Calendar Poodle SAL

Monday, October 28, 2013

I've Been Quilting

Good Morning friends! Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

How the heck are ya?! Guess what? GUESS WHAT?!? After this last test injection in my left SI joint, I told Brian we should just look online to see what I can do with meds instead. It turns out I am on the lowest dose of Neurontin. I asked the PA if she would increase it, and she did. She doubled it. My pain is now usually a 2 on the pain scale. Friends, that is fantastic!!!

I did have a moment of bitterness. I was upset and wondered, why did I have to ask for this?! Why didn't someone do this for me YEARS ago?! I could have avoided painful procedures THAT DIDN'T WORK!! But I am letting that go. I am thankful instead I have it NOW. God is good and He is merciful and compassionate.

I broke a rib! I did this once about 10 years ago. From coughing. Yes, I broke my rib coughing. That dumb cold I got like the rest of the family a month ago. Well, I get lingering coughs with at least one cold a year it seems for years now. So on Friday I coughed and felt it kind of click/crack. Amazing how painful a broken rib can be. I am not going to the doctor with this. I did 10 years ago. They took an x-ray, said yep it's broke and then sent me home. It takes about one month to heal.

I made an applique quilt of Henry.
 I had plans to make this since we got him back in spring. But, well. I loosely used the pattern for a poodle found in Best In Show: 24 Applique Quilts for Dog Lovers by Carol Armstrong. I had to redraw many of the pattern pieces to make it look like Henry. And I decided if I ever wanted it to get done, I needed to just do fusible applique to make it easier. That is the method I used for Mabel's quilt. Remember this?

Amish Mabel In A Square

Henry's Quilt hangs in the kitchen. He needed his own quilt too. His replaced this one that was in the kitchen.
"Mac, Maggie and Mabel"
The quilt is 18"x22". The "Henry" is just about life size. =)
I just outline quilted Henry, and quilted in the ditch. I quilted 4 paw prints, one in each corner.
I really struggle when using the quilting foot on my sewing machine. That whole free motion thing is hard for me to conquer. But it is done, and I did it.
 Here's the little rascal. ;)
And here is the little lady. I just gave her a bath and haircut. Isn't she pretty?♥
Have a beautiful day in the Lord my friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

41 comments:

Stitchy Mc Floss said...

Praise God! Oh Praise God! Your pain is much less than it was. I am just so over joyed for you sweet friend….I can't stop smiling and Praising God. Yay! :)

Awww love that sweet little Henry quilt, he's so adorable and Mabel is so pretty in her little picture with her new haircut. They are both very adorable.

Blessing to you always sweet friend….and Praise God! for your pain getting better, too.

Mary said...

Oh Vickie, what wonderful news that you have gotten pain relief. Thanks be to God for such a favor!
I hope your rib heals quickly, too.

I love the quilts of your little buddies.
Mabel and Henry look like they love the camera..

Have a good week ahead.

Mii Stitch said...

Lovely work on the quilting! I love the little paw prints, they are so sweet :)

cucki said...

Wow it's looking wonderful..well done dear...
Cute Mabel and Henry ..kisses
Big hugs xx

Beth said...

What great quilt pieces Vickie. And how wonderful to hear your pain is 'manageable'.

Vicki said...

Hallelujah! I'm so pleased your pain is decreased. Your quilts are really cool...

Giovanna said...

That's some great quilting! So glad that the pain is less, but sorry about the rib - I hope it heals quickly.

Julie said...

Such good news that your pain is improving, I wonder why they didn't offer you the chance up the doseage.

I too have broken a rib in the past coughing so know exactly the pain you are in with that.

A lovely quilt, love the paw prints in the corners, so cute.

Andrea said...

Great to hear some good news. Sorry about that rib though. Ouch!

Your quilt is just beautiful, along with your other ones.

Carol said...

That is such wonderful news, Vickie!! I hope it continues to keep your pain level down :) I've noticed the same thing over the years--it is the patient that often seems to have to do the research to come up with an answer. It just doesn't make sense!

Lovely quilt of Henry--you got the coloring just perfect!! I'm so glad he has his own quilt--now he must really feel like a part of the family :)

♥ Nia said...

Great news!! :D and.. weird news after =/ are you sure it's not better to check the doctor again, about your rib?! =/ Take care sweetie, maybe it's the same thing, maybe it's not.. Just hope it's not more pain to deal with!! Enough of that already :p

Lovely work!! :)
hugs to you

Melissa said...

What a relief you must have felt when the pain started to subside! I can only imagine! I am just happy to hear that your pain is lessened even just a little Vicki.

Sorry to hear about the rib. Hopefully you'll be healed up faster than a month (yikes).

Your quilting is beautiful. Is it weird that I'm scared to do applique quilting. It seems hard and my stitches are not the best....

Happy Stitching

Melissa

Rowyn said...

That is great news that your pain has lessened. Although, a shame you broke your rib coughing. Ouch!

Love your applique quilt of Henry.

Unknown said...

Such fantastic news! So happy for you cause I know how painful the SI joint can be. Breaking a rib..well that's another story. I hope it's not too painful for you and you get better real fast. Again your dogs a just too adorable for words!

Margaret said...

I'm so glad I waited till I had the time to sit and enjoy this post! First off, hooray!!!! I'm still feeling so happy for you! The pain is low and that's just wonderful! And then -- the quilts!!!!! Wow!!! I love them all! But Henry's is sooooo adorable! Can I ask -- how do you applique the pieces down once you do the fusible?? What stitch do you use on your machine? I just got a new machine and I'm learning. lol! I tried free motion quilting at the store and whoa, it's hard! You did a great job with yours! Anyway, I love the quilts, love seeing the little fur babies too. :D

Cindy said...

Pretty quilt of Henry, precious puppy photos!

Meari said...

LOL, I sing that song a lot. So glad your pain levels are way down. That's awesome!

Congrats on your latest finish. Those dog quilts are so creative. And what cute babies you have. :)

gracie said...

Glad you are getting some pain relief. Love the quilts....

Nicky said...

Wonderful news Vickie, who would have dreamed the answer could have been so simple? The great thing is that you are feeling so good, long may it continue.....

Deborah said...

I am so happy that you are feeling better. The quilts of the kids are beautiful.

moreofhim said...

I'm SO happy that you're feeling so much better!!! YAY! Praise God!

You are SO talented, Vickie! I love your Henry quilt, it looks just like him. You just amaze me. :)

God bless you, my friend!

Julie

Chris said...

So glad that you are feeling better!
That quilt is amazing!! hugs!!

Trace4J said...

AGREED!!
Praise GOD!!
Yippppppppppppppppppeeeeeee
so happy for you.
Love your darling poodles.
Woolie Blessings

Michelle said...

Lovely quilting and pleased to see you are having some pain relief x

Lee said...

So thrilled to read that prayers have been answered and you have less pain.
Love your quilt.

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

How wonderful your meds are working for you.
i love your quilts Vickie,They are so beautifully done.

Angela said...

I'm so glad to hear that the Neurontin is helping you too but I'm so sorry to hear about your broken rib.

Lovely quilts :) They are gorgeous!

Take care and I hope you are healing quickly!

butterfly said...

Such good news Vickie about your meds.
They never do any thing for a cracked rib, it must be so painful, hugs.

Simply Victoria said...

Answered prayer is a huge praise.
Cute quilt!

Melanie said...

What?? An increase in meds you were already taking did the trick? Oh boy. I would be angry too. :(

I have definitely heard of breaking a rib from coughing. I had a family that would do that. :( Soooo painful. Take it easy, bb!!

Myra said...

That is great news Vickie! I am so happy for you. Love your Henry quilt, so cute!

Furry Bottoms said...

You've been blessed with multi-talents. These are incredible!

Annette-California said...

Oh thanks be to God! So glad to hear your pain has decreased!!! Now lets pray that your rib heals ASAP!!!
Your quilting is beautiful. You really did an amazing job on creating Henry in a quilt - WOW!!
You are so talented.
Love all your quilts. love Annette

Lillie said...

Good to know that your pain has decreased and OMG! hope you will take it easy there with the broken rib.Take care there !

Awesome quilts! you are very creative.

Sally said...

Oh gosh Vickie how awful that you had to ask for this drug to help you with pain! That is disgusting but I am glad that you now have it.

Hope you are feeling much better now and your rib heals quickly.

Cute quilting!

Jeanne said...

So glad you have found some ways to lessen your pain. These days it seems we all have to be our own health managers unfortunately.

Your Henry wallhanging is just so cute - congrats on a wonderful finish. And your Papa Francisco from your last post is amazing - what a great design you did! Never fear, your free-motion quilting skills will improve in time...it just takes practice and learning to relax when doing it instead of tensing up.

Catherine said...

Just catching up on posts and just left a comment on a previous post about your pain ~ so happy to read here that you have found some relief!! Love your quilting ~ how very sweet ~ and it is always fun seeing pics of the pups...

Solstitches said...

Your quilting projects are so cute and I'm impressed at your free motion quilting.
That's wonderful news that your pain is so much less now.
Margaret

Maggee said...

I am SO VERY glad to hear that you are feeling less pain! Yay! And Thanks God! I really really love the Henry quilt!! It is too cute!!!! I hope to try my hand at applique and quilting soon... Sometimes I think I cracked something but talk myself out of it... wondering now! Glad glad glad for you once again!

Jolene said...

I am glad to hear you have had good results with the neurotin. just do be careful and watch for any side effects. I ended up in the hospital due to a fall but it was complicated by too much neurotin and caused my kidneys to misbehave. It is a wonderful medicine but has to be increased slowly and NEVER stopped completely or suddenly without your dr checking you out or it can have VERY serious complications. keeping you in prayer for continued improvement. Blessings
Jo

Varla Lee said...

Ok, today i want to visit just your blog for upgrade me of all that I missed in my absence. So for start here i want you to say a warm "hi" dear friend and to say that all the things you made are lovely. Well i will check the other posts, hugs!