Happy Mothers Day

It is a brilliant sunny, pleasantly warm, fresh smelling day today - just the perfect day for a get together with our family to celebrate Mothers Day. We will be gathering here at our house at around 5 to eat and talk and enjoy the day. We will feast on roasted chicken and salads of all sorts and a special dessert. The grandsons will run about and have a grand time playing and my heart will be happy. I love being a mother - and I love being a Grammy too. We waited a long long time for grandkids and it is more than I ever hoped for - and I hoped for a LOT. There is nothing like a grandson running down the sidewalk and throwing their arms around you - or a grandson telling you that your house is the most fun of all!!

My grandma holding my cousin, my brother, my mom holding me . . .

Don's mom with Don on her lap in the swing - can't you just see the love in that beautiful face?

Don as a young teen, fishing with his mom - one of her favorite things to do . . .

Mothers Day really took on a new meaning for me when our family started to grow. We have three wonderful kids - each as different from the others as you could possibly imagine - and yet there are such similarities it amazes you. All I ever wanted to do since I was 6 years old was have a big family with lots of kids!!

A new baby at Christmas time and our family is complete . . .

More fun - as the kids grow up . . .

Oh look - a new puppy - Uncle Jeff sure surprised us with that one . . . the kids named their puppy Peanut . . .

Summer in California in the early 70s - they are saying "fuzzy pickles" -
which is what we said instead of "cheese" . . .

With Great-Aunt Dorothy - don't you love the look on Rusty's face?

Ahhh the teenage years - we certainly had fun - a New Year's Eve Party in our family room . . .

And then later the grandkids. As those of you who have grandchildren know, it is a feeling of completion when grandkids arrive - seeing the past and the future - the best of everyone distilled down into these precious little ones. Gives Mothers Day a whole new meaning.

Ben - at the computer . . .

Jahn - eating cotton candy at the fair . . .


Jahn - riding his big wheel at Grammy and Grampy's house . . .

Ben - helping fill the suet feeders with suet cakes he helped Grammy make . . .

The boys at the park - hi ho dinosaur!!!

I wish each of you readers a Happy Day - or Happy Mothers Day - whichever fits you best. May your sunshine be bright - your hugs be plentiful - your thoughts be happy ones.

And now I must go and boil potatoes and eggs for salad - cut up fruit for the fruit salad - set the table in a fun summery look and wait for the families to arrive. Our son in West Virginia already called to wish me happy Mothers Day - so this day is off to a great start!!!

Update on Quilt Give-Away

Win this quilt

All you out there in blog-land have been so very generous!!!! Our hearts are touched by the wonderful donations and the great stories you have sent us.

Several have asked for our snail mail a second time - and mentioned that you felt bad because you misplaced the first email. Don't feel bad - I've done that several time - intended to keep an email and answer it - and then searched for hours and with no results - so frustrating! Oh the fun of email - sometimes it works so great - and sometimes - well, maybe it is just me.

For those who are new - here are the links about Don's upcoming open heart surgery - and the quilt give-away.

So - for those that need my snail mail for sending donations and a chance a winning the quilt - or the other great prizes - here it is. I'm not worried about it being in public - I'm in the phone book and white pages. com will give you my address day and night. :-)

JoAnn Bayne
4000 Flynn St. Spc 86
Bellingham, WA 98229

Close up of the fabulous quilting Julie did on the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.

We cannot tell you how grateful we are for the many generous donations - and we both wish you all the best of luck in the drawings. And what generous blog-land friends we have who have donated more items to the drawing. Hand spun alpaca yarn,a table runner, jelly roll of fabrics, a sweet koozie to keep you bottle of water cold in the summer - such generosity astounds us!!! Thank you each and every one. And a big thank you for all the good wishes and prayers - those are just as treasured. I've kept a list and sometimes when this whole open heart surgery gets us down a little we review the list of names and feel your love for us. Thank you seems so inadequate at this time - but thank you - so very much!!!!

Happy May Day

I need a break - I need sunshine - I need to be a flibber de gibbit for a while. (That was a phrase my grandmother used for times when someone was just being silly - and I need silly right now).

Sunshine through the trees over our shed . . .

Sunshine in my quilts . . .

Happy May Day to all - it is gloriously sunny here - and supposed to be 70 degrees this afternoon - now what could be better on a May Day? We will take our grandson to the park for a picnic and lots of climbing and running - well he will be climbing and running - I will be taking pictures.

The wonderful Dandelions are blooming all over the place . .

If you would like to read a fabulous blog about May Day - please visit Rowan she has done a great post. And turn on your speakers, her music just floats you away.

The fields are glorious with dandelions - and they are good for the livestock . . .

Yellow as far as the eye can see . . .

A sunny quilt - summer is coming for sure . . .

Violets are peeking out of the cracks in the big rock wall . . .

Sunshine at the beach . . . I need sunshine!!!

The little patch of Grape Hyacinth is blooming next to the front porch . . .

And here are some wishes - just for you my friend. May all your wishes come true!!!

More give-aways - in addition to the donation quilt

We are so amazed at the generosity of those in quiltland and blogland when we shared with us in our need to raise money for Don's open heart surgery in September. If you missed it - read about it HERE.

And in the spirit of generosity - we have had many bloggers to post about this on their blog - and several have provided additional prizes to be given away in the drawing.

The prizes are . . .

A tablerunner - from Barb

A can Koozie of your choice, or one that is mongrammed from Franni (keeps your drink cold in the summer) -

A skein of Alpaca yarn, hand spun - from Linda


A Moda Jelly Roll - from Debi

Wouldn't you love to have any of these? Such generous new friends I have found through this time of stress and worry.

Because blogger is watching everyone's blog and has taken down blogs that have too many links to other blogs on them - they call them spamming blogs - I can no longer list all those wonderful people who have blogged about the opportunity quilt - what a shame. I can't risk having this blog taken down - and I am NOT spamming - so

Thanks to all who blogged about this event - we are ever grateful for your help and generosity. If you want to see some of the blogs - go to the comment section and many have left comments about blogging about this - you can visit from the comments section by clicking on their name.




And a big thank you to all who have donated - and blogged - and emailed - and prayed - and sent good vibes - or helped in any way - we appreciate each and every one of you.

Donation quilt - Open Heart Surgery fundraiser

In September Don has to undergo open heart surgery to repair or replace the Mitral Valve - and we have finally come up with a way to raise money for what we will owe after insurance pays their part. To read more about Don's surgery - click here.

I have been making quilts for years, it is one thing that I can do to contribute to our situation - and we've decided to use one of the quilts for the fund raiser, and it is the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt that was finished just last year. It is hand pieced and machine quilted, by Julie from Idaho.

It is double bed size - the fabrics are 100% cotton, all tone on tones . . .

Julie did a fabulous job - using her home sewing machine . . .

It is Don's all time favorite quilt - he says it just makes him happy to look at it . . .

For a donation of $5.00 you get your name in the drawing five times - a donation of $10.00 gives you 12 chances and $20.00 will give you 25 chances, etc. To keep this from being an actual raffle - anyone can have their name entered without a donation (though we really do appreciate the donations, but completely understand if you can't donate, not everyone can in these economic times and we don't want you to feel bad about that). Send us your good wishes and prayers - they mean so much to us.

I have talked to many internet and local friends - and they are all excited about this and we already have many donations and offers to take donations for us also.

The drawing will be Sept. 6 - Don's birthday - the surgery is scheduled for Sept. 4, at this point. Any money raised over the amount that is needed for our co-pay on the surgery (approx. $25,000 if everything goes smoothly) will be donated to another person or family with a medical need. We welcome ideas of who to donate to once we reach our goal.

To donate, - we are currently working on an online payment process - email for details.

We also accept checks, just email for the address to send them to. Some of our friends are taking tickets already and gathering donations, which we truly appreciate. It is amazing the support and love we feel during this stressful and scary time.

If you would like to post about this donation quilt on your blog, we surely would appreciate that - and you would get your name in the drawing 5 more times and for each person you send over this way who donates - another 5 times in the drawing.

Thank you all for reading this post - and for your support and prayers.

Online Spring Quilt Festival

Amy at http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/quilt-festival-spring-2009.html has organized the first on-line Blogger's Quilt Festival. We are to post a photos of our favorite quilt and tell the story behind it.

Some of you may have seen my favorite - but bear with me as we see it again. I liked this quilt so much I made TWO of them. Well, maybe not because I liked it so much - though I really do like it - but my cousin from Oregon was visiting and saw the first quilt being made and wanted one just like it. So I put mine aside and began to work on hers.

The quilt is done in only medium blue and white - with hand embroidery in the borders. . .

Each corner has the same seagull on a piling - and each is facing the correct direction so they show up as sitting on the piling when the quilt is on the bed. I used 3" nine patches for a lot of the quilt - the inner section and the checkerboard border - from an online swap I did years ago. We all made nine patches in specified colors and sent a dozen of the little blocks to each swapper. We did the blue/white colors several times and I had a huge plastic shoe box of them. I had enough to make both quilts - and still have plenty left to do another project - NO, not another seaside quilt.

Close up of the seagull - the quilting - and the binding . . .

I made the edges curvy - following the lines of the quilting - I like how it looks likes waves . . .

The quilting is by hand - with different designs all through the borders . . .

This embroidered seagul escaped from the border and is flying through the middle of the quilt . .

I drew the embroidery patterns - only a few are shown here - then used an embroidery transfer pencil to trace over them to make them into iron-on transfers. I used the designs a couple times over in the borders and spent hours and hours doing the hand embroidery. Good thing I enjoy embroidery.

And a little something different, not usually found on a beach - can you find what is odd?

When I had finished the quilt for my cousin I finally got back to finishing my quilt. When it came time to quilt it I just couldn't face hand quilting the same quilt over again, so I sent it off to Julie in Idaho and she machine quilted it for me. She used the same sort of random quilting designs like I had done in the first one - and it turned out wonderful (as always when Julie quilts). It is our summer quilt - the soft blues are so peaceful.

Some Hard Times

That's what happens when you are going peacefully along, minding your own business - and then WHAM - something hits you from out of the blue.

I've already been through uterine cancer surgery (they got it all - no chemo and no radiation), a kidney stone the size of a huge marble (had it blasted after getting rid of the infection caused by a blocked duct), emergency gall bladder surgery and a while back a blood infection that was hard to beat - but I've gotten through all of them. Don had cataract surgery, followed by lazer eye surgery - and we thought we were in the clear - sailing along - enjoying our new house - then the latest bit of news hit us.


My wonderful Don has to have open heart surgery. He's had a heart murmur since he was 50 and it was something the doctors said would need to be watched - but was not life threatening. Until recently - and now his heart is beginning to show signs of not tolerating the leakage from the heart murmur. A cord is broken in the mitral valve and it has to be repaired - and if it is not repairable, then an artificial valve will be inserted during open heart surgery. They will also do a heart catheterization to check for a need for bypass surgery at the same time as the open heart surgery. There is no evidence at all that he might need the bypass, but it is a safety precaution just in case it is needed - so they wouldn't have to go in a second time. The bypass would only add an hour to the surgery time - much better than going in twice if they discovered the need later.

About age 7, with his Grandpa, in Wisconsin . . .

And now he is a grampy - I made this shirt for his birthday the year after Ben was born. No - he is not 44 - but Hank Aaron wore number 44 when he played baseball for the Milwaukee Braves - and he was Don's hero all the time he was growing up and attending the Milwaukee Braves games (riding the bus across town by himself when he was only 7 - he loved the game!!)

We got this news in late March and it has taken time to sink in - to become real (surely this isn't happening to us) - to settle into our brains and our lives.

With Ben, about 6 months old . . .talking to Auntie Jamie . . .

The good part is that the new cardiologist says that we can wait a while - a few months - and just have an electrocardiogram every two months to assess things to make sure there isn't any further damage. And we HAVE to wait - since insurance won't cover about $25,000.00 of the surgery - and we have to come up with that amount before the hospital will schedule the surgery. Now isn't that nice??? But how to do that - we certainly can't lay our hands on $25,000.00. The hospital will schedule payments, but the payments are so high we couldn't pay them - and if we miss a payment they garnishee our wages - and you know the spiral that puts a person into.

Bills are already accumulating for the doctors he has to see until the surgery and for tests on his heart to check and make sure that it is not degenerating. The surgery is planned for early Sept. and we have until then to raise the money - now if that doesn't put stress on you - I don't know what does.

With Ben - about 1 year old . . .

Don is in excellent health - does his treadmill faithfully every day - takes long walks - eats properly and comes from a long line of people who have lived into their 80s and 90s - so we are hopeful - yet fearful at the same time. We'd prefer not to wait - but then we don't have that choice right now.

He is to do no lifting, no carrying groceries, no lawn mowing, no painting the house this summer like he planned, nothing that would put strain on his heart. He can still do the treadmill and walking - which will help keep his heart in good condition, aerobic exercise is good for his heart. The cardiologist says his heart function is still perfect, and we want to keep it that way - with the limited activites and a medication designed just for this situation.

Our daughters and sons-in-law have already begun to pitch in with chores, shopping and helping around the house - and have offered to help whenever needed - it is nice to have familiy close at this time. Our son and daughter-in-law live in WV and they want to fly out for a visit before the surgery, and they will pitch in with any projects that need done around the house during their visit.

I ask your prayers, good thoughts, white light - whatever you have - during this time. We appreciate all that our friends and family have done for us already. This is a long and scary road - and we must go down it - but we already feel your love and your hope for us at this time. If I could go through this for Don, I would, but we all know that isn't possible -so I will help him in any way I can - and hope that the time whizzes by - although I must say - if you want to see time come to a stand still - just come over to our house. I'm pretty sure that all clocks have decided to move backwards a bit each day - making time drag.

At the John Deere Park with Ben - in Lynden . . .

Playing "football" with the boys at Thanksgiving . . .mostly it was a game of run and catch Grampy . . .

Our cardiologist is the best in the world - everyone we've talked to about him has raved about what a great doctor he is, how well he explains things, how he has more knowledge than any other doctor they've ever met. Everyone loves him - the only people who don't like him are people who haven't met him yet. The surgeon is equally as good - and has put our Heart Center here in Bellingham on the map. He is top of the line and our cardiologist is happy we have been able to schedule the surgery with this particular surgeon. That means a lot to us.

Painted faces at the Super Bowl Party . . .

Jahn opening his present of "spy goggles" that Grampy bought for him at christmas. . .

Blinking Rudolph noses - kind of blurry but the only shot that turned out . . .

Making a snowman with Ben . . .

Thank you fo reading - and thanks for walking this lonely, scary path with us - we are planning on coming out the other side better than before.