Update And A Great Big Thank You

Against my sisters better judgment I have decided to post anyway. She seems to think it is a bad idea for me to post while on medication. She says who knows what I am liable to say on here. So to try and keep it safe just a quick update. I had my surgeries on Wednesday August 14th.  I was then released from the hospital on the evening of August 16th.  Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who was by my side the entire time.  My family are all trying to help out. Thank goodness for my very good friend Jean who is helping to get my daughter to and from school for me each day. And thank goodness for the meals she and my sister have been providing for us.  I am still in quiet a bit of pain and on medications. I have 2 drains still attached to my surgical site. That I have to empty several times daily. Overall I think I am dealing with things the way I need to be. My surgeon called me late Monday evening to let me know that the lymph nodes he removed were clear no cancer cells at all and that all my surgical margins are clear as well. That he got all the cancer out this time. Thank goodness.  I go to see my plastic surgeon on tomorrow. So he can start working on inflating that tissue expander.  Ladies if you know anyone battling this disease. Be a friend. No matter how small of a thing you can do for them please do it...Just a cooked meal or a card to cheer them or a quick call to let them know you are thinking and praying for them all does wonders.  It is so hard for me me to bend and stoop and pick things up. And the muscle spasms are the worse. They wake me up at night.... Any way this is my little update on me. I thank you to those of you who have send me emails asking about me. Thank you so much. It is so nice to know that no matter how far apart we live in Blogdom that someone cares enough to  check up on me. It brings a smile to my face.  

      I also want to say a great big thank you to Anne of Bunny Hill Designs. She blogs over at http://bunnyhillblog.com/. if you have never been by to visit her . Please stop by and leave her some love.  Recently she had a book giveaway on her blog. And it is a book I have been drooling over for a while. Should I say drooling and dreaming of owning..

And low and behold I actually won the book. She actually gave away two of these. I was so lucky. When I got in from the hospital and got settled in bed my daughter said Momma I have a happy surprise for you look what came in the mail. and she gave me Anne's lovely package. Anne sent me a beautiful card and  a Moda Jubilee mini charm pack as well. All I can say is wow....Thank you so very much Anne. You made my week.... What lovely treats.

Thank you Anne for everything....

 

Until my next post keep on stitchin and quiltin

 

Tammy

Important Update no pictures today.

Wanting to let everyone know that I will be away from blogging for a little while.  I hope to be able to return as soon as possible.  Tomorrow August 14th is my surgery. I will be going in to have my mastectomy for breast cancer.  I am also gonna start the breast reconstruction  process immediately following the mastectomy.  I  will not be able to do much for a while.  This will be a long drawn out process to get from ground zero to building a boob.  The only thing I have going for me is the fact that I am not over endowed up top.... The plastic surgeon told me depending on how it goes I have a 20 % chance of waking up with a implant in place  and a 80% chance of  waking up with a tissue expander in place . The tissue expander's are gradually inflated each week . Which in turn stretches the skin slowly.  So it gives you more tissue to work with. And  once their is enough skin then they remove the tissue expander and place your implant.
     Wish me luck everyone. I do believe I will be needing lots of luck on this endeavor. And lots of prayer also.  This is definitely the last thing I ever thought I would be doing  at 43.  
    Their are all kinds of fancy flap procedures one can have for reconstruction. But I opt not to do those as they involve a lot more healing time. Are a lot more painful and create multiple surgical sites on your body. I need to be able to heal  as fast as possible and get my strength back quickly. So I can take care of my 13 year old daughter  and my 19 year old special needs son.  My daughters first day of school is this coming Monday.  

   Keep on quilting and sewing
                                             
                                                          Tammy

My First Time & The 1st Part Is Finished

I have been working on Jenny at ELEFANTZ Blog new BOM.http://www.elefantz.com/p/free-2013-bom.html Shabby Roses Home is the name of it.

      I must admit my hand stitchery or embroidery skills are very very rusty.  The last hand stitchery I did was for my daughters little smocked outfits. Which you can see some of those here on the blog  in the  earliest posts.  So it has been several years now... Let's  see how many years hmmmm......de ....dum....ummmm  since 2008 or 2009 ....Quiet a long while.

 So I have been following Jenny's blog http://www.elefantz.com/ now for some time. I am all ways  delighted to see her  projects. Well when I saw this  project I just new I had to do it. So I jumped right in and  decided to this BOM. It is my very first BOM ever... My very first project badge to  go up on my blog as well.  So here goes some photos of said project.

Step one for me was to audition my fabrics. I decided to use the unbleached muslin for the background fabric of the embroideries them self.  I chose a few older pieces I had.  For the  alphabets I decided on a tiny blue floral print. And for the chimney was a dark brown. I also chose a small green  floral. What it will go on I am unsure but the color ties in with the  lovely fat quarter pack  I chose to use. The fat quarter pack is a recent purchase. It is Home Spun Chic by MeLody Ross for Blend fabrics.  I found it at the Tuesday Morning store for $7.99 which obviously was a great deal as it had a regular price tag on it for $19.99

 

So I got to work   The first Block is actually  2 smaller blocks combined. So here is the first part  which is the alphabets. You use applique and embroidery and machine piecing for this project. 

 

 

Sorry this picture isn't very good.  Their was too much light coming in I believe.  So this is the first half of the block. I messed up on the letter a it is slightly tilted. And I had a hard time centering everything as well....Then I moved on to the next block which is the house part.

 

 

 

 

I was close to completion. but still had more flowers and greenery to do int he lower right corner as well as try and figure out the stitch for the path to the door. Well I bombed on that stitch. I just couldn't get it. I kept having to  pick it out. Then I said to heck with that I would do what I could do and it would just look how ever it turned out. Patience is not something I possess.  Here is a close up of the completed house.

 

 

 

And finally is my finished block. I have a lot to learn and improve upon. I just hope my next block will be a lot neater and prettier.

 

 

 

 

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Until next time keep on sewing & quilting.

Tammy

 

 

 

 

Happy Mail

A few days back I found out that I had won 2 charm square packs of world tour by Parson Gray. I had been entered into Sharon's giveaway over on her  blog.  http://fabricsandflowers.blogspot.com/  I love to visit Sharon she has a wonderful blog. She was hosting the giveaway in honor of her 1 year Blogaversary.  If you haven't been over to Sharon's blog yet. Please go over to visit her. So here is my lovely winnings from Sharon.....

Ta...Daaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Thank you so much Sharon.  I know beautiful  aren't they...For some reason these just scream fall time to me...Hmmm I am thinking perhaps a table runner?   So what project do u think  you would use them in.  Here is a close up of the 12 pieces the packs contain a piece.

 

Keep on sewing & quilting until next time.

Tammy

My Sewing Room

Ok guess I messed something up this was schedueled to be posted last week. Which oviously never happend.  the cutting table is now cleaner as I took the  foldable pining board off of it since I was through sewing the baby stuff and no longer needed it up their .My sewing room is a mess and stays a mess. Sorry folks it is the one room in my house that is a total disaster. Other wise my home is very neat and all ways in place. I have never been able to achieve this in the sewing area though.  I just have too much stuff. And yes I need it all. Even when clean it is still a disaster.  My sewing room is upstairs in the huge bonus room... It is a dual purpose room. Part sewing room and Part work out room.  I am gonna try and post a few  pictures.  It is a large room  and I have kinda got it divided into areas.
My machine embroidery area. I used to  do a lot of embroidery when both my kids were in school during the day. I ran a at home monogramming business. All that was before we moved here . Life was so much simpler then.

To the left of my embroidery machine  is my embroidery supplies  and my books and patterns area

 

OK on the wall getting to this area is where my paper crafting  area is. I also have my sewing machine accessories in these drawers

Now to the right of this area is where my sewing and sergeing are done.

Now to the right of the sewing machine is my cutting table and prep area.

Now to the right of this area is where my daughter does her art work at. Painting and drawing. This is hat she was working on last weekend. it is supposed to be an Egyptian lady.

 

To the right of this is the television . So we can watch while we are working out.  All the workout equipment is on the wall to the left .

When you come into the sewing room to the right is where my mannequin is. $10.00 off of Craigs list. I currently have her decorated with a huge flower bouquet a little girl gave my daughter. I didn't know where else to put it. So for now it lives on the mannequin.

And that folks is my sewing room or studio which ever you prefer to call it. Purely functional. No decorating to it...Maybe one day I will get it all repainted as I do not like the color of it and maybe one day I will get some new curtains or toppers hung. But for now it works  as is. I hope you all liked the tour of my sewing room. I always love to see where people create. Of course mine is not near colorful or exciteing as a lot of them I see online.  

 

Until next time keep on sewing & and  quilting

 

Tammy

 

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More Baby Gifts Finished

Well yesterday I was able to get the taggie lovey made. It is pink Minky dot on one side and a light pink 2 toned polka dot on the other. These are so cute. It seems every time I give one of these as gifts I get rave reviews on them.  They seem to be a popular baby item. This went together perfectly . No problems at all. No   pattern used.

Now today I had such a  headache trying to get the blanket made. I have never had a problem making these before. But for some reason I just couldn't get it  laid right and pinned right. You have to pin baste it before you sew it... I always use my walking foot also when I sew Minky. It is a life saver. I ended up having to rip out the entire blanket and re sew it. as I discovered it had shifted on the Minnie Mouse fabric side/ and looked horrible.  Thank goodness I am through with the blanket as of right now I do not like it very much at all. Just because it was such a pain.  I hope the Niece will like it ...But I know she will. Because she has been at all the other baby showers and seen these and have always ooohed and awwdd at everything.  So now is her turn.  She is doing the baby's nursery in Pink Minnie Mouse. This was the only Minnie Mouse fabric I found at Joann's.  I have allready bought her a few other items to go with her gifts.  I may still make a few more items though. Just depends on how I feel, and how much time I get to spend int eh sewing room. Here is the picture of the Minky blanket .

Until My next post keep on sewing & quilting. 

 

Tammy

 

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Baby Shower Sewing

Today I was able to get some more sewing accomplished for my nieces upcoming baby Shower.  I had all ready had all the bibs cut out. I just needed to get them assembled. I used flannel that I  had gotten at Joann's fabrics a few weeks back.   I made 8 of the smaller bibs and 7 of the larger sized bibs.

They are all done in shades of pinks, lavender, purples and then their is a printed one also. 

Here is a picture of the contoured baby burp cloths I also made. Their are 7 of the Burp cloths. They are made out of the same flannels that the bibs are made from.  I made these a few days back but had not had a chance to photograph them as of yet.  ... Next I plan to either work on the minky baby quilt or either the home made  reusable flannel baby wipes. I would also like to make one of those little taggy baby lovee's. And I haven't thought much further than that.  Until next time keep on sewing and quilting.

Tammy

 

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