Steps in the right direction on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... first off, thank you for the kind comments and good wishes for my recovery... they brighten my day!!  And last week was the best week since I fell... now "the fall" was 6 weeks ago and if I compare myself to online accounts I'm actually a bit ahead of schedule in my recovery. The ortho doc appointment on Monday went very well. X-ray was great,  I showed some good range of motion  and he cleared me for PT and weight bearing ... not toe touch but putting my foot on the ground... and I have done that quite a bit this week. 

PT came on Tuesday and gave me some new exercises and had me up on my feet walking with the walker... I've done that every day and I'm steadier and have even  been able to walk with a "natural" gait for a few feet... picking them up and putting them down.  Now the exercises can be a bit painful... it isn't my knee that is the big problem, it is my foot and my ankle. All those muscles have definitely tightened up and I have to work on stretching them out. Right now the course of action is in home PT twice a week for 4 weeks... and at the end of that the goal is to be able to walk with a cane and get up and down the 2 steps in the kitchen by the back door and I will be able to get out of the house!!! on my own!!! and drive!! 

OH MY GOODNESS... that will be WONDERFUL!!! The PT on Friday told me the worst of this is behind me and at this point I can agree. And she cautioned me not to over do it, she can clearly see how impatient I am to be back on my feet... so I'm trying to be good... getting out of the chair every hour to stand and get my brain to realize that putting weight on my left knee and ankle and foot is the way it should be... 

As you can tell my mood is SOOOOOO much better... I've spoken with several friends on the phone and they've all remarked how much better I sound... and being in a good mood lead to some significant cross stitch progress. I pawed through my many many many many WIPs and the one that talked the loudest was Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor... and this is one of my oldest WIPs... might even be the oldest. According to my blog this first appeared in April of 2012... and it has popped in and out over the years but never gotten close to the finish line... but I think this may be the year it happens!

Here's where it was the last time I posted it which was 2 weeks ago...

and here it is now...

This has been great comfort stitching... I LOVE the Valdani threads and this 28 ct Jobelan is so nice to stitch on. Now I normally like a much stiffer fabric for stitching in hand ... and this is by no means stiff, it has a lovely drape  and this is a BIG sampler... 10.625" wide and 16.875" long... and I'm sure this is gonna be pricey to frame but it is getting framed!!  Along with at least 3 other samplers I have waiting to be framed... ackk!!

Here are a couple of close ups... 

and here is the cover... 

I have one more BIG diamond to do, a bunch of letters and little motifs and one more smallish diamond. I told a friend I'd finish by the end of the month but that is a bit ambitious, but February should certainly be doable. Which is great because a couple of other WIPs are chattering and right now I'm in a "let's finish this up" kinda mood... I know I'll be tempted by new releases in March ... Teresa Kogut, Brenda Gervais and Blackbird Design almost always have new pieces that I will want... and the stash grows ever bigger...LOL

Just a tiny bit of decor here today... this is my view from my chair...top of the TV cabinet is a cookie jar my son bought for me in a thrift store and a cute wintery sampler from Tra la la called ABC BonhommeDe Neige...

Below I have  Winter from Prairie Seasons PS No. 50  and Pinker N Punkin's A Cold Winter Day - Aunt Dot's Saltbox... now Melisa made her house pink but I stitched it in yellow... this was the first of 6 of PnP's houses that I stitched last year and every one of them was such a joy to stitch!

and on the very bottom I have Teresa Kogut's  Star Shaped Snowman  and a snowman from Prairie Schooler No. 151 Santas & Snowmen...

I am so happy that I put out the snowmen... they make me happy and have been good company these last couple of weeks. 

Along with stitching I've been watching a lot of Netflix... caught up on about 7 seasons of Call the Midwife... now I like this one a lot but it does bug me when some of the stories have quite a modern take on a situation that happened in the 60's... I was alive in the 60's and I know how these things would have played out, but I ignore that cause I love so many of the characters on the show. My favorite is Phyllis... my Mom's name was Phyllis ... and the character just appeals to me in so many ways. Also watch a 8 episodes of a dark comedy called No Good Deed with Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow... Ray's character is definitely different from Everybody Loves Raymond but I detected a bit of Phoebe in Lisa... anyway what drew me in was the fantastic sets ... the story is set in a house from the 1920's... beautiful architecture... great details ... wood beams ... big windows... gorgeous tile bathroom and a hidden room. Not sure if there is going to be a second season of this one.  And my older son kept suggesting I watch The Crown... just finished the first season and he's right, it is good. 

So for next week, my hair stylist is coming back to my house on Monday to cut and color my hair... I sincerely hope that in 5 weeks from now I'll be going to her shop... Physical therapist is scheduled for 2 visits and I'll work out once this week with Anna the personal trainer... working on upper body  and core strength... but the biggest achievement of all this week is this...

I can wear TWO shoes!! now the left is still slightly swollen but I can get a shoe on it. I had to order a pair of shoes with backs... everything I own is a slip on clog or sandals...oh wait I forgot I have some Keens, they're a kinda water shoe... will have to see if I can get them on... Physical therapists have a thing for shoes with backs...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... last week she posted her father had passed away unexpectedly but she did post a link up... will check and see  if she does this week... weather is supposed to warm up... saw upper 30's and low 40's in the 10 day forecast... but also watched some long range weather videos that say February is gonna be snowy...yuck yuck yuck... I've had it with snow... the days are getting longer which is nice... still a tiny bit of light at 6 pm....

Here's hoping that your week is productive and warm!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

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