It's like deja vu...all over again. On Saturday, January 26th, 2019 I wrote a blog post about how I had completed my entry for the second Project Quilting Season 10 challenge. I made a quilt and blogged about it all while inside the walls of Children's Hospital in Milwaukee while my daughter was inpatient, receiving treatments for cystic fibrosis. Here we are, Saturday, January 25th, 2020, and guess what? I'm blogging about completing PQ Season 11 challenge #2...from inside Children's Hospital. It's been a doozy of a year for my 14 year old. We left the hospital last year on February 2. Since then, she has had 4 inpatient stays, this one included, totaling 52 days, so far, plus 9 days of IV treatments at home and an ER visit. That's a lot for a teenager who just wants to be at home in her own bed, hanging out with her sister and friends and going to rehearsals for the musicals she loves to be in. We are all getting tired of this, and hoping that her health will turn a corner SOON and we will go back to staying out of the hospital for YEARS at a time instead of months.
Anyway. When the challenge for the week was issued by Trish (Quiltchicken) and Kim (Persimon Dreams) I didn't know that we'd end up back up here on the 11th floor. I also didn't know which team I would pick to represent the theme for the week - "Team Colors." At that time, our beloved Packers hadn't played their final game of the season, yet. Before the game on Sunday night, I decided that if they won, and were therefore headed to the Super Bowl, I'd make a celebratory green and gold mini quilt to display for the big game. Well, my quilt is red, white and blue, representing the colors of our high school and the Slinger School District. So, no Super Bowl for Aaron Rogers and his team. (Incidentally, the challenge theme for the second week last year was Red, White and Blue...weird).
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| Go Owls! |
Before I knew that we'd be coming in to the hospital, I had already decided that this challenge would be completed at "the last minute." Friday was a scheduled day off of school and knew I'd be using any available sewing time prior to that to work on costumes for Aladdin Jr., the middle school production that both my girls are involved in. (My oldest choreographed the show and taught the choreography to 70+ middle schoolers! Now THAT'S a challenge!) I had been looking forward to spending the whole day drinking coffee and working on the challenge piece in my sewing room, while watching a Hallmark Winterfest movie or two on my tablet. I should probably stop making plans like that. Read this post from last year to find out why... But, the hospital stay and lack of time to plan a project and lack of access to supplies meant that I kept things super simple. I literally threw a bunch of red, white and blue scraps, a bit of batting, a largish chunk of backing fabric, a small ruler, rotary cutter and mat, my mini iron and wool mat into a suitcase on the way out the door before coming to the hospital on Thursday. My sewing machine and a box of basic supplies were already in the car because I've been doing costume alterations at rehearsals. (Seventy plus kids who each have two or more costumes. Also a challenge!)
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| Here's my snowy day hospital sewing set up. I love that my scissors and mini iron fit the theme! |
With no real plan in mind, I decided to just start cutting. Then I just started piecing. I still didn't know exactly what I was making. Once I had a red background pieced I decided to add our "Owl Eyes" logo that represents our district. I texted my 17 year old daughter who was planning to come and visit and asked her to print it out for me. There's no way I was going to free hand that! When that was done, I decided to add some borders. Then, I decided I wanted to be done. Quickly.
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| Don't look too close! Wonkiness abounds! |
The result is...eh. Kind of a hot mess. Not great stitching around the logo. Pretty bad self binding, because the "chunk of backing was almost but not quite big enough... and I decided to try to make it work instead of cutting and piecing more scraps for binding. It's not my best work. But its done. It makes me think about what Trish said about quilts getting whomped by the "ugly stick." This quilt isn't great, but it served it purpose. I kept my hands busy for several hours, it kept me from getting in my daughter's business in a very small hospital room and bugging her to eat more. It used up some scraps. And, done is done. It fulfilled the challenge. I can now move on and hope that life is a little more predictable for the next.
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| I taped the quilt to the window in the 11th floor parent lounge at the hospital. If you look close (at the background, not the quilt, please) you can see Miller Park. Had I known I'd be able to get this shot, I'd have done a different Team for the challenge! LOL |
This wonky little, kinda ugly piece will be a "table topper" for the "community table" in my classroom where kids can sit and work together or work with a teacher. It's going to end up with pencil shaving and eraser schribbles and marker smudges all over it. And that's OK. It will bring a touch of home to my room at school, and be a good example for my kids that mistakes and imperfection are OK.
I thought it might be fun to try to re-do some of the shots I took of the mini quilt from this week, last year. So, here are some comparison shots:
Yes, people look at me oddly while I'm taping things to the windows and walls and taking pictures.
The next few days will be busy. I'm working Monday but then back to the hospital for Tuesday and Wednesday. I plan to fill those days with looking at everyone else's entries for this challenge Umm. Maybe I shouldn't plan....
We are hoping that my daughter will make enough progress that she will be able to come home on Wednesday. The show opens Friday night, but even though she will have missed many rehearsals, the director will allow her to join the group numbers if she can be at two rehearsals before opening night. So, if you're reading this, cross your fingers and send a prayer. We'll need all the help we can get!
