Quilt in a Day - I hope

It is Saturday morning and I survived the grueling week. Worked til 7:30 Monday, then had to be up at 5:00 am on Tuesday and Wednesday to drive 1.5 hours to the inservice/test (AND be alert, go figure!). Then back to THAT PLACE Thursday and Friday trying to catch up on two days lost work. Boy, am I glad that is over. I'll find out in 3-4 weeks if I passed the certification exam and can add more initials behind my signature.

Pam asked me what is an OASIS specialist. OASIS is a set of questions that Medicare requires home health agencies to ask certain patients at certain time points in their care. The answers not only determine how much they pay us to care for the patients for the next 60 days, but determine our outcomes of care, i.e. did we do a good job improving the patient's health and functional status. Since our Federal regulations for home health care require that we ensure good data (we answer the questions based on their definitions) and the answers determine our reimbursement for care, acquiring certification as an "expert" is a big deal for our agency and industry, but doesn't mean anything to any other practice of nursing other than home health. Not that I'm downplaying the importance, because it adds credibility to me, personally, and for the agency that I run. For those nurses out there, I guess you can tell I have been a nurse for a LONG time (31 years last month), because I still care for patients NOT clients.

But, enough of that. It is the weekend and I am determined to do what I want to today. The washing machine was fixed Wednesday afternoon, so I guess I'll do a bit of laundry between playing. I didn't sleep well last night and was up at my normal 6 am. I drank my pot of coffee and read my paper front to back - even worked at the crossword puzzle. I'll have to go back to that later when my back needs a rest - I didn't do too well this morning, the brain just wasn't quite into it yet.

I treated myself to a quick trip to my favorite LQS - The Quilt Corner, in Baton Rouge after the exam on Wednesday. I treated myself to 4 quarter yard black and whites to go with a black on black to make placemats this weekend, 2 patterns and 2 spools of thread. Those fabrics are in the washer, ready for the dryer when the current load finishes. I'll post that picture later.

I had pulled fat quarters off the shelf (Nancy you will recognize most of them probably. They probably started on your shelf, or we may have bought them last time I visited) for one of the patterns. NO FABRIC BOUGHT for this lap quilt - all from stash. By 7:30 this morning they were ironed, cut and put together, ready for the machine. I even took the "scraps" and cut 2 1/2 inch strips for the binding, and cut THOSE leftovers into 1 1/2 inch strips to do in a box (Nancy, are you proud of me). Now, I'm really not all that anal, so anything smaller that 1 1/2 inches did go in the trash.

Now, it's time to pick the sewing machine up out of the corner of the dining room where it has resided for the past week and get to sewing. I hope to also get the LAST 2 rows done on the pinwheel quilt and the borders on it this weekend. Only 20 more blocks to construct and sew together. I got the bottom pieced border done last Sunday and on the quilt, so only the top and it is ready for outer borders and quilting. I bought the above pattern, because after that one, I have had enough of triangle to last for a while (other that the Windy Day BOM I'm doing). I NEEDED a quick and easy project - hence this pattern (the other I bought is the Bento Box), and the placemats that are the projects for this weekend.

Progress report later - need to get to that sewing machine - maybe I'll medicate my back before I start....