It was a good Christmas time filled with love and thanksgiving . . .

1. “I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.” – William Shakespeare

1. The maker . . . 

I found this wonderful crochet book in my own library so I am anxious to get started on a few motifs.  Also, I am reviewing a Craftsy class on freeform crochet.  I bought the class several years ago and with the changes in Craftsy now, I have gotten more involved.  Of course, the fact that there are days I don't want to be very active is also a help to have some old classes waiting on Craftsy.  I have just enough energy to try a few things and then it is rest time again.  I will get more strength in the next couple days and I am looking forward to it.  For now, I am enjoying being a comfy chair "vegetable".  

2. The love . . . 

Weston gave us some good creamed honey for Christmas so I tried it this morning.  It was delicious.  I made a piece of gluten free toast, added some of my homemade almond butter with a little of that great honey on the top.  Wow!  It was amazing!  I am looking forward to trying that again - and soon

3. The fight . . .

Chemo was on Tuesday and I changed things up a bit so I did a little better this time, but I am deep in being tired - and I mean really, really tired for a couple more days.  The night and day after chemo, I am really "jacked up" from the steroids.  I needed to come down from that "softly" so I monitored better what I took.  I eased off on the nausea med that is also a steroid and I tried to take better care of water drinking and food intake.  My doctor gave me the idea with the meds part and I do think it helped.  Also, I have found I feel better if I eat very, very light in the evening.  Now, it will get a bit better each day and then it will be chemo time again on the 12th of January.  I am anxious to get back to my studio and some work on my art.   

Chemo Tomorrow but Good News . . .

 “Maybe everything comes out all right, if you keep on trying. Anyway, you have to keep on trying; nothing will come out right if you don’t.”― Laura Ingalls Wilder

1. The maker . . . 

I continue to work on my next art piece but I spent more time taking things apart these past few days than putting them together.  

But - in the evenings, I am enjoying doing some crochet.  I made this cute hat to review how to get started.  

2. The love . . . 

I am loving my time and support from my family and friends.  It is usually by phone, or cards, or Zoom, but it is all so loving and makes my heart sing.

3. The fight . . .

Good news - my oncologist,  at my appointment today,  said he could not feel the lump in my breast at all.  And he was very pleased.  I have had 2 chemo/immunotherapy infusions and he said my body is really responding well to the treatment.  So he called it a "Christmas present" for us both.  I floated right out of the hospital.  I have chemo tomorrow but I know it is working so that makes me feel so positive.  

Holiday Times . . .

 Good memories bring great richness, laughter, longing, and love to these holiday celebrations.

1. The maker . . . 

I continue to be a maker.  Sometimes I make art and sometimes I make granola.   I added a little black strap molasses to this batch along with the oatmeal, craisins, and walnuts.  It is not too bad.  

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2. The love . . . 

I can remember when I used to think time was flying by but this year has seemed to linger at every moment.  

Here is a great picture that represents one of those wonderful memories of a holiday celebration from years long past.  This is my brother, John and my sister, Stacey.  I am on the right.  John and I were in high school and Stacey was probably about 2 or 3.  It was a long time ago, but such a wonderful memory.

3. The fight . . .

I continue to learn.  I really have to eat smaller portions and more often during the day.  I think my body just doesn't want to take on the work load, in addtion to everything else I am asking of it,  to digest a normal size meal.  And - for me - no refined sugar!  If I eat refined sugar, it makes me down in the dumps as soon as the "high" wears off.  I didn't try very much so I thought it might be ok.  I have known that for years and have stayed clear for the past 3 years.  But for some reason, even a little bit impacts me more now.  

But I can remember what it tastes like so it is like all my other wonderful holiday memories.  I don't have to relive them - some of them I can't.  But I can enjoy the memory.  

It is going to be OK . . .

Somedays you just know it is going to be ok.  Today was one of those days.  My "want to do this" list far exceeded my "can do this" list, but that was ok.  It was a gift to know I could at least try.

1. The maker . . . 

I made almond butter in my almost 50 year old food processor.  I have never made it before but it was easy and I found this website that showed the pictures of how the almonds grind and eventually become the creamy butter.  

https://www.notenoughcinnamon.com/make-almond-butter/

I thought you had to add something to make it come together, but the almonds just have everything they need to become "butter".  It is delicious!

2. The love . . . 

And we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset a couple days back.  Just for moments the sky was pink and it made the land and air pink as well - and then it was gone.

And we spent time today decorating our family room for Christmas.  Usually we go all out with several trees.  But this year, we decided to put up just one of the small trees and be more realistic about enjoying it.  We spend our time in this room and this is where we will enjoy the season.  

3. The fight . . .

And the darkness lifted in the middle of day 9 just like after the first infusion.  So I will take it!  It seems like I get these gifts of 11 days now to be thankful and blessed.  And it is Christmas and I love the lights, the music, the love, my family, and my friends.  Thank you!

Day 6 - Second Chemo

 “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

― Winston S. Churchill

1. The maker . . . 

I made this for my granddaughter, Meagan, 15 years ago.  It got wet during storage and was ruined a couple years later.  I have always wanted to remake it - larger.  So I am thinking I might want to do it now.  Who knows?

2. The love . . . 

Yesterday, our son. Stan, fixed us a great supper of tostados.  After our little ride in the sunshine, we stopped to pick up our supper.  We are all staying very isolated so we visited for a few minutes outside with our masks and distancing and then came home to enjoy.  He had taken the grandsons over to the new high school tennis lot and I wanted to share this picture.  Montana on the 6th of December.  They are all sad because the ski season is late.  

3. The fight . . .

Feeling much better this morning but it was a weird 6 days to get here.  There were a couple good days after the chemo and a couple horrendous days.  I have decided I need to focus on getting on with my life and not letting this cancer fight get in my way.  I am not sure how that will work, but I am going to give it a shot.  I want to kick the cancer, but I want to enjoy each day as much as possible.  I know there are things I can do that will help.  I will find them!

My "new normal" continues . . .

The second chemo day was yesterday . . .  

So here is one my my favorite quotes from Dr. Seuss.  I always thought it was more targeted to the young when they were starting out in life.  But I realized, at various time, we are all "starting out in life" so it seems to fit.

“You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

1. The maker . . . 

This was oatmeal making morning.  I make about 3 or 4 days worth at once.  I just chop up some apple and add craisins while the oats are cooking with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  Yum!  Then we eat our first day with great joy and I just load it into a bowl to put in the frig and take out some each morning for the next three mornings and reheat with a little more water.  I usually add chopped walnuts but forgot this morning so will add them as I reheat some each day. It is so good when my tummy says, "I don't want to eat anything - hear me? - nothing!"  But this will go down ok in a small dose. 

I have made some new connections with my art.  Small ones, but that has been good.  Here is a "practice" piece in progress for a larger piece that a technique I need has me stumped.  If this works, as I hope, I will be on my way.  I hope to be able to stick one seam a day - ha! ha! - but last time I barely recognized my sewing machine until day 10.  I hope it goes better this time.  

This is a technique I found on a newsletter from Lisa Flowers Ross, an amazing fiber artist in Boise, ID.  I have not taken a class from her so am trying to remember what she said when I visited her studio a couple years back. Look up her website and subscribe to her newsletter.  It is a great read!  

Here is another technique that I practiced after watching an older session from Rosalie Dace on The Quilt Show.  It was a fun session and I will use this technique to insert small sections of color to break up some of the larger pieces as needed. 

2. The love . . . 

Holidays are times to remember good times from when my mom and my dad were alive.  So I also enjoy remembering my mom and her sewing.  She was an excellent seamstress and everyone loved her.  She was invited to join into a retreat quilting group in the late 90's.  They met twice a year and created a simple quilt during their week together and would then send it off to someone to quilt.  She loved the group and they loved having her with them.  She loved selecting the fabrics for the pattern.  But she wasn't too excited about the idea of cutting the fabric into small pieces and then sewing them back together into the same block over and over to make a flat, larger piece of fabric.  She preferred to sew beautiful fabrics into coats and suits and gorgeous clothes.  She loved recycling items into wearables with embellishments and trims. And boy could she do all of that! 

Here is the first quilt she made.  She hung it in their home in Missoula.  I now have it folded over a chair upstairs in my studio. . . 

Here is the second quilt she made while with the group. I have it on display in our kitchen on the tall wall over the cupboards. 

She politely declined after two times due to other "obligations"  I never knew for years the real reason until she told me not too many years before she passed in 2015.  In 2011, at 90, after my dad passed, she moved over here to Bozeman from Missoula and I tried to encourage her to take up her sewing again and thought creating blocks from the "Women of the Bible" pattern would be fun for her.  She loved reading her Bible and knew those stories well.  Then the truth came out.  I miss her with great love and wonderful memories. 

3. The fight . . .

Yesterday was my second chemo day.  I am still upright and it is late morning.  So far so good. I did get more information about things I could/should be doing to not have the 10 days of extreme headache pain and sickness.  So I have all the guns working to get through this session a bit better.  

This is where the quote fits . . . brains in my head . . .  feet in my shoes . . . I need to use both.

My good friend, Katy, made me this cute hat from some of her original fabric that she designs.  Since going to chemo is my only outing,  I "dressed up" and wore my new hat with earrings even.  No lipstick - but I will save that story for another time.  I love it and it is so comfortable.  

Leave me a note if you have a minute.  I love hearing from you and my doctor says it is important for healing to stay in touch.  Thank you and love you all.