Memorial Service Planned

There will be a memorial service in honor of Janette’s life on Tuesday, August 16^th at 2 pm at Calvin Presbyterian Church, 1736 NW Dixon Street, Corvallis, OR.

Janette Carol Merriman
May 25, 1958 - August 9, 2011

Rapid Decline

There is no easy or delicate way to put this.  Janette is in a state of rapid decline. We are probably looking at days remaining and not weeks.   She has difficulty finishing sentences or expressing ideas.  Our hospice nurse indicated that this was probably caused by the build up of ammonia in her system due to the liver failure.

I am grateful to hospice for keeping her pain and suffering to a minimum. 

More to follow.

hard to believe

I am not sure it is possible, but the jaundice seems even more noticeable than before. Equally as difficult to believe, she seems to have even less energy than earlier this week.  On the plus side, she is still relating with, and responding to people in the room with her – just not for more than a few minutes at a time. 

A beautiful reminder

In May, on Janette's birthday, she visited the butterfly garden in Buena Vista with a group of friends.  The butterflies were amazing and the trip inspired this butterfly quilt.  She started this quilt in the "Permission to Play" class.

LuAnn, Virginia, Kathi and the rest of the group finished this for Janette and she thinks it is a beautiful reminder.

Thank you.

Not much change

Not much new to report.  The cough is still under control (not gone, but not as bad) and Janette still remains extremely tired.  One highlite has been the fawns.  We can usually see them in the morning, and sometimes again in the evening. They are the cutest landscape destroyers I have ever seen. 
We really appreciate all of the help, cards, e-mails, love and prayers.

Thanks.

Update

We have finally made some progress on the cough.  Janette is now using a nebulizer to help inhale the morphine into her lungs.  This seems to limit the cough, but it makes her really, really sleepy.  We are grateful for this progress, but it has not left her with any energy for responding to cards or emails.  Please know that even though she has not been able to respond, she does appreciate the cards and e-mails.

Mark.

The cough continues...

Sophie spoiled with more than toys today.

Oh yes, the cough continues.  I am going to try a new drug today.  As part of the Benton Hospice service I get a massage every week.  The massage is today and I look forward to a nice relaxing morning.  Cindy, the masseuse,  is quite a dog person and loves to spoil Sophie too.  We are in for a good day.  How about you?  Find something good to do today.  Janette

Cough

We are still working on getting rid of my cough.  It really surfaces when I talk and do activity.  It has been difficult to have visitors or talk on the telephone because of the cough.  Once I do get a handle on that cough know that the conversation will be on happenings and not my boring health challenge of yesterday or today.   

Communication

Nye Beach, Oregon looking at Yaquina Head lighthouse

In 1999, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  In 2005, I was diagnosed with colon cancer.  I fought it with surgery and chemotherapy for months.  Several years later I was termed "cancer-free".  Then in 2009, I found that it surfaced again and I resumed my fight against cancer.  On June 29, 2011, I entered in the Benton Hospice Service.  I am changing this blog to focus more on keeping you informed of these happenings in my life.  I have been very poor in keeping up with people who care for and love me.  I hope this will improve my communication with all of you special people in my life.  Thank you for your love.  Janette

Placemats become totes

This is a new pattern idea I found on the internet. I take three placemats and sew them together to make a tote bag. One placemat is front, second is back add handles and the third placemat is the base.  It just so happens I have loads of placemats that I have woven that are just not "right"--too big, too small, too narrow, the edges curl or something I just did not like about them. The two finished bags at the top of the photograph were made from two placemats and the bottom was made from various stash fabric, the blue base to the left is waterproof. Very fun. Now I have loads of tote bags...no just two but plan to make more.  The third one I am working on I will add pockets to from the napkins I had made to match the placemats.  Oh yes there was a fourth placemat that is now a lunch bag.  So glad to make something usable from those unusable placemats.

Circle Vest



Fabric on the loom



Well it all started with a January 2010 Threads magazine article about an easy circle vest.  I had alot of trouble visualizing it so I finally got around to making it out of fleece.  I did not like that it stopped at the waist and blossoming out.  So I thought how about a longer version.  I made it out of thin sweater knit fabric and loved the look and edged it on the serger.  Every time I wore it someone asked me about it...not the oh did you make it more of the oh where did you get that.  More of a compliment to me because it did say handmade.  So the next step was to weave fabric.  I thought I was making it for the weaving conference fashion show in June so I wanted it to yell out on the runway.  I used my friend's Romney wool from Tiffany and Brown Sheep Nature spun sport wool set at 5 EPI in a 8 shaft twill pattern and fulled the fabric.  While it dried I took a trip to Newport for some R and R.  The next day I cut it out and stitched around the outside and the armholes.  Note to self:  next one will be woven so that when the collar is folded back it looks a bit different and I will use something with a bit more drape, cotton or tencel.  Final note to self:  This was a fun project and I look forward to weaving and sewing it again.  P.S.  Too many notes to self so I did not enter the vest in the fashion show.





Waiting for fabric to dry at Nye Beach

Fabric drying at home









Karen this is for you

After a high octane coffee this morning with my friend Karen I decided it was time to get back to my blogging work....I finished the circle vest last month that has been brewing in my head for maybe years.  It is a pattern I am developing for handwoven fabric.  Here is a photograph of it finished.  Next week I will take you through the steps involved in the project.  Thanks to the tresses of  Tiffany and Patricia it has a truly delightful feel or hand.  My next vest will have the reverse at the collar I was looking to accomplish.  More talk to come.    

The year of the hat...

I say it will be the year of the hat...no not just for Easter and weddings...all year long.  Thank you Prince William and Catherine Middleton.  Check out Kate's hat designer, Vivien Sheriff.  She also says interest in hats are on the rise.  I anxiously await the renewal of the hat.  I love hats and plan to make one a month for the rest of the year.  I made the hat and purse in the lower right in March and it just does not have a wedding in it's future, it is more for a blistery Winnie the Pooh type of day for walking with the dog.  Wear a hat today and feel glamorous.     

Tabernacle Colors

I just delivered the cloth I wove for dear friends Linda and Carl.  Linda wanted a cloth to cover a serving tray she uses in the colors in the Tabernacle.  Read Exodus 26,27 and 28 in the Bible for clarity.  The blue symbolizes the human body, purple the royal Messiah, scarlet suffering and yellow is glory.  I hope they enjoy the cloth during this season of Lent and use it often in their home tabernacle.   

Happy

Today, five years ago, daughter Amy married Jono.  What a happy day!  I still see her father walking her down the aisle and it sends chills down my spine, the sheer happiness on every one's face.  During the several days of celebration in Portland, Oregon I got away for a walk and came across a delightful yarn shop called Lint in the Pearl Distract.  It was the start of Spring and they had in the window these little terra cotta pots filled with knitting kits of felted flowers from Pick Up Sticks.  I choose one to create and celebrate the day.  I can still hear my daughter's father in law or out laws as we call them...saying " what will you do with that when it is done".  Hmmm it took me 5 years but the Iris is done and it is my new pocketbook. 

Celebrate and be happy today--Amy and Jono have been married 5 years.

  

P.S.  My scarf has been found. 

. 

Irish Blessing

I did a needlework for my mother with this blessing on it ages ago.  I always have loved the words.  

An Old Irish Blessing

 May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.



 

Janette C. Merriman woven tranparency of wool warp, weft and inlay.



Moral

I am feeling sad today...I am missing my favorite handwoven hand-dyed scarf.  See left.  I lost it last weekend in Talent Oregon when I went out to dinner to celebrate my Dad's and Sister's birthdays.  I had it wrapped around my neck in perfect fashion.  It showed up just right in the photographs of the birthday bash.  When I went to get dressed the next morning my scarf was missing.  We went back to the restaurant...not there.  Striped the bed, tore the house apart...not there.  Emptied the suitcase once again...not there.  Checked the car...how could it be there...not there.  I put an ad on craigslist...no response.  I guess I will have to forget about it...it is gone forever.  I really will not be able to make another one...it was a hand-dyed warp.  On the positive...I could make one I like even better! 

Moral of the story:  Double tie your scarf as Jennifer Moore will show you in this you tube.  

The funny thing is I was just boosting I never have lost a scarf when Barbara Setsu Pickett gave a presentation at the Contemporary Fiber Arts Guild last week and she commented that the way to tie a scarf doubled will keep you from loosing one of your new scarves.  She and her son have a line of shibori scarves out called Mihara.  They are BEAUTIFUL!

Peace Be With You



Linen warp and weft with wool inlay

I just got back from mailing off my most recent transparency titled, "Peace Be With You".  This piece was a commission so I knew when weaving it I would not be keeping it.  I hung it in the window here at the house for a week or so prior to mailing.  I have a hard time letting go of a weaving that I have worked long and hard at designing.

Mary says, "Happy New Year"

Mary, a glove bunny, was made to celebrate the year of the rabbit.  Mary has a basket of carrots fresh from the growers market.  I have named her Mary after our local mountain peak.  The first bunny I owned was stuffed  and  I kept it in a cage in my bedroom.  My two sisters would insist I feed it raw carrots and during the night the bunny would eat the carrots gone.  I wish I could remember her name.   The second bunny I owned was named Shasta.  My family had just visited my grandparents for the first time in Northern California, Yreka.  We flew into Medford, Oregon from Pennsylvania and I experienced the great mountain of Shasta in her beauty and grandeur from Interstate 5.  Even in the middle of summer she still had a layer of snow on her top.    When we got home from the trip I got a live bunny with a white hump on her back and I named her Shasta.  She was beautiful but she always ran away while I was at school and I would spend the afternoons looking for her.

Sea Curtains

I visited the Rogue Gallery and Art Center in Medford, Oregon this weekend to view the installation, Sea Curtains.  This is a not to be missed show.  You walk into the gallery surrounded by the sea with floating kelp and creatures rubbing up against you.  The only thing missing was the smell of the sea and it might be a good thing to bypass.  Audrey Sochor the artist has painted sheer fabric and doubled the fabric for the 9  foot curtains to create the moire effect.  Theatrics are provided by the air-blowing fans and the dimension of light.  Audrey was present on Saturday during my visit and she is as delightful as the show.  You must find time to get to the gallery prior to February 8th for a view.   

Christmas came late for Sophie!

Sophie is our dog.  She is a mix of many types of dog and weighs about 40 pounds.  We have been told that the best dogs have spots on their tongues....hmmm not sure where that came from but Sophie is the best dog and she has lots of spots everywhere.  We picked her up at the Jackson County Friends of the Animal Shelter on New Year's Eve 5 years ago.  The first day we got her she escaped the totally fenced backyard.  She sat in the front yard waiting for us to return home.  She is settled into our family now.  At Christmas I decided she needed nothing, she had plenty of toys and treats.  Well her friends and family thought otherwise.  See photo of her special toys from Maggie, our daughter and son-in-laws dog.  Well of course Christmas bows make her look beautiful and she knows it.  Then my friend Patricia decided Sophie really needed that coat I had been talking about making for years.  Sophie hates the rain and we live in the Willamette Valley.  The pattern came on Christmas Eve and I made it for her a few weeks later out of bright rain proof fabric from the Rain Shed and cozy bright fleece.  The Rain Shed is a great store for water proof  fabrics, visit in Corvallis or on- line.  Christmas came late for Sophie.  Happy 2011 Sophie and to you all!