Happy Holidays to all my nursing sisters and brothers!

Its been awhile since I posted!

Gosh... over a year!!! I enjoy reading blog posts almost every day, but haven't written. I will try to change that! I have finished a few quilts recently. Pictures? none yet...lol!

Texas Braid class with Bonnie Hunter!!

It was a wonderful day with sewing and sharing with fellow quilters in WSQ Spokane! Bonnie is a delight and I am so glad to have had this experience!! Here's a few photos!

 Bonnie and me with my first 2 braids and the quilt I hope they become some day!

 Bonnie instructing us on the finer points of braid making!

 Show and share time!! Here's a couple of my favorites....The log cabin quilt has one inch logs!! Just gorgeous!!

And this little quilt has 1/4 finished hexis! This sweet quilt has tiny lady bug buttons on some of the leaves and very tiny buttons for berries...Adorable!!!!

What a great day!

God bless
Mary

Hi Quilters! I wanted to share a link to an etsy shop that has some really great cards or prints for sale.
It's called torn paper quilt cards. I really love the various quilt photos on these cards! And they also can be purchased as a print with a mat! Here's a few lovely examples:

 The quotes at the bottom can be customized however you want. I am getting the above print with a mat and will frame it to hang in my sewing room along with another one. I'm putting "Keep calm and quilt on" on one of them.

 This is what the print and mat ones look like. Aren't they lovely?

Great colors and color combos too!

Fun!!!
God Bless
Mary

I just grabbed the RSC button for 2015! I watchedthe fun with the Rainbow Scrap blocks all last year, so it's high time to join in! This month we are doing Blues-looks like a whole range of them too.
Scroll down and hit the RSC button and see for yourself!
Mary

DWM and Quiltville link-up

Time for more link-ups!
Hope everyone had a great Christmas!
I'm ringing in the New Year at the hospital...yes, I'm working! It's all good, I'd rather have all of Christmas off than New Year's eve. Any way, here's some photos:

 Thanks to Bonnie Hunter, we had the EASIEST CLUE EVER for Grand Illusion!!!!! This weeks clue was 4-patches, 4 of one and 25 of the other. Didn't take long, and I'm looking forward to finding out how these beauties are going to go together!

 Here are 4 of my coffee quilt blocks before the machine applique is done and the attic window sashing is put on. The applique fabrics are out of my scrap box. Kinda fun and wonky, I think!

Here's the quilt in progress on the design wall. Some of it is behind the ironing board. I settled on a brown TOT for the sashing. The green print will end up being the border...too busy for sashing!

Head on over to Quiltville and Patchwork Times for more link-ups!

Have a blessed New Year!
Mary

Grand Illusion progress and DWM!!

Here is my Clue 4 all done!

And here's the rest...1-3. Love the colors in this quilt!

This is what I just put on the wall today-Coffee Quilt! I plan on doing an Attic Windows setting and the alternate blocks will be appliqued with coffee cups and saucers, taking inspiration from the black coffee cup fabric. FUN!!

And here is Sadie up on top of my fabric bins with her current fav piece of flannel to sit on. She's a great little supervisor and quality control expert!

Linking this post up with Bonnie Hunter's blog and Judy at Patchwork Times as well!

Have a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!
God Bless-
Mary

Almost the New Year!

Wow! How time flies! I caan't believe it's almost the new year!

I'm still plugging away at finishing things and starting new ones. It is the time of year for the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, so that is coming along nicely. I finished step 4 last night. I'll get some photos later.
We are going to my brother's house today for a pre-Christmas family celebration and dinner. Bill and Ginny are going to her family's on Christmas.
I'm hoping to keep up with the RSC (rainbow Scrap Challenge) this coming year, so shoiuld be fun!
I will add a badge when I remember how! LOL!

New Listings on Etsy!

It has been such a long time since I Listed something new in my etsy shop!
Here are 4 new listings:

Summer Apple Harvest:

Kittens at Play:

Kids in the Garden:

A Carol Doak block tablerunner:

I guess my camera/computer loading issues are solved!
Yeah!
God Bless
Mary

Happy New Year-Belated!

This year is already in its second month! Gosh time flies! I am trying really hard to focus on quilting some projects from last year and not make very many new tops this year until those from last year are done. I need to put a whole bunch of new things in my etsy shop too. I'm having problems getting my camera to download photos, and I have not spent the time to figure out what the problem is. Well...hopefully I can show my finishes soon! This is just a short post to let everyone know I'm still here!
That last post...about my crazy night...sometimes I wonder if bedside nursing at night is for me, but I am going to continue until the Lord shows me another opportunity. I always seem to know when it is time to move on in my career.
Hope everyone's year is happy, healthy, and productive as I also wish that for myself and my family!
God Bless
Mary

Night from HELL-don't read if you have a weak tummy...graphic description of a night in the life of a nurse...

I had a very difficult night at work...it started with floating to surgical...not so bad in itself, but first I had to bump the ICU RN that was already getting report. She wasn't too happy about that, but she got to go back to her home deptment. Then i'm going along, getting things done, and there was a whole bunch of orders on one patient that needed finishing up. OK,,, that's fine too. I had just gotten all the meds given and was hanging the TPN in one room when I'm told-here's an admit!  At this point it is a little after 9pm and I hadn't had a break. That's ok...still plenty of time. But no...I am doing the admit and am told I have to go back to ACU at 11pm. This means the whole group that I spent time getting to know and the admit, all have to be given to another RN. Then I go back up to ACU and take on a whole new group. So I must give report on the ones I have, and then get my new ones, meanwhile, the off going RN is waiting to go home.
So now I'm on ACU, the patients are asking for pain meds, and I'm making rounds on the new ones...it takes time to get organized, and I've had to do this twice now. Of course...NO BREAK! OK, so I'm settling in again, and got my assessments done, and the NAC pokes her head out of a room and says Mary I need help now! UH OH! The patient in the room had vomited blood all over the floor...NOT GOOD!!!! This person had Esophageal Varices banded awhile ago, so vomiting blood is really not a good thing!!! He also had bloody stool...
Well, I called the on-call provider and luckily, she is one who is very helpful and collaborative with the staff RN's. We had a whole boatload of new orders, and I'm one on one with this guy...even though I have 3 other patients, 2 of whom are on bed alarms because they can't remember to call for help and are fall risks. I had the charge RN, the NAC, and one other RN who came back to help, but I'm running!!! The patient who vomited the blood had to have a NS bolus, Vitamin K iv, and a Protonix drip all started right away, and also several labs drawn. He had a PICC line, so I could get those labs drawn as quickly as they were put in. Then, we found his Hgb was dropping a point every hour, so started FFP's and PRBC's. We were going to transfer him to ICU...the patient refused! His blood pressure was dropping and he needed more than we could give him, but he stated he did not want to be in ICU and be intubated again...don't know that it would have gotten to that point, but who knows? Well, the lovely on call provider came in and talked to the patient about being a DNR because at that point he was a full code. He agreed to recieve blood products and other meds, but no ICU and intubation.
All night...no breaks...12 hours. There's alot of details, and I must say, without the charge helping with the blood and documentation for that, I might still be there!!!
I called off sick tonight...I couldn't do it again...I might be getting to old for all of this!!!

DWM and other things

Hi All! Been awhile! Here's a couple things I've been doing:

These are my first 2 blocks of the new exchange I joined called POTC-Patchwork of the Crosses. They are timeconsuming blocks, but I love the results! Hopefully more later!

This is on my design wall...it's an order for a friend. She wanted a masculine quilt for her SO with an animal theme, so here are the blocks ready to sew together. VERY simple pattern! Just 3.5 inch squares sewn in 4 patches, and a 2.5 inch border around each block, easy! I like the manly look, and I plan a dark border, probably with the brownish/orange leaf print.

Haven't finished anything for awhile, so I will look forward to having this one on the frame!

My Son Got Married!

Here's what my family has been doing this week! My son Matt married his soulmate Ashley!!! It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to...course I could be slightly biased! LOL! Quilting got put on hold for awhile!

This is them in front of the Bozarth Mansion where the ceremony and reception were held with Matt's other pride and joy... the Cobra Mustang!

And here is them at the end of the ceremony lighting the Unity Candle...a much loved tradition in out family!

It was so beautiful and I will hold it dear to my heart forever! They are such a special couple and Ashley is so good for Matt and vice versa! Thanks God they found one another!

God Bless
Mary

Wednesday AM Chuckle

I sat and laughed til I cried at this photo!!!

Enjoy!
Mary

DWM, and Wow!

As in wow it has been a long time since I posted! Gosh where is this year going? Well, I am making some progress, but it seems very slow. I finished my Carol Doak BOM and love it, although if I had to do it over, I might have chosen a much less busy background fabric. But here it is and the backing is made, just waiting to finish some other things befor it goes on the frame....might be awhile!

 Below is my current DWM project. This is from Bonnie Hunter's book-Adventures with Leaders and Enders. Since mid-year last year, this has been my L&E project. Early this year the blocks graduated to being a full-fledged project, and I finished them yesterday. I laid out the blocks and sashing, chose border fabrics, and now am putting the center together today. I still have about 300 border units to put together, so part of this project will still be an L&E for awhile. I love making quilts this way! It's amazing what can be done just a few pieces at a time.

So that's my current project...or one of them! I have a couple others, and have more to start, but this is my focus for today!

Link up here for more Design Wall Monday posts with Judy's blog!

God bless

Mary

DWM. Easy Street Today!

 Here's my Easy Street still on the design wall and waiting to be put together! My work week was spent doing other things, so today is the day I am going to tackle putting ES together! I decided to use just 3 by 4 on the setting, as I have a really pretty fabric I am dying to use as the border, and I'm afraid the quilt will get too big for my quilting frame! The left over blocks will get used in a small table topper.

Here's what I was working on during my work week.  Scrappy Trips Around the World by Bonnie Hunter! I have 20 blocks made and I'm going to make 4 more for a 24 block quilt. At some point it will be finished for a charity quilt. These blocks are so addictive to make! I might just have to make another one!

And here is my long-term project from the book Sylvia's Bridal Sampler. I am making one of each of 140 blocks in the book. Our local quilt guild in Spokane is making this one for our raffle quilt this year, but I liked it so much, I decided to make one of my own. I have 26 out of the 140...so you see what I mean about LONG-TERM!! I thought this might be a wedding gift for Matt and Ashley (my son is getting married in June), but I think it will end up being a first anniversary quilt!

I'm off to get a new iron today...might quit working last night, then it's ES Day!'

See other DWM posts at Judy's blog here
Have a great day!
God Bless
Mary

Easy Street, Carol Doak BOM, and Heart Strings

 I am working on several things...too many! But I will share these 3. Heartstrings did a sew-in over New Years weekend that everyone worked on purple centered blocks. I had to work that whole weekend, but I managed to make 4 blocks. Yesterday, I managed to get almost all of the 24 blocks made for a small top to donate locally.

 Here's my Easy Street blocks-at least most of them. I can't fit them all on my little design wall. This is SUCH an amazing design! I don't know how Bonnie Hunter is able to design quilts like this! Besides this quilt, I have 2 other Bonnie designs in progress. My L&E quilt-9 In the Middle from her book Adventures with Leaders and Enders, and I am gathering strips to start a Scrappy Trips Around the World.
Below is my January BOM block from Carol Doak-another amazing designer. This quilt is set to be done in April. It was a mystery and BOM. Can't wait to see the finished product!

I couldn't link up yesterday because of photo loading issues, which a couple of wonderful quilters at quiltvillechat helped me figure out. So here is my post a day late! Have a blessed New Year and a great day!

God Bless
Mary

Easy Street Clue 4 and Design wall Monday!

Here we are again! I finished a quilt top and worked on my Easy Street...also took 3 sick days at home with a yucky gout attack! I can't believe how excruciatingly painful that is! Oh man!

 This is the top I made from the 300 spool blocks I made....MOSTLY from leaders and enders! It will go for a charity quilt next year. I finally cleaned up my quilting room, and rearranged some things. That room had become a dumping zone for all kinds of junk, and I got so I didn't want to quilt in there anymore. Now I have my books somewhat rearranged...and off the floor and the junk cleaned out of there. That being said, I hope to get many more quilts quilted next year! It is scary to think of how many quilts are just waiting! The Spool top will be one of the ones I hopew to get quilted by next guild meeting, so it can go in the Mountain of Quilts drive. For more Design Wall Monday photos-GO HERE! 

And, of course, here is Easy Street clue 4. I love the colors in this one and am interested to see how it will go together! I haven't even played with the pieces yet. Just making parts and waiting for the next clue. I'll bet we starting putting some things together this Friday! For more Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt photos-GO HERE!

God Bless

Mary

A Finished Top, and Easy Street Clue 3

I don't have anything on my design wall, but the top that was there last week is DONE!

 I worked much of yesterday and again today to finish my Christmas Town Sampler top. Here it is spread out over the sofa-it's kind of big for my design wall. I like the colors and fabrics I used in it. Kind of Asian inspired fabrics, kind of Christmasey. I had thought about making 2 separate quilts-one with the center blocks, the other with the town blocks. I glad I pushed myself to do all one quilt! I love it!

And here is my clue 3 of the Bonnie Hunter mystery-Easy Street. How about that skull and crossbones fabric? I love it! There is also a batik-like fabric with turtles on it. It is always interesting and fun to see what I can find in the remanent bin!
Link up with Bonnie Hunter's blog Here to see other clue 3's or any progress on Easy Street!

God Bless
Mary

Design Wall Monday and Easy Street Linky

I will start off this post with my Christmas Town Sampler that is on my design wall. I decided to simplify the sashing quite a bit, and I am considering making this a smaller quilt and using the house blocks in a different quilt...No offense to the wonderful designers of this lovely quilt! We shall see what happens! Go here to see other design wall Monday posts!

 Here is my progress on the Easy Street quilt project from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville! Steps 1 and 2 are done and I have the 2"x3.5" pieces cut for a future step. I am loving this quilt!!! I am excited to see what we do with the lime green and turquoise fabrics. Yes, I decided to go with Bonnie's color combo...I love these colors, and my purples and turquoises REALLY needed thinning out!!! A true quilter's reasoning if I ever heard one! Go here to see other quiltvillechat member's Easy Street Posts!

Lastly, I have the very simple December BOM blocks done. I love that these blocks really show up my background fabric!

Well, that is a little of what I have been doing! I also have some Pink Ribbon blocks to make up into a quilt top for donation to breast cancer patients, and I am putting my spools L&E blocks together in fourses. I will show those another time!

God Bless!
Mary