Mickey Has Hands!

 

I finished the cross stitching on Mickey Friday night, and I've got a good runny-go on the backstitching.  The fiddliest part of the back stitching is around his head and face, and that's about done.

I figure if I can get  in 45 minutes to an hour of stitching every night this week, I can get him done and on his way to England.

We've had a lovely weekend here, with mild temps and sunshine.  Yesterday was a little windy, but that has died down.  DH and I went to a going-away party last night for one of his co-workers who is transferring to Kona, Hawaii.  The co-worker, Bryan by name, has a Great Dane who was also at the party.  I think he is the biggest dog I have ever seen, but he was very well behaved and just wandered around all evening, looking for people to pet him :-)  Just a big ol' love sponge.

Other than that, there's not much going on.  Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!

Pawprints On Our Hearts

 

We lost our sweet Mimi cat yesterday.  She was 19 years old and her kidneys had shut down.  She was so very sick, and, despite the vet’s best efforts, the kindest choice was to let her go.

Mimi was full grown when she came to us at age 12.  She had lived in one home from her kittenhood, but her owner was going into an assisted living facility and was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to care for Mimi there, so Mimi came to us.  She was frightened and confused at first; I put her carrier in the powder room with a litter box and a food dish, and it was probably 3 days before she ventured out.  She was also coming into a home where another cat – Timothy – had already established himself, so she had that to deal with as well.  But she got used to her new place, she and Timothy became best friends, and she decided that my husband had the best lap to snooze in.

She was diagnosed with kidney failure a little over a year ago.  I’ve been feeding her the prescription kidney diet cat food, and she had been doing quite well.  We’d noticed some weight loss recently, and she’s been thin almost to the point of emaciation, although she was still eating and drinking.  Then, just in the last couple of weeks, her health took a downward turn.  With no muscle mass, she was getting more and more frail, then she lost interest in food.  She was lethargic on Monday, and could barely stand, so we took her to the vet that evening when my husband got home from work.

They kept her overnight to give her IV fluids and to do blood work.  I talked to the vet on Tuesday morning; Mimi’s kidney values were off the chart and not in a good way, and they had her in an incubator to try to regulate her temperature.  We went to see her Tuesday afternoon, and she didn’t respond when I slid open the incubator door and rubbed her head.  We agreed to try one more night of fluids and blood work.  Yesterday afternoon we went to see her, and after talking with the vet, we realized that we had to let her go.  They brought her in to us and she didn’t seem to even be aware that we were there.  We petted her and talked to her and she finally did twitch her tail a little.  I held her while the vet gave her the injections that would take away her suffering; she was so sick and so frail that it took only a very few seconds for her to pass.

It’s hard to let a beloved pet go.  I’ll miss seeing her waiting at the top of the stairs when I come in from work.  I’ll miss seeing her play with Timothy, and climb into Greg’s lap, and snooze under the dining room table.  I’ve read a little saying that pets leave pawprints on our hearts.  You’ll get no argument from me.



She loved shoes.  She didn't chew them or play with them; she just hung out with the shoes.

Best buds, keeping an eye on things from the top of the stairs.

Favorite thing to do:  drink out of the faucet in the hall bathroom.

Mickey Progress and Needle Woes

This is the piece that I'm stitching for Love Quilts UK and I'm getting pretty close to the end.  Once I finish the magic dust, all I'll need to do is stitch his other hand and then do the backstitching.  There's a fair bit of backstitching, but it's pretty straightforward, so it shouldn't be too fiddly.  The chart calls for metallic fibers for the magic dust, but I'm using DMC; metallics are discouraged on the quilts because they can be scratchy on a little one's skin.  And yes, those are hoop marks, if you're looking closely at it.  Mickey is stitched on 16-count Aida, and I feel more comfortable with a hoop than stitching it in-hand.  I tried my Q-snaps but they were awkward to hold, so I dug out a hoop :-)  The square is due on November 30th, and my goal is to get it stitched, washed, and pressed by the end of October so it'll have plenty of time to make the transatlantic trip.

I've been a little aggravated whilst stitching this piece, not by the design or the stitching, but by my needles.  I've been using Mary Arden needles for a few years, and I like them.  But I guess I've got hold of some lemons -- I started this project with a 6-pack of Mary Arden 26 needles, and I've had to throw out 2 of them because they broke.  That's bad enough, but they broke at the top of the eye where a) it was difficult to see the break, and b) it was an optimum spot for them to catch on the thread and split it.  Grrr.  If this keeps up, I'll be going back to John James.

We're in for a mild week; that'll be nice, but I just hope we don't pay for it in March.  I hope your week is a good one -- happy stitching!

The Hardest Part is Just Sitting Down and Getting Started

I can't tell you how many times over the past months I've thought "I should go downstairs and blog", a thought immediately followed by "I will, I'll do that after a while".  And of course I never did.  Until today. 

 

I have actually been stitching, and I've had a couple of finishes, although I expect I've had the finishes because I've been under a deadline for both of them.  The stuff I've been working on for ages -- still unfinished.

 

The pieces I've finished have been quilt squares, and there's a little bit of a story behind them.  Back last winter, I had seen articles in a couple of the cross stitching magazines about organizations that make quilts for nursing home residents and for children with life-threatening or life-altering diseases.  The articles were interesting, and tucked them in the back of my mind.  Then, on the Saturday before Easter, we lost my dad.  He had been hospitalized in ICU for a couple of weeks after complications during a heart valve replacement procedure, and we had just taken him to hospice when he passed away.  Even though he was only at hospice very briefly, the nurses there gave us a lap quilt; every patient who comes to the hospice there gets one.  They're made by a group that stitches them specifically for hospice.

 

I don't quilt, but I remembered the magazine articles I had read, and I realized that this might be a way for me to pay it forward.  One group is called World of Charity Stitching, and they make quilts for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  They also do tote bags and stitched bookmarks.  The first piece I stitched for them was for a travel-themed quilt; I found this map of Ireland on etsy:

 

I also found a group called Love Quilts USA.  They make quilts for children who have life-threatening or life-altering illnesses.  I've done one block for them so far; it was for a Christian-themed quilt, and I found this design on-line (don't remember where). 

Love Quilts also has a branch in the UK, and I'm working on a square for them right now.  I'm a slow stitcher, so I do have to set myself some rules.  I can only do one at a time.  I also only stitch themes that I enjoy stitching.  For example, if the requested theme is superheroes or Disney princesses, I'll probably skip that one in favor of something that I like to stitch, like butterflies or cats or flowers.  That may sound a little selfish, but there are generally a variety of themes available and lots of stitchers who want to stitch pieces for the quilts.  I don't want to give someone a piece that I hate.

 

I've added links to the web sites, if anyone is interested in checking them out.

 

Once again, I'm going to try to get back into the blogging groove.  I've made progress on some of my WIPs since I last blogged, so I'll try to get some pics of those posted next week.

 

Happy stitching, everyone!

September 11th

Endings, Beginnings, and Stitching Progress

Last Friday was my last day at the job where I've been for the past 3+ years.  I enjoyed the work I did, but I never thought that it was a job I wanted to stay with for a long time.  It was the first time I'd worked for a small company -- and a family-owned one -- rather than a large corporation and it was interesting.  But I left on my terms, and tomorrow I start a new job working for a healthcare system affiliated with a major university.  I'll still be doing coding, but I think the new job is going to open some additional opportunities for me.  It's also much closer to my house, and my commute will be cut in half.  I'm very excited about it.

 

I've been making some progress on a couple of my WIPs.  Here's the Christmas Rose pin cushion as of this evening:

There's not much left to do, as you can see.  I'm working on the last flower, then there's a large leaf and the border and it'll be done.

I've also got the lettering done on Salina Dunwoody:

I took a week off between jobs and spent a couple of days of it visiting Mom and Dad.  Salina's stitched on 28-count, so she's a good travel project and can be worked on in less than optimum light.  I finished the lettering on Thursday evening at Mom and Dad's, so I can move on to the fun motifs at the bottom.

Finally, if you enjoy Daffycat's reindeer ornaments, you'll be tickled to know that she's released the one for 2015.  You can see it here, along with the e-mail address to get a copy.  I have a piece of Maritime White linen from Lakeside on order so I can keep doing these on the same fabric.

That's all from the stitching chair this evening.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Orion Rising

It's still dark when I leave the house at about 6:15 to go to work, and the past few clear mornings I've looked up and seen the constellation Orion high in the early morning sky.  Orion was the first constellation I learned to identify -- the three stars in his "belt" make him easy to spot -- and he's a winter constellation.  So even though looking up and seeing him in the sky is almost like seeing an old friend, it's also a little depressing because Orion's arrival means that winter isn't far behind.

 

I've actually been doing a little stitching.  I've haven't worked on Salina Dunwoody in several weeks, but I thought I'd share the latest progress with you.  I'm close to finishing the hated alphabet bands, so I'm planning to work on her for a little while this evening.  I'm also working the border as I go; that's my preferred stitching plan when it comes to borders because otherwise I find them soooo boooorrrring!

I've been making some pretty good progress on the little Christmas rose pin cushion.  You can kind of judge the size from the picture, using the needles for scale.  Love the colors in this one!

Finally, I was digging through the stash, looking for other smalls to work on, when I came across this piece:

It's a bookmark kit that I bought on some long ago trip to London, and I'd begun stitching the pavilion before I laid it aside and got distracted by other things.  I think it's about time I finished it, so I've been putting in a few stitches here and there.

DH has been off this weekend and he and I are both off tomorrow, so we'll get the rare luxury of spending three days in a row together -- nice!

Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!