More presents...

Well, I don't think you can call them that when you pay for them...but I didn't realize they were coming today. I had a small order coming from Connecting Threads that I forgot about and then I ordered a few more DMC spools from Soft Expressions to complete my stash of needleturn colors. My friend Carol was nice enough a few months back to hear me talking about wanting to try the DMC thread but not having any place locally to get any. One day in the mail comes these 9 spools of thread from her and a note saying she had somehow picked up duplicates of these colors so she was giving them to me so I could see how well I liked the thread! She really is the best friend! I've used those 9 colors for everything! Today I added a few greens, one blue and 3 reds....although I thought I only ordered 2 reds...but I'm sure I'll use them. This thread is super and very reasonably priced.

From Connecting Threads I got a hera marker for marking quilting lines, the pre-cut freezer paper sheets Dawn recommended that go right into the printer (YEA!) , some Needle Grip it pads so I don't have to wear total finger cots while I hand quilt, and 1/4 inch tape for when I really need to keep lines perfect. Mostly I do primitives and small things hand quilted but you never know when you need to be precise.

The other thing I got were these Mylar pre-sized circles. Aren't they cool?? Karen Kay Buckley designed them after finding similar ones in the hardware store to use. I saw her first use these on Simply Quilts and when they came out in a package I knew I needed them, but never got around to ordering some. Finally I did. You get four of each size and they are done in heat proof mylar. The smallest is 7/16th and the largest is 2 inches. This is the way I like making circles the best. Making a tiny running stitch around the edge and then tightening around the circle and starching the edge with a wet soaked Q-tip. Then press around the heat resistant Mylar. The Mylar won't melt but doesn't last forever. I've made many before having to make new circles. This way I don't have to fret over getting the perfect cut circle, which is very hard to do cutting free hand. Plus they fit on this nifty ring so they don't get lost.

Ah, it's good to be quiet and still today. Yesterday started with a bang at 8:45 with a call from Mom asking me to make an appt. for her because she thought her toe and foot was infected. I hung up, made the appt. called back and by the time I had hung up I knew we were going straight to the ER. She was wiped out, couldn't breath, and was dehydrated. Luckily she called her neighbor who came over and helped her until I got there. My sister was seconds behind us and we spent the day at the ER. I think we made it home about 4:30 and I got home at 5:30. She's much better today. Her foot wasn't infected, it's just that her body is so wiped out and her blood platelets are only 2 when they should be an 8...so that means she's got almost no immunity and she's a dishrag, as they put it. So she got fixed up, got antibiotics for her blister just to be safe and she's better today, but tired. The redness is a bad reaction to the chemo literally burning her skin. It's starting to take a big toll on her. Luckily we got some kinda good news though...

When the ER doc heard lung cancer he made a face and went back to look at her chest xray they had just done. He couldn't see a mass and thought maybe he missed it. He came back and said he was no cancer doc, and xrays hardly show anything compared to CT scans, but in his opinion it was showing a marked improvement if not being gone all together. 2 doctors said that. The scan is tomorrow and we are really hopeful that at the very least the mass is half the size it was or smaller. Xrays don't show up very well, but they definitely saw it on the xray the first time...so to see nothing now is good news. But official word will come in about 10 days. I'll let you know.

Now I am hungry and I need lunch.... then sewing!