Mixed Signals

I wish I could understand the message that is being sent to me today or maybe there is no message and my wires are just shorting out somewhere in time. I am working on the last panel for PLM's Parkinson's Quilt Project(number 16). The title is "Thanks" and my idea was to list the different organizations and companies who help PD patients survive in some sort of colorful way and this is how it went. I ran out of transfer paper because all the lettering kept coming out backwards so I decided to copy the different logos by going to each web site or cutting up my pamphlets and using them. Then I was faced with how to make them stick to material and be waterproof......As Oprah would say, I had a "A..Ha..Moment". The old reliable ziplock bags. I cut out each logo and put them in a ziplock bag, folded to the back to make it viewable and then taped it shut with scotch tape on the back then stitched each square onto the back panel with a whip stitch on my machine. And speaking of machines......Mine has decided to use it's own mind. When it thinks my ideas are TOO crazy it stops, breaks thread or WILL NOT BE THREADED. All of the above situations just really get my PD wound tight early in the morning or very late at night. Well I have vented a little and I will go back and get this DONE!!!!!!

Well it is now 12:45A.M. and I just took a picture of my new creation. I have been working on this solid for two days....I wish I had just one dollar for every time I threaded my sewing machine or filled a new bobbin. I can just keep on deaming because I am very sure there is no money coming my way....I wish I had some ice cream I would celebrate but nope. So I think I'll setttle for hot chocolate and put myuself to bed. Tomorrow is another day...love Pokie

In Explanation of MY Panels for PDF

I happen to think last night that with all the articles I have written for the other panels and walks and teams I have not wrote a thing explaining my panels and their beginnings and endings. The first was the "Christmas in Parkinsonville" which started much, much simpler and smaller in January when I was very much snowed in on top of a very steep hill with no hope of getting out for a month or so. As cabin fever crept in, I decided on my panel theme and started tearing an old vest apart for material. At this point it was hanging on the wall in my study an I would pin things to the material as I found something that interested me BUT soon I began getting up in the middle of the night and gluing and stitching. I knew I was exibiting true excessive compulsive behavior but since the panel was to be about me I let it run rampant. Next things began appearing on top of other things. Something would fall off and I would have to hand stitch it on again.....Colors clashed and appeared non perfect. Stitches changed from night to day in size and beauty but when it was finally done and in all of it's imperfection I realized I had really grasped the idea of Parkinson's Disease at Christmas or any other time of the year....an adult mind allowing the child mind inside to come out and play for a day and then at night the adult and child minds to be able to settle down and smile at the resulting accomplishments. This was my first square in January......

Then I stopped all sewing in preparation for the 2010 Parkinson Unity Walk in New York City. In my life nothing ranks higher and all focus heads there most of the year. As our team developed and contributions came in my enthusiasm just usually goes of the charts and leaves room for nothing else in my life. With Team Patientslikeme reaching $14,000.00 Dollars for research and the trip of a lifetime lived, I was back home to sew and realized I was several panels short of 16 for a full quilt.......so you know me. I shut down everything else and sewed for almost a month.

From that sewing came "To All PD Heroes Who Have Fallen", "A Walk in the Park for Parkinson's Disease" "One on One"and the one I am working on to finish now "Thanks" and I loved every minute of it.

Several people along the way sent me belongings or pictures and I made squares for them, V Wig and Peter and next Saturday they will leave my care for New York and the world. It will be much like sending your children off to college for me and leaves me to wonder what next, Who Knows love ya Pokie

The Story of "Our Lady" The Parkinson's Quilt Project

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If I can do this so can you.  Good thought huh? I have never believed in the word can't and I am very much a dreamer. When my children were small and still to this day, I told them there was nothing they could not do and now I have once again enlarged my family and on patientslikeme.com I am telling each member on the Parkinson site they can become quilters , if they believe.  No matter where their disability lies in this disease, just as long as their choice in material and art supplies is permanent.  I want them to open up their hearts and show the world their feelings about Parkinson's Disease and in doing that prove to the world how productive a patient with this disease can be.  October of 2008 I ask them if they would like to make a quilt and over twenty made me squares which I had quilted into the large quilt you see above.  The square below it is my square. The quilt is she in gender and we refer to her as "Our Lady" When one of us is sick, she travels to encourage us on.  She is now in Texas with VigWig while he has DBS surgery. If we are talking to a group, or just need her hug," She" is there.  It may seem odd that such a diverse group can find beauty and help in such an odd way from the past.  Aquilt has always stood for warmth and comfort, security and best wishes.  These are everything a Parkinson's patient seeks out.  patientslikeme.com gave us the space and encouragement to carry on our quest. We spent hours transfering pictures of our project and when it came time for the 2009 Unity Walk we were ready to show the world who we were and where we came from.  It was a beautiful day for not only me as caretaker of "Her" but all who participated and all who saw her.
My square has a laminated penny stitched into the center of the tulips, for good luck., just as I try to do with each of my squares.  I am a three star member of PLM and have been on the site over three years.  PD's colrs is red and the tulip is our ensignia. God is always with us, hense the cross. I always hand stitch in order for my soul to be a part of the piece.  My grandmother use to say."every quilt needs a finger prick for a drop of blood to give it life". That's my name Pokie Too and has been from my first signing on in October three years ago.
Now I am asking even more people to join in and experience the joy of a project for not only the wellbeing of your heart but the wellbeing of many across the world. We at Parkinson's Disease Foundation are making 2 foot x 2 foot panels to be joined into quilts to be displayed at the Global Conference in Scotland in(once again) October.  October seems to be my lucky month!  Each panel will be registered and numbered and require a $25 fee fpr that registering.  There are scholarships to cover the fee if it is not available. They can be joined together to represent a site or company or made in honor of someone you know with the disease or has passed on. You may know a caregiver you want to recognize.  Just  remember you have to register your square before sending it in.All of the How to Do This are at http://support.pdf.org./quilt  Check it out be you male or female and see what you can do to bring awarness to this terrible disease.......love Pokie

Parkinson's Disease Foundation Quilt Project is Launched

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Something very close to my heart became public today.  The Parkinson Disease Foundation(PDF) has launched a project which I am a party to.  In this project we will attempt to make 100 or more quilts to be shipped to the Global Parkinson's Conference in Scotland in October.I am a part of the planning committee that was founded in July and for the last months have tried to plan the best way to unite the patient community in a project that enables them to project their feelings and views on Parkinson's to the global commnity. A quilt square becomes so personal as does this disease.  Each of us suffers in a different way and each of us will show those feelings through the darks and lights of a quilt square.  If you go to http://support.pdf.org/quilt you can not only register but get all the particulars of making a 2 ft x 2 ft. square.  The square must be registered before it can become a part of a particular quilt...Check this siteParkinsonDisease Foundation Quilt Project and enjoy. It is an excellent way to get YOUR word across and speed a cure that has been way to long in coming...love Pokie