The Week in Review

SPRING IN COLORADO

View of our back yard on Tuesday evening about 9 pm:

Before 5 pm on Tuesday, there was not a speck of snow in our yard.  This storm dumped at least 7" in a few hours.  Another winter storm predicted for tomorrow night and into Saturday.  We are now at a snow total of 61.4" so far this year.  An 'average' snow total for winter for our area is 32.6".  We have defiinitely had a banner year for snow this year.  Oh joy. 

Our house is supposed to be re-shingled on Saturday morning.  Maybe next week sometime?  It's supposed to be close to the 70's then.

VISIT WITH OUR SON

We had a very nice visit with our son--we left home last Thursday about noon and returned home on Monday about noon.  We forgot this past weekend was March Madness, which meant DH and DS spent a good deal of the time we were at his house doing some serious male bonding watching basketball and hockey on TV. 

That wasn't ALL bad though, it gave me plenty of stitching time.  I listened to the first in the 'Outlander' series on my IPOD and was a happy camper overall.  Of course, the visit meant I made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for DS (his very favorite). 

LOTS OF STITCHING UPDATES

Bride's Tree SAL - March Finish!

First up is my completed March ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL. I stitched this design on the way to DS's and did the finishing today after work. The background in the photo is the fabric I used on the back of the ornment.

14 ct white AIDA

DMC Floss

Design from free booklet

with Cross Stitch Crazy magazine 

LHN Ornament SAL

I am STILL trying to finish Fa-La-La, the first in this new LHN series.  I tried to work on it at DS's but found myself frogging more than I was stitching, so finally gave up on it for the moment!  That 30 ct linen and I do NOT seem to get along!

Bouquet for Cheryl SAL

This is the project I stitched on the majority of the time we were at our DS's.  I am very close to being half finished now--woo hoo!   

 

Everyone Needs Their Own Space

This one is still my current obsession, but I did NOT take it to DS's, so I haven't stitched on it a great deal this past week.  But, some progress to show from my previous post about it.  I just adore this one!!

HAED Dragon Luck SK SAL

After struggling with doing this one 2 over 1, I finally gave up and frogged the entire thing.  I've started over doing 1 over 1 and it is going SO much better!  This time I started in the center of the design, rather than the top left corner.  Not a tremendous amount of progress to show as of yet, but it's a new start. 

BLOG AWARDS

I received a blog award from Evalina and also from Mare, but will wait to post about that next time.  Thank you both so much for thinking of me!!

GIVEAWAY WIN!

I was the lucky winner of a giveaway that Evalina had on her blog to celebrate her 20th anniversary of living in North America.  The prize was a $20 gift certificate from your favorite ONS; of course I chose 123 Stitch.  I've not decided yet how to spend it; I want the purchase to be something I REALLY want!  Thanks SO much Evalina!!

That's it for this time. 

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

"Ring Around The Rosie" Framed and "Elvis" Update

Finally got some photos taken of the Hummel design for Nancy,  This is her retirement gift.  A group of us are supposed to go to lunch on Wednesday to celebrate her retirement.  Sure hope the snow doesn't cuase us to postpone to a later date! 

I'm really excited to give this to her!  She collects Hummel figurines and I think she is going to love it. 

I think the framing turned out wonderful.  Our next door neighbor works at a framing store and she chose the mats and frame.  The size of the frame is 18" x 18".  DH got a specially made box from a packaging store so I can wrap it properly. 

Here's a close-up of the stitching.

And here's a close-up of the frame.

I worked on Elvis just a little bit in the past week.  I can see him coming to life; sure hope I can get this finished up and framed for DH by Christmas!

Lots more updates on other subjects, but I'll save them for another post.

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

A Finish, WIP Update, New Start, and Health Update - Scheduled For Surgery

A FINISH

Lots of news today.  First of all, I finished 'Ring Around the Rosie' Hummel last weekend.  It's off to the framer at the moment.  But, I discovered this morning I forgot to take a photo of the finished design.  Duh!  So, you'll have to wait to see it until it comes back from the framer.  I need it before the 30th, because it is the retirement gift for one of my employees who last day is Nov. 30.  So, stay tuned for a photo.

WIP PROGRESS

Next, I have an update on the Snowman Welcome Banner I'm doing for our son for Christmas.

I need to be spending more time stitching and less time reading and replying to e-mails and blogs, if I have a prayer of getting everything stitched by Christmas!  Aaack!  HOW do some of you get so much stitching accomplished and still seem to be sending lots of e-mails, blog updates, etc?  Did you find more hours in the day somewhere and failed to give me the website link?!!

A NEW START

Next, I have started (just barely) on a new BAP.  It is the Mary Wigham sampler from 1790 and is actually available free from Needleprint's blog.  Check it out if you like this type of design.  This is what the finished project should look like:

This is my very small start....a row of about 15 stitches in the top left corner!  :)

This is a pretty large project (for me).  I'm doing it on 32 ct Permin Lambswool, stitched over 2 threads.  The design area is approximately 20" x 20".  So, This is on my 24" scroll rods.  I am using a conversion to WDW, CC and GAST that I found online. 

HEALTH UPDATE - SCHEDULED FOR SURGERY

Some of you know about my serious back injury almost two years ago.  I fell down our basement stairs and fractured six vertebrae in my upper back - T1-T6.  After a lot of misery and wearing a horrible 'turtle shell' hard plastic brace for many months, that injury i about as good as it willo ever get. 

I've had lower back issues for 30 years or so...degenerative disc disease, bulging discs, bad arthritis...you get the idea.  The past six months I have been suffering from awful back and leg pain.  I've seen numerous orthopedists/neurologists/spinal specialists in the past couple of years.  All have told me essentially the same thing.  I have so much wrong with my back that there is essentially nothing they can offer me to give me long-term relief from the pain.

When I saw my regular physician recently for a check-up, we discussed my continuing battle with back/leg pain.  It has become so severe in the past few months that I am taking as many as 8 Vicodin a day to try to cope.  It has also caused me to severely restrict my activities, to the point where I have to greatly limit my walking.  I just hurt all the time and really need some relief of some kind!  My doctor recommended I go to a spinal specialist here in town (not someone I'd seen before).

I got an appointment, went in on Wednesday this week for some X-Rays, saw him on Thursday for an initial appointment, had an MRI on Friday afternoon and saw him late on Friday to discuss the MRI results.  My DH accompanied me on all these visits,.  On Friday afternoon, he showed us the MRI results, and explained what we were looking at.  While he concurs with what the other specialists have said regarding a long-term 'fix' for my problems, he DID say that looking at one particular disc (L3), he believe a Lumbar Laminectomy (Open Decompression) of that disc will bring me relief of the leg pain, and with PT and long-term water therapy after the surgery, I may be able to manage my other issues much more easily than I'm doing at the moment.  You can clearly see in the MRI that disc is severely pinching the nerves at that spot, plus there is a bone spur and a cyst at that location.

So, I am scheduled for surgery on December 14.  He had an opening for the day before Thanksgiving, but we opted for the December date because our son is expecting us to come for Thanksgiving, plus December is a much better time for me to be away from work; it is after Fall Semester has ended, so most of the students will have left campus for the Christmas Break

I'm nervous about having back surgery, but I'm also SOO hopeful this will make me feel 'human' again!  Prayers would be MUCH appreciated! 

I was supposed to go to Denver today to the Sampler Guild meeting; my back/legs are hurting so much, it just wasn't meant to be.  So, I hope to get a bit of stitching done before the day is over today;

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

New Finish & Fabric for New Projects

I finally got a photo taken and uploaded for the Quilt of Valor (QOV) I finished up on our way home from our son's last Sunday.  I'll deliver my two finishes for the month to Alycia, the lady who coordinates this program for our Guild at our Tuesday meeting this week. 

Here is a closeup of one of the sections with the star fabric.  The silver around each star is sparkly and looks so nice in person.

Hopefully I'll have another one to finish binding on when we head to our son's for Thanksgiving in a few weeks; stitching binding down is the perfect job for a car trip.

I made a quick run to JoAnn's this morning to get a few DMC floss I needed for a couple projects, and also to take advantage of their sale on Christmas fabrics.  I picked up 6 different fabrics for a song.

The one on the bottom right is a 'cheater' fabric panel.  I need to get a quick, small project done to donate for an upcoming Silent Auction fundraiser for our local Humane Society.  So, I thought I'd use a couple squares of this fabric to make a table runner, one of the other fabrics for a border (not sure which one yet), another for backing (top left) and binding. 

Then, I'll use the rest of the panel (2 squares x 2 squares) to make a Christmas table topper for our son's kitchen table (his table is a round, slate tile top, Bistro style set).  I think this would look very nice in his kitchen.

I'll post photos once these projects are finished up.  Meanwhile, I want to get a little backstitching work done on the Hummel for my friend before the day is over.  I have lots of photos to post from our trip, but I'd like to play around and see if I can create a slideshow for those photos; I think that is a project for another day. 

My camera has been busy clicking more photos of the mama and her adopted baby.  It brings a smile to my face that goes all the way through my heart, watching those two enjoying being together.  A very special thing indeed.  I'll save those updates for another day as well.

So, that's it for now.  It was over 80 here today; definitely a beautiful Indian summer day.  Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

Oreo Cookie Attacks Tacky Bob During Stitching Finish!

Oh my goodness, I have so many updates from the past week, I hardly know where to start. Guess I'll start with the last one first (sort of).  Tonight I finished the Kustom Krafts October SAL. Woo Hoo!! It is an adorable poinsettia design, intended to go on a jar lid. I was tempted to finish it as a tree ornament, but found the perfect jar while shopping at Wally World last night.

I decided to add a few green beads to the center, and that's when my 'helping kitty,' Oreo Cookie, got into the act. I grabbed my beading supply container, found some green beads, poured a few out on my Tacky Bob and got to work. As you can see by this photo, my Tacky Bob is now broken and is not so tacky anymore!  The photo doesn't capture just how much Oreo Cookie fur is now covering Tacky Bob!  Maybe I'll rename it my Furry Bob?!  I don't think Oreo will ever be very good at bead work!  Guess I'll have to add a new Tacky Bob to my 'Wish List.'  Dang cat!

As a long-time paper crafter and scrapbooker, I have a 3-ring binder of various shape plastic templates.  One of the circle templates was the perfect size, so I drew a pencil circle on the back of the stitched design and cut it out, added a circle of high loft quilt batting, and glued that to a cardboard circle.  Then I glued all of that down to the jar lid, with the excess fabric glued down around the edge.  Last, I added sparkly ribbon around the side of the jar lid to hide the raw edge of the fabric.  These photos don't do justice to how pretty this looks in person (blame the photographer--me!) 

For right now I 'borrowed' my DH's bag of almond M&M's.  I think this would look great on a shelf or table with red/white peppermints or holiday color M&M's in it.  Thanks so much to Dyan from Kustom Krafts for this free project through her Yahoo group!  Here's another photo of the finished project.

Needless to say, Oreo Cookie is now banned from my stitching area when I'm beading!

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

A Finish and a WIP Revisited

Yeah!  I have my very first cross stitch finish for 2009!  I decided to get back into stitching by doing a small project--a free SAL by Dyan Allaire from Kustom Krafts--offered on her Yahoo group.  Dyan's intention was for the design to be finished into a gift bag. 

However, once I got the design stitched, I decided to go in a little different direction with it.  I decided to stitch it onto the side of a tote bag so I could carry my current stitch project in the tote.  One thing led to another, as I was putting borders around the design, I thought, "Ok, what if I lined the stitching and made it into a pocket on the outside of the tote bag?"  This is what I came up with:

I think it came out pretty good.  If you look closely, the dark fabric I used for the cornerstones (and also for the lining of the pocket) has butterflies in it.

So.....first project for the year finished.  What to stitch next?  I'm torn between starting something new, :^) or working to finish one of my WIPs (or more correctly UFOs!).  So, I decided for right now I am going to begin stitching on an old project.  It's called Fall Y'all by Lizzie Kate.  Here's a photo of how it currently looks:

According to the photo file, it was last worked on it on 9/20/07, so it has definitely been a while!!  Here's what the finished project should look like:

Now I can't guarantee that I won't also start a new project soon.  I have been eying something I bought a while back at our LNS.  It's called  "I Love Quilting" and it's by Hob Nobb Designs. 

Here's a close-up of the design itself:

It comes with very cool clay embellishments.  Only thing slowing me down from starting this one right away is that I need to find the right 28 count fabric and dig out the appropriate GAST threads! But, watch this space for updates soon....

Until next time, Happy Stitching!  Vicki in CO