Friday Finish

My health has been slowly improving. My hcg dropped to below 5, which was the goal so I’m officially cancer free. I did the first of three precautionary rounds of chemo, but then I ended up in the emergency room with severe shortness of breath and a partially collapsed lung. My oncologist and I decided that the potential benefit from additional chemo didn’t outweigh the side effects I was experiencing, so we stopped future rounds. After two weeks, I can take a deep breath again and I’m slowly adding walks and mini workouts back into my routine. I’ve lost a lot of strength and endurance, but I’m determined to get it back.

There has been a lot of quilting progress going on while I rest and recover. My Thousand Pyramids quilt is a completed top. I started this quilt seven or eight years ago. I used a jelly roll and a 60-degree triangle ruler to cut my pyramids and made this as a hand sewing project. I brought it along as a travel project for awhile, but then it got set aside. When I got married and moved in with my husband, I rediscovered it and even purchased backing fabric, but it got set aside again.

When I started chemo, I brought it along while I waited at appointments. I kept it handy at home and stitched a bit when I had the strength. Once the rows were completed, I spent some time playing with them on my design wall trying to make sure I didn’t end up with the same fabric touching. I mostly succeeded and I’m more than okay with the final result. I have the backing and batting ready for basting. I have no idea where my thimble is, so the hand quilting will wait until I find/replace it.

While the hand sewing has been nice and steady, I’ve been feeling that need for speed – machine sewing. I pulled out another UFO that I’ve been working on for years – it started as a swap with Quilting Around the World (QATW) members. QATW is an online forum for quilters – there are blogs, swaps, a trading post, and a chat room. It was the first quilting community I joined back in 2006 and I’ve made many great friends. I got the borders added at a QATW retreat and my quilty friends helped me baste it…and then it sat.

I had started machine quilting it a few years ago, but it got set aside for life. I got it out last week just craving some quick straightish line quilting. I can’t find the walking foot for my Viking, but my other walking foot attaches and seems to work for what I need. This isn’t going to be in a contest or a museum, so I’m not going for perfection. I’m not always a “finished is better than perfect” quilter, but these projects have sat for far too long.

And finally the finish. About a year ago, I had traced a card from my husband’s grandmother and embroidered her signature. I finally finished the back of the embroidery to hang in my son’s room. I’m ordering more hoops and plan to make a collage with more love stitches.

I love the result. This was a quick project with a big impact.

I hope everyone finds some quilting time this weekend.

–Heather