It's Finished!

I have finally finished the quilt I was making for my niece. In an earlier post, I said I was using the Attic Windows block using heart blocks left over from an anniversary quilt as the focal point in the block. I even posted a photo of a block. Well, here is a photo of the finished item:

I think it turned out very nice. There is only one instance of having like blocks side by side. See the two pink hearts in the middle of the photo. And I worked so hard to try to avoid that happening. Oh, well. This photo makes the two hearts immediately to the left of the duplicates look the same, but they are not. The top one is blue and the bottom is green. And some of the windows look empty, but they aren't. Those windows have light colored, usually yellow, hearts. So what do you think? It actually does kind of look like a window -- if you squint your eyes and move back as far as possible. :-)

Good news on the cancer front. I had another 3-month follow-up visit yesterday with the medical oncologist and everything looks good (his words!). I am a year and a half out of the end of chemo so my anxiety lessens with each healthy doctor visit. I still have the port-a-cath, but I hope to get it removed when I can switch over to six month visits, which should happen sometime this fall. It doesn't hurt, but it's a bother having to have it flushed to make sure no clots form. I did find out recently that I can wait three months before having it flushed. I was told at the beginning that it should be flushed every 6-8 weeks. I've been having it flushed every six weeks because that times well with doctor visits. So now I'm switching to three months. Saves a little money because insurance doesn't cover all the cost of the flush. Nonetheless, I am very happy that I continue to do well. I feel good most of the time, which is a good thing. All in all, I'm very satisfied with my life.

In an early post this year, I mentioned the positive thoughts jar that I was going to keep. Well, it was a good idea! I do add thoughts to the jar, but it's not happening every day. To be honest, I seldom have thoughts that aren't positive so it's hard to remember to write down special thoughts that occur. I don't remember most of the things I have written down so opening the jar at the end of the year will be a treat. I must remember to add to the jar, though.

I've started working on the baby quilt for my new great-grand-nephew who is due in July. I'm using English paper piecing in a hexagon and diamond pattern. Something like the diagram below:


I like fabrics from the 1930's so that's what I'm using. Since it's for a boy, I am using "boy" colors -- blue, green and yellow prints for the hexagons and solid blue, green and yellow for the diamonds. I'm just getting started so no photos yet.

That just about does it for this time. The SWANs meet tomorrow night so I'll take the Attic Windows quilt for show-and-tell. They've watched me working on the blocks for what seems like forever so I'm sure they will want to see the finished product.

As always, thanks for reading my ramblings
Amy