Jeanine's trip to the Mayo clinic

Jeanine and I have spent the last 3 days in Rochester Minnesota at the Mayo clinic. We went there with the specific hope and purpose that she would have the cancerous part of her liver removed.

She spent Tuesday having many tests. They included CAT scans and MRIs and today she even had a test to check her vocal chords.

Today she spent the day going from doctor to doctor to doctor and there was little to brighten her day. The removal of the diseased liver is not an option at this time. She has learned that she has what looks to be renal cell carcinoma in her liver (which she knew), in the lymph nodes outside her liver, and small growths of it in her lungs, and in her pancreas. To our surprise, it is also suspected that she has thyroid cancer in her thyroid, if not it is also renal cell carcinoma. If it is thyroid cancer, there is no special worries about it. It is well-contained and easily treatable, if it becomes an issue.

The doctors have urged her to go home and get back on chemo treatment as soon as possible and if at some time the cancer reduces enough, they will consider surgery again.

Grandchild sewing

The last of my nearby grandchildren finally got to come spend the night and do a little sewing. Each grandchild had been given the choice of what they wanted to sew. My grandson wanted an Iphone. WHAT?? A sewn Iphone, ridiculous and impossible. He is my grandson, though, so I had to try. Here is the original...

Here is my grandson working on the first Iphone (yes, I said first.)

We spent an hour or so coming up with this Iphone face on paper. This was the background picture for the Iphone.

These were the apps that we printed over that picture.

We printed this picture and apps on paper and encased them in clear plastic for the sewn Iphone. We made one and realized that when we turned it, that the picture and the plastic became totally crunched. It also wouldn't turn with the foam board that we had inserted to make it feel like an Iphone. Here is the disaster, though you can't see it all that well.

We had to start all over again. We sewed the basic shape and then we turned it inside out. At that point we inserted foam board in the bottom and sewed the plastic and picture on. My grandson then decreed that we needed to stuff the rest of the Iphone with batting so kids playing with it wouldn't break the foam board. We finished the last edge and then did the necessary apple on the back of the "Iphone."

Here is the proud creator. Yes, he kept both Iphones. Though he insisted that we make another, he still liked his first creation.

I was so proud of him. He was a natural at sewing. He sewed a straight line from the very first time he sat down to sew.

A simple skirt and baby shower ideas

This past month, I headed out to see my daughter, son, and their families. I had seen a skirt here. I called my daughter and asked her to send me her measurements. She did so and I went shopping.

I hate looking for fabric. I don't seem to have the taste or should I say I don't have the confidence in my taste in fabrics. It took me forever to find what I wanted and I hope that she likes it. When I got to her house, I asked her to model the skirt.

It doesn't look too bad and it fits her quite well.

Here is a look at the back.

While I was at my daughter's home, she showed me the things that she had made for a recent baby shower. I was so impressed I took lots of pictures, but I will only share a few. These are the flowers that she made from tissue paper and hung from the ceiling.

Here is one of the absolutely beautiful pins she made for a thank you gift. I found the tutorial here.

That's all for now!

Buttons and Grandchildren

Recently my grandchildren spent the night with us while their parents enjoyed a much needed rest. The oldest children begged me to do a craft with them. Since my neighbor had recently given me a huge bag of buttons, I thought they might enjoy creating with them. It was a work in progress. At first they were going to sew the buttons on, but it soon became evident that they were going to use way too many buttons. It would take forever to sew them on. So we settled on fabric glue. This is the finished projects after I mounted them on foam board and finished the edges with binding, rickrack, and rattail.

CAPTAIN AMERICA'S SHIELD:

THE GIRL:

THE SWORD (DAGGER):

Here are the proud three together...

I would be so proud of my excellent grandparenting skills except by the time we were done, I was ready to shoot all three. They were all being so demanding and I had a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old demanding my attention too. How DO parents do it????

Jeanine's newest update

Jeanine and I took a trip to Minnesota about a week ago and came home with what sounds like good news. She went to the Mayo clinic in Rochester with the idea that they would check to see if removing the diseased part of her liver would lengthen her life and provide some disease-free time.

After checkups by the liver surgeon and throat doctor and a consultation with the oncologist there, they decided that she should come back in 6 weeks. At that time, she will get the appropriate tests to see if she is a candidate for surgery. From her old PET scan and CAT scans, they thought that it was a viable solution. Of course, after 8 weeks without chemo treatment, it is possible the cancer will have grown, but even that did not seem to deter them.

The problem has always been that the cancer is not considered to be just in her liver, but also in a lymph node in her chest. The interesting thing is that the spot in her lymph node doesn't seem to have grown. They are wondering if it is cancer at all. They also wondered if it was not a problem with the lymph node, but with the thyroid. If it is a lymph node, it is inoperable because of the consistency of that node and it's position in relation to lungs, windpipe, etc. If it is the thyroid, it is very much operable. Regardless, the liver doctor said that he was ready to operate despite what happens with the lymph node/thyroid issue.

So we are guardedly optimistic. The oncologist did say that the cancer will return sooner or later, but hopefully she will have some time pain free, disease free, and drug free.

More pillows

I wanted to make some birthday gifts for a couple of friends and since pillows seem my gift of choice, here is what I made.

This one was based on my pillow here. I used a fluffy, more expensive felt. I was a little sad because my eyesight is bad enough that I could not differentiate between the circles when I was sewing them. I ended up having a hard time knowing where to sew.

I sewed a zipper in this pillow, but white was a bad choice (but the only one I had at home.)

The second was for a moose lover who is remodeling her bedroom to reflect this theme. I found a reindeer silhouette in a book and modified it to look like a moose. I started out using leather for the moose, but I soon realized I didn't have the right sewing machine to sew on leather or the right scissors to cut out. I switched to felt and it looks pretty good.

I got the idea for it here.

Teaching children to sew

Last summer, I started a new tradition with my grandchildren who live close. I let each one come separately to spend a full day and night with their grandparents. They get to go out to eat for one meal wherever they want to go and we chose (free) activities that we can do with them. They get our full attention.

This summer, I determined that I would teach my granddaughter to sew. She did a little embroidery and machine-sewing. It turned out well. I thought about taking pictures, but I didn't.

When my 5 year old grandson came, he asked to learn to sew also. I told him that I would teach some hand sewing to him, not machine sewing and he was okay with that. He asked if he could make a light saber pillow and we did it! (Though you need to use your imagination to realize that is what it is.) Pictures came later with him also, but at least I remembered eventually. I started out by cutting a 6" wide strip of red felt approximately 3 feet long. I also cut out a 6" wide strip of grey felt about 8" long. He said that a red button was necessary so we went through my stash and found one. He sewed that on to the grey felt. He sewed the red piece to the grey piece along the width and then sewed the entire length of the saber leaving about 5" open so that we could turn and stuff the pillow. He hand sewed the entire thing. Then he stuffed it.

I used a chopstick to stuff the stuffing in better and whipstitched the opening closed. Here are the results. I am so proud of him! He did a great job!