My Quilting Mojo has returned

I'm feeling better...thank you for all the well wishes I received from my blogland buddies.

I knew I was feeling better when I suddenly wanted to quilt again. :-)

Here are the pictures of the row robin quilts Momma Newbie and I are working on.

This is Momma Newbie's quilt


This is my quilt


They are both done and ready to go north. (no pressure Aunt D. LOL)

I started working on a stacked coin quilt. I am just kind of winging it...I want to make it a lap quilt. Wow, this quilt sure does go together quickly. Even quick for me...lol

After much internal debate

I have decided to share my recent excitement.

On Tuesday March 3 while watching The Biggest Loser, I started to experience some chest pain...within about 20 minutes I realized (or finally admitted to myself that I needed to go to the hospital) To make a very long story short and sweet. I was admitted and had an angiogram done. They discovered I had a 90% blockage. So I had angioplasty and 2 medicated stents placed in one of my arteries. I have been home now for a couple weeks and I am getting better and stronger everyday.

One of the reasons I didn't want to share my story was I didn't want people passing judgement on me and my health and lifestyle.

Full disclosure moment LOL
I'm 41
I smoke
I'm overweight
I am not overly active

One of the reasons I finally decided to share my story is because I do not fit the mold for heart problems. (Woman under 50 don't usually have heart problems) And I wanted women to take symptoms seriously...and not to ignore them...like I did.

Denial is very real....I did it for more than two weeks. I was lucky when I had the big attack (was not an actual heart attack..thank god)I had classic signals that even I could not ignore.

Chest pain.
Pain down my left arm
Left arm and hand numb
Pain in my throat
Pain in my jaw (both sides)
throwing up

Take it from me....do no ignore these signs.

Some signs I had before the big day. Mild chest pain when walking to the train. (excuse...it is cold out and I'm out of shape)
Out of breath (out of shape)
heartburn that would not go away with medication (Rolaids etc) (just chalked that up to just being weird)
Generally not feeling well (February blahs)

I am lucky, I had a doctor in the emergency room who didn't care that I didn't fit the mold and who listened to my symptoms. I had a cardiologist that didn't care that I didn't fit the mold and sent me for an angiogram.

Now, the good news. I am no longer a smoker. I have not smoked since March 3. I no longer live on Coke/Pepsi and chips...and I have cut out salt. I have lost 12 lbs since this happened and hope to lose more.

This has certainly been quite a month and I learned much. Knowledge is power and I educated myself quickly. One of the sites that provided tons of info was The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Educate yourself and don't ignore the signs no matter how scary it is. (the alternative is much scarier)

Birthday Weekend Extravaganza

Friday night I met up with my oldest (there is a joke there somewhere but I'll be kind) friend to celebrate our birthdays. My birthday was Saturday and her birthday is next Saturday. We went to our favourite restaurant Go Believe Sushi in Whitby. The food was wonderful as always but the service was a little quirky. Not bad...just strange, it certainly gave me and my friend lots of laughs.

Saturday I met up with 32.5 and we headed out to Uxbridge to check out a couple of sewing stores and have lunch. Of course I bought fabric, because it was my birthday and if I want fabric I'll buy it. LOL. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME...LOL. I was good though I only bought a little bit. I don't know, I think I am gaining some self control in my old age. 32.5 treated me to lunch at Frankie's Ristorante.

32.5 took some pictures of our adventure and gave me permission to steal some of them for my blog.




Can you tell how excited I am to be shopping for fabric? LOL

Saturday night my mom took me and my dad out for dinner. My dad's birthday is two days before mine. We went to Kelsey's in Oshawa.

Sunday was another nice day...spent with my parents. Went and did some shopping/bonding with my dad...and then my mom and I came over to my house to do some sewing. I actually didn't do any sewing...I ended up doing some housework but my mom finished up her row on my quilt. She even got to use the fancy sewing machine, so she was very happy...lol





Excellent work mom....you are becoming a real quilter.

Thank you 32.5 for a lovely lunch and afternoon on Saturday and for letting me steal some of your pictures. I can't wait to see your blog post.

sewing update

I managed to get some sewing done this weekend. I finished the receiving blankets for my cousin. I sewed 4 of them out of the same fabric I used for the quilt. They are bigger then most receiving blankets so maybe my cousin can use them as crib blankets. They look pretty good. You will have to take my word for it because I haven't taken any pictures of them yet....lol. I have a little bit of fabric left over so I am going to try to make a couple of burp clothes. Everything I've made should make a pretty nice shower present.

Just to explain what a newbie I am. I had never ever used the zig zag stitch before. But I think I did a good job of it....it looks nice (again...trust me..lol) It makes such a nice finished edge. I have a serger that my Aunt gave me but I have yet to figure out how to use it. To say I am afraid of it is an understatement. I am hoping the next time my aunt and cousin come down I will get a really good lesson from my cousin.

Momma Newbie worked on her row robin this weekend. She has her row all sewn together, now all she has to do is add it to my quilt top.

That is all that is happening in this part of the world this weekend. Maybe I'll get some more sewing done this week.

Baby Quilt is done

The baby quilt is done. I can't believe I finished a project..lol. I did all the cutting last night after work. Today I did all the sewing. Momma Newbie did all the fringe cutting. (we now call her the claw because her hand is so sore...lol)

This is the first time I've washed a quilt after finishing it. I am always too afraid to wash it, in case it shrinks or the colours run. I am pleased with the results, I'll have to do it again.

A special thank you to 32.5 for her tip on the washable markers. That is what I used to draw the x on each square, and it really did wash right out. Crayola washable markers are now in my quilting tool chest.

Ok, so are you ready to see the masterpiece??? Here we go.

Sick Day

I've been fighting a cold and cough since Friday. Well, today if finally happened I gave in to the cold and stayed home. I am pretty sure my co-workers are happy they don't have to listen to me cough up a lung today. I don't know how it is possible to feel so awful when you have a cold. IT'S JUST A COLD!!!!! BLAH!!!

So, I thought it would be a good afternoon to update my blog.

My cousin's daughter is having a baby in March and I am going to make a baby quilt for her baby. I bought the fabric last weekend and a pattern for a rag quilt. Another Newbie Moment. I've never worked with flannel before. I've never made a rag quilt. I've never used a McCall pattern before. Yep, this is going to go well...LOL.





I also bought myself some more fabric. Because I really don't have enough fabric...(ya, uh huh..lol)






And momma newbie and I are almost done our part of the row robin. Both of our squares are done and squared up. (newbie moment. I think somewhere along the way I forgot you were suppose to square everything up...so once I had all my individual 6 squares all done. I just started sewing them all together. YEP!! That didn't work out so well, lol. So I ripped them all out ( only a few bad words were spoken during that process) and squared them all up.)





Well, I think it is time to make myself a nice hot cup of tea and then maybe a nap. :-)

WOW, I got an award.

Thank you Tracey
for giving me this award. Tracey has a couple of blogs one is for crossstitch and one is for quilting and crafting. Drop by Tracey's blogs and say hello. Tracey was one of the first people to leave me a note on my blog when I first started, I was so excited when I had a comment from someone other than my family..lol. Thanks Tracey for making that first comment and helping build my confidence in blogland.

OK, so I guess I am suppose to list 5 things that I am addicted too and then hand out the award to 5 blogs that I think are fabulous.

1. blogging
2. Coca-cola
3. the internet
4. quilting
5. facebook

Please check out these 5 blogs that I think are fabulous.

32.5
quilting in cyberspace
scraps
the quilting bookworm
quilts and stuff

Of course there these are not the only blogs that I love to read everyday. Please check out my sidebar to see all the blogs I need to read daily.