Cactus Patchers Getaway

I have belonged to Cactus Patchers for nearly 20 years. We are a chapter of the Arizona Quilt Guild. I've had so much fun and met so many nice and fun ladies. For the last 13 years we have been going to a camp at Emmanuel Pines in Prescot to sew, eat, gab, laugh, shop and just have fun. The theme for this fall getaway was Pirate Treasury. I have some fun pictures to share.
This is the building we met in to sew. Its a little walk down to the dining room where the camp staff cooked for us. The meals were so good. We sew upstairs in this building which is really a chapel for the Methodist camp.

Mary Hartmann and I made the raffle quilt and titled it Pirates Lost in the Bermuda Triangle. (The quilt pattern was called Bermuda Triangle.)Here I am working on the label for the quilt. The weather was wonderful outside.
Here is the finished quilt. A lucky winner won the quilt.

Mary and I shared a table and set up our sewing machines and sewed all weekend. I worked on a Christmas quilt (Twelve Day of Christmas in a Pear Tree), a Christmas calender quilt (you can change the dates each day,) a one block wonder quilt (I made 114 blocks,) and started the church row for the row by month quilt (another Christmas quilt which I've had the fabric since 1999.) I had two other projects to work on but ran out of time.


Here are several ladies - Monica, Barbara and Mary L. who took our theme to heart and dressed up as pirates.








I got lucky and won the thread basket. Those who wanted to could contribute a thread spool for the raffle.


There were only 19 of us at camp this fall. There are usually between 27 and 30 ladies. But this gave us more room to set up our machines, fabric and stuff. Here is the sewing room with the sewing machines humming away and everyone working on different projects.


The winner of our quilt did not attend the getaway. That was a disappointment but Ike, the camp director, modeled the quilt for everyone and wore the tierra (He has a bald head.) and gave the famous wave. It was fun.

I've had a fun time with some really nice ladies who share the same interests I have. I've known many of them for years and appreciate their friendships.

20 Years Together

September 3 was a big day. Not only was it Jerry's 67th birthday but we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. We were married September 3, 1988. These 20 years have gone by quickly. There have been ups and downs but we have survived together and I hope better people than when we started. Happy anniversay to us.

The Big C Word

Last May I felt very impressed to do some testing that was being offered near by at the Higly High School. The testing was easy and consisted of an ultrasound of the carotid artery in the neck to test for stroke, an ankle arm index to test for blood flow, and an abdominal aorta ultrasound to check for an aneurysm in the abdominal area. These all tested out OK. The person testing said since they were so close to the thyroid gland when they do the carotid test, they will look at it. Low and behold he found some nodules on the thyroid, one large one on the left node and several smaller ones on the right node.
Well that started me going to the doctor and as a consequence, on August 14th I had my entire thyroid removed. The large nodule was cancerous but the smaller nodules were fine. One lymph node was removed and it was clean.
Now I have to have radioactive iodine radiation to kill any remaining thyroid cells in the body. So now my schedule includes finishing the temporary thyroid medicine I'm on, on September 19 and then going for two weeks with no thyroid medicine. No one can live without the thyroid hormone. It regulates your metabolism, the heating system of your body, heart, skin, hair and a zillion other things. Also I have to go on a two week diet of no salt. Everything has salt in it including all dairy products. This is because the thyroid produces iodine and the doctors want the radioactive pill I take to show up only for the remaining thyroid cells in the body.
The hard part is that for three days I have to be isolated from everyone including the dogs. My meals will have to be brought to me and left at the bedroom door. I have to wash my own bedding, dishes etc so no one will touch them. I will be radioactive and glowing. Ha.
But the part that will be hard is no thyroid medicine in my body. I will be very tired, might lose some hair, can get palpitations, be hot or cold, dry skin, moody and no telling what else. It can be done. I've heard of many other people going through it so I can do it also. Fun, Fun Fun.
Anyway, I'm going to do as much as possible until that time. I'm going to quilt camp and a trip to see our grandson in Texas.
I'll keep you up to date.