Blogging onwards and upwards

The last twelve months has been nothing short of tumultuous.

Not only have I spent three glorious months in the USA, but either side of my trip my sister in law was diagnosed with Bowel cancer and then Dad was diagnosed with cancer.

Learning to deal with their illness has been a huge challenge for all the family. For me, I went to the USA with plans to work on a quilt for Carole.

Of course this gave me a wonderful excuse to visit lots of quilt shops, and I surely did. But I also worked on cobblestones for Caroles quilt on and off, and by the time I got home in October 2009, I had almost enough for a full queen sized bed quilt.

I finished off the few extra cobblestones needed before I headed back to work and then experimented with how to lay it all out. Of course, then I had to make decisions about borders. I wanted to make her quilt that was full of positive vibes and would help her to chase away the blues, so I opted for some bright colours. perhaps a little too bright?

I had bought a new sewing machine - Husqvarna Sapphire 850 - before I headed overseas, so I thought I might be able to quilt it up myself.

HA!

Way too ambitious, so I have ended up taking it to a professional for quilting. Leaving me time to come to grips with this new beast.

I hope to have it all completed in time for Carole's birthday in March.

And the next project is a quilt for my Dad. Dad was diagnosed with cancer in late October. The specialists are still arguing over whether he has an osteosarcoma on the third rib (exceedingly rare) or mesothelioma (also rare). The specialist at RPA is opting for the osteosarcoma, and I hope he is right, for fairly obvious reasons.

I asked dad about his favourite colours and was pleased to hear blues and greens and please put in some black and silver for NZ. And I found an amazing Star quilt pattern in British Patchwork and Quilting which I am modifying substantially from a Christmas theme to a blue/green/kiwi theme. I'll be putting up photos of the work as I go and am happy for comments and suggestions.