January 20, 2009

I think I started something when I made that Shepherd's Pie earlier this month! I wasn't able to eat anything most of the weekend without feeling sick so I just didn't eat. Yesterday I finally made steamed chicken and plain white rice and was able to eat it. That did the trick and helped me turn the corner to feeing better.

Today I was in the mood for something warm and filling, so I made another Shepherd's Pie. This time I used a 2lb package of mashed potatoes, instead of just 24oz. I also used 1lb of chicken breast tenderloins that I baked for 45 minutes and then shredded, all in the glass casserole dish. I topped the shredded chicken with a 10oz package of cooked peas and the mashed potatoes. I put several pats of butter on top because these potatoes said to add butter to taste. I'm a butter-only girl from way back! No low-fat, low-calorie crap for me! That stuff is nasty! The second picture was taken after I mixed the butter into the potatoes and scooped out my sample. I just had a little before getting ready to leave for the Heirloom Stitchers meeting. Mmm mmm!

This was today's progress on 'A Stitcher's Companion' by Enchanting Lair. To see what the finished project will look like, click here. The picture on the website is much more purple than the actual colors used, so don't be fooled! They're actually more red/pink. The purple-y-ness factor of my picture is real!

I went to the Heirloom Stitchers meeting tonight and took Kasey in her Service Dog in Training capacity. I was SO proud of her! She didn't get up to greet people as they came in and slept on the floor beside my chair for most of the meeting. I told her it was okay to get up and see everyone a couple times but she came back and laid down beside my chair again when she was through making her rounds of the table. She didn't wander around the room and sniff at all and Sharon at one point said "I forgot she was here!" There can be no better compliment of a SDiT's behavior! That's my girl!

December 9, 2008

I stitched, I stitched! I did three whole eyelet stitches at my two-hour-long stitch-in. Pathetic, right? Yes, I know! But it's three more stitches than when I got there, anyway. I guess that just goes to prove I'm in a serious stitching slump. It happens...

Carol B brought these cute packages to our meeting for each of us, as well as a cinnamonny votive candle. She kitted up a Lizzie*Kate freebie,
"Joy." I love how she put it all together! Everything is there to stitch it and to finish it, too! Thank you, Carol!!

My Day 9 present in the CSE Advent Exchange included "Stitcher's Motto" by Plum Pudding Needleart and "Cadoozles" mechanical pencils. I decided to share some of the pencils with a few of the girls in Heirloom Stitchers. They went great with the little notebooks I included in their gift bags, and there are plenty left for me! I love the saying in the PPN chart "Home is where you hide your stash" although there's no hiding mine!

More than 50 free cross stitch patterns can be found here. Beware: BAP's ahead!
http://www.pinoystitch.org/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=84

Yiotas-xstitch has freebies for many different tastes. She also has more designs that can be downloaded for a fee.
http://www.yiotas-xstitch.com/freebies.php

November 11, 2008 Veteran's Day

Wow! Was today ever busy!

I didn't wake up til after 2pm, so I called to see if Carol B wanted to go to the Stitching Post with me but she was at the doctor's office. Even worse, she said she wouldn't be at the Heirloom Stitcher's meeting tonight because she had to take her mom to a Veteran's Day Function.

So I went to TSP on my own to pick up my Ebb Tide Kit. I also traded the Soie d'Alger 1845 that I was mistakenly given last time for the correct 5022. Now I have all the silks to complete Amethyst Snowflake once I get it washed.

I didn't do any looking around the shop except for a new Accessory Bag. Once I got the complete list of items in the "Basic Sewing Kit" from Cameo Roze's site, my accessory bag was filled to the brim, and that didn't include my new laying tool and chatelaine set. I refuse to try to fit them in and risk something happening to them. I didn't find anything appropriate for the use I intended, so I'm going to look at Staples or Office Depot later this week. I need a rectangular box, preferably plastic, with a snap-on lid to hold everything.

I purchased these fabrics for A Stitcher's Companion and The Peacock Stitching Chair. The two pieces on the left are 28ct Platinum Cashel linen for A Stitcher's Companion by Enchanting Lair. The piece on the right is 32ct Waterlily Jobelan for The Peacock Stitching Chair by The Cat's Whiskers Design Studio. Both of these designs are stitched with Dinky-Dyes silks, so I'm very excited to get them started. Of course, I'm probaby going to change the colors for A Stitcher's Companion to purple it up, but I haven't made any decisions on that yet. I'll let you know when I do!

From TSP I stopped by Chic-Fil-A and got a kid's meal with chicken nuggets and waffle fries. Something didn't agree with me so I only ate three of the nuggets and not even half the fries. I think it was the sweet tea, but I'm not sure. I fed the leftover nuggets to Kasey when I got home. The fries got tossed with the rest of my trash at the restaurant.

CFA wasn't far from where Heirloom Stitchers meets, so I went there. I was over an hour early and decided to get some books from the library and then chose a semi-soft chair back in the reference section to sit and read until it was time for the meeting.

Kathy Y was the only one there when I went over to the conference room, but Sharon soon joined us. About a half hour later Rosemary came in, too. It was only the four of us, which was disappointing. I guess some of the other ladies had other commitments tonight. On the bright side, though, Kathy brought her extra Ergo floor stand to give to me! I found these online last year and have been wanting one ever since! I never thought I'd get one! She even had the accessory arm to hold my chart and sort my floss! Thank you, Kathy!!

I stopped at a wonderful Chinese restaurant after the HS meeting was over. L'Rose Hunan in Odenton had impeccable service, delicious food, and followed the meal with a hot towel and fortune cookie served with a small scoop of sherbet. I had the Happy Family, which was shrimp, scallops, beef, and chicken with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and broccoli in a white sauce. I especially enjoyed the hot tea. It had a very nice flavor. This is definitely a restaurant I will visit again!

I was really hoping to have Eight Pointed Stars completed tonight but that just didn't happen. I hardly got any stitching done at our meeting. We spent alot of time discussing the EGA stash swaps and chart series that we did and didn't like, then went into a discussion on the disappointing LizzieKate ornament in the JCS ornie issue, among many other topics. We were a very chatty bunch tonight. When I returned home I set up the floor stand and completed squaring off the small stars, so this is as far as I got before the stroke of midnight.

September 19, 2008

Today was a busy day although the morning was relaxing. I did some stitching on TTTST and watched some television while eating breakfast. I didn't have to go anywhere until dialysis at 2pm but we left here around 1pm so that I could drop Kasey off at home, find some warmer clothes to wear tomorrow, and get lunch at Wawa-the usual, of course.

I did some stitching at dialysis but found myself dozing off. I put my stitching away and succumbed to the exhaustion. Apparently I need a nap every day or one is forced upon me.

Following dialysis, I had to go to the bank for cash for Renn Fest, stop by the house to pick up my NetFlix movies that arrived this afternoon, and drive to Odenton to meet Carol for the Renn Fest tickets. She and I talked for a while about going some other weekend, as well as arranging a group trip to The Stitching Jubilee. We're going to go on Thursday because that's my non-dialysis day and we would really like other members of Heirloom Stitchers to join us. We also showed our WIP's and both of us are in frogging mode. Hers wasn't as visible a mistake as mine, but it won't be much ripping so I told her to go ahead and do it.

Since I have to meet Mary Ann and Diana tomorrow at 10am, I left Kasey at home with Uncle Wes. The Renn Fest grounds are 1.9 miles from where I am and home is about 7.5 miles. If I'm not absolutely wiped out when I leave there tomorrow, I'll go home and pick up Kasey then. Otherwise, I'll get her sometime Sunday after I recover from all the walking and eating and being out in the sun. The weather is supposed to be divine tomorrow but after being in the hospital for two weeks my stamina is probably nowhere near its usual level. So just be warned: of you don't see a stitching update or blog post on Sunday it's because I slept all day!

September 10, 2008

I was rudely awakened by the Patient Care Technician (PCT) putting up the rail of my hospital bed this morning. I always jump when I'm woken up by a noise and I scared her. I asked her where she was taking me and she said to dialysis. I looked at her and said "Um, NO! I'm walking! I'll sit in a chair for my treatment." She said she would check to see if they had chairs. I was thinking to myself the whole time 'I know they have chairs, because I've used one many times before!'

I got up and dressed, brushed my teeth and hair, gathered my stitching, iced tea, book, and iPod and walked to the dialysis suite for my treatment. I didn't do any stitching because I only slept for about two hours. I just couldn't concentrate on stitching so I read my book instead. I brought three romance novels to the hosptial with me because I know how bad my memory and concentration are when I'm in here. Romances don't require thinking but they're great for at least staying occupied.

The infectious disease doc, Dr Y, came by on her rounds. She let me know that the staph I have is not the MRSA that did so much damage to my kidneys from 1999-2000, so that was a relief. She said that there was an antibiotic that I could get during dialysis so I may be going home Thursday or Friday, depending on the results of the blood cultures that were done today and yesterday.

The IT technician came into the dialysis suite during my treatment to find out where my laptop was. When I told him it was in the safe in my room, he said not to worry, he'd come back after I was finished. Miss Irene accompanied him and 'Lo and Behold! It worked! Out of the blue, it connected to the internet. Luckily he knew I wasn't making anything up because of Miss Irene's visit yesterday, but I was so mad! I'd like to know what happened and what changed all of a sudden and now there's no chance of that.

When I finally got to Yahoo, I found 181 email messages. That's what I did for the next several hours: reading and replying to the posts, as well as finally being able to send out a blanket post letting everyone know why I'd been MIA for more than two days.

Carol B called me and said that she was planning on coming down for a few hours tonight so that we could have a stitch-in in my room. Earlier, I'd emailed her best friend and told her that I was upset about missing the Heirloom Stitchers' meeting last night and that I wanted a do-over! Now I get it because Kim W is coming over to join us!

Kim only put in about four stitches on her L&L Enchanted Alphabet, but Carol got some progress made on her current LHN project and I worked on Charmed Dreams. We watched PS I Love You, which is why Kim didn't get much stitching done. Carol and I have both seen the movie (ok, you knew *I* have seen it because I talked about it too much...deal with it!) but this was Kim's first time seeing it. Now she says she has to see it again. Another convert! So now, how many people have watched it because I've reccommended it? Head count, please! Debi, Carol, Meari...who else?

The girls started gathering their stitching and headed home around 10:15pm. They were afraid their husbands would start worrying that they'd been admitted to the hospital, too! One of my nurses, Ellen, was kind enough to come in and take this picture of the three of us with our stitching bags. Pictured from left to right is Kim, me, and Carol.
My stitching mojo was still flowing, so I continued working on Charmed Dreams until the wee hours of the morning. This is my progress as of midnight. I have one-fourth of the stitching done, minus the beads. This design is a repeat of the first five motifs, so I have to stitch the purple star and the cream circles with the backstitched motif three more times. Then all I have to do is add the beads and the center medallion and this project will be completed!

August 30, 2008

S.E.X., R.A.K., trade...three different ways to enhance your stash and all three happened to me today!

Uncle Wes drove me to the Macaroni Grill in Annapolis this afternoon to meet the two Carols from the Heirloom Stitchers group. We had lunch together, along with Carol Bo's son Raymond, and spent the meal chatting together. Carol's husband and F-I-L arrived for their own lunch and Ray decided he wanted to stay with his dad while us three ladies went to Catonsville to raid the LNS.

Now comes the S.E.X. (that's Stash Enhancement eXperience for those of you with a dirty mind!)...Carol Ba couldn't believe that I planned on going to the LNS with only five dollars but that's exactly what I intended to do. She told me to buy whatever I wanted and she would spot me until I get paid on Wednesday, so I purchased enough Soie d'Alger to get started on both Common Ground and Queen of the Needle by Just Nan. I also picked up 2 small "Doodles for leftovers" kits by Hob-Nobb Designs, a container of Thread Heaven (mine disappeared), a new Needle Nest, Lizzie Kate's "Housework Never Killed Anyone (but why take a chance)" Snippet, an acrylic 12" ruler that holds a stitched band in the middle, and a purple needle minder. Carol Ba and I are both purple fanatics, so we split a two-pack of needleminders between us. Of course, there were other things I ogled and fondled, but I contained myself and spent just under $60 for all of the above.

Here is a close-up of the Hob-Nobb embellishments. I couldn't resist these two charts. I enjoy doing these "Doodles for leftovers" charts because they don't tell you specific colors to use. Rather, the idea is to use whatever is in your stash, hence "for leftovers."

When we got back out to Carol Bo's truck following a jaunt into the adjacent yarn shop, she said "You've been RAK'd!" and placed Just Nan's "When Barnabee Met Bella" biscornu chart and the WDW fabrics for it on the seat between us. This was one of the charts I had ogled and put back. The fabrics are 30ct Morris Blue and 30ct Lilac. This is going to be gorgeous when completed, so now I have to get the silks for it!

Speaking of silks and Just Nan, I know I said I was going to stitch Common Ground in DMC but I have since changed my mind. Or had my mind changed for me, whichever you prefer. Kathy Y brought her Common Ground to the last Heirloom Stitchers meeting. She is stitching it with the silks Nan calls for. We were both astonished to see the difference between the silk and the DMC conversion I used to start mine. It was so drastic that I have decided to frog the small amount of border I have stitched and re-start using the recommended silks. I was able to purchase one of each green needed, so I will probably begin on that early next year. I still have 72 finishes to do to meet my goal for this year so I won't be starting any more large projects until 2009.

Carol Ba had a birthday party to go to so Carol Bo and I headed back to my house where we picked up a very excited Kasey Kay and took her downtown. Kasey and I gave Carol a walking tour of part of Downtown Annapolis and City Dock. We checked out William Paca's house, the Paws Pet Boutique on State Circle, and then headed over to the Starbucks in the basement of the Maryland Inn. Carol is very interested in architecture, so I knew she'd enjoy being in the basement of such an old building. Kasey accompanied us in her "assistance dog in training" capacity. She was so well-behaved that none of the employees even realized she was inside the building. We were on the other side of the fireplace so they couldn't see her once we sat down. Kasey did very well on her extended "stay" and didn't try to get up to greet newcomers, just rolled onto her side to accept their adjulation and petting.

Carol had to get back home before Ray started driving George crazy asking where she was, so she dropped Kasey and me off at home and headed back to her house. I have to thank both Carols for their wonderful company and gifts today. I appreciate it so much and it was nice to get out of the house.

Kasey and I walked down to the mailbox around 8:00pm to see what goodies the mailman left us. My trade from Nancy K arrived! I am sending Nancy 24" of Aida band and a chart and she sent me the American Sampler by Leisure Arts and The Quiltmaker by Told in a Garden. I saw this TIAG chart and fell in love! Each side is twenty miniature quilt squares and there is a pen-and-ink print by Greg Kempf to frame between the two sides. Kempf is an Amish artist who uses his talent to show his people to others who would otherwise never get to see them. The American Sampler is another wonderful addition to my collection of patriotic charts and kits.

So there you have it: S.E.X., a RAK, and a trade; the different ways my stash was increased today. It was alot of fun. It wore me out. I wouldn't change a thing about today! Thank you Carol, Carol, and Raymond for getting me out of the house today. Now I'm probably going to have to sleep all day Sunday to recover!

August 12, 2008

I went to the Heirloom Stitchers meeting at the Provinces branch of the AA County Library tonight and we had a good showing for a summer month. Kim and Kathleen both brought giveaway items and I took Times Remembered from my trade album to Kim. I picked up the March/April and May/June 1991 and the May/June 1992 issues of Better Homes & Gardens Cross Stitch & Country Crafts magazine, the April 1997 issue of BH&G Cross stitch and Needlework magazine, the 1988 CS&CC Keepsake Calendar, Leaflet 222-Quick Kitchen Projects by Leisure Arts, and Countable Jewelry by Janice Shirley from our stash giveaway piles this evening. I accepted the three magazines as a trade from Kim, so I was quite pleased she happened to bring them this evening. I've been trying to fill in my collection of CS&CC magazines because I love the designs. The only magazine I like that is now in publication is The Gift of Stitching. None of the others have more than one or two designs I would ever care to stitch.
Our meeting had alot less stitching going on this month. It seems I wasn't the only one that hasn't been in the mood to stitch. Carol B and Kim left around 8pm and the rest of us sat and chatted without doing any stitching for the remaining half hour. I only did a little bit of stitching on Golden Puppy because I forgot my working copy of the chart and kept losing my place on the original chart that is unmarked.

July 8, 2008

Today was my Heirloom Stitchers meeting near Ft. Meade, MD. I so look forward to getting together with other stitchers from the area, sitting around stiching and chatting. It's nice to have someone in person to bounce ideas off of and get tips and tricks.

Tonight there were seven of us. I took Common Ground to show my start and worked on Mount Coot-tha. And the frogs kept visiting! I had to rip-it! a couple times because I kept forgetting about the errors on the chart. It was frustrating, but I'm finally past those sections of the design. I've also realized that there is alot more stitching in this design than the previous two I've done. I'd like to get it finished in a week, but we'll see how that goes.

Our meeting ended at 8:30pm and Carol, Carol (both are Carol B, so putting a last initial doesn't lessen the confusion! hehe), and I decided to get dinner at the Pizza Hut located right there in the same parking lot. Another hour and a half of laughing and sharing stories about our funny, crazy families ensued.

I arrived back home around 10pm to a very excited little Golden girl. As usual when I'm not home, Uncle Wes was sleeping with his bedroom door open so Kasey wouldn't have a panic attack and bark the house down. She has this thing about the door being closed between her and the only person home at the time: Apparently it's not allowed. And obviously she has us well trained! I put my stitching bag and purse down and closed Wessy's door so we wouldn't wake him up.

Kasey took forever to settle down. She'd obviously been worring herself about my not being home because she hadn't even touched her dinner and she gets fed at 8:00. Yes, we're trained in that department, too, but that's mainly because Chet will meow your ears off if his food isn't in his bowl my 8pm, sharp. Himalayans being half-Siamese, he's very good at it, too!

It doesn't look like I've been working on this for two days, but this is all the progress I've made. I certainly hope I can get alot more done tomorrow!

March 18, 2008

I was determined to finish In the Land of the Free before I went to bed. I put the last bead on at 4:30 this morning. That's my 8th Challenge finish for the year, and my 12th finish overall! I'm trying to force myself out of the stitching slump I've been in and think I've made great progress towards that goal.

This evening was the Heirloom Stitchers meeting at Provinces Library. Carol Boyer invited me to join their group back in December, but I got sick. I was in the hospital for the January and February meetings, so this was the first one I was able to attend.

Uncle Wes drove with me, because the meeting was from 6-8:30 pm and I can't drive after dark. He dropped me off at a few minutes before 6:00 and went to Arundel Mills Mall. There were six of us stitching and one member even brought two grocery bags filled with stash she wanted us to go through and take home what we wanted. So here are the charts I picked up:

Terra Australis by Dinky-Dyes Designs
We Gather Together by With Humble Heart
To Thine Own Self be True by With Humble Heart
Meow by Angel Stitchin
Quaker Mini Treats by Samplers and Such
Ladybugs and Bumblebees by Country Cottage Needleworks
Morning Berries by Little House Needleworks
Kathleen by Indigo Rose
Praise Sampler by The Sampler House
Mother & Child by Forget-Me-Not in Stitches
Stitch Sampler by Charlotte's Web Needleworks
Women are Like Teabags by Sweetheart Company
Queen Mary's Garden (Kit) by Liz Turner Diehl, Inc.
Keychain kit by Creative Vision Design

I'm most excited about Terra Australis, because it's part of the Quilt Block Series by Dinky-Dyes. I just received Southern Stars, which is part of the same series and plan on stitching them as soon as my Challenge is completed.

I loved sitting around with other stitchers and chatting about our pets and families. I've never stitched with anyone before and it was a very nice interlude. I worked on Pocket Sampler: Dad until I ran out of my strand of floss. I forgot to put the flosses back with the chart after I finished making my stash list, so I didn't have any other floss with me. DUH!



Luckily, I stuck a couple kits in my stitching bag so I worked on Lavender Luminesence by The Sweetheart Tree. Time seemed to fly, though, because 8:30 arrived without us realizing. There are a couple of us who plan on taking our own unwanted stash to next month's meeting, so I'm sure I'll come home with more goodies, but I also plan on giving away some of the things I'll never stitch.