Memorial service for Marlene

A Memorial service for Marlene is scheduled for

Saturday, February 7 @ 2:00 p.m. at
Ouimet Brothers Funeral Chapel
4125 Clayton Road
Concord, CA 94521
925.682.4242

At this time, information for donations or contributions in Marlene’s memory is still pending.

Marlene 1/23/2009

It is with much sadness that I inform you that Marlene passed away this morning around 11 a.m.

Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Road to California 2009

Where to begin …

I went to the Road to California Quilt Show last weekend. It was a weekend of very mixed emotions for me and Marlene was on my mind so very much. You see, she was supposed to be going as well. I missed her.

We had attended last year, along with our friend Debbie. The show was great and with the exception of a couple of things that happened to us away from the show we all had wonderful time. It was on our way home that we decided that we would be doing things very differently for the 2009 show. Plans were discussed during the drive and a fourth was added to our group. By late summer we had rooms reserved.

It was a weekend of mixed emotions. Debbie and I attended the show two group members down. Deanna’s work schedule had a significant change and so she was unable to make it. Marlene was in my thoughts so many times and I saw so many things that I knew she would absolutely love.

The show was great. I especially loved the display of antique/vintage quilts. We did a bit of shopping, but I really didn’t have very much on my list. I did pick up some civil war FQ bundles, some Hobbs batting and also picked up some thread for a couple of friends. I did avoid a couple of impulse purchases (whew). Marlene would have been pleased, especially since I ran amuk at the Long Beach Quilt Show.

Plans have already been made for 2010. We will have to see what this year has in store for us.

Marlene's quilt has been assembled

First off let me thank all of you that made and sent blocks for Marlene's quilt. All of the blocks are beautiful, over 125 blocks not including the signature blocks. There are so many blocks that a smaller quilt, table topper or wall hanging size, is in the works also. I forgot to take a picture of the wonderful backing fabric that Dawna sent. It is a beautiful blue shirting fabric on a cream background.

The quilt top was assembled this past weekend starting on Friday, January 9. A small group of us gathered at our friend Pam's and spent a wonderful weekend sewing. Oh yes, there was laughing, eating, lots and lots of sewing and even a pirate song was sung. Bonnie arrived at Pam's on Wednesday night, I arrived on Thursday night and Holly arrived early Saturday morning.

The blocks were laid out with the sashings and block placements were worked out. Because of the size and the number of blocks, it was decided to make the secondary smaller quilt. The final borders were added mid-afternoon on Sunday and a quick photo was taken. Holly has taken it home and will be quilting it on her long arm. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

I went to see Marlene on Monday, January 12 and took a photo of the quilt top to hang in her room.

Here is the quilt top ...

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 12

From Sue R. in Hilton Head Island, SC.

From Sally in Missouri.

Blocks for Marlene - a couple made by me

These are a couple of the blocks that I made for Marlene's quilt. I forgot to take pictures of the others.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 9

From Debbie S. in Livermore, CA.

From Dawna H. in Palmdale, CA.

There are actually 7 blocks above.

There are 2 of each of the top 2 blocks and 2 of the block on the bottom left.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 7

From Patti H. in Canyon Lake, TX.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 6

From Eileen S. in Florida.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 5

From Rebecca L. in San Marcos, CA.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 3

From Marie S. in Littleton, MA.

From Cheryl R. in Pennsylvania.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived January 2

From Tone Yvonne K. in Oslo, Norway.

From Jeanne M. in Washington.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 31

From Pam V. in Livermore, CA.

From Rhonda R. in Kent, WA.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 29

From Mary F. in Asheboro, NC.

From Carol S. in Hubert, NC.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 26

From Cindy J. in Clayton, MI.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 24

From Stina B. in Sweden.

From Linda S. in Livermore, CA.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 23

From Sharon G. in Kaneohe, HI.

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 22

Playing catch up again.

From Bobbie H. in Canon City, CO.

A nice comment from Mike ...

For those of you that read my blog you might have read the recent comment from Marlene's brother. If you missed it, here is what he posted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mike said:
To all that have shown concern for Marlene, Thank you. I am her brother , I live in AZ. I was able to see her last week and I have to say she looked better each day in which I visited. Her condition is still very critical, although she is able to communicate slightly,move her hands, arms, neck, & shoulders, she still has much work ahead of her. The goal is to get her strong enough and well enough to sustain a lung transplant. But before that can be done they have to find out what caused her condition in the first place. The road ahead is a very long one, one which there seems to be no end in site. Your continued prayers are greatly sought after and appreciated. It will take a true miracle to achieve the outcome that we all are hopeing for. Again thank you for all you are doing .
January 2, 2009 8:43 PM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got to meet Mike and on that particular day with Marlene, she was doing a lot of sleeping. Mike shared some childhood memories of things he and Marlene did. It was a very nice visit and we got quite a few smiles from those stories.

Marlene has received many wonderful notes from so many people. She has truly touched the lives of people around the world - I am reminded of that every time an envelope arrives with blocks for her quilt.

Her nurses read her messages to her daily and family and friends reread them to her too. I know, because I have read them to her to let her know that we care so much about her and are praying for her.
Messages can be sent to her through the UCSF Medical Center website

to:
Marlene Maloney Ball
ICC Unit

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 19

More blocks ...

From Laura B. in California

From Sheila C. and Linda N. in Denton, TX

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 17

From Jayne C. in East Lyme, CT

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 16

I know I am not the best at photography - just know that all of the blocks are gorgeous.

From Kathy D. in Portland, OR

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 15

I noticed after taking these two sets of pictures that I must have been standing off center.

From Lori D. in Gibbsboro, NJ
From Peggy M. in Milford, CT

Blocks for Marlene - arrived December 13

Okay ... time to start playing catch up and get caught up on the blocks that have been received for Marlene's quilt.

From Sylvia K. in Woodland, CA

From Pam M. in Atascadero, CA

From Joanne S. in Missouri