Catching up April and May

April

Needlework

I received this in the Virtual Threads scissor case exchange from Lucy.

I finished the blanket for my niece's baby Eleanor who was born near the end of April. I'm still working on the one for my nephew and his wife.

I finished the second page of Psalm 23 by My Big Toe. It was a very happy dance. I've been working on it for a number of years now.

This is Little Hedgie by Just Nan. The finished picture is below under the May section.

Other hobbies

I had a great idea for making oatmeal bath bombs. I cut up some nylons and stuffed them with oatmeal. They've been working great but I keep running out of nylons. I just found a recipe for them using coffee filters instead so I'm going to try that next time.

 I had only one iris bloom again this year but here it is. I'm giving my mom some of the bulbs when she's done with her moves and settled. They need to be divided again this fall so there will be lots.

 May

Needlework

Here's the finished Little Hedgie by Just Nan. He's now safely in my china cabinet where Bob can't get at him.

I also took part in the Embroidery Association of Canada's scissor fob exchange. Here is the lovely one I received from Marie. Marie and Lucie were my roommates at Seminar 2015. It was pretty remarkable that they both ended up sending me things in the exchange.

I've gotten back to my WIP rotation toward the end of May. I chose 7 projects, some from this year and some older ones. They're each assigned a day and that's what I work on during my needlework time. Monday I'm working on Psalm 23 but I didn't take a progress picture.

Tuesday is one from this year, Pacific Rim Sampler by Jeannette Douglas. I was stalled on it for awhile as I was having trouble matching up band one with band two. I've finally gotten it where I want it and I've also stitched band three.

Wednesday is an older Virtual Threads class piece I fell behind on and then put aside. Floral Tranquillity by Heartfelt Designs. I finished the large leaf on the right this week and started the veins in the leaves.

Thursday is Lavender Sparkle Butterfly by Alison Cole. It's another VT class project I fell behind on. I'm really not comfortable with surface work but I'm slowly working at it. I started the long and short stitches on the left wing this week.

Friday, I'll be working on another VT class project from Alison Cole that took place recently - Dragonfly Brooch. It's more goldwork but it should be beautiful when it's done. Saturday, I'm working on my Stitcher's Village Christmas in July exchange piece and Sunday, I'll be knitting which for a few weeks means working on Beau's baby blanket.

I have a VT Executive meeting this weekend and I'll need to decide if I'll stand again for office. I'm thinking not until my health improves some more.

Hatch day Celebration

We celebrated the boys hatch days in May. We don't know when either of them actually are since they're adopted but we do know Mal is 18 since he came from his original family and they knew how old he was. 

Bobby got a bag of toys from the toy box in a new bag. He was very interested in it. 

After Bobby was safely locked up with a little extra birdseed, Mal got his turn. He's not interested in bags so he got a little extra birdseed and some popcorn. He wasn't too sure about the camera so I tried to hold a piece of popcorn for him. He wanted nothing to do with it either.

Later Bobby came back out for his popcorn and Mal's. Here he is showing Mal what you're supposed to do with it. I was hoping to get a picture of him holding it in his foot and eating but as soon as he saw the camera, he ran towards me saying "pretty bird". What a ham. I had to hide the camera until he went back to eating to get this picture.

Health

My leg is fully healed and I'm doing very small walks around the block. I'm finished seeing the community nurses now.  I had a couple weeks set back when I came down with the flu. I'm feeling better now but still getting meals on wheels for another week. Then I'm back on my own.

I have a few appointments with the Complex Chronic Disease Program nurse and social worker in June. I'm happy to be finally starting some progress with that. I'll be talking about sleep and rest with the nurse next week and then hopefully getting some help with my finances from the social worker towards the end of the month and then another follow up appointment with the nurse after that. I had my lab tests this month and my A1c is still good but it looks like I'm still going to need iron pills. I'll find out for sure when I can see a doctor.

My search continues for a family doctor but I have a few more promising leads to follow up with this week. Unfortunately, they're further away from home so I'll need the HandyDart to get there. In the meantime, I'll probably be going to a walk in doctor at the clinic for prescriptions in the next couple weeks and I may be able to go over the test results with that doctor.

That's it for this time. A longish post but it does cover two months.