Best of 2016

When I first heard that Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs was hosting a Best of 2016 Linky Party, I wasn't going to participate because I didn't think I had much to talk about this year.  But I couldn't resist joining in the fun so here I am.  It seems we were just doing this not too long ago.  Can't believe that a year has gone by already.  Thank you Cheryl for hosting this linky party again.

Life in 2016 has been great and I'm looking forward to an even better 2017.  This year I learned not only about being a giver but a receiver.  It's hard to receive help sometimes because we may think we can do it all ourselves.  Being on the receiving end is not a sign of weakness but a testimony that guardian angels are real among ordinary people.  I've always valued my family and friends but after what happened to me this year, they are much more precious to me.  I've gained some new friends who I've met and whom I haven't yet met.  

I haven't yet met Julie Cefalu @ thecraftyquilter.com, Stephanie Palmer @ latenightquilter.com, Amy Smart @ diaryofaquilter.com and Julie Stocker @ pinkdoxies.com , but they were so gracious and generous in spending their time to review my book and helped me to promote it.  Their willingness to help out a new blogger/quilter touched my heart more than anything.  Thank you ladies.  I hope that one day I'll have an honor to meet you.


Best finished gift - Finished an UFO.

 

During my recovery, I didn't feel like doing any thing but the doctor said to ease back to my normal activities.  I tried to get back to sewing and reading but couldn't.  I would shy away from anything that required concentration.  For 5 months I didn't sew even one stitch and then slowly and gradually, I started to sew again.  I started this quilt for a dear friend's first baby before my health issue in January.  It was finished in late July and delivered to her in August.  

Truthful confession - So many projects, so little energy

This post showed a few of my projects for 2016 and the one I am most proud of is 'Square Dance'.  I learned to quilt with a walking foot and did the quilting myself.  Working on this quilt taught me about patience.  No matter how often the thread broke, you just have to recheck your machine and re-thread that needle!!  And a very important lesson, don't do thing at the last minute.  Loosing sleep is not a good thing.  :)

Even though it's a reject (from a competition), I love everything about this quilt.

This post also showed the new blocks I made for Kat @ Covered in Love.

I love participating in this project.  She always has fun block designs for us to make. Check out her blog to learn more about her project.  It's amazing!

Before ending I would like to mention about my tutorial post called Handbag Tutorial.  Even though I posted this in December of 2015, it still gets views even recently.  This post has over 750 page views.  It's the highest number I've got to date.  I plan to do more tutorial posts in the future.  The quilting community is amazing and I'm glad to be part of it.  I'll continue to strive and to find my voice. 

Happy New Year

Embrace and celebrate Life

Setting goals for 2017

I'm an admirer of Yvonne Fuchs's work for a while now.  When I found out that she's having a '2017 Planning Linky Party', I thought what a great idea and decided to join in.  In order to set goals for the new year, I have to look back to see how far I've come this year.  I hope to bring you along and celebrate life with me.

Reflections of 2016

2016 started out great.  I was excited and looked forward to my book with AQS that scheduled to come out in March.  Then on January 25th at 1:30am., I had a Subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by ruptured aneurysm.  At that time, I didn’t really know what happened to me.  Thank God that my husband was home, he called 911 and the paramedics got me to the nearby hospital right away.  I was transferred to Cedar Sinai Hospital at 5 am. and was immediately put into a medically induced coma while waiting to have brain surgery which would be at 4 pm.  The neuro surgeon went in and clamped the ruptured ends of the blood vessel with tiny titanium clips which will permanently stay inside my brain, then he closed up my skull with more titanium plates and screws.  I wonder when I go to the airport, if the alarms will go off because of all the heavy metal inside my head.  Haven’t tried it yet even though the surgeon said it should not.  No, the titanium is not really a heavy metal, but I just have to say that.

My surgery was a success because here I am back in great condition and I continue to do all the things that I loved.  Although not yet 100% like before, it may never be 100%, but I am grateful that I am still here with my dear family and friends.   

My biggest supporter is my dear husband.  He was with me all 30 days in the hospital through every step of the way.  Being in bed in the hospital that long is very bad for your muscles.  I pretty much lost all my muscle mass and had to exercise to gain it back.  I had to relearn to walk and to do many things that we all take for granted.  Since my aneurysm happened in the front part of my brain, my memory was affected.  The Neuro Psychiatrist helped me with my short term memory lost.  We played memory games with words and he had me copy pictures by drawing free hand.  All the physical and occupational therapists were very good and they helped me tremendously and that’s why I’m doing so well.  After being released from the hospital, I continued to have physical therapy for 3 more months at my local hospital and that also was a great help.  I regained the usage of my hands and legs which I'm very thankful.  My dear husband took time off work to be with me and helped me for 9 months.  He made sure that I rested and didn't over extend myself which I tend to do.  I'm so used to doing a lot of things such as volunteering both at church and in local communities and schools.   I slowed down and stopped some of my volunteer work. 

Most of 2016 was devoted to getting better.  My brain surgeon said I should slowly get back to my normal activities but do not stress or over exert myself.  Two restrictions he also gave me; no roller coasters and no chiropractors.  I had to laugh when I heard that because I don't like either of them.  I had a lot of time to think deeply about what is important in life.  One day I may know why I survived this ordeal, but I do know that by the grace of God that I am still here.  So many prayers were said on my behalf for which I am very grateful.  Heavenly Father has blessed me and my family beyond measure.  Some people who knew what happened to me in January, couldn't believe their eyes when they saw me.  The only thing that still bugs me is that I get tired so easily.  That's the way things are when we get older too, I was told.

By the fourth quarter, I slowly got back to sewing and blogging.  My book came out right on schedule and I had a promotion give away with lots of great prizes from various companies.  You can read about it here.

Now what's in 2017 
 
It's like a new beginning, in fact everyday is a new beginning.  Here goes, my goals for 2017.

Quilting goals:

1. Finish my son's new quilt.
2. Learn to do free motion quilting.
3. Planning for another book, either by myself or co-author with other quilters.  Publishing a book is a lot of work but it gave me a great sense of accomplishment.  
4. Design and make more quilts and eventually publish some patterns.
5. Finish at least 3 UFO's.  There are several quilt tops that I made for class samples when I taught at my local quilt shop.  I need to quilt them and put binding on.

 Personal progress goals:

1. Take photography classes.  Learn to use my digital camera and take better pictures.
2. Participate more in on-line group events.  I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from being part of on-line groups in 2015 and would like to do that again.
3. Be more active in blogging and post more regularly.  
4. Improve the over all design of my blog.
5. I would love to take more trips.  We are empty-nesters turned dog sitters.
6. Do more gardening.  This year, I let it go due to my health issue.  Can't wait for 2017 to get back into my garden.

There they are for the public to see.  A bit scary for me to put my goals out in the open.  As the year progresses, I'll give update on completion of these goals.

Visit Yvonne at Quiltingjetgirl.com for some wonderful read and to check out more of the 2017 Planning Linky Party.

Have a great day!

QuiltCon Reject

Today I got a reject email from QuiltCon.  Yes, I'm disappointed but not bitter.  It's a learning experience for me.  A dear friend said I should adjust the top of the quilt better, it looked crooked.  It doesn't have sleeve in the back so I used pins to hold the quilt on my design wall to take this picture.  Lesson learned!!

I love this quilt and proud of the work in it. 

Enjoy your family 

and 

Have a great day!!

So many projects, so little energy

I took a long break from blogging and have been busy with some projects in between Thanksgiving feast and other celebrations.  I finished two blankets pictured below using the Faux Rag Quilting technique.

I've been playing with a jigsaw puzzle app on my iPad because I heard that it's good for the brain.  And that's the inspiration behind the above blanket.

I think I've mentioned before that I was working on a Michael Miller challenge.  I finished it in time to submit it to QuiltCon.  Here it is.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out and loved every minute of making it.  The quilt measures 42.5 x 58 inches.  I used a walking foot on Juki TL98 to quilt the whole thing. 

A week before Thanksgiving, my son turned 26 and I asked him if he wanted a new quilt.  I got a yes and a big smile!  I made him a quilt when he went to college and that was 8 years ago.  It's time for a new one.  He picked the color theme and he likes the HST design.  I put in couple printed fabric to try them out.  In the end, I might do all solids, maybe.

This layout is on my design wall right now.  There will be many more blocks to come.

I also had time to make a few blocks for Kat @ Coveredinlove.  This month's block is really fun to make.  In fact all her monthly blocks are fun to make.  Go to the link above and read about her quilt project.  I'm so glad to be part of it even in a small way.

That's it for now.  I still have 2 baby quilts to make for friends who just had their first grandchild.  It's really exciting and I'm very happy for them.

Enjoy the Holiday Season