Cop Car's Beat

Miscellaneous

I was somewhat surprised, this morning, by two things: 1) HH and I had each had a good night's sleep, and 2) the radio station to which I "listen" all night (it helps me ignore my tinnitus and HH can't hear it) announced that it was snowing in Wichita. Surely enough, upon arising, I found that the world had developed a white blanket - and that big, fat snowflakes were (and are) still falling. Just yesterday I had heard a report about how, on average our temperatures are rising but that the occurrence of freeze-thaw cycles was increasing. The white blanket, once again, made it easier to see clumps of daffodils and narcissi.

A few years ago, I planted rings of daffodil bulbs around our newly planted pink-flowering dogwood trees, one ring of which is shown in the next photo.

Solution to a pressing domestic problem (possible TMI warning)

For the past 30 years, HH and I have followed the examples of our two sets of parents by maintaining separate bedrooms. No, we don't hate one another, but we are practical people. HH suffers from being cold nearly all of the time and I suffer from being too warm most of the time - in addition to which, we are both fitful sleepers who may gasp or snore. Separate bedrooms work and we've always known where to find one another in case of a low-hanky/panky warning light's illuminating.

But...things change. With that in mind, every few years I've given HH the option of sharing a bedroom. The answer had always been "No, thanks." until last Fall. Last Fall, mindful of HH's changing states of mind brought on by progression of his dementia, I asked again. He replied that it would "comfort" him to have the closeness. So I started spending my nights in his bedroom. What to do about the hot/cold difference? I sewed one of HH's heavy cotton/wool flannel sheets to one of my cotton broadcloth sheets, with the seam running down the centerline of each. The next photo demonstrates the placement of the sheets on the bed. As placed on the bed, HH has one layer of my sheet and two layers of his sheet over him while I have but the single layer of my sheet.

Depending upon the temperature, there is usually (at 72 degrees F in the bedroom) a light quilt atop the sheet that is shown. As the weather warmed up (it was 77 degrees F in the bedroom night-before-last), I sewed two of my sheets together in a similar fashion. With the newer sheet, HH has three layers of sheet while, again, I have a single layer.

This is a good compromise. I am usually a tad too warm, but not so warm as to be daunting, and HH is not freezing. (In my own bedroom, usually at 68 degrees F during the winter, I slept under but one sheet most of the time - two, when the temperature dipped a few degrees.)

The dark side of quilting

Although it's been at least a couple of months since I've worked on a new (or any other) quilt, I have just completed the last stitch on a quilt that was finished and delivered early last summer - Dudette's quilt.

Back story: A few years ago, knowing that I would be making Dudette a quilt, I started an embroidered block to baste onto the back of the quilt providing her name and my copyright identification. (My copyright identification is always on quilts that I make, but this was to be the first time I had included the name of the quilt's owner.) IMHO, the block was gorgeous. However, I decided that the block was incompatible with the backing fabric that Dudette and I had decided to use for her quilt.

The first photo shows the Paint® amended block, about which I stipulate that my embroidery isn't nearly as nice as what Paint® produced. (The faint blue outlines at the bottom of the Block are the leavings from my having picked out, i.e., removed, the "Annette Haga - Quilting" stitching.

The back of Dudette's quilt is shown in the next photo, below. As you can see, it qualifies as being on the "dark side of quilting". That white block would be startling on the back of the deep purple quilt backing.

Dudette returned her quilt to me and I have embroidered the information at the bottom of the backing, similarly to the way I had finished off Bogie's quilt. The next photo shows the embroidery at the left side of the bottom - crediting the woman who did the quilting. Dudette's name is embroidered at the center of the bottom, and my copyright identification is embroidered at the right side of the bottom. Yes, I understand that the embroidery rather wanders around a bit and that the letters look as if a six-year-old had made them; but, please understand that when I'm working on fabric as dark as this backing is, I do the embroidering free-handed having failed in finding an appropriate marker (and I've tried several in doing Dudette's and Bogie's quilts!) Understand, too, please, that the backing is darker than appears in the photos - which I brighten for better appearance on computer monitors. Am I providing enough excuses? If not, please consider that my hands aren't completely under my conscious control. I suffer from what my physician, 20 years or so ago, called "essential tremors" - which surely haven't improved with age; although, they are no long exacerbated by my drinking Diet Doctor Pepper and teas that contain caffeine since I've given them up (almost) entirely.

Now, I must figure out how to use the block in an appropriate manner - probably on a decorative pillow case for Dudette.

To see more about my quilt efforts than you ever wanted to know (and what most of you have already seen), please click on this link.

Bogie's Quilt - completed October 5, 2019

Freshly laundered and ready to go is Bogie's new quilt. It was a lot of fun working with her and the quilter on this project!

The back of the quilt shows the quilting design, better.

Annette Haga is credited for the quilting - "Quilting by Annette Haga". [The embroidery is partially visible at the bottom of the above photo, near the right-hand corner of the photo (left, bottom corner of the quilt).]

My trademark (digitally altered to "CC") appears in the right-hand lower corner of the quilt.

Balsams and other stuff for the week - 9/20/2019

Some weeks ago, I was going through packets of seeds that had accumulated in the garage when I happened upon a packet of Bachelor's Button (AKA Cornflower or Centaurea cyanus) seeds. I flung them out in a vacant space in the planting area to the far side (away from the house) of the driveway. A bunch of little seedlings sprang up! Most of the seedlings did, indeed, look like Bachelor's Button plants - a bit short, but what the hey, it is late in the season. However, there were two strangers in the pack: 1) one plant of leaf lettuce and 2) one plant of Touch-Me-Nots (AKA Balsams, Jumping Betty, Lady's Slipper, or Impatiens balsamina.) In the photo, below, the Touch-Me-Not is the plant with the pink blossoms. The Bachelor's Buttons are the little plants between it and the lettuce plant.

A couple of days ago, while watering the potted tree seedlings in the window well outside my sewing room, I noted the little critter previously shown in Amphibian Day 2019 was sitting within a drainage hole of one of the pots, facing outward. This morning, I checked to see if it was still there. Nope! However, there were two tiny frogs sitting atop the mulch around an oak seedling that I had added to the collection, yesterday. The oak seedling had come up in the corner of the strawberry bed/rose bed.

Bogie's quilt is back from the quilter's!

There are still three steps needed for quilt completion: 1) binding the edges; 2) embroidering the name of the quilter, my initials, and 2019 in a corner on the back of the quilt; and 3) washing and ironing the quilt. The quilting doesn't really show on the front and I've shown enough photos of the front (for instance in The past week or so at Casa CC - 7/27/2019); so, I shall post only a photo of the back, below.

Well, I lied. Having just realized that the last posted photo of the quilt top was from before the borders were added, I'll include a photo of the front of the quilt, below.

One of those weeks

This past week has been one in which, to an extent, my time was not my own. What time was my own, I mostly spent running errands - two trips to the quilting store, a trip to the credit union (checking our locked box - trying to find a couple of Hunky Husband's rings that he has misplaced), a trip to the gardening shop (for bags of top soil with which to fill holes left when I transplanted some daylilies), buying groceries, taking Bogie's quilt top and backing (Paint image, above) to the quilter, having my car serviced and the GPS database updated. Well, I did get one book read and about half of another.

Wednesday, I did my usual thing by picking up Elegant Friend, taking her to lunch, stopping by the Kansas Vacuum Center that is near her apartment to see if the Miele cannister vacuum that I had ordered had come in (it had not), then stopping by the Kansas State University Sedgwick County Research & Extension Office to walk about amongst their plantings to enjoy the roses (not seen anywhere else as they are experimental breeds) and other flowers and vegetables that they have on display.

Thursday, I took HH in to Team Vision Surgery Center for cataract surgery on his left eye. Oh, my, it hadn't occurred to either of us what an ordeal it would prove to be. He was downright giddy from the way all of the women of the surgical team, including his surgeon (photo, above), treated him. According to HH, they must have gone out of their way to put together a team of personable and good-looking professionals! Of course, as his "care taker", one of the team went over his post-operative instructions with me (the patients are not legally competent due to the anesthesia to which they have been exposed.) Trust me: For HH, the lingering effects of the anesthesia have not been trivial. He was really knocked for a loop, cognitively. He could not, as the saying goes, have thought his way out of a paper bag for the first 30-40 hours following surgery. Toward bed time that evening, HH was so disturbed that he told me not to worry about it - that he would worry enough for the both of us. Not on my watch! We are in this together.

Friday, I took HH in for post-operative exam and consultation with his surgeon. Unfortunately, he declined my presence during the post-operative consultation, so I'm not quite sure what went on. There is a time/date on the paper they gave him that implies to me that he was given an "extra" post-op appointment for Monday. HH has no memory of his discussion with the surgeon and I didn't see the paper until after closing time for the facility, so I shall need to call to confirm whether he does or does not have an appointment at 9:45am, tomorrow. I stopped by the vacuum cleaner place, on our way home, to pick up the vacuum (photo, above) that had come into the store while HH was in surgery on Thursday. The next post-op exam about which I had been informed on the day of surgery is next Friday. Perhaps HH's cognitive condition indicated the need for an extra exam. We shall see.

[ADDITION of 9/16/2019 7:52am - Sitting here killing time until the surgeon's office opens at 8:00am to confirm/deny HH's "extra" appointment, I've just been told by HH that he's received a text from that office telling him not to forget to come in for his 9:45am appointment, today. That settles that question!]

[ADDITION of 9/16/2019 11:52am - It turned out that the reason HH was given an "extra" appointment was that his intraocular pressure had been too high on Friday. That was also the reason for the extra prescription that he was given – another eye drop to lower the pressure. The pressure is better, but not great. He was told to continue the new eye drops until he sees his surgeon for his normally scheduled post-op exam on this coming Friday. His mother had glaucoma, so we watch those pressures, closely!]

For the rest of the day, Friday, it was evident that HH was struggling, cognitively, still. And it was worrying him. I had to continue assisting each time he had to use the eyedrop medications per the schedule he had been given (four different medications) - mostly by continuing to assure that he used all of the drops and that he did not use the same drops twice at a scheduled time (as he had attempted to do on Thursday), and by timing the intervals between drop applications (3-5 minutes between each of the four medications). Again, HH became concerned about his lack of mental acuity; so, I did some online research about the effects of anesthesia given old people having cataract surgery. I printed out the latest relevant paper that I found, marked the passages that I found most important, and gave it to HH to read while telling him that, according to my reading of the information, cognitive effects were often observable for as long as one week.

Addition of 9/16/2019 11:53am -

Referenced paper: Prevention of Cognitive Dysfunction after Cataract Surgery with Intravenous Administration of Midazolam and Dexmedetomidine in Elderly Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery

Another paper addressing possible effects of cataract surgery on cognition, but not addressing anesthesia, is one that I found interesting: Cataract surgery and age-related cognitive decline: A 13-year follow-up of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Yesterday, HH arose and removed his night-guard eye patch (photo, above) before I even saw him. It was obvious that his mind was in much better cognitive condition. However, late in the day, when I mentioned the paper that he had read, he had no idea what I was talking about. Oh, me. We are getting there. It is just very frustrating - particularly for HH. Last evening, it took 10-15 minutes for him to find where he had put the eye patch that he was to wear, again, last night and tonight.

Today, HH went out to walk (no running until cleared by his surgeon). He is more himself, today. It will be interesting to see how his memory is working. I'm thankful that I was 11-12 years younger, than now is HH, when I had my cataracts removed. I'm certain that my mind was not impaired by the anesthesia and that I was the perfect patient. (Oh, yes, we all believe that.) Truly...neither of us remembers my mind being impaired; but, who knows?

There's more than one way ....

Bogie's quilt top is ready for quilting and Wonderful GrandDaughter hasn't the time to worry about designing/choosing her quilt as she has just assumed a new position (Director of Nursing) that will keep her occupied for a while; so, I cast about for another quilting project to pursue - Project X.

There is more than one way of designing a quilt. I can come up with three basic ways to start designing a quilt: 1) Duplicating someone else's quilt that one has seen, 2) finding fabrics that one likes then finding/designing a pattern to go with the fabrics, or 3) finding a pattern that one likes then finding fabrics from which to make it. Well...one may always combine two or more of those basic ways, which is what I'm doing for Project X.

Starting Fabric

Years ago, I bought a bunch of Batik fabrics - because I liked them. In fact, in the back of my mind, I thought some of them might appeal to Bogie. I either proved that I'm not always right or I failed to show the fabrics to Bogie. She did beautifully in designing her quilt and I don't care a fig if the Batiks didn't sing to her At any rate, having goodly amounts of those fabrics on hand, I thought that Project X could include one of the following three fabrics.

Being a birdwatcher, I chose the second fabric - the one with only birds in its pattern.

Finding a pattern that will showcase the fabric

Fortunately, in a quilting magazine that was in the "Magazine Sharing" bin at the library, I found a pattern that features large enough pieces of fabric to showcase a large print - such as my bird fabric. Right off the bat, I note that I find the border really lacking in appeal; but, that's a small nit. A larger nit is the basic layout/sewing of the blocks.

A closer look at the image in the magazine proved that the "large print" fabric featured is very similar to the three Batik fabrics shown above.

Filling in with other fabrics

Looking for fabrics to complete the quilt design, I had some Batiks on hand and filled in with two Batiks from my nearest quilting supply store. This (below photo) is the array of fabrics with which I will be working.

The two fabrics of which I've shown larger areas are definitely in my design. How the other fabrics are used is TBD. The blue fabric and the rust-colored one at the upper right corner are the two fabrics that I recently purchased.

Block Design

How slavishly do I wish to pursue the basic block's design? Not very. Whoever designed the quilt is much more apt to deal well with (Liz's) fiddly details than am I. He/she has four pieces of fabric, sewn individually, to make the block. (In my rough version of the block, I intentionally left a bit of space between the two red pieces of fabric to show that it is not cut as a singe piece.)

Trust me when I tell you that I am not going to fiddle with sewing a bitty 1 5/8" right triangle to anything! The design will be modified to allow me to do less fiddly work - or - I will find a different pattern. Who knows? I may use a simple pattern and fussy cut the bird fabric to produce blocks that feature the individual birds. It will take some cogitation.

ADDITION OF 9/6/2019 8:23AM - Who said we need blocks?

Strips of fabric will feature large prints even better than will blocks. Now I'm entertaining the thought of strip piecing - at least part of the quilt top.

ADDITION OF 9/7/2019 4:26pm - And the winner is....

By consensus of the people (all two) living at the CC domicile:

Not that anyone really cares, other than HH and me, there will probably be no yellow in the finished product. That yellow block just happened to be handy for use and I was tired of fiddling around with Paint. Monday, I plan to hit the quilting supply store, again, to buy the fabrics to make the central blocks. Since those blocks were lifted from the first quilt that I made HH, it is obvious that I have those fabrics on hand. However, they are not Batiks. It works better to have the fabrics match in kind, so I must obtain Batiks of appropriate colors to make those blocks for Project X.

FYI to Bogie: Your dad found the original design (from the magazine) and my first cut at strip piecing (not shown in this posting) too "Blah", too "dark". Of course, he understands that he's not seeing true colors. (His first cataract surgery is scheduled for next Thursday.) The final quilt top design, as shown, is about the 8th iteration.

The past week or so at Casa CC - 7/27/2019

We have basked in a few days of "reasonable" temperatures and humidities after a mini-heat wave that moved on to afflict those in the Old World. I survived the horrible heat by not attempting to do any yard work and cutting down on errands. Since I was getting no yard work done, I finally got back to working on Bogie's quilt on which I had not worked since March. I am now working on getting the borders made and sewn on.

Measuring for border strips

In Spring of 2002, I purchased and planted a dwarf crepe myrtle from my favored nursery. That fall, I found a couple of crepe myrtles on sale at our local Walmart. They were not dwarf, but I placed them (in relationship to the dwarf crepe myrtle) to provide a fill toward the garage/house. All were supposed to be fuchsia.

Three crepe myrtles aligned - June 2006 (The photo is poor, but the good one is off in color and I can't seem to remedy it.)

 

It turned out that one of the Walmart-sourced plants (the one that I had planted between the other two bushes) was actually from at least two root stocks. It isn't visible in the above photo, but one or two of the sproutings from the roots produced white blossoms. A few years ago, I decided that I really liked the white. I began trimming out the fuchsia-blossomed sprouts. This year, I am amazed to see that I achieved my goal. All of the sproutings now produce white blossoms. Unfortunately, the extreme heat faded the fuchsia blossoms on the bush farthest from the camera in the photo, below.

Yesterday and today I've been moving more masonry around. Years ago I had lined the approach end of our driveway, on the side away from the house, with concrete blocks. As the Blue Chip Junipers have taken over and spread to cover them, I saw no reason for that placement. I'm using them to emplace a couple more stone "fences" along the planting beds to that side of the driveway. I had brought a bunch of stone over from our previous home; but, did not have enough to put as many "fences" as I wanted separating those planting beds.

New masonry  "fence" for Planting Bed #6

I'll close by sharing a video that featured on Ronni Bennett's blog, Time Goes By, this morning. It tells the story of a grueling experience inflicted upon a United States Marine pilot, Lt Col William Rankin.

 

Family Week

This past week has been the week for family. Wonderful Granddaughter invited us to her Registered Nurse Pinning Ceremony on Thursday, May 16, 2019 (photo, below). We were all smiles when her fiancée snapped the photo, below.

Elder Brother arrived Friday afternoon - to see family, but also to do some birding. We all gathered for lunch on Saturday, at a local pizza shop (whose owner we've known since the mid-1960s when he first opened the shop) - photo, below.

Finally, after filling our stomachs, we re-convened at Hunky Husband's and my home. Since Elder Brother had seen only one of the quilts that I've made for family members, we put on a show for him. Each person for whom I've (so far) made a quilt was asked to bring the quilt. Note that in the photo, below, Wonderful GrandDaughter filled in for Bogie, displaying her (so far) un-finished quilt.

Interestingly enough, WichiDude requested that I delay starting his quilt until he retires. He wishes to help make it!

Finished & delivered - Dudette's Quilt

That is Hunky Husband playing peek-a-boo to display the quilt.

Bogie's quilt - progressing

February 19,2019

All of the rosettes for Bogie's quilt have been completed. Next step: add sashings between rows and columns of rosettes.

ADDITION OF 3/7/2019 - First Row with Top Sashing

ADDITION OF 3/15/2019 - Top Three Rows