January Is Just Flying By!

 This month of January is just flying by! 

I had my last chiropractor appointment for my sciatica adjustment & the news is good! I feel so much better, not 100% but almost there. I will go for monthly adjustments from now on. I have a curve in my spine that puts pressure on different nerves if it gets out of alignment. A monthly maintenance program & some core strengthening should put me back on track to begin 2021 & all that this year has to offer.

Today is my MRI to see what is happening deep in this body of mine, fingers crossed that it is just an ageing thing that time & wear & tear has produced.

Bill has been home looking after me & he's done so much work around here. The last couple of days have been my good ones but before that it was ice, heat, repeat for several times a day.

Bill said that when Christmas was put away the kitchen walls were to be filled & painted to freshen up the area.

He went to work on that project.

I was nervous watching from the great room as I did my ice/heat treatments & seen the cabinets full of dishes moving away from the wall.

 

Mission completed with nothing being broke!

It does look fresher with a simple coat of paint & everything moved back in place.

The house looked bare when all the Christmas decor was gone, now it looks fresh!

This area is high traffic as it is the opening from the front foyer & the throughway to the great room.

The pantry is also on that runway & when Bridget & Baxter come in from outside that is where they head for their 'treat' each time. It is a very high traffic area for all!

With having to 'sit/stay' with the heat & ice I needed to keep my mind & hands busy so I knit together a woodsman gnome! 

I gave him green wellies & a striped shirt! The coat was modified from a Luna Lapan pattern & I was pleased with the way it turned out.

I used a piece of thrift store blazer that I had taken apart & washed/dried to mat the wool for applique.

He has a striped coordinating toque to his jacket too! He was fun to bring to life & helped me get through some painful hours of treatment.

His Swedish buddy was my inspiration from the Christmas decor. I've made the gnomes in all three sizes, these ones are the small ones.

So glad that idea is out of my head but there are so many wanting out right now.

I worked on this Bonnie Sullivan design for the center of a pillow. It was all done in wool fabric & I added some fluff to the tops of the mittens.

I had purchased a piece of cross stitch adia cloth for the background & was happy with the texture when the wool pieces were applied. 

The snowflake buttons added a winter festive feel to it too! The surrounding fabric to the pillow will be in navy velvet & it will be added to the guest room decor for next winter when the kids are home again.

I am really enjoying the mantel & its brightness from the mirror as I stand at the ironing board parallel to it. I spent so much time standing as that did not give me pain, sitting was unbearable! I was frustrated having the new sewing machine & not being able to sit & use it!

The view from my sewing room, the snow has arrived but nothing like we are used to having!

I have dug out the 25th Anniversary quilt that I started back in 2010. Where does the time go?!

This is block six of the twelve blocks to this quilt. We will be celebrating our 34th anniversary this 4th of July...maybe I can have it finished & on the bed by then?! lol

Block six done! These blocks are all hand appliqued in the needle turned techenque that Robyn Pandolph showed me years ago. 

This is the quilt when finished the good thing is that it will look great in our bedroom with the yellow velevet drapes. Those swags are going to be a lot of work...maybe the 35th anniversary?!

How sweet are these little mice?!

I did the tutorial on Ann Woods blog & they turned out so cute!

I even tried one with cat whiskers that I cut down, that was too much work glueing those small whiskers with the hot glue gun.

The beads are seed beads & I tried a wee pink one & liked the look of that!

The back side of the half of the walnut, it is tricky to get a full 1/2 of a walnut from old frozen then thawed ones! Thanks for your help Bill, these are packed for next years Christmas tree.

Bill brought to life an idea that I had pulled out of a magazine a couple of years ago.

It was to make a doggie den under the stairs!

I use that area for some of my fabric stash & sewing machines not in use. The area was perfect!

Bill had to move the furnace temperture control but he did that with ease!

Then the cutting was all done & the measuring began for the den insert.

He had purchased some dense plywood at a very high cost, the cost of wood will surprise you when you go to purchase it this year!

The insert was ready for installation & was very heavy!

He laughed as he was doing it as Grandpa Richardson & Bill did the same thing back in the 80's under our stairs in our London home for our TV. It was a large handmedown that still had tubes that needed to heat up before the TV would work. lol

The unit slide right in & the Boston's were very curious to what was going on.

He applied a couple of coats of paint to seal & brighten the area for the Boston's.

It was made large enough to house each one of their crates, side by side as they are use to.

Then their crates were placed inside. It did not take long for Bridget to snuggle with her stuffie.

There is not stuffing in that stuffie or any of her stuffies, she & Baxter have destuffed them all!

Now Baxter joins her & they both love being in the middle of our bedroom, office, & kitchen. I think they like hearing all the daily living noise that goes on in the house & being right at the heart of it all.

Bill found matching trim from the hallway & now the custom den looks like it has always been there!

You have to pass them if your coming out of the bedroom, dressing room, laundry room, the two bathrooms on the east side, the exercise room, or the office. They love hearing the traffic flow to the kitchen or great room & will go inside their crates just to nap, knowing that they can keep track of us as we pass through that busy hall. 

Rexton has found a new love...my heating pad!

Once I'm done with the medium heat, I turn it to low & point to the pad,  Rexton imediatly gets on it!

She is so comfortable with the warm satin, Manx's are known for having artritis in the end of their spine after the age of five, she's going into her sixth year. 

She will sit & glare at you until you turn it on low, I think she has me trained! lol.

I have a surprise to show you about her training, with photos to follow!

I've been busy with a new Valentine quilt ideas & will show more as I bring it to life in the next blog.

We are the only area in code orange right now so we do not go far.

But it is time to leave for the Miramichi Hospital for my MRI, very nervous knowing that I have a sewing needle from 1987 in my knee. They have told me I have nothing to worry about...I'll let you know how this outing goes.

Thank you for stopping by & stay safe, wear your mask, & when possible stay the blazes home!

Cynthia

 

2021 Has Begun & New Brunswick Is In A Code Orange

 This virus has our numbers the highest since it started last year. I think everyone was just getting used to the isolation but with Christmas & New Year's, that changed & so did our infected numbers. Time to get back on track as the vaccine is slowly rolled out.

With the lockdown through the virus, Bill & I had fun with 'the first snowman' that we ever built together!

It was a fun day Dec 23rd with the snow we had that day. Bill took me into our woods for a walk too. 

I had the makings for this snowman for years. It was a snowman in a bag, just add the snowman!

It came from Regal back in the 1990s & I would use the bag of snowman accessories for decoration every winter. I had given several bags out as gifts years back & held on to the last one, sure glad I did after this fun day!

Bill added his hat for the photoshoot!

We were so proud of our first snowman, after 35 years together we had time to play!

Bridget with her stick & Baxter out playing along with us too!

Bill with our snowman, it looked bigger with me next to it! He was the one that started rolling the snow & brought the snowman to life! I added the wooden accessories to him! What a fun Christmas Eve!!

As that famous saying goes...this too will pass & by Christmas morning this was our snowman.

It has been a very unusual year of warm weather here on the northeast coast of the Atlantic.

The snowman's bits were gathered up & placed in the cotton bag that they came out in. And as our granddaughter, Madison told me "Frosty never dies Grammie". Until next year.

By lunchtime, it was just a wonderful memory of yesterday! And Christmas Day had arrived.

On Christmas Eve Bill & the Boston's hung all the bird trees out for their Christmas morning treat.

I had made 11 cookie cutter shaped bird treats & Santa, candy canes, trees, bell-shaped cutters, eleven in all, were hung.

I'm glad I took these photos because all but one of the cutters have disappeared! Bill thought they were under the tree but only found one! Those squirrels have 'squirrelled' them?!

Chickadees are so plentiful here & friendly, they will eat out of your outstretched hand if you are quiet & still. They enjoy the Bostons being around as the Blue Jays, which are very plentiful, don't like the dogs & fly away leaving all the feeders for the Chickadees to feast upon.

The birds & squirrels that this wooden feeder that is a few years old now. The artesian that made it had a mishap & sawed several of his fingers off & with them reattached he said it is really unsafe now, he felt with no feeling through them & has stopped making his wooden crafts. I treasure the ones that I have purchased from him through the years. I'm still looking through boxes for the 'Richardson' sleigh that he made me. Has Bill has said, "It's in a box" we have so many boxes & this year it has been so much fun finding things. He has found my 2004 quilt called Twelve Days & he also found my Grinch with the posable body! Yes, they were all in a box!

 

Bridget wore her Santa collar as an ear band. lol

Rexton is sitting on my lap for a pat & Bridget is so jealous, the two will scrap with Bridget licking Rexton's face with her long tongue & Rexton will swat & bite Bridget until they both leave!

Jingle Bells! Santa Paws was good to Bridget & Baxter with new outside balls for Bill to play with them. Some get thrown into the tall evergreens but after windstorms, they are released to the ground once more to be thrown again.

Bill has been playing with his router & made Luna Lapin a new poster bed from some scraps of wood & broken table legs from an old nesting table set. I added the headboard detail from Home Depot's wood accessories.

Rexton the Manx sees it as her kitty bed. lol

I'm trying to get a measurement for the mattress in the black/white ticking, she does not want to move!

I made the mattress & Bill painted the bed in white chalk paint, I love it! It is a perfect size for Luna!

I made her a little colourful granny square throw for the bed.

The headboard looks great & the whole bed came together with the bits that we had at hand.

Alfie got new slippers from the pattern from the gnome's foot pattern, I just modified it a little.

A quilt will be custom made to fit around the post bed, I'm still thinking of the colour & design & will post the finished project.

Our New Year's Eve was spent with family!

We could not be with our family this year so we came up with the idea of having a family puzzle made so they too could be with family! So the puzzles were all shipped out to them as a surprise & memory of the last time we were all together on this blessed event last October 11,2020!

My friends & family also received a photo of this happy event that made our year!

Bill & I had it put together that evening & it's still together on the dining room table. We plan on being together in May this year, flights have been booked, fingers crossed it will happen!

Bill moved the St John antique fireplace into my sewing room last week, I love it!

The cat's tower had to be moved out to the dining room & she is liking it there too.

It was love at first sight when I saw this mantel in the High Wheeler Antique store...it was to convince Bill that it belonged in our home! my dad always said ' You could sell an Eskimo a refrigerator.'.

I feel so good every time I walk into my sewing room & see the brightness in the mirror from the backyard view of the water!

I've not been able to sew due to the sciatic episode & right now having two chiro trips a week but I am on the road to recovery & feel a bit better each day. Sitting is done with ice for 20 minutes - nothing for 20 - then heat for 20 mins. That is how this post got done! 

Bill ordered a new sewing chair for me & will assemble it so I can give it a try but that time will be very limited too. Sitting is so painful right now.

It has been a month of pain now, I just want my life back the way it was & this too will pass & I will slowly start to work out again & gain my core strength to help my back issues. 

For now it slow & easy with walks up & down the laneway on nice days, I happy with just being able to walk upright. Last month this time it was unbearable. So it begins in 2021!

Happy New Year to wherever you are starting this year!

Keep wearing your mask & social distance when you can, the vaccine has arrived & soon this too will pass & we will be together with loved ones again. 

Thank you for stopping by on the first post of the year! Winter & cozy times with the firebox are here as we are isolated into code orange. Stay safe, stay healthy.

Cynthia