Oh, my aching.....knee?

I could have said "Oh, my aching back", because that is what is causing my left knee and leg pain. In 2018, I was diagnosed with two herniated discs in my lower back. After a course of steroids and two epidural shots I no longer had back pain, but my left leg/knee was numb. If I failed to keep up with my back exercises, the numbness would intesify. Well since my son's wedding a year ago, not only have I not been good about doing my exercises, but I have gained 10 pounds and been sitting in soft chairs a lot when I knit or cross-stitch. Needless to say, I had a visit with the orthopedist 2 weeks ago and he suggested PT and a 24 hour anti-inflammatory for 2-3 weeks. Friday night I went to bed with my knee a little bit uncomfortable. Within an hour, I was pacing the first floor of my house unable to either sit or lay down until almost 4 in the morning despite taking additional meds. I have an appointment with my orthopedist on Monday morning. I plan to go to PT and get some stronger meds.

Now on to what I have been working on. I finally finished the little bib.

I have started working on the larger one now.

I have been adding pieces to my granddaughter's stocking also. The snowman is almost complete. He has his face, but needs the rest of his scarf and his left arm. 

Knitting my granddaughter's sweater is the project that most likely caused my back/leg problems on Friday night. I was happily sitting on the couch knitting the back of the sweater while watching TV for a couple of hours. I can't sit on a soft seat for that long. I must get up and move around and change seats. 

I wasn't knitting the whole time so the back isn't finished yet, but it is getting close. 

We had a couple of visitors to our pool one morning this week.

They only stayed for a little while.

I wonder if it is the same pair of ducks as last year?

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I am also linking to Kate at Life in Pieces. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are up to. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoying a whole lot of stitching time.

I am thoroughly enjoying the pace of my life right now. Retirement is allowing me to stitch when I please, work around the house when I please...not very often, and read when I please. Of course, I find that I have to be sure to get a daily walk in and try to eat in a more healthy way. I have gained some weight that I want/need to lose as my back is starting to cause pain in my knee. All that being said, this is what I have been stitching lately. 

I have been adding pieces to my granddaughter's Christmas stocking. 15 out of 93 steps are completed.

You can see that the snowman is starting to come to life.

On rainy or nasty days, I spend some time in my basement where my sewing machine is. I am working blocks 82-91 out of 196. 

Sometimes the logs just sew on very easily and other times I have to spend some time with the seam ripper. I very rarely add a log to all ten blocks without having to remove at least one or two. Sometimes more.

I am almost finished with the first of two embroidered bibs. I just have to finish the stitching on the pup. 

Finally, I started a new project. Of course I did. Well, I had finished both baby blankets and I wanted another yarn project. You really can't blame me for wanting to feel yarn in my hands with so may sewing projects. Now can you? I was going through my mothers yarn and found three skeins of this baby yarn. Just enough to make a baby sweater. Mom also had a few baby sweater pattern books and pamphlets. 

I found a boat neck pullover pattern that seemed easy enough to knit. I am making a size 2 for my granddaughter. I figure making a larger size will give me enough time to finish it. I made a whole lot of progress on it in the car traveling to see my daughter and her family last weekend and pulled almost the whole thing out on Friday. You see, the ribbing calls for the knit stitches to be done in the back loop. I did that and was very proud of myself. Unfortunately, for the body of the sweater the knit stitches are supposed to be the usual kind and I kept on working in the back loop. I thought the pattern didn't look as it should, but I only realized it when I was getting ready to work the armhole shaping. Sigh.....

I updated my progress on my daughter-in-law's stocking in my last post that you can see here. I have started cleaning some windows around the house. This is the first year that I am really not finding satisfaction in this task. I usually approach it with gusto and this year I just don't want to do it. 

Hubby and I made our first after-dinner trip to the beach of the season to walk the boardwalk. We saw a very pretty sunset.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I am also linking to Nina-Marie at Creations...Quilts, Art...Whatever. Pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

April Stitch Along Update

Three weeks really goes by quickly, but I have been stitching like crazy lately. First of all, I finished all of the back-stitching on the birth announcement. This is how it looked three weeks ago.

I finished what I could of it at the beginning of this month. I just have to wait for the baby to be born to add the name and statistics.

Now I have returned to working on the stocking I am making for my DIL.

The last time I updated it here in January it looked like this.

I have been adding a few stitches here and there and posting about it on and off, but this is how it looks now.

The main tree is almost complete. There is just a tiny bit to stitch above the bow. I have also added some branches on the right as well as some snowflakes. I am trying to spend time each morning working on this to finish it by the end of May for no other reason than I have a whole lot of other projects in the works also. 

 Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Today Hubby and I will enjoy an Easter meal with my mother-in-law. 

Spring is here.....maybe. At least my daffodils are in bloom.

Actually, the weather hasn't really been very Springlike here on Long Island except for a very few sunny days. Most days have been cloudy and cool with a high temperature in the low 50s. 

I have been working a lot in my basement. I am still organizing my fabrics and I have started gathering some of my mother's fabrics from her home also. I have already gathered all of the projects that she was working on at one time. I want to make sure I place the extra fabric and scraps with each project. Any fabrics that don't go with a project are being added to my stash. This is what my craft/fabric cabinet looks like at the moment. 

I also bought this bag to hold my fat quarters. I may need another sometime, but it works for what I now have. I do have to refold all of my fat quarters though to fit in this bag.

I am trying to steadily work on my daughter's quilt. I still have a long way to go. I am in the midst of blocks 72-81 at the current time. I just have to finish all the y-seems on these. This photo was taken before I added the final log to these blocks.

My granddaughter's stocking has been getting some attention. There are 93 steps and I have completed 7. Often you complete more than 1 step at a time when you add a motif. The two trees were 5 steps altogether.

The bib is progressing more slowly than I want. I haven't been getting much done when visiting my mom. Hopefully I can finish it this coming week.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Two partial finishes and a start

I partially finished two of my crafts. First I finished quilting this "table topper"?

 I think that is how I will use it as it is somewhat large to be a pillow and doesn't fit with my decor at all. My mother hand pieced this, but never finished it. It would have matched her kitchen beautifully.  It will work as a Fall table topper for me. I need to trim the edges and bind it. First I have to find an appropriate binding fabric. I might use the beige backing fabric or see if there is enough of any of the other fabrics in my mother's quilt drawers.

The birth announcement (Hawaiian Keiki Sampler by Frances L. Johnson Designs) is as complete as it can be until my grandson is born in June. 

Some of the floss colors are different from the pattern photo and instructions. It turns out that the instructions tell you to use DMC 890 for the curlicues, but when you look at the pattern photo it is a much lighter green floss...probably DMC 699 or 701. Since I had finished all of the curlicues prior to checking the photo I decided to leave them. The Hawaiian proverb is done in 1 strand of 890 as the pattern stated. The alphabet was supposed to be completed in 2 strands of 890, but I changed it to 699 to brighten the piece up a bit as the curlicues were so dark. Also the two innermost straight lines are supposed to be one strand each of  DMC 995 (the bright blue) and 699 (medium green). The photo shows a much lighter looking color so I replaced the 699 with 701. It still doesn't look as light as the pattern photo, but I am happy with it. That is also the pairing I will use for the name and the birth statistics.

I have added some stitches to the smallest bib.

The little pup needs to be stitched as well as the red band on his hat and his bow. I will probably work on this when I visit my mom today.

Since I finished both baby blankets (you can see that post here) and I can't stitch any more on the birth announcement, I decided it was time to start my granddaughter's Christmas stocking. This is the kit that my daughter and SIL chose.

I sorted the floss and put the beads and sequins in a bead box and then worked on the first piece.

I still have to finish my DIL's cross-stitched stocking which will take precedence along with the bib, but it is nice to have a different sort of craft to work on at the moment. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!