Prismata

 My eldest daughter drew an incredible water dragon when she was in high school.  

At the time I told her that someday I would make him into a quilt for her. 

My skill level was not where I felt comfortable at that time.

I had just started quilting.

This is the original I was working from.

Over time I picked away at the project.

Always in between other things and with zero regularity.

I took it to a retreat a LONG time ago and the people there sort of made fun of the project.

I shoved it in a bag and it was literally YEARS before I took it out again.

I had taken the drawing and enlarged it.

(bite marks are from Finny)

I numbered all the areas on the drawing.

I traced all the pieced on to fusible.

I had chosen the fabrics and fused the pieces.

I brought everything with me to the Reject's Retreat.

I worked really hard on getting started on him.

His name is Prismata.

He is a rainbow, water dragon.

I managed to get him all fused to the background. 

Then I brought him home.

Afraid once again to go any further.

I finally took him out and brought him to my local LQS to ask about interfacing and thread.

They had excellent suggestions.

I bought the sharps sewing machine needles.

I bought 100 weight thread to stitch around him.

I used tear away fusible on the back of the piece.

I stitched all around him and he was amazing.

BUT, he needed amazing quilting.

So he flew on a plane to Washington to Quilting is My Bliss.

Let me tell you, he turned out better than I could have imagined!!!

This is the backing I chose.  I even put a hanging sleeve on it!

Let me tell you, my daughter was so excited to finally have him in her hands!

I gifted it to her on her birthday too.

So now you think this is the end, right?

Well you would be wrong.

If you noticed in the original drawing, he has rainbow colors and bubbles coming off him.

I was nervous to do this on the quilt.

My idea was to possibly use Intense pencils to create the rainbow in the water.

I also considered using hot fix crystals for the bubbles.

Since BOTH are things I couldn't remove, I wanted to see what she thought.

Of course she loved BOTH of those things.

YIKES!

I have not picked him back up to finish, yet.

I need to quilt up a sample to practice with the pencils.

You can color with them and then use water over the top to blend them into the fabric.

I had placed some crystals over the quilted bubbles just to see what how it looked before I even made this as a suggestion.

I remembered to take a picture of those so here is what I put in place, it was not all, as I would fill all the bubbles but I just wanted to see if I even liked it.

She assured me I could not make it too "rainbowy".

I sure hope she's right!

She seems to be the child I make the most complex quilts for.

(Remember her Hallowedding quilt??)

So Prismata is with me for just a little bit longer.

Until I become brave enough to use the colored pencils and put in his bubbles.

He is already an very handsome boy.

I'd love to hear what you think of him.

I think he is gorgeous!

More to come.

~XOP~

Flannel Charm Quilts

 I have been saving 5" charm squares for a long time.

I finally pulled them out and , as you could see in a previous post, I made some tops.

One is kind of boyish and one is more girlish.

I actually used flannel I had in my stash for the backs and left over batting.

I even quilted them myself!

Both quilts are listed in my ETSY shop.

This one has a brushed cotton on the back.

I love these little quilts so much!

I have sets of the 5" charms for sale.

There are 42 in each set.

These 5 are geared more toward little boys.

These are geared more toward little girls.

Although they do have many common squares.

None of the fabrics in the CP are repeats but there are some of the same prints in each pack.

I am asking $10/pack plus shipping,

If you are interested please email me with your paypal, zipcode and how many and whether boy or girl or no preference.

I'm sorry I have been MIA.

Getting Chris ready for his trip was exhausting, LOL.  

I spent the first 3 days cleaning up the mess.

Had 3 doctor appointments on Thursday.

My friend Kailie stayed with me on Wednesday and went home on Friday.

More about that coming up!

~XOP~

I Rang The Bell

 Yesterday was my last radiation treatment.  

A total of 15 treatments finished! 

 I believe I am now considered NED (no evidence of disease) 

 I brought cookies for my amazing radiation team. 

 They took great care of me and made my treatments easier. 

 I got a certificate and everything, LOL.

They invited me to come back and visit them, haha.  

Such sweet people.

They came out into the hall with me and cheered for me when I got to ring the bell too.

Chris took this video of me ringing the bell while my team cheered me on!

As you walk into the building for treatment there is a rock garden.

 People paint rocks with encouraging words, and sayings, memorials to loved ones, and things like you beat this, or we love you mom etc. 

As we were walking into the building on this day some of the workers were outside at a table painting rocks and invited us to join them on our way out.

I was so excited to have a rock there!

Imagine my surprise when I walked out and saw this in the garden.

Chris took a rock home and painted it for me!

I burst into tears and cried into his shoulder.

He teared up as we stood there, overwhelmed in the moment with how fortunate we were.

Fortunate that the BC was managable. 

Fortunate that the big treatments were over.

Fortunate that God loved me enough to save me.

Next week I will have a bone scan before I begin on an aromatase inhibitor.

I have 2 weeks before I begin that.

I'm not going to lie, that makes me really nervous.

It starves the body of Estrogen (which my cancer needs to grow).

No Estrogen?  No cancer growth.

I pray that God will continue to hold me in his arms and get us through this as well.

So far He has been SO good to me.

In the mean time.

I SEW BEAT THIS!

~XOP~

Gardening

 Last week and weekend we did a LOT of yard work!  

Chris made me 2 trough planters for me to grow veggies in.  

I dug up the horrible spread of chives. 

 I rearranged the rocks and took out the Hell grass that had gotten into the front garden. 

 I planted 2 blueberry bushes and three peony plants. 

 I planted my flat of Petunias, with the help of the little girl from next door. 

 Chris was NOT happy with all my efforts, LOL. 

 He thought I did too much.

I was tired but it felt GOOD!

This spiral stand still needs to be re-painted.

This is just one of the two planters.  

All tomatoes in this one.

While I was gardening, Chris power washed the deck.

He got to use the power washer I got him for his birthday.

Now it will need to be stained.

It was a productive week!

My last radiation treatment is tomorrow!!!!!!!!

So far so good.  

I will get to ring the bell then.

~XOP~