So much to say

I can't believe I haven't written since January.  Let me tell you why.

In the past month I have had the worst time staying awake.  I have always been able to sleep where I must, but lately it has been almost impossible to keep my eyes open.  So, I called my doctor.  I didn't even know what to say beyond I was excessively sleepy.  This has earned me a visit to the sleep clinic at Morse Ave on Thursday, February 14th.  I came home with a device that fits on your wrist and has two wired pieces that fit on two fingers.  I was told that only if there was something really wrong, that I would hear from them or my doctor.  I slept with this thing that was no big deal except the bruise it left on the back of my hand.  No matter how much weight I carry, it isn't in my hands and the skin is thin there.  The next day I picked my daughter up from work.  I had heard how there was some kind of mask to wear that turned out to be the wrist thing, and not knowing how that would affect me, I took a medical day off from work as I had an appointment that would have made me really late for work.  So, after picking her up, my daughter and I went shopping for her.  I finally dropped her off at her apartment around 1:00-ish and went home.

As I was putting my stuff down, I get a call from Kaiser.  It is this nice woman named Sheila.  It seems my doctor wanted me to do an overnight visit at the sleep clinic and it had to be that night, February 15th.  What this means is that I go at 8:30pm to the medical building C at the hospital in Roseville.  I had to shower and shampoo my hair, but no conditioner, no lotions, no perfumes.  I could bring a pillow, but nothing else.  Sheila seemed so calm when I spoke to her.  I was thinking  that this might interfere with my plans on Saturday to get together with my friends to sew, but no--the sleeping  would be over and I would be sent home at 5:30am Saturday morning.  Funny, at 7pm, an hour before I was to leave, I noticed there were messages on the answering machine that I missed.  Message one at 10:00am was a calm Sheila asking me to call the sleep clinic.  Message two at 11:00am was a terse, "It is very important that you call (number) as soon as possible."  Message three, at noon, again from Sheila, but now she sounds paniced that I haven't called back.  I had no idea.  I was sure I wrote my cell phone number on the form at the sleep clinic and that never rang.  Hmmmm.

I went to Kaiser and did as instructed.  I was supposed to call for security to let me in as they close the doors and lock up at 8:00pm, but the doors were open.  I went up in an empty elevator to the 4th floor.  I watch too much television.  The elevator was a bit creepy to be totally alone.  I go to Neurology as told and pick up the phone.  A guy answers and meets me at the door.  He hands me a clipboard with forms to fill out.  So there I am sitting in the waiting area in Neurology all alone clutching my pillow and filling out forms.
There were questions such as did I have nightmares (not really), did I feel sleepy when I wake (no, but later yes).  When I finish, I go in and am greeted with that nasty blood pressure machine.  For those of you who have heard my woes with that machine, just go to the next paragraph.  For the rest of you, new people to feel my pain!  I don't know what is going on, but I only let my blood pressure be taken manually.  Those machines just kill me and I am bruised every darn time.  It shouldn't hurt that much to get your blood pressure taken.  When I have insisted on it being taken manually my blood pressure is always significantly lower.  So here I am and this nice guy only uses the machine.  There isn't any equipment to even insist on it being taken manually.  Of course it was high and I had another bruise  under my arm.

I answer more questions such as, are you claustrophobic?  YES!  So I get a thing with nose pillows and it is like the hospital shows where the people on oxygen have those plastic things in their nose.  There are wires attached o my head.  My hair was a mess.  I am sleepy here.  I purposely did not take a nap so I would be sleepy.  How do I know how easy it will be to sleep knowing someone is watching me.  When I was already to sleep the tech guy, Daniel, dims the lights until it is dark and over a loud speaker wishes me a good night.

Turns out I can still sleep with someone watching (and video taping) me.  I know I woke up a few times because the nose thing slipped as I moved.  I did have to use the bathroom once--you have to be unplugged.  I didn't know what the result was--just that I would get a call within the next next two weeks.  At 5:00am they wake you up and at 5:30am you are out the door.  When I got home, my husband was awake so I took him out to breakfast.

Whatever I did when I slept, I did not have to wait very long for a call.  I am now going to take the next step and have an appointment with a respiratory specialist and will use the sleeping machine for seven days while it records more data.

All this because I might have sleep apnea.  WOW!  It has been a very interesting and not unpleasant experience.  I am going to get back in the habit of writing this blog.  I set up my laptop and will keep it up.  That alone will help.  Hope you are well. 

I have already fallen off the resolution wagon

I bought a pattern--okay, I bought two patterns..  Both are so, so, so cute.  A woollie pillow with a cute bird on the front.  And I bought a snowman pattern (Birdbrain I think....).  Three red snowmen in a bucket--it's a Bunny Hill pattern.  What am I going to do with myself??  Now I need a piece of red wool.

I am sewing with Alisa again tonight, so I will have time to put a few pictures on this blog.  Come back and see the patterns I bought.

It has been a long time

So Sorry!  I can't believe that I have neglected my blog for so long!  I was really ill with a cold that just knocked me out every afternoon and early most evenings.  I have been just moving on as best I could.  I still have this darn cold (yes, I am sure it isn't the flu) and the cough that goes along with it.  I can partially blame that and I confess--I let the "sewing room" become a junk room.  Since my sewing machine is still in the kitchen, I wasn't sewing in my daughter's room, so stuff piled up in there.  That is all over now!

Beginning tonight I am spending 1 hour cleaning, sorting and giving away the junk.  I got a wonderful television for the room and I am going to enlist my son's help in setting it up on the vanity.  I bought a sewing table for the room.   I went on the blog Clover and Violet and saw how the mom had her room set up.  She had this really adorable table--very vintage--that was literally in the middle of the room.  Much in the way my friend, Kim, has hers set up.  I thought, I could do that without any problem.  I went to the Antique Trove and found out that the kind of table I would want might be costly (the one I wanted wasn't even priced yet) and there is the problem about how to deal with it when we have company and must use that room.  Then, later I was at Joann's.  There was a table (not vintage) with drawers that folded up to a small set of drawers when necessary.  The table was $189.00 and 50% off during the sale bringing the price down to $94.99.  On top of that, I would get 25% more bringing the price down to $71.25 because I have a teacher card and it was teacher appreciation weekend.  That seemed like a dream come true for the space. 

I spent the whole day on Sunday at my friend, Sandy's.  Joann's closes at 7pm on Sundays, but lucky for me--the sale and the discounts were good until Monday because it was a holiday!  On Monday I went to Joann's and found not only my table, but the rechargable Ott lights (cost $99.99) were at 50% off.  I called Sandy because she desparately wanted one.  She decided to drive down to me from downtown.  45 minutes later....I bought the table, a pillow form and a rechargable light for $118.00 with a whooping savings of $180!  Afterward, Sandy and I went to Thistle Dew Quilts to check out their wool. They did not have any that wasn't too light or too dark.  I bought a pattern and Sandy bought a pattern and we left.  We stood outside dissecting the store as usual and went our merry ways.

On Tuesday, I get this call from Sandy.  I had dropped my pattern and a construction guy (there is a ton of construction going on there!) returned it to the store.  Since I used Sandy's name to buy it, they were able to trace it to her and I went  and picked it up.  I use her name because I almost never shop there.  The owner was rude to us one time--the very first time we were in there and I am not in a forgiving kind of mood enough to shop there when I get 10% off at Quilter's Corner. 

Whew!  Must go now.  Time for my nap!

Decision Made

I decided to get another "close" fabric.  We will see how "close" it really is when I give the quilt to my friend.  I went to Quilter's Corner today--partly to get the fabric I needed and partly to see the new classes being offered.  There was a meet the teacher day with quilters showing of their class product.  One woman actually glues her fabric to a backing and then quilts tulle to the project.  It is amazing to see what she comes up with, but it isn't my thing at all.  While I was there (with my friend Sandy) Dawn helped with finding a fabric to go with autumn squares--the 2011 Saturday Square sampler squares.  The squares are all in the orange, gold and green families with a healthy bit of purple/maroon. 

While we were there at Quilter's Corner, I asked Nancy if she was at the last Saturday Square meeting.  I said I just loved the blue snowmen that were embroidered and set in a frame.  The woman who had the frame and her mother, who is the embroiderer, were both there and I was able to get the name of the pattern company--Bird Brain.  I continue the search.  I wonder if I have the pattern and only have not imagined it in blue.

What do you do?

What do you do when you don't have enough fabric to finish a project?

I am making a quilt and there is not enough fabric.  I didn't buy the fabric, so it isn't my fault, but I have to find a way to work it out.  I think I will have to introduce another fabric into the pattern to make this work. 
I have to laugh at those people who run out of a fabric and only need a quarter yard, but I am thinking that would be as annoying as this had been for me.  I need about 2.5 yards.  Unfortunately for me, this particular fabric was available in 2005.  There is VERY little chance that seven years later (yes, it has been that long that I have had this fabric and have been making this quilt oh so slowly!) I will find it. 

So, what do you do when you are in my spot?

Book Reviews and Resolutions

BOOKS:

I have been reading a lot lately.  I confess that I love to read a book--any book.  So, what am I reading?

My newest quilt book is Simple Graces by Kim Diehl.  There is one quilt that I will have to do as it is calling my name, Pie in the Sky.  It is a combination of the churn dash square and the eight pointed star.  I can see it in the 1800 reproduction fabrics.  I know it can be purchased at JoAnn's since this came to me from Santa via the Darling Daughter.  We were out at the grocery store and people were coming up to her to say hello because she is their favorite JoAnn employee.  A celebrity among us!!

For work I read a most adorable book, Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai.  While there is a bit of shooting with real guns as the family flees Afghanistan, the real "shooting" is done by camera.  In this story, the main character is an eleven year old boy.  As the family flees, the boy has his 6-year old sister's hand and they get separated.  The sister, Mariam, is left behind as the family is forced to make their way to the United States.  This is a book written for teenagers, but it is worth reading for all of us.  It is a window into the thinking of people we are not always familiar with.   As I was reading I was hoping that the end would not be predictable and I was happily surprised.  One part really stood out for me, even though it was only mentioned once or twice.  Obviously the parents are taking  steps to find their daughter through contacts still in Afghanistan and relatives in Pakistan, but there are other people, including the U.S. Embassy people, actively looking for this little girl.  In this family of five, she is the only one who is an American citizen.

I am halfway through Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews.  Three friends stay at a beach house in August.  I am reading Vintage Chic by Christina Strutt for ideas now that I have a room to decorate and the Big Book of Home Cooking by Gooseberry Patch.  Think blueberry coffee cake!

RESOLUTIONS:
 
#1   I have a cold.  I tell you this because my first resolution is to be better about my health.  I tend to just keep on going.  As I write this I am remembering that I am supposed to make an appointment because I am always sleepy and I didn't do it.  Oh well, I fell off the wagon, but I can get back on!

#2    I must get organized before I buy any more patterns.  If I was organized then I would know that even though I fell in immediate love with the quilt hanging at Quilter's Corner (Cracked Pots by Miss Rosie), that I really love the colors and that I have a very cute house quilt that Miss Rosie came out with years ago and save myself a bit of $$.  I would begin to realize that I have a thing for garden embroidery and stop buying more and more patterns.  

That is it for me!  What are you reading????

Christmas Gifts

I got a great Christmas gift from my husband.  He picked it out.  I really like it.  He thinks I hate it.  What he bought for me is a Keurig coffee station.  It is really fantastic.  You can make one cup of coffee in seconds.  The most fun is trying all the different kinds of coffee you can buy.  It came with six boxes of different coffees.  There was the doughnut shop coffee.  I didn't really care for that one.  The french roast was yummy.  It makes a lovely cup of tea which is wonderful because I don't like to microwave water for tea.
So, why does he think I hate this joyful present?  I haven't gotten rid of the old coffee maker.  I haven't figured out how to make coffee with my own grounds and I have a pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend that I just love.  Another issue is that I am home and it is annoying to have to make my coffee one cup at a time.  And I haven't yet figured out what to do about the day I go back to work and need enough coffee to fill my small thermos.

My in-laws gave me money.  I took that money and bought the pattern A Gardener's Alphabet by Crabapple Hill Studio.  All the quilt stores here seem to be doing it as a block-of-the-month (one store for $22.00 a month), but I don't want to go that route and prefer to do it on my own.  No pressure, no commitment that I can't meet.  That would be a $264.00 quilt.  I paid the $80.00 for the pattern and will do my own thing.  I am thinking of a cream on cream or a cream on white pattern for the background fabric.  Wish me luck in my fabric search!