Latest Projects

It's been a long while since I checked in here. My recovery from the accident has been slow. I had to have yet another operation on my right arm because, after 6 months, the bone had not yet 'joined' so I needed to have a bone graft. With each surgery, the incision gets longer and the plate gets larger. At least now, after this last surgery, I no longer am experiencing pain in it.

I have begun doing a bit of knitting and crochet - small things that don't weigh much. I have not been able to get back into doing any hand stitching yet because I'm not able to use the rotary cutter to prepare fabric. Besides, my sewing room has become a real mess again! It will take a few days work to put it all back in order.


Here's a couple of projects I've made - crochet slippers for my Granddaughter in Germany. She has already requested another two pair! If you want more information on these, please go to my Ravelry project page.

And, scarf for me!

Next, I am going to try knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman for my little grandson.

Broken Arms?

Q:  What can you do when you have two broken arms??
A:  NOT MUCH!

Q:  How did THAT happen?
A:  I went off the road and down an embankment in my car on April 12th.

Q:  Was there anyone else in the car?
A:  My granddaughter was with me in the car. She came away with only bruises and a cut from her teeth on her bottom inner lip.

Q:  Were you hurt?
A:  Yes, I spent 5 days in the hospital. Both bones in my left forearm were broken, my left hand was smashed quite badly and one bone in my right forearm plus the right elbow was dislocated. I had surgery where they screwed plates over the breaks to help repair them. I had a 'half cast' on each arm for two weeks until the casts and staples (51) were removed.

Q:  How is your recovery going?
A:  I needed a second surgery on my right arm. I had been told not to do anything, lift anything etc. That proved very difficult to do so I ended up pulling the screws out of the bone on my right arm and had to have another surgery on the 18th of May. After another two weeks in a 'half cast', the cast was cut off and 27 staples were removed.

Q:  What are your orders now?
A:  I am not to lift more than 1 pound with my left arm and no more than my Ipod with my right for the next 4 weeks. I am doing my very best to remember that as I do not want to have any more surgeries!

Q:  Where are you now?
A:  Since I am not able to care for myself, I am staying with family who are doing doing a wonderful job of taking care of me.

Q:  What is the hardest part of your recovery?
A:  Boredom!  I'm used to doing things with my hands... knitting or hand sewing of some kind.

Q:  How badly was the car damaged?

A:  The car was totaled. I did not have replacement insurance so I am now without a vehicle.. not that I am able to drive for a while anyway!

UPDATE:  I somehow got a staff infection in my right arm that I am fighting. I was on a 10 day course of some very strong antibiotics but, 1 day after finishing them, the redness and heat was back. After a visit to emergency, I now have a shunt in my hand and have to administer IV medications every 8 hours.  Hopefully, this will do the trick!
 

Fresh New Little Person

Welcome my 4th Grandson!!  What a little sweetheart.

Makinley - born at 11:57AM March 8th, 2012  7 lb 1oz

I was fortunate enough to be able to be there for his birth. Welcome to our family little one.

Grammie

A Flower in the Snow

I found this wonderful post on a fellow Canadian's blog that really hit home for me today. It is something I know I will need to read again from time to time so, I thought I would share a link.

The post is written by Donna at Funky Junk Interiors and is called Are you a flower in the snow? ~ inspiration for hard times
 

 Here's hoping we can all push through the snow...

 

New Antique Grandmothers Flower Garden Project

A few months back I purchased 80 hand pieced antique Grandmothers Flower Garden units on eBay. I had hoped to use them as is. The first thing I did after looking through all of them was to hand wash them. They were soaked in groups of 10 at a time in the bathroom sink using baby shampoo. I still can't believe how brown the water became after each group was washed. After rinsing, they were laid out to dry. When laying them out, I noticed that many of them were poorly sewn and many had pleats and puckers sewn in. Not all were the same size either.

I decided that the best route to go would be to take the blocks apart and re-do them using English Paper Piecing. I took the first 10 apart keeping the pieces for each motif together. They were ironed flat and the pieces for each flower held together with a clip.

When I measured the hexies, I thought I'd be able to use 3/4" hexagons. I ordered the paper pieces I'd need and then waited. They arrived about 10 days later so I set about basting the first pieces. That's when I discovered that some of the pieces were cut just a bit too small. I need to go with a smaller paper piece.

Once again, I went online to see if I can find 5/8" paper pieces. I found that Paper Pieces website will custom laser cut 5/8" pieces as well as other odd sizes! I ordered them and set about waiting again. Another two weeks passed by until they arrived in my mailbox. I basted a few pieces and this size is perfect! Now I can really get this project going!

Happy New Year & Goals

Yikes... I just looked at my blog's archive for last year. There are only 11 posts for the WHOLE YEAR! Seems hard to believe that 2011 went by as quickly as it did. Perhaps it's just a consequence of growing older that time seems to fly by at an ever increasing speed.

I'm going to go ahead and post my list of goals for 2012 (even though I said I would never do that).

1. Clean and organize the sewing room once a month
2. Find ALL of my UFO's, list and photograph them.
3. Add the UFO photos to my blog
4. Pick 3 UFO's to finish in the next 3 months
5. Post to my blog more often
6. Spend less time on the computer and more time in the sewing room

Happy New Year my friends!