A Little Holiday Sewing

My daughter and her family moved this past summer to a small house (parsonage) where her husband is a student pastor for two rural churches.  They don't have a lot of floor space for extra stuff so they got one of those tall, thin trees instead of using the one they had, which is big and fat!   Of course, they needed a smaller tree skirt because the bottom of the tree is 32" across.  Anything much bigger would cover up a heating vent.

So I made a run to Hobby Lobby where the Christmas fabric is 50% off... and made them a new tree skirt for their tree!  It's even reversible....  (granddaughter Chloe loves owls so I couldn't resist)

The tree skirt is packaged up and ready to pop in the mail tomorrow.   The kids should receive it on Saturday.

Do you know this trick about making the edge of packing tape easier to find?

 

Yup, that's a plastic bread package doohickey!   Pinterest is good for something other than a major distraction, yes?

 Christmas Owl by Red Squirrel

 

Camp Grandma: Holiday Version

While all my little girls were here for Thanksgiving, we got a little crafty and worked on two projects I had earmarked.

The first project... to make a small forest of Christmas trees... involved styrofoam cones, felt, sequins, beads, pins, tacky glue and glitter glue, scissors, and grandma's pinking shears.  Little fingers do a much better job of handling those tiny decorations.

These are the almost-finished trees... the girls were eager to put on the glitter glue trim and it wasn't dry when I sewed on the stars.

The second project was one of the lighted glass blocks that look like presents.  Chloe opted out of this project to play Farmville2 (on Facebook) but Emma was interested....

...and learned how to "pull a bow" as taught by grandma.

As soon as she finished, she plugged it in... and it looked great!  Emma wasn't too proud of herself....



 

A Little Sewing

I'm doing better... but still a long way from "completely recovered."  So... to distract myself, I did a little sewing the day before Thanksgiving....  a table runner for my daughter, modeled here by my darling granddaughters, still in their jammies.

I even did FMQ-ing for the very first time!  It's supposed to looking like the outlined path of snowflakes falling...  what do you think?

The fabrics came from my FQ stash and I used a pale gray thread to quilt.  I wasn't up to making a trip to the LQS for silver thread, which was my first idea.


I followed a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial...



...and used the cardboard template I had made earlier this fall.  This is a quick and easy project... even if you make it as long as I did.


It felt good to be sewing again...  but I'm still going to have to pace myself.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Addendum:  Several have asked about how I made the cardboard wedge template, including Judy who, unfortunately, is a no-reply blogger (meaning I do not have a way to reply to her via email).  

The "how to" is in the post "Cheap?" and the exact measurements of my triangle are:

Base of isosceles triangle:  8 inches
Sides of isosceles triangle:  11.5 inches
Base angles of isosceles triangle:  70 degrees
Top angle of isosceles triangle: 40 degrees  (70 + 70 + 40 = 180, the total amount of degrees in all three angles of any triangle... a little math fact fer ya!)

Hope this helps!


 

Thanksgiving Eve

 
I found out yesterday that I have five fractured ribs....   good news in that the information helps me cope with the pain....   "It's supposed to hurt... you have fractured ribs, dummy!"

On the other hand, it means I can expect three more weeks to recover and heal.....  otherwise known as:  getting nothing done....  and even reading gets old after a while...

 
I did a bit too much yesterday so today's planned cooking will have to wait til tomorrow...

This year, I have a greatly reduced Thanksgiving menu....  which doesn't matter too much (except to me) because the kids and their families are having their turkey dinner elsewhere... and coming in afterwards.   So I'm preparing soups and other easy-to-make items.

Mushroom & Barley Soup

Corn Chowder

Garlic Cheese Rolls

Banana Pudding

There will be other stuff but this is what I'll be fixing tomorrow.  Pumpkin Bread is also on the idea board... but we'll have to see how much energy I have.

To all my American blogging buddies...

...and to all my online friends, thank YOU for your care and concern!   It helps get me through these trying days...

The Sunday Before Thanksgiving...

...and being almost 3 weeks post fall, I thought my blogging buddies may like an update.

After jumping through multiple hoops...

 

...and dealing with enough red tape to sink a battleship...

...last Thursday, 16-days post fall, I was informed by the Workers Comp adjuster (who really is just doing his job) that the PA from Urgent Care (where I am required to be seen because I was injured on the job) had notified him that I had no fractured bones and that, while the pain in my right leg and right thumb was caused by the fall, that the right chest/rib cage pain was not caused by the fall.  The PA also stated that there was no reason I could not be at work...
 

I was not a happy camper... 


For those of you who have not been involved with Workers Comp, either for yourself, a family member, or a friend...  you cannot imagine the convoluted maze one must negotiate.  And of course... the maze being new to you...  you have no one to advise or direct you through it.

However, 16-days post fall...  I'd had E-nough.   

After getting off the phone with the WC adjuster, I had a bit of a cry... then called my primary care provider and was worked in to see her immediately...  "immediately" being "in less than an hour."  Dr. Szurgot and her nurse Jessica are wonderful, caring people and I am blessed to have them in my life.

Before I left the office at 3:45pm, I had an appointment at 8:15am at the orthopedic clinic the next morning and a bone scan scheduled for Monday (tomorrow) morning at 9:30.  Believe me...  after all the wait, wait, wait with the Workers Comp maze... it was quite a relief to see some forward movement.

Friday morning, I saw Connie Tighe, an orthopedic nurse practitioner, who read the very same x-rays read by the PA at Urgent Care.   Her diagnosis:  a "closed fracture of the proximal phalanx of the right thumb"...   and I got to leave her office with one of these lovely things...

Tomorrow morning, I'm being seen at the outpatient clinic at the hospital for an MRI of my chest.

This update only covers about half the "fun" and "excitement" I've "enjoyed" since I fell.... including the trip to the ER a week ago Saturday... but it will bring you up to date.  

I hope to be able to start sewing again this week but it's iffy since I'm still waking up because of chest pain.  I'm looking forward to seeing my babies and grandbabies over the Thanksgiving holidays and have enjoyed/appreciated the visits from friends who are looking after me.

I am thankful for so many people and things in my life.... including my blogging buddies.... and wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

 

Ramblings

Web-surfing adventures have led me to find the following interesting photos that I thought you might enjoy seeing...

Finally, the president came around...

..and then...

I'm grateful for a lot today...  for the women who fought for the right to vote... for all the men and women who have served our country and continue to do so...

...for my girl friends whose support through trying times is much appreciated...

...and for family whose loving kindnesses are many and generous.

I have not touched my sewing machine in a month. 

First, the pneumonia, then the bad fall.  While nothing was broken, there appears to have been significant soft tissue damage.  I am in more pain today than immediately post-fall.   The pain was so bad yesterday when I woke up, I could barely breathe and called 911.

 
Thanks to the wonderful folks in the ER who attended to every need, I have "a plan" that I have begun and will continue to work on tomorrow.  I have given up any thought of getting back to work before Thanksgiving.... and have notified my supervisor.

My three little girls are coming this afternoon and will stay thru tomorrow afternoon... to cheer me up and to help around the house.   

Me, I promise to stop... and rest... and otherwise give my body a chance to heal...

 

....that's going to be hard.

Thursday

Photos related to Women's Suffrage found while web surfing... 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In other news:  I'm still home, on new meds, and ordered to rest....   so there is time to surf the web.  My knee is so colorful that I took a photo...  however, I won't gross you out by posting it.

 

Update

October was not a good month for me.... first, there was the pneumonia.  Next, just as I was feeling better and returned to work...  I fell outside one of my school buildings.  

It was a bad fall.  Fortunately, the fall was witnessed and I had immediate help.   In fact, one of the witnesses to the fall is the wife of a local EMT.... she called her husband and he arrived with the ambulance before I was even sitting up.

Nothing was broken fortunately but it feels as I did.  So I've missed another three days of work.... needless to say nothing much has been accomplished except taking meds, holding down the sofa, and otherwise trying to relax.

Here's hoping November will be a much better month for me!