Sewing Sunsets

Unfortunately, today’s post is still not about sewing.   However, after spending some time on my new time consuming project trying to strongly enourage Denton Regional Medical Center administration to do the right thing and pay to replace my mother’s hearing aids, I do plan on going to JoAnn’s for a little fabric therapy.

As you know, I have an on going battle with Denton Regional Medical Center about a pair of lost hearing aids.  They just seem to refuse to understand that they need to do the right thing and pay to replace the hearing aids.  It is my belief that a hospital employee threw them away.  One thing is certain; my elderly, ill, bed ridden, incapacitated mother could NOT have gotten out of bed and thrown them away!  In the hospital setting, it should be the caregiver’s responsibility to ensure that each patient’s  adaptive devices, such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, and dentures are kept safe.  This did not happen in my mother’s case, unfortunately.  And now, the hospital, an HCA owned, for profit hospital simply refuses to do the right thing and pay the entire cost to replace both hearing aids.  Their latest stunt seems to reflect that they only want to pay for one hearing aid.  So…. I guess my mom is only allowed to hear out of one hear, huh?!  Of course, my mother needs two hearing aids.

There is a commercial that is currently airing on tv right now that has a great line.  This commercial shows people in various walks of life helping people in a variety of small ways.  In the commercial, it may be a simple act of kindness such as holding the elevator door open  or moving a cup of coffee away from the edge of the table so it won’t get knocked over.  At the end of the commercial, the narrator says the line “When it’s people who do the right thing, they call it being responsible……..”  I like that line and I think Denton Regional Medical Center needs to take a lesson from the company who is running this commercial.  Denton Regional Medical center needs to learn how to do the right thing and show true compassion for its stakeholders–patients and patrons who utilize this for profit hospital.  Unfortunately, so far, they have simply demonstrated passion for preserving their precious bottom line–Denton Regional Medical Center’s profit margin.

www.sewseamless.com

It is now Saturday morning here in Texas and I’m still angry–angry to the point of being livid!!– with Denton Regional Medical Center.  This hospital is owned by HCA and is a for profit hospital.  What is interesting about this hospital is that when we first moved to this town about a year ago, everyone we met told me to avoid going to Denton Regional Medical Center because either they, or a relative, had received poor care while in the hospital or had been given incorrect medical advice.  When my mother was first hospitalized at Denton Regional, I wondered why the hospital had such a negative reputation in the community.  Overall, the  folks who simply work there do display compassion and try to do a good job.  However, the administration at this hospital is a totally different story and I highly suspect that other people have had as much of a negative experience with Denton Regional Medical Center’s hospital administration as I have recently.  I now see why this hospital has such a negative reputation in the community.

As you know, my elderly mother was hospitalized at Denton Regional in January.  It is my belief that a hospital employee threw away my mom’s hearing aids, and from the beginning I have made it very clear to the hospital that I expect them to pay the full cost to replace the hearing aids.  The hearing aid company is giving the hospital a discount and this discount makes the cost of replacing the hearing aids Lessthan the original purchase price of the hearing aids.  My mom only had the very basic, low end, no frills hearing aids, but they allowed her to have a better quality of life.  Because Denton Regional Medical Center has displayed such a lack of compassion for my mother’s situation, she is continuing to experience a diminished quality of life.  I hold Denton Regional Medical Center totally responsible for my mother’s diminished quality of life.

So far, Denton Regional Medical Center has refused to pay the full replacement cost for the hearing aids.  At one point, they offered to pay half and I said that was not acceptable  and that I would continue to push  further until they decided to do the right thing and pay the full cost.  I had told them repeatedly that I would NOT drop this matter until they agreed to do the right thing, but apparently, they didn’t quite believe me.  I think I finally convinced them that I am not going to drop this matter, so instead of ignoring me, hoping I will go away, they are employing what I call the “bait and switch” tactic.  I got a call from the hospital, stating that they were prepared to issue a check in the amount of $2000.   I questioned why the amount was so low and stated that I expected the full cost of $3588 to be paid.  At that point, I was told that “it clearly stated this was a partial payment”.  To me, that meant that the hospital was choosing to do this the hard way and pay in two payments.  I also wondered why they were not paying the hearing aid company directly since that would expedite the whole matter.   I requested something in writing, stating that the balance of the cost–$1588–would be paid in the near future.  Once again, it was the “bait and switch” tactic because the letter that I was handed stated that they would pay a portion of the cost in the amount of $2000.  I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get this hospital to understand that I will NOT accept a portion of the payment as payment in full!!  I think they must have collective memory loss!  I told the hospital employee that we were not done and that I would continue to fight for the remaining $1588. 

As I have said before, I don’t believe Denton Regional Medical Center  administration has compassion for improving human life or improving the quality of human life.  They certainly aren’t concerned about that with my mother because, in effect, she is being held hostage  in a world marred by significant hearing loss by this hospital since they continue to refuse to do the right thing and pay to replace her hearing aids.  I know for a fact that the hearing aids were in my mother’s ears one evening when I walked out of the hospital and nowhere to be found the next morning.  She was incapacitated, ill, and bedridden, so SHE is NOT responsible for losing the hearing aids.  Caregivers should have been more careful and paid more attention to what they may have been throwing away, which is what I believe happened in this case.  The only right thing is for Denton Regional Medical Center to pay to replace the hearing aids–the FULL COST  of replacement–and then put policies in place that will reduce, and perhaps even eliminate incidences such as this one.

There are other issues that occurred during this hospital stay– a large nasty looking bruise on my mother’s upper left arm (I showed this to four different nurses, but I suspect it never got documented.  In this case, I don’t think anyone was deliberately mean, but I do think this bruise should have been clearly documented.), a catheter was left in for the entire three weeks and I never fully understood why that wasn’t removed sooner; no social worker/case manager was assigned to help with discharge planning until the eleventh hour, and that was only after I pitched a fit and discovered that the nurse on duty that day had once again not done her job properly.   This is just the tip of the iceberg……

As I said earlier, Denton Regional Medical Center administration doesn’t seem to display true compassion for people in general, but they certainly do display a passion for preserving their precious bottom line—-Denton Regional Medical Center’s profit margin.

www.sewseamless.com

Yes, I really tried to post pictures, but someone in this house changed the settings, which make it difficult for me to complete this task.  I am hoping to get this accomplished soon because I have actually been sewing!

I think I”ve discovered that the problem may not be with my camera….. 

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving today.  Enjoy spending time with family and then do lots and lots of sewing.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

The shorts are almost finished!  So far, the inner leg seams; the outer leg seams, and the crotch have all been sewn.  the casing has been turned down, pressed, and sewn, leaving an opening so that the elastic can be inserted into the waist area. 

You can use a special tool such as a bodkin to help pull the elastic through the casing, or you can use a large safety pin to help pull the elastic through the casing.

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that you should baste each side of the pressed open seams down about 3 inches in the waist area.  This helps the elastic to pull through those areas more smoothly.

After you have inserted the elastic, you need to sew the ends of the elastic closed.  Some patterns instruct you to sew a seam in the elastic, but this creates a lot of bulk.  One technique that I learned from Sandra Betzina’s tv show is to butt the ends of the elastic together, wrap a small piece of scrap fabric around that and zigzag over the area.  This technique creates much less bulk.

When you have sewn the elastic ends together, insert the elastic into the waistline casing and finish sewing the casing closed.  An easy way to do this is to put your sewing machine needle all the way to the left and sew close to the finished edge of the casing.   Adjust the elastic in the waistline area and then stitch in the ditch in each seam to prevent the elastic from turning when the shorts are being worn. 

The next step is to hem each leg of the pair of shorts and they’re finished.  Those instructions will be in my next post.

Detailed instructions, including pictures,  for sewing the waistline casing and inserting the elastic can be found at  and www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I have finally arrived at my new destination and have somewhat moved into the new apartment.  My hubby starts his first day of work this morning.   We still don’t have all our furniture here–it is due to arrive later this week.  Unfortunately, we are going to have to put quite a bit in storage for a while.  We are hoping to get storage close to us so we can start going through boxes and donating lots of unused items. 

In the meantime, I still have to coordinate getting my mom down here into her new apartment and trying to find a few pieces of furniture for her until her furniture can arrive.  This has been a very difficult move and it’s not over yet!

The really bad part about this move is that I haven’t had time to sew at all.  However, I have my sewing machines, fabric, and patterns here with me and my sewing room will be set up in the very near future.

The good news is that there is a JoAnn’s less than five miles away from my house and I think they are having a sale; I have a 40% off coupon; and I still have money on my JoAnn’s gift cards.  I think some much needed fabric therapy and sewing therapy is in my future.

As a result of everything that needs to be done, the traveling halfway across the country, and the stress of trying to make sure my mom’s needs are met, I find myself being sew tired every day.  Somehow, I think that when I get that fabric and sewing therapy, I will have a new burst of energy.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I had intended to finish the tutorial on sewing men’s bathrobes, but as usual, real life has other plans for me.  Now, not only am I not able to do any sewing, it seems that real life has other plans for me when I even need to talk  about sewing!

Sew……I hope you all had a very Merry and safe Christmas!  And I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy New Year!

Currently, we are traveling and have stopped to spend some time with my oldest daughter and her family.  I have finally seen my youngst grandson who is now about 16 months old.  My youngest daughter is moving to the west coast for her last semester of college, but she is going to be in different state than her sister. 

I have enjoyed spending time with my family, but I have missed sewing.  However, my oldest granddaughter got a new sewing machine for Christmas so I have a good excuse to go to the fabric store with her in the next few days.  And helping her learn to use her new sewing machine has been fun, too.

I know that I stopped in the middle of talking about sewing men’s bathrobes, but I lost computer access when I got to my daughter’s house, so I will wait until I have consistent computer access to finish that tutorial.  It may be a few days before I get to post again so once again, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

And of course, Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m not even sure how to begin this post because life is, and has been, very hectic for the past several weeks.  December is not really my favorite month for a number of reasons, and quite frankly, I’m ready for this particular December, and this year, to be behind me.  All I really want to do–make that all I want for Christmas–is to go into my sewing room and sew and sew and sew and sew—-probably for several months, until the weather gets warm the sun comes out.

In spite of not being able to sew myself, I still have a few gift ideas to tell you about.  When I have time, one thing I like to sew for the men on my gift list is a robe.  I like to sew these robes out of flannel because flannel is easy to sew and flannel feels so soft and cozy.  I have several robe sewing patterns, my favorite one being an old Simplicity pattern.  The last pattern that I used to sew a robe is a McCall’s and has patterns for men and boys.  I wasn’t completely happy with it, but it wasn’t difficult either.

When sewing a bathrobe, it’s quite easy because most patterns will instruct you to sew the shoulder seams first.  Depending on the pattern, sometimes I will serge finish the raw edges first and press the seams open, and other times, I will sew the seams and then serge the seams and press them to one side.   The sleeves are sewn in flat (www.sewseamless.com/Page28.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page29.html , and www.sewseamless.com/Page30.html ) and then the side seams and sleeve seams are sewn in one pass.

Because most bathrobes have no buttons or zippers, there is usually a tie belt to sew and there are also belt carriers or loops.  I sew these belt carriers the easy way.  In the picture above, the top flannel piece is the belt carrier/loop as it was cut from the pattern.  The pattern instructed me to sew this on the long edge and then turn it right side out, but that is difficult, so I chose to fold the belt carrier in the middle first, as you see above.  The second step is to fold the belt carrier/loop in half again, press and then edge stitch down each long side.

After the belt carrier has been edge stiched on each long side, and you have pressed well, the next step is to fold them in half and baste, then baste the belt loops/carriers to the front of the robe.

The particular sewing pattern that I used had a band that was sewn around the front and then neckline of the robe.  That’s easy and I hope to share that with you in my next post.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

My friend, Sue (www.perpetualplum.wordpress.com ) has tagged me to reveal six quirky things about myself.  Like my friend, Donna (www.thisyearsdozen.wordpress.com ), I wasn’t sure that I really had anything to reveal, but I’m a pretty quirky type person anway, so maybe it will be hard for me to stop at just six.

1.  I guess the first thing I should mention is that I rarely participate in these types of things, which probably drives some of my friends crazy.  When I get those e-mails that involve changing answers and then sending them out to others, including the person that sent it to you, I usually don’t participate.  Those things can be fun, but I guess I have so many other things going on in my life that I just don’t take the time to participate.

2. I am a person who must know the answer to “why?”  For example, when I was living in my home state, the leaders of my home church would often make decisions that I didn’t understand nor was I sure that I agreed with them, but once the reasons why the decisions were made were explained, I could accept whatever it was much more easily. 

3. When I read a newspaper, I read it backwards, meaning that I start at the back page and read that first, moving through the newspaper from back to front.  I do, however, read books in the proper order (front to back).

4. I really hate being alone for long periods of time.  This may not be so unusual for some folks, but I am an only child so I grew up being alone quite a bit.  However, I am a very social person and I would rather be with a friend, or a group of friends than be by myself for many hours.  Of course, when I am alone (which is a lot), I spend that time sewing (as much as possible anyway.)

5. I hate to travel and I hate to travel with a passion.  For someone who really abhors traveling, I find myself in the position of having to do quite a bit of traveling.  Back when the speed limit was 55 mph and there were fewer trucks on the road, I used to enjoy a good road trip, but now I dread them.  No, I do not fly because my theory is that if God had intended for me to fly, He would have given me wings and I haven’t sprouted any wings lately.  Of course, as a friend pointed out, I also haven’t grown any wheels. Walking is truly my favorite mode of transportation.

6.  Many women I know like to rearrange their furniture or redecorate their homes on a regular basis.  When I get things just the way I like them, I want to leave them that way because I don’t like a lot of change.  I need to feel settled and stable.

There are probably other more quirky things I could think of to tell you, but I’ll leave it at these six things for now.  Sue also tagged most of those that I would have tagged, and some of my other blogging friends are dealing with serious life issues, so I won’t tag anybody this time either.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

This has been a very unusual, hectic, and busy week.    My husband was in Denver on a business trip all last week, and he took off this week so that he could have some “down” time and we could do a vacation of sorts.  However, I think the “sewing gods” got together with life and made other plans for us.  Of course, this means there has been absolutely no sewing time for me this week at all…….

In spite of not being able to sew this week, I did get a nice surprise in my mailbox yesterday.  My current issue of Sew News magazine (www.sewnews.com ) came in and I’ve enjoyed looking through it.  As much as I enjoy my Sew News magazine, I’d really rather be sewing.  But, some of the extra activities that happened this week could be a very good thing for our family, so I won’t complain too much.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com