Organizing and listing quilt UFOs

If one were reading all my posts, I think you’d get the idea that I’m finally feeling better and getting back to myself after the long bout with the kidney stones. I feel better and my mind is not so addled with pain killers. The fog isn’t all gone - I still take some pain medication for my arthritis and my hip - but it is better.

I visited a favourite pottery shop on the Island, Village Pottery, and I picked up a couple more little pots; they’re great for dips and little snacks.

The rich colors really speak to me and I can indulge because they’re tiny and inexpensive.

It’s a rainy day here today so I’m experimenting with a video upload from You tube. Can you hear the background sound of the rain? Also, it took me ages to figure out how to share the video. My blogger had decided a while ago to be difficult. I hope this works.

We had a very late brunch here today; my hubby is learning to slow down a bit. Then, I headed to the studio where I made a UFO list.

Of course there are a few more that I’m choosing to ignore, lol. Some of these are years old.  In order to feel some accomplishment I removed the flying geese blocks from the design wall, stacking and numbering them by row.

Then I put up the house blocks. This is for a smaller baby sized quilt that I’d like to have finished as it may be needed. It’ll be faster to do and I’ll feel like I’ve had an accomplishment.

If you’re like me, you may be a bit fed up with seeing mask patterns and mask making. So, I’ll understand if you scroll over the next bit.

I really needed a few more now that we’re venturing out a little more often. As I already had these cut, I decided to stick with this type. I’ll leave trying something new for a time when I feel more like figuring it out.

I am however, perfecting the size for cutting and for the elastic and I’m including the new wires that I ordered.

They definitely fit better.

Next, I am going to order the adjustable elastics with the toggles which will mean I won’t have to cut different size elastics for my husband and I.

I found this little bag put away in my sewing things and I’m going to set it up to hold hand cleaning supplies, etc and masks in the car.

This one shows the fit. The new wires really make a good fit at the nose.

 Finally, my favourite part, my 2 grandsons Ollie and baby Gussie.

Having a swing

I’m trying to find a good way to add videos to my blog. The current blog platform doesn’t seem to work.  This I copied from you tube.

Slow stitching, slowing time

It’s been a while again. I haven’t had much that’s interesting to share with you. 

And last week we found a few days when we were both free of appointments and we headed to see family in PEI. 

It was a low key visit.  Now that they’re in their house there’s no need for the park. Ollie just loves to play outside. My walking has been limited; it seems from my doctor that I may need another hip on my right side. I  could sit out on the deck or sit inside and play with baby Gussie which was lovely.

We made a visit to the cottages to visit my family and Gird ook Ollie to the beach for a couple hours. 

Ollie is 3 1/2 yrs. don’t they love to help whenever they can?

We have some nice memories now to carry us to the next visit.  It could be in a month or not again for the whole winter. We’ll have to see how things go. My daughters partner is teaching junior high so I don’t know how safe it’ll be to go there once he gets going.

I also got to visit my 84 yr old mom who has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home. It was good to see her. She still knows us. Talking with a mask 6 ft away made it a bit tricky as she is partly deaf. It really got to me though when the nurse came to get her from the visiting area. I could not touch or hug her. We did manage an ‘I love you’ and she got it and replied. No sooner did they wheel away, than  I broke down. Who knows when or if I’ll see her again. I know I’m not the only one going through this.

Here at home, it seems that our days pass quickly without ever doing very much - simple  meals, a wee bit of gardening, the odd cleaning job and maybe some time passed in my studio.

This afternoon, I cleaned out a couple of clothing drawers after I’d shopped for pants and a top this morning. Two stores had mandatory masks but Reitmans did not. There was a good sale there; I told them that I’d not be interested to go back until they make masks mandatory there. 

I haven’t been at my sewing machine for a while. Many days I just enjoy sitting in the studio with some slow stitching with you tube on or maybe reading a book.

It’s so bright and sunny and there’s a lovely breeze coming through the open window.

With arthritis in my hands I can manage only a small section of hand stitching at a time.

I have really slowed down. But there’s really no hurry, is there? 

Look at the potatoes we picked from one if the  large pots.

This is what my husband did to help me get around in the house. He’s going to put a small one alongside my bed as well. They’re very helpful when mobility is limited. It’s a small house and I don’t always remember to carry the cane from room to room so this helps.

I’m still knitting some at night while watching tv. The latest is a lair of bamboo socks. I like the lightness of them although I’m not sure how they will wear. 

Getting back to things I love - a little gardening, sketchbooks and sewing.

Again it’s been over 2 weeks since I posted. I’ve been laid up and in pain for most of it. I didn’t crack a sketchbook or do any sewing. Watching TV and doing nothing and occasionally knitting was it. You feel as if you’re never going to get back to the things you like to do.

But, I’m getting there. My family doctor was incorrect when she thought the pain might be from residual pain after passing kidney stones. The pain was worsening until I ended up back in emergency over 2 weeks ago. This time they did an emergency CT scan at 3AM and determined that the stones were still there which they were pretty sure of based on the pain and the fact that I was sick to my stomach. So, on Saturday, I had emergency surgery to remove the stones and  they inserted a stent. I was given morphine and for the week. I seem to one of this e rare people that don’t take the stent well. I counted the days to removal. I had that done last Friday and again ended in emergency same night. This time I was given the shot agin for pain and antispasmodics for the bladder. I suffered for a couple days still. It’s getting better though.

I finally felt like doing a wee bit of sewing after lunch today. Do you remember these blocks? I sewed them in a bit of a frenzy when I was having all the hives. I decided today to start putting the rows together. There are 5 and I put together 1 today feeling like I’d had a major accomplishment!

The lighting could be better. It’s actually a little brighter than the picture. A major mistake that I made was that I forgot the step of trimming each section of the flying geese before putting the block together. It really just means that the blocks are bit bigger and that the points aren’t perfect. I’ve decided to not be so fussy, sewing and matching points the best I can. It’s a sign of the foggy brained quarantine times.

This is a sweater knit with Pima cotton that I finished in the last couple weeks. It just barely fits my 4 1/2  month old grandson, Gussie. I found the pattern quite difficult at first when I was unable to concentrate and was slow getting it done.

After lunch I also opened my sketchbooks for the first time in ages and prepped a few pages with my personal screen designs. I used a mix of a acrylic modelling paste with a gold paint.

It has a bit of texture. I’m anxious to see how it will work with watercolours.

Certain veggies have done really well this summer - beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, and zucchini squash. My kale got badly eaten. The runner beans have taken over the deck.

I paknred potatoes for the first time in 2 very large pots and in one small section of my sunflower garden. I find it very exciting to unearth those!

I took a few pictures of flowers so that I’d have them for painting reference.

This is a fairy that I made in a workshop at the Fiber Arts festival in Amherst a couple years ago.

This little space against the shed was so pretty a couple weeks ago with the poppies and speedwell. That is done now and it’s sparse. A couple of cosmos will bloom along with some zinnia and that’s all. It’s in a partly shady spot so took a while to get going. At least I got it cleaned up. I’m not a serious gardener; I do like some veggies and a few flowers for painting. By the time things start to grow in late spring I’ve forgotten my ideas form the year before. This year I want to take pictures and actually print them so I can see where I want to make the changes next year.

I haven’t done any fiber art for months and really haven’t felt like it. The ideas are started to come back though and I may be ready to start something soon.

Swimming in the ocean, gardening, sketching and sewing.

Thing are settling for me. Still have hives, but fingers crossed, they are less intense. I’m still having some pain and discomfort following the kidney stones but it is not too bad. I won’t know until a follow up ultrasound if they’ve all passed. 

Yesterday, we went went to visit the in laws at the beach where we had a lovely swim in the warm waters of Chaleur Bay. It was calmer than this pic and there were no jellyfish.

The muggy warm temperatures are still here today. I wandered through the garden, picking a few things and I made a potatoe salad and a rhubarb crisp for supper. My son, his partner and their 3 dogs are coming for coming. They’re up from Saint John for a few days and they’ve been taking advantage of the beautiful beaches, and the  hiking and biking trails. Today Josee has gone off to hike some of the mi’gmaq trail with the dogs and our son is mountain biking. They’ll both be hungry I’m sure!

The crisp 

I’ll make a green salad and hubby will barbecue, so that’s easy.

This afternoon I’ve been in my studio watching some you tube watercolour artists and hand stitching. This is one of 4 parts on the wall hanging I was stitching on when the quarantine started.

I just wasn’t in the mood for awhile. I think I’m relaxing again. Hope it lasts.