April 22-25, 2009

I played hooky from dialysis today. I wasn't feeling well so I stayed home. I thought this evening was the Borders Books meeting but I was the only one there from 7-8pm. Kasey quietly slept on the floor beside my chair as I stitched. When no one arrived by 8:00, I left to return home.

After posting a message to Facebook, Genia replied that the meetings are the last Wednesday of the month. I was told the 4th Wednesday, but I got in a half-hour of stitching that I probably wouldn't have done at home. This is the progress I made while at Borders. My house is growing flowers!

Thursday was the usual gathering of needle-workers at Barnes & Noble. Audrey gifted me with this wonderful Sampler Gameboard by The Drawn Thread. She also included a 1/4 yard of linen to stitch it on. Thank you, Audrey!

Pam stayed late because she had a 5:30 yoga class nearby. Since there was no sense in her driving all the way home to turn right around for class, we hung out, chatted, and did more stitching. My flowers now have stems, a bird for companionship, and the vine is growing up the opposite side of the fabric.

I did absolutely no stitching on Friday. Mah Jong sucked me in. As a matter of fact, it's sucked me in almost every evening this week. Why is that game so addictive? And I can't go to sleep until I beat the last one. Even if I have to re-start it over and over, I have to finish it.

Saturday was an entirely different matter as far as stitching. I haven't had a day this productive in a long time. It felt wonderful! Not only did I wake up and take America out on the front porch, but I also went into a finishing frenzy! When I woke up I noticed how warm it was so Kasey and I went out to the porch to enjoy the fresh air. I stitched on America for a couple hours.

I was able to complete the lower part of the vine on the left and began the flag. I've been putting off stitching the other side of the house because it's all one color but I think I'm going to have to start stitching at least one length of floss on it each time I work on America.

Then I realized that I only have three days to prepare for my retreat! I did some packing and remembered that I had some gifts I wanted to make. I can't give details and spoil the surprise, but I had my first encounter with lacing and am very happy with the results. After a couple hours' work, I have two finished gifts. You'll have to wait until Friday when I hand-deliver them to see what's inside.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish before the retreat was to finish my stitching book, A Stitcher's Companion. There is going to be a show and tell at the retreat and I was hoping to be able to show off my finished book.

I'm still not thrilled with the finishing instruc-tions, as I think a few simple changes would have made the entire process a whole lot easier, but I tackled it. This is my progress as of midnight, with the first panel closed around the backing board and part-way attached to the inside cover of the book.

Panels two and three still need to be closed, but the backing board is in place. I may yet have that book finished for the show and tell!

Catching Up...Again

Yes, I know it's been a week and a half since I last posted an update. Go ahead, lash me with the wet floss.

It's still crazily busy for me and I leave for my retreat next Thursday! Where has the time gone?

Here's what I've been up to:

Saturday, April 11 I completed Patriotic Hearts & Sampler Stitches by Sekas & Co. just as the clock was going to strike midnight-and I mean JUST! I had alot of fun with this piece; it was a joy to stitch. I think what made it so easy was that there was only ever one strand to work with, so I didn't have to be concerned about railroading my stitches or being careful that the floss strands were parallel to one another. Also, as you know, I love embroidery stitches! They're just fun!

Notice, I did not call them "specialty stitches" because there's nothing special about them. I'm always disheartened when I hear someone say they love a design but won't buy it because "it has specialty stitches." They're easy, folks! You stitch them the same way you stitch anything else: up at A, down at B, etc! There may be more steps than in making an X, but the method is the same. So if you see a design that screams "buy me!" to you, don't be discouraged when you see it has other stitches in it. Two of my favorite reference books for other stitches are "The Cross Stitcher's Bible" and Donna Kooler's "Encyclopedia of Needlework." There are also websites with animated stitch diagrams. I'll try to find a link later and post it on my sidebar here.

Speaking of the sidebar, I've been contemplating some changes. Tell me what you think. I have been considering creating three new sections:

Stitching Freebies, Stitching Tutorials & Reference, and Favorite Designers. Are these things you'd like to see? Just leave a comment.

When Uncle Wes brought the mail up today, there was a big box addressed to me. I was shocked to open it and find this beautiful knitted prayer shawl and a Bible from Wawanna. I opened this while watching The Ten Commandments. How timely was that?

I've never felt yarn so soft. It's Lion Brand Homespun and is washable and dryable according to Knitter Carol. The color is perfect! The yellow that runs through it gives it more depth of color with all the purples, blues, and greens that are throughout the entire piece. Thank you Wawanna! It's Gorgeous! I will treasure both of these forever!

Sunday, April 12 I began America by Little House Needleworks. Since this is the "Year of the Sampler" I thought it was high time I dragged out one of the many samplers I have kitted up. As usual, I made some changes. For once, I'm using the recommended fabric, 16ct Natural Heatherfield, but I changed all of the fibers. I'm sure I've stated before that I think stitching with DMC is boring. I like the variations in colors and the visual depth stitching with over-dyes gives to a piece. So I'm using GAST, Weeks, and one Crescent Colours floss for this design.

Even with my limited supply of overdyes, I was able to find close matches to the suggested DMC colors. My conversions are:

DMC 221, Shell Pink, VY DK - GAST Cranberry
DMC 420, Hazel Nut Brown, DK - WDW Pecan
DMC 644, Beige Grey, MD - GAST Oatmeal
DMC 712, Cream - GAST Picket Fence
DMC 924, Grey Green,VY DK - WDW Twilight for the bird & CC Wavy Navy for the flag
DMC 926, Grey Green, MD - WDW Teal Frost
DMC 935, Avocado Green, DK - WDW Juniper
DMC 3021, Brown Grey, VY DK - WDW Swamp Water
DMC 3782, Mocha Brown, LT - GAST Shaker White
DMC 3790, Beige Grey, UL DK - WDW Graphite

My progress picture, taken Tuesday, features my assistant, Anna, holding America.

Sunday was also Easter. I went to my aunt & uncle's for a family dinner. Grandma was there and we had a nice time catching up. I showed everyone my unfinished-finished stitching projects as my portfolio was still in the truck.

We all went out and played Mr Dwight's (my Aunt's Dad) Hillbilly Horseshoes game. We spent over an hour outside and played two games. Well, I played in one and was a spectator for one. Everyone but Grandma came outside for the fun. She was tired and took a nap while it was quiet inside.

The ladies also ooh'ed and aah'ed over the prayer shawl Wawanna knitted for me. Grandma told me to tell Wawanna she loves it and that it's perfect for me.

Monday, April 13 I went in for my dialysis treatment at 10:30 so that I could get home before dark, pack, load the truck, and head to Mom's. I met Ricco and he is a wonderful addition to the family. His personality is alot like Kasey's in that he loves everyone and is very tolerant of the little ones. He's 13 so is a little deaf and you can see the cataracts starting to grow in his eyes, but he's still active. Oh, and he's in love with Ms. Kasey Kay!

He followed her everywhere for the first hour. They were running around so much that Ben put Jake outside for his own protection. The poor guy got trampled by Frick & Frack. We finally put Kasey & Ricco outside so they could run around. When Mom arrived home from work, the first thing she said is that we're going to have scheduled play dates because Kasey and Ricco were having so much fun. I couldn't believe Kasey was actually playing with him, because she's usually very reserved around other dogs. It was great to see her so carefree with another dog!

Mom and I spent the evening playing Skip-Bo while I did laundry. We sat at the table talking and playing cards til midnight.

Tuesday, April 14, Kasey woke me up around 11am. Sarah and Anna were downstairs in Mom's room so that Kasey wouldn't hear them. Sarah was working on a paper for school and Anna was watching Nick Jr. She was so excited to see Kasey come downstairs with me. We spent the day doing laundry (Sarah's turn this time), playing, and even did a little stitching. I forgot to take a picture after we were done, so enjoy the video Ben was able to take. It features Anna and I stitching while Kasey and Ricco make an appearance at the end.

Sarah went to pick up Caleb from daycare and then came back. They left around 5:00 to go home, eat, and get baths. Sarah said she was making crab dip and I told her she wasn't allowed to hog all the crabby goodness to herself, so she better bring it over to Mom's. They came back around 7:30 with the crab dip and we all sat around the table eating it. Caleb tried to be sneaky and just suck the dip off the bagel chips, but Aunt Beth caught him and was able to get him to take bites of the chips. He really enjoyed it.

Here are Anna and Caleb in my slippers and Dad's slip-ons, respectively. Aren't they just too cute?! Caleb is 25 months and Anna will be 4 at the end of August. They thought it was just hilarious to walk around in grown-ups' shoes. The picture was taken right before they left, which is the reason they're wearing jackets.

Wednesday, April 15 was tax day for most of you but luckily I don't have to file since I only had SSDI last year. I was home barely in time to drop Kasey off at the house and get to dialysis by 2:30. It was a rainy, dreary day and took longer than usual to make the 82-mile trip home from Mom's. Unlike the previous Friday, I wasn't able to stitch during my treatment. I accidentally left my reading glasses in my overnight bag out in the truck so I watched television to pass the time. Don't ask me what it was because I can't remember now.

Thursday, April 16 was the usual gathering of needleworkers at the Barnes & Noble Cafe. Kasey and I stayed with Alice and Pam until 5pm. We had a great time. I have found that I really enjoy the turkey chipotle panini they serve. It makes two whole meals for me! No, it hasn't replaced the Wawa Italian sub in my heart, but it's a nice change every once in a while. I didn't get alot done on America, but it's coming along. This picture shows my progress from both Tuesday and Thursday. I completely forgot to take a picture before I started stitching Thursday.

I didn't do any stitching at home Thursday night because I went to the Online Needlework Show and browsed all the vendors. It took me alot less time this year, so it certainly felt like there were less vendors. The last three shows, it's taken me two to three days to get through all the pages. Anyone else notice the same thing?

Friday, April 17 was just a regular dialysis day. I didn't do any stitching, but caught up on all the shows my DVR recorded while I was gone.

Saturday, April 18 was gorgeous outside! It was 80 degrees, finally! I couldn't stand sitting inside, so I tried going out in the yard to sit and stitch in my lounger. That didn't last long once I started copiously sweating. UGH!

I set up the card table on the front porch, opened the sliding glass door to let the breeze blow in off the water, and Uncle Wes carried my lounger in from the yard for me. It was wonderful out there, and nicer than sitting in the full sunlight. Kasey and Chet came out to sprawl on the cool concrete and enjoy the fresh air with me. As you can see, I was distracted by the sunshine and warm breeze, so I didn't do much stitching.

Sunday, April 19 was my stitching day! I didn't turn on the computer at all. It's just too much of a distraction from stitching. The results speak for themselves, don't they? This is the kind of progress I used to make...before I discovered online stitching groups! My email time definitely takes away from stitching. I felt much better seeing all I accomplished on Sunday.

I kept stitching right along into Monday morning and was able to complete the entire front of the house. Then I began working on the roof before going to sleep.

Tuesday, April 21 was the Heirloom Stitchers meeting. There were four of us this month, including a new member! Deb first joined us in March and came back again this month. I completed the roof of the house Tuesday, but forgot to take a picture before I began stitching on Wednesday. So the chimneys and the flower stem weren't done at the meeting.

June 22, 2008

Today was a really rough day for me. I went to bed at 5:00 this morning and awoke at 6:15. And that's when the fun started (yes, I'm being sarcastic). I have no idea why, but I was severely dehydrated and almost lost consciousness walking to the bathroom. Sheer willpower kept me from falling, but I must have blacked out at some point because the big toe of my left food was in throbbing pain for hours yet I don't remember stubbing it on anything.

I made it out to the livingroom and walked into the kitchen to snag the big jug of water from the refrigerator. I tried to call Uncle Wes's cell phone to get him to come up and help me, but he and Kasey were out for their morning walk. His phone was in the basement and just rang until the voicemail picked up. If you're wondering why I'd bother calling when I thought he was just downstairs, it's because I knew I couldn't call out loud enough for him to hear me. I'm not kidding when I say I was on the verge of unconsciousness.

I was taking every supplement I could think of to combat the dehydration, too. Luckily I have sodium and potassium pills on hand at all times, as well as Lomotil to slow down the fluid loss. Unfortunately this has happened before and the pills are the only way I can replace all the missing electrolytes quickly; I just am not able to drink fast enough to replace them without the pills.

But all that gave me an excuse to sit in my recliner and finally get some stitching done! I finished LHN's Stars and Stripes at last!! I guess all my frustration just made me more determined to get this piece done. So here it is; my 26th finish of 2008:
Since I put the last stitch into Stars and Stripes at 10:30pm, I had time to start my next project which is Terra Australis by Dinky Dyes. This is the second square in my SAL with Debi M. She will be working on The Dreaming once she gets a couple smaller projects completed.

I don't know what it is about these quilt squares, but they stitch up much faster than you'd imagine and they're fun, to boot! While I haven't gotten my floss order from Wasatch Needle Crafts, I have enough floss left over from stitching Southern Stars to get a good start on Terra Australis. I should be okay, though, as I expect the shipment to arrive tomorrow.

This is my progress on Terra Australis as of Midnight:

If you don't see my blog updated until Wednesday, please don't worry. I plan on going out of town to visit family as long as I feel up to it after dialysis tomorrow. I will be back in Annapolis in time for my treatment Wednesday, but I won't be online until I get home that evening. Mary Ann only has dial-up service, so getting online is more hassle than it's worth. Besides, I plan to stay busy catching up with her and Millicent because I haven't been over since just before Christmas. Between my illness and hospital stays in January and February and Millicent falling and breaking her hip back in January, with a subsequent emergency hip replacement surgery with a month in rehab, we haven't had time to get together since last year. As you can imagine, we have alot of catching up to do!

June 21, 2008

Today was almost a waste as far as stitching went. I put in a grand total of four stitches. FOUR! I'm SO ready for this project to be done. It's just taking me forever. I'm considering not stitching any more LHN's for quite a while becuase of the experience with this one. Why is it taking me so long to stitch a 63x63 design? The border took me five days!

Besides putting in four stitches, I watched 27 Dresses, Flyboys, and The Valley of Light. I think I'm spoiled as far as romantic comedies go. 27 Dresses was cute, but it doesn't hold a candle to P.S. I Love You. I'd seen Flyboys before, but I didn't realize until it was about 10 minutes in, but it's still a great story, and a true one. The Valley of Light is a Hallmark movie about a man who returns from WWII to a small North Carolina town and makes a place for himself. There is some tragedy along the way, but it has the typical message as is found in all Hallmark productions.

I took some pictures of Chet and Kasey last week and forgot to include them. Chet has a cold and has been sleeping on my bed alot. Since I know he needs the rest to get better, I've just been leaving him to it. So here are some of the pictures I took:

Kasey with her Stinky ol' Raccoon:

Oops, she dropped it!



Chet:





The picture on the right is from the night he chased a mouse upstairs from the basement. He cornered it in the bathroom at one point, but it got away from him. This is him sitting in wait out in the hallway, but the mouse was already out of there by this time.

June 17-20, 2008

Tuesday the 17th was uneventful aside from me going to the library to pick up some books and DVD's. I watched "The Awful Truth" with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, and a cute family movie called "Grand Champion." George Strait and Juila Roberts both make cameo appearances and Julia's neice, Emma, is one of the stars. The mom was played by the same actress that played Layla in Big Daddy with Adam Sandler. It was a saccharine sweet tale of a little boy who raises a steer to win Grand Champion at a huge Texas competition. The "bad guys" were a rich family whose hired help did all the work, yet they took all the credit. When Buddy finds out his steer, Hokey, is going to be barbecued, after a man paid $750,000 for him, he steals Hokey back and sets off across the state to his home. A bounty is put on Buddy and Hokey by the rich father of Buddy's rival, and his hired man sets off to find them.

Of course they arrive home safely, and the gentleman who bought Hokey at auction, played by Bruce Willis, arrives by helicopter to tell Buddy that he can keep both Hokey and the money. Then he flies off into the wild blue yonder. The End

The Awful truth is a comedic story of a married couple who decide to divorce over a stupid arguement. Each sabotages the other's new relationship because they're still in love and they wind up together in the end. The movie was filmed in 1937, so it's in black and white.

At 10:00am on Wednesday, my sutures came out. Uncle Wes went to the appointment just in case my arm was too sore for me to drive home. Miracle of miracles! I can stitch! I can stitch! I didn't get alot done, but I was able to make some progress on Stars & Stripes by Little House Needleworks! I'm so relieved! This is only the second time I've stitched since June 5th!

I spent most of Thursday sleeping and running errands. I realized when I got them home that I'd already read two of the books I picked up from the library Tuesday, so I took them back, along with the one Uncle Wes picked up for me over the weekend. It was a compilation of four short novels. I'd already read the first story and got through the other three by Tuesday afternoon.

That was the nice thing about not being able to stitch for so long: I got alot of reading done and was able to watch a bunch of DVD's. Now that the sutures are out, I only read once I'm in bed. I've found that I don't sleep as well if I don't read for at least a few minutes before turning out the light and going to sleep.

I decided that I couldn't stand my hair being so long anymore and went to Bubbles Salon in Annapolis Mall to get it chopped off. I parked outside Lord & Taylor and walked through to the Mall itself because I wanted to stop at Sentiments Hallmark on my way to Bubbles. I had to pick up another pack of birthday cards for the birthday floss exchanges I'm in, as well as some special cards for other birthdays that are coming up. I got a new keychain that hooks over the side of my purse because my "Support Our Troops" yellow ribbon keychain broke last week. I was going to replace my "I love my Golden Retriever" keychain as well, but they no longer carry them. The girl behind the counter let me know that they were available at another Hallmark across town.

So here's the before and after pictures of my cut. She took 3-6" off the back, which I love! It's layered in the back and tapers forward with no layers on the sides. It's a little longer in the front than the back but that was done purposely. My main complaint in summer is that my hair sticks to the back of my neck, so that is no longer an issue!

I went to the Hallmark store across town and was able to find a I Love my Golden Retriever keychain. Since I was already in the shopping center, I popped in to Whole Foods and bought sushi for dinner. The sushi chef made me a Tokyo Roll, which is both salmon and tuna wrapped in seaweed and Rice with cucumber inside as well. On the outside is a layer of alternating tuna and salmon strips. It's my favorite and I only treat myself to it about once a month.

I did alot more stitching on Friday at dialysis and made great progress! I was able to get "Stars" done on the top, as well as 2 1/2 of the large white stars underneath it. I also finally finished all of the leaves on the big tree, so I was very pleased.

I went to the post office to mail several things, including CSE BFC Cards, my Heart of SNS2 square, and the last two weeks of NASCAR floss. I thought I'd already mailed the Heart project and was getting nervous that I didn't hear anything about it. I found it between the seat and console of my truck yesterday and I have to admit I was relieved!

I decided that it was too nice of an evening to waste sitting around the house, so Kasey and I went to City Dock ,had dinner at the end of Ego Alley, and enjoyed walking around Main Street. We popped in to the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre office and I signed up to be an usher for the July 10th show. Even though Ben isn't in any of this year's shows, I know ASGT still needs help cleaning up before and after the show and showing people to their seats. It also means I get to see the show for free, and I've never seen a bad one. Everyone is a volunteer, so they're always appreciative of more help.

People stopped us to admire and pet Kasey, and some kids came over to say "hi" while we were resting on a bench in the playground. Kasey adores children and both toddlers were very gentle with her. The mothers were a little afraid at first, until I told them I had a little neice that likes to reach in Kasey's mouth and hold on to her tongue.

Annapolis is a very dog-friendly town, with stores and restaurants along Main St. leaving out water bowls and buckets of dog biscuits for the canine clientele. Kasey had some canine admirers as well, but being the well-behaved girl she is, she walked right by without looking at them. It was funny to see! I took a bottle of water for her and I had lemonade tea and an Italian sub for me. Per our routine, Kasey got the last bite of the sub. We sat right on these steps behind the Alex Haley/Kunta Kinte Memorial.

We came home and she went out on the concrete of the front porch where it's nice and cool. She's tired out after all the walking we did up and down Main Street. I have to admit that goes for me too.