I thought I would post a quick check in now that I am home from Vermont! If you are on Instagram, you might have seen the photos I posted from the trip. It was such a treat to spend so much time with my son and his family.
The first day there, my grand daughter woke with a fever. While I certainly don’t want to ever wish her ill, I have to admit, I enjoyed holding her a bit extra while she wasn’t feeling well. This girl is usually on the go and doesn’t have time for very many grammy cuddles. That Monday when she was under the weather, she was running around a bit less and happy to sit on my lap and look at books a bit more so that was a treat.
The rest of the week, she was a bundle of energy. We took lots of walks, ran a few errands and played in the back yard. Remember I posted about the projects I intended to complete during nap time? I was mostly successful. I started a blouse for myself. All that is left is to finish the neckline and the armholes. I brought the wrong type of bias tape so that was set aside and I will finish it up this week.
I did get a pillow case made for the baby’s bed. The pillow case with the kitties was made just before I left home. The baby got a kick out of it and pointed to the kitties as we meowed.
While in Vermont, I made one with a soft flannel from Michael Miller. (I love the flannels I have in stock – They are really soft and thick.) She loved the fish and we had fun pointing to those too. I kept telling her the colors of each one which would make her smile as we went along, though she really hadn’t a clue what I was saying. Haha – Grammy’s have to try, right?
When I cut the fabric, it was a bit shorter than I wanted. To remedy this, I left the selvages on and then bound the edge with a bright orange print from my stash (maybe a Dear Stella print??) This worked well and the pillowcase was generously sized.
Unfinished leggings for the Halloween season.
Also I made the leggings I had planned. I love the way they look on her though I didn’t remember to take a picture so you will have to trust me on that one. I used the same pattern from Toddah as I used for her reindeer leggings last Christmas.
Other than that, no other sewing took place. I am not afraid to admit she wore me out by the end of the day. The plans I had to sew after she went to bed each night didn’t materialize (no pun intended!) By then, I was wiped out and usually watched a bit of tv and went to bed. I did manage to finish a book, The Housegirl, by Tara Conklin. It was a good read and I would recommend it. The story is about a current day young lawyer who is working on a reparations case to recognize the descendants of African American slaves and it ties to a young girl who was a slave in the 1800’s. I thought it was really interesting and of course, a bit sad – still a good story though.
I am happy to be back home – I was gone nine days which is a long time to be away. While I was away, I didn’t have one single migraine. I have talked before about dealing with chronic migraine. It is really incredible to go such a long stretch without a headache. I have been home since Tuesday night and still haven’t had one. So it has been since August 25th. I was texting my sisters about this and one of them asked me how much time I spent on the computer while in Vermont. I thought about it and realized I hardly turned my laptop on at all. I haven’t been doing much blog reading at all and didn’t write any posts (I had written the Meet & Greet post earlier and scheduled it to post). I often bring a book on my iPad to read on the plane but I was in the middle of The Housegirl so I brought it to finish up, meaning I read a paper book, not electronic. This was really interesting and made me wonder if the lesser migraine frequency was at all related to the dramatic decrease in screen time. So, I am going to test it out. For the majority of September, I am signing off the blog and won’t really be reading blogs either. I do have the September Blogger Bundle coming up on the 12th of September so I want to do a post then. But I am very curious to see if this relief from the migraines continues. I cannot give up computers completely because I need to continue to work my shop. But I know I can lessen the time spent quite a bit.
So, I will be back on September 12th with a gorgeous bundle curated by my friend Mari who blogs at The Academic Quilter. Be sure to pop over to check it out. I love the colors Mari selected!! Until then, take care and happy sewing!
Newsletter!
Have you signed up for my newsletter? It is published every month or so and is full of information about my shop, new arrivals, sales, and events. Click here to sign up!
Hi Bernie! Well, that is very interesting about the possible tie between computers/migraines. I have suffered from them periodically and can empathize with you. Just about anything you can change to avoid them you should certainly investigate. I had a very good friend that found it was tied to food (gluten specifically) issues. She drastically removed every single food from her diet and slowly added things back in. She found gluten, sugars, and caffeine to be huge triggers for her. She would occasionally eat some of those things, knowing that she would have an issue the next day. Anyway – your granddaughter is just too darn cute. I am 100% sure that is not her first selfie – they are drawn to all things they see us using, don’t you think?! Those nine days must have been the highlight of the month, for sure. ~smile~ Roseanne
I am so glad you had a wonderful vacation and time with your granddaughter, and I think evaluating if screen time is giving you more frequent migraines is a very worthy experiment. I hope you continue to be migraine free this month!!
Hi Bernie, So glad you had a good time in my neck of the woods! (I can see Vermont from my kitchen window.) Your granddaughter is adorable. Mine is a year 1/2 and SO MUCH FUN! I’m glad i’m not the only one to get tired out!
I too suffered from migraines, and ‘old age’ cured mine. Ahhh… the benefits of age! I hope you’ve found the cute for you.
Yes, a cute would be cute…
OK. Enough is enough! ‘It’ keeps changing CURE to cute…
As a fellow migraineur, I sincerely hope you find relief during your time away from screens! No need to spend even an extra second on your computer, answering this comment, though 🙂
Oh, what a fun time you had! Sorry your little one was under the weather, but snuggles are certainly good! About a year ago I bought a pair of glasses from a company called Felix Gray (online). They block out the blue light from the computer, and OMG – they have helped me immensely! I also have an application on my PC called f.lux, and it automatically adjust the brightness intensity of the computer screen according to time of day. It’s wonderful, too! Perhaps these might help your headache woes, too. Worth a try!
Welcome home, Bernie! So glad you enjoyed your time with that little cutie! Interesting about the possible migraine/screen time connection. I hope you can find some permanent relief from them. Looking forward to the Blogger Bundle, which drops on my anniversary! Great way to celebrate, I think!! 🙂
What a wonderful time you had! It would be interesting if you did get a clue as to what is causing the migraines. Clever of your sister to think of it = not so sure I would have.
Well, hurray for no migraines! But boo that it might be the computer. I do have colleagues who have special “computer glasses” (in their prescription) that have some kind of coating that’s easier on their eyes. Maybe a filter would help. This is a good time for a conversation with an opthamologist or at least an optometrist. They may not know about headaches, but could advise you on filters or glasses that might help.
I think your granddaughter is going to look a lot like you! And she’s going to rock those leggings, too. Maybe you need a matching pair? 🙂 Have a good weekend!
I’m so glad you could enjoy your time headache free while you were with that sweet little cutie pie. I hope your experiment gives you positive results (although I will miss your posts if you find that you need to cut back a lot.) I know you’ve done lots of research and treatment options, so you don’t need my input, but just two thoughts: I used to get migraines when I was working at a job that required computer work almost all day. It seemed that part of the problem with screen use wasn’t the screen itself, but the angle I held my head that created stress. The other thing is that you mentioned it being really humid when you were in VT. I have found that although humidity is really uncomfortable, I am least likely to get a headache when the humidity is high. It’s all so complex, though, so feel free to disregard my comments. 🙂
Okay I have a déjà vue feeling here, but it’s most likely due to seeing you and your DARLING on IG as I thought I’d commented! So interesting about migraines; as you know my mum suffered with terrible debilitating ones, as does my youngest daughter. Both said they are related to hormones, around period time. I know lights, red wine, chocolate, onions, and all the foods one likes, of course, seem to trigger them, too from what they’ve said. So glad and hopeful it stays this way, that you’ve been so long without one. So has Dayna for some time, just the start of a mild one but she knocked it away with meds, and she’s not quite sure either why. Those Halloween leggings are so cute, and I can just here the little pumpkin say meow!
You were very productive on your trip, in addition to the work and love of taking care of your granddaughter. I’m happy and interested to hear of your relief from migraines. I too suffer from chronic migraines, and while eye strain from the computer plays a part, my own seem most heavily influenced by stress and my cycle. But I know that if I am hunched over the computer or not wearing the right glasses (I have some with lenses that reduce glare), I am likely to provoke one, too. I really hope that you are able to sustain this longer period of time between migraines!