Card Progress

Here is my progress on the Delft card I am stitching for Carolyn's cancer fund raiser. The flower is done except for backstitch. All that is left is three more "stems", the border, and the backstitch on the flower. I am hoping to finish this tomorrow. I would keep stitching tonight but my back is real sore due to thunderstorms moving through the area and I am tired, so I had to stop.

I really like the way it looks and I think it will make a beautiful card. The flash on the camera washed the colors out a bit, but it still looks pretty good.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments, I really appreciate every single one! :)

Stitching On A Wednesday

I have been stitching. On the Cross Stitch Forum I volunteered to make at least 1 stitched greeting card. One of the members has joined Relay For Life and would also like some stitched greeting cards to sell to raise additional funds for cancer research. Since I will have to send the card overseas (to the UK) I have to finish the 1 I said I would make (and hopefully a second one to go with it) by June 21st at the latest, to ensure she will receive it by the date needed. So I put Frogging Around on hold, went through all my UK stitching magazines because they contain the only greeting card charts that I have, and found a chart I liked. It is one of 4 from a series called Delft Cards". They were published in Cross Stitch Collection, March 2010 issue. I love this magazine as it always has at least 3 charts (or more!) that I want to stitch in every issue! I am hoping to get 2 of these cards done on time. Here is a picture of the one I've started already. I would say it is just a tiny bit away from half-way done already, and I've only stitched for 4 hours on it, so it shouldn't take much longer.

Delft Cards
14ct Aida using DMC Floss

My sister-in-law also wished to stitch a card. So she picked a chart from Jean Greenoff's "New Cross Stitcher's Bible" and started stitching. This is only her third stitching piece and I have to say she is doing a fantastic job! Her stitches are nice and even, well shaped, and great tension. Here is a picture of the front of her card so far. This is only about a few hours stitching time so far, she stitches quickly too!

 


Tudor Rose
by: Jane Greenoff
DMC on 14ct Aida
Stitched by: Stephanie C.

I am very impressed with how neat her back is already! The rose has 3 colors in it and the leaves have 2, but even with those color changes in such a small area, her stitching is still nice and neat! There are no knots, tangles, or hanging threads. Everything is nice and neatly tied off underneath stitches already placed. The back of my 3rd ever piece of cross stitch was never this neat! Stephanie is a great stitcher already! I am so very proud of her and how quickly she learned.

Tudor Rose stitched by Stephanie; back side.

Here is the promised update picture on Frogging Around. I love the way the variegated corals look on the words. As I said earlier, I set it aside to do the card so I haven't gotten anything else done since my last entry, but I did promise a picture. This picture is also the first one that shows the fabric color so well.

Frogging Around by Jessica Willis Burr
28ct Jazlyn Irish Fields by Enchanting Lair
Stitched by: M. Hull with DMC Floss

Again, thank you all for your help on finding a thread that would work for the words. I love the look of this thread even though the flash washed it out a bit in this picture. The words show up real well and the variations of the corals and pinks add a delicate flowery touch to the piece that I really like.

When rearranging my stash I found out that I have 2 of the same Dimensions Gold kit so I decided that it may be time to make a list of what I have so I won't duplicate them and thus waste money. So I made a list of all my charts, kits, and leaflets (not counting hard cover books, digital freebies, or magazines) so that I won't accidentally buy a chart I already have. It was a lot of fun to pull out all my charts. I rediscovered a bunch that I really want to stitch, and some I didn't realize I had because they were given to me as a gift from my mother-in-law a few years ago. I have 249 charts, leaflets, and/or kits. I haven't included my freebies because I haven't printed them all out. According to my computer there are 599 files in my cross stitch folder (not counting my folder for finishes). This, however, counts each folder name as a file and I give every designer their own folder so I always know who designed the freebie. There are 162 folders. I am quite surprised at how many freebies I have! Many of them are small charts. There are also 2 folders for digital magazines (The Gift Of Stitching and Blackwork Digital Magazine). Maybe it is silly of me to create an inventory of my patterns, I don't know. I am not meaning to brag or anything, I'm only babbling about it because of how surprised I was to find out how many I actually have. I wasn't expecting it to be that much! Now I will feel guilty every time I purchase a new chart because of how many I have already and I know I can't possibly stitch them all in my lifetime. But oh man they are so much fun to look through. While doing this I found a few charts and kits that I know I will not stitch. They are all in excellent condition, the kits have not even been opened. I will post a new page on this site listing those items for sale or trade. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow. Maybe one of the items I list will be something you would like to have. 

Well that's it for me on the stitching front. Thank you all for coming by and leaving comments, I really do appreciate every single one. They always make me smile :)

Feeling Real Happy!

I have my first HD of 2009!! I am feeling so happy and excited!! Better than I have felt in months!





The first chart I have designed for myself and stitched is completed, I finished the backstitching tonight!

This is my Snowmen Cow design, fully stitched! It is for an exchange on Cross Stitch Forum, a forum filled with the most wonderful people I have ever met online. The people on this forum are real, welcoming to newcomers, and their behavior matches their words. I honestly love this forum and the people on it and it is one of the 2 forums that I go to now because there is no clique and the people on it are just wonderful!

Anyway, this cow is for Rose on that forum. It is for the ATC (artist trading card) exchange, round 5. I am majorly late, but that is partly because I was sick for 6 weeks and had uncontrolled pain for a few weeks. I put the last stitch in it tonight. I think it came out pretty good! My DH is buying me the few items I need to turn it into a card that will stand up on its own (kind of a flat fold type of thing). I stitched the words for the back as well. I will mail it on Monday and I really hope that Rose likes it!

I can't believe how happy and energized I feel after finishing this! I am excited, happy, smiling and feeling really good! I haven't felt this good in weeks! Maybe this is all I needd, to finally accomplish something to start of the new year.

I will kit up the chart that my sister in law Stephanie chose for me to do a birth sampler for my niece. It is mirabilia design called Crescent Dreams, a baby in a blanket on a crescent moon. I will be changing the blanket to pink rather than blue, then adding Bridgette's information to it once it is done. I hope it turns out real well for them!

Maybe this energized feeling will be the catalyst to pull me out of this depression I've been dealing with since the first of the year.

Way too long

It has been a long time since I have posted. I am sorry about that. I am still around. It took me six weeks to get over being sick back in January (my last post) and 2 antibiotics. It took another 2 weeks to finally feel more like myself. Ugh I hate being that sick!



I have been fighting depresson again with the New Year. I'm not sure what has brought it about, maybe the fact that I turned 40 had something to do with it, I'm not sure. I just know that I have had very little desire to do anything at all including stitching. I have done no stitching that is not an obligation so far this year. I just haven't felt like it. Heck, to be honest I haven't felt like doing anything at all. *sigh* I'm working on it though and hopefully I can pull myself out of it soon. I really hate it when this happens. I don't want to talk to anyone, don't want to do anything or go anywhere and I know that giving in to those feelings is not at all helpful and just makes it worse, but it can be so very hard to fight it. Specially when it is accompanied by a higher pain level due to normal monthly stuff, since the increased pain decreases my mobility and decreased mobility feeds into the depression and lack of desire to do anything. I guess I will have to do what I have always done and just force myself to start doing things again. Things that I know I like because even if doig them right now doesn't make me feel happy, I know my enjoyment will return when the depression lessens a little bit.



I did make a chart of my own based on the cow charts that can be found here: http://lesmarottesdenath.free.fr/index.php?doc=1



It is for an ATC (artist trading card) exchange that I signed up for. The chart I made should look like this when it is completed (virtual stitches). I used PC Stitch Pro 9 to make it. The person it is for loves snowmen but already had the chart that was already made, so I decided to make my own. I don't think she reads my blog, so hopefully this will be a nice surprise for her! Darn, blogger will not cooperate tonight and let me upload a picture so here is a link to it instead, sorry.

http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/52/752/0/85/4/2428085040092041512mQWshc_th.jpg

I have all but the little bit of backstitching around the snowmen, their hats and scarves done. Then I have to do the words for the backing then put it all together. Hopefully blogger will cooperate and let me upload pics when I have it done. If not I will provide a link to the finished project.

I will try to post again tomorrow and hopefully get the pictures up!

The CSC stitchathon challenge results!

Back in Jan of 2008 I entered a challenge on Cross Stitch Crazy. I predicted that I would do between 12,000 to 14,000 minutes stitching. I based that on my total of 6,773 minutes from the 2 (or 3?) stitchathons I had participated in towards the end of 2007 when I joined the board. I am curious to see if I even come close, so I'm going to post my totals here so I can keep track for myself. I am hoping I can do at least 12,000 minutes.

I met that goal! 3. Ravenhead goal: 12,000 minutes actual 15,974 (133%)

I stopped recording my time in the stitchathons back in October I believe it was so not all my time is accounted for, but that's okay. I still met my goal and since I forgot this one in the other day's post I figured I should pop it up here. LOL

It has been too long!

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted in this blog. Things got pretty bad with my back. For 6 weeks I was living with extreme pain every single day and it kept me from wanting to do anything at all. I couldn't do much at all either, because I hurt so bad. Living with chronic pain sucks!

I did finish the Giesha Cow for WOCS. Here it is:

I am quite pleased with how it came out, I just wish it had not taken so long.

I joined a Christmas Ornament exchange on WOCS. This is the lovely ornament Cathy sent me. I think it is adorable and took a picture of it hanging on my tree:

My partner was Cindy. I also included some floss (DMC and Kreinik metallics) and a book that Cindy had wanted for a long time. I mailed a bit late, so I included a second ornament for being late. She really liked everything.

I joined a secret stashmas exchange on the Cross Stitch Forum. I received a package from Kerri. It contained two charts I have wanted for a long time and all the DMC floss to stitch them! I am so excited! Thank you Kerri!

I managed to finish the entire upper right hand corner of the Tam's Creation backwork chart. I will post a picture soon!

May everyone have a wonderful holiday season! Happy Holidays!

Update on Contest

On my post "Breast Cancer Awareness" I put a link that you can click on to help provide mammograms to women in need, as well I included information on a contest. As of right now I have no comments on that entry so I'm going to let it run another week and will draw a name on the 17th instead.

I have had to put aside my rotation in order to stitch another cow chart for WOCS. I'm working on Geisha cow. I'll put a progress pic up of it tomorrow.

With all the people from Cross Stitch Forum we have enough sign ups of cows to not only replace the stolen squares, but to make a second quilt! Agi, Barb, Dawn, Es, Jilly, KellyAnn, Kim, Lisa, and Sammy_V I can not thank you all enough for stepping up and helping replace the stolen squares and to be so willing to stitch these cows that we have enough for a second quilt! I really appreciate every single one of you for what you are doing! HUGS to you all!

The Good In People

I am so very touched by the ladies and gentlemen of the Cross Stitch Forum board. I joined a couple weeks ago after coming across the forum by accident. The members of this board have just been wonderfully open to new members, supportive of each other, chatty, and just great! I have really loved this board since I joined it.

Well I had posted progress pictures to this board of the Silly Cow I finished on September 29, 2008. The members were very supportive of my attempt to pull myself out of depression and encouraged me a great deal to get the cow done. Upon completion I posted the picture and was asked to post a picture of the quilt when it was finished so they could see it. They loved the idea of a quilt made with a bunch of different silly cow stitched pieces. Because of the incident I posted earlier today on this blog, I posted to the forum to let them know that the quilt with my cows in it (the one I just finished was my second, I also did a Tutankamen cow) may take a while to get completed and linked to my blog entry that rants about why.

In response 3 people have signed on to stitch one of the cows to help replace the ones that were lost/stolen due to the earlier incident. One of the members has also offered to donate a bunch of stitched pieces that she has completed as they would work well on a quilt. Many others posted their support for the charity group and their thoughts/feelings about what that woman chose to do.

I am flabbergasted but this time with surprise and joy! I am so very touched by their desire to help repair the damage. I'm actually sitting here with tears rolling down my cheek. These are not sad tears though, they are tears of happiness and warmth.

Thank you Serinde, Genevieve, Mabel, Kute Kitty, Agi, Jilly, Lisa and BusyB for your wonderful support. Jilly thank you so much for the donation of stitches pieces you have completed. Thank you Jilly, Lisa, KellyAnn, Agi, and BusyB for signing up to stitch more cows to assist in replacing the missing squares. I can't tell you how grateful and happy I am that you have all shown such warmth, support, and willingness to help out! You are all very special ladies!

So far so good on rotation, stitching and yanking out of depression!

Well October is the month long stitchathon on Cross Stitch Crazy, so I am thinking the rotation schedule I posted yesterday should help me stitch a bit every day and thus participate in the stitchathon more than I did in September.

My September stitchathon total was 500 minutes so here are my totals so far:

• January: 1,531
• February: 1,941
• March: 3,580
• April: 1,640
• May: 0 (depression sucks)
  
• June: 0 (I mean it really really sucks!!)
  
• July: 1,590
• August: 0 (*sigh* Stupid depression)
  
• September: 500 (YAY! started pulling myself out of it, good thing I am stubborn huh?)
  

• total: 10,782 minutes

I think I will hit the goal I set for the stitchathon challenge of 12,000 to 14,000 minutes. Hell I might hit it before the end of October! WOOT! I'm well on my way and since this is a month long stitchathon so I should be able to rack up some time, specially since I have integrated rotation and so far I have stuck to it. (Though I did not stitch last night, was too damn tired) I am really excited and so very very pleased with myself for actually sticking to my plan and stitching for 3 hours today!! I will probably get more done tonight but I wanted to be sure to blog. I don't want to have so much time go by between posts and would like to start being more regular with my entries (yeah right, I am so lazy and tend to forget things so easily..so don't hold me to this!).

Today I stitched for 240 minutes (so far)! I made a little bit of progress on "Stroke of Midnight" from Teresa Wentzler. Due to a high level of pain, I couldn't concentrate very well so I only worked a little bit on it. I got a bit more of the rails behind the girl, and a bit more of the over 1 on the girl (the hair around her face). Then I switched to " Blackwork Winter Sampler" by Tam's Creations as it doesn't require as much thinking or concentration as a TW over 1. But I did find an error in the chart. In the second "round" there are mittens, hats and snowballs. On the right hand side (chart for upper right corner) the snowballs between the mittens share their top stitch with the outline for the "round". They are supposed to be one row below the outline stitching. Luckily I caught this as soon as I put the first snowball in, so I only had to frog a few stitches instead of a whole bunch.

Edited to add: I am an idiot! There is no error. I saw the line that marks the 10 squares of the chart as a backstitch line. My printer printed it dark so I confused the two. I am sorry Tam that I posted this so late last night before I realized my error! (Yes I am an idiot! LOL)

I am really liking the way both "Winter Blackwork" and "Stroke Of Midnight" are shaping up! I have found that I enjoy (and need) more than one project going at the same time. This allows me to switch between them based on how well I can concentrate at the time I stitch, how much time I have to stitch, and whatever mood I might be in. My rotation is a nice guideline for getting stuff done, but I consider it very flexible. If something comes up that is not in my rotation, I will simply add it somewhere and go from there. LOL

I am really pleased with my progress and I hope to keep it up. I really like the way it is turning out with 2 strands over 2 threads. Changing the colors, as I mentioned in an earlier post, did not work very well so I frogged it and decided to do it all in the dark purple the chart calls for. I am really liking it that way too! I will be taking this piece to the doctor's office with me tomorrow as it is easy to carry (just 1 color LOL) and I am sure to have at least 1 to 2 hours waiting to actually the see the doctor so I can stitch during that time. I think I am off to a great start on this month long stitchathon!

It is so nice to have that depressed "I don't want to do anything" mood replaced with being excited about stitching and NEEDING to stitch! Gosh it feels sooo good!

I have taken pics (before I stitched today, and after I finished stitching) but it is late and I am really hurting so I will post them tomorrow.

I borrowed my DH's glasses, they are bifocal and I have found that the bifocal part makes it so much easier for me to see the over 1 stitching. So I am going to find me a good pair of reading glasses to help me with the higher count fabrics since I can't use a stand so a lighted magnifying glass won't work for me.

Well that is pretty much it for me today! I hope everyone has a wonderful night filled with joyful stitching!

Raven

Updates and SBQ

Here is the SBQ for Feb. 26th. I'm a bit late in answering it.


This week's SBQ was suggested by Rachel and is: What is your cross stitch weakness? (i.e., What do you have to have when you see it, even if you are supposed to be on the Wagon?)

For me it depends on the designs. I like many varied things so I can't say there is one specific kind of design that I must have when or if I see it. Though I can say that I am not all that fond of stitching a lot of flowers unless they are part of an overall picture as in many Paula Vaughn designs. Thinking about it though I would say that blackwork is probably the closest "weakness" as far as patterns I *have* to have but even then it is not every blackwork pattern I see.

Things have been real busy around here with the baby and all. I am going to start stitching the seasonal exchange piece for Sonya over again because she has not received it yet. The post office told me 8 to 10 days, and it has been 3 weeks now. I am NOT happy that it did not get to her. When I send it this time I will be sending it priority mail so that I can actually track it and I will make sure they put a customs declaration sticker on the package. I am hoping that the other members of the board do not think that I did not send the package. This was only my second exchange. My first was the Christmas Ornament and I sent it a week late. This one was mailed on Feb. 14th, one day late and has not arrived. I do have the receipt that shows I mailed a package to the UK so I could provide it if anyone asks. I just feel so bad. This was Sonya's first exchange and she did not get the peice I stitched. That is just so unfair! I am hoping to have it re-stitched by the end of this week or Monday (the 10th) at the latest and get it into the mail.

I am still working on the Love Quilt square and the rosebuds I promised a friend I would stitch and make into small sachets as prizes in a contest that she is running.

A friend on the Cross Stitch Crazy posting board posted that her husband passed away. I cried when I read it. Henny is such a wonderful person! She was friendly, warm, and welcoming when I first joined the board. She sent me a beautiful Christmas Card as well. Reading her posts and her blog have shown how devoted she was to her husband and how much she loved him. Very inspirational for me to read. I am so very sorry that Ken (her husband) passed away and I wish there was something more I could do for Henny besides keep her in my thoughts and prayers. I really hope she is okay.

Seasonal Exchange Received!

I got my seasonal exchange today! Sonya did a marvelous job! She did two small peices because they were smaller than the 50 x 50 to 70 x 70 requirements for the exchange. She did a really good job and I am so so so happy to have them! She did a Spring and an Autumn one for me. I know she was nervous as this was her first exchange and I hope she enjoyed doing it, nervousness and all. I know I certainly enjoyed receiving them and will enjoy them as soon as I get them finished. I think I will make little pillow ornaments out of them to hang on the other hook in my picture window. The Christmas ornament exchange that I received from Jacque is already hanging on one of the hooks and I think the two from Sonya will look fantastic hanging from the other one! (They are hangers for hanging plants but the plants weren't happy there so I moved them and left the scrolled metal hangers on the window frame.)





Here are pictures of the peices Sonya did and the beautiful card she enclosed as well! Thank you again Sonya, I really like them!

SBQ and Feb Stitchathon

This week was the February stitchathon for Cross Stitch Crazy. With the challenge I joined in, I am keeping track of my time:

• January 2008: 1,531 minutes
• February 2008: 1941 minutes

I might just make it to my prediction which should be interesting LOL

SBQ for February 13th is:

This week's SBQ was suggested by Loretta and is:
Do you have any projects that you have scrapped and started over? What
made you start over from scratch?


Yes. I have one. I did this teddy bear on a china cabinet design for my biological mother. It was my first ever counted cross stitch and I kept messing up. A couple of times I just frogged and restitched but after I got halfway through and found yet another mistake in the teddy bear's belly I decided to scrap it and start over, this time starting with the teddy bear. Basically repeated errors in counting for the teddy bear (that could not be fudged as it set entire design off) made me scrap it and start over. The picture isn't that great as it was taken with an instant camera and then scanned into the computer and as the peice is buried with my biological mother I can't get a better picture of it.

I finished the seasonal exchange peice and forgot to take a picture of it. I feel real dumb! Sonictomb (Sonya) who is my partner said she would take a picture of it when she gets it. I really appreciate that too!

I got approved to do a square for Love Quilts. They do quilts out of cross stitch squares for ill children. Each quilt is tailored to the child's interests so that it is more meaningful for them. I applied to do a square for a little girl named Cecilia who loves Precious Moments and angels. So I chose a Precious Moments design that is a girl angel holding up a little boy. I have most of the little boy's head and shirt done and am really enjoying stitching this.

Left picture shows with top on right

spot. The picture on the right is a bit of a closeup to show detail and that it is a face, shirt and hair (almost). I really hope Cecilia likes it when it is done. Stitching for charity is a lot different than stitching for someone else, at least it feels different to me. The entire time I'm stitching on this I think of Cecilia and hope that she is doing well. I guess this goes with how the history books say that when women did cross stitch they said a small prayer as they formed each cross. I know when I stitch for a friend or relative I think of them while I stitch, but this feels a bit different, maybe its because it is for a child who is ill and it is for someone I do not know. I just know that I am enjoying stitching this peice a great deal and I hope to do more squares for other children as well.

Stitchathon Challenge

The Cross Stitch Crazy posting board came up with a stitchathon challenge, which I joined. To help me keep track I figured I'd post it here and edit this post for each month's stitchathon. For those who do not know, a stitchathon is when a group of stitchers keeps track of their time spent stitching or the number of stitches they did, or both. It is meant to encourage people to stitch and have a bit of fun doing it. Jacque came up with the challenge for the year and it has three points, which are:

1. I want to challenge you to predict how many stitches and/or minutes you will stitch during the SATs. Next December (after the last SAT) I will award a stash prize to the person who is closest to their final total at the end of the year in each category. (post your predictions under this thread so I can pull them all together easily, please)
   
2. I'd like to challenge you to stitch as many stitches as I'm challenging myself to stitch. So, to anyone who stitches more than 50,000 stitches or 10,800 minutes during the SATs, I will award a prize. (tbd if it is stitched or stash)
   
3. I'll award a stitched prize for the top person in each category for the year (time and stitches)

I predicted that I would do between 12,000 to 14,000 minutes stitching. I based that on my total of 6,773 minutes from the 2 (or 3?) stitchathons I had participated in towards the end of 2007 when I joined the board. I am curious to see if I even come close, so I'm going to post my totals here so I can keep track for myself. I am hoping I can do at least 12,000 minutes. Since I just started stitching again after not stitching for almost a year, I thought this challenge would help motivate me to continue stitching and increase my stitching time back to the amount I used to do (which was at least a couple hours a day).

January 2008: 1,531 minutes (I think that is a good start!)

SBQ and Another Exchange!

This week's SBQ was suggested by Outi (linked to her blog) and is:
What is your favorite past time while stitching? Do you just enjoy
silence, listen to music/audiobooks or do you "watch" TV/movies? Do
you have specific favorites you listen to/watch while stitching? (question linked to Blond Librarian's Blog..home of the SBQ)

When I stitch I tend to be hyperfocusing to control pain thus I do not watch tv or listen to the radio or anything while stitching. I focus on stitching to take my mind off the fact that I hurt. When I am stitching for enjoyment only I will sometimes stitch while watching movies or television or while talking with friends.

I got an email today letting me know who my match is in the Seasonal Exchange for Cross Stitch Crazy! I have to stitch a small peice that shows "summer" and send it, unfinished, to my partner. I am really excited! Now to go through my charts and find (or put together) something that will work in the size allowed and start stitching. I really hope my pal likes it!

SBQ January 9, 2008

This week's SBQ is: What was your favorite finish of 2007?

Answer: I only had five finishes in 2007 and all but one were small items. Though I do know which one is my favorite: The Blackwork Cat ornament from JCS Ornament Issue by Kitty and Me Designs. I love blackwork and I love the way it turned out on the opalescent fabric by Silkweaver and it is also my first completed Christmas ornament and my first ever cross stitch exchange (X-mas ornie exchange for Cross Stitch Crazy).

New Finish For Charity and SBQ

I was hoping to get this one done before the end of 2007 but doing the sachet bag for Curtis got in the way so this wasn't finished until today and is now my first finish for 2008 and my first ever charity stitching peice. I thought it was a real cute design! I stitched it for the Yahoo Group called WOCS. They take stitching, crochet, and knitting projects and donate them to hospitals and such. I hope to continue to do more charity stitching in 2008. Here is a picture of the King Tut Cow. The pattern comes from a French web site, and there are a bunch more cows and mitten designs to stitch. Some of them are real cute! I just loved the King Tut cow so I chose that to be my first charity cross stitch and I completed it earlier today. It is done on 14ct Aida fabric with DMC floss. I changed the color of the yellow as the chart called for one that seemed far too light in my opinion, so I selected a darker yellow and used that instead. Hopefully I will get it out in the mail tomorrow.

I have been working on Stroke of Midnight by Teresa Wentzler, but I have not taken a pic of my progress. I hope to do so tomorrow and post it for everyone to see. I am really hoping to do a lot more stitching in 2008 than I did in 2007. I did not realize how much I missed stitching until I picked it back up again a couple months ago. I have truly been enjoying stitching again, not just cross stitch but also thread crochet. I am currently working on a doily that will be 16 inches accross when I finish and so far it looks better than I thought it ever would! I am quite proud of myself.

I spent most of today in the waiting room of the local surgery center. I was there to be moral support to my friend Curtis and his mother. He had surgery on his shoulder. It repeatedly dislocates and causes him a great deal of pain so the doctor attempted a second surgery in the hopes of preventing further dislocations and pain. The surgery went well and Curtis came through just fine despite a small complication with a low blood oxygen saturation level. He is uncofortable but glad it is over. I just hope that this surgery is successful and he no longer has chronic pain once he is all healed up. I live with chronic pain so I know how horrible it can be. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, forget someone I truly care about and call a friend. Being in pain day in and day out, all day long, is extremely disheartening and depressing. It is even worse when one has a doctor like Curtis's that refuses to treat pain under the mistaken idea that a preson can't possibly feel pain from things such as nerve damage, bone spurs, arthritis, torn ligaments, and bone fragments from a broken joint socket. It utterly flabergasts me that any doctor could believe such a thing and I truly hate seeing anyone I care about in pain. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make it all better for Curtis, no more pain, no more surgeries, no more injuries..make him all better. Sadly, this is not possible so all I can do is continue to provide him with emotional support and with any advice I can think of that might help his pain levels.

I feel good though about sitting in the surgery center for 4 and a half hours today. I had to leave when my pain level hit an 8 (0-10 with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain I ever felt). Curtis was out of surgery and in recovery. His doctor said he came through the surgery really well and was doing just fine. I was there to be support for both him and his mother. Before I left his mother hugged me and thanked me for being there. She said that my presence made it easier for her to deal with the waiting around for answers and news while her son was in surgery. I am very happy that I was helpful to her as well as to him. I did feel guilty though for having to leave before I saw him in the recovery room, but I did wait until I knew he was in recovery at least, so I knew he was fine. He was really worried that he wouldn't wake up from anesthesia, which is a normal anxiety whenever one faces surgery and I wanted to make it easier on him if I possibly could. I called him on the phone a little bit ago to see how he was doing and he says he is doing okay. I am glad that he is allright, I was worried about him.

Today's SBQ is: Are you starting something new to celebrate the New Year or participating in "Guilt Free January?" If so, what are you planning on starting? (The question is a link to the original site as usual) I have not started a new project yet but I do hope to start one. I want to start "And A Forest Grew" from Rosewood Manor. It is a project for my DH who is the environment coordinator for Tyndall Air Force Base which basically means he ensures that the shops he is assigned to are following the laws for environmental issues. I jokingly call him a professional tree hugger, so I thought this design would be perfect for him. I am not sure when I will start it but it is one I am planning to start. I also joined a stitch-a-long for an ornament a month on the Cross Stitch Crazy posting board. I really like the idea of decorating next year's Christmas tree with a bunch of hand stitched ornaments. It just seems to me like they would have more meaning than store bought. I'm not sure I will be able to do one a month, but I will do my best. I am unsure what "Guilt Free January" means so I can't really answer that.

Well that's all I can think of for tonight, so I will stop her. I will try to post updated pics of my Stroke Of Midnight WIP tomorrow.

It's Done!

YAY! I got it done and I am so so proud of it! I was so worried that any ornament I actually finished would look horrible or maybe like it was sewed by a chimpanzee! But when it was done, I was soooooo very happy with it, it looked great! I won't deny that for a few moments I wanted to keep it for myself LOL Instead I went to the post office, put it and a couple surprises into a box, addressed it to Canada and mailed it off to Velda. I really hope she likes it! I feel bad because it was late and even express mail said it would take 3 to 5 business days due to it having to go through customs. Which means the latest it will get there is Thursday the 13th, but at least it will be there 2 weeks before Christmas and she will have time to enjoy it before the holiday is over. The pictures do not show the fabric very well but it was a hand dyed Solo from Silkweaver that changed colors from a gray-blue to blue and then light purple to purple. I used the mostly purple peice for the back as Velda's favorite color is purple. For the seams I used a backstitch border around each peice then using 4 strands of floss (2 black and 2 dark purple) I joined the backstitches together to close the seams. I used the purple to help bring the purple back together with the blackwork front. The holly leaves are dark green satin stitch 3 strands, and the holly berries are red seedbeads from Mill Hill, 4 of them stitched close together with 1 strand red floss. The sparklies in the fabric were perfect through the blackwork, gives it a sparkle, but this doesn't show up well on the pictures.

The back was done by hand and I did not chart the words. I added the gold braid star to balance it out when it came out with extra space on the end of X-Mas. The back looks ok I guess.

I'm just glad that I got it done and it came out as well as it did. I hope Velda likes it!

The Butterflies Have Started

I have joined my first ever cross stitch exchange. It is a Christmas Ornament exchange. Stitch and finish (ready to hang up) a Christmas Ornament. I am doing it for the Cross Stitch Crazy posting board. I received my e-mail the other day telling me who I am paired with and I won't post it here because I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone else but I will say this I AM NERVOUS AS HELL! I know I shouldn't be because I know my stitching is pretty good, my backs are usually neat (except for those designs with massive color changes in small areas using blended threads..those never come out real neat LOL), everything crossed in the same direction etc. etc. but I am still nervous. I had already finished a few ornaments and chosen the one I would finish and send for the exchange as I planned to enter it back when I joined the board a few months ago. But when I received my e-mail match there was a notation that the person I am matched with prefers angels and a specific color. (Won't say cuz that will give it away) I had not stitched an angel and I've been looking for days for a design but I can't find one that I like that is small enough for an ornament. So I will go with my original choice as the person told me that it did not HAVE to be an angel and that she is very excited. I just wanted it to be something that I knew the person liked best. So my feeling bad is my usual being too hard on myself thing. But man I am nervous! This is the first time I have given something I stitched to another stitcher! Someone who knows how to stitch and thus knows what they are looking at and how it should be done. As usual I am worried that I won't be up to par in her eyes. I know that is my own nerves and self-esteem issues and it has nothing to do with the recipient at all. She has been nothing but nice, friendly, warm etc. since I joined the board, so I have no reason at all to believe that she would be judgemental or anything negative at all. I'm just scared I guess.

I just hope she likes it! Other than the butterflies I am really enjoying stitching for such an exchange. The idea of something I stitched going to someone that I know will appreciate all the work that goes into stitching is a lot of fun. I had a good time figuring out which pattern to use and ended up stitching a few different ones to select from once I knew who my partner is. Having not stitched in a long time doing this has brought back my enjoyment of stitching again and I am so glad that it did!

I really appreciate all the people on the boards I have joined and the mailing list I am on for being so welcoming of a newcomer. It made it a lot easier for me to want to participate in board events. Well off to the doctor I go!