Scattered surprises on a Slow Sunday

 Hello - well that was an interesting week... lots of things happened that I didn't expect... starting with last Sunday when I woke up to 2 inches of SNOW... what the??? Saturday my phone sounded off constantly about a Flash Flood warning as it rained all day... but NEVER was the word SNOW mentioned... NEVER... I knew it was going to get colder ... and it did.. but the weather guys certainly messed up on this one... I've gotten to be a weather junkie in my old age... hey, not a lot goes on in my world... and I have TWO weather apps on my phone that I look at numerous times a day... NEITHER one said anything about 2 inches of SNOW... you'd think that might be something people would want to know about, wouldn't you?

Anyway we stayed home all day on Sunday... I ventured downstairs and sewed a bit...I put a new light strip on my Juki... WOW this is bright!!! and I like it! I have plenty of projects that are WIPs but first I wanted to play with that Lori Holt tablerunner block I mentioned last week... I broke open a bunch of Lori Holt pre-cuts I've been collecting... a layer cake, some charm packs and even a fat quarter pack of backgrounds... and I made these blocks... and surprise I like them A LOT!!

Here's a link to the tablerunner and you can see where I added some connector corners to the "Petals" making the "flowers" more roundy... my blocks came out 10" finished and if I set them straight with a little sashing I would need 64 blocks for a bed size quilt (and no need to remind me that I said I didn't need to make anymore bed size quilts... I don't NEED to but I WANT to)...

but if set them on point (which I'm liking a lot) and make the sashing between the blocks about 2" finished I'd need less blocks... although I haven't figured out exactly what that number is....

now I'm using a variety of Lori Holt backgrounds here and I have a bunch of FQs that would be great for setting triangles for the sides... and maybe a small scrappy border that blends in... and I already have that 108" wide backing I showed last week... oh I like this idea... so far I've been cutting one block out at a time... I pick 2 different charm squares for the petals and a background fabric and then I'm cutting all the centers from a layer cake of Lori Holt Bee cross stitch collection. Lots of different fabrics, very scrappy. 

Then I turned my attention to the American Jane quilt with the honeybun blocks that has been waiting around to be finished for a while... and here's where I left it... along with other stuff on my design wall...

There are 2 more rows and then borders... a throw size ... surprised that I kept it that small...LOL

And then I played with the American Jane spool blocks I started back in July...

Close up of a couple of the blocks and the cornerstones... 

this is going to hang above my cutting table so the dimensions are about 50 something inches wide and about  45" tall... I used my treasured tape measure fabric as the cornerstones and  I'm going to bind it with some of that same fabric ...I have been hoarding this for quite some time... oh I wish they'd reprint this one... 

 and all of these project were surprises because I thought my sewing mojo had left the building... LOL.. I spent a lot more time this week on sewing than I did on cross stitch and that hasn't happened for quite some time. 

I had my last appointment with the orthopedic doctor on Monday... he was pleased with my recovery and released me to do out-patient physical therapy which I started on Tuesday... while in his office I mentioned that in the past I'd been getting steroid shots in my knees for my arthritis and that any pain I was having seemed to be more  from arthritis than the  fracture... he asked if I'd like to get shots today... would I??  I'd love to get a little relief so that was a good surprise!  And my knees are feeling a bit better... 

On Tuesday I did my first PT and I went again on Thursday... the surprise from this was not so much that my knees hurt the next day, but how tired I was the next day... both Wednesday and particularly Friday I was a total slug... need to work on my stamina.

As for cross stitch, I think I'm calling this one done... Bower Birds by Liz Matthews...

I could add in 3 more thistles but I'm not feeling it...

And I could have picked up Quaker Samplings... but I wasn't feeling it either...

So instead I picked up this piece... Vibrant Flowers from Kathy Barrick... 

Big dress to fill in and lots of little flower motifs... will be cute in my Spring or Summer  display... and I'm itching to start something new... maybe something small for Easter... I think I'll start packing the snowmen away late next week ... I'm ready for some new decor... I'll start with Easter and by the time it rolls around I'll be ready to move onto Spring with birds... and I'm happy that I'm pretty sure I can do all the decorating without help... well except for Nick moving the boxes up and down the stairs...

Oh and I had another nice surprise... the  power recliner I ordered from Amazon came... Nick and Chris assembled it for me ... and I LOVE IT!!!  It is a good size for me.... the arms aren't too high... and I love the chenille-y upholstery...

now several friends commented on how I was going to keep it clean... and I will be careful... and I'm going to Scotchguard it... it is very cozy to nap in... and I did quite a bit of napping Wednesday and Friday... which surprised me... but in a good way.

I called to have the rental power chair and the ramp removed ... took an email, a phone call and a text message to get a response which was "we'll get back with you"... sigh... hopefully this week. I sent out some emails to get estimates on a deck/landing for by the front door... when the weather improves ... and fingers crossed the next 10 days are looking promising... I'm hoping we've turned the corner and Spring will arrive soon... officially 25 days till Spring... 

Oh and another surprise... a GOOD one... I popped into Costco and they had the bags of dahlia tubers!!! I've checked back on the blog and the first time I bought them there were a dozen in a bag for $10... they are up to 8 in a bag for $14 but that is still a steal... I got a few, a couple, a whole LOTTA bags...

By my calculations I got 80 dahlias, 9 elephant ears and 100 gladiolus... I read where you are suppose to plant the gladiolus sequentially... plant a bunch one week, then come back the following week and plant some more and then do that again... Glads only bloom once so if you do it that way you'll have a stream of flowers... I'm going to try that... and I saw a couple more YouTube gardening videos and I have to go check out Home Depot and Lowe's and Walmart as I saw goodies each store had that I want to check out... and I have to break the news to my lawn and landscape guy that I want him to assemble the 2 raised beds that are in the garage... I bought them last year so I could get all the raised beds to match... didn't want to miss out and my OCD needs them to be matching... I know it isn't a job he's gonna love but he'll do it... two more bed would put them almost out to the side walk but they will get so much more sun. I think I'll plant the back 2 beds with more shade loving stuff or maybe some veggies that I can cover to keep the local wildlife at bay. And out of the blue (another surprise) I got a bid for the sprinkler/irrigation system I'm interested in.  I first contacted this company back in November... and I contacted 2 other companies too but I haven't heard back from them... guess I'll try some other places. 

Next week looks kinda quiet... PT Tues/Thurs, dinner with friends on Monday and my cleaning lady on Tuesday... weather doesn't look too cold... couple of days flirt with upper 50s... which should preclude any snow... but one can never be sure... I hope to surprise myself and get some more sewing done... perhaps get a binding on one of the half dozen finished quilts that are waiting for me.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  and Quilting is More Fun than Housework since I have some sewing to show... 

Here's hoping the we all have a productive week... and a nice surprise or two!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Moving along on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - so how was your week?  Mine was nice... things are moving along... I didn't get a lot of crafty stuff done but I did get out and about several days which made me very happy. Now I can maneuver with a cane from the house to the car and into a restaurant fairly well. I went into Krogers and hung onto a cart for stability and did the same thing another day at Hobby Lobby. I haven't worked up enough stamina to walk around a store with just a cane so far... but I believe I'll get to that point. It has only been 3 1/2 weeks since I was able to put my left foot on the ground... and I've progressed from a walker to a rollator to a cane... final goal is to walk like I did before the fall... I go back to the ortho guy on Monday and have an appointment with the outpatient physical therapist on Tuesday. Have a scrip for 6 weeks of PT twice a week... have high hopes that at the end of that I will be walking without any assistance. 

Trying to get my house back into order... lots of stuff got moved around when the ramp got installed and I got the lift chair ... the chair is LARGE and while it is super comfortable I don't like the look or the upholstery... it has a definite man-cave vibe and it is  faux leather,not my cup of tea... I always thought I didn't want a recliner in my living room, but I've changed my mind. I've ordered one in a creamy linen-y upholstery that should come Monday... and when it comes I'm calling the mobility business that did the rental for the lift chair and the ramp and having them come collect their stuff. Then I can get the living room and the porch back in order... which will make me HAPPY!. 

As for crafty stuff, things moved along there too... this is where I got on the Quaker Samplings piece...

All of the alphabet and the 2nd big Quaker element on the bottom... and these are some of the best captures of the mottling and color of this linen that I've been able to get... IRL it is still a little pinkier/rosy..

Some close ups...

I ordered more of the Vintage Lace floss and of the 4 skeins  I got, 2 will work well with what I have and that might be enough to finish this... I still have 1 skein of the original floss so I can kinda blend and mix the old with the new. My plan is to do all the elements in the perimeter and work my way to the big element in the middle... which if I need to can be stitched with the floss that doesn't have much pink in it. 

And while I was waiting for the Vintage Lace floss to arrive, I pulled out another project that only used one color of thread... this is Bower Birds by Liz Matthews....  here's the chart...

and here's where I am...

And it was my lucky day on Friday to take pictures because this is also a great capture of the color and motting of this linen that I dyed... a yellowy Springy green!

Here's one where I pumped up the contrast so you can see the stitching better... because the contrast is low between the floss (Cosmo 8016) and the linen there are ghosty areas and that's what I wanted!

I started this back in April of 2020... I pulled it out in February of 2022 and I know I worked on it one time in 2023... and it has languished since then. I picked up this piece because it is soooo close to being finished and it will look good when I get out all my bird stuff this Spring... but it has given me fits... first it is 40 count... I can do 40 count but I don't like doing it... it is hard to see and doing this as basically tone on tone low contrast it requires concentration... I LOVE the look but it is work... the Cosmo thread I'm using has a multitude of  lovely different shades of green. 

Now along with it being 40 count my counting is off... and it just kept getting worse. I decided that I would shorten the piece and leave off the bottom 3 sets of leaves... there are plenty already... and I started with the thistle on the right hand side... and I got the whole motif stitched when I realized it is off by 2 stitches...which impacts all the rest of the thistles so I'm scaling back the number I'm going to stitch... at least that is the current plan. I have one more on the left and then I might go back and add in another one or two IF I can squeeze them in... we shall see... 

Some more fabric snuck into the house... this is a 108" wide back from Lori Holt... 

I have a plan for a quilt I want to use this with... a scrappy Lori Holt pattern that I saw as a kit... the kit is called Pretty Petals and you can see it here... but I don't want to buy the kit, I'd be happy to just buy the pattern but that's not the way it is being released...  I envision this bed size... so I'm going to wing it... I'm pretty sure I know what  size to make the block... stay tuned.

I'm still waiting on other fabric I ordered the beginning of the month... the post office seems quite slow at the moment.

Oh I did get this new chart... it kept the floss I ordered from 123Stitch, company on the trip from Texas to Ohio... this is A Winter's Day by Crocette a gogo...

and I'm going to stitch it on this piece of linen I dyed with Rit Sage dye....

now I left this sit for quite a while... because I got sidetracked and forgot about it... but I'm glad I did... I LOVE how it turned out... and the piece calls for just  DMC ... 

I wasn't going to start anything but I really wanna put some stitches in this... I know I won't get if finished this season, which is fine... I need to put a reminder in my calendar to pick this back up in say October so it will be done for next January... just a couple stitches won't hurt, right?? ...  and then back to Bower Birds which I definitely think is only a day away from a finish and Quaker Samplings... which is still a ways from the finish line... and I perhaps I'll pull out a small Spring piece... I'm thinking I'll  pull out my Spring and Easter decor the 2nd week of March... 

I saw more offerings for the Needlework Market next month... so far I had 3 charts on my "Wanna Buy" list... however that number more than doubled this week... oh well...  I like American White by October House ... you can see it here... and of the 7 new charts from With Thy Needle & Thread I want 6 of them... which you can see here...  now I know I don't have to buy them right away... but since I can't decide which one I want to do first I may have to ...LOL... I chalk it up to the fear of missing out... FOMO is real...

And speaking of FOMO I've been stalking Costco since last Sunday for the bags of dahlia tubers and other plants that they sell every year. I've seen several YouTube videos where people are showing their haul of dahlias and I can't wait to get my hands on them... I've been to my Costco twice and called once on the phone Kand they still aren't in... I checked back on the blog (another reason I have this blog and record such mundane things) and in the past I've bought them the end of February - the beginning of March... so I probably have another week to wait... but that won't stop me from calling or perhaps making another trip. 

I'm soooo ready for Spring but Mother Nature is NOT cooperating here... weather forecast for  the upcoming week has highs in the twenties and lows in the single digits... brrrrrrr... but at least I don't see any snow... I got the seeds I ordered in the mail so I have a nice stash ... and since Costco has me waiting I may check out the garden sections of Lowe's and Home Depot... one never knows what goodies one will find...LOL

Like I said my plans for next week are ortho on Monday and PT on Tuesday and there will probably be another day of PT too... other than that no firm plans... might venture downstairs and sew ... there's a American Jane quilt that I think is close to being done... I'm in the mood to get something finished... and there are about 5 quilts waiting for a binding... that might be the ticket for a finish... we shall see...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... Nick making some pasta stuff for dinner and we may stay put all day... Chris is suppose to come and get some stuff out of my garage and house but that depends on how he and Elliott and Jenny feel... they were all sick last week... different variations of the flu... I love them but they can keep their germs at their house... 

Hope you're week is a good one...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Lots of "P" words on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... well it was another very good week...the weather was pretty nice ...got some sunny days, temperature even hit 60 one afternoon... did more physical therapy and walked with a cane!  Now I'm slow... I have to remind myself heel toe, heel toe, bend your knee... but I've managed to get out of the house and into the car and get into a restaurant with only that assistance... Lots of "P" words have filled my week and this one is patience... something  I don't have a lot of but it is painfully obvious that I need to be patient with my recovery. 

Friday I even ventured into a store... I haven't been inside a retail establishment almost 2 months!!  Nick and I went to Walmart... primarily for me to pick up some goodies for a Valentine package for Elliott. And I got everything I wanted... a candy heart filled with Reese's peanut butter cups (his fav), a cute little robot stuffie, a card, a gift bag and some tissue paper... and then I stumbled into (not literally) a HUGE display of seeds. I had gotten a bunch of seeds at this same Walmart location last year, but the display this year was 3 times what they had before... and I was like a kid in a candy store with an unlimited allowance... I ended up picking out 10,  20,  no 32 packages of seeds!!!

All flower varieties... zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, cleome, and some little offbeat flowers... and when I got back to the car I remembered that I had put in a pretty good size order to Burpees seeds on line last week... oh well you can't have too many seeds... just like you can't have too much yarn, or fabric or cross stitch stuff... it's true... LOL... because it makes you happy!!  I considered it a present to me!! Another "P" word...

And speaking of "P" words and other goodies... I had plenty of packages of "presents" to me and from me this week... I'm very generous, dontcha know...LOL... first off these 3 skeins of Opal yarn arrived...

love the colors... Springy... and I'm ready for Spring, aren't you??

Later these 2 jelly rolls presented themselves... this is the new Kaffe x Morris collection...

and here's the description ... I just cut and pasted it ...

When the genius of colour meets the father of the Arts & Crafts movement, we all take a collective moment and joyously relish in the glorious brilliance. Introducing Kaffe Fassett X Morris & Co, 32 thoughtfully curated William Morris designs, marvelously re-coloured through the masterful lens of Kaffe Fassett. This collection features much-loved and iconic designs that speak to William Morris’ fascination and love for nature as well as designs that were inspired by medieval textiles, papers, and more. The timelessness and intriguing scale of these gorgeously alive designs are mood-lifting in Kaffe’s fresh spring colours. Together, this passionate combination speaks to the vision of Kaffe Fassett and William Morris, both desiring lovely, beautifully crafted spaces in everyone’s homes and lives

well someone certainly has a way with words, don't they??

and here's a screenshot to see all the fabrics...

I think I'm going to play with the Maggie Pearl pattern with these along with some Grunge... I got my jelly rolls here at Quilt in a Day and this is the best price I've seen, and the shipping was super speedy!

And I gifted myself even more fabric but it hasn't arrived yet... more goodies to show next week...stay tuned!

Now onto procrastination and perseverance........ ta dah!! I finished Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor... over a decade in the making...

I purchased this chart and the Valdani threads at the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio in April of 2012... I started it about a week later and worked on about a half a dozen times in 2012 according to the blog... and then I procrastinated and  it languished in a Ziploc bag till late last year... and 3 weeks ago I persevered to complete it!! I can't wait to get this framed but I'm a little anxious by how much it is going to cost... this is a big one... about 11" x 17"... and I think it needs a nice substantial frame... I'm thinking of taking it to Micheals... they have filled my email with promotions about their framing and I don't think this is a hard piece to frame as there is no hard outside border... I'll look into this next week if the weather permits ... there is a nasty rumor being spread by weather guys that we could get some more snow...yuck..

So I was feeling quite proud (another "P" word) of myself for getting this finished and I'm still in the mood to complete some of my many many many WIPs... also I wanted to work on a piece that only used ONE color of thread... there were a bajillion thread changes in Quaker Diamonds... some motifs that were only a couple of stitches used 3 different threads!  I had forgotten about this piece until my friend Holly showed me her copy of the pattern and said she wanted to stitch it... she has great taste in charts!  

This is Quaker Samplings by Ellen Chester... 

Here's where it was when I last touched it January of 2021... and yes this is an absolutely crappy pic... this linen is so hard to capture... I know it looks like a blood stained rag but IRL it is a muted winey browny pinky color... 

And here it is now... okay...  and this is the best pic I've ever taken of this piece... it shows the mottling and it is a bit more pinky IRL but this isn't a bad photo... I know... trust me bro... I wouldn't be stitching it if it wasn't pretty... 

I dyed this myself and according to something I wrote on the blog back in 2021, I used Rit dye in the color Wine... the thread is a variegated one from Gentle Arts called Vintage Lace... you can see it here. ... it is pinky and creamy... I think when I started this I was avoiding using the real PINK portions of the floss but now I want to include them... and I'm going to complete the alphabet before I stitch any more motifs due to my floss panic which I'll get into in a paragraph or two.. (gosh I'm super chatty today... didn't plan on it but it just happens...LOL) 

As I talked about last week, I did grab 4 WIPs and place them in arm's reach of my stitching chair ..3 are ones that just use one color of thread... and 2 are Quaker-y...  I'm sensing a theme... anyway this is perfect stitching for the moment... I love the Quaker motifs and the arrangement of the alphabet... and it would feel good to get another WIP completed...

Edited to add: I had a late night panic attack... as I was stitching I realized I've gone through almost a complete skein of floss ... and I don't think I'm a quarter of the way done, but I only bought 3 skeins... which is what the chart called for ... IF and the is a very big IF you were using 1 ply ... and I'm NOT... I'm using 2 ply... arghhh... so I actually need twice as much floss ... and I am concerned that whatever I get now will NOT be an exact match for what I purchased 4 years ago... so I ordered 4 more skeins on 123 Stitch and I'm going to do the entire alphabet with what I have and then see where I might have to play games if the new floss isn't a good match... take this as a reminder to read ALL the instructions ...pay attention to the count of the linen and how many ply are being used... I've made this same mistake before...and I obviously haven't learned from it... sheesh...

And another tangent ... WIPs... how many do you have?  do you really want to know how many you have? Personally I'm not sure how many I possess. Some charts I would consider to be a WIP... some I think I'll never get back to and I should just get rid of them. I have gotten rid of projects before and I have to say I don't remember exactly what they were except for one.. and I was NEVER gonna finish it. Since I'm still spending a lot of time sitting in my chair I've been watching Flosstube videos like crazy and lots and lots of people post WIP parades to start off the year...and they have lots and lots and lots and lots of WIPs... at the low end I've seen 25 to 30... at the high end I've seen over 50... and one person I watched, purposely started over 40 WIPs last year... yikes... I think if I was counting (which I'm not) I have around 30 I would like to get back to... and there are probably a dozen or so that are partially or totally kitted that I haven't gotten to yet... and embarrassment of riches!

I saw a few sneak peeks of charts being released for Nashville Market in March...  and up until  Saturday morning nothing has tempted me ... and then I saw the Teresa Kogut releases... OMG OMG OMG... she has a slew of new charts and there are several I NEED... LOL... now it wouldn't hurt me to just concentrate on the stuff I've already started and the stuff that is already in my stash... BUT it wouldn't hurt to get something... as new is always FUN... as evidenced by the many "presents"  I've given myself this week...LOL... And since I don't want you to miss out on the FUN, check out the new Nashville Market release here... this site, Lindy Stitches, is a good one... you can pre-orders as things appear and they will combine orders and consolidate the shipping charges... last year they got out their Market orders in a week which was speedy. 

Next week has me wrapping up my in home physical therapy and I'm already scheduled to start more physical therapy at the ortho clinic on February 18th... 6 weeks, twice a week... oh joy... but I know I need it . I've been doing my exercises every day and for the last several days I've walked 2500 steps... which is ONE mile... I use to do THREE miles every day, so I have a ways to go... my cleaning lady is coming by and we have dinner plans with friends... if it snows I'll stay put, I'm not going to take a chance and fall again... it has taken too much perseverance to get to this point and I'm in need of a refill of patience....

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and later I'll catch a bit of the SuperBowl... see if there are any good commercials... and keep my eye on the upcoming week's weather... I saw that snowflake emoji on 3 different days of the forecast for the week... we are just at the point where the last batch of snow has melted  and I'm not interested in doing this again...I even saw some daffodils poking up in my yard... I think we are about 40 days out till official Spring but it can't come too early for me!

Hope your week is a good one in every way!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Rolling along on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it was another good week here...in fact I'd call it great... I progressed  from walking with a walker to walking with a Rollator...like this one... 

and I GOT OUT OF MY HOUSE!!  Practiced a couple of times going up and down the ramp with the physical therapist and the next day when out shoe shopping and lunch with a dear friend... now the shoe shopping involved these...

something supportive with a back to wear when I go to further PT. My feet look like little duck paddles...LOL... but my knees appreciate all the cushioning. I got them at Fleet Feet which has locations all over the US. First they scan your feet which give them an image of lots of aspects of your feet... arch, heel, alignment, etc and it recommends brands of shoes that would be best for you. The nice young man who waited on me explained everything and brought out 4 different brands of shoes and 2 different kinds of orthotics. I tried them all on and this one felt the best. I'm not used to wearing shoes like this... all of my shoes are of the slide/clog style... no backs... or sandals... so wearing a shoe like this was a different experience... but not uncomfortable. I'm already thinking of going back and purchasing the pair that was my second choice... I like to have indoor shoes and outdoor shoes... been in the habit all my life of not wearing the shoes you wear outside into the house and my sons and my grandson does this too.  If you are having pain issues in your knees or hips or back or feet I'd check this place out. It isn't inexpensive but walking with less pain is worth it...IMHO.

And because I got more mobile this week I SEWED!!  I think I've mentioned that I have 2 Juki sewing machines...one downstairs in my sewing studio and another upstairs in my craft room... and I sat in my craft room next to the window and sewed up these 17  Stack N Whack blocks...

This is a Phillip Jacobs print called Shaggy..  the repeat it is 25" long..

And when you cut out the 60 degree triangles you get 3 different options for each block... this is the same triangle rotated 3 times...

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

for this block I went with Option 3, it is in the middle of the top row in that picture of the blocks on the floor.  When I go to sew them, I lay them out on a little design board and take a picture of each option with my phone. Years ago you had to either remember which option you liked or keep turning the triangles over and over and over... 

Now this is all the blocks I could cut from that 25" repeat...

I just laid them out on the living room floor and this is by no means the final layout... I need my design wall which is downstairs for that... but in the meantime I can add the background triangles that will go in between each block... I'll end up with some triangles that will have to be removed but that's okay. If you click on the pic you should be able to see the design better... each is a little millefiori... 

And I cross stitched this week... didn't get as much done as I thought... turns out that last medium sized diamond on this piece has more stitches than I gauged... but progress was made... 

This is where I was last week... and the color in this pic is more true to the piece...

and here is where I'm at today...

perhaps I  can finish it this week.

And I was reading some posts on IG and  some blogs which were discussing working on multiple projects and I like the suggestions. One was that you pick 3 or 4 projects that are WIPs and commit to  putting one thread in... and if that projects doesn't float your boat at the moment move onto another one of those 3 or 4...so you get some variety of stitching and some progress on your WIPs.

Also there was the suggestion of working on a Christmas piece on the 25th of each month... and a Halloween piece on the last day of the month. I like this idea and I have a this Christmas sampler started...

The Noel Sampler from With Thy Needle & Thread... and here's where my blog is so helpful... I went back to see where I left off with this and I had talked about how I mis-counted the windows in the house...and I had counted the trees from the windows so they were off... and I counted the alphabet from the trees so they were off too... arrghh... but I can see now that I pulled out the miscounted letters and I think I can get this back on track... so all my mindless blathering serves me in good stead...LOL.

And in totally irrelevant news look what showed up on my doorstep last Sunday night....

a 6 foot tall inflatable chicken/rooster... and the card enclosed was from a group of people I've never met in person but we all frequent a blog where we talk about everything from politics, to music, to food, to kids and grandkids, and health issues and whatever is on our minds. Anyway I had posted about my fractured knee and that my inflatable Christmas chicken had been knifed  and they decided to send this replacement... and it made me cry... there is a lot of good out there... there really is...

And through this whole ordeal (and it was an ordeal) I know people try to point out that well at least you did it when it was really cold, or at least you didn't have to have surgery or at least you didn't break your wrist too...  while all of those are lovely thoughts sitting on your butt for 5 weeks when you use to go out of the house every day and walk 3 miles every day is incredibly trying on your mental health. You think you'd get a whole lot done... knitting, stitching, reading... but you don't ... you have the attention span of a gnat and no focus!!  I am  glad I had my knitting and stitching and I'm so very grateful to my friends who came and brought me lunch and kept me company to pass the time...I am blessed!! But this was not an experience I would wish on anyone, nor do I ever want to repeat it. 

So to the portion of this post where I tell you that I did something that while I wasn't expressly told I shouldn't do it... I did it anyway. After my outing to get new shoes and have lunch my friend brought me back to the house and I walked down the steps to my sewing room!!! Now I held onto the banister all the way down doing one step at a time but it was sooooooo nice to be back in my sewing studio!!! I flitted about on the rollator and found several projects that we took back upstairs so I can work on them in the next week or so. And then I walked back up the stairs in the same banister clinging fashion. I wasn't wobbly and felt good doing it. My PT said we'd talk about steps this coming week and we will... but one doesn't have to share everything one knows, right??

And to compound the situation of "it's easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission" I drove my car!! I went out on Friday with Nick, we went to the bank and dropped off some Amazon returns. At first it felt weird as I haven't driven in 6 weeks, but it all comes back pretty quick... I didn't even have any issues with the roundabout by my bank!

And on Saturday Nick and I drove to our favorite BBQ place, Mission BBQ, and saw our friends that work there!!  Judy and Shelly and Paul and Dwayne and Kyle... up till my accident we ate there twice a week... Saturday lunch and Tuesday dinner and we talked with all these great people every time ...and it was so nice to see them again!! Life is getting back to "normal"... so far one trip out a day is plenty... not overdoing it... but it is so WONDERFUL not to impose on others to get something done!!  I'm getting my life back... thank you Lord!

Soooo next week...On Monday, I have my personal trainer (I know that sounds so pretentious... she lives in the neighborhood) coming over to help me work on upper body and core strength which I need... My PT is coming Tuesday and Thursday... I'm getting 3 windows replaced on Wednesday, they measured back in December and said it would take 6-8 weeks for them to be fabricated...and on Friday Nick and I doing lunch with our dear friends Kim and Kyle... and I'm pretty sure we'll also go out to breakfast at least one day... there's a group of regulars at Bob Evans we haven't seen since my fall ...will be nice to see them again too!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I'm just taking it easy...gonna sit out on the porch... the weather has turned unseasonably warm... mid to upper 50s... the snow has melted ... however the long range forecast calls for another wintery blast mid February, which I don't  doubt... last year I had daffodils and crocuses blooming by the end of February... don't think that will happen this year... but that's okay... I've already ordered dahlia tubers from 2 different places ... and I saw some cool purply elephant ears I'm trying to track down ... and I think I'm going to plant some gladiolus this year... they'd be a new one for me... I looked at the Proven Winners site and saw some dynamite new petunias I want to have too... and I know I'm going back to the Blooms & Berries nursery for verbena and other goodies... always something to look forward to in a garden!!

As you can tell my outlook has brightened considerably... and  I'll share a bit of wisdom from a sweet commenter... watch where you are planting your feet!  I'm very cognizant of where my feet are these days...and I'm making this a habit!

happy stitching-

carol fun