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| I made the picture nice and big so you could better see all of the colors in it. |
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Suggestions, Please...
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Up to Date
It feels good to be up to date on Skill Builder and Bloggers BOM (I wish I could say the same for my Christmas blocks, but for some reason it feels weird working on a Christmas quilt in January).
Here are all of the first 24 Skill Builder Blocks: I'm liking how they're looking so far.
Here are my first 5 blocks for Blogger BOM (one block is doubled in the collage):
Now that I'm all caught up it's time to turn my attention to my Scrap Attack quilt - it's for a baby boy, and I'm "making" fabric with all of my tiny scraps. It's a little time consuming, but I think the overall effect will be well worth it. I got one more block done last night, so I'm up to 4 of 9 blocks made. It doesn't look like much now, but I'm hoping to whip together a quilt top by the end of the week.
Other projects:
Christmas Blocks - no progress
Halloween Wall Hanging - officially on ice until some inspiration comes
Stats for the Week:
New projects - 0
Completed projects - 0
WIP- 5
Check out what everyone is up to this week over at Freshly Pieced. I'm also linking up to Scrap Attack! There's some amazing scrapiness going on over there. Oh, and Happy February!
Here are all of the first 24 Skill Builder Blocks: I'm liking how they're looking so far.
Christmas Blocks - no progress
Halloween Wall Hanging - officially on ice until some inspiration comes
Stats for the Week:
New projects - 0
Completed projects - 0
WIP- 5
Check out what everyone is up to this week over at Freshly Pieced. I'm also linking up to Scrap Attack! There's some amazing scrapiness going on over there. Oh, and Happy February!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Blocks a Plenty
I finished the month of curves in Skill Builder- and I found it mostly enjoyable. ;)
#23- The Drunkard's Path (this name cracks me up): There are all kinds of layouts, but I decided to try the one that formed a circle in the center.
#24- Curved 9 Patch: I love the finished look of this patch and think a whole quilt of them would be fun, but cutting the pieces out was a little stressful to me. I feel like there's more room for error, but I guess it was fine, because my block ended up the way it was supposed to - I just need to lighten up a bit I think and enjoy different ways of doing things.
And last, but not least- January's Blogger BOM: Sands of Time
I had a fun weekend in terms of blocks :) I'm linking up to BOMs Away.
#23- The Drunkard's Path (this name cracks me up): There are all kinds of layouts, but I decided to try the one that formed a circle in the center.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Tree of Life
Activity Days was a lot of fun this past week. January's theme has been all about loving the scriptures. The girls came prepared to share their favorite story about faith from the scriptures and then we had them "experience" Lehi's Dream. Want to experience it with them? Hold on tight to the Iron Rod, because here we go!
Rod of Iron (a jump rope in this case)
(1 Nephi 15) "What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree? And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." (1 Nephi 15:23-24)
The girls had to stay on the "straight and narrow path" (or in this case, the line of tape leading to their unknown destination)
Mist of Darkness (in their case - using a blindfold in a dark room)
"And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost." (1 Nephi 8:23)
One by one the girls were led into the dark room and had to listen for Glindy's directions (the Spirit) to help them find the rod of iron again. It wasn't easy though, because the other girls could choose to be "hecklers" in the great and spacious building on the other side of the filthy waters........
River of Filthy Water
"What meaneth the river of water which our father saw? And I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water. 28 And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God." (1 Nephi 15:26-27)
Great and Spacious Building
"And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth. And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit." (1 Nephi 8:26-27)
"But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree." (1 Nephi 8:30)
Back on the path they go– moving forward to the Tree of Life (eh, my little Christmas tree)!
Tree of Life
(1 Nephi 11) 8 "And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow."
"And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all. And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." (1 Nephi 11:8-9, 21-22)
Fruit of the Tree of Life
"And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen." (1 Nephi 8:10-11)
I dipped strawberries into white chocolate for the fruit, and yes, they were most desirable!
It was a blast making the scriptures come alive for the girls, and I know they really enjoyed it. All 8 of them completed the challenge to read their scriptures everyday for 2 weeks, and I was so proud of them! Stay tuned to see their promised reward......
(1 Nephi 15) "What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree? And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." (1 Nephi 15:23-24)
The girls had to stay on the "straight and narrow path" (or in this case, the line of tape leading to their unknown destination)
Mist of Darkness (in their case - using a blindfold in a dark room)
"And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost." (1 Nephi 8:23)
One by one the girls were led into the dark room and had to listen for Glindy's directions (the Spirit) to help them find the rod of iron again. It wasn't easy though, because the other girls could choose to be "hecklers" in the great and spacious building on the other side of the filthy waters........
River of Filthy Water
"What meaneth the river of water which our father saw? And I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water. 28 And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God." (1 Nephi 15:26-27)
Great and Spacious Building
"And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth. And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit." (1 Nephi 8:26-27)
"But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree." (1 Nephi 8:30)
Back on the path they go– moving forward to the Tree of Life (eh, my little Christmas tree)!
Tree of Life
(1 Nephi 11) 8 "And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow."
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| I used snow tinsel to make the tree look "white." |
"And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all. And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." (1 Nephi 11:8-9, 21-22)
Fruit of the Tree of Life
"And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen." (1 Nephi 8:10-11)
I dipped strawberries into white chocolate for the fruit, and yes, they were most desirable!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Interview #4
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh was originally our top choice for residency until our last minute switch to Ohio State, so I was curious how Joel would feel about it the second time around. I thought he would probably really like it, but I wasn't completely prepared for how much he loved it.
Initial Thoughts:
Pros: I asked Joel the pros and he said, "Everything." I think that about sums it up. Here's the breakdown: Excellent facilities, great support staff, a growing BMT (Bone Marrow Transplant) program with a new nationally renowned transplanter as the BMT chief, a great group of fellows that Joel would get along with really well, and there's a designated Director of Research Education to guide through the process of starting research. There's a well-funded and very reputable Sickle Cell Director. Pittsburgh is a nice city. It's closer to both families (in fact, it cuts the time to Thompson Grandparent's home in half!)
Cons: Traffic is nasty in Pittsburgh, housing isn't the greatest compared to some of the other places he's interviewing, and 3 hours from the temple. I also have to say that having to deal with the Steelers and Steelers fans is not at the top of my "favorite things" list.
Bottom Line: It hurts my heart a little to say it (sorry, Columbus), but it's the clear early front runner.
Our current rankings:
1. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
2. Nationwide Children's (Columbus)
3. Rainbow Babies (Cleveland)
4. Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Pittsburgh was originally our top choice for residency until our last minute switch to Ohio State, so I was curious how Joel would feel about it the second time around. I thought he would probably really like it, but I wasn't completely prepared for how much he loved it.
Initial Thoughts:
Pros: I asked Joel the pros and he said, "Everything." I think that about sums it up. Here's the breakdown: Excellent facilities, great support staff, a growing BMT (Bone Marrow Transplant) program with a new nationally renowned transplanter as the BMT chief, a great group of fellows that Joel would get along with really well, and there's a designated Director of Research Education to guide through the process of starting research. There's a well-funded and very reputable Sickle Cell Director. Pittsburgh is a nice city. It's closer to both families (in fact, it cuts the time to Thompson Grandparent's home in half!)
Cons: Traffic is nasty in Pittsburgh, housing isn't the greatest compared to some of the other places he's interviewing, and 3 hours from the temple. I also have to say that having to deal with the Steelers and Steelers fans is not at the top of my "favorite things" list.
Bottom Line: It hurts my heart a little to say it (sorry, Columbus), but it's the clear early front runner.
Our current rankings:
1. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
2. Nationwide Children's (Columbus)
3. Rainbow Babies (Cleveland)
4. Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Monday, January 23, 2012
Interview #3
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| source |
Pros: It's an amazing program (definitely in the top tier of schools and probably the "best" program that Joel will interview at). It really was an honor just to be asked for an interview at Cincinnati. You can make great professional connections with such a well known program, and he would see things he probably wouldn't be able to see at most places, including a lot of bone marrow transplants. Cincinnati is a family friendly city very similar to Columbus. Over all, he would get great training at Cincinnati.
Cons: With a renowned program also comes a certain level of intensity and more rigorous schedule. The fellows seemed like they were surviving not thriving during their first year- if that makes sense. He wasn't sure that his personality fit with the other fellows either. The program's also extremely research driven and that's not Joel's cup of tea. It adds another 2 hours to both drives to grandparents, and would be 2 hours from the temple.
Bottom Line: It's an extremely good program, but it doesn't feel like a good match for Joel.
Our current rankings:
1. Nationwide Children's (Columbus)
2. Rainbow Babies (Cleveland)
3. Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Saturday, January 21, 2012
First Sew-In Fun
This was my first Friday Sew-In and I'm already a fan. When the kiddos finally went down for a nap - I made a fun treat in anticipation of my evening. You can't go wrong with carbs and sewing- am I right?! :) Lately I've been seeing all of these crazy, delicious recipes on Pinterest, and so I decided to try one of them: Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread. Um ya, it's delish!
The crispy cinnamon sugar crust is particularly delightful (in case you were wondering).
Ok, ok - onto the sewing.....
I'm so excited to tell you that I got to work on 2 big projects:
1- I got quite a bit of the top stitching done on Little Man's quilt. I had to rethink my plan, because the sheer size of the quilt was a little too hard to maneuver for what I had been originally planning to do, but I'm making good progress on it now. I'm a little over half way finished with quilting it.
2- I finished my first quilt of the year (one that has been hanging over my head basically since my daughter was born back in April). I hand stitched the binding in record time yesterday. Wahoo! My hubby didn't believe me at first when I said I was done.
The bad weather continues outside, so these pictures will have to make do for now. Here's the front and the back of the Ladybug quilt:
I was asked by a couple of people where to find the pattern of this quilt and I actually made it up. It's basically made up of 2 blocks: a four patch and an 8" Broken Pinwheel (done in 2 different sets of fabrics).
The reason the 4 patch is difficult to see in the overall quilt, is because in one of my Broken Pinwheels I chose the same red fabric that is in the 4 patch, so it almost looks like a house when the two patches are sewn together. I can give more details if anyone needs them, but that's the basic gist of the quilt top pattern.
I'm so excited I got so much done, and that I was able to participate for the first time. You can go see what everyone else was doing during Friday Night Sew-In. I'm curious to see all the projects.
I'm so excited to tell you that I got to work on 2 big projects:
1- I got quite a bit of the top stitching done on Little Man's quilt. I had to rethink my plan, because the sheer size of the quilt was a little too hard to maneuver for what I had been originally planning to do, but I'm making good progress on it now. I'm a little over half way finished with quilting it.
2- I finished my first quilt of the year (one that has been hanging over my head basically since my daughter was born back in April). I hand stitched the binding in record time yesterday. Wahoo! My hubby didn't believe me at first when I said I was done.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Interview Season
So, yesterday kicked off a four week period of lots of traveling and fellowship interviews for my hubby. I've had a number of people ask me to explain the whole "match" process, so if you already know this skip to the second half of the post. :)
In the medical world residency and fellowship locations are usually determined by the Match. Each specialty (Surgery, Family Medicine, OB Gyn, etc) has different levels of availability and competitiveness, but I'll tell you what it looks like for my husband - he's a Pediatric resident and he's applying for a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship (children's blood & cancer)
Step 1- he sent in his official electronic application and applied to 10 programs (done in November)
Step 2- if the program likes what they see they can offer him an interview at the hospital
Step 3- you usually want to interview at about 75% of the applied for programs, so Joel was hoping to interview at 6-8 places. He was lucky enough that all 10 asked for an interview, so he can be a little more picky and choosy about which places to interview.
Step 4- he travels to these 6-8 places for an all-day interview (you typically meet the other fellows, get a tour of the facilities, interview with quite a few of the staff, and finally the head of the Program)
Step 5- Once he's done with all of this interviews, he ranks the programs in order of which program he'd like to go to #1- being his first choice, #2 being his second choice, etc.
Step 6- The programs also rank all of their interviewee candidates in order of who they'd like to fill their fellowship openings
Step 7- Some magical computer out there puts Joel's (and every other fellowship candidates') rankings and the fellowship program rankings together, and after some crazy math and a little bit of voodoo, it matches each candidate and fellowship program with their highest possible ranking.
Joel was really blessed and matched with his first choice for residency, but we saw people that matched pretty low on their list or didn't match at all and had to scramble for any residency openings, so it can be a little nerve wracking. In Joel's year of medical school, there were a number of Plastic Surgery hopefuls that didn't match and had to scramble for something besides plastics, because it was such a competitive year for it.
Step 8- Joel will get an email on May 2nd telling him where he will be completing his fellowship. It's a done deal - you go where they tell you and hopefully you match well. (And then we wait a year, because the matching is a full year ahead of when he finishes residency). His fellowship will begin July 2013.
Is this making sense? Any questions?
Yesterday was Joel's 2nd Interview (we're still on Step 3):
Initial Thoughts:
Normally we list pros and cons of each program after the interview, but this one is a little different. Prior to Joel's interview yesterday, if you had asked either of us where we wanted to go for fellowship we would of told you - hands down - we wanted to stay at Nationwide Children's. We love it here in Columbus - we bought a house, have great friends, love the area, and Joel has loved his residency here. He loves the facilities, the doctors and nurses, the other fellows and residents - it's also a very good Hem/Onc program. We honestly really wanted to stay.
Then enters in interview day yesterday - to say it was underwhelming would be an understatement. The fellowship coordinator completely messed up the entire schedule for the day (she pulled the wrong person's schedule - it wasn't Joel's), so he sat around a lot, missed a very important interview, showed up early to a lot of interviews - all because of this lady's disorganization. He said that if he didn't personally know that the program was great from his own time here that this interview experience would have put the program at the bottom of his list. Then the final kicker was his interview with the program director. Typically a program director recruits pretty heavily to try to sell the program to the potential fellows, but Joel said it almost felt like he was trying to get Joel to consider other programs. The director made him feel like maybe they didn't want him in the program (which is odd, because earlier in the year he had told Joel he planned on recruiting him rigorously when the time came). The whole thing felt a bit off. He came home dejected and depressed.
He and I were both really sad, because we really wanted to stay. In fact, I think I had mentally always thought of us as staying here for 6 years - not 3. Joel later found out that the program director had been really ill during his interview and went home puking. Crazy. The poor guy was probably just trying not to upchuck on Joel. Joel also talked to one of his friends who is a current fellow at Nationwide, and his friend told him she had a similar interview. The director's not necessarily saying he doesn't want Joel to come to Ohio State, but he cares about him as an individual, so he wants Joel to be sure that this is the program that's best for him. So it's possible that he really does have a chance at matching here, but we just don't know.
Bottom Line: We're both at a loss what to think. We both still really would love to stay here, but this experience has also shifted our way of thinking. We will now be more active in the pursuit of keeping all our options open - including being truly open to the possibility of going somewhere else for fellowship. Let's just say we'll be making this decision with some serious amount of prayer. We'll see how the other interviews go. His next interview is tomorrow.
Our current rankings:
1. Nationwide Children's (Columbus)
2. Rainbow Babies (Cleveland)
In the medical world residency and fellowship locations are usually determined by the Match. Each specialty (Surgery, Family Medicine, OB Gyn, etc) has different levels of availability and competitiveness, but I'll tell you what it looks like for my husband - he's a Pediatric resident and he's applying for a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship (children's blood & cancer)
Step 1- he sent in his official electronic application and applied to 10 programs (done in November)
Step 2- if the program likes what they see they can offer him an interview at the hospital
Step 3- you usually want to interview at about 75% of the applied for programs, so Joel was hoping to interview at 6-8 places. He was lucky enough that all 10 asked for an interview, so he can be a little more picky and choosy about which places to interview.
Step 4- he travels to these 6-8 places for an all-day interview (you typically meet the other fellows, get a tour of the facilities, interview with quite a few of the staff, and finally the head of the Program)
Step 5- Once he's done with all of this interviews, he ranks the programs in order of which program he'd like to go to #1- being his first choice, #2 being his second choice, etc.
Step 6- The programs also rank all of their interviewee candidates in order of who they'd like to fill their fellowship openings
Step 7- Some magical computer out there puts Joel's (and every other fellowship candidates') rankings and the fellowship program rankings together, and after some crazy math and a little bit of voodoo, it matches each candidate and fellowship program with their highest possible ranking.
Joel was really blessed and matched with his first choice for residency, but we saw people that matched pretty low on their list or didn't match at all and had to scramble for any residency openings, so it can be a little nerve wracking. In Joel's year of medical school, there were a number of Plastic Surgery hopefuls that didn't match and had to scramble for something besides plastics, because it was such a competitive year for it.
Step 8- Joel will get an email on May 2nd telling him where he will be completing his fellowship. It's a done deal - you go where they tell you and hopefully you match well. (And then we wait a year, because the matching is a full year ahead of when he finishes residency). His fellowship will begin July 2013.
Is this making sense? Any questions?
 |
| source |
Ohio State (Nationwide Children's Hospital)
Initial Thoughts:
Normally we list pros and cons of each program after the interview, but this one is a little different. Prior to Joel's interview yesterday, if you had asked either of us where we wanted to go for fellowship we would of told you - hands down - we wanted to stay at Nationwide Children's. We love it here in Columbus - we bought a house, have great friends, love the area, and Joel has loved his residency here. He loves the facilities, the doctors and nurses, the other fellows and residents - it's also a very good Hem/Onc program. We honestly really wanted to stay.
Then enters in interview day yesterday - to say it was underwhelming would be an understatement. The fellowship coordinator completely messed up the entire schedule for the day (she pulled the wrong person's schedule - it wasn't Joel's), so he sat around a lot, missed a very important interview, showed up early to a lot of interviews - all because of this lady's disorganization. He said that if he didn't personally know that the program was great from his own time here that this interview experience would have put the program at the bottom of his list. Then the final kicker was his interview with the program director. Typically a program director recruits pretty heavily to try to sell the program to the potential fellows, but Joel said it almost felt like he was trying to get Joel to consider other programs. The director made him feel like maybe they didn't want him in the program (which is odd, because earlier in the year he had told Joel he planned on recruiting him rigorously when the time came). The whole thing felt a bit off. He came home dejected and depressed.
He and I were both really sad, because we really wanted to stay. In fact, I think I had mentally always thought of us as staying here for 6 years - not 3. Joel later found out that the program director had been really ill during his interview and went home puking. Crazy. The poor guy was probably just trying not to upchuck on Joel. Joel also talked to one of his friends who is a current fellow at Nationwide, and his friend told him she had a similar interview. The director's not necessarily saying he doesn't want Joel to come to Ohio State, but he cares about him as an individual, so he wants Joel to be sure that this is the program that's best for him. So it's possible that he really does have a chance at matching here, but we just don't know.
Bottom Line: We're both at a loss what to think. We both still really would love to stay here, but this experience has also shifted our way of thinking. We will now be more active in the pursuit of keeping all our options open - including being truly open to the possibility of going somewhere else for fellowship. Let's just say we'll be making this decision with some serious amount of prayer. We'll see how the other interviews go. His next interview is tomorrow.
Our current rankings:
1. Nationwide Children's (Columbus)
2. Rainbow Babies (Cleveland)
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