30 years

I was watching my students on the unit this morning and recalled that Andy and I met 30 years ago this month.
Yes, it was during that dreaded July in the hospital (when med students become interns and interns become residents).
Andy, just out of his internship and coming to neurology for his first month of his internal medicine residency walked onto my unit and I thought, "I could fall in love with this guy."
We developed a friendship, he briefly dated a colleague of mine until he came to his senses and asked me out.
I was starting my second year as a staff nurse at the University of Iowa, and we conferred on patients for the three months he was on neurology. I'm not sure when we started dating--it was still warm as we went sailing on our second date.
We no longer work together, but remain good sounding boards to discuss patients. He is a senior attending and I am a clinical faculty member and hospice nurse.
Thirty years and still enjoying our careers and each other!

verdant backing

I used up large prints with green--there are some bunnies on one side.
For the Florabunda quilt.

yellows

The yellow bag yielded:
The incentive project: Bonnie Hunter's Florabunda.
Use: used up a bunch on the Florabunda; also used up lots of florals
Throw away: very little--these fabrics were in good shape
Share: Cousin Jan's bag got A LOT added to it with
prints that I know I will not use, and fabrics that I will use, just not as much as I had, so I tore them in half and put a piece in the bag.
Donate: fabric which is too awful to hand off to Jan. My friend Jeanette will be using this with her high school students
Stash return pile: cut into 6 1/2, 3 1/2, 2 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch strips and just a few pieces to go back on the shelf
All from a 13 gallon kitchen garbage bag.

I did have to dip into the share/donate bag to get yellows for the border fabric for the quilt, and that lead to many thoughts of "Why did I give this one away?"
Note to self: do not look into the bags once you put something in there.

On to the large florals:
Since the incentive project lead to the need for florals, I did start on that next bag (actually, they were in a basket) So, time to finish getting the large florals in order.
Incentive project: a backing for the Florabunda.

Eve

Found this photo on my camera from Eve's birthday several months ago.
She is in Shanghai as an au pair and working on her Mandarin.
(the cake was red velvet from Bittersweet)

florabunda

It's big.
It's yellow.
It's ugly--but in that good way.

Thanks to Bonnie Hunter, who has unleashed yellow quilt fever around the country, I have completed this Jacob's Ladder top. All from stash.
About 87 by 87 inches.
(yes, I see that I flipped a triangle in the second block on the bottom row.)

on to the yellows

The neutral bag (there may be another neutral bag in there too) has been sorted and yielded:
The incentive project: the 5-patch top
Use: made 3 quilt backs from larger pieces
Throw away: fabric that I did not like how it felt when I used it in the past, or it has not held up well in quilts, or, saddest of all, it did not hold up well just sitting on the shelf
Share: this has been claimed by my cousin Jan who I did not even know read my blog; knowing she wants fabric makes it easier to let it go.
Donate: fabric which is too awful to hand off to Jan.
Stash return pile: cut into 6 1/2, 3 1/2, 2 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch strips and about a dozen larger pieces to go back on the shelf
All from a 13 gallon kitchen garbage bag.

The next bag I opened had yellows, so I guess I will be joining Bonnie Hunter with her Florabunda.
As I told her, it is turning out ugly, but in that good way.