2025 In Review

 This has been quite a year. Lots of travel and important decisions. Mom moved to Knoxville last August and it was such a good idea. In January, she called me with a nose bleed that wouldn't stop. I was teaching a class at Mountain Creek Quilt Shop. Marian took her to Parkwest Hospital ER. That was a mistake. They admitted her. The service was impossible. They only checked her vitals once a day. The room was dirty. We couldn't get answers on why we were there. They didn't address her nose bleed even though it keeps bleeding for a couple hours each night. We finally had to call the patient advocate and get a new doctor, after Marian went off on the other one and scared him so bad he wouldn't come back into her room. Turns out she has Afib. I got her a cardiologist at UT Hospital. Then in March, she fell in her room while trying to climb and get something from the top of her closet. I took her to UT ER where we were there for about 10 hours. She had cracked her tail bone. They sent us home with OXY. The next morning I couldn't get her out of bed because of her reaction to the OXY. Back to the ER. Fortunately the ER wasn't busy. It turns out they didn't mean for her to be released the day before. So we spent a week in the hospital. She was released to a Rehab facility. It was the same facility by Karen's house that Carol died in. After one night Mom called having a panic attack demanding I come get her. She ended up staying there for 2 weeks. It was not a great experience for her. Her PT person turned out to be my neighbor, who went to school with Taylor and Josh. (The horrible part is that she died in the Fall.) Anyway, during her second week of Rehab we took our first trip. Taylor, generously came and stayed with Mom, while Marian and I went to our Quilt Retreat in Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina. It was a great trip as usual. 

Mom and I took some drawing classes together for a while. It was fun. Taylor came to town in January and we had a Mom/Daughter weekend. We made glasses, went to Wake and had a great foot massage. It was a great weekend! 

We purchased a new washer and dryer this year. Probably didn't need to, but we did. 

My first trip of the year was in January was to spend the weekend with Karen Pharr. The first night and day was fantastic. Then I got food poisoning which really sucked. 

My second trip was to the Quilt Retreat in April.

In the middle of July, Karen and I went to Ginny's house in South Dakota. Best trip. We saw wild bison, went into Wyoming. It was just wonderful

In late July and Early August, Marian and I went to England. It was an exhausting trip, but it was excellent. So much fun!!!

In September, I spent the weekend with Taylor for the White Oak basket festival. Such a fun weekend.

The middle of September, we took Mom to Jekyll Island, Georgia for her birthday. We had such a good time. She got to go on the beach again. The city was very low key and it was such a fabulous place.

In October, Marian and I went to West Virginia for Quilt Camp. My two classes were extremely successful. 

For volunteer things I did this year - I donated platelets every month. I agreed to be in charge of my guild's Block Party committee to help make quilts for charity. I also helped make beds for a local charity who gives them to kids who don't have beds. 

I made the decision to stop teaching, mostly because I just don't have time to develop classes while taking care of Mom. 

Mom fells again in December. This time she fractured her hip. Required a partial replacement and Marian and I taking turns staying with her all month to help her get better. So I missed my Christmas with Jonas and his family.

Hopefully 2026 will be better health for Mom. I have finally gotten better health. I had to work all year with my Doctor to feel better. Turns out I have asthma. I am finally seeing an endocrinologist who is handling my thyroid. I knew it wasn't acting correctly, but my Doctor didn't agree, but it was not acting correctly. 

One of the most enjoyable things that started happening this year was Isaiah starting Facetiming Me. He starting just carrying me around so I could watch him do stuff. Then we started drawing together. I love these phone calls. They are the best!!

Painting and Drawing

 First cards:

  Sent to my friend, Ginny Storm

 Sent to my friend, Karen Pharr

 Given to Mom for Mother's Day

2025 Finishes

 My first finish  of 2025 is a cross stitch. I started it in 2023 or 2024. It was a gift from Taylor. The designer is Happy Sloth Patterns on Etsy. 16 count Aida fabric. Name of the pattern is Strong Women.

 My second finish of the year was my kawandi by machine. I wanted to see how a kawandi would look when machine quilted because I've had several students who don't like handwork not take my class. I needed to show it was possible to do by machine and it turn out well. I love the way this one turned out!

Third finish was a true labor of love. I started this in December 2021. I ran into a problem when I hit my grandmother's name, Zettie Florence Tittsworth. I thought I made it wide enough to handle everyone's full name, but nope. I finally decided to just put the middle initial since her middle name was the same as her Mother's. This will be framed and given to my daughter. The pattern is called Mother's Tree by Marilyn Leavitt Inblum for Lavender and Lace. It was done with DMC thread on 32 count Fiber on a Whim wheat. Started 12/7/21 and finished on 1/14/2025.

Framed:

and what we discovered that is very cool, it was framed on Jonas's birthday.

 I saw this pattern at the Quilt Camp in West Virginia. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to make it. I purchased the fabric on my trip to the Houston Quilt Show. I make the squares while visiting Karen Pharr in South Carolina. I had to square them up at home and sew them together because I got a stomach virus at Karen's and threw up Saturday night. I spent Sunday sleeping and Monday I drove home. I plan to quilt it using straight lines. I'll put the picture of the quilted one here when I finish. 

 This was my 4th attempt at watercolor. I'm really proud of the way it turned out.

 When Taylor came up for our girls weekend we decided to go to Pretentious Glass and Beer and make glasses. This is mine. It was a great weekend! We went to Wake on Sunday and soaked out feet and finished up with breakfast at the Ruby Sunshine. Saturday was spent shopping with Mom, lunch at Petro's and then more shopping with just Taylor.

This was my first watercolor.

   This quilt was made in tribute to my sister, Karen who passed away when she was 60. The color purple was chosen because it was her favorite. The material with buttons was for her button collection, which I inherited. The crochet pieces are because we learned to crochet together when her husband, Bill passed away. The orange is for her beloved Vols. It also includes some Vera Bradley material. We three girls loved Vera Bradley bags. I got the idea for this quilt last year when I was in Texas during the Day of the Dead Celebration. 

This was a Brown Bag mystery quilt from 2024. The fabric was picked by Mountain Creek Quilt shop and matched the postcard from Anderson Advertising company they made for the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. I didn't keep up with the mystery as it was released by Karen Montgomery. I took it with me to the 2025 retreat with my friends in Murrell's Inlet, SC. I will quilt it myself.

 This quilt will be my entry into the 2025 Smoky Mountain Quilt guild's 2025 Challenge, called If you could be music, What would you be? I picked Broadway since it is my favorite. This is an my original design. The playbill covers and other Broadway pictures were printed on our Brother fabric printer and then raw edge appliqued onto the black background fabric. I drew the spotlight on the bottom right. I love this piece and after the quilt show, I will hang it in my room. It won a 3rd place ribbon at the show!

I put this cross stitch on the back.

It has been many, many years since I made an egg basket. I saw this class offered by the City of Knoxville and signed up to take it. I still enjoy the process of making these baskets!

I also made this cross stitch for Keri. It was impossibly hard, but it turned out so well.