August 11-13, 2009 - Playing Catch-Up

Tuesday

I took a bunch of pictures of the tree contractors cutting down a tulip poplar on the property line Tuesday morning. Miss Peggy and I watched alot of it from her deck and we chatted away the early afternoon until I had to leave for the doctor's office. I don't want to bore you with all the pics here, but I did make an album on Webshots if you're interested. Unfortunately, I missed them taking the trunk down since I was gone for so long.

Uncle Wes got home Tuesday afternoon and helped me put the canvas for my next needlepoint project on the stretcher bars. I couldn't believe how fast and easy the frame went together for him! It takes me about ten minutes, and the use of a hammer, to get the stretcher bars put together; he just pushed the notches into place by hand. I'm so jealous! I told Wessy I'm having him put my frames together from now on! I decided to start Amish Trip Around the World Quilt (ATAtWQ) by Nancy Buhl of From Nancy's Needle. This is the other chart I kitted up at Fireside Stitchery in Frazer, PA.

Before I forget-again- I have to show you the birthday card Kasey received from the Cowgirl from Hanna, Christine. Call it coincidence or one of those quirks of Fate, but see all that confetti stuck to the inside of the card? I thought that was the only confetti enclosed...until a couple weeks later when I looked inside the envelope and saw all the "Happy Birthday!" confetti and balloons. Is that strange, or what? Only the dog confetti stuck to Kasey's birthday card. Thank you for thinking of my special girl on her special day, Christine! The card is adorable!

Okay, so back to this week...

Carol and I met up at Borders Tuesday night. Neither of us could make it on Monday (I was asleep) and we both needed to get out for a little while. I started ATAtWQ because it's so easy to do. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the pink in the center, though. What do you think? The substitution Nancy suggests is the skein of DMC 3688 I have next to the start. I'd have to order it in the #5 Perle.

I met with the head of Disability Services at the college on Wednesday and found out that Kasey and I are the first student/service dog team on campus. Now the pressure is on for us to set a good example! There's a faculty member who also has a service dog but no other students. The rest of the meeting went well and I received all the accommodations I requested, as my DoRS counselor had already forwarded my medical records to Mimi's office.

I will get one-and-a-half time on all timed tests and class exercises. I'll have a private room in the testing center, be able to take essay exams on a computer, and having a drink and Kasey with me at all times will not be a problem. I will also have a note-taker in Math for when I can't be in class.

We went to get my ID card made at the bookstore and I asked them if they could make one for Kasey, too. We get stopped by the guards every single time we walk through the Student Union, even though she wears a vest. The staff graciously agreed and said the faculty member with a service dog had the exact same problem.

Kasey wouldn't stand on the stool like they needed her to, but she kept jumping up on me in her excitement. I guess I've trained her too well to keep her feet off other things! I held her front feet while they zoomed the camera in on her head to get a picture. She wouldn't look at them, but the profile shot is wonderful. She even smiled! So here is Kasey's student ID card.

Wednesday was a typical dialysis day. Instead of being bored with the television channels provided, I took my new computer and my Band of Brothers DVD's and watched the first three parts of the series. I can see why BoB received so much critical acclaim. The filmmakers stayed so true to actual facts and the way things were; they didn't take artistic license to make a better story. The story itself is so gripping. I also know why my brother has watched it all the way through almost 10 times. You'd never get tired of seeing this! Talk about excellent film making! I give this 5 stars! I'm looking forward to watching the remaining parts.

When I got home on Wednesday I spent time on the computer talking to Debi and reading email. Then I realized a little after 9p.m. that I had less than three hours to eat and drink. Because of the surgery on Thursday, I couldn't have anything after midnight. I enjoyed some of the Chinese food I bought Tuesday afternoon after my doctor's appointment. The shrimp lo mien and seafood fried rice were excellent! I also loved the beef skewers, which they call Shoo Shoo. The House of Hunan at the Festival at Riva in Annapolis is the only Chinese restaurant I've been to that puts a Maraschino cherry and a pineapple chunk on the end of their skewers. They were heated just right and absolutely delicious. I'll be going back for more!

Once again, I would like to express my heartfelt thank you to everyone for their words of encouragement, support, and well-wishes. You may not realize it, but they mean the world to me and keep me going when I don't think I can go on any more. Some days are rougher than others, but I never say "I'm giving up" because I know so many of you out there are praying, encouraging, and supporting me through the hardships life throws in my path.

On Tuesday, my CRNP said something to me that really struck a chord. She said "When we set on a course, I think that God puts obstacles in our way to test our resolve." I think she's right, folks! It always seems that when I'm set on a path something happens to try to derail me. I'm not letting it this time, though! College!! Here I come!!

Thursday

As usual for a 5:30a.m. drop-off, Uncle Wes took me to the hospital on his way to work. I had one vein for them to put an IV in but they couldn't draw any blood. They tried a butterfly needle in three different spots with no luck. Needless to say, I have bruises all over my arm.

Luckily I had an anesthesiologist who knew me. I told him we couldn't put this procedure off because the stents had already been in for a year and could calcify at any time. I also told him it had to be today because school starts in ten days. He agreed that since I'd been there on Friday and my potassium doesn't get high, unlike alot of dialysis patients, they could do the surgery without up-to-the-minute blood work. I was so relieved when he agreed to go ahead! I had two procedures cancelled last year because of blood work and I didn't need that hassle again! Not to mention the fact that I felt like Dracula's wife with all the needle sticks they did today!

I have to say that the procedure must have gone well because I was in absolutely no pain when I woke up in Recovery. Even after the anesthesia started wearing off there was no pain. That bodes well for waiting another year to change the stents. If they'd been calcified or if the doctor had problems putting the new ones in, I'd be in alot more pain.

I thought I'd go right home and sleep but that wasn't to be. I was sitting in my chair, barely able to keep my eyes open, but every time I went to bed I stayed awake. Talk about frustrating! I was completely exhausted but couldn't sleep! It wasn't until after 6p.m. that I was able to finally sleep but I woke up at 8:00.

Man, was I hungry! I went in the kitchen and looked in the fridge but nothing appealed. Instead, I had some green beans and then I skewered and grilled a can of pineapple chunks. I also made mini burgers and some seasoned beef for spaghetti sauce out of a package of ground beef. I ate three of the mini burgers for a snack, along with some of the grilled pineapple. I froze the seasoned beef to use later.

Then I went to work on ATAtWQ for a few hours. I know it doesn't look bad in this picture, but the center square of this design is bright pink (DMC 602). It clashes with all of the colors around it. I'm still thinking of substituting in the 3688 or possibly something else. I have to look at my color card and see what would work in its place. This is my progress as of a little after midnight.

PS: In case you're wondering about the Trademark & Copyright notices, they're because I was once again contacted by a feed search to write a description for the "author's words" for their site. I not-so-politely this time told them they did NOT have my permission to list my blog on their site and I informed them they also do not have the right to reproduce any part of my blog on their search engine. I forwarded them the original email declining their first offer to list Crossed Purposes on their site as well.

I write this blog as a way to show my daily stitching progress; not to see how many subscribers I can gather! Thank you to all my faithful followers! I can't believe there are 75 of you! When I started Crossed Purposes, it was with the intent to show people that needlework isn't just "cranked out" en masse. I wanted to demonstrate, with pictures, the time and effort that goes into each and every work of needle art you see. In turn, I hoped people would have a better appreciation of the value of the work when they see something at a craft show or arts fair.

November 8, 2008

Here is the entire colorway! The stars will repeat going counter-clockwise on the other side of the center star.

The light purple small star at the top is Grape Jelly by Six Strand Sweets. The next is Needle Necessities 1481. Then I used Weeks Dye Works' Peoria Purple. The small star at the bottom is Needle Necessities 176. That's all the purple-y-ness I've used so now you can imagine how it will look when completed.

I also started filling in the blank areas in the medium stars. I've used DMC 4030 and I think it really helps set off the stars. I almost changed my mind last night when I saw the green in the floss, but I really liked the look once I got it in.

I'm having alot of fun with this design. Picking out the colors was a little nerve-wracking, but the result is worth it! I've decided to make another change in the design but this one won't be as noticeable. Instead of using eyelet stitches throughout the background in varous areas, I'm going to do Rhodes Squares. The eyelet stitches I've done so far took alot of effort to get the needle in the center hole after 15+ stitches, not to mention the 32nd one! The Rhodes Squares are the same size and I don't have to try to get two strands of floss into the same hole dozens of times.

November 7, 2008

Around midnight, I took all my overdyes, silks, and metallics and spread everything out on a white piece of cloth at the dining room table. I spent hours looking at different combinations and finally came up with what you see to the left.

Let the PURPLE-Y-NESS commence!

At the top is Dragon Floss by Polstitches' #17 Friendship with Kreinik #8 braid 9294. Moving counter-clockwise is Berry Twist by Six Strand Sweets and Kreinik 9400. Next is Royal Purple by GAST and Rainbow Galleries' Nordic Gold. Finally, I used Six Strand Sweets' Witches Brew and Kreinik 023. The stars repeat, continuing counter-clockwise on the right side of the center stars. The blank spaces inside the stars will be filled in with DMC 4030, a varigated turquoise.

I also chose the 4 colors for the ring of small stars that surrounds the medium ones, but you'll have to wait and see what I've come up with until I stitch them.

I know I used alot of different fiber manufacturers, but keep in mind that I only used what was already in my stash. I'm not allowing myself to go out and purchase anything to complete this design. It was emtirely coincidence that I had floss to exactly match these metallics. It's very suprising when you consider the fact that I used three of the metallics from the original kit but changed all the other fibers.

I've gotten comments from more than one person that said they didn't like this chart when they saw it, or if they had seen it in a shop they would have walked right past it. I hope my version shows you that you can choose a color and run with it! The only thing I would change in my version is the canvas itself. I'd definitely stitch this on a black or purple if I was kitting it up from scratch.