Calendar Poodle SAL

Friday, May 22, 2015

Busy and Better

Hi friends! I have been busy making two styles of headbands for Madeleine ( she is growing out her bangs :).

I am busy going to physical therapy twice a week. It is helping! Truly! Our goal is to keep my pain level at a 3 without pain spikes. I am even able to walk a tad bit more on the treadmill. I am working at it. My exercises take about 35 minutes a day. We are strengthening my abdominal muscles, my back and my pelvic floor. Man! It feels good to be more physical. More active. Less frightened of being hurt. Woo hoo!

I've been busy in the garden. I was able to work in the garden for one hour last night!!! Then I made a big mistake. I did all the weed pulling on my knees, using the kneeling pad. Two garden beds are horrible with weeds because I did no work on them AT ALL last year due to pain. Well, I thought last night that I should try pulling weeds standing and bending down/over to pull. I did this for about 10 minutes after that one hour. THAT is what has my back and hips in pain today. Dumb. Correct positioning is so important!

I have also been busy making gifts for kind friends. No pictures yet. One is in the mail. The other gift is being stitched.

I did finish up another pink Quaker motif.
I am working on yet another. It will be the last. You will have to wait just a bit longer to see the finish.

I received this lovely chart from Our friend Jo. She gave away gifts for her Fourth Blogoversary.
Yes! The same pattern you recently completed dear Carolien. I thought of you. :)
Guess what?! I HAVE ALL 484 PINK FABRICS NEEDED FOR THE EPIC PINK CHARM QUILT! Yes, it is true. I want to start piecing NOW!!!! I have to finish the pink/chocolate Quaker work first. Soon.

Oh yes! Another thing that kept me busy this last month, and for many months to come. I found my ministry calling. I noticed at church that the altar robes the men and boys wear need help. Some have missing buttons, or torn button loops.  Some have soot from candles. Some have wax on them. Some have wine stains. So I discussed this with Father. He is very happy that I want to help. Each week I take home two robes after the Liturgy. I fix them up and bring them back the next week. I see this as a devotion to the greater glory of God.

I am still reading the Bible every day.

Have a fantastic weekend my friends! Thank you for your kind words.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie
The truth hurts


30 comments:

Angela Tucker said...

Good morning! Wonderful that you are starting to feel better. It's hard to take it easy when you have a lot to do...just pace yourself. Believe me, those weeds will still be there next week. LOL

I think that everyone has a gift from God. Sometimes it's a skill, sometimes an ability to listen and really HEAR what someone said. Thank you for sharing your gift.

Mii Stitch said...

Love your quaker stitching! The colours are just perfect :)

Tricia said...

What a wonderful update, Vickie! I am so glad you are feeling better - well, except for your weed pulling glitch! - and that you have found a ministry. I've been praying for you this week and that is a wonderful answer to prayer!! Love the chart you won. You have so many wonderful projects to work on! Happy stitching!

Tricia

Honeybee said...

Looking forward to watching your progress on that quilt! It's gonna be fabulous! :O)

rosey175 said...

Hooray for feeling better! I am sure those weeds will be happy to wait for you haha. I am somewhat lazy with them. I snip them down close to the ground and then bury them in grass clippings from the yard. They eventually calm down. :)

And congrats on the chart AND all the pink fabrics!! It will be fun to watch you piece that together.

Barbara said...

Love that pink and brown! I'm sorry you're in such pain today but we do learn from our mistakes unfortunately. Praying it ends soon!
Blessings

gracie said...

Wonderful hat the therapy is helping. Do not try to do so much out in the garden. I have to keep after Dennis not to over do. You are a kind and lovely lady to help with the robes at church.

Ann at Beadlework. said...

Good for you Vickie, it's a labour of love indeed.
I'm glad that the physio is helping - long may it continue.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear that the PT is helping.

Living with chronic pain is just very wearing on your soul.

Annie said...

Glad to hear so much progress on the pain front.

I can't believe you have 484 different pink fabrics. Who knew so many even existed?

I just noticed the new profile pic. Don't know how long it's been there, but you look lovely in it with your two charmers in hand.

Margaret said...

Such wonderful news about the therapy working! Sorry you made your pain worse with the gardening. Hooray on getting all the pink fabrics needed for your quilt too! Fantastic!

gominam said...

Nice to know you're doin physically much better. You're getting us excited with the pink charm quilt as well. Good for you for helping out with altar robes, your kindness will surely be rewarded a hundredfold. Happy weekend.

butterfly said...


Good to see your therapy work is making things better.
Try just 2o mins a day gardening I get no pain then but if I go over this I do , maybe 20mins in the morning and again later afternoon, I find this helps.
Lovely stitching .

StitchinByTheLake said...

Vickie you're definitely a busy girl! I love that you are refurbishing the robes! blessings, marlene

Sarah in Stitches said...

So glad you're feeling better. The Quaker square looks lovely, can't wait to see the finished project :D

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Gardening is very hard work, you should relax and enjoy watching someone else weed instead!
Yay for the pink fabric collection, what an amazing project this is going to be.
And a great idea to take care of the robes. I am a little concerned about the wine stains but I guess it is communion wine? And not a swift glass during the quiet parts of the sermon?

Julie said...

It's good to read that the physio is helping you.
A labour of love you are doing in the repairs and making good the robes etc.
I'm so looking forward to seeing your pink quilt take shape

Angela said...

I'll look forward to watching your progress on this pink quilt :) Glad to hear therapy is helping you. Take care and try not to do too much in that garden ;)

Von said...

I'm so happy to hear that you are feeling so much better! Please refrain from overdoing, my friend!

Christina said...

Great news that you are more mobile and able to mange the pain. Congrats on getting all your pink fabric. Very nice Quaker.

Sally said...

I am so happy that your PT is helping you.

Looking forward to seeing your pink quilt in progress.

Meari said...

Glad you're feeling better, Vickie. Looking forward to seeing your quilt come to life. :)

Maggee said...

I am VERY glad the the PT is helping you, by minimizing the pain, and that you can go a little longer pain-free! That is wonderful news!Loving the brown and pink piece, and look forward to seeing the finish soon! Then it is quilt time! Wow! Big Hugs!

Carolien said...

Dear Vickie,

I am so happy that the therapy is helping you! Happy hugs from across the ocean, dear friend. I'm praying it will go better and better ...
Oh, you got the TIAG pattern too, how nice! I decided I want to make a small quilt/wall hanging out of it. On the stocklist of course ;)
Your stitches are lovely, I love the combination of those colours.

I really had to smile when I read about your contribution to the church: mending, repairing the robes etc. Guess who's doing this too? Washing them, repairing them, making them shorter or longer, adding pockets ... it's all in the game, grins!

So ... many waves across the ocean from your colleague :)

Bye, Carolien

P.S. Happy Pentecost!

Beth said...

So glad the PT is helping. It would be wonderful to have a bearable level of pain and much higher activity level.

Kaisievic said...

Lots of lovely pink things here, Vickie. Glad that you have found your Ministry calling.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad the PT is helping. I can't believe you have all the pink fabrics you need. I can't imagine trying to find that many. I love your pink quaker motif. The colors are so pretty.

Lillie said...

Both the thread and the fabric of your pink Quaker compliment each other beautifully. Congrats on your win.
Look like you'll have more busy days ahead with your contribution to the church, bless you but do take care and refrain from overdoing especially when you feel the pain.

Looking forward to your pink quilt.

Brigitte said...

So good to read that the physio is really helping. And I think that the pain you felt from bending over has gone by now. Or at least I hope so.
I'm looking forward to seeing your start on your pink quilt.

Frances said...

Can't wait to watch your progress on the quilt!
So glad you're coming along with your pain levels. You're working hard on it and I'm sure you will continue to improve!!
Your pink and brown is beautiful!
How wonderful to help the church. I know they will appreciate your efforts. I work on the flower guild. I love it and feel like I'm making such a contribution. 😄