is married to Roger. He is from Nepal and is one of the nicest and sweetest people I have ever known. Some of our young men could take lessons from him, that's for sure. Keith is very fortunate to have him in his life.

Here's Keith again, hasn't changed much in a month, lol, but he and family stopped by. It was good to see him, and he didn't have his Rock Band with him , lol.

Aud in the front yard pulling weeds (I only see one though, lol)

Apricot Lilies in the back yard

Asian Lilies, these things are about 4 feet tall.

What a Way to Spend a Sunday

I never did like rock and roll. Actually, I couldn’t stand it when I was young, and it still really grates on my nerves. The reason I am telling you this is because I am sitting here with a splitting headache that I have had off and on all week, listening to my grandson that is spending the day with me (he is 15 and lives in Dallas) playing Rock Guitar on his 360.

I made him watch the soccer semi final game and this is my reward, lol. I told him I must love him a lot to put up with that “s*&*”, lol. My ears are ringing. We will not smile until our braces come off he tells me, lol.

I have to show you these also. Some of the new lilies. I think I bought small ones for this whole bed.

And here are my favorite red lilies. They are so vibrant and deep, and when they die and you take the dead blooms off there is a red residue in your hand, the color is so intense.

A closeup of the white ones with a lavender ring inside of them. So very pretty and dainty looking.

The large bush you see in the background is a Banksia Rose. It bloomed a little this year, but next year there should be blooms all over it. We planted this 3 years ago, and it has taken it this long to get going. The soil in that corner of the yard is awful. If any of you remember Sharon had a picture of a tree with yellow roses all over it several months ago. Well that was a Banksia Rose. Hopefully mine will look like that next year.

And that is all for today. It is quiet right now, we are through with the Rock Guitar and just playing Halo on the 360; I can stand that, lol. His mother is on her way so he will be leaving shortly. I hate to see him go, I only see him about 3 or 4 times a year.

I hope all have a great week!

Quilty Things Going On and More Yard

These are pictures of some of the lilies blooming this week. The red ones called Red Volunteers seem to be in every bed, lol, I think they are living up to their name. They sure do mulitply fast.

This is block 1 of the Designer BOM from The Fat Quarter Shop. Of course I cut the background wrong and had to substitute, lol, I guess that is why I have a stash, huh. I got the finishing kit with the first block and this is going to be a very pretty quilt when it is done!

Making progress on the Piece and Plenty. I am loving this quilt, but goodness, there are a lot of hours in it. These are blocks 9 and 10. For some reason I have skipped 8, so I am working on that one now.

I finally got the 12 main blocks finished for the Web Sampler. Now to start on the house for the middle of it.

The latest batiks to enter the house, lol.

I am starting a new quilt soon that will be using batiks and I had them scattered everywhere so I decided I would see if I could sort them out. Ha! You see how far I got, but at least they are out of my closet and on a table so I can see what I have. And, I have too many, so I am not going to buy any more, lol.

Quilty Things and Yard Update

I really do quilt if anyone is curious. It is taking me a while to get back in the groove, but I am accomplishing some things. I have changed the quilt on the bed for the month. Have you changed yours lately?
This is Hemming House. I love this fabric collection and it looks perfect in this pattern.

This is my challenge quilt I did with Cindy, Lisa, and Nicole. I really do like the way it turned out.

This is the BOM that Kimberly has decided to tease us with for this year. I think it is made from the fabric I can see behind the picture of the quilt, and it is gorgeous! I have signed up and am looking forward to September when it starts!

As if I didn't have enough to do, I started another BOM that has been going on a couple of months . This is a Bits n Pieces pattern, but the picture I took of the pattern is not any good, so this is a picture of the BOM that I took at the quilt store. This quilt store is not online yet, but is in the general area of OKC.

Along the way I managed to take a class in making a rope bowl. I had the wrong day down for the class, and the store owner called me, so I didn't get there until the class was half over, but I did manage to make a small bowl and I got the idea of how it is made. This was kind of fun and I want to make some more.

Ok, these last 3 pictures are yard updates. In spite of getting brown spots when I put down weed and feed because I didn't do it right, the yard is finally green and most of the flowers in the front are blooming except for the Azaleas. They will bloom again in the fall.

New pink lilies that have bloomed in the back, the red ones were mismarked I think, lol, and that is why they ended up in this bed.

And these are the lily plants that I planted 3 weeks ago. If you look closely you can see how much they have grown.

Hope your week is going well!