A Sampler that Reflects my Predicament on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - I keep thinking I'm not going to have anything to post as I sit firmly planted in this lift chair, but as I enter the 6th week since I fell, I've manage to scrounge up a few things. I go back to the ortho doc on Monday... I think he would have preferred I waited till 6 weeks were over... and it will really only be 5 weeks and 3 days since I fell... but by son has Monday off for MLK Day and this it more convenient for him to take me to the doctor.  My hope is I'll be cleared to start some PT... I can get a couple of sessions at home and then go to the office rehab which is only about a 7 minute drive from my house. Also wonder how soon I might be able to drive... since I injured my left knee I should be able to do it eventually. 

Last week was nice... I had a visitor almost every day and that helps to pass the time... and on Friday we celebrated my older son's 40th birthday.... not sure how he got that old ...oh wait... I do know how that happened and I'm really feeling my age at the moment. The knee isn't too bothersome but my lower back has decided that it no long wants to cooperate ... I know it is from inactivity and sitting in the chair all the time but I don't know how I can do anything about it except take some ibuprofen... and I'm concerned about how much muscle tone I've lost in my left leg ... wonder how long it will take to get it back...

ok... I'll stop whining...for a minute or two...LOL

I finished the stitching on my Blessing Sampler for 2025....this is Ninon by Jardin Prive...

now this sampler certainly reflects my predicament... lots of little annoying issues...it is riddled with mis- steps and counting errors... I knew I had a couple on the right side of the piece and I thought I got it back on track on the left side but ackkk!!! more problems arose... I ran out of the blue thread... a friend came to my rescue and picked me up a skein at Michaels. I could then stitch up all the letters and go back and squeeze in the floral motifs and the last thing I stitched was the 3 pink hearts  and well... not one of them is exactly where they should be... sigh...but it is done except for the beads I want to add to the watering can... hoping that I can go through my bead  stash and find something that will work... oh I'd LOVE to take a trip to Hobby Lobby... and while theoretically it is doable... I'd have to impose on someone to get me out of the house in the wheelchair and then drive me there... get me out of the car and back into the wheelchair and push me around... and it is not my nature to impose on others... I want to do everything for myself... and this is hard to deal with...

Did a bit of knitting... this sock is Opal Hundertwasser 4 4056-692...

I did the heel in Opal Uni-Solid Burgundy... I love how I'm getting stripes of different widths and I don't have to manipulate the yarn to achieve that... oh and that lime-y acid green makes me happy... this is good knitting for watching movies.

I finished one sock where I'm alternating 2 Opals that are in the purple/green colors... I got no clue as to what either yarn is I'm using... and I have a small start on the mate...

I'm itching to do some sewing... need to try again and see if I can do it without having the blood pool in my left foot... just gonna do something simple... squares... lots and lots of squares... particularly enamored with the Maggie Pearl pattern  by Penelope Handmade which you can find here... you can do this with a FQ or a Jelly roll or a Layer Cake... and I have all of those precuts... 

and if I can sew I can look out different window for a change... right now I'm watching a flock of black birds perched in the oak tree across the street... the other day I watched an owl sit in the tree for quite a while... it was nice.

My dear friend Laurey retrieved a quilt for me from my long armer Delinda... I'm calling it the Twirly Yellow Flower quilt but the actual pattern name is Flowers for Nana's Girl from the Kim Brackett book Scrap - Basket Sensations... it is OOP but I found a listing here for a used copy. 

I want to hang this on the living room wall this Spring... I don't remember if I made a binding before I dropped it off... I kinda doubt it... I need to have someone who knows what they're doing to look in the basket I put bindings in...otherwise  there is plenty of the backing fabric I could use... I want this done by the end of February... and I hope to be in better shape by then.

As for decor I was able to take some pictures... this is the tier table with a slew of little snowmen... 

on the top tier,  these guys were all from Hallmark and were from the Mitford series of books by Jan Karon... here's listing of all the books in the series in order... I might go back and re-read them... they were very enjoyable. Oh that was a tangent...anyway I got soooo many snowmen from Hallmark back in the day... had a great Hallmark shop that was on the way to pick up Nick from school... would leave the house early so I could pop in and browse at least once a week... it had a super train/Christmas/Dept 56 houses display in the back ... sigh... it closed and now it an "adult" bookstore... ewww...

Okay back on track, again... this is the small shelf display... 

up top one of my favorite snowmen cookie jars. Nick got me this in a little resale shop and it is so pretty... so much detail...I love the bluebird on this shoulder...and Lizzie Kate's Winter ABCs...

on the middle shelf from left to right the snowman in the round tin is from the Holiday Hoopla series by WTN&T...

in the center is Welcome Winter from The Drawn Thread ...

and on the end is Alfred Heart and Hand... I stitched him because Alfred was my Father's middle name.

My collection of snowman heads is on the bottom and in looking at this display I could squeeze in maybe one or two more snowmen heads and definitely add some small snowman pillows... need to make a note of that so I remember... 

I did download this cute snowguy yesterday...Happy Heart Snowman from Emily Call Stitching... you can find him  here.

Well the weather has been cold ...and  it is going to get colder... Monday's and Tuesday's highs are predicted to be 15 degrees and going down to minus 2 degrees... only saving grace is there isn't any snow in the 7 day forecast ... however we still have to get through February... the shortest but the cruelest month... I was looking back on the posts I did this time last year and we were in the 40s and the 50s and one day in February I was out on the porch as it was 60 degrees... I doubt we will see that kind of warmth for a while... opening my utility bill is gonna be scary... and this prolonged cold has me worried about the dahlias and the cannas I have in the ground... they've come back for several years but the last several winters have been much milder ... and while I dug up the dahlias in the raised beds I didn't get them stored away the way I should have... not sure I'm going to salvage them... I did place an order from more tubers to be delivered in Spring... but boy have dahlia tubers gotten pricey... I hope to pick up a bunch at Costco... since I'm not going to get into the store I keep checking the website ... edited to add that Costco already has dahlia tubers listed... a bag of 12 for $49.99... which is a great price... only $4 and some change per tuber... I ordered 3 different collections and they won't get shipped till the beginning of April which is fine... I probably won't get them planted till mid May... I gonna ask my friend Bill to check what they have in the store they next time he goes to Costco... I'm not picky  as I LOVE all dahlias... and this gives me stuff to look forward to. 

Well as I said before off to the ortho doc on Monday.. nothing else on the calendar at the moment... hope for some in home PT... and some more motivation to get something done other than scrolling mindlessly on the internet and IG...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and I hope you have a happy week ahead of you!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Some things are up, and some things are down on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well today makes a month since I fell and fractured my knee... sigh... and I have my fingers crossed that in 2 more weeks I may be able to start physical therapy... I'd like to say things have gotten easier... I'd really like to... but the reality is this is wearing on me... and I'm working to stay positive... but some days are up, and some days are down... and some days it is hard to focus and get something accomplished.  You'd think with all this free time you'd stitch and knit and sew... but the reality is you binge watch old movies and doom scroll... and you have nothing to show for it... I'm at that stage of life where I know the hours I have left on this earth are far fewer than the ones I've already lived ... and I shouldn't fritter away what remains... but frittering is happening a lot... 

ok - on to what has been happening this last week... the weather guys got it pretty much right, darn it... we had about a foot of snow on Sunday/Monday and pretty much everything was closed down. Even the County Courthouse closed and my son worked from home on Zoom... that has never happened before. My little town has done a fabulous job on the roads.  Sitting in my chair I hear and see the salt and snow plow every time it goes by, and man did it go by lots and lots and lots and lots... other roads in the area are still waiting to be cleared... the difference in local governments is very evident.

We also got another couple of inches on Friday... but with any luck there isn't any more forecast till next Sunday... personally I'd be more than happy if it doesn't snow another flake this year... but my preferences aren't holding any sway with the weather gods.

Biggest accomplishment this week: Got ALL the Christmas stuff taken down and returned to the basement. Got rid of an entire bin of stuff I haven't put out for ages...very satisfying.

And with enormous help from Nick we put out the snowmen!!  Now since he was doing the physical work and I was directing this operation we just put everything in the same place it was last year. Thank goodness for having the blog and the pictures to refer to. Now normally I like to mix things up year to year but just having something new to look at is good for my mental health.

Here's the wall quilt... my version of the Cluck Cluck Sew pattern Suburbs I call Mummville...every house is a different Debbie Mumm fabric ... in fact every fabric in this quilt is vintage Debbie Mumm...and I love it!!

There is a Debbie Mumm snowman cookie jar to the right... and the tier tray has Prairie Schooler No. 177 January at the top and is filled with Debbie Mumm snowman ceramics and ornaments...

and all the quilts in this display are done entirely in  Debbie Mumm fabrics... I've always been a bit OCD and once I latch on to an designer I don't let go easily. For years I made quilts using only DM fabrics as my stash is HUGE and her collections all just went together perfectly. 

Here's my laundry cart filled with more Debbie Mumm quilts... 

and I have Debbie Mumm quilts for every occasion... Christmas, Halloween, Spring, 4th of July, Fall ... and lots of different styles... Stack n Whack, Charm Quilts, Bow Ties, Stars,  etc etc etc and just overall scrappy.  To me Debbie Mumm is timeless, like Prairie Schooler... yes if you look at their designs they do harken back to the 80's and the 90's but I have lots of good memories from those times and I still enjoy what I made back then.

I did get some more stitches in my Blessing Sampler for 2025...

Ninon by Jardine Prive... by my calculations I'm about half way done and the month is about half way done..so I'm thinking on right on track  to finish this by the end of January. I'm afraid I might run out of DMC 931... may have a friend go to Michaels and pick my up another skein... and I going to do beads for the water droplets that are charted coming out of the watering can...

 I think that will be a nice personal touch. 

A friend came over this week and we looked at a bunch of my WIPs and several were talking to me... Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor (started back in 2013, hangs head in shame) and this is where I left off last year...

 and Red Rhapsody another Rosewood Manor chart that I'm doing in sage-y blue-y tones. 

This one would be nice as it only uses one floss, but I still make it more complicated by selecting the "right" parts of the highly variegated Gentle Arts Something Blue floss. 

So the week ahead should be fairly quiet...I'm not going anywhere, obviously... we are having a birthday celebration for my older son on Friday... he'll be 40... how in the he-double hockey sticks did that happen??? He's picking up carryout and bringing it to my place so we can be together... just looked at the 2 weather apps on my phone... one has a high of 45 degree for the 17th... wow... almost balmy... the January when he was born was absolutely frigid... the temperature got down to -21 degrees two days after his birth. My doctor's car got frozen in the parking garage and I got to stay an extra day because it was deemed too cold to let me go home... 

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and I'll stitch a little bit... I didn't try sewing last week because when I sit in the wheel chair and my left leg dangles as it does in the brace, it isn't long before the blood pools in my foot and that's uncomfortable and sends me back to the recliner to elevate it... PT nurse said once I start therapy they may allow me to let it sit on the floor ...not exactly weight bearing but enough pressure to stimulate some blood flow... something to look forward to... sigh

Hope your week ahead is a good one...I know it is going to get COLD here... some single digit nights projected but as long as it doesn't snow I'll deal with that...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Making some progress on a Slow Sunday...

 Note: this is a chatty post... lots of fractured knee stuff...

Hello.. and Happy New Year!  My hope is that while 2025 is off to a slooooow start, I will pick up speed as the year progresses. 

And speaking of progress, some was made on a couple of fronts. 

The ramp got installed on the house and they didn't need to take off the door on the porch... and I am soooo grateful for that. It is too cold to sit out there now but I'm sure I will be able to get out there eventually and it is so good for my mental health to sit there in the sun and watch the birds. 

It is shorter than I thought it would be and while it does extend onto the sidewalk a  tiny bit, I don't think my neighbors will complain. Now the slope may be a bit steeper than the ADA guidelines, but again, we are gonna deal with it so I don't lose the porch. 

I rented a lift chair and it has been such a comfort. Makes getting up much much easier and while this one has a man cave kinda look I do enjoy the cushy-ness... I think when I am over this I will get one for me that looks a bit more stylish. I did some online shopping and saw a couple that I liked.

My hair stylist came and cut and colored my hair... she is a gem... I've been going to her for probably 12 years and she's heard all  my tales of woe... she insisted that I had to have it colored as I didn't need my gray roots getting me down... and she was right. It is a cute cut and it is much easier to deal with.

I went to the orthopedic doctor on Friday and was able to ditch the knee immobilizer and get a hinged knee brace... yeah... now I can bend my knee and I think this will allow me to sit at my sewing machine... gonna give it a try today or tomorrow. It has been 3 weeks since I fell...my mental attitude has improved but I'm still physically tired and all I'm doing is sitting... how I'd love to go for a walk! 

Now the hinged knee brace is an improvement but it still is annoying. As with the immobilizer these are "one size fits all" items, and we all know that is a false statement. I asked if there wasn't a child size version of the brace and was told they don't make them... which I don't believe... as I'm sure there are children who have to deal with this situation too. I'm going to make some inquiries on Monday to see if I can find something that fits better. The tech adjusted it as short as he could but the top is up into my lady parts and the bottom doesn't hit my ankle correctly IMHO... and I think I'll be dealing with this brace for waaaaay more than the 3 weeks I had the immobilizer. 

Now the ortho guy was impressed with the amount of healing he saw on the x-ray and the fact that I can bend my injured knee without pain... I suspect that when rehab starts that won't be the case...sigh... but I am all for as much physical therapy as I can get and as soon as I can get it. Luckily there is a rehab facility less than 10 minutes from my house. He said I could probably start weight bearing rehab in about 3 weeks. 

And perhaps the biggest event of the last 3 weeks... I was able to get a shower!!!  There are healing powers in hot water and soap!!  A dear friend who considers me family and is a nurse came over on Friday and helped me maneuver into my tiny shower ... she is an angel... she says she will come back and help me (as I'm not going to attempt this on my own for a while) and her daughter who is also a nurse said she would be happy to help me shower too... I hate my predicament but I feel so blessed with all the friends who have come to my aid.

Two of the quilty ladies came over on Tuesday and hemmed some pants for me to wear out to the doctor...I got these pants to wear as you can get them over a brace... it has gotten COLD and as of Sunday night we're bracing for a BIG dump of snow (5-8" is the last report I've seen) and then about 2 weeks of temperatures in the teens and single digits... my hope is that they are over hyping this... as they have in the past... but my fear is this time they may be right. We haven't had a bad winter in about 10 years... 

As for crafty stuff I did start a Blessing sampler on January 1... I chose this one by Jardin Prive called Ninon... and according to Google the word Ninon has multiple meanings in French, including a fabric, a name and a type of weave... it is the equivalent of the name Ann which is my middle name...

I picked this because it is fairly simple ... called for 3 flosses, I'm using 4... DMC  602, 726 931, 3346.. now my first thought was to stitch it on a light blue or light green but there was nothing in my stash big enough to do that and dyeing fabric right now wasn't in the cards... but there was this piece of pink and I think it is pretty and cheerful and I NEED cheerful in my life right now...and I like the mottling in this piece.

I originally stitched the flowers in a variegated DMC yellow but it wasn't making me happy ...

So I've picked out and re-stitched one blossom and I like this a whole lot better. 

I'd love to get a round frame to put this in when it is finished... and if memory serves me I have another small sampler kitted up with a pink linen... may play with that after I finish this one... or one of the many many many many WIPs I have...

I try to keep track of how many pieces I stitch and how many quilts I make each year.  According to my list (which may have left out some stuff)  I stitched 35 cross stitch  pieces... lots of smalls and 5 that were  bigger samplers. 

In no particular order - 

Prairie Schooler: Christmas Alphabet

The Drawn Thread: Sunnyside Sampler

With Thy Needle & Thread: Red Bird Sampler

Prairie Schooler: Garden Sampler

Summer House Stitche Works: Fragments in Time 2022

I did a lot of little pieces from Prairie Schooler and 6 houses from Melisa at Pinkernpunkin ... I did them all on 16 ct Aida I dyed and made all the house shades of yellow and gold... 

and  11 quilts were worked on... some are just tops waiting for quilting but several are complete projects...yeah me!!

I also finished one sock and started on its mate... 

So what other trouble can I get into as I am house bound for a while? Well, I want to tackle getting the Christmas stuff put away and get my snowmen out.  Since I have been sitting here looking at it practically non stop for 3 weeks I have had my fill and I'm plotting how to rework things. Normally I'd clear the shelves and start from scratch... this year I'm going to keep up all the trees and the greenery and work with that base. It is going to be smaller display than in the past but it will be something new to look at and I usually keep up the winter stuff till the beginning of March, at which time I hope to be waaaay more mobile. I'm going to see how much Nick can do but I suspect this is not his cup of tea and it will annoy him. I'm hoping to see if I can hire my handyman's wife (she does cleaning and other jobs) to come and assist me. I think she will be amenable  to being directed more than Nick and I will compensate her nicely for her time and patience. 

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and hope I have something new to show you next week... I'm sure I'll be able to muster up some whining about my knee and the upcoming Snowmaggedon... my older son got a text message from a friend who had ventured to Kroger's on Saturday... he reported that all of humanity was in the Blue Ash location but he'd witnessed a miracle in that ALL the check out lanes were manned... a sight I've never seen....

Stay safe and warm if you are in the path of this snow storm and happy stitching...

carol fun 

 

Sock it to Me on a Slow Sunday...

Hello -- so did you have a good Christmas?  Ready for the New Year?  

We did a modified Christmas at my house instead of at my older son's place and it was nice. Elliott at 5 years old  has this Santa stuff all down pat  had a great  Christmas... lots of toys that he wanted were on Santa's list in the exact form he wanted... and it was so wonderful to see his joy!

As for the New Year... well like a lot of you I'll be "celebrating" in my living room dressed in something comfy...and with my fingers crossed that 2025 shows improvement each and every day....now it has been 2 weeks since  I fell and fractured my knee and I'm muddling along. The pain is not the issue, that is tolerable... it is the immobilizer that makes everything... and I do mean EVERYTHING more challenging. Yesterday I made arrangements for a temporary ramp to be put on the house. After much thought I ditched the least expensive idea that would have made  the porch off limits and actually went with the more expensive  configuration as it seems to be the safest... and at first conversation it wasn't going to involve taking off the storm door and losing the porch... but now that is still a possibility and  I do NOT want to give up the porch for even a brief time... it is my comfy cozy refuge and it feeds my soul. When I'm out of the immobilizer and in a knee brace I should be able to sit out there again and watch the birds and the squirrels and it will greatly improve my mental health... and you can't put a price on that!! Say a prayer and cross your fingers they can work out a ramp that doesn't involve taking off the storm door. 

And I also arranged to rent a lift chair that is a recliner and has heating function ... 2 weeks of pushing myself out of my recliner and pushing it back to a bit of an angle has worn me out. I'm doing everything I can to make this situation as palatable as possible... and it ain't easy...

Like I said last week I'm still wrapping my head around this situation... and there has been some improvement. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos... got hooked on a channel with a young couple, Matt and Julia... you can find their channel here... he's British, she's Russian and they are traveling all over the world. The latest videos have them living in Beijing and studying Chinese.  They have been to many places that are off the beaten path like Turkmenistan, Siberia, Turkey, Malaysia... they aren't slick or influencers, just 2 young people out exploring the world... and I've enjoyed seeing their travels. I will never venture to these locales but it is fun to explore them from the comfort of my recliner. 

A friend suggested a new cozy mystery series to me by the author Jana DeLeon  The Miss Fortune series... I've already finished volume 1, Louisiana Longshot and downloaded volume 2 Lethal Bayou Beauty.  There are 28 books in the series so that should keep me busy for a while... 

I'm considering  purchasing an Ancestry.com membership again ... I had one years ago and did some research on my Father's side of the family, but I never looked into my Mother's side... this is something I've thought about doing before but always felt like I didn't have time to do it... I definitely have time to do this at the moment...

Note - the pics are gonna be wonky for a while... I took all of these with the items either sitting on my lap or on my little tray table... not great angles... but better than nothing...right?

And I stitched a little... this Soapbox Winter by Bent Creek...

a mere 34 stitches wide by 312 stitches long...  

I'm using DMC and when I started this about a month ago I had thought about changing some of the flosses... but right now that's not in the cards... just gonna go with what I already pulled. I'll fill in the snowman last so that white stays as clean as possible.

If I want to do a Blessing Sampler in January I need to get my butt in gear and make up my mind. I need to have Nick go unearth the chart I want... I think it is next to the printer in the craft room but I can't get the wheelchair in that room unless we move the bookcase... the chart I'm thinking of only uses 3 flosses ... I think I'll use a combo of DMC and an overdyed...I'll have to use  whatever linen I can find that I've already dyed... a project for Monday... 

The activity I've engaged in the most in the last two weeks (other than being annoyed at myself for getting into this situation) has been sock knitting... Sock it to Me... and if you remember that phrase you are as old as me... Judy Carne... 1967... I was a freshman in high school...when dinosaurs roamed the earth...

So far I've got 3 new pairs of socks to show for my time... now to be clear I didn't knit all 6 socks... 2 pairs were part way done and the one pair was a new start...

This pair had one sock finished and the 2nd sock was past the heel and half way to the toe...

I think this one some kind of Opal hand dyed... it came in two pre-wound cakes... I love the pooling on the leg part but I don't know why it didn't continue on the foot when I got down to the same stitch count... or why the foot on one is more blue than the other...oh well ... they are very interesting.

This pair had one sock done and the second sock was down around the heel when I picked it back up. 

I used two different Opal yarns each in a turquoise color way, alternating each round... LOVE the color of these!

This pair is a a mish mash of different Opal yarns that kinda read purple... I only had about 2" of one sock done when I picked it up and then I did the second sock too...

I like the scrappy ones and I don't mind weaving in a bajillion ends... 

So with those 3 pairs complete I cast on a 4th pair... now again this pair is 2 different Opal yarns. One was from the Claude Monet series and the other I have no clue... I think it might be a leftover from a friend as there was only 31 grams ... which will work...

now I expected lots of stripey-ness all the way down... but it started out kinda blotchy and so far I've gotten thin stripes and some thicker stripes... so I'm definitely getting tons of variety.  I can't wait to get that solid purple heel done and get back to the patterned yarns. I like knitting these kinds of socks because you have no idea what is going to happen... nothing repetitive about this patterning... and when I start the second sock I will reverse the direction of one of the yarns so I should have no chance of anything matchy matchy... it definitely keeps my interest.

Soooo... I am occupying my time a little bit  better than last week... still have a looooong way to  go.  Having troubles sleeping and still waiting on getting a shower instead of a sponge bath... if the ramp gets installed soon, my son proposed going to a local hotel with handicap accessible bathrooms and booking a room for a night... his treat... and I'd like to take him up on that. It would be safer than trying to maneuver in my tiny bathroom with 71 year old tub... I also hope that a lift chair recliner would be more comfortable and perhaps I could get some sleep in it too. My current recliner is ok... meant to be a sitting chair, not a sleeping chair...

Obviously I don't have a lot of plans for the upcoming week...no babysitting Elliott, no meeting up with friends for lunch... but I have had lots of nice visits from friends and I truly appreciate that ... it does make the day go faster. I've gone from a life where I used to look at the clock and think where did the day go to? To sitting in the recliner and looking at the clock and thinking sheesh, only an hour has passed since I last checked ... time is definitely moving slooooooooow.....

My normal New Year's Day routine is to indulge in all the activities that I want to do every day for the rest of the year... knit a little, cross stitch a little, sew a little on my Juki and go out to eat... right now the first 2 are doable but the last 2 aren't...sigh.... 

I do have an ortho appointment on January 3rd... wish me luck that maybe I can ditch the immobilizer for a knee brace... that would be great... but realistically I doubt it is going to happen ...but a gal can dream, right?

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I have plenty  of time to check out all the posts there... 

Hope your upcoming week is a good one and that you have a safe NYE and a happy and healthy 2025!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Some Christmas and a Break on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well are you ready for Christmas?  I have some decor to show you and then we'll talk about the Break...

This is the big shelf unit...

from the top I have the No "L" Sampler from Bent Creek... punny ... NO" L", Noel... 

then my 39 year old needlepoint Nativity scene... the designer was Polly Carbonari... I love this set...

next right to left... Feliz Navidad by Blackbird Designs, Christmas Bird by With Thy Needle and Thread, and Merry Christmas from Blackbird Designs.

A few close ups...

Now another  chunk... sorry for this arrangement but I was having difficulties taking pics and if you read to the end of this post you'll figure out why... 

Oh Christmas Tree by All Through the Night which is holding up 2 small pillows, Up on the Housetop Prairie Schooler No. 25 and a snippet from Prairie Schooler No. 135... The deer are also Prairie Schooler... as I remember a freebie from a magazine...

Below that, there are a couple of ladies strolling by the silver trees... They are both from Pineberry Lane, A Sprig of Holly and Merry Littles ...

Then there is more Prairie Schooler ... The 12 Days of Christmas, PS No. 74 and the Angels PS  No. 42 

and the angel on the end is from With Thy Needle & Thread Peppermint and Holly...

and at the very bottom In Santa Claus Land  by With thy Needle and Thread.

So upcoming plans have changed radically because of the Break... as in I  have a fracture of the lateral tibial plateau of my left knee...

This happened last Saturday evening. I went out the sunroom porch to check on some Christmas lights that weren't working ( and still aren't...grr....)  I hit the first step but not the other two and smacked the concrete sidewalk. It happened so fast I didn't even put my hands out (which was probably a good thing). I have a small abrasion on my face on the bridge of my nose but I didn't break my glasses.  Got a ride in the ambulance to the ER ... x-rays and CT scan... it is considered a non-displaced fracture so they don't operate on it... at least 6 weeks of non-weight bearing ... right now I have the knee immobilizer till at least January 3rd when I see the orthopedic doctor. Hope to trade this for a knee brace... outlook: will take 3, 4 or maybe even more months to recover from this. 

SOOOOOO... I'm in a better mood today than earlier this week. It is taking a lot to wrap my head around being incapacitated... my normal routine was I walked 3 miles a day ... every day... for the last couple of years. Nick and I went out for at least one meal a day, every day.  And if you've read this blog for any time at all you know I do NOT sit still... and that is driving me nuts!!  I'm using a wheelchair and hopping on one foot with a walker... I am too old and too fat to be hopping... that is a young person's game... investigating other mobility options.

Also have discovered that my lovely little home is little in ways that make this difficult... tiny bathroom with a tub upstairs.... have a walk in shower but it is in the basement and inaccessible at the moment. Also there is no way out that doesn't involve stairs. I've had 3 people come to give me a quote for a portable ramp... each one is a different configuration ... and a different price.  The one so far that is the least pricey will involve taking off the storm door off the sunroom porch and removing the furniture from it... big sigh... now I know that realistically I won't be able to use it for a while but... I'd like to think I could... and I hate giving up my favorite spot in the house... more thinking must be done.

As for plans for 2025...not sure yet... I only picked up my cross stitch today (Saturday) ... I haven't been able to focus, so I've been mindless scrolling on the internet and watching youtube videos. I have done some sock knitting, but that's it. Prior to this I had thought about a blessing sampler for January and I still may do that. It's all DMC and I think I can find some linen in my stash. Then I could turn my attention to one or two or three of the many samplers I started in 2024. I'm hoping when I get a knee brace and can bend my knee I could do a bit of sewing....I have projects that were started and I have a sewing machine on this floor and a little ironing mat. Doing steps is going to be a while... sigh... 

That said  I don't know if I'll be posting every Sunday or not... not sure what I'll have to show or talk about other than being annoyed at the situation I find myself in... remember the other week when I complained about feeling OLD... well now I really feel  OLD OLD OLD... with this knee immobilizer on dressing has become a new task... wearing pants as I normally did make it hard to go to the bathroom... so I went on Amazon and bought some house dresses like my Grandma use to wear... and they are nice... snap down the front... pockets ... pretty cotton prints ... but the the last line of the description did me in... "House Dress Snap Front Old Lady Nightgown" ... really?? really??? Talk about adding insult to injury... 

With that I will link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I have lots of time to spend looking at pretty blogs these days...

I hope that your holidays will be Merry and Bright and there will be no Breaks...

happy stitching-

carol fun