More Issues

Well, they aren't computer issues this time. I swear, it never rains but it pours.

Thursday I had to have my grandmother transported to the hospital. She seemed to be having problems breathing and she wasn't coherent. When we got to the hospital, we found she was covered head to toe in a very itchy rash.

She is doing better. Apparently, the mental confusion was most likely attributed to a low sodium count. We still do not know what caused the rash. She has no memory of the past few days, but she is able to carry on a conversation now. They have her on a sodium drip and a potassium drip. Her sodium levels are coming back up. I'm hopeful that things are going to go back to normal.

She is 80, but is usually sharp as a tack. Her sister has come up from Texas to help care for her. I'm not sure when she is going to get out of the hospital. The rash is still there, but at least now, she is not is such discomfort that she moans whenever she breathes. She says she was never in pain though. When I saw her today, she said she never realized that she was moaning with each breath.

It has been hard to see her like this. This woman raised me for most of my childhood and I can only remember her being sick two times. Once was when she had shingles, and the other I'm not sure what. But I remember her laying on the couch with the lights out and a trash can by her head.

The hardest part of this was when she was still confused. She knew who I was and her son Kevan. But she didn't know that her husband had passed on 1 1/2 years ago. She didn't know the year, but she knew what hospital she was in. She couldn't remember that I called an ambulance for her. She had no memory of driving herself to urgent care that morning. Seeing her like that was hard on me and I'm really glad that part is mostly over. I can handle the slips in memory that she is having now.

She was our babysitter for Alex on the weekends when both Steve and I worked. Right now, I'm not sure what is going to happen there. :( We'll make do best we can, I guess. You gotta do whatcha gotta do I guess.

Back

I'm back....Computer is still downloading 5000+ emails and I'm off to work.

I hope to have a chance tonight to catch up on emails and to post a longer update. :)

Hope everyone is doing well and nothing too bad has happened this past month.

Absence

Just a quick note to let you all know that I will not be online very much for the near future.  My computer died and I have to wait to get it fixed.  I don't even know what is wrong with it yet.  I'm hoping that it is something simple.

My access to my email is limited, so do not worry if I don't respond to emails...I probably missed it in the unsorted mess that is my online mailbox, or I just haven't gotten online.

I am not going to try and keep up with my Yahoo groups while my puter is down.  I would appreciate it if anyone who is in my groups reads this, if the would pass along the information for me.

In other news, I had a good birthday yesterday.  We went and saw Watchmen.  It was about a B for me.  Maybe a B-.  On Sunday, Steve took me out for dinner.  I hadn't had much sleep and almost fell asleep in the restaurant after I ate. LOL

Hope all is well with all of you!

RR Send Off

I sent my RR out on Friday. This is what it looked like.

When it comes back to me, it will be almost done. It is kind of sad parting with it. But I can't wait to see all the others that I will be working on. If I remember correctly, there are eighteen of us ladies working this one. Mailing twice a month means that we should be done around the end of the year. Perfect timing, I think. :)

Help Me Grow My Dragons!

I have several dragon eggs that need hatching and they need your help! Please click on each one to help it hatch and grow!








Thank you so much!

RR Progress

This is a very quick post to show the progress on my CHS Friendship Sampler RR. I've gotten the center heart (where the picture shows a lock of hair) and part of the heart above it done.

The floss is showing up a bit brighter than it really is. I think it is the light from the scanner. I think I am going to get as many un-named hearts done as I can before I have to send mine on.

Let me know what you think of the colors in the purple heart.

Friendship RR

I recently joined a Round Robin. We are doing Carriage House Samplings Friendship Sampler.

The model is done on 40 ct. I dyed my own 28 ct. I (as well as others in the RR) have decided to use my own colors. I am using Vikki Clayton HDF silk that I will send along with my fabric. I've done a floss toss to see how things look. Please be honest with me and let me know what you think about the color combinations.

Obviously, I've gone with blues, purples, and greens. I love that combination of colors. :) I have a few alternate colors that could be used instead of those.

I really like the one in the center, Blackberry. But its variegation has a lot of pink in it, I wasn't sure how that would work. The Earth Dragon has a lot of yellow, so the same applies. But I think Acts of Violets could work in there somewhere if something else didn't work well.

I had been planning on using regular old DMC threads, but something wonderful happened! I won a $20 gift card to HDF through my stitchingbloggers yahoo group. They usually have a contest every month or so. The one from January was a monochromatic design, and my fob that I sent to Monique won! YAY!!! So then I could get my HDF!!!

I got all the above plus I picked up a detritus bag. Look what I got for $8!

Vikki describes the detritus bag as "25 skeins floss, reg/premium mix "junk", mislabel, misdyes, unmatchable, my choice of colors". I took a quick look through mine and mine is all regular, but the colors are amazing! Who cares if they are the cast offs? They will be great in all the smalls I am planning on doing. :)

Once again, PLEASE let me know what you think of the floss toss. I plan on starting mine next Friday and I'd like to have all the colors ready to go.

Stitchy Update

I have two finishes. Both are from the Oak Haven January SAL. I finished February and March.

Oak Haven January SAL
February
DMC

I changed the color layout just a bit. Just moved a couple around is all. I made one of the small hearts in Mill Hill beads and I satin stitched the inside of the middle heart.

Oak Haven January SAL
March
DMC

This one I pretty much left the same. The only thing I did with this one was I did the face, hands, and feet over 1.

I've got a quick WIP going, but I can't show it. It is a gift for someone who reads my blog. :D I really hope they like it.


Tonight I did a bit of fabric dyeing. I got three pieces done. One is for a RR I am in and the others were for fun.

This is the one for my Round Robin. It is a two tone piece. The bottom is a light gray and the top layer is a blue-gray.



This was one I did for fun. It is another two-tone piece. The bottom one is light blue and the top tone is red. The blue doesn't show up too well on the scan though. :(



This was another fun piece. Single tone, just double dyed. I dyed it in gray and then re-wadded it and dyed it again.

A Long Update with a LOT of Ice

Things went a little haywire for me starting on Monday Jan 26.

That night we had the beginnings of one of the worst winter storms to hit my part of Missouri in years. The freezing rain and ice continued on into Tuesday and Tuesday night. I lost power at my house Tuesday afternoon about 3:00. Just an idea how badly the area got hit...I didn't get power back at my house until Monday February 2. 6 Days! I have pictures of some of the ice but I can't access them right now. Later I will update this post with pictures.

The ice was up to 4 inches thick on the power lines. Those came down pretty easily. And so did the poles. :( So did the trees. I remember sitting in my dark house with umpteen candles lit listening to the trees break all over the neighborhood. By the time Steve got home, I was real good at guessing which house just lost another part of their tree.

I was lucky in the candle department. This summer I was at a going out of business auction. I ended up buying over 200 taper candles for $7. I had about a dozen tapers going just in the living room alone. I easily had enough light to read by and even stitch by.

That night we stayed in our house even though the house was down to about 55 degrees. The next night and through Sunday night, we spent at my grandmother's house where Alex is staying. She has a gas heater in the family room that we turned up. After closing off unnecessary rooms, we were able to keep the house at about 70. Much better! Especially since our house was down to a balmy 42. It was cold enough we kept the groceries outside so they would last longer.

Steve and I finally were able to track down a small one burner Coleman stove and propane for it so Gwen (grandmother) could cook up hot food for Alex. There were several restaurants open in town after a day or so. Steve and I were able to grab something to eat. The town was under (and may still be) a curfew. It started at 10pm and ended at 6 am. It was a way to help curb crime and to keep people off the roads so the workmen could work without having to worry about the cars.

We had linemen from all over the country here to help out. (If any of you know a lineman, give him a big hug and kiss for me. Even if he didn't come here, he has probably gone somewhere similar to help out. He deserves a lot.)

Arkansas and Kentucky made more news than Missouri did. They had more areas get hit hard. But the bootheel of Missouri got hit hard, too. There are areas farther south from me who still do not have power and are not likely to for some weeks.

I was told by a lineman working in the Parma area that the electric company had 156 poles there. Only 5 of those poles were left standing after the storm. I think they are talking the end of February for all those folks to have power back.

Luckily, we haven't had any real bad damage from the storm. Some of the fence is down, but the roof is fine we think. The cleanup is going to be the real pisser.

In other news, I had my eye surgery on Tuesday. That is the weirdest thing. I laid there with my eye held open and never moved my head even though it wasn't held down. I have bruises on the backs of my hands where I had them clasped together so hard, though. Like I told the nurse right before we began. I am fine psychologically, but emotionally I keep doing the willies. Just having someone mess with my eye while I am awake and watching. It still gives me the willies. LOL

I have a soft contact lens covering the location he scraped. I'll go back in on Monday and have that removed and an exam to make sure everything is going as it should. I've got all sorts of eye drops I have to use. An anti-biotic, a steroid, and saline drops. I've gotten a headache several times right above my right eye that I think is from my eye doing funny things.

I am a little worried about the smoke at the boat tonight. It is my first night back to work and I don't know how my eye will react. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Going Under the Knife

I went to the eye doctor today. Things ended up a little differently than I thought they would. Let's go back to the beginning.

I went to my regular eye doctor for my yearly exam. He saw something, but wasn't sure what it was. He thought it might be an infection, so I used ointment in my eye for a week and then went back. (Eye ointment is very messy. I ended up with what felt like an oil slick all down the right side of my face from it. Nasty! Yuck!) Nothing had changed. :( So he referred me to a specialist in a nearby town. That appointment was today and confirmed what my regular doctor thought.

I have an Anterior Basement Membrane Dystrophy, otherwise known as a map dot fingerprint dystrophy, in my right eye. It's placement is almost right over my pupil. I will have surgery on Tuesday Feb 3 to have it removed. It is a simple in room surgery. Just some numbing drops in my eye and then the scraping. I don't think it will take 15 minutes once he walks in the room. LOL

Steve got his work schedule changed so he can stay home with me that day. I'm glad, because I really don't think I am going to feel like doing anything. Lucky for me, I had already taken that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off (with pay) for a little mini vacation.

Any thoughts and well wishes would be greatly appreciated and welcomed.

If you want to know more about map dot fingerprint dystrophy, you can find some here.

Scissor Fob for Monique

Monique received her scissor fob today that I stitched for her for the Tiny Treasures exchange, so now I can post a picture of it.

September 2007 Freebie
Ink Circles
Stitched over 1 on 32 ct
using GAST Midnight

I'm rather proud of this one. I thought about keeping it for myself and stitching another one I liked it so much. LOL

Another Finish and Other Stuff

Sunday I finished Glitter Gulch's A House Without Books. I really enjoyed this stitch. Mainly because I totally agree with the sentiment behind it. :)

A House Without Books
Glitter Gulch
Stitched on 28ct Antique White
using recommended DMC threads

I'm not sure how I am going to finish this piece yet. The pattern included three large buttons to use in the finishing. They recommended finishing it as a bell pull. For now, it is going in my finishes pile until I decide what to do with it.

I picked up the latest copy of Just Cross Stitch and found a band sampler I actually like. I was hoping to show you a picture of it, but JCS doesn't have their newest issue online yet. It is the one on the cover. I've never been one for band samplers, but for some reason this one just spoke out to me. Of course I'm probably going to play with the colors a little bit. LOL Right now, the colors are just a bit too "candy" for me. I'm thinking of using blues, greens, and purples in it. Love that combination! I'll probably do it on one of the pieces I've already got dyed. I'm thinking of doing it on one of the dark purple pieces.

Oak Haven Designs SAL

I joined Oak Haven Designs newest SAL a few months ago. Tonia sent out the first part of it and I finished it tonight.

This stitched up really quickly for me. I am looking forward to the rest of the SAL. If I remember correctly, we will get the newest piece after we post or email Tonia a picture of each months finish.

I am stitching this with the recommended DMC on a piece of the fabric I dyed when I was in Georgia visiting my mom.

Use One Word Only!

Subject: USING ONLY ONE WORD

Not as easy as you might think. Now copy or forward, change the answers to

suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be

sure to send back to the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? Bra

2.Your significant other? Steve

3.Your hair? Auburn

4. Your mother? Debra

5.Your father? Allan

6.Your favorite thing? Reading

7. Your dream last night? None

8. Your favorite drink? Pepsi

9. Your dream/goal? SAHM

10. What Room you are in? Library

11. Your fear? Ridicule

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home

13. Where were you last night? Work

14.Something that you aren't? Organized

15. Muffins? Blueberry

16. Wish list item? Money

17. Where you grew up? Matthews

8. Last thing you did? Sleep

19. What are you wearing? PJs

20. Your TV on? No

21. Your pets? Crazy

22. Friends? Few

23. Your life? working

24. Your mood? Resigned

25. Missing someone? Yes

26. Your car? Civic

27. Something you're not wearing? Shoes

28. Your favorite store? Book

29. Your favorite color? Blue

30. When is the last time you laughed? Morning

34. Last time you cried? fortnight

35. Who will resend this? unknown

A) Four places that I go to over and over: work, home, Matthews, restaurant

B)Biggest complaint? weight

C) My favorite place to eat: Anywhere

D Four places you'd rather be? Atlanta, Minnesota, Chattanooga, Anywhere

E) Four people I think will respond? Unknown

F) Four TV shows I watch all the time? NCIS, CSI, CSI: NY, GoodEats

A House Without Books

Hello. My name is BW and I'm a serial starter.

LOL

Yes, I started a new pattern. It is one my mother and I picked up when I was in Georgia.

Glitter Gulch Needleworks
A House Without Books

I would be a lot farther than I am now if the dreaded frog hadn't come visiting. I really don't remember inviting him, but he sure showed up.

I ended up frogging all the blue on the right hand side because I skipped a row in the top panel. I didn't notice it until I finished the blue on the right and then started on the left. Hello froggie! That put me a few hours behind. Not sure when I will get it finished. I am hoping to be able to work on it on Thursday.

I took Thursday off from work this week. Ended up calling in Saturday night, too. I think between the holidays and the funky schedule I just really needed a break. Wish I could take nice month long vacation, but that isn't going to happen any time soon! LOL

Fabric Dyeing

When I was in Georgia visiting my mom she taught me how to dye fabric. I posted my results on here and several of you wanted the directions for it. Here are the directions my mom sent me.

Hand Dying Fabric

1. Cut fabric to desired size and zigzag the edges (you don’t have to, but you’ll have lots of “strings” if you don’t)
2. Put a large pot of water on the stove to heat to not quite boiling (Make sure this is an old pot that you aren’t going to use for cooking anymore and that it is deep enough your fabric will be submerged)
3. Wash your fabric to remove the sizing (sizing will prevent the fabric from absorbing the dye good)
4. Once the water is hot, add dye. (I use Liquid Rit Dye and add only a little bit at a time until I get the shade I want.)
5. With the fabric wet, wad it into a ball and drop into dye (having it wadded up is what gives it that marbled look)
6. How long you leave it in the dye mixture depends on how dark you want your finished piece. I leave mine 3 minutes at first.
7. Remove the fabric from the dye and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.
8. If it looks like what you want, go to your ironing board and iron your piece completely dry (ironing is what sets the dye into the fabric permanently)
9. If you’ve got too many light and dark spots or it isn’t as dark as you want, wad it back up into a ball and drop it into the dye for another minute or three
10. Keep doing the dye and rinse until you have what you want.

I have never had any problem with the fabric dye job fading when I’ve washed a completed piece, but admit I’ve been extremely cautious and always, always used cold water to wash dyed pieces.

It isn’t hard to dye your fabric, but it can be time consuming so make sure you have plenty of free time to work on this especially the first few times you do it until you get a routine down. This was a learning experience for me and the first 2 pieces I did came out almost a solid color but I didn’t give up and finally got the result I was looking for. If you live close to a fabric store that sells evenweave or aida by the yard then this can save you quite a bit of money when you want that extra special look hand dyed fabric gives a piece. You’d be surprised how many projects you can get from 1 yard of fabric.

January '09 Goals

Many are posting goals for the new year. I don't think I can do that. I think I would drive myself nuts with it and feeling bad if I didn't make my goals. That said, I think I am going to try and do monthly goals.

January '09
1) Tiny Treasures Scissor Fob (already done)
2) Finish Bushel and a Peck
3) Work on BRD's A Little Quakeresque

I know that there aren't a lot of goals there. But, I really only get to stitch on the weekends. Bushel had a take a short break from for the Tiny Treasures fob. Since that is done, I will be able to devote my time to Bushel again. I really don't have much left on it. I'm not sure if I'm going to do the border or not. I'm saving it for last, so I'll be able to see what it looks like without it. I really think I'll be able to get it done in a couple of weekends.

ALQ has been waiting and waiting for me. If I am able to finish Bushel, I am going to go back to ALQ. I've been working on it since July and I would really like to finish it. For a while I just seemed to lose interest in it. But since it is almost half finished, I really need to finish it.