Knee Update

KT cream

October 1, I had my left knee joint replaced. Since I had challenges with the right knee joint replacement, I figured this time would be easier. . . Hah. . . .was I ever incorrect!!!!

The surgeon said that my surgery went just as well as the first. For me, I had much more pain at the three internal incision sites. While the external incision healed well and the joint replacement parts continue to function well, those other painful areas stopped forward progress. 

Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies

First, the area on the inside of my knee was so sore, barely touching the area with my finger tips caused me pain. The surgeon makes a half moon internal incision in that area to access where the leg bones attach to the joint. It made sense to me why this area was so sore. 

Pumpkin scones

Massage and laser treatments at PT provided a little relief at the appointment. By the time I returned home, the area was back to being painful. I had a body massage which helped that area. I tried KT cream, which is a magnesium and arnica cream. The cream did help relax the muscles. The product is made in the USA. Also, I found taking a magnesium glycerinate supplement helpful to relax the muscles.

Second, I was unable to lift my leg with a straight leg raise until last week. The surgeon makes an internal incision through the quadricep muscle to access the knee cap. We tried all sorts of ways to wake up the nerves. Some days, while my husband was doing the leg lifting, the muscle would try to work. The result would make me laugh because the leg would shake, swing erratically or just suddenly lose all movement. My husband thought I was playing around!

Starbucks-like pumpkin bread

Third, the area on the outside of my knee, where the ligaments are reattached, was super sore. The surgeon makes an incision in this area to be able to reattach the ligaments. Last time, I had some of the same results; but, the pain was much less because from mid thigh to mid shin, that area was numb. This time, I have a lot more active nerves.

Fourth, pain under my knee cap made movements like heel slides and squats too painful. Swelling caused the knee cap not to be able to slide so that was the reason for the pain. 

Using heat during the day, I stretched the muscles and walked gingerly around the 

Pumpkin sourdough bread

house. I needed to use the walker because walking heel to toe caused me a pain range of 5-7 depending what part of my foot touched the floor. Shoes on or off. . .it didn't change the pain level. At night, I used ice to try to sleep through the pain. 

I could sit in my chair with my leg somewhat elevated. Elevating it any higher caused me too much pain. I could lay in bed in two side laying positions. I could gingerly walk around; but, that was it. The position and the continual pain didn't work for reading, hand stitching and even watching tv sometimes was a no go. I even had to forgo reading and replying to blog posts!!

Water exercise with my friend, Wendy, in her home pool

Ditch quilting on a RSC project

Even though it was painful, every day, I tried to do my previous exercises. Most days were epic fails. Week six, PT moved me from the walker to the cane after I had some relief from the pain on the inside of my knee. I found I could turn my knee to the neutral position which I had been unable to do. Late in the week, I could do five to 10 leg raises on my own. I also did some walking in my friend Wendy's pool. I sure have missed the water!!!

Week seven, I was able to do a set of 20 leg raises on my own. I practiced standing by baking pumpkin recipes. My granddaughters were over the previous weekend. We opened a large can of pumpkin puree to use half a cup to make pumpkin sugar cookies. I didn't want the puree to go to waste! 

The first recipe I made was Soft Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies which used half a cup of puree. I had to take a break putting together the wet and then the dry ingredients. Once I mixed the cookies, I found I needed to sit to shape the cookies. I rested before I did the clean up and later that day, my leg had lots of pain.

Once the pain abated some, I tried working on my sitting skills. I did some ditch quilting on a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. Gosh, it felt good to Zoom with my Friday group and make progress on a project!!! I stood up and walked a bit every 30 minutes and I took a couple hour breaks. I was able to hang with the group for about six hours.

The following day, I made Pumpkin Scones which used three quarters of a cup of puree. I did better standing while mixing the ingredients. While the scones were baking, I mixed up a batch of sourdough pumpkin bread. It needed to raise overnight. The bread recipe used three quarters of a cup of puree. 

A few more neutrals ready for the mystery 

When the scones came out of the oven, I decided it would be a good day to share a few with my friend, Wendy. I also wanted to try driving. I did drive and made the delivery. . .I asked for a few hugs which were given and felt so good!!! I'm glad my friend lives fairly close as that was far enough with a break for my first foray. It means that I'll be driving myself to PT. Driving means freedom for both me and my husband!! I did not try sitting and quilting as my knee was too sore.

The third day, I made a batch of pumpkin bread that is supposed to taste like what is sold at Starbucks. The recipe called for a cup of puree, I was probably a quarter cup short. I made the recipe anyway! It looked good and smelled good. How it tastes will have to wait until Christmas. After it cooled, I froze it. Our London daughter likes Starbucks pumpkin bread so I wanted her to do the taste test. I also baked the sourdough pumpkin bread. I finally used all of the puree!

This morning to practice standing, I ironed a few of my neutral fabrics for the upcoming Bonnie Hunter The Old Town mystery. I have a lot of neutrals ready for the first clue. I still feel unsteady walking with the cane; but, every day I see and feel improvement . . .at LAST! 

I'm off to do some ditch quilting. Goal number six on my November list was to continue with my knee PT. Goal number 11 on my November list was to do some ditch quilting on a RSC project. 

Old Town--Bonnie Hunter's 2024 Mystery

Bonnie's paint chips of the colors

Bonnie Hunter released her introductory clue to her 2024 Mystery which she has named Old Town. I like that she shares paint chips of the colors which helps me in choosing fabrics for the mystery.

While I like the colors, I don't have salmon fabrics. I considered purchasing some fabric. Then, I looked at the boxes of bits in my stash and said to myself. . .'Get a grip. . .use what you have!" 

I barely had enough of the aqua fabric. The red was easy to gather. Then I "got" to decide what color I was substituting for the salmon. 

My fabric pull minus the neutrals

I looked again at Bonnie's inspiration photos and noticed that there was evidence of green, purple and yellow. I didn't have enough purple in my stash and the value I have might be too close to the red. I have a ton of green scraps; but, that color combination didn't excite me. 

Then, I pulled my yellow scraps. I've been picking up a fat quarter here and there as well as picking up bits from the free table. I liked the way the yellow would interact with the red and the aqua. So yellow it was! I've lots of neutrals and most are already prepped. 

Some of my background fabrics

Last weekend, my oldest granddaughter helped me prewash the yellow fabric. She was amazed to find one of the yellow fabrics bled orange! I was so thankful for her help!

I had already prewashed the red. I had one fabric I the aqua that needed to be prewashed, All have been prewashed, dried, sized with Faultless fabric sizing. The Stayflo liquid starch that I used in the past is no longer produced. Faultless merged or bought out Niagara so sometimes both names are listed on the label. I've raided my "precuts" for strips that work with my fabric pull. I'm ready for clue number one!

My precuts that might work into the pattern

Gathering and prepping the mystery fabrics was goal number eight on my November list. Linking to Alycia at Finished or Not Friday; Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts and Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

Guest Blogger--Miss J (10 Years Old)

Sourdough pancake breakfast

Hello fellow earthlings, I am almost turning eleven this year, and I'm stoked! School is okay, PE is sadly no longer my favorite subject because we got a new PE teacher.(The old one moved to Florida.) 

At school we also got a new curriculum, where we have a big book where there are small sections from stories. We read one or two a week, depending on their length. There are two books each with five or so modules. All of this would be pretty great... if I didn't all ready finish all of one of the books. 

Also, I'm participating in a soccer tournament. We already played one game. Sadly, we lost it 2-0. We really lacked communication and rather passed at the wrong time or went head on to like 5. My favorite coach is the main coach for the tournament team and my favorite side coach is helping in the tournament too! My favorite coach also gives out players of the match awards, and guess who he gave it to....ME! And yes I did get both players of the game. 

My sister on pancakes

Saturday, I hung out with my grandma. I made thick crispy bacon and my sister made amazing pancakes! We served my grandma because she is still recovering from her knee surgery.

Bacon ready to eat

Then, I helped my grandma by dusting, and I mean dusting every single piece of furniture that could be dusted. Then, we chilled and watched a TV show. We decide what dessert we should make. We decided to make pumpkin cookies with a homemade pumpkin spice glaze. 

Wheat berry salad with feta and olive bread

Then we prepared a lunch of wheat berry salad. Then, we made those pumpkin cookies and we started watching the Beaver football game. At half time, we taste tested the cookies. They were delicious!

My sister making the cookies

We were upset about the Beavers losing. My mom and grandpa went to see the game, so that was the reason we spent the day with our grandma. The day has been such a blast!

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The finished cookies

Also, a note from soccer. A lot of my teammates are doing footsol but I am not because I love to have a tiny break from soccer for the winter.

This post takes care of goal number ten on my grandma's November list which was to document an activity with my grandma, sister and me!
                                 

                                                       

Goal number ten on my November list was to share the results of the Mt. Hood Quilt Guild Show, "Quilts of the East Wind," which was held November 1 and 2. To test my knee that I had joint replacement surgery on October 1, I rode with my husband to drop off my two quilt entries. Using my walker, I slowly made my way to the drop off point. That short walk was too much for me. I knew that I wouldn't physically be able to see the show. I asked my friend Nancy to take photos of my two quilts so I would at least see a photo of them hanging. She did send me photos and was I ever surprised! I'm including the judge's comments.

Chilhowie--2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery

Judge's comments: "Chilhowie: Highly successful color scheme. Excellent piecing technique. Organc quilting design contrasts well with geometric piecing. Fabulous variety of prints with well-considered placement from one block to the next. Pieced binding unifies quilt top well. Binding witdh should be consistent. Outside edges should be straight." Second place--pieced large.

Second Place--Pieced Large

Judge's comments: "Lone Star: Stunning visual impact. Excellent piecing technique. Well chosen fabric for star center. It creates a strong focal point. Red quilting thread color is a good choice to contrast well with the blue background fabric. Very good variety of quilting designs. Change in quilting thread color is thoughtful. Excellent binding technique. Outside edges should be straight."

Lone Star

This was the third show for this guild. It was the first time that participants could have their quilts judged. About 40 percent of the entrants chose to have their quilts judged. The judge posted on Facebook a photo of my Lone Star quilt with the following comment: "On Wednesday, I judged the quilt show for the Mt. Hood Quilt Guild. This was their first judged show. I'm sharing here the best of show quilt created by Terry Knott, whom I would call a very confident quilter. Look how she used red three on a blue background. No blending thread for her." It was so cool to be tagged and see that comment!!!

Best of Show--First Place Pieced Large

Of course, all Sunday, I was smiling from ear to ear!!! The award for the Lone Star quilt is especially meaningful to me because I had started quilting the background on my domestic machine when I was rear ended on a car accident. It was months before I could sit at the machine to piece. For more months, the only way I could quilt was using a walking foot. Eventually, I was able to free motion quilt in 15 to 30 minute increments. (Spending more time caused my neck to have spasms and my arms and hands to loose feeling.) I'm not as proficient as I was before the car accident, but, I still can free motion quill!

Linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap!

Brown--Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Brown selvages

Goal number nine on my November list was to catch up with the blocks for the 2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC). I wasn't able to make the brown blocks last month so I put them on the list for this month. I didn't think that I had enough "brown" selvages as brown is not a color I often use in my projects.

Some of the selvages

I pulled selvages that were some shade of brown. I decided that I had enough so I cut some selvages to length and began gluing them into blocks.

Lots of segments ready for stitching

I began gluing the bits together. It wasn't too long and I had a bunch ready for stitching.

A few selvages

This is the first activity I've done since my knee surgery on October 1. I needed to take a lot of breaks. in fact, I waited a day to do the actual stitching!

A few more selvages

It felt great to be back in the studio! Linking to Alycia and Finished or Not Friday and Angela at So Scrappy. 

October ReCap and November Goals

 

Panto pattern for QOV front

My October goals were:

✖1. Cut the fabrics for the 2024 temperature quilt. Piece blocks if possible.

✔2. Embroider the legend of Rita's temperature quilt.

✔3. Embrace PT for my left knee--joint replacement surgery is October 1! 

✔4. Begin a mini handwork project using scraps.

✔5. Document the making of the back of the guild challenge quilt.

✔6. Document the latest sourdough recipes.

✖7. Catch up with the August bonus lesson and the September and October embroidery software lessons.

✖8. Document the art classes I did through the 2024 Sketchbook Revival online course.

✔9. Document the art classes I did with my school age granddaughters.

✔10. Document the last few days of play with my youngest granddaughter.

✖11. Select fabrics for the Rainbow Scrap challenge. The color is brown.

While I wasn't able to machine sew in October, I still accomplished the majority of my list. My favorite post of

Panto pattern for QOV back

the month, was the one that my 12 year old granddaughter wrote. She was tickled that her post had so many views. When there was a comment to the post, I'd text her the comment. She texted back an answer each time. Her responses were fun to read. 

My November goals are:

1. Trim, bind, label and sleeve the QOV that I started back in August. It's back from the quilter.

2. Trim, bind, label and sleeve Indigo Way that was the Bonnie Hunter mystery last year. The quilter delivered it last Friday.

3. Catch up with the 2024 Temperature quilt.

4. Determine the fabrics for the 2025 Temperature quilt.

5. Determine the pattern for the 2025 Temperature quilt.

6. Continue with my knee PT rehabilitation.

7. Complete the August bonus lesson and the September embroidery software lessons.

8. Gather fabrics for the 2024 Bonnie Hunter mystery. Have enough prepped to begin the mystery on 11/22.

9. Finish the blocks for the 2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

10. Share the results of the Mt. Hood Quilters Guild show.

11. Make progress stitching in the ditch on a RSC project.

12. Document any play time with the two older granddaughters.

I do hope that I'll be back in the studio soon. I'll try again today. I might be able to cut a few pieces of fabric and maybe sew a few together. Regarding my knee: yesterday was the first day that I could sit with my knee in the neutral position. Perhaps, I'll be turning the corner soon and see some rapid progress with this rehab process. It's been a tough 32 days since surgery. The new parts are not the issue. It is all the muscles, tendons and ligaments that support those new parts that are giving me the issues.

Linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

 

Embroidering the Legend for Rita's Temperature Quilt--post 3

Goal number two on my October list was to embroider the legend for Rita's Temperature quilt. I used two strand of black DMC embroidery floss and the back stitch to work the numbers. Because I am early in my recovery from my left knee joint replacement surgery, getting this far took me much longer than I had expected.

Temperatures embroidered on legend

While I still have the snow, rain, sun days to add; I feel great that I was able to complete this much! The finished quilt will be going to live with Rita's husband, Brad.

I'm still unable to sit in a straight back chair for more than a few minutes so machine sewing is not an activity I can do. I also am unable to stand so cutting fabric isn't in my wheelhouse either. I'm not able to walk far with the walker either as the muscles tighten uncomfortably. This rehabilitation is becoming harder than the first one. I will get there. . . .eventually.

Linking to Alycia at Finished or Not Friday and Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts.

Granddaughter Sleepover with Guest Writer Miss K

Peach/blueberry crisp oven ready

Hi, this is Miss K, and I had the pleasure of a sleepover with my Papa and Gran. I'm writing the post today while my Gran recovers from knee surgery.

Contents of the bag of solid scraps

For lunch Papa made us BLTA (Bacon Lettuce Tomato Avocado) sandwiches with chips. It was the perfect lunch! I baked a yummy Peach and Blueberry Crisp recipe. The recipe turned out to be super easy to make. It was delicious! If you have any peaches and blueberries, I would suggest this.

Marking the pieces

Gran taught me how to make curvelets, picking through all the colorful scraps, and finding pieces that were the right size. They were so easy and fun to make using templates and extra scraps! We used a thin needle and small stitches. We don't know how they will be used; but, they are fun to make. . .well, the small stitches are hard! I like the gluing part though! I showed my sister how to make them too.

Cutting the pieces

After we watched a show, we had an appetizer of tater tots and an entree of Gran's famous chicken noodle soup made by Papa! It was amazing and very filling! We next had our crisp with ice cream and all I can say is it was great.

Teaching Miss J where to place the glue

Go Beavers! We turned on the Beaver football game. Miss J and I went to bed just after the second half. That morning we woke up and had pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. Our mama came around ten to pick us up. I had an amazing time!

The first three curvelts before trimming and pressing

Goal number four on Gran's October list was to share the information about a new handwork project. Gran wanted to link to Alycia at Finished or Not Friday, Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts and to Cynthia at Oh Scrap.