update from lenna

Hi ~ I just wanted you all to know that Fiona and Margaux's forest quilties have made it safely 'across the pond' and into my mailbox; I received them yesterday. If it was not for the Thanksgiving Holiday, they would have been here exactly on time! I run my creative swaps with a "must be here by . . . " deadline that you have to meet, specifically to make things easier for everyone. I found in the past when I did not have a hard receiving deadline, the entire swap group was made to wait -sometimes weeks- for stragglers, which I came to feel was not fair to anyone: me or the swap participants. But, that being said, if a participant in the UK or elsewhere outside of the USA has mailed their package to me over a week ago and it is still not here . . . I do tend to allow a day or two grace period. I think that is fair and I hope you agree. I am so happy Margaux and Fiona's packages arrived yesterday! I have not opened them up yet, but will get them uploaded here as soon as I can.

Last week was a rough week for me. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving I had to go to the ER with a very bad nosebleed -for the second time in 3 days. The ER is never fun and after 4 hours they had packed my nose. This left me totally congested, and I remained that way for 5 days until I saw the doctor yesterday and he removed the packing. I could breathe again! He said I have a spur on my nose where my septum is bent. This is from a car accident I had with Decklin (my oldest son) 25 years ago where my nose hit the steering wheel; it is still a bit crooked. Anyway, I did some research and found out a bone spur is a growth that builds up along the edge of the bone and pushes outward. A spur forms as the body tries to repair itself, by building extra bone. This makes sense, re: the accident. Spurs can cause occasional nosebleeds because the turbulent airflow leads to mucous-membrane chapping. That was what happened to me. I was directed to use a saline nose spray to keep my nostrils moist, as often as I could, and use a cool air humidifier too. I am hoping these things help me so that I will not have to address my nose issues with surgery -argh! I would only do that if huge nosebleeds continue to be a problem. Sorry for all this not so pleasant and yucky news . . . It was a bit of a hard week all around as my poor dad has not been feeling well lately. We are not sure if it is the Chemo he is receiving for his liver cancer or the flu or some of both. He had to go into the Dr’s office & get an IV of fluids so he would not be dehydrated and they gave him steroids in his stomach too – for the nausea and diarrhea. Poor, poor guy. He sees his oncologist today and I hope for a bit more news from my mom.

So! This is really an update to let you know the packages are in, but it has been a bit of a not so easy time for me lately, and not to worry if you do not hear from me immediately about the swap. I was off from my part-time job at Stonewall Kitchen with my packed nose as I could not wait on customers with a drippy nose! I return to work today, plus I have a silk scarf class in my studio tomorrow and I need to deliver some artwork I made for sale to Tapestry Rose for Holiday shopping! I will keep you updated here, but those of you in the swap, please do not be surprised if it takes me until 12/15 to have the forest quilties swapped and mailed. I bet if will be sooner as I may easily be able to, but I want to allow myself that extra time, just in case. Thank you!