February 5, 2009

Wow did Kasey and I have a busy day! We headed out this morning to stop by the bank and the post office. I had to mail trades to Maggie, Peg, and Lynn. I also mailed a loaner chart to Wawanna. While there, I was able to pick up my trade from Judith. I received 'Dogs Collection 4' by Pegasus Originals and 'Raspberry Homecoming' by Told in a Garden.

Kathy Y said I need to switch out the Scottish Terriers in the sampler on the cover of the Dog leaflet with "Kaseys." She told me it's too cute a sentiment not to stitch it with little Kaseys on it. It says "A dog is the only true love money can buy." How right is that?!

I also adore the mini quilts in RH, which is why I asked for it in the first place. I'm adding it to my "quilt" pile. I'm pretty sure I have enough now to stitch for an entire year without finishing all the quilt charts I own.

The mailman has been very nice to me this week and has brought me Silkweaver fabbies from Patti G. She sent me Turquoise and Karma Sparkle opalescents from Silkweaver in exchange for a piece of dirty linen she needed. Now I have to find designs to stitch on all these opalescents I've collected! I don't think that'll be a problem, however!

Maggie D purchased some stash from my trade blog and graciously included a paperback copy of Sandra Brown's novel, 'The Switch.' She's also the lady who suggested I read SB's 'Envy,' so I'm anxious to finish my current book in order to start one of them. SB is so great at keeping you guessing! I've thoroughly enjoyed her books that I've listened to on CD, but this will be the first time I'll have actually read one.


Here are two different deliveries. On the left is the DMC from Lisa S. This was the last part of our trade for my old digital camera. Sweetheart that she is, she included an Amazon gift certificate to reimburse me for postage. Lisa, thank you for all three of the gift certificates! I can't wait to go shopping on Amazon next month! On the right is the remainder of the floss I ordered from Wasatch. The bright aqua is the Perle for Blue Bayou, the next chart I'm going to do in the Ebb Tide series by Northern Pine Designs. The rest of the WDW is for a Britty Kitty chart I'd like to stitch for Grandma. It has a cat and a bluebird in it, very appropriate for her!

I took Kasey to Muddy Paw Wash for her monthly bath this morning. As soon as we got through the door she started dancing around. Se was so excited to be there. The employees fawned all over her, as usual. Mike took her right back and bathed her. We stayed for a little while after she was done because we had some time to kill before the Barnes and Noble stitching group at 1pm. Kasey loved all the attention from her admirers. Today's new toy was a stuffed hippo with a squeaker in it. She was so intent on getting human attention that she ignored it until we returned home this evening.

Since she was so excited at MPW, I put Peace & Calming oil on her front feet before we left for my stitching group. By the time we arrived there, Kasey was her usual mellow, working persona. Kathy Y was able to join us this week and it was nice having another stitcher in the group. The cafe staff kindly prepared a cup of ice water for Kasey so that she could have a drink while we were there. I think she really enjoyed the cold water because the store was quite warm. I ordered a Chai as a treat for myself.

Everyone left by 3pm and it was only Kathy and I. I started counting down the stitches! Six...four...three...two...one and a half...one...half a stitch...DONE!

NOT!!

I still had to backstitch the oval! UGH! I thought I had completed that darn cover at last! Kathy had to get home so I packed up my things to leave as well.

My "Maintenance Reqd" light was lit on the dashboard, so I took the truck to the station where I always get my oil changed. You could have knocked me over with a feather when the mechanic came back in and told me my brakes were down to 10% and it was going to be more than $300 to put new ones on and resurface the rotors. My truck only has 35,000 miles on it!

There goes my birthday S.E.X. at Salty Yarns! BTW: S.E.X. is NOT the same as sex! It means Stash Enhancement eXperience, in case you thought I was getting into the TMI range. I've been planning a trip to Ocean City with Carol and Kathy Y to check out the LNS on the Boardwalk. Now I can't do it! WAAAAHH!! I have to get the truck fixed first!

Kasey and I finally got home around 4pm and Uncle Wes pulled up the drive shortly afterwards. I'd already called Mom and told her about the truck and that I wouldn't be able to stay with her from Sunday to Thursday next week. I'm going to have to limit how much driving I do.

Then I told Wessy what I was told and he immediately thought something was fishy. First, my brakes don't squeak, so it's hard to believe they're at 10%. Second, if my rotors don't need to be replaced, he doubts the $300 price tag. So I have to get a second opinion. I'm going to call the shop tomorrow, if I get up in time, to see if they can do a brake inspection. Several people, including the guy who runs the small service station close to home, have recommended this other shop to Uncle Wes for vehicle repairs. I'll let you know the final verdict as soon as I find out.

Oh! Stitching! Yep, did that today!! Here is 'Stitches Stars & Stripes' by Blue Ribbon Designs. I worked on it for a little while as I was waiting for the truck's oil change to be completed. I'm doing this both as part of The Year of the Sampler and to join in on the Blue Ribbon Designs SAL in Stitch_it_Quick. I didn't get much done, but each stitch is one closer to a finish, right? I've been concentrating on getting the borders done because they're straight lines and that's hard to mess up.

At home tonight I back-stitched the oval and put the charm on. My Stitching Album's cover is FINALLY done!! And I was good! I never found out if it would make a good Frisbee, although Chris W assures me that QSnaps *do* fly! This is my 4th finish in the YotS! I put the last stitch in at 11:45pm.

Now to decide what to stitch next...stay tuned!

February 4, 2009

I didn't accomplish much more stitching today than I did yesterday. The 'A' of "Album" is done. That's about it. I only stitched from 1:15 to 1:50am. I stopped when I got tired because I know better than to stitch once the yawning begins. That seems to be when the frogs are most likely to attack. Considering all the previous difficulties I've had on this page, I'm certainly not going to invite those blasted frogs in!

I was so upset when I left dialysis this afternoon! My machine alarmed, indicating a venous pressure problem. Fine. Fixed that.

Less than a minute later, without even moving my arm, the machine alarms again. This time it's arterial. Fine. Reset. Fixed that.

My arm still hasn't moved, the machine alarms for TMP. I look over into the next section and tell Greg there's definitely a problem because now it's TMP. He sends over the new tech. New tech messes with the machine, resetting it and it keeps alarming after just a few seconds. I look in one of the tubes and say "It's clotted!" He says "No it's not." I'm LOOKING AT THE CLOT! Don't tell me it's not clotted!

He keeps messing with the machine and now the air detector indicates because he took the tube out of the holder. He keeps messing with the machine. It won't reset now. *I* know he has to untwist the transducer, but he's been trained, so I thought he knew what to do. Finally, totally frustrated that he hasn't asked for help, I look behind me and tell Greg we need help over here.

He comes over and untwists the transducer, first thing. Resets the tube in the holder, and the machine starts up, but stops seconds later. About 10 minutes has passed and 600ml of my blood is in those tubes! The longer they take, the more chance everything will clot and my blood can't be returned.

So the arterial blood gets returned. Venous is a no-go. He messes with it for another 5-10 minutes before calling another tech over to help. By then it's too late. The blood has turned a dark red, almost black, so it is totally clotted.

I was so PISSED because if the tech had asked for help BEFORE messing with the machine for 20 minutes, it could have been returned to me! Instead, it had to be thrown away. I'm just wondering if it's nothing really to worry about, or if the loss will make a difference in my blood count. It's monitored weekly so that medication doses can be adjusted. Unfortunately, I'm anemic most of the time. This episode sure isn't going to help me!

I had tons of email when I got home, so I spent my evening reading that. I also got to chat with Debi and Kathy C, as well as Kim P for a while, which was nice. Carol BC called and we chatted for a while, too.

Barnes & Noble stitching group is tomorrow at 1pm, so I'm going to call it an early night so that I can be awake in time. If I get up early enough, I plan on taking Miss Kay Kay to Muddy Paw Wash for her monthly bath and new toy. I'll be sure to take the camera!

February 2, 2009

Well, she did it again, folks! Outing #3 was just as successful as Kasey's other SDiT outings. Some of the ladies even remarked that she doesn't take her eyes off me, EVER. She does at home, but when we're out in public she makes sure that I can't get away from her. Next, we're going to try a more busy place, like the grocery store or some place similar. I am also going to take her to the library and Muddy Paw Wash for a day of hanging out in the lounge.

Kathy Y and I sat next to one another at the EGA meeting this morning. We chatted about all kinds of stuff, stitching and non-stitching alike. I completed the word "Stitching" on my WIP but had to frog half of the A in "Album" because it was one thread too high. I'm telling you, if it hadn't been for the fact that I was in public, I'd have found out if QSnaps fly!! What is with me and this page?!

I went home around 1pm so that I could take a nap before going to dialysis. I went to bed early last night, but I got really into my book and couldn't put it down. I think I finally turned off the light at 4:30. When the alarm went off at 8:45am, I was NOT ready to get up. I was looking forward to the EGA meeting, though.

Kasey and I arrived at the house after 2pm. I set my alarm for 2:45 but never fell asleep. It was just too bright with the sunlight coming through the windows. Instead, I slept through my dialysis treatment. I felt much more rested when I woke up, that's for sure!

Again, I didn't do any stitching while I was home this evening. I don't think I'm headed for another slump, but I had 163 messages in my inbox and wanted to get through them. I think I read the last one at 12:01am. Oh well!

February 1, 2009

What a great game! The team I was rooting for didn't win but it was a nail-biter all the way up until the end. Kudos to the Steelers team.

As you can see, I didn't do any stitching during the game. The little bit of progress I made today was done after the game was over.

I have an EGA meeting at 10am, so I'm not going to stay up late tonight (I hope). I've missed the last two monthly meetings so I would like to attend this one.

January 31, 2009

Today was the beginning of another restful weekend. Except for going to the grocery store and Wawa (I needed my Italian sub fix) I stayed home all day. I spent most of the day signing up for more OW~OH giveaways and watching television. Here is the little bit of stitching I did on My Stitching Album. I finally completed that pesky lower motif and moved on to the words inside the oval.

Everything outside is still frozen, so Kasey does a Bambi on ice impersonation every time she goes out. This evening she told me she had to go out and all she wound up doing was eating a chunk of ice and rolling on it. She likes laying down on her side and rubbing against the ice. Of course, I never have a camera handy when this happens, so there's no picture.

January 30, 2009

First, I HAVE to apologize to Amy! I forgot to include some of the goodies she sent! In addition to all the wonderful things I mentioned in yesterday's post, she included two sheets of Valentine-themed stickers and a lollipop that looks too good to eat! Here is everything pictured together, minus the mesh bag. I'm using that for MSA!

I went to dialysis today and was able to work on the cover of My Stitching Album by Jeannette Douglas. I have NO idea why, but this lower motif is giving me fits! I had to frog and re-stitch a couple of the curlieques. I will be so glad when this part is completed!
When I got home I divided my time between preparing and eating dinner, watching television, reading email, and entering more of the One World~One Heart giveaways. I didn't get any stitching done after leaving dialysis.

I received a very unexpected call around 10:00 this evening. It was my friend, Jason, who called to let me know that he was okay after undergoing surgery. He's been battling Chron's disease for over a decade and has had complication after complication. I knew he had to have surgery this winter, but I hadn't heard when it was going to be. He sounded great and said that he was sore all over, but he reassured me that he'll get better and be home soon. We talked for about 45 minutes before he told me he was falling asleep. It was great to hear from him, and I have to admonish Uncle Jay for not telling me Jason was having his surgery! Jason is a friend from high school and a whiz with anything electronic or mechanical. He helps Uncle Jay out with things in his welding shop upon occasion and does auto repairs for anyone who asks.

I wanted to share this picture with you. I took it a few weeks ago and it's probably one of the very few times I will see my two Himalayans together. Now I have proof that there really ARE two of them in my house! I just never see Piper Kitty (on the left) because she stays in the basement. That's her domain.

January 29, 2008

Here is my un-progress of My Stiching Album. "Un-progress"? Yes, you read that correctly. I completed the entire lower motif around 3am.

Then I saw a mistake and frogged, then re-stitched it.

Then I saw a mistake in what I'd just re-stitched so I frogged that.

As I was frogging, I looked from one side to the other (because they're supposed to be mirror images) and found a mistake all the way over in that gold curlieque on the left.

There was another in the curlieque at the bottom (the unfinished one). Rip-it! Rip-it! Rip-it!

Four mistakes! Did you hear the curses flying out of my mouth? If you woke up around 3:30am because of a loud voice, that was me. I was ready to spit nails! I finished frogging and put the blasted thing aside before it got thrown across the room. Do QSnaps with fabric in them make good Frisbees? Hmmm, I wonder.

I went to bed at 4am, completely disgusted, and read my book for a few minutes to calm myself down. I turned off the light and fell asleep shortly after.

I'm keeping my ears open to discover where these frogs came from. Someone is missing their amphibious friends!

Kasey decided that I needed a wake-up call at 9:30 this morning! I was ready to wring her neck! Uncle Wes stopped by on his route to make himself his "lunch" and Kasey felt it was her duty to inform me that he was home. Or else she was complaining because her Unkie didn't take her for a walk. She wakes me up for that, too. GRR!

I worked a little bit on the cover of MSA, read emails, and checked out some blogs until I had to get ready to go to the Barnes & Noble stitching group at 1pm. Again, I was the only stitcher, but I had a nice time. And after my scare last week, I decided Kasey was going with me. I printed out the ADA summary that states that Kasey CAN be in the cafe with me, just in case someone said something to me.

I have to say, I was very pleased with the gentleman from B&N. He walked by the table, asked if Kasey was "a guide dog" to which I replied "She's a service dog." He gave me a thumbs-up and kept right on walking. That was it! Thank you, Barnes & Noble, for having staff knowledgeable of the ADA and its service dog provisions!

As for Kasey, this Mom is bursting with pride! This was only her second outing and she was marvelous! She acted like an old pro! I can't tell you how many people stopped by asking if they could pet her. She didn't get up once. My social butterfly had a total "I'm working" persona. She would wag her tail, thumping it against the floor, but she never moved from her sprawled position beside my chair. She didn't even get up to say "Hi" to the kids who wanted to pet her. I was amazed and so very proud of my girl!

This is a picture of Kasey "on duty" at Barnes & Noble today. I had to praise her mightily when one of the barristas started up the blender to crush some ice. It made a horrendous noise, the kind that she usually startles at and runs from. Rather than jumping up and worridly looking around, Kasey just popped her head up, noted that the noise wasn't coming at her, and laid her head right back down. Just like a seasoned veteran!

I think she's going to start going more places with me. She's progressing so much quicker in her training than I ever thought possible! The thing is, I really haven't "trained" her that much. She just does it! She knows when she has her training collar on that she's expected to act differently. Once I take it off, though, she's ready for human attention, and not just from me! All those around better start paying homage to the Kasey Kay!

After this morning's debacle with MSA, I chose to stitch on my gameboard during the B&N stitching group. If I couldn't get those curlieques right while listening to Classical Masterpieces, there was no way in the world I'd get them done while chatting with the other ladies! Straight lines and squares were perfect for today.

January 28, 2009

I'm iced in! Uncle Wes took Kasey for a walk this afternoon to see the condition of our road. Because the road curves along the shoreline of Weems Creek and there are two very steep hills, I wasn't going anywhere without knowing how good/bad it was. I sort of knew the news wasn't promising when I saw Wes and Kay coming back up the driveway much earlier than anticipated. Uncle Wes said he didn't take Kasey all the way to the bridge because they were slipping and sliding too much before they even got to the first hill. One of our neighbors abandoned his car on the shoulder because he couldn't get it up the last hill. He ended up walking the last quarter mile home.

That was all I needed to hear. I stopped clearing the ice off the truck, turned off the ignition, and went inside to call my dialysis facility to tell them I wasn't going to be there. We were supposed to have rain most of today which was going to melt all the ice. That never seem to happened. The temperature hovered around freezing until after noon so the rain that fell overnight froze into a thick sheet of ice. Wierdly, it warmed up AFTER dark and the road conditions got better. I couldn't get out at 2pm, but I was able to go to Wawa at 9:30pm.

Uncle Wes was holding a box under his arm when he came back. When I opened it, I found these goodies from Amy VM. She spoiled me so wonderfully during the CSE Advent Exchange and she still wasn't done!

I found Cherry Blossom lotion and bubble bath from Bath & Body works; the replacement for the Yankee Candle that broke, this one is "Christmas Cookies" and smells heavenly; a box of Sweethearts; four Reece's heart candies; two spools of Valentine-themed ribbon, "Be Mine" and hearts; the cutest tape measure, disguised as a watermelon slice; and this custom-made mesh bag by Amy's friend Joan. How can I ever thank you enough?! I've already put some of my mother of pearl floss rings in the bag to organize the fibers for my gameboard. This will certainly see alot of use! But I'm almost afraid to burn the candle because it might make my mouth water! It smells like baking sugar cookies.

Since I didn't have to go to dialysis, I continued to work on 'A Stitcher's Companion' and finally completed the initials on the spine! There is supposed to be a diamond motif above and below the initials but there wasn't enough room. I centered them exactly and used the spacing indicated in the chart, but the H is three rows higher than most of the other letters. That was just enough to encroach on the diamonds so I frogged them before I started stitching the letters.

I've decided to do all the Rhodes stitches last so that they don't get ruined by the QSnap clamps. The Rhodes stitches go inside the border motif, in the empty elongated diamonds. The chart came with a dragonfly charm to place in the center motif on the front cover but I think I'm going to find something that's more "me." That can wait until later, too, though. For now, I'm considering this Finish #3 of The Year of the Sampler. I'm going to start working on another project rather than stitch the next page of ASC.



And what is my next project, you might ask. It's the long-talked-about 'My Stitching Album' by Jeannette Douglas Designs! This is the front cover (I must be on a book kick, huh?), showing my progress as of midnight.

January 15, 2009

My, was today weird, schedule-wise. I was up all night again so I went to the post office when it opened. I mailed trades to Jenn, Dee, and Debi. I went straight to bed upon my return home and slept until Kasey woke me up at 4:45 this afternoon. I guess I should thank her because I needed to get up and eat something before getting ready for tonight's ANG meeting up in Columbia, MD.

The Black-eyed Susans' meeting was basically a sit 'n stitch, which I really enjoy. We had show and tell where we went around the room so everyone could show recent finishes. I took Baby Kasey, Eight Pointed Stars, Ebb Tide, Autumn Whispers, and some planned projects for 2009. Everyone ooh'ed and aah'ed over Baby Kasey. They all said she looks so realistic, it's as if you can reach out to pet her. I passed around My Stitching Album, A Stitcher's Companion, and Blue Bayou so the ladies could see the colors I decided to go with.

I also learned about the process of learning Japanese embroidery. I like looking at it, but I don't think I'm interested in learning it from the masters! I'm not very fond of some of the motifs and don't think it would hold my interest. It sounds fascinating, though, as everyone who wants to get their certificate must attend a class in Georgia for a week with the family who runs the actual Japanese embroidery studio in Japan. The ten phases take years and years to complete, so you have to be very dedicated in order to actually get certified

I stitched on my Peacock Chair again tonight but still haven't finished those chair arms! To add insult to injury, I have to frog about two-thirds of the top row of x's on the left panel. I started the row from the right doing one stitch at a time. Since I was using a solid color and realized I was making very slow progress, I decided to do all the stitches going to the left and come back with the other leg of the X. The only problem, which I didn't notice until I was working on the right panel, is that it's quite obvious I changed something in the middle of the row. So those stitches are coming out and I'll complete the row by stitching complete X's.

I received half of my January order from Wasatch Needlecraft yesterday! Chapter 3 of My Stitching Album was released earlier this month so that went right into the MSA binder. This chapter is called Scotch Switch and features one of my favorite easy stitches, the Scotch stitch.

I can't wait to dive into these samplers! They're going to be gorgeous when they're all stitched and made into the album. I hope I'm up to the task! And the colors...so pretty!

Also in the package Karen sent was a pack of marking pins by My Big Toe and my fibers for Home of a Needleworker (Too!), Crescent Colours on left; Blue Bayou, center Kreiniks; Don't Cross Me When I'm Stitching, two GAST farthest left; A Stitcher's Companion, Dinky Dyes on bottom; and Patriotic Wishes I and II, remaining GAST on right. The marking pins were a free gift from Karen's January sale.

I want to thank Jo Mason for helping me choose the colors for A Stitcher's Companion by Enchanting Lair. I wanted to use Yallingup, the varigated I've used in my DD quilt squares, Peacock Stitching Chair, and Medley; but I was unsure of which two shades of purple to combine with it. I emailed Jo (Mrs Dinky Dyes herself) and she got right back to me with Kirribilli and Wild Lavender.

Talk about purple-y-ness! I did a floss toss to make sure these colors will work with my Purple Horizon fabric and WOW! If you don't like purple you're certainly not going to care for my version of A Stitcher's Companion. I'm so excited to get started on this project!

October 30, 2008

Today was one of my usual relaxing days, except I woke up too early. I finally fell asleep around 5am, but I was wide awake at 9:30. That sorta threw everything off. I worked on Amethyst Snowflake until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Around noon I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until almost 5pm.

Kasey wanted to go outside, so I opened the door and let her run loose. After a few minutes I heard alot of barking, so I called her and she came running. Right on her heels was a white blur, my neighbor's English Setter puppy, Daisy. Daisy and Kasey were running around the house and Daisy was a little scared. I got Kasey back out the door and Daisy followed her. Then Casey, my neighbor's youngest daughter, came over with Daisy's father on a leash. Casey apologized for Daisy getting away from her. She usually stays right with Rory. I told her it was no problem at all because Kasey Kay needs to run around some and she and Daisy seem to have hit it off. They were wrestling and running around the yard, falling into piles of leaves, and having a great time together.

Casey took Rory home and came back for Daisy. I loaned her a leash and off they went. A few minutes later, Casey brought the leash back and told me that Daisy pushed her over and got back out the door, so I said "Kasey will get her for you." I let Kasey back outside and said "Go get her!" She ran over to my other neighbor's yard and Daisy followed her back into our yard. Daisy then ran into the carport where Casey and I could catch her. I told Casey to bring her over any time to play with Kasey Kay. Since Kasey won't go far, we can let them play without leashes and they'll stay close to home. Dogs being the pack animals they are, Daisy won't stray far from Kasey Kay. Now the neighbors know that if they need to catch Daisy, all they have to do is use Kasey!

Two trades arrived today! First was Told in a Garden's Ribbons & Roses from Christine. Next was a package of homemade goodies from Carla. I received Sage, Amber, Narcissus, Heliotrope, and Light Lavender essential oils, Lavender hand lotion, and two containers of lip balm. I'm already in love with the lip balm and lotion! They feel wonderful! I've also put some of the sage oil into the terracotta diffuser in my bedroom.

I forgot to tell you all about another goody that arrived yesterday! It's Chapter Two of My Stitching Album from Jeannette Douglas Designs. Chapter Two is titled Milanese Moment. I like the colors in this part even more than in Part 1. I'm going to have to make sure this gets to Mom's as soon as possible so that I'm not tempted to start it. I promised myself I wouldn't start any of it until after New Year's Eve. Once finished, there will be a pocket on the back of the page to hold the mother of pearl thread winder that I purchased with this chapter. I opted not to purchase the wooden thread pallette for Part I, but I might change my mind and get it later.

I decided to do my grocery shopping tonight and went to check out the new Target in Parole. The grocery section wasn't much, but I was able to use my $5 coupon that came in the mail. I also picked up a few other things I needed, such as my naproxen. That's the only thing I can take for headaches because Excedrin causes bad side-effects.

I was hoping to complete the outline of Amethyst Snowflake today but I still have two motifs to stitch. There is also another motif that is quite dirty, so I've decided to wash this after all the outlining is done rather than frog and re-stitch the dirty motif. I thought I got through all the dirty floss on the outside of the spool but I was obviously mistaken. I don't think you need me to tell you which motif it is, it's that obvious.

October 12, 2008

First of all, I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother Ian. I love you, Bud!

Okay, on to stitching...Finish #40!! Take Time to Stitch Too by Jeannette Douglas Designs is completed! I put the snail charm on at 8:17pm.

I had to figure out how to stitch my initials and the year on my own because there was no alphabet included. I didn't find on on Jeannette's website, either. It took a little doing, but I got the B and the 8 to look okay.

Over all, I really enjoyed stitching this piece. I had some frustration with symbols before I found Jeannette's correction page. I think, for now on, I'm going to check the designer's website before I start stitching a chart to see if there are corrections. It would have saved me alot of squinted eyes looking at the color photograph trying to figure out which color was used for the symbol that wasn't in the key. I love all the specialty stitches Jeannette used. Completing this project makes me even more anxious to start the My Stitching Album.

Once TTTST was completed, I went back to Baby Kasey (Golden Puppy). Here is today's progress on her.

October 11, 2008

Here is where my hand-written updates stopped, so you will please forgive me for not writing alot.

I worked on Take Time to Stitch Too today. I thought there was an EGA meeting but I had my dates mixed up. The Columbia group meets on the 3rd Saturday of the month from 10am-2pm. I woke up and was out of the house before 9am for no reason! At least I know where I need to be next Saturday, though. There was a yard sale close to the church where EGA meets and I was able to pick up an AM/FM/CD Hello Kitty radio for Bre & Anna to use at Mom's. There's no cord, but it shouldn't be hard to find one that is compatible.

October 10, 2008

I put the last stitch into Celtic Christmas at 12:21am. This is my 39th stitching finish of 2008. Celtic Christmas represents my 5th Dinky-Dyes finish of 2008 also. If you've never stitched one of Jo's charts or used her silks, I highly recommend doing so! Her charts are very easy to read and the silks are a joy to work with. I love all the colors that are available.

Celtic Christmas is stitched on 32ct Silkweaver's lugana with Dinky-Dyes silks and Kreneik very fine gold. Mill hill beads were used as the tree ornaments.
Since I completed Celtic Christmas before I went to sleep, I had all day, including my dialysis treatment, to work on Take Time to Stitch Too.

I last stitched on this project on September 24. I was able to make significant progress today so I'm very pleased. I discovered alternate sayings on Jeannette's website and chose a more appropriate "Any time is stitching time." "Take time to stitch too" didn't make sense since I don't have "Take time to stitch." I'm much happier with the choice I made. I did change it a little, however because the charted design said "Anytime is stitching time." That wasn't exactly grammatically correct, so I made "Anytime" two words. It's nit-picky, I know, but I'm a stickler for grammar.

September 24, 2008

I was finally able to sleep in my own bed! You really don't appreciate something that simple until it's taken away from you. Even after going to bed before midnight I slept past 11:00 this morning. It felt wonderful! I was away from home for a total of sixteen days this time, bringing my total for the year to more than fifty days in the hospital and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, that is the most time in one year I've spent in the hospital but I hope to never get anywhere close to that number ever again!

I spent the morning watching The Waltons episodes that were recorded while I was away so that I would have room for all the season premieres this week. Kasey and Chet seem to have settled right in and the morning was nice and quiet. I was able to get through my emails quickly and even did a little stitching on Take Time to Stitch Too. I wasn't able to make much progress because my arm was aching too much. In fact, I couldn't even stitch at dialysis. I have to say that today was the worst my arm has been since surgery on August 26.

Instead of stitching at dialysis I read a book. It's another Lisa Kleypas historical romance. Some of the same characters are in this book that were in the last one I read. I like when books intertwine like that. It's not touted as part of a series, but I suppose, in a way, that it is.

Today was the first day of the Online Needlework Show. Make sure you stop by to browse and register for door prizes. I got all the way from A Kitty Kats Original to X's and Oh's. I believe there were 23 door prizes that I registered for. There are some really good ones this year, too! I was surprised last year when I received a chart from three different designers. While I was browsing, I took the time to save pictures of designs for a wish list that I've created on my Multilpy and Webshots pages. Now I can see the designs and have someplace to point anyone who asks to see my wish list.

September 23, 2008

Well, it's here: Today is my last dose of IV antibiotics! I spent the morning stitching and watching movies on my laptop. Today was Horse Movie Day and I watched The Man From Snowy River, Return to Snowy River, and My Friend Flicka. I knew I wasn't going to get my IV in the morning so I kept busy rather than pacing the halls and driving everyone crazy.

The discharge coordinator came in to tell me that she had a couple different people working on getting me my medicine early so that I could go home today, but the Unit Head later told me the plan was to discharge me tomorrow. When I explained that it would be better to get the IV early because the medication is removed from the blood during dialysis, she agreed and my nurses soon walked in with the antibiotic. They let me know that the IV nurse was already on call to remove my central line, but wouldn't arrive until 4 or 5pm. I get to go home!!

Right after my IV was done I had to take Kasey out. She started her "pee pee dance" as soon as my nurses walked out of our room after connecting the IV. I told her she was going to have to wait and she just laid on the floor with her Stinky ol' Raccoon until I told her it was time to go outside. She hopped right up and trotted to the door of my room.

Once we were back inside I started packing. I had NO idea I'd brought so much stuff with me! The laundry just piled up, too! I'm going to be doing a ton of it when I go to Mom's this weekend, that's for sure!

We arrived at the house around 5pm and went for a walk right away. We just strolled leisurely down the driveway, around the nursery school, and back up Mrs. A's driveway. It was a reassuring walk for Kasey, showing her that we were finally getting back to normal; that today wasn't another quick drop-off and Mom disappears for several hours. We got back to the house and I crashed into my chair after bringing in just three of my bags.

The best part was that my internet connection works 100% of the time at home! I posted to my groups that we were home and sat in my recliner stitching away on Take Time to Stitch Too by Jeannette Douglas Designs. I didn't make as much progress as the last two days because the little over-one urn drove me bonkers, but I made progress nonethe-less. I even started on some of the outer border stitching. The W and V are done so now there's just twenty-four more letters to stitch!

September 22, 2008

I received a phone call this morning from my mom's neighbor, the one I gave my Saluki to. Joe and his wife have a wedding to attend this weekend and they need me to walk and feed Shandi and Nemo while they're gone. I agreed because they pay for my gas to get there and back, plus it gives me another excuse to go to Mom's for the weekend. Mom and Dad won't be home til later on Saturday because they're still on vacation but I'll have time to get laundry done and have the house to myself for some quiet stitching time. If I remember to take the camera, I'll try to get a picture of the Salukis for you

Two in a row! Today was another great stitching day! I didn't sleep while I was having my dialysis treatment so I stitched the entire three hours. I finished the cross stitching on a few more boxes, the satin stitching on the bottom right, and did the pattern darning of the scissors in the bottom left.

I picked up Kasey from home and we returned to HHHRC where I stitched and watched the season premieres of Dancing With the Stars and CSI: Miami.

September 21, 2008

The first thing I did this morning after eating breakfast was to go home and get Kasey. I was too exhausted after returning from the Renaissance Festival to pick her up yesterday.

Once we got back to HHHRC, Kasey decided she wanted to go outside. I gave her one of her new squeaky tennis balls and she loved it. As she does with all her new toys, she promptly dropped it on the ground and rolled on it. The only problem with that was the grass was wet. She not only got soaked but all the grass, leaves, and dirt stuck to her! I had to brush her before I could let her back inside, she was such a mess. For the rest of the day, her ball wasn't far from her side.

Today was a great stitching day! I finally got all the boxes done and am starting on the fill-in. I absolutely love doing embroidery stitches; it was the main reason I chose this as my next project. There is alot more cross stitch in this than there was in Medley, however. The stitches in this first box include the Algerian Eyelet, Rhodes Square, Rice Stitch, and Four-sided Stitch. The frogs struck here and there, but I was able to kick them out of my room!

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 18, 2008

Today was another lazy day. There was nowhere I had to be so Kasey and I just slept in and relaxed. To relieve the monotony, we went upstairs to the nursing home floor to play Bingo for an hour. Kasey slept by my feet and I stitched and played my two cards. I didn't win any games, but it was nice to get out of my room for a little while without having to drive anywhere.

When we got back downstairs, I continued working on Take Time to Stitch Too. I made some really good progress today! I got all the boxes done and started on the Algerian Eyelit and the Rhodes Squares in Box 2...and then the frogs attacked.

You can see that I'm already starting to frog as I took this picture. Then I discovered that not only was this one box one row short, but the entire outer border was one row too short. I made the mistake on Day one, which I just can't figure out. Apparently I have some kind of mental block about doing these types of borders. I had the same problem with Medley in June. I re-count over and over again but I still seem to mess them up!
This is where I wound up after all the frogging was said and done. And believe me, I said a few not-so-nice words!! I'm surprised I didn't singe Kasey's ears.

I talked to Carol B tonight and she is going to get me three tickets to Rennaissance Festival for Mary Ann, Diana, and me. Carol won't be able to go this time because she's been back and forth to the hospital with her mom all week. Mrs. B was finally admitted with a nasty infection and Carol just sounded worn out. We're going to meet up somewhere tomorrow after dialysis so that I can get the tickets from her if she doesn't meet us at Renn Fest on Saturday morning.

September 17, 2008

We had a meeting this morning with the Director of Nursing, the Unit Head, and the Discharge Coordinator. The DoN was worried about germ transmission if other patients petted Kasey. They asked that I not let other patients downstairs pet her and that I get her groomed. I took her to Muddy Paw Wash where they washed, brushed, and dried her. They even put a baby powder cologne on her so she smells nice and fresh! She got new tennis balls that have squeakers in them as her reward for being a good girl. Realistically, they were the only thing in the shop that she didn't already have and would like. She has all the stuffed animals and she doesn't like the rubberized toys. I haven't opened them yet, but when I do I will get a picture of her with one of them.

Dialysis went okay, but I didn't get any stitching done because I slept the entire time. So much for taking advantage of the 3 hours of my treatment to stitch! I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I'm sure it's because I didn't have a chance to take a nap like I've done every day that I've been in HHHRC.

I picked Kasey up from home and came back to HHHRC. I received my antibiotic infusion right after I got back and just took it easy for the remainder of the night. I made some more progress on TTTST. I've had very spotty internet since arriving here, so I haven't spent as much time chatting with friends online, nor have I been able to post my blog updates on time. I was told that the ISP for HHHRC is in Houston, so they must still be having intermittent trouble with their power. There's nothing I can do about it, so I'll post when I'm able.

I did a little bit of stitching on Take Time to Stitch Too after I returned to my room this evening. I had to turn off the lights and go to sleep when my eyes started closing on me.

Since I haven't had the internet to occupy my time, I've been watching movies and going to bed early almost every night. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend August Rush with Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Myers. It was a wonderful story! For you action junkies, I saw Transformers and really liked it. I remember watching the cartoon as a child and I was very impressed with the effects in the movie. I don't know if they've left it open for a sequel or not, but it was an enjoyable movie. At least it wasn't a waste of time like Nim's Island or Definitely, Maybe. Those two were STINKERS!!