Taking it day by day

Howdy ho.  Long time away from the blog.  I have been a busy chick for the last several weeks.  Mom had her surgery and is recovering nicely.  Actually she is doing amazingly well.  She moved back to her apartment in independent living on Wednesday after 3 weeks in the hospital and health care.  She still can't drive yet, so I am the official chauffeur (sp?).  Dad is over the moon about her progress.  It really upset him to see her so sick.  Now that she is on the mend, he is beginning to settle down and is getting back to his normal routines of physical therapy, sitting on the porch and going to the library.  He does miss having Mom right down the hall from him in health care.  He also misses not having all his meals with her.  Sometimes progress can be bittersweet.
Me - well, I am taking it one day at a time,  I will admit, this has been really tough.  I took quite  a bit of time off from work while Mom was in the hospital.  That, of course, makes everything pile up on my desk.  Being behind on everything, being worried about them, trying to grab a few minutes daily to be with my wonderful husband and still finding just one minute a day for myself has been stressful.  I expect it will all even out sooner or later.
I have done a bit of stitching.  Mostly in hospital rooms.  No pictures to prove it. You will just have to take my word on it,  I've also read quite a few books on my Kindle.  One of these days, I will update the list on the sidebar.
I will be back to more consistant posting - one of these days.  I promise.

Miracles in Ortville

HELLO???????!!!!! Are you out there?  Have you given up on me completely?  I would not be surprised if you answered with a resounding YES!  If nothing new happens here - then why bother?

Well, two miracles have happened in Ortville this week.  First of all, I have been able to sit down and actually put needle to canvas this week.  Yes, Orts fans.....I have stitched and I enjoyed it!!  (Of course, the fact that most of the stitching was done in hospitals and dr's. offices is a whole different story.  My Mom is having some issues now and we have been in test mode all week.  Surgery will be next - but that is a story for another day.  Dad is hanging in there - thanks for asking).  I decided last weekend that I would put a new canvas on the stretcher bars just to perk me up and to give me something fun to work on this week while I waited for Mom.  It is a lovely geometric that I found when I went to Threads in Charlottesville several weeks ago with my friend MJ.   I normally am not drawn to geometrics, but this one spoke to me.  It has been a great distraction for me.  Pictures?? You want pictures??  Maybe in the next post.  We can't have but so many miracles at one time. :-)

The second miracle is that I remembered my username and password to the blog!  It has been so long since I posted anything that I wasn't sure I would even remember how.  I will try to do better.  No promises.  I'm stretched a little thin theses days.  Anyone have a sibling they want to lend me??

Happy Friday everyone - I think I am going to curl up in a corner of the sofa and stitch for awhile. 

Permission

          When MJ and I went on our road trip back in March, I picked up this great Ewe and I canvas.  It just looks happy.  I am a big fan of Ewe and I designs but I must admit I have trouble with their colors.  This canvas grabbed my attention the minute I saw it, but I kept putting it down.  I couldn't figure out what threads to pull for it.  The blues and pinks were easy but I just kept getting stuck once I tried to branch out to the houses and the background.  What could I use for that taupe background and more importantly did I even want to have a taupe background.  I fretted and stewed as I walked around the shop.  Finally, I asked for help from one of the shop employees.  To my great joy, she validated that it was a fabulous canvas but that the background just wasn't working for her either.  She asked if I was willing to take a leap of faith and then grinned at me.  Sure - why not?!  She walked over to the Vineyard Silk display and immediately pulled out a vibrant green called Shamrock.  It is glorious!  That set us up for vibrant pinks, bright robin's egg blue and then we really switched things up by making the houses off white with eggplant roofs.  It is beautiful and will be a joy to stitch.

 

             Her suggestions and the subsequent "pep" talk gave me permission to step out of the box and to use colors that I like.  She told me that she got to a point that she didn't enjoy stitching anymore because she couldn't find canvases that she liked that fit her house and her personality.  Then one day she had an epiphany.  Just stitch those canvases with the colors I like.  Give yourself permission to change it up. 

           Have you ever been in that situation?  Do you give yourself permission to do what you want and color outside the lines with a different color crayon?

Taking clues from nature

         As you know, I have had tough issues with my parents for quite awhile.  I am happy to report that Mom has moved to her new home in the independent living section of her retirement community.  We moved Dad to the same community two weeks ago - into their Health Care unit.  Dad is adjusting to his new "apartment" and is getting to know his caregivers and therapists. We have tried to make it look as much like home as possible with some of the furniture from their house, plants and family pictures.  He has a lovely view of a courtyard right outside his window.  We've begun to explore the community by taking roll abouts in his wheelchair along the many sidewalks on the property's 10 acres.  Today, I took him to the fabulous library that is in the main building.  He read a week's worth of Wall Street Journals while I read my Kindle.  It was a lovely outing on an overcast Sunday. 

         I am trying to take a few clues from nature and am beginning a cycle of renewed hope and anticipation.  Now that Mom and Dad are settling in, I am finally able to start taking back my life.  I've worked a bit in the yard, but still have a VERY long way to go.  I have a deck full of flowers and veggies all ready to be planted into the flower beds and pots.  Maybe I get them planted after work this week.

        One of the things that really lifted my spirits this week was the reopening of my Farmer's Market.  My CSA doesn't start for a couple more weeks, but the market is back up and running.  I was there at 8 AM on Saturday morning.  It was wonderful.  Lots of hugs and smiles from the farmers and vendors who I had befriended last year.  It was great to see everyone and to renew our friendships.  It was also fabulous to see all the wonderful spring veggies and treats.   I filled my market totes with all kinds of goodies and had a blast tonight incorporating them into a dinner that just shouted "IT'S SPRING!"  The first thing I made was this lovely salad.  It is made from PURPLE spinach, carrots, avocados and heirloom tomatoes.  Only the spinach came from the market, but it was the background for all the other vibrant colors.  I had to take a picture of it just so I could capture the colors.  I think a needlepointed something would be fabulous in these colors - don't you?  According to my farmer friend, the purple spinach is an heirloom variety.  The camera doesn't do it justice.  It is a deep eggplantey purple color and has great body and texture when eaten raw.  If you cook it, it turns green like normal spinach.  I have enough left for at least 4 more salads.  Yeah.

     

        The next thing I made was this frittata.  I used fresh asparagus, free range eggs, parsley and "blue" goat cheese from the market.  To that I added shallots and some grilled salmon left over from dinner earlier in the weekend.  YUMMO!  It was so good.  It tasted just like spring.  I had never tried "blue" goat cheese before but it was fabulous.  It had the tang of blue cheese with the creaminess of the goat cheese. 

    I haven't started stitching again yet, but hope my spring renewal will get me back into the swing of that too. I have several fun new canvases to play with and some old friends in the WIP box that I want to get back to. 

     Thanks to all of you who have called and e-mailed me to check on me.  I am doing better and I think I am on the upward swing.    Thanks for sticking with me.  I have been reading your blogs and have really enjoyed seeing what you are working on.

Where have I been?

I can't believe it has been so long since I last added a post to the blog.  Life continues to be crazy due to family health issues.  I wish it were different, but it is what it is. My parents are hanging in there so I am thankful for that. 

So.......where have I have I been and what have I been doing when I am not in daughter mode? 

Two weekends ago, my sweet husband decided that I needed a break and helped me run away from home.  We drove up to northern VA and spent a long weekend in the DC area.   We parked the car when we arrived at the hotel and didn't move it for 3 days.  Our hotel was directly across the street from a metro station so we took full advantage of that mode of transportation.  We went to 4 museums, walked the National Mall, sat on the steps of the Capital, ate well and drank a few glasses of wine.   And I rested ~ I stitched alittle ~ I read a book on my Kindle ~ and ~ even took a nap on Sunday afternoon. It was a fabulous weekend. I came back with my soul restored.

Last Saturday, I ran away again!  My buddies MJ and B and E (who came in from Houston to help us play) and I drove up to Woodlawn to see the needlework exhibit.  I won't go into detail about it since others have already blogged about it.  It was a lovely show with more entries than in past years.  I do wish there had been more needlepoint on display but that's just me. We then headed off to lunch and 2 needlepoint stores where we found new canvases, new threads and new accessories for our stitching.   I had a liberating moment with one of the new canvases.  I will tell you all about it in a later post. I want to take a picture of it first so you will be able to see what I am talking about.  With our bags bulging with new treats, we headed south in the pouring rain.  A fun dinner out topped off the day.  Thanks ladies.....I had a great time with you all.

We are finally beginning to see signs of spring here in Ortville.  A daffodil here - a crocus there.  Maybe I can get outside in my yard this weekend.  My roses need pruning, the winter debris needs raking, etc.  I bought pansies, last fall, on the day before my Dad got sick.  They are still sitting in a cardboard box on my deck (!!).  Even after 3 feet of snow and bitter cold temperatures, they are blooming happily in the box.   I think I will try to put them in pots on the deck this weekend.  What a novel idea!

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone.  Hope you are wearing or stitching on something green today.

Overly Sensitive??? Expectations too high????

I will be the first to admit that my emotions are raw.  Moving Mom from my childhood home, seeing my Dad have issues with his health, watching our 13 year old pupster begin to fail, exhaustion, cabin fever and stress have all taken their toll on my state of mind.  I also am a sensitive kind of chick anyway ~ crying at sappy movies/commercials or while reading books/news reports is the norm at my house.  I can tear up with the best of them.

If you have been reading my blog for the last year (THANK YOU!), then you know that I did something that I don't normally do.  I stitched on projects and then gave them away to people who mean alot to me.  That leads us to the questions in the title of this post.   What happens when your hours and hours of stitching and pocketfuls of $$ that went into those gifts aren't met with the fanfare that you expect?  To be fair, I think they liked the gifts, but I am sure that they don't have any idea how much went into them.   I'm not even sure they knew they were hand made.  Am I justified to be frustrated and sad OR should I just pull up my big girl panties and move on?  

Let me know what you think.  Seriously.  It will help me get these unsettled feelings off my shoulders and back into the archives of my brain where they belong.  Thanks.

Missing

I know, I know.....I've been missing in action, lost in the blogosphere, out of touch....whatever you want to call it. I'm sorry. I've missed you and hope you haven't given up on me since I have been so quiet.

Life has been crazy here in Ortville for the last 3 weeks. We moved my Mom to a retirement community in early February. She and my Dad had lived in their house for 50 years and there were ALOT of memories to sort through and pack. As if that wasn't hard enough, we had to do it between 3 snow storms that dumped a total of 30+ inches on us. Rain, sleet, ice and snow occurred ON moving day. I swear the weather gods just would not give us a break. Mom is settling in and is beginning to get to know her neighbors and figure out how to get from point A to point B without getting lost. Her apartment is really pretty and it is beginning to look like home as she unpacks each new box. Dad remains in the nursing/rehab facility but we hope to move him to the health care unit in Mom's new community within the next month or so.

I took 6 days off from work to help with the move, the unpacking and the settling in. I've been the techy queen and have been hooking up and troubleshooting cables issues with the tvs, telephones, etc. I've also learned that if you want to get warm in the winter time - go see Mom. Her building is TOASTY!!! Those retirees are taking full advantage of the fact that all utilities are included in their monthly fees. I was wearing short sleeve shirts and going barefooted inside while we had lots of snow on the ground outside. Mom and I even had the AC on for a couple of days. Whew!

Needless to say, life hasn't given me a minute to sit down much less stitch on anything. I have a new floor stand that arrived recently that is still in the box sitting by the front door where my husband put it when it was delivered. That is shameful!!! I am hopeful that things will settle down a bit soon and I can get back to stitching. I've missed it!

I will try not to be so quiet in the future. Thank you to all of you who have e-mailed to make sure I was alright.

MYSTERY CLASS PROGRESS

I haven't had much time to work on this - in fact I haven't had much time to do much of anything lately. For the last 2 months, when I'm not at work, I've been helping my Mom get ready for a move to a retirement community. She moves in a couple of weeks. Dad will be transferred from his current location to the health care unit in the same community once she gets settled in. It has been quite the adventure sorting through their house. They've lived in this house for 50 years and it holds lots of memories. Mom has done amazingly well with all this change. First she had to deal with Dad being sick, then deciding that she needed to move, finding a place she liked and then getting ready for the move. Dad is improving in his current location but is VERY frustrated that he can't help Mom with the move. Hopefully by the end of February they both will be in the same facility. She will be able to walk down the hall to visit with him instead of getting in the car and driving to see him 2-3 times a day. That will truly be a blessing.

ANYWAY - this is supposed to be a stitching blog. So, let's talk stitching!

The first picture is the top left corner of the canvas. I've done the green curly que thingy but have not finished the white section yet.

The picture above gives you a close up look at the border that Ruth had us do on the entire canvas. It took forever for me to get it all done due to the lack of time to stitch but I love the results.

This shows the whole canvas with all the borders finished. I hope to work on it some more tonight.

We are in the middle of blizzard - 11 inches of snow on the ground and it is still snowing so hard I can't see the house across the street. We are supposed to get 10 -15 more hours of this. As soon as I post this - I am going to start testing recipes for next week's baby shower. I am trying a baked french toast that you make the night before and bake off in the morning. I also am looking at an eggs florentine casserole. The shower is set for 10 AM so I am doing brunch food. I will let you know what recipes make the cut. At least the house will smell yummy.

Happy snowy stitchy Saturday.

TOOOOO CUTE!! TOOTH FAIRY #2 FINISHED

The back of the pillow is a wonderfully textured fabric with the cutest cutest cutest frog buttons!!This is the side of the pillow - mattress ticking and black pom poms!!

This shows the details in the wonderful fabric the finisher chose for the pillow

And here it is in all it's cuteness. I can't wait to give it to them next weekend at the shower.

Thank you a thousand times to Ruth Schmuff from Bedecked and Beadazzled. She and her fabulous finisher worked their magic on this one AND did it in RECORD time. The pictures don't do it justice. The fabric colors are spot on.

It's back!

I've been meaning to tell you that the second tooth fairy pillow is back from the finisher. It arrived late last week! WOOHOO! It is absolutely adorable. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of it yet. I will try to do that soon and post them for you to see.