You have really touched my heart!

I truly don't know where to start! Well, I guess it all started with a post right before Christmas. I had been diagonsed with Graves Disease, long story short, I have 3 tumors on my thyroid. I was terrified about all of this. The doctor said that I needed to have radiation treatments to kill the tumors, since they could not be removed because of the location. If they try to remove them, I will have paralysis in my face and will affect my speech. The worst part about having the radiation was I was told that I could not hold my children or interact very much with my family because the radiation would be transferred through my pores. This upset me greatly, because I am very close to all of my family and my boys. We are a very huggy-lovey family.



Since this post, I have not yet had my radiation. I have gone to a different doctor and he, of course, wants to do his own set of tests. At first, he didn't think that I would need to have the radiation, but now he says that he thinks it in my best interest to sooner or later have the radiation. I will be on several medications for my thryoid and other things...bp, etc. Right now the doctor wants to do a biopsy, but it is the needle biopsy. I forgot the medical term for it, but he wants to schedule that after I have my MRI and Ultrasound of the thryoid area.



Now that you know the background of the story, let me tell you what has happened today...I recieved a box delivered by UPS today. I open it up and I am brought to tears!!! Now in this box was a beautiful fabric panel, a wonderful name tag, delicious Godiva Chocolates, a card, and a QUILT!!!! Now I'm dragging this quilt out and start seeing all these names on these blocks and I immediately start crying! My boys are with me looking at everything. Andrew asked "Mom, why did they send you a quilt?" My response "I don't know" I see a label on the quilt, but I am crying so hard that I can't read it, so Andrew has to read it to me. The label reads....



Kristie, thoughts of you in each tiny stitch,

Stippling, Binding, Stitch in the Ditch,

This quilt brings thoughts of love so true,

From around the world, especially for you.



This quilt has been quilted with love

for Kristie Layne of Kentucky in the year 2008

by Hazel, Nancy, Jill, Gina, Maureen, Rhoda, (for some reason I can't connect to Rhoda's blog, but she posts on www.myquiltblog.com)

Moniek, Michelle, Cindy, and Jen.



Top Assembled and Quilted by Jen

Binding by Cindy.



Now how sweet is that? The card said that they decided to make this for me as a comfort quilt. I have cried and cried. I have never in my life had anyone to do something so precious. I hope you all realize how much I love this quilt. I called my mom to tell her, we were both crying on the phone, she can't wait to see it.

Now, I don't usually post any photos of myself because I am so paranoid about how I look. I have gained alot of weight in the past two years due to my thyroid. And you can see in the photo how thick my neck looks. I have 3 tumors in it so I guess it has to be big. There is a big difference in this photo of me now and the photo at the top of my blog, which was only about 2 years ago. But hopefully, after I get all of this taken care of with my thyroid, I will loose this extra weight. But here I am sitting proudly with my new quilt. And no, I don't think I had brushed my hair, I had only been up for a few minutes and I still have my PJ's on. :)

Here it is hanging up on my wall so that I could take a photo of it.

And here are to other precious goodies that were in the box. A lovely panel, delicious Godiva Chocolates, that are almost gone already. A name tag, that I will proudly wear at my next guild meeting, and a heart touching card that I will cherish forever.
This just goes to show what great people quilters are. I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Kristie