Friday Stitching

There wasn't much time for sewing today because I had physical therapy this afternoon. I've missed my last two appointments because I've been living at the hospital, but my knee doesn't seem any worse off because of it. Actually, the knee is feeling much better, although I still can't kneel or squat down. But, I have less pain, I can walk without limping, I can get in and out of the car, a chair, and bed without the difficulty I had a month ago. (At first, I said "agony", but that seemed melodramatic. True, but melodramatic.)

Imagine a woman pushing 60 years of age in that picture above, and you'll know how my knees felt a month ago.

So my therapist cleared me to start coming once per week, and to start swimming on Monday. I've been wanting to get back to swimming ever since returning from our trip in September (says the woman who said the exact same thing a year ago, and then didn't follow through). I'm tired of being flabby and out of shape. I'll keep telling myself that on those days when I really don't want to go...which most likely will begin on Tuesday, assuming I actually go on Monday. Yeah, I'm very dedicated to staying in shape. Just now I went in search of images to go along with "flabby", but then I decided that was just plain cruel.

So, anyway, what did I do today?

I finished the second block for the Vintage Tin quilt. It's supposed to be a map showing Route 66, but it will forever be known to me as the "Roadmap from Hell" since I completed about 95% of it while sitting in Mike's hospital room. Maybe the sting will wear off eventually, but for now, yeah, Roadmap from Hell.

Then, it seemed like as good a time as any to trace out the stitcheries for Block E of the Gardener's Journal quilt. This one is the orchard.

And then there's this little snail.

This poor quilt has been neglected unmercifully. I still haven't done the piecing for the last two stitcheries I finished. 

When these two are finished, I'll probably feel more motivated to do the piecing for both sections. Here's what I have so far:

I think when I add two more sections, it's really going to start looking like something. Whatever the case, I'll just keep plugging away at it until it's finished.

Tomorrow I'll have the whole day at home, and so I'm looking forward to finishing the top for the Saltwater Taffy quilt.

I want to add two more rows, which will mean piecing four little blocks, and then I'll sew all of them together. My goal is to tie it next month. It's a flannel quilt, and I prefer it when flannel is tied. This quilt is a little hard to love, as I keep saying. Still, I made a similar quilt once before using scraps from a different quilt along with some remnants I'd picked up along the way. I felt the same way about it, and now it is Mike's favorite quilt. Here's a picture of it. It's one of the first quilts I made.

It seemed crazy to put those pinks and red stripes in with the greens, golds, and browns, but it turned out okay. I call this quilt "My Stars and Garters".

So as you can probably tell, I don't have much to talk about today. Tomorrow, maybe I'll have a finished flimsy to show you. What are your weekend plans?