No pain, no gain!

Who said that anyway? Doesn't make sense to me since I have had plenty of pain and I see no gain in my sewing projects! I can report that the pain that still remains is much less than when it started almost three weeks ago. I actually sewed a couple little things on my sewing machine today but they're not done so can't do "show 'n tell". However, I need to show you something so I looked at the last photos I loaded and that was the last weekend in June at Henderson's Sauerkraut Days Festival. My daughter and grandson came that weekend and helped me with some chores and we also went to watch the parade and all the classic cars. We took a few minutes to pop into "Unique Antiques" on Main Street and I couldn't resist taking a photo of the fresh garden flowers that were placed in vases around the shop.

These are pretty enough to be on some notecards. And the ones below are pretty, too, but I like the little table and chair set even better. :-)

I was on the pain meds that weekend so I was feelin' no pain, just the numb heel thing which was bothering me so I kind of walked with a limp. My heel is still a bit numb but I can walk almost normally now.

In case you are wondering what I sewed today, it was a St. Patrick's Day/March block that will go with the ones you see below. I stitched these up the week before the leg pain hit me. I had signed on for the Calendar Challenge and always intended to do a crazy quilt wallhanging of monthly blocks. I printed out my blocks in January and finally got started in June. I should be done by December of 2010! hee hee! The blocks are 6 1/2" squares and I will embroider messages in the solid section and then I have chosen lots of buttons to embellish the squares with once the blocks are assembled into a quilt top. It was nice to sew today, even if it was just one 6 1/2" square!

I also got started on a little pincushion but had to quit as the pain in my leg was returning just a bit. Don't want to push my luck!

I got preliminary results of my MRI and it was not quite the news I was hoping for. I knew that I had disc problems at L4 and L5 in my lower back but I also showed damage in L2 and L3. Treatment options will be discussed when I see the Orthopedic doctor again this Wednesday morning. I feel like this is dragging on a long time but maybe that's just because I would rather be doing a lot of quilty and crafty things instead of going to the doctor. Taking it one day at a time..........

That's all for tonight..........I guess you could say......."The NightOwl is back!"

Sandi

Summer Pincushion Swap!

A couple of months ago, I signed up for a pincushion swap at Sandra's blog Quilt*at*Home . I like making pincushions and other small items because I get them finished in a realistic amount of time. My large quilt projects go on forever but at least I always have something to look forward to because I have so many unfinished projects!!! Anyway, about a week before I developed this back pain thing, I received a large box in the mail from Kaaren of thePaintedQuilt in Canada. I'm thinking, "hmmmmm, this is just a pincushion swap and there must be a lot of good stuff in this box because it is large!" I ripped off the outer wrapping and saw all the wrapped packages and said "Oh, my!!" I wrote it on a piece of paper and included it in the photo because as I unwrapped everything, I kept saying "Oh, my!"

Kaaren inclued a lovely note that described everything she sent from the dressmaker pincushion to the wool socks that she knit!!!

There was a magnet from Canada, notecards, and needles and pins and a scissors fob that she made! And the dressmaker form pincushion was custom made for me. Then there was that cool round notions holder and it is made from lightweight wood that has round wood circles at each end. I can't explain it so I guess I will have to take a better picture. It's Kaaren's own design. She was very generous with her time and talents and I appreciate every item she made and sent to me. And she added one more thing.......this "green" shopping bag from the town she lives in and I'm thinking "I want to visit this little town". I love the architecture on these homes. Thanks so much for all the goodies, Kaaren!

And she added one more thing.......this "green" shopping bag from the town she lives in and I'm thinking "I want to visit this little town". I love the architecture on these homes. Thanks so much for all the goodies, Kaaren!

I waited to post about what I had received until I knew that my partner Emily at EmsScrapbag had received what I sent to her. She was on vacation for a bit so I just waited until she returned to post about what I made and sent to her. And so, here is what I made and sent to Emily.

In the info I received on Emily she said she "really liked red and green, yellow is a favorite....no purple". Well, I had this vintage piece of cotton fabric that had all her colors in it and so I stitched it up into this little rosey posey pincushion and needlecase (the center part is woolfelt).

I added a little cookbook, a journal (so she can inventory her pincushions and projects!), a little cup of trims and another one of buttons, plus a card of vintage buttons and note cards in her favorite colors, too! She loved what I sent and I loved what I received so we are both very happy pincushion swappers!

Now, back to Kaaren. She is really quite a talented lady and so I am recommending that you click on over to her blog and see the tutorial she has just posted for a really neat fall pumpkin! Just click here and you can read all about it. I will probably make this one when I get back to sewing as it involves a bit of crazy patchwork and I love crazy quilting!

This is my first "real" post in almost two weeks. I am doing much better today and the pain is less and the numbness in the bag of my leg and heel is subsiding (ever so slowly). I discovered that if I set a box on the floor and then put my left foot on the box, I have less pain when I am sitting. No word on the MRI results. I am taking things just one day at a time!
I didn't do my monthly tea post today but will do that next week. I am behind in some things I wanted to post but as I said yesterday................there is always tomorrow!!
Back soon!
Sandi

Coming back slowly.......

I was doing really well this morning, then the drive to the hospital required sitting and I "crashed" the minute I got home (not the car.....I mean I "crashed" on the couch as soon as I got home). The MRI is done and I await the results. This is not nearly as exciting as leaving a comment for someone's giveaway but I do hope there is an answer to be found.
Just want to say, "thanks for your patience" with my Facebook e-mail. I think there is a lot of "figuring out" that I must do with my "home page". I signed on to Facebook mainly to try to connect with some family members but it's fun to connect with friends and quilters, too. Right now, I'm signed on and that's good enough.
Nothing to report here but if I'm feeling even better tomorrow, then I am going to share some pincushion swap photos. I will still post photos of Pandora's quilt show but haven't been able to choose photos yet. There's always tomorrow.
All for now.
Sandi

Uh, Oh! Facebook e-mail......

Oh, dear, my apologies to everyone who got an e-mail invite from me to join Facebook. Last night, when I was momentarly pain-free, I checked my e-mail and there was a reminder that I had two friends who had invited me to join Facebook. One was Pat Sloan and I follow her blog and miss out on some things because I'm not on Facebook. The other was from my friend Marianne and then I knew that my sister was on Facebook, so I thought........I'll just enter my name and stuff, add a new password to another venture that I must remember and that will be it. Ohhhhhh, nooooooooo! NOT SO!
I awoke this morning and when I went to check my e-mail, I had all these replies from people I had invited to join Facebook. Obviously, in what I thought was a lucid moment, I must have been half-sleeping or something and clicked something that invited all these people. Ohhhhhh, I am soooooo sorry. But on a positive note, one of the replies was from my sister and we both get so busy that we don't e-mail often. Who knows what connections Facebook will bring? Right now, though, I can't keep up with my groups and blog because of this leg/heel pain issue so adding another thing that requires validation was not so wise at this time. However, my MRI has been moved up to this afternoon and perhaps there I will get some validation for the cause of my pain and when that issue is resolved, I'll be back in fine shape on-line.........And I'll be only a "twitter" away from the next opportunity to make connections on-line. :-)
Sandi

Brown Bear and the Christmas Charm Fabrics!

Morning, all!
For those of you that were following my post on Brown Bear and the Christmas Charm fabrics, well, your patience has paid off. Several of you are going to receive packs of Christmas Charm fabrics. The winning name that my husband drew is "Annemarie" but Mary Grace was so diligent, as was the Owl Lady, and Pat in Delaware, then Margie and SarahVee, JustSusan, and Lotta in Sweden! You were all commenting almost everyday and so I'll be sending similar charm packs to all of you! I'll be sending smaller charm packs to a couple of you that also commented fairly often and you are Ida, Janelle, CieAngel, and Crispy. (And in case, I have extras, I might add a couple more. ) I loved reading the comments!! I was planning to get busy with "Christmas in July" and start cutting square right after the 4th of July.
Now unfortunately, I am still in pain and it is just not going away so there'll be no cutting of fabric or any sewing anytime soon. The MRI is not until Friday but come tomorrow morning I'll be calling the doctor to say "it can't wait that long"!! You all know you are winners and some of you have won gifties from me before so you know I send good little packages that are worth waiting for so hang in there and good stuff will come your way. Oh, and be sure to send me an e-mail with your mailing address but no hurry on that yet. I can't sit at the computer long enough to send individual e-mails to all of you right now.
One last thing......today is my son's birthday! He was born in 1976 and I remember July 4th of that year and the tall ships that sailed into New York Harbor. I remember, too, that I had a terrible back ache all that day and knew and hoped that "my time" was imminent. He was, after all, almost two weeks overdue! Well, that pain ended up being gone by the next morning when he was born. This pain seems to want to stay around and I'm not sure what the end result will be. Say a little prayer that this will all get resolved soon as I am getting mightly tired of not being able to sew or blog. I am getting in some handwork so it's not a total loss. Take care all and have a good day!
Sandi

Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue!!

Since I started blogging a little over a year ago, I have been fairly regular at it. Once I started blogging, it quickly became a part of my day. Occasionally, I went a couple days in a row without blogging but soon was right back at it. Unfortunately, this little journey of back and sciatica pain that I am on, has made it almost impossible to blog or even think about posting. As noted in my previous post, I am slowly doing better. I was actually doing pretty well and then had some issues arise with side effects from the drugs I am on. I decided no more pain pills and so I am back in a "rough patch". It's not as bad as it was at first, so I know I'm getting better and my leg and heel have almost regained normal feeling. I only waited a couple days before going to the doctor but I will give you this advice. If you have pain that is "over the top", get to the doctor. Even if it's not something serious, your recovery will be quicker the sooner you start treatment!

Now, I couldn't let tomorrow pass by and not post my snowman for this month. I like him so much and even if you are not from the United States, you can substitute the flag of your country for the U.S. flag he is holding. I'm only sharing the drawing right now and will provide pattern pieces for doing him in fusibles later next week. I'll also post the other Seasons block then. I have already been sitting in this chair too long so I need to go lay down on the couch for a bit. Here, though, before I go, is my snowman for July.............


Happy Independence Day!! Have wonderful 4th of July wherever you are!!

Sandi

*****

Edit: Here is the pattern page for the July Snowman. When I think about it, it's kind of silly to draw a snowman for July but then again it's kinda cool, too. :-) You can change the flag in this design and the words so that they reflect your state or country. Have fun!

Slowly returning to normal........

I didn't expect to be gone so long. However, the leg and low back pain got the better of me and I didn't feel like blogging. It hurt to sit for more than a few minutes at the computer or at my machine. Not fun, as I was planning to do a lot of both as my husband was gone on a business trip. Instead, I was in pain. The Prednisone helped somewhat but not enough so had to make another visit to the doctor last Friday and more meds and pain patches. My doctor referred me to an Orthopedic surgeon and I saw him this morning. That exam led him to schedule me for an MRI next Friday. It's looking like I have some kind of disc damage and the sciatic nerve is so irritated that the back of my leg is numb and so is my heel on my left leg. I am able to keep the pain "at bay" with the pain killers and at night with the pain patches but when they wear off, it is not fun. I have fibromyalgia and so pain is something I am used to. This pain was "off the scale" and not my normal fibro pains. It was "I hurt and I can't think straight pain". On doctor's orders, I'll be doing no lawn mowing, no lifting of boxes and no strenuous activity. I am a bit better each day, but it is a slow process. Perhaps by this weekend, I will be back in the "swing of things" and will get my BOM blocks posted and also, the pics of Pandora's Garden quilt show. I'll be back again soon.
Thanks for all your concerns, e-mails and prayers!
Sandi