Quote of the week

"Christmas gift suggestions: to your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect."

-- Oren Arnold

And so continues the obsession...

I'm having so much fun with my yo yo making I just can't seem to stop. I decided to tackle a new project which I'm sure is going to take a while; but heck that hasn't stopped me before. LOL!! Those who know me well know will not be surprised at my choice of theme. So off I went to see what fabrics I had in my stash.

Only a "few" squares to go to complete my Patriotic Yo Yo Quilt.

Yo Yo Mania

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I became quite addicted to making Yo Yos. After seeing the lovely projects created by my aunts I just had to go for it. Once I returned home from Ohio I went through my stash and picked a few more fabrics for my first project. I am quite thrilled with how it turned out. My daughter is quite the Halloween fan so this first piece is for her. Here is my Halloween tablerunner.

Yo Yos before assembly

Completed table runner

Quote of the Week

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

- Buddha

Quote of the week

"For a long time it has seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obtacles were my life."

-- Fr. Alfred D'Souza

An old, new hobby

A few years ago I was on a stitching retreat with friends when we visited a quilting store. I'm not a quilter so I walked around looking at all the different fabrics and accessories when I stumbled upon something that was very familiar to me. I had no idea there was a tool to make them!! I had to have it and figure out how it worked. You see when I was a little girl, my grandmother made Yo Yos by hand. I totally forgot I had the Yo Yo Maker till I visited my mother back in September and saw a table cloth made of these Yo Yos. She told me my Aunt Lucy had picked up the old craft and had made the cloth for her the same way my grandmother made them.

Bedspread made by my Aunt Lucy

Pillow by my Aunt Vinnie

In my recent visit to Ohio I discovered that my Aunt Vinnie had too picked up Yo Yo fever. She had no idea a tool existed for making the Yo Yos so I picked up two of them for her and just couldn't resist starting a project myself. I too now have Yo Yo fever.

My first batch of Yo Yos.

Long, long overdue update...

On Tuesday, November 22nd I flew to Ohio to be with my younger brother, Santos who was scheduled for surgery. Due to an infection he was battling, the surgery was postponed and didn't happen till Thursday, December 1st. Santos was in the ICU at the Cleveland Clinic being treated for a C. diff bacteria and faced a few challenges. He needed a temporary pacemaker installed as well as continuous dialysis.

Santos and my sister in law Teresa the day before surgery

Surgery was 11 hours long and the waiting was just excruciating. I'm glad I was there to provide some support to my mother and my sister in law Teresa. Santos had a double bypass, a heart valve replaced, some "cleaning" of the heart due to an abscess and a pacemaker installed. Thankfully he was intubated the morning of 12/5/11 and is breathing on this own. We are more than optimistic of his recovery. I can't thank enough the family and friends who called, said prayers and were just there for my family.

I returned home to California on December 3rd and will appreciate your continued good wishes, good thoughts, and prayers as Santos faces a challenging recovery.