I haven't talked about it much here but I have decided I am a tired old dog.  I have an excuse of course.  Every old dog does and here is mine.

In March 2017, I had my artificial knee on the left replaced with a new artificial knee as the old one came loose and moved left.

In October 2017, they determined the right artificial knee was infected and took it out, replacing it with a spacer for 5 weeks.  Turns out they were wrong, it was not infected (good news for me) but the surgeon could not give me a new knee until a) all the tests were conclusive and b) I recovered from the surgery.

So in November 2017, I got a new right knee.  I was off work four weeks in April and 10 weeks in the fall, not returning to work until after the holidays.  Fortunately I was able to work from home part time and use sick time for the rest.

In January 2018, I was diagnosed with acute inflammatory anemia, in other words, I had too many operations and I am worn out!  I am back to work full time but not good for much else.

Lately, I haven't been too excited about much of anything.  The weather is cold and snowy (we have about 8 inches on the ground and temps in the single digits) and there is not much sunshine.  I decided I needed to get out of these doldrums so I learned a new quilting trick.  I taught myself how to paper piece quilt blocks and now I am hooked.  Here are my first two attempts:

The quilt is for my second granddaughter, Sylvia Reagan Newcomer and is called, "The Fox in the Christmas Henhouse" and yes, it is a Christmas quilt.  Next I make about half a dozen paper pieced chickens (that's a rooster you see above and we all know there is only one rooster in a henhouse) and some paper pieced henhouses.  I am not sure what (if any) other blocks I will use.  I have two different chick block patterns for the border and lots of ideas!

Hope you are all doing well.  I would love to hear from you.  Winter and fatigue have me on-line too much!

Be well and learn new tricks!

Ginnie