Some Sad News and some Good News

My Uncle Dan passed away this past month.  He flew to Arizona for a Spring Break trip and collapsed in the airport.  It took a bit for his body to come back to Wisconsin, so last week we had the funeral.  Combine that with my Mom's health declining (she went in for chemo and changed her mind since the prep caused another heart attack) I decided to go be with the family for the week.  I tried hard to pace myself so I would not get worse again this summer as I did last summer.  Here is my uncle's obituary:  

Obituary

Dan, age 59, of Eau Claire passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, March 21st, 2023 in Phoenix, AZ. Dan was born February 7th, 1964 at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, WI to DeLos and Charlene Walker. Dan was a loving husband, Dad, Papa and brother.

Dan married Babette King on June 21st, 1986 in Eau Claire, WI. Together that had two beautiful daughters, Taylor Ann Walker and Ashley Marie Walker, one Grandson Brayden Walker. All were a very important part of his life. 

Dan graduated from Memorial High School in 1982 and attend UWEC and graduated in 1986 with a BS in Accounting. Dan received his CPA License in 1987 and was a Partner at Wipfli LLC where he worked for 37 yrs and had planned to retire on May 31st, 2023. 

Dan loved spending time at his Cabin (his happy place) on Lower Long Lake, in New Auburn, WI and enjoyed fishing for hours with his grandson Brayden. Dan also loved hosting family and friends at the Cabin during the summer months. Dan enjoyed playing golf and taking Brayden golfing as well. Dan was an avid sports fan and enjoyed going to Packer games at Lambeau Field, as well as attending many other sporting events with family and friends. Dan was a walking encyclopedia when it came to sports. Dan coached both his daughters in basketball, and loved attending all their sporting events, and other milestones in their lives and was very proud of both his daughters' accomplishments and loved them dearly. Most recently Dan enjoyed being involved his grandson Brayden’s sports activities which included hockey, baseball and football, etc. Brayden was Dan’s “mini me”, buddy and partner in crime. Dan loved and cherished his family dearly.

Dan was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA), Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accounts (WICPA), Wisconsin Government Finance Officers Association (WGFOA), Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA), and Eau Claire Jaycee’s.

Dan was preceded in death by his mother Charlene (Rushman) Walker and father Delos Walker. Along with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other family members.

Dan is survived by his loving wife Babette (King) Walker, daughter Taylor Ann Walker, daughter Ashley Marie Walker, and grandson Brayden Walker who gave his Papa absolute Joy! Dan is also survived by his Brother Steven Walker of Eau Claire, WI, sisters Toni (Gary) Hirn of Marshfield, WI, and Nancy (Greg) Pederson of Tilden, WI along with many other close relatives and friends. 

I quilted my Kathleen Tracey Mini Sampler with baptist fans a few weeks ago.  Pretty happy with how it turned out.

I got the binding on my Hawaii Sunset quilt after it came back from Melissa who quilted it.  

I finally made this cute Red Button "Little Blooms" pattern that Barb made awhile back.  I admired hers so much I had to make one.  I plan to quilt it with a meander.  I ordered a new template/pattern to use and am looking forward to getting to it.

My brother Sam and his wife Ashley and youngest son, Bear flew in for the funeral and to spend some time with Mom and Dad.  Bear and Hazel hit it off immediately.  It was really fun to watch them play together.

Barb and I sewed the April block for A Quilting Life's BOM.  Mine below.

 Barb's.

In better news, we put bids on six houses and finally got the last house.  It is still in the process of closing so keep your fingers crossed.  If all goes well, we will be moving in May.  We will be about 13 minutes from Hazel and granddaughter two!  I have parathyroid surgery tomorrow and am hoping for a fast recovery and we scheduled movers for mid May.  April is kind of a whirlwind and May is looking the same.  

Fall Break Comes to an End

 Fall break is over much to quickly!  We had a great but quick vacation to San Francisco with my mom--if I am get a minute I will pick some pictures and post them here.  I miss blogging and reading my blogs but I just trained back at my old video relay job and since we cannot have our phones with us while we work (but we have access to the internet) I will again be reading and commenting on blogs!  I miss them and rarely seem to fit them in with my crazy schedule but it works perfectly to read them while on hold at that job!  I am a good multitasker even though they say people are not!
So on to the sewing.  I sewed a ton with Kathy last night and most of today!  YAY.  She is just done with clue 5 of En Provence (always working til the last second that girl!) and I got a ton of stuff caught up and done! 

 I have had these hexagon trivets mostly ready to go for a long time...you may remember I made a bunch with Christmas fabric then decided I needed to make some regular ones...finally got all 17 done today while watching specials about Prince. 

My online PACKER quilter friend Nancy sent me some leftover spool blocks she had after completing her spool quilt.  I wanted to link to it on her blog but I could not find a picture of it even though I have seen one! Anyways I have two blocks left so if any of you also want to donate your blocks because you had random leftovers or lost steam I will home them in a heartbeat!  I love how all the different fabrics look in these fun leader/ender blocks of Bonnie's.  I did not do this years even though I had big plans to do placemats...it just never happened.  

 My UFO Challenge for this month is my two sets of Bitty Blocks. I did not make a row of each and so I have two different size blocks and so there they sit.  I studied them again today and decided to just put them away for now.  Not happening!

 I FINALLY got out this little kit Barb and I bought about a year ago at a quilt show.  It is not done yet...I accidentally put the wrong size red outer border on (still another border to go) and so I ripped it out while soaking in the tub tonight (multitasker, told you.  Epsom salts, help with the migraines).  So if I get a few minutes to sew this week I will be resewing smaller borders and the cream border.  LOVE this tiny little quilt!

Tomorrow I go back to work (teaching) and the kids come back on Wednesday.  The time went so fast!  I did get alot of planning for the quarter, some lesson planning, test writing, etc. done on break so feeling like I might not be AS overwhelmed as we go.   However, I am now freelancing two nights a week til December and most likely at my new VRS job one night a week too.  Add Pilates to that and I am one busy camper.  Super excited to have insurance though...already used it to pick up meds and get new glasses! 

Catching up on the Busy Work

Kathy and I spent some time tonight making backings, piecing batting and making and attaching bindings.  All the busy work that piles up and never gets done until I just dig in and try to get it moving!  I still need to make a backing for Lozenges and have one more small quilt to get batting and backing on.  So the Packer pair have binding on and will get wrapped up for Christmas in plenty of time!

This one is now ready to be tied (old pic though).

Still have lots of little quilts to get quilted--all but one now have backing and batting and are ready to go:  

Speck

Bread and Butter

Hat Trick

Nines Surrounded

Piney Flats

Tomorrow nothing on the agenda but sewing!!!!  I am hoping I am in the mood to quilt and bind one or two of these little ones so I can get some finishes in!  :)