Quilting Fun

I don’t know why I started to quilt, but I sure enjoy it now. I have never had a lesson, but I am enjoying the learning process. (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

It started years ago when my grandfather Leo was sick and was in a rehabilitation center. I thought I would make him a lap quilt for Christmas. I was sad that he only got to enjoy it one week before he passed, but he really liked it. After many years I thought I would get a sewing machine and make another quilt. I was glad that I was able to make one for my grandmother Ruth to enjoy while she was in the hospital for some time. She said people asked how about it all the time. I like that it sparked conversation for her and that she found comfort with it.

Here are a few of the quilts I have made. I don’t have pictures of all the quilts I have made. Some were for my friends and family. I should take a picture of each one I make. People collect quilts and pay thousands of dollars for them. A quilts history is important, and it is recommend that a quilter keeps records on each quilt they make. Here are the ones I do have.

I call this my Happy Quilt. I liked the yellow print at the time. It has cute little bees on it. I don't know why, I just liked it. (That's where the name came from.)I made this quilt for myself a few years ago becasue it is bright and cheerful. I have used it on the couch just about every day since I have broken my foot. It looks better in person. Pretty crazy bright in the picture. This is a Bear Paw quilt pattern.
I made this quilt for Miles. It’s not easy to find a pattern that is manly, but I think this one did the job. Anytime you have to sew triangles it’s going to be a hard long process. I still like this one a lot.

Here are two quilts I made for the the cabin at the lake. Bailey always sits on my quilts when I am making them. I don't know why. lol
I had to make two more of these quilts for the cabin. Once you use one, you don't want to give it up. Four people and two quilts was not a good match.

Log Cabin Quilt with Delectable Mountain boarder.
Sometimes I see a pattern and I just have to make it. This is a pattern that you can arrange in many different ways. I liked the red and white colors and the zigzag pattern.

As you can see Sonoma likes the qult also.

This is my all time favorite quilt. It is simply called Koi Pond.

I saw this pattern online as a block of the month. They post one block pattern a month so that you don’t get over whelmed. I ended up buying the pattern and getting it done over my Christmas break in 2007. It was also the first time that I had a nice sewing machine, Miles had gotten for me for my b-day, that could sew what I needed to sew. I was able to do the “quilting” part of the quilt now. That is the process where you tack down all the layers by sewing all over the quilt.

I like the boarder material. It’s printed like rocks. That took forever to find.

This is my artistic version of Bass Lake.

Since Bass Lake is my favorite place, I thought I would make a picture type quilt. I used flannel to make this quilt. I was limited with material that they make in flannel, but it came out ok. I bought all of it in Oakhurst, the bigger town next to Bass Lake. It is based on the view of Goat Mountain from a dock on North Shore Rd. Miles has claimed this one as his favorite to use each day.

I love to watch and feed the ducks on the lake so I added some. There used to be quite a few canoes on the lake when I was growing up so I added them as well. Also, my family used to have a canoe with an outrigger, and a motor. It was the slowest thing on the lake. My brother and I also used to get soaked from the waves of the other boats. Awww good times.

I added the deer since there are always some on that side of the lake.

Here is a checkered flag quilt that I made as a thank you to my friend Darrick. He used to race supermoto bikes. A checkered flag seemed the right fit.

Back side of the top of Eric's Quilt

I saw a pattern in a magazine and wanted to make it. I had never made a quilt from a magazine pattern so I was a little worried how it was going to come out. I don’t really follow patterns when I make a quilt. This is called Yo-yo quilt pattern. They had it in crazy bright colors, but I wanted to make it in earth tones. I thought of my brother when I saw the quilt so I had to make it for him. I had made him a quilt already, but it was one of my first ones from a few years ago, and I had a lot to learn still. I wanted to make this one for him for Christmas. It took months to make. All the triangles killed me. To make it worse I broke my foot and had to have surgery before the quilt was done. I really wanted to give it to him for Christmas. I did not want to show up empty handed. I managed to muster the strength to finish his quilt. It was not easy. My foot hurt so bad I could hardly stand it. I had to get a TV tray and prop my foot up on it so I could sew. I am glad he liked it and that I was able to finish it in time.

I always enjoy making a quilt. It's hard work, but it's cool when it's done.

It also gives me something to do as I recover from my broken foot.

(If I find more pictures of quilts I have made I will add them to this post. )

Lisa "Da' Foot" Hanshaw

Day of the crash.

Nov 30th is a day to remember. I was headed out to the track with my new Aprilia RS125cc motorcycle. It's a beautiful bike. I had taken the bike out for one slow session and was fine. It was my second session on the end of my second lap that things went wrong. It was Willow Springs Race Way and it was turn 9. The dreaded turn nine. The one that takes lives year after year. I was heading into the turn when the motor seized and the rear wheel locked up. That made the bike right itself and I went flying off AKA High Side. I was knocked out for a little while. I started to wake up wondering what happened. I thought I was in bed dreaming that I crashed. Then I could hear the bikes behind me exiting the track. I opened my eyes to see my beautiful bike laying there looking back at me. Then I noticed my foot was hurting. It is imposable to describe the pain. I never wish that upon anyone. Long story short. It broke 8 bones in my foot. One was crushed to dust. They were also dislocated. I had to have surgery to have 4 screws put in my foot for a while as well as a bone graft off another bone in my foot to fix the gap where the crushed bone was. The pain meds they gave me did not help. The only one that was helpful caused me to pass out, throw up and get hot flashes. I came home after 2 and a half days in the hospital. The meds they gave me for home made me sick and I could not keep anything down. I lost 10 pounds. I have since gained most of it back. The doctors visits have all been painful. Getting the cast off and the screws out was the worst. Physical therapy is not much fun either, but I am getting there. I hope to move my foot soon and the swelling goes down. Here are some scary pictures of my adventure.

Lisfranc break. Click here to learn about it.
One week after surgery.
Blood soaked cotton. Not much fun getting the cast off around the screws.

One week after surgery.

Still one week.

Three weeks after surgery. One screw was almost coming through my skin on the other side of my foot. Hurt like crazy to adjust it. I also got the stitches out. Amazingly painful. My skin hurt so badly around that area, I was surprised.

Finally got my cast on. 6 more weeks of fun.

Cast off and screws out day! 9 weeks after surgery. I was not looking forward to them cutting around the 4 screws in my foot.

Ouch

Not sure why Miles has a smile on his face, it was not much fun for me. hehehehe



Almost there.

Free at last. My screws got caught in the cast. That brought me to tears. I could take it for a while, but it kept happening and then got stuck. That put me over the top.

Then came the good part.

VIDEO OF SCREWS BEING TAKEN OUT. CLICK HERE.

They took the screws out one by one with a hand crank. I wont even talk about how that felt. I am sure you can guess. 4 more weeks on crutches and then I can learn to walk again. It's been a rough road, but my friends and family have made it much better.

Updated pictures....

Week 11

Week 13

Week 13




Week 13

I was told I had only 4 more weeks of crutches, but my foot did not get the message. I have another 2 more weeks on top of that and then I can use one crutch for 2 more weeks. After the 4 weeks total I go back and get checked to see if I can walk.