A Tired Old Dog learns a New Trick Posted by Virginia "Ginnie" Leiner on January 19, 2018 at 9:00pm View Blog 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