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