I'm alive!

Hi everyone!
  So, so sorry to take such a long blogging break.  It was unintentional but couldn't be helped.  As you know if you follow me on instagram, I found out that my back pain and numbness in my leg was more than just a herniated disc.  That particular disc was completely shot and practically nonexistant.  What little of the disc was left had broken and a piece of it was pushing my nerves all the way back on my spinal column.  So, the only real answer for me was spinal fusion surgery.

I had it done on March 13 and am at the 3-week recovery point today.  I am feeling much better and while I still can't do everything I want to do, I am up, moving, driving and walking almost like normal.  I can't bend, lift or twist yet, but it will come with time.  I am improving every day and I go back to my doctor tomorrow to check my progress and see where I go next.

It seems perfect that today is a Totally Random Thursday because I've got so much to show off to you from the month and a half since I last blogged.

**Before the surgery I sewed like a madwoman to get projects done and out of here before I couldn't.  :)  So, I finished up 3 quilts and 2 sets of bee blocks.  Along with completely failing on a star block for Oren's quilt.  I ended up throwing away 2 attempts and just picking a different block altogether!

**First I made a baby quilt for Chris' cousin who is expecting her first.  Her shower was the weekend of my half marathon that I couldn't run so Thursday night I decided to whip her up a quilt for the Saturday morning shower.  And I did it.  I ended up loving the quilt and hating the quilting, but they can't all be winners, so I gifted it and called it done.

All the non-sewers loved that the quilt was "reversible."  I'm just glad they loved it at all.  ;)

**Next up, that secret project I mentioned in February--it was a quilt for the wonderful Michonne and her precious baby girl Greta.  Our Empower Circle of do. Good stitches made a quilt for them and I put it together and quilted it.  Meesh is famous in our group for loving flying geese blocks so I asked the girls to make anything using them in a soft palette of pastels.  I love how it turned out.  I just got some plates and pot lids and drew random circles on the quilt and quilted them using different pastel-colored threads.  Before sweet Greta was born, Meesh called her cupcake, so I found this great cupcake fabric for the backing.  :)

I wish I had gotten a better picture where you could really see the blocks better but I did this in a hurry and then never thought to look at the pics before mailing...

I've been trying out a new zigzag machine-stitched binding on quilts I think will be washed a bunch.  On this one I went around twice--once in pink and once in yellow.

**  I also mentioned that Kim was working on an orphan block project to get quilts finished and donated to a charity and that I had most of a quilt sitting here at the house already.  So I beefed it up with some extra blocks and got it done too.  I hated the blocks individually and once I got it sewn, I kinda want to keep it!  ;)

You can see the quilting better on the back--I just did a simple cross-hatch design following the blocks.  I started a quarter-inch from the block seams in gray, then 3/8 inch from those lines in yellow and then about half-inch from the yellow lines in blue.

** When mailing Meesh the quilt, I also included our February d.Gs blocks.  It was her turn in a great coincidence and she asked for Wheel blocks in a great and bright color palette.  I hope mine looks okay with the rest.  I liked all the colors I chose till I got the block put together and then saw others from the group.  Oh well...

**  And for March in our d.Gs circle, Kim asked for blocks that she'd designed herself.  She's calling them braided star blocks and once put together they'll make stars...duh!  ;)  These were really easy and fun to put together.  Kim wrote a great tutorial on her blog for these simple but stunning blocks.

**And last, in That Stash Bee, Whitney asked for Darting Bird blocks.  I'd never seen this block before, but they were quick to make and I think she picked a stellar palette. She's giving this quilt to a friend in need, and I can't wait to see it altogether.

** But also since last blogging, my favorite boy in the whole world turned 8.  He wanted to just take a few friends to see The Lego Movie, so we did.  I got these great lego candies from the candy store in the mall to put on some cupcakes.  They were a big hit and so was the movie!  It was a simple and great day to celebrate a great kid!

**The surgery went well and I came home from the hospital two days early.  It hasn't been exactly fun to lay in bed a lot and depend on others in the last 3 weeks, but I'm working on my patience and God is blessing me every day.  I'm up and mobile

**I'm sewing again and have already finished a couple of blocks and have some bee blocks to try and work on this weekend.

**Plus we've got softball...Chris' middle school team is winding down and Emma's team is finally getting started.  I'll soon have a picture of my sweet girl pitching to show y'all.  She's worked so hard and it's fun to see her sling it out there.

Sorry for the picture overload.  I've missed y'all and this wonderful community so much.  So glad to be getting back.  :)