Of course, I entered Radiate. This quilt was made for this show. It's 43.5" square. I used a pattern for a queen sized quilt and cut all the pieces at half the pattern size.
And, I'm going to enter this one in the "kit quilt" category. This is one that a friend of Linda's shared with me and Linda was so excited when I finished it and entered it in a show and she got to see it hanging.
Linda used to go to every quilt show with us and it was very hard for me to enter my quilts in this show, knowing she wouldn't be there with us. But, a couple days ago, I realized how disappointed she would be if I didn't enter quilts in the show and used being too focused on her as my excuse. She would be livid! So, I cried a little bit and started filling out paperwork.
Cuz heaven knows I can't afford a haunting!
Linda is in and out. On Tuesday, they had decreased her pain medication and she was as lucid as could be and wanted to talk about her hallucinations and while she knew they weren't real, she could remember them as if they were. Unfortunately, she was in a little pain, so it wasn't a good trade-off. We chatted and laughed and I fed her cottage cheese and fruit from her tray. I was so afraid I'd stab her in the tongue with the fork. Two days later, I thought about the spoon on the tray. D'oh! I dropped a little on her before I thought to put a napkin under her chin and she said I was out of practice feeding people. I told her she was even more out of practice being fed and we had a good laugh about it.
Right now, her greatest challenge is neglect. Her son is not stepping up. He had not contacted hospice. And, the nurses didn't have the time she needed, even though they were doing their best to check on her often. The nurses talked to Rob and Rob called the son and told him he had to reach out to hospice and get their help. The nurses talked to Rob because one of us is there every day for at least an hour and they've noticed. Every nurse asks Rob if he is her son.
Rob is a good son, even to people that didn't give birth to him.
I am too, but he's better at interacting with...well, everybody, so gets extra credit.
Everybody has been very excited over my hearing aid strap. Linda designed it and I made it. Linda's pair of hearing aids have two parts, one about the size of a pea, the other larger and fits behind the ear. They're joined by a thin wire. When she gets them too close to the pillow, she gets feedback so she likes to slip them out of her ear, but she can't get out of bed if one drops to the floor, so needed something to keep them on the pillow. It has eyeglass loops from my beading supplies in the ends, but I also sent a couple of lengths of yarn in case those were too small and the hearing aids needed to be tied in.
One of the nurses had the hearing aids when Rob got there and helped him put them in the loops. All the nurses came over and oohed and aahed over them and what a great idea they are and suggested we take them to Shark Tank and make a fortune.
The first one was cast on 52 (it's not called casting in crochet is it? but you know what I mean), at the turn at the end, pull the yarn through the eyeglass loop and then triple crochet back to the beginning. Tie the other loop on with the yarn ends and bury the ends in the work. Linda's feedback was that was a little short, but functional. So, I made this blue one casting on 67.
When I offered her the desert off her tray on Tuesday, she turned it down and gave me a sly smile and suggested she wouldn't need that desert because there was probably a new cookie flavor, right? "No. I made home made scones for you yesterday. I grated and squeezed the orange and kneaded the dough by hand. There are no new cookies today." And, we had a big laugh.
And, I came home and made cookies.
Chocolate kiss thumbprints. She sent Rob out for a diet Coke and while he was gone, she broke into the dish and was popping one in her mouth, chocolate kiss first, when he got back. These were so soft, she didn't even need her teeth. She commented that I am making all her cookie recipes, so she remembers that.
Yesterday, the hallucinations were back. She's being robbed and kidnapped and needs to be rescued. Can she hide out at our place for a while? That's a hard one. Feeds all our need to rescue the princess like we were taught, right? I had a lunch meeting and didn't get to visit yesterday. I'll be going today for lunch.
Everybody have a great weekend! Celebrate it. It's strange, I can't remember which of my parents used to say this all the time, but I remember it being said, so maybe it was both of them. This too shall pass. Unfortunately, that includes the good and the bad. If you're too young to have learned this, relish every moment of the good because those memories come in handy during the bad.
If you're old as me, life has probably taught you that already. But, if you weren't listening, this is a reminder. Relish every moment of the good!
Even when the good isn't all smiles and laughing because smiles and laughing aren't the only signs that you're in the good.
Lane
3 comments:
You brought up more memories of my dad while he was in a nursing home. He was in for over 10 years. My mom went twice a day, at lunch and supper, to help him eat. I went over a couple of mornings a week during breakfast. And you are right about the staff at these homes have so many duties and so many patients, it's hard for them to give individual attention. You could sort of tell who didn't get visitors. Linda is fortunate to have friends like you, Rob and Syd. Thanks for sharing.
That's a nice thing to remember - "smiles and laughing aren't the only signs that you're in the good".
Those three quilts are all stunning, but the brown one remains my favorite. Brown isn't my color at all, but everything feels perfectly balanced.
Hugs to your family and Linda.
These are beautiful quilts, Lane. Good luck with the show! I am sincerely sorry about your friend. I hope it goes easily for her. It's difficult for everyone, but love is never wasted, even though the end is very hard.
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