Three Days, Four Stitched Finishes

Yep, you read it right! I've pretty much done nothing but stitch and sleep for the last three days.
I stuck a cross stitch project in my stitching bag when I got close to finishing LCKQ. I didn't want to be out somewhere and not have something to stitch on, yanno? So when I took LCKQ out of my stitching bag Friday night, I saw the chart for Don't Cross Me When I'm Stitchin'. I thought I'd give it a try since it was a simple design and didn't have alot of colors in it. Well, I started it shortly after midnight Saturday morning and it was done that afternoon.

I kitted this up at the retreat in May and this design was my homage to being at the ocean. I found the fabric first and fell in love. I tried several other designs before settling on this one for it. I chose threads that would go with the fabric, but only if they had aquatic-related names. I added the Marigold at the last minute before leaving the house because I thought it needed a splash of color, not all monochromatic teal/aqua. How'd I do?

Don't Cross Me When I'm Stitchin' by Simple Stitches

Finish #15 in the Year of the Sampler

28ct Hand-dyed teal opalescent linen

Stitched with Weeks Dye Works' Ocean, Chesapeake, Bermuda, and Marigold six-strand cotton floss

Since making X's was fun once again I kept on going, next picking up a UFO, I'd Pick You. This is going to be made into a cigar tin. I was working on it at the retreat but put it down when I burned out and switched to LCKQ. Laura has been patiently waiting for her tin and I will get it done soon and either take to her or mail it.

I'd Pick You by Hob-Nobb Designs

Finish #16 in the Year of the Sampler
28ct Lilac evenweave
Stitched with Weeks Dye Works' Okeefenokee and Plum and Gentle Arts' Royal Purple and Shutter Green six-strand cotton floss

Shortly after midnight Sunday I began working on Grandma's birthday present. Her birthday isn't until the beginning of August, but I'm still afraid I'll get tired of making X's again. I'm using that stitching mojo while I have it!

This is another project I kitted up at the retreat. Well, I bought one color of Weeks and the fabric. My aunt's cats all eat at Grandma's (because she HAS to feed them), so there's always one asleep on her porch. Grandma also loves birds and has several hummingbirds that come to her feeders. I thought of her as soon as I saw this design.

I changed the initial on the mailbox from a 'C' to an 'M' for Grandma's last name. I thought about an 'A' for Alice, but no one puts their first initial on their mailbox. I just made up the M on my own. I played around with the middle lines, trying different lengths and angles, but this is what looked "right" to me. I put the last stitch into KwB at 11:56pm Sunday.

Kitty w/Bird by Brittercup Designs

Finish #17 in the Year of the Sampler

32ct Antique White Jobelan

Stitched with Designer-recommended Gentle Arts Sampler Threads six-strand cotton floss

***ADULT CONTENT***

As I was wide awake after midngiht, I went through my drawer of "Favorites" and picked another cross stitch project to do. I chose to do one of the ornaments by StitchBitch. The charts were sent to me by Pirjo in the CSE Wishlist Exchange. This is another chart I kitted up at the retreat in May and is a birthday gift for Mary Ann, who is like a surrogate mother/big sister to my brother and I.

Mac is a Dept. of Natural Resources Police officer and will find this absolutely hilarious. It goes with a stitcker that was on her old truck. The sticker is now framed and hangs on the wall in her laundry room. She, Ian, and I had to search the leaf-covered floor of the woods looking for it among the shattered glass when the tree they were cutting landed on the truck and burst all the glass on the truck's cap. I found it after several minutes and the rest is (non)history.

I was able to stitch one-handed at dialysis, where I completed more than half the design during my treatment. The last stitch went in at 8:55pm Monday.

Ornament by StitchBitch

Finish #18 in the Year of the Sampler

32ct Antique White Jobelan

Stitched with Crescent Colours St. Bernard and GAST Brandy six-strand cotton floss

September 7, 2008

Keeping with the trend, here is my third finish in as many days! I'd Pick You is another Doodles for Leftovers by Hob-Nobb Designs. The LNS included some hand-dyed fabric in lilac with the chart pack. I thought it worked beautifully with the WDW and GAST fibers I chose, so I didn't switch it out like I did with God Bless America. This is my 31st stitching finish of the year.

I'd Pick You was done using Weeks Dye Works Plum and Gentle Arts Sampler Threads Shutter Green, Pine, and Royal Purple. The chart calls for the lettering to be black but being the purple fanatic that I am, I had to use the dark purple over-dye! I'm going to keep this handy for a small stitched exchange or a RAK. I may also keep an eye out for a pretty flower embellishment so that I may stitch another for a needlebook or flat fold finish.

I think IPU is a much quicker stitch than God Bless America; I only worked on it for about 7 1/2 hours. All the backstitching certainly goes faster than cross stitching, that's for sure!

My next project is Charmed Dreams by Heirloom Embroider-ies. I purchased this with the thread and embellish-ment packs back in March and have been itching to start it ever since.

I have to thank Kathy Y for making this start possible. Kathy gave me the True Colors sponged evenweave at June's Heirloom Stitchers meeting. She brought some stash to give away and the fabric was among the items up for grabs. When I showed her the chart pack for Charmed Dreams she agreed that it was very close to the Golden Harvest by Silkweaver that was recommended. The model was stitched on 32ct, but I'm using 28ct. That will make the design approximately one inch larger, about six inches square.

I've already finished the stitching on one of the motifs and started another. The design is comprised of four repeated elements in the shape of a circle. There is a gold medallion in the center. I'm especially happy when working on this piece because it uses my favorite fiber: Dinky Dyes silks! I'm not sure if you can tell by the picture, but that's dark purple, DD's Native Plum. The main thing that attracted me to this design was the fact that it's stitched with purple...and the specialty stitches! Specialty stitches go much faster than regular x's, so I'm hoping to have Charmed Dreams finished in seven days or less.

September 6, 2008

HERE'S THIRTY!

This is God Bless America by Hob-Nobb Designs, my 30th cross-stitch finish of the year. It's one of Hob-Nobb's "Doodles for Leftovers." All you get is the embellishment and the chart with a graphic of the design. Everything is contained in a little clear plastic case. They don't give you specific fabric or colors to use; the idea is to use materials already in your stash. That's where the "for leftovers" comes from. These are alot of fun to do. All the Doodles I've seen are 42x42 stitches so they stich up pretty fast.

After GBA was completed I took a picture but the white blended right into the fabric. I decided to change it but couldn't find anything that would work as a replacement. I eventually decided to use Kreinik Very Fine #4 Braid in silver and stitched over the white. Now the "Bless" and the bottom star are visible and I didn't have to frog them!

September 3-5, 2008

It has been several days since my last post, but there was a reason (which I will get to later). First is an update on my arm:

I haven't been online much this week except to read and reply to email because I am still having alot of trouble with my arm. Not only am I having continued pain near the incision closest to my elbow, but also the bloodflow that was re-routed to supply the CryoVein has not redistributed to effectively supply the rest of my arm. Consequently I have large areas of tingling and/or numbness. Most of the time my hand and wrist are very cold because there isn't enough blood flowing through them. The lack of proper bloodflow has also caused the muscles in my forearm to tighten up when I use my hand and arm too much. The process of the bloodflow redistributing evenly throughout my arm could take several weeks. Until then, I will be limited as to how much I can do with my right hand and arm.




Now for a stitching suprise:
Followers of my blog may recognize this piece as Mount Coot-tha by Dinky-Dyes Designs. I started this at the beginning of July and became frustrated with it because I had to do so much frogging. Near the end of July, I decided to work on a smaller project for a "finish fix" and set MCT aside temporarily. As of Tuesday, two months had passed since my last finish, so I thought it was high time I completed something. There was just the border of MCT to work on so I knew it wouldn't take me long to get done. Walking away from this project was obviously the right thing to do because stitching went much better this time; there was not nearly as much frogging going on.
I took MCT with me when I went to get my dialysis treatment on Wednesday and made even more progress. I also stitched once I got home, as my arm allowed.

I didn't even turn the television on at all on Thursday because I was focused on completing MCT. It was a disappoint-ment that it wasn't done by Midnight, however, the last stitch went in at 2:05 Friday morning!

This is Finish #29 for 2008!
Once I got MCT put away I decided it was time to work seriously towards that "crazy" and "unrealistic" goal I set to complete 100 pieces this year. So far, I have 29 cross stitch, four pillows, two shams, and two Q-Snap covers, for a total of 37 pieces completed to date. That leaves 63 to go.

I wanted to work on some UFOs that are done except for the backstitching. First, I tried working on a bookmark that I started back in 2006. I don't have the chart anymore because I was so disgusted with all the quarter-stitches in the designs. I had to look through all my Stitch Bow storage binders to find the correct shades of purple and pink to complete this project. Unfortunately, I had to put the bookmark down because of the uncomfortable cramping in my right forearm and hand.


Next, I worked on Good Dog. I put it in my 3 1/2 inch spring hoop but I ran into the same problem: my hand couldn't hold the small hoop without cramping and Good Dog, too, was set aside once again.
Since I only have four months to finish 63 projects, they need to all be small. Therefore, I decided it was the perfect time to stitch one of my Doodles for Leftovers by Hob-Nobb Designs. I chose to start with God Bless America and changed out the fabric. I switched from the hand-dyed dark blue that the LNS included to some light blue opalescent Lugana from my stash. I chose Navy and Snowflake by WDW and Cranberry by GAST as my blue, white, and red. I hope to have this finished tomorrow so I worked on the border at dialysis and continued stitching once I returned home.

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!

March 9, 2008

After the clock struck midnight, I continued my work on finishing off my stitched pieces. Because I usually have a small patriotic tree, I wanted to make Liberty by HIH into an ornament. I chose a fabric for the backing that had a distressed look to mimic the faded blue in the over-dyed floss. It also has a silver shimmer that picks up from the silver star charm. So here it is:
I also made a flatfold that looks like a pinkeep out of No Matter What by Hob-Nobb Designs before I went to bed. I love the fabric I chose because it picks up both the dark and light brown from the checkerboard border. Not bad for a first attempt, huh?
I didn't realize what time it was, so I went to bed at 4am. When I woke up, I got back to work on my last project My Very Bestest Friend by 4 My Boys. At first, I was going to make a pillow, but I really didn't feel like hand-stitching it closed. After thinking about it for a while, I saw a cigar tin that I got from Uncle Wes. It was large enough for the design. I lined the inside top and bottom of the tin with the fabric I'd chosen for the design and the design itself, of course, adorns the outside of the top.
I took these pictures the other day and forgot to include them in my post, so here they are now. I caught Kasey while she was "grooming" her newest toy, Maggie Mad-Face. Don't ask me why it's called that, but it's the name she came with. Maggie was Kasey's reward for being a good girl at the Dog Wash last Sunday after she went swimming. She really hates getting a bath and I wanted to give her a treat so it's not always a bad experience. Yawns, Kay-Kay style:

March 8, 2008

I was going through some stash today and found my JoAnn's flier. It had twelve 40% off coupons that expired TODAY, so I headed out the door with my last five stitched finishes. I got fabric, cording, batting, and buttons to "finish-finish" all five pieces.

When I got home Uncle Wes carried Grandma's sewing machine into the dining room for me and I set up a workstation at the end of the table. Chet slept on the floor near the table the whole time I was in there. I'd thought my cat had finally stopped hovering, but I was wrong! He's never very far away! Kasey actually gives me more space (figure THAT out!) than Chet does.

Anyway, I was able to make a pillow out of Hinzeit's Mini Block Stitch and an ornament out of Hob-Nobb's Cabin in the Snow before the clock struck midnight. I'm so proud of myself for getting these done! It's been forever since I've made a pillow or anything else, so I'm glad they turned out as well as they did.

Catching Up to February 22, 2008

It's been a long time since I've been able to update this, so I'm going to have to make one entry to bring y'all current. The days seem to blend together into one long day when you're in the hospital so the only way I could tell them apart was to take a picture of my progress, at midnight, whenever I stitched.

So here's how my stitching went while I was in the hospital and Heritage Harbour Rehabilitation Center:

January 30: No Matter WhatJanuary 31 February 1February 2: A Finish & Work on Hinzeit's Mini Block Stitch February 3: Mini Block Stitch by Hinzeit Designs (FINISH!), Cabin in the Snow by Hob-Nobb Designs









February 4

February 5 February 6 February 7 (FINISH!) February 12: In the Land of the Free by The Sweetheart Tree February 15: In the Land of the Free & My Very Bestest Friend by 4 My Boys

February 16 & 17

January 28, 2008

I couldn't do any stitching all morning because of more double vision. I was taken to dialysis first thing in the morning and slept through my entire treatment.

I saw the neurologist and an endocrinologist. My nephrologist came by and he said that the endo told him that I may not be absorbing the calcium pills because I don't have a large intestine. I'm not sure if that's correct or not, but will be paying more attention.

I think the general consensus is that I'm going to need these meds IV rather than orally, but when & where I'll be getting them is what they're going to have to figure out.

Following dialysis Saturday my calcium plummeted from 8.9 to 6-point-something less than 8 hours later and it's baffling the doctors. I was symptomatic when my calcium dropped below 6, but now I'm symptomatic (tingling and double vision) when it's below 7. They don't understand that, either. But they think part of the problem is that my PTH has been over 2,000 for almost 2 years, when it shouldn't have been over 70; therefore, it's changing my body metabolically. So it may just be a matter of my body adjusting to the new ParaThyroid Hormone level, but they're going to look into the problems that may be involved with me absorbing the oral drugs, too.

Since dialysis boosted my calcim level, I was able to work on No Matter What. This would have already been done if I wasn't sick, but it's coming along. Right now I'm still working on the brown part of the checkerboard border.

January 25, 2008

For the first time since I've been here I didn't sleep through my dialysis treatment. I was able to make some more progress on Deftly Wrought. My father also stopped by while I was having my treatment. My grandmother stayed out in the car because she wasn't feeling well. The last thing I need right now is to get sick, so everyone that isn't feeling 100% has been staying away.

They let me go after dialysis! I got my central line pulled and received my discharge instructions. Since I drove myself to the hospital, my truck has been sitting in the garage waiting to take me back home. I told the hospital escort that I was walking downstairs. He tried to tell me that I had to be wheeled down. I know that's not true because I've walked out before! I said I was driving myself home, so I might as well walk! Besides, there was a whole cart of bags to take down. He looked at it and said, "What's all this?!" I told him I'd been there for nine days and needed something to keep me occupied!

I got home at 6:55pm to a very excited little Golden. Chet spent the first two hours I was home yelling at me. I guess he wanted to make sure I knew how upset with me he was! I had to laugh when I walked in the livingroom and saw Kasey's toys. There aren't any in her toy basket. Apparently this is where they're supposed to be!

Since I'm still so weak, I just took it easy and watched tv while stitching on No Matter What until I went to sleep.

January 24, 2008

I worked on Deftly Wrought until 4am. I didn't make much progress, thanks to some frogs that visited, but I continued working on the house in the fourth mini sampler. I finally surrendered to sleep when my eyes wouldn't stay open any longer.

I spent most of the afternoon kitting up projects. Uncle Wes brought a whole bunch of stuff to me yesterday, so I had plenty to keep me busy. I put a couple stitches in Mini Block Stitch by Hinzeit designs and then decided to start No Matter What by Hob Nobb Designs. I feel like I haven't gotten anything accomplished and need a "Finish Fix!" This only has three colors, so I should be able to get it done in a couple days, as long as my eyes cooperate!