Magna Cum Laude and all that...

Friday, May 17th was one of the greatest, proudest days in my life.  And one of the worst.  Ellen, after a very long road that included several colleges, major changes, a life changing diagnosis of Celiac Disease, and some time off to regroup, graduated from Rowan College with a degree in Law and Criminal Justice.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude (just .01 from Summa!) with a 4.0 for her last semester.  She was accepted to grad school and is leaving with a job as a case worker.  I'm so incredibly proud of Ellen and all of her accomplishments!  Here she is receiving her diploma...

And with that precious diploma that she worked so hard for!

 

The new graduate!
 

 My parents were there to cheer her on at graduation...

 

 

And so was my husband....

 

 

Her boyfriend Joe also graduated...

 

Do you see a picture of me?  No?  That's because I wasn't there.  While Ellen was graduating on Friday, Grace was taking me to the Emergency Room for a bladder infection gone bad.  I thought I might have one when I came home from picking Grace up at school on Wednesday.  I called the doctor on Thursday for some antibiotics but it was too late. 

 The infection had moved into my kidneys and had gone septic.  I was admitted and spent 5 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics, fluids and anything they could come up with to keep the fever down and get this bug out of me.  There were a few times I was worried...when my blood pressure dropped down very low the first night in the hospital, when my fever shot up over 104 degrees and they had to cool me down with ice packs...but all I could do was lay there and cry that I was missing one of the most important events in Ellen's life.  I also missed her party on Saturday which sounded like lots of fun!  I can deal with a lot of things, but this was one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with.  Not being sick, that happens.  Missing graduation?  That sucked.  Ellen, I swear I'll be at your grad school graduation...I'm so glad I'll get a second chance!

 

Happiness is a Warm Baby...

and we have a new one in the family!  Little Emma is my great niece, the daughter of my nephew and his wife.  She decided she couldn't wait until her due date of May 30th, and made her appearance on April 27th.  This is the first of the new generation in our family...my sister's first grandchild and my parents' first great-grandchild. She is very tiny, so she's been in the hospital since she was born.  Of course, I couldn't stay away and have been to visit her several times.  She's just beautiful!

Emma and me

I was going to make her a quilt, but my mom was making one for her.  I decided that a quilt made by her great-grandmom would be very special, so chose to crochet an afghan for her.  Had she been born on time, I would have had it finished, but since she came early, she had to wait for it. (Not that she noticed!) I didn't use a pattern, just a tutorial on how to make hexagon crochet blocks from Lavender and Wild Rose.  I arranged the colors differently, trying to make them resemble roses surrounded by leaves.  I love how it turned out...I hope Emma does!

Emma's Afghan

Here's a little closer shot so you can see the blocks...

It was a fun afghan to make, it just took a lot longer than I thought it would!  I'm glad it's finished and I'm glad she's here!

It's Hard To Believe...

But I've been sewing! My daughter Grace is heading to Florida in a few weeks to take part in the Disney College Program. She'll be working at Disney for 7 months, so I thought she might need a new quilt to take with her.  This is the big Plan C quilt from Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles times two book. Now to start putting those rows together!

Wow, didn't realize how awful the picture I posted last night was, sorry about that!  I took a new one with a real camera instead of my phone.  This is the second Plan C I've made, the first can be seen here. This is the larger version, which I'm loving.  I'm using Bonnie and Camille's Ruby fabric for this.  I had bought it to make an applique quilt, but that project has been abandoned.  I  love that this quilt showcases the fabric by having a big, bold design.  I have a few more finishes to share in the next few days...I really have been working on projects!

New Winners!

Well, I never heard from the winners from my previous post and it's been more than a week.  I've decided to go ahead and pick new winners for The Giving Quilt.  Mel from Covered Porches and Wooden Screen Doors and Suzy from Suzy's Quilting Room are the two new winners according the random number generator!  Congratulations ladies, please send me your addresses and I'll get your books and pins off to you!

I visited a lovely quilt display a few weeks ago...post coming soon!

Winners!

I'm sorry it took so long to choose winners! Last week got away from me because I was busy with our new family member...we welcomed Ivy to our home!  She's not really a one eyed cat, the vet said that her eye is in there, but is so retracted that she couldn't tell if it was very small or just retracted so far in.  Ivy will see an eye specialist later this week.  She's a sweetheart and adapted into the house quite easily.

But, enough about Ivy, how about some winners?  Comments number 4 and 5 were chosen by the random generator, so Elisabeth and Patti from My Current Obsessions are the winners. Ladies, please send me your shipping information and I'll be happy to send your books along!  Elisabeth, I don't have an email for you, please email me!

Happy Easter Giveaway!

Wishing all of you a very happy, blessed Easter.  I love going to the Easter morning mass at our church, love the music and seeing all the little children dressed up in their adorable outfits.  I miss those days!

I was lucky enough to receive two copies of The Giving Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini and some pins to share with you.  If you are interested in receiving a copy, just leave a comment.  I'll choose two winners in the next day or two and send them along.  I reviewed this book awhile ago, you can read about it here.  I enjoyed this story!  The Giving Quilt comes out in paperback on Tuesday.

On The Needles Friday

It's been a while since I posted for On the Needles Friday.  I've been working on this hat for awhile, it's a Ravelry pattern called the Temperance Hat.  The pattern is pretty easy, I just knit slowly!  I'd hoped to have it done to wear this winter, but that didn't happen, so now I'm planning for it to be done by the end of baseball season...some of those late season games get cold here!  What's on YOUR needles today?  Show us at Patchwork Times!

My Little Helper

Holly decided to give me a little help quilting today. This quilt is made from blocks that I exchanged in the Jo Morton Yahoo group a few years ago. I made the top and basted it on the machine for hand quilting. Well, you can see how far I got with that! So it's back on the machine and on its way to being finished at last. Sometimes you just want/need to get things done...

Binding

Time to stitch down the binding, I just love the polka dot flannel on the back!

Getting close...

To another finish! Should have this one quilted today, then the binding and I'll be done!