2008 -- A Year to Remember
Well, so far this year, I can't say it's been uneventful. Life has taken on a momentum of its own and some is good and not so good. Started the year with an incredible back problem so I couldn't lie down flat. Had horrible spasms in my back and so spent the first 4 months of the year sleeping in a recliner. Talk about sleep deprived! Anyway, it was the best I could do for the moment. Then went in for some regular annual check ups which normally I would have done in February but postponed due to the back issues. I found I had cancer and had to have an immediate hysterectomy, so that really was a big surprise. Thankfully, and I give all the glory to God, He spared me, and they were able to get everything and I had no need for chemo or radiation. That to me is a miracle! I am so grateful that they found the cancer quickly and that it was at the earliest possible stage. God is Good! It was quite an experience, but thankfully I am recovered from surgery and back to a normal routine, which is pretty intense around here in the Summer time.
Needless to say I am way behind on my projects, and the work that needs to be done outside. I'm having a barbecue area built so we can have our family reunion in September, and that is taking up my time and money for the moment. It is something I really had hoped to do in March, but life took on a lot of changes about that time and so nothing could be done until now. It won't take long, another couple of work days and it will be complete, and I can finish up the rest of the work in my yard, and get on with planning the reunion.
In the midst of this build that is going on outside, I am painting inside, and 5 rooms no less!! Talk about over kill <gg>. Life does have a way of creating my work list for me. I just add as I see things that need to be done. I'll be reupholstering the dining room chairs, and doing a little more curtain sewing this Summer, but after that is finished, I am done with the work list for the year. Probably won't finish everything for another month, but that really does leave me a little time to enjoy the process of planning the reunion, and I'll probably have a little time for myself after that <gg>.
With all that has happened thus far this year, I am looking forward to a much better second half of 2008.
I've been stitching a lot of new projects, as I just felt like I needed to do something that was fun and new. I've started Salexandra, which is astitcher's pocket with smalls, done with the Sajou patterns. Very pretty! I'm also stitching two Spanish Samplers, one from Periphieria Designs and the other from a Yahoo group called Sampler Espagnole. There was a woman named Gudi from Germany who started a lovely spot sampler in red, and I am also doing mine in red. It is very pretty and I am totally taken in with this one. It's just my kind of sampler. I'm also stitching the Carnation Sampler by Martina, and enjoying it immensely. This one you have to stitch each part before she will give you the next one, so I am having to be very diligent about the stitching on this piece. There is also the Suzanne Vierlanden sampler that I started a week ago, and I am stitching a freebie called Swirly Sampler. When it is finished it will be sewn into a biscournu. There are many other WIPs (works in progress) that I have to get back to -- such as Edcina Pieters, the Marquior Sampler, ABC Marquior, my Quaker RR, Vierlanden Sampler 2005, Plymouth Sampler by Brenda Keyes, Permin Celle, and there are a few small samlers that are Quakers and I want to get those finished as soon as possible. I also have one that is by Carriage House Samplings, called Elizabeth. I'll stitch the other girls in her series but not sure I will get to all of them this year. It's always wonderful to finish a project, but the process is also a joy and that's why I do it. Stitching is a wonderful past time, and has a way of calming a person and keeping your mind free of any other thought than the fabric and fibers you are stitching with. I truly enjoy it!
Well, that's my update. I will have photo updates on all my new projects soon and will post in my blog when the updates are posted to my album. In the meantime I hope you are having a wonderful Summer -- finding time to enjoy yourself and your friends and family. There should be some reunion photos as well toward the end of September sometime....until then...happy Summer!!!
Posted on 07/22/2008 02:00 AM
0 Comments Finished the Quaker Quarterly Exchange Pieces
It's always fun to start a new project, but finishing it is just as great. I have joined several exchanges this year and it's been a lot of fun learning to put things together that I have never done before. So far this year I have assembled a scissors case for a chair necessaire. This was the first time I had ever done either of those types of finishing. It was great fun and I loved working with the different fabrics for the inside lining. I also have stitched my first biscournu, which is an 8 sided pincushion. Putting this piece together was a lot of fun, as you join the corners to the sides of the opposite piece, if that makes any sense, and you stuff it full of fiberfill and then add a button in the center, to tuft it...and it really is a very unique kind of pincushion. This probably was the most enjoyable assembly job I did all year. I have just finished working on another exchange, this one had to have Quaker Motifs on the design, and autumn colors. That was fun! Picking the fabrics and fibers to do this. I could have gone on and on stitching as the ideas just kept coming. But time is the bigger problem when you are working on something like this. I did manage to get an altoids tin done with a piece that says "Mend Thy Ways" on the top, Also, I lined the tin with felt, and filled itwith stitching tools and goodies. I also lined a wooden box with green felt, and it turned out really well. I"m going to make myself one as soon as I get a chance to sit down for an hour. Also I stitched a pincushion with several quaker motifs on the front, and added 2 different linen fabrics on the sides, and a piece of cotton plaid fabric in golden yellow an dorange, with some darker lines in it...it actually worked very well becuase it had the orange and yellow that I used in the linen strips. The front piece was stitched on Light Mocha, the sides were two strips of cognac and tobacco and the cotton plaid on the back. I bordered the front with twisted cording in Watercolors by Caron, in Fiesta. Which was a perfect match to the colors of threads I used to stitch the motifs. All in all, it was great fun and I will be stitching another set of smalls like this for myself, and making myself a box as well. Should be fun putting it all together again. I'd love to add a picture here, but not sure how to do that. So you'll have to go look at my album under the 2006 New Starts...and you can see what I've done.
Posted on 10/19/2006 04:09 AM
0 Comments Starting My Blog.... Welcome to my Blog...this is a new one and I have not yet decided how I will use this one as it is my second blog. In the past my blogs have been for updating my needlework activities, and maybe this will be about family and holidays and just a little about my needlewrok as I can't just leave it out. It's far too much a part of my daily life and the other part is filled with working on this house of ours <g>. I love it but it is quite the challenge to keep things functioning and updated, and well, just to keep me happy with the surroundings. They do have to change from time to time so I am pleased with the way things look around here. You'll see from the pics I have here on my album that I do make a lot of changes from year to year. In fact, this year's landscaping changes have not been posted, and I had better take those pics before Winter sets in or it will be a very drab looking set of pics <g>.
I'll try to get a pic or two in here soon so you won't just have to read and not see something nice along with my chatter.
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