Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Pat and I hoped to make a day trip across to Texada today but the weather didn’t cooperate. No, it isn’t snowing but it is windy and cold and not suitable for my image of sitting on the deck in the sun. Thursday is supposed to be a better day so we’ll aim for a trip then. Friday is to be the best day of the week but I’ll be tied up at the lab for most of the morning.

I’ve been quilting my latest project but it is very slow going. I ran out of basting spay so ended up having to pin baste; the only quilting pins I had left were small ones and it was hard to get them closed with my numb fingers. The quilting pattern I chose meant there were a lot of ends to tie and bury – again very difficult with my numb fingers. And all of those pins I put in have had to come back out – again, not an easy task.

The worst of the disappointments though is with the project itself. I was putting it together based on a picture. I must have looked at that picture a hundred times between designing it, piecing the blocks (some of which I had to do twice), and then putting it all together. So how is it that it wasn’t until I was well into the quilting that I noticed a huge mistake? It still looks okay but it isn’t like the picture and not what I wanted.

Yesterday felt like Christmas – three parcels arrived for us. We had one phone (of three) that had died completely and another one that the Answer button didn’t work on. So we ordered a new set of three handsets. Pat charged them up and I spent a lot of time this afternoon transferring numbers from the old phone to the new one.

Elizabeth sent both Pat and I a pair of hot/cold therapy socks for our neuropathy. I tried the cold therapy last night and it worked so much better than standing on ice packs. Pat tried out the hot therapy but had trouble getting them hot enough for him to feel the heat once he had them on his feet. Because of the material they are made from he didn’t want to leave them in the microwave too much longer than the recommendation.

And finally my new stitching light and magnifier arrived. I haven’t actually tried it with any stitching yet but I think it is going to be great.

Now, back to the quilting.

Friday, March 10, 2023

I’ve made the most of these past few days when I’ve been feeling quite normal. I still have to deal with numb fingers and toes but other than that I’m good. I even had one night where I slept well until 8:30 in the morning – that hasn’t happened for a long time.

The Guild display was lovely and I was so pleased that the women setting up the display offered me a private viewing. There were just four of us in the room and we were all masked. There were 50+ items on display and none of these will be in the quilt show that follows in two weeks. Next week, from Wednesday to Saturday, the display will be open to the public; this is all done as a promotion for the show. They will also have members in the room sewing all day.

Yesterday was a good sewing day with Stacia and Deloise. I got more done on my project than I thought I would but it still isn’t finished. I can work on it as a leader and ender project so when I get around to focusing on that particular project again it will be closer to being done.

Today I’ve been fixing the mistake I made on the card I worked on earlier in the week. What I made was about half the size of what I needed. It’s fixed now and I just have two seams to go and I’ll have the top ready for quilting.

We had a lovely outing this afternoon down at the sea walk. There weren’t as many birds as there often are but there were a couple of seals out and about. As we were making our way back to the truck a couple of bald eagles swooped in – always nice to see them. I managed to walk four benches length at a time before needing a rest. We walked quite a ways, probably as far as I’ve been on the walk for quite awhile. I was tired when we got back. They are saying we might get snow overnight so I’m glad we got out today.

Now I’ll get back to my sewing and try to get those two seams done.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

I need to learn to be patient. I was so frustrated last week at my slow progress to feeling “normal” that I forgot that it takes a full week post-treatment to get back on my feet. Today is just a day over a week since my treatment and I can feel the extra energy I have.

I’ve been keeping busy – mostly with sewing. I have a few cards finished (but no presents yet to go with them) and I think I can at least finish the top of another one tomorrow. I haven’t been making a lot of cards this year but April is a busy month for birthdays in our family.

I’ve cheated just a little bit on our sewing session scheduled for Thursday. The project I’m working on needed 12 large half-square triangles and 144 very small half-square triangles. I had some of each already made in my stash but I was no where near the number of small ones I needed. I finished sewing a few, dug around and trimmed a few others and tomorrow when I’m sewing I’ll make more as a leader and ender project. Even with my head start I don’t expect to keep up with Stacia and Deloise.

I’m going out tomorrow morning to see a Guild display at the mall. To promote the quilt show the Guild will be holding a bee in one of the empty stores in the mall and they have also put up a display of quilts. It was so nice of the organizers to invite me to see the fifty quilts they have hung. There will be no one else around so it will be very safe. I’m glad it is happening on a good week; the actual quilt show is the weekend after my next treatment so I can’t be certain I’ll be able to go.

I’m done upstairs for the day. I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon reading.

Friday, March 3, 2023

I haven’t yet recovered from my latest treatment. It seems to me that these side effects are going on longer than they did last time but I may just be forgetting the details.

Because of the steroid in the pre-treatment I was awake for a couple of days. I expected that to be the case and had a book and some stitching at the ready. Even after all that time with only a couple of hours of sleep I wasn’t able to get a good night’s rest.

On day three, right on schedule, the bone pains started. I’m taking Tylenol which seemed to help the last time but it isn’t doing much this time around. I still have leg and foot pains and, again, it seems to me to be lasting longer.

As well as the aches and pains I’m noticing that my legs are very weak and I have to be careful walking and I’m especially careful going up and down the stairs. I had one day of weakness the last round but it came later in the week. Maybe I’m just getting it all over and done with earlier this time.

Sleep continues to be a big problem. I was listening to an audio book thinking that would put me to sleep and it did, but not for several hours after I went to bed. I tried listening to CBC radio but, surprisingly, that didn’t work either. Today I downloaded my audio book as an e-book from the library and I’m hoping that actually reading might be better (I wasn’t able to get the printed book from the library).

I had some anxiety in the past regarding library books and their due dates but, thanks to Emma, I have a coping mechanism for that. With the e-book I’m likely to read more during the day so the looming deadline might not even be a problem.

If I wasn’t so tired I wouldn’t mind having extra long days to get things done but I need some sleep.