Two Cross Stitch FFOs and I’m Grounded

It’s a perfect day here in New England. The sky is blue, the temperature warm, and my maple tree is giving a hint of the color to come. I should be at my guild meeting this morning, and I had planned to head up north with my camera next week in search of autumn’s glory, but unfortunately, I’m grounded. :-(

I have a diabetic related foot condition called Charcot foot. I have been wearing my trusty big, black boot for the past three weeks, but on Friday my doctor said that was not enough. He wants me to stay off my foot for a month! My doctor does not pull any punches and since the consequences of not following his directives could be dire, you can bet that I’m going to be good. One of my mottos is “It is what it is; deal with it.” At least I have a lot of stitching and quilting and a stack of books to keep me busy. Let’s see how much I get accomplished in a month. :-)

Miss Emma has only had two walks in the last three weeks, but those two bootless walks were not smart on my part. Fortunately, chasing squirrels in our big backyard gives her plenty of exercise. 

I’m glad my appointment was on Friday because I got to do two fun things before being grounded. On Wednesday evening, I saw my quilting friends and on Thursday, I attended a picnic at Webb State Park in North Weymouth. (I didn’t do the walking part.) Carol, second from the right, is our ‘social director’ who 

arranges for us from time to time to get together. All these lovely women had long careers teaching in the Weymouth Public Schools. Speaking of teaching, let me show you the new Maria Weston Chapman Middle School which opened in September.  It may appear huge (you are only seeing about two thirds of it), but 1,400 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders will be in the building. Trust me, you need a really big building to contain all that energy!!! Since I retired from the old Chapman building, I would love to see the inside of the new one.

 On Friday after my appointment, my friend Emma’s Auntie Laurel” came to do some quilting. Emma was over the moon excited to see her as it has been a long time since Laurel has been able to come. Then my cousin Linda stopped in for a visit. She had been speaking at an in service program at a school on the Cape. Linda is a Speech Language Pathologist and has authored two books on Declarative Language. Emma was thrilled to see her, too!

Since Linda had stopped by, I decided to give her her Christmas present early.

Another quilt which was in the recent Herring Run Quilt Guild show is for my other cousin when next I see her.

On to the stitching . . . First up, “Candy Corn Broom,” a pattern by Needle Bling Designs. 

Second is a section from “Welcome Pumpkin” by Stitching with the Housewives.

The piece has a washer on the back and the barn a magnet, so pieces may be easily switched out. The barn backing board was from 141 Design Company on Etsy. I’m going to attach some kind of wreath to the peak of the barn. You may recall this photo of my summer version which was also a section from a Stitching with the Housewives pattern.

I have another finished piece that I will share in my next post.

Stay safe and creative and keep smiling and do take a lovely walk around the block for me. :-) :-) :-)