No, I didn't die in surgery.............

 And here it is, almost a month since I last blogged.  I know you have been waiting to hear about the thumb surgery, so let's just get that out of the way first.  I survived!  

Do you think they used enough bandages?  I was supposed to be icing it, but there was no way to feel the cold through all this packing.  I'd have appreciated it if they had cleaned off the iodine they had painted allover my hand and arm up to the elbow.  This caused an allergic skin reaction..........so I basically used that ice pack on the rash on my arm. 

And here it is uncovered!  I know you really appreciate me sharing this photo.  My dear husband didn't want me to suffer alone, so about a week later, we made a trip to the ER in Marshall to get some stitches in his finger.  

Yes, he won because he had more stitches.  Although I'm thinking I may be the ultimate winner when we get the bills for both events and compare them.

I worked diligently trying to get lots of quilting done before the procedure.  This was a large tumbler quilt I made from a winter themed layer cake I had.  

And I used this cute red plaid flannel on the back.  It was a find from Marshall Dry Goods in Arkansas.

I also custom quilted this big star quilt.  

Here is a close up of the quilting......

And I got my team's Quilt of Valor quilted.  

This was a new quilting design that I tried and fell in love with.  

Of course, Esme had to give it a snuggle (and some stray cat hair........LINT ROLLER!)  before I passed it off to be bound.

And I finished piecing this scrappy Bars and Stars top that I designed.  (As of now, it's been quilted, but I'm holding off on the binding as I'm having some trouble with my thumb swelling.  Hopefully soon I'll get it done though.)

AND, that brought my TBQ (to be quilted) closet down to just these two!  The one on the right is the quilt top I made for my nephew's college bedroom in the house he's renting.  It's done and was delivered this weekend.  I was waiting on backing, so had to quilt it with a bandaged thumb, and did the binding as soon as the stitches were out.  This is probably a contributing factor to the swelling I'm experiencing now.  The doctor told me last week that it was just stress and over use.  

The other quilt is my challenge project which is next up to be quilted.  I'm going to be doing some free motion, so I want my thumb to feel better before I start.

And for those concerned, the hubster's finger is healed.  He even took out his own stitches!  

I'll continue catching up on life in the next post!

Christi