And four years again.  For a while Norton kept saying this was a dangerous website; but I finally managed to get that resolved.  

There have been changes since I last wrote here.  I did manage to finish a few projects, but last winter wound up with a rotator cuff tear in the shoulder that was replaced.  So, not just bone-on-bone in the right one, now the tear in the left.  I cannot reach to stitch except for small projects held close to my body.  

I had Garden Prelude framed; my daughter has it now.  Many of my framed pieces are now in others' homes; we could not bring them all to a senior suite.  Only a few select ones came with us.  

In 2021 I finally finished the Starburst Flag, that I started in 2016.  I also did What Remains, an exclusive from Traditional Stitches, that a friend finished into a pillow for me.  

In 1922 I did an Esther Blackwood sampler as a stitch-a-long through Traditional Stitches.  

My big project in 2023 was Dreaming of Poppies, started in February and finished at the end of October.  Then I tore the rotator cuff, so have managed just one small finish this year, a freebie that I downloaded.  I had told my ortho doctor that I could no longer stitch and he encouraged me to at least try something small.  

Also last year, we sold our home and moved into a seniors' lodge, with home care support.  My husband has dementia; this is a memory care facility.  I need help with showering due to my shoulder problems and they do our laundry and dispense meds as well.  https://communities.silvera.ca/calgary/beaverdam/

I spend most of my time reading - 162 books so far this year according to Goodreads - working on genealogy, and, until last week watching Blue Jays baseball.  Now there will be CFL football, hockey and curling until baseball begins again.  And Jeopardy.  

I am also part of a new book launch for Terminal Danger by Jerusha Agen.  It is the fifth and last in the Guardians Unleashed series, a clean romantic suspense, which will be available October 24th.  

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211072817-terminal-danger

I will try to post more often now that I have resolved the dangerous website problem, although I was informed that it was just a specific Norton checkbox so others would not have seen it.  

  

 

 Almost four years now since my last post; I keep forgetting this blog is even here.  I had a complete shoulder replacement almost 18 months ago and am still recovering from that.  

I did start and finish a large project that took 355 hours or so.  It is Garden Prelude, stitching on 32ct Belfast linen.   

And now another year is done

I cannot believe it is almost two years since I last posted.   I thought about it many times but just never had much to say.  It has been pretty much the same old, same old.  

I may have had a complete knee replacement in 2014,but the knee still hurts.  

In 2015 I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from just below my eye.  Then later that year a fatty lipoma from my left arm.  

In July I finally had the macular pucker removed from my right eye.  My close vision is very poor but I cannot do anything about it until May, when the doctor might do laser surgery to remove what he called some after-cataract - those were removed in 2010. 

This year I celebrated my 75th birthday.  

On the stitching front, I have not done much at all.   The chart I was going to begin in 2015 was abandoned.   I started and finished Cat Lessons for People by Lizzie*Kate.

I also started and finished There Goes the Neighborhood, Butterfly Garden,  His Name is Jesus and Promise Me.   I gave Promise Me to my daughter.  

I only started and finished one project in 2016.   That was a freebie that I found somewhere. 

A couple of months ago I was gifted with the chart O Canada, by Jeanette Douglas, along with the thread pack for it, so I started it and hope to get it done by Canada's 150th birthday in July.  It will be my focal piece and if I get it done will try to finish the Starburst Flag and Rejoice.   They are my only remaining WIPs, since I gave World Peace Angel to my daughter to finish.  

 Rejoice is actually complete down the left-hand side.  

 The flag is also complete down the left-hand side, as of October.  

Since I watch very little TV any more, I do not do much stitching.  Once the curling begins again I should get back to it more often, and then again in April baseball season begins, when I get a lot of it done.    Since my close vision is so poor, I need a lot of light and once again my maglight.  Hopefully after May I can get new glasses, if necessary.   Right now my right eye does not see well at all.  

January WIPocalypse

Since I just posted the other day, there is not much of interest to add, but apparently I am supposed to say something about myself.

I live in Calgary, Alberta, with my husband of 51 years.  We have only been here for 8 years so Calgary still does not feel like home.   We were in Edmonton for 40+ years before we moved here.   I would cheerfully move to a warmer climate in a heartbeat if it was possible.    And that will be my last comment about the weather.  

We have four grown children and nine grandchildren; the eldest is 24 and the youngest will be 5 next month.  

Besides stitching, I also read a lot and try to watch every Blue Jays baseball game between April and September (hopefully in October this year as well :) )    

I started Victoria Sampler's Heirloom Homecoming Sampler on the 1st. 
The picture is just the top part of the chart.  I started with the second row as I was not quite sure just where to begin with the top part.  So what you see is row 2 and then I started working my way up to the top.   I will work on the birdhouse next.  

I also have MLI's World Peace Angel in very slow progress.  She is on the floor stand but being pretty much ignored and if I should happen to decide on something big enough to stitch on the floor stand she will go back into the closet.   I am actually thinking that she will wind up with my younger daughter to finish when I am gone.  She is also a stitcher.   I have an Easter piece to finish as well; managed to get the centre part done before my knee surgery last spring and now it is in the closet too.   

The end of another year

It has been a bit busy since my last post.   The knee replacement surgery went well enough, although even after eight months the knee still does hurt.   A different kind of hurt though, and this will get better.   Fortunately, the other knee is fine because I do not intend to have another replacement.   One was enough. :)

I have been having breathing problems the past few months and it quite possibly is asthma.   So I have inhalers, which are not much help.

My sister in Ontario came out for a visit in June; staying with my other sister in Edmonton.   They came down to Calgary for a day visit, bringing my brother along as well.   The last time we were all together was in 2000 and I doubt we will ever be together again.

We had a major snowfall in September and much of it is still on the ground.   No real snowfalls since; just flurries here and there.   It was also bitterly cold for a week or so at the end of November, but again, not so bad after that.   Compared to last winter, this so far has been bearable.  I am thankful for that because I am afraid of falling on ice and injuring my brand new knee.    

I did no stitching or knitting for a few months after the surgery, but have finished another scarf and a couple of dishcloths, as well as six small stitched pieces.    I have the fabric for Victoria Sampler's Heirloom Homecoming Sampler on the lap stand, ready to start on the 1st.  I always start something new on January 1st; last year it was Home of a Needleworker. 

I am in the middle of my 115th book and expect to finish it by tomorrow.  It is the 5th in a series of 6 and I was hoping to finish the series by end of the year but that is unlikely now.   So book six will be the first finish of 2015.

 

Leon and I celebrated our 51st anniversary in July and in August, once I was cleared to travel, we took a short trip through the mountains by way of Edmonton.    We drove north to Edmonton on the Thursday and visited with family, staying overnight before going west on Friday.   We had another little visit with Leon's sister in Seba Beach and stayed overnight in Edson before driving south to the Icefields, where we stayed Friday night.    Taking our time all the way.   Saturday we followed the Icefields Parkway down to Banff, before turning east again and home. 

Three Sisters, outside Canmore, Alberta.  

 I will try to keep this blog a little more up to date in 2015. :) 

It finally looks like spring

It looks as though spring may have finally arrived, although we have had that teaser before now a few times.   It was a brutal winter; snow came in October and never left, giving us continual snowfalls right up until last week.   And we will get more, but at least it will not stay.    This is what our front steps looked like after the blizzard in December.    Leon had to go out the back door and around as we could not open the front door.   And the other one was taken in January or February during another storm.  That is an outdoor lighted Christmas tree you can see on the left. 

I finally got in to see an ortho doctor and will be going in to hospital tomorrow morning to have a total knee replacement.   I figured now was as good a time as any to update my blog, since I will not be on the computer a lot for a while afterwards, as least that is my understanding.  :)  

I have been stitching and knitting and have finished three projects this year.  First was The Dreaming, a Dinky Dyes chart, stitched with DD silks.  I bought this chart at CATS in Vegas in 2006 and just now got around to stitching it.  :)  

 

A Stitch in Time took just a couple of weeks to stitch. 

 

Home of a Needleworker.   I finished this one just the other day.  

The Work of Christmas.  A My Big Toe design.  This is the last one I finished in 2013. 

 

 

This scarf is now finished and I am nearly finished another.   I also started knitting dishcloths and have finished three or four so far. 

 

 

 

 

Finally a new blog.

I cannot believe it has been four months since I last posted here.  I knew it was a few but not that many.  But a lot has happened since then.  Leon was in hospital three times, for a total of 32 days altogether from mid-May to now, but he is home now.   :)  Half the summer is gone already.  

I finished the little project I mentioned last time - A Snowman in Canada. 

I also started and finished a Lizzie*Kate design, Getting Old Isn't for Sissies, which seemed appropriate while Leon was in hospital the second time.  

And I finished the scarf I was doing for our Creative Fingers group; it will be turned in when we start up again in September. 

Now I am more than halfway through Happy Everything, an Imaginating chart.  I began in the middle, which means stitching Everything first and then adding the little motifs.  I am pretty close to adding the Happy and its bits and pieces as well. 

We had a brief but very intense thunderstorm in the early hours this morning.   It has actually been quite warm here the past while, about which I am not complaining because winter will be upon us before we know it.  

Since we did the new room last fall, with its lovely siding, we now had to fix the rest of the unit to match so that was done the past couple of months.   We now have the front and south-facing side done and will do the other side and back next year when we have the tax return.  That side is not seen much so it can wait.   It looks so much better than it did originally and we are very happy with it.   Unfortunately with Leon in hospital and the contractor walking all over everything, it means no gardening got done except for what was already planted.  The two hardy roses are doing well and one lily plant has bloomed.    But I am hoping that I can finally get some fall bulbs planted and will have tulips next spring. 

This is what the front looked like when we moved in back in 2006.  The little add-on that you see on the left is now gone and a new, larger room was built with the stairs outside instead of inside.  

This is what the new add-on looked like after it was finished last fall.  You can see the difference in the siding.    

 

 

And this is the front now.  The unit faces east so we get the morning sun and then the afternoon/evening sun comes through the nice big windows in our new room.  

 

 

 

And this is what is on the wall, leading from the new room into the kitchen.  :)