Fiber and Pulp

Potentially TMI

There is a hymn I love that is maybe not obviously appropriate here ... but I will quote anyway: "Glory! Glory! Halleluiah!"  :) I am ready to admit today that I might be all right eventually. :P

Let me backtrack. If you have followed my ramblings for a while, you might remember that I had planned to have bariatric surgery (Rouen-Y). I had that surgery on Tuesday morning, October 12th. I am, today, nearly done with the 13th day post-operative. This blog serves as my personal diary so I am going to be recording here some notes about my experience. This may strike you as too much personal information - for which I apologize in advance. Feel free to skip this is you are squeamish. :P

My two week post op appointment with the surgeon is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I will learn that I am healing on schedule - though I am having problems with nausea and difficulty eating enough calories. I have mostly managed to drink enough fluids (48 to 60 ounces) and to ingest enough protein (60 g per day) ... and my basic meds. Trust me, in my state of mind that is a lot of balls to keep in the air at one time. :)

Today was a lovely fall day - I think the high was around 72 or 74. For the first time in two weeks, I had the grit to take a slow peaceful walk to the mailbox and back. (Maybe tripled the number of steps I've taken in each of the previous ten days) Felt good!

I actually sat in my sewing room this afternoon, chatting with some of my modern quilt making friends via Zoom. I did not have the energy to sew, but it felt really good to chat and catch up. :)

One result of my surgery date was that I had to miss the modern guild's retreat (which I had signed up for) ... a sweet coordinator dropped off my door prize this morning on my front step, along with a lovely card (see the photo above) signed by friends at the retreat. What a heart warming thing to receive!!

Here's what was in my bag - fun stuff:

I quite like the pouch pattern ... and I think that Dalmatian print fat quarter will make a great lining. :) The quilt looks like a great scrap idea, too. The little tool holder went right next to my sewing machine to hold the thread snips I keep dropping on the floor. LOL.

When I went through the mail I brought  in from the box later in the afternoon, there was a wonderful fabric postcard from Linda Anderson, a guild friend and bariatric surgery advice-giver from Faithful Circle:

Then, to cap things off, later in the afternoon I got a very funny text message from my former brother in law that made me laugh right out loud. ;)

So many blessings to be thankful for today!

:) Linda

PS For my own records, please note that after two weeks of a liquid diet (no, not alcoholic:) I lost 12 pounds, in preparation for surgery. I have not weighed myself since surgery (should have, no brains to think of it) so it will be interesting to see what tomorrow's doctor's appointment will show. Especially given that I am managing to eat about 400 to 600 calories a day right now. :P

Done!!

Have you ever heard of typewriter art?? I am so impressed with this work by James Cook - he creates original drawing/sketches using typewriters with their limited fonts and careful spacing. You can read more about his amazing products here. :) Human being are a never-ending source of wonder and inspiration!

I am very pleased indeed to announce a finish AT LAST of my 16 Halloween blocks. I"m so happy to be finished with this task! I've been feeling a bit of pressure to complete them as the exchange meet is set for this coming Saturday afternoon. There are several other jobs I'd like to tackle before my surgery next Tuesday. :P Here is my design (mind you, not all my blocks look exactly like this one - I do allow some variation from block to block to prevent boredom:):

I hope the other members of the swap like this design. It is by Jaded Spade Creations. I liked it as soon as I saw it on Instagram and bought the pattern. :)

Things are going along fine otherwise here at Chez Schiffer. My meals are not lively but I'm not having any more hunger pains. By the end of today (one meal left to eat) I will be halfway finished with my pre-surgical preparations. I am thinking to weigh myself tomorrow morning (fingers crossed that I remember) to see whether I've lost any weight. I don't feel any lighter. Shrug.

:) Linda

Weekend News

 

I love the combination of embroidery and botany in this artist's work! She, Solange Nunes, is an inspiration to me. :) I have done embroidery on birch bark (from my daughter's trees:) but never on leaves. I am hoping to grab some nicely colored ones this Fall and try (I think they will have to be preserved with some kind of anti-evaporative coating to prevent drying out, though). Ever eager to experiment. :)

The weather has been GLORIOUS this weekend - mid 70s during the day, sunny blue skies and pleasant breezes. Quite cool in the early morning and at night - Autumn has definitely arrived. The crickets are singing in the evening which is my personal marker for Fall. So nice to sleep with our bedroom window open - but I need to put quilt number three on our bed for the nighttime chill. :)

I have done some obligatory sewing this weekend as well as starting on my liquid-only diet in preparation for bariatric surgery. So far the diet is fine - I have to remember not to automatically reach for solid foods (got two regular food eating guys living with me so no empty shelves or fridge:) but I have managed to keep it real so far. 

The doctor's instructions say I should suffer hunger pangs until my metabolism goes into ketosis (starts breaking down fats) ... I have not felt any pangs, yet. I'm eating every three hours which seems to be sufficient even though my meals only have 150 calories each (five times a day, yes, this is EXTREMELY calorie restricted). Don't know what ketosis feels like (accumulating fat stores is more my usual:) so that will be interesting.

What I've been sewing are my September and October Stash Bee blocks. Here are the two I made for Jennifer (Sept. Queen):

This was the first one I made (it finishes about 15" square). When

I finished it, I decided that the central nine patch was little

too 'heavy' for the surrounding prints. So, I made another

one with the same fabrics in different places:

I thought this one worked out better - the center

nine patch unit feels more balanced with the surrounds

and that narrow blue/green inner round stands

out nicely, I think.

 

I am sending both blocks to Jenn, fwiw.

Today I mostly spent the day visiting with my sweetheart and watching him play Fallout 4? (Forget which iteration - it's a very popular video game series). I find it fun to chat with him as he builds settlements in a post-apocalyptic Boston area, filtered through the 'eyes' of 1950s popular science. :) 

I did manage to sew the two blocks for the October Queen, Dawn:

If you are paying attention, you can see that these blocks

are mirror images of one another. I enjoy freehand curved

piecing so this was an easy set of blocks for me to make.

I had to dig a bit to find two solid colored fabrics I liked together - I don't have many solids in my stash as I prefer reads-as-solid prints. :) Mailing these off tomorrow, too. 

Tomorrow I go back to sewing the edges of my Halloween blocks, having added the 48 bats for my design last week. We are getting together on the 9th to swap our blocks around and I am really looking forward to seeing what designs the other makers chose. :)

Onward and upward, as my Daddy used to say!

:) Linda