Ella Bella’s Funky Monkeys…finished, finally

Ella Bella's Funky Monkeys

Just in the nick of time.  I completed Ella’s quilt around 1:00 in this afternoon.  Her birthday party is tomorrow so I was cutting it pretty close.  I have mentioned previously in this blog that her quilt was actually a companion quilt to the one I’m making for her dad.  He loves sock monkeys, which I just recently discovered, so I made him a quilt using sock monkey fabrics.  Her quilt was made using one of each of the monkey fabrics in her dad’s quilt, along with some black and whites that I had.  Unfortunately, her dad’s quilt is still at the LA quilters but since it was her birthday, I gave her the one made for her so I guess that will make her dad’s the companion quilt.  He doesn’t know that he is getting one so I couldn’t even till him the story.

The back of Ella's quilt

Ella Bella's Funky Monkey label

quilting patterns completed on DSM

I’m especially proud of this quilt as it was completely my design, inspired by Project Improv.  I traced the patterns onto some iron-on paper and did all of the quilting on my DSM.  The biggest problem is pulling out all of the paper once the quilting is completed; very time consuming! One of these days I will attempt the quilting completed freehand.  I just have to work up my courage and not worry about ruining anything.

This is the first quilt that has been my own creation but I made a small wallhanging years ago that was also my own design, made from some leftovers from one of my first wallhangings.

Leftovers Again

Thanks for stopping by…

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Feeding my spirit

I always feel better when I have a chance to soak up some sun.  Today I had the opportunity to take a chair outside into the driveway and sit in the sun for a little while.  I put on my iPod,  settled in with a nice Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and just took in the sun.  The computer says it is 46*,  pretty nice for February and especially welcome after so much really cold weather.  The sun is melting the snow and ice and I listened to the drip, drip, drip of water off the roof.  Every once in a while the wind would shift and I would get those drips right in the face, but it didn’t matter one bit.  It was heaven.

On Friday,  Bill and I went to Malden, MA where we met with the tax accountant.  It’s a long drive to have the taxes done but Bill has been using the same guy for many years and he is quite savvy about deductions for firefighters,  so it’s worth the extra time to get some extra money.    From there we drove to Norwood, MA where we spent the night.  The TomTom said it was a 30 minute drive;  however, it was 6 PM when we left so we hit lots of Friday night traffic through Boston and Cambridge.  It took nearly 1 1/2 hours and I find that kind of traffic very anxiety provoking.  I was really glad to arrive at the Courtyard Marriott.After we checked in we drove a short distance to The Outback for dinner.  The reason for staying overnight rather than coming home was to visit with Ella and her mom and dad on Saturday.  It seemed to make sense to stay 20 minutes from them rather than driving 2 hours home on Friday and another 2 hours back the next day.

We arrived at Ella’s around 11:30.  She is recovering nicely from her broken leg but still isn’t allowed to stand on it.  She is trying to crawl but hasn’t quite figured it out.  She gets up on her hands and toes, then pushes off with her toes and inches forward.  She is really good at swiveling around on her tummy to go another direction.

Greg made a great potatoe soup for lunch, along with a fresh garlic bread.  I was thinking italian kind of garlic bread but it was bread made with pieces of cooked garlic incorporated into the dough.  They were both very good.

We headed home around 3PM in order to get home and give Bill a little time to relax before driving back to Cambridge for work today.

Ella and Papa Bill

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The good, the bad and the really ugly

Okay, I’ll start with the good.  Ella, my 8 month old granddaughter will be fine.

The bad news…one of the daycare workers fell while holding Ella and Ella’s femur was broken (that’s the big bone in the thigh).

Now, the ugly…the woman that was holding her never reported it or told anyone that it had happened.  Greg and Vanessa knew that Ella was out of sorts but thought it was gas or reflux or she was cutting teeth or maybe another ear infection.  After two days (TWO DAYS!) they were able to narrow the problem down to the fact that she would not put any weight on her leg.  Since she isn’t walking and has just started to figure out crawling, there was no obvious indication of the problem.

They called the doctor, took her to the ER and after she was x-rayed they were advised about the diagnosis.  Of course, they were appalled and had No Idea how it had happened.  As you can imagine, the injury required that Protective Services be called.  Ella was transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital by ambulance where the three of them sat in the ER from 10:00 AM until after 8:30 PM before she was admitted and they were moved to a room.

During that time, Ella had 22 additional x-rays, including a cat scan, to determine whether or not there were any other injuries.  Thankfully, everything was negative.  They were not informed regarding what was happening and thought after Ella’s leg was splinted they would take her home.  After many hours they were advised that Ella was not allowed to leave the hospital and they were certainly not leaving without her.  They were not allowed to be alone with Ella and were questioned, interviewed, interrogated and literally put through hell for the next 48 hours.

They returned home on Monday when they finally had an opportunity to talk with the daycare personnel.  Originally, the woman responsible for the injury didn’t recall anything but after “she thought about it” she “remembered” falling.

The issue is not whether she fell.  We all understand that no matter how hard you try, accidents will and do happen.  The issue is that this woman did not report the incident or tell anyone, either at the daycare or Ella’s parents!  Ella suffered needlessly for two days and Greg and his wife suffered emotional trauma for two days because they had no idea how the injury occurred.  They were treated as possibly abusive parents and placed into a system that will, most likely, have their names on file forever, because one individual was neglectful in carrying out her responsibilities.

Luckily, Ella will heal completely and be fine and won’t remember any of the incident.  She will only know about it from stories that she will hear as she grows older.  However, her mom and dad will remember it forever.

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A thankful holiday

I was thinking about all of the things I’m thankful for this holiday…

My new granddaughter, Ella; being together with both of my children at the same time; my best friend Su is home from the hospital after nearly three weeks; the weather has been warm; the wonderful meal we had at David and Paula’s; safe travel for myself, Bill and the rest of my family; good health; enough money to pay the bills and play a little; fuel for my heater.  I could go on but I have so much to be thankful for that it would take up way too much space.

Greg, Vanessa and Ella traveled to Maine for this holiday.  They stayed two nights at D&P’s, then spent Friday night with me.  We had a good time and really enjoyed watching Ella’s new “trick”, rolling over.  She loves to eat and opens her mouth wide, just like a baby bird.

They left before lunch on Saturday so Bill and I did some Black Friday shopping.  We were glad to see the parking lots were full but not overflowing and the stores we went to weren’t jammed.  It was a good holiday weekend; time spent with family and time together.

On a sewing note…I finished a small gift bag for my MQResource Secret Sister.

Other than that, I haven’t had any time to sit at home and sew.  I need several uninterrupted hours to work on the background of the butterfly wallhanging if I expect to get it finished by Christmas (it was started for last Christmas).

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Welcome Ella

Ella Marie arrived four weeks early this morning at 12:36. She weighed 6# 9oz and stretched 18″. Of course, I think she is beautiful. Greg called this morning around 1:30 while I was working overtime to let me know that he was a new father. Doesn’t seem real!

Bill and I made the 1 1/2 hour drive to the hospital and visited for a couple of hours. There was some concern regarding her blood sugar since she is considered a late-term preemie. They did some blood work and eventually discussed the situation with a neo-natal specialist. After checking her over he determined that she is just fine and there is no reason for concern. This is a “problem” routinely faced by babies delivered between 32 and 36 weeks. However, it is very important that she be fed every 3 hours!

Vanessa looked tired but otherwise appeared to have handled the natural delivery very well. Although they had never considered a natural delivery, it happened so fast that there wasn’t a whole lot of other choice. They weren’t sure whether they would be released tomorrow or Monday.

Auntie Wendy was disappointed that she couldn’t visit along with us but her annual Memorial Day party was tonight and there wasn’t time to go and get back in time. She hopes to visit tomorrow or Monday.

Wendy heard from her friend Jenn today that Baby Ryan, who was born in January at only 24 weeks, finally got to go home today. My best friend, Su, called to say that her son, Jamie, and his wife had delivered their second child today also, a girl. We are thankful for a very good baby day!

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