The Quilted Librarian in Retirement

Our lives have been turned upside down since my husband's illness began in May of 2013.  Finally, after three different courses of antibiotics, the last one killed the staph infection in his back, but he suffered a compression fracture of the T12 vertebra sometime in November and had to spend eight months in a sort of tortoise shell brace.  The fracture healed on its own (which was a blessing because he is not a good candidate for back surgery now) and with physical therapy, he is regaining his mobility slowly but surely.  He returned to teaching after several months off, but it was necessary for me to take him and pick him up.  It became clear that my retiring would be the best course of action.  Since I turned 65 in July and had the required amount of time in, that is what I did.  So whilst I am technically retired, I am still a librarian, so the name of the blog will stay the same.

Also in July, three days before my birthday, my mother, Kathleen Warner passed away at 94.  She had been failing for several months.  Anna came to stay with Jim in June so I was able to fly down to see her.  Several weeks later, it became clear that she was not going to get better, so  Jim and I drove down.  My brother and his wife flew in and were actually with Mom when she passed.  I'm glad that we could all be together and support my dad.  He is doing well, but misses her tremendously.  They were married for 67 years.

I have not been idle during this time of being a full-time caregiver, though.  I've made a number of baby quilts, a t-shirt quilt for Anna's friend Philana, curtains for Anna's godson's room,  and am working on a full size quilt for our son Danny and our daughter by marriage, Steph.  I've also read many wonderful books and have added more yoga classes, zumba, and cardio workouts at our local Y.

This is a quilt for Danny and Steph's new niece, Aria, who was born last spring.

The t-shirt quilt was composed of Philana's high school sports shirts.

This is the back and the bias binding.

I'm currently quilting this bento box quilt for a little baby girl.

These are some of the double wedding ring sections for Danny and Steph's quilt.

The setting is called Posies because four sections of a similar color are put together to form flowers.