Re-siding

 The house in muted golds did nothing for me.  It seemed disconnected from the surrounding colors for its size, the grass beneath would make it worse.  The test pieces were good on their own, but not within the overall design.  

Originally, blue was my choice, but that was too strong.  So frogging ensued and was replaced with 648.  Not blue, not gray, perfect neutral but noticed. 

Was at Carole's last evening and there is no progress on shelters with openings.  Altering surgeries aren't scheduled until September, we're on a cancelation list, and need to purchase a certain type of cage trap to bring them in.  Carriers are not acceptable.  This needs a resolution soon and I am losing hope for that.

Enjoy the last fricking day in July.  Can't believe it.

*************

Irritating. Part 2.

 Why are the tags informing us of fabric content, washability, and sometimes even size, hidden throughout the garment?  It's a like scavenger hunt.  Some manufacturers insert four tags, each stating info I don't need, in print so small it's unreadable, in seams that I need to search for.  Where the hell is the fabric content!!!  A few garments contained what sounded more like a food than fabric.  Does that require hand washing with gourmet water?  I don't want to upend clothing on the store racks to find out if I'm too lazy to care for it.

..................

So here's the house start ... 645 for roof, 3828 for trim, 422 for siding.  Not stitched yet but a sample patch was very nice, confident they will work.  

Quite small on this 46 count and I'm taking your advice and adding a bird over the tree. 

Thank you!

Have a good evening!

***********

A new house

 Hi folks.

Been ill for several days, but managed to get the floral arch finished.

The house with be full frontal, not angled, different windows, and probably a different color.  In other words, a completely new house.

Back to miserable, stay safe everyone.

***********

A few things that really irritate me.

 One is the sneaky trap of subscription.  The majority of products I consider ordering cannot be a one time purchase.  Give them your card and they automatically ship (or fail to) every month with the promise of "cancel anytime".  Most always, a drawn out hassle to stop them taking months.  So I don't order.  I feel the company must not have confidence about their product, and fears the consumer would not purchase again.  Unless requested by the buyer who wants the monthly shipment, companies should offer a one time purchase for those wanting to test the item before committing.

One is enough for today, no?  Move on to flowers!

The floral arch is what I love about this design, and it's a beaut.  See the bud at the far right?  It calls for dmc 500 leaves and sepal while all others are 730 (I'm using GAST Dried Thyme which is very close but less yellow).  Either make me gag when next to 500.  Should I continue with the GAST or choose a different green?  I kept the softer 611 for the vine, no need to change.

The huge birds on the willow and top motifs will probably not be stitched.  We'll see.  They may be too distracting.

As July's end nears, I become crabbier with each passing day.

Have a good one!

***********

Ding dong, the bots are gone

Well, close anyway.

I've made changes, and am considering removing the vine to replace with the more visible brown shown in the few stitches at the bottom.  

I thought the charted golden brown competed with the pink flowers, wanted a more subdued brown.  I can work on surrounding motifs until then.  Only changed one of three pinks in the flowers.  Charted for Roxy floss but those three in dmc are wonderful.  Already sorry I chose a darker variegated thread for the willow, but it's still good.

Enjoy your day, be safe!

************

?????

 Something strange.  Around 90,000 views in last 24 hours which means something is amiss.  So if I need to shut down, please don't think I croaked.  I have plenty of frogs doing that though!

The views are all Google Chrome from Hong Kong.
**************

Finally a tree

 The tedious part of this project.... done!  Alphabets may be boring but SO much easier to stitch for me.  

Now that the tree is completed, I will choose another project to start.  

We finished one part of the ramp project today, and I can't tell you how totally frustrated I am with the mess.  I mean mess.  Outside inside upside downside.  But my mouth is shut.  She has a large private room in what was once her house, now owned by her son. The last two visits there, my sister is not looking well.  Her color and look have changed a lot.  Yes, she is not happy with the situation but knows it is not permanent.  After watching her deal with excruciating pain, the near death cardiogenic shock, the loss of both legs, I know her well enough to recognize trouble with psyche and stress.  Her recent labs were fine, but needs checked again because she has no color at all.  

This is one of the young cats, staying mostly in Carole's room.  The lighter areas on this very skinny female are where the hair is starting to grow back.  She and another in the group were continually harassed, kept from food.  Very timid, she came to me and rubbed my side.  Did stress cause the hair loss?  She is kept from the others to recover and needs to gain weight, the rest are in the basement. Hopefully a foster will call soon, she will be first to leave and heal.  Appointments for altering are not available until September, and new patients are several weeks out.  But she is so much better than when she was rescued.

Last full week of July and I am in full-on crab mode.

***********

Next

 One of my new starts is Quaint Rose Needlearts chart, E. Harris 1876, 46 count linen I spritzed.

Changes already in my What's my Floss journal!  I changed the grass and also the willow tree.  House and bird colors haven't been chosen as yet.  The very bottom section will be left off.  Not sure if it contains name or a pattern, but I can't read it.

This has been hanging unfinished for years.  I may stitch this again on a higher count of a different color.  Lauren's recent rug hooking of this design spurred my desire, but is it enough?

A day of outside work at sis's tomorrow, her grandson is off and will be there to help.  I have been having episodes again and need to find a doc interested in diagnosing.  I don't believe this is related to Sjogren's.

Having 81 year old birthday brother for ravioli dinner and the fabulous chocolate zucchini bundt cake

Thanks for all the comments about Spot.  They are still not transferred to my email as before which was easy to respond to those not no-reply.

Hope you're having a good weekend!

Finish

 Just posted to IG.

Spot is finished with really crappy mini poms, can't remember seller.  DMC on 40 count.

I added more stitches to the top branch to make it heavier, left off the crescent moon and stars also the outer border.

He and Spot the Horse can hang together.

He's adorable and I would like to do a calico or orange tabby facing opposite to hang with him.  Should not be too difficult.

Not ready to explain the rescue situation yet.  That is difficult.

I have chosen five small projects and plan to kit them this afternoon.  Rather than delay a new start while deciding on one, it seems a good time to start them all.  Spot said to stop pussyfooting around.

Enjoy your weekend!

************

Hissing

 Even stitched cats can bite!  Left vertical trunk error of four wide instead of three caused the first fruit bunch to be one off.  That's fine, no big deal.  But how did the others finish two stitches further to the right? 

The border runs into the fruit preventing the full border to be stitched.  I'm considering reversing the design and adding those red stitches to the right side of the black zigzags.  But probably not.

Instead of adding to my pile needing final finish, I plan to sew this into a knob hanger soon.  Black mini poms?

Sweet!!!

Enjoy your day.

**************

A cool cat

Won't be long now!

 *************

One cat

 This one.

Why did I think this would be a quick project?

Getting closer.  No other project chosen or started because I am so anxious to finish this, no distractions!!

Three felines were not captured, it's over.  They must find water and food, survive on their own as so many do.  I will get a total number this week and arrange altering at the local clinic.  The rescue organization that took the kittens had promised to take several adults at a time, weeks apart.  They changed their mind.

Hope the middle of July weekend wasn't too crabby.

*************

Error check

Hiya.  Good grief we are halfway through July.  

Stitching has been slow, the black thread is difficult to see once crossed, an individual stitch is not distinguishable.  Errors are more difficult to catch because of this, so I went back to my old method.

I thought the linen was 46, it is not.  My cataract must be progressing more quickly because this 40 count is not fun at all.  

Outlining the design and checking for placement is necessary with the sight issues or there will be enough errors to cause a search for matches.  The first leg of the stitch is enough to find errors and also much easier to remove when found.  Turning the piece over reveals errors quickly because of the thread being straight rather than slanted.  Second from left is obvious on back, not front.

I need to choose another project and hope to do that today.  I need a break from the black fill.

Hope your weekend goes well.  I'll explain and update the cat rescue story when it's over.  As of yesterday, it may be whether all saved or not.

*************

The next small

 She brought five more home last night, there are still four more she hasn't caught.  He has delayed bulldozing by a week, not sure he will again, his job is on a schedule.  I posted on IG that I may sell one of my samplers to help with their costs.  We'll see if any agencies get an opening.  Thirty of them.

Have a good day folks.

************

Louisa!

 Long ago a sampler was offered titled Louisa B. Snow.

Twelve years later, I purchase it. Takes me a while.  Larger than I plan to work on going forward, but those roses with the gold body above, grabbed me.  1857 is out, Louisa is in.

After seeing other finishes of 1857, although lovely, I wasn't as taken as with Carmen's on Duxbury.  Couldn't find the linen in 40 and realized no two stitcher's finishes will look alike, especially when threads are silk vs. cotton.  I know the majority of stitchers add to stash regularly, I am not.  Quite picky, feeling I will slump at some point, and cost is also a factor.  Stella is always sitting on my shoulder and honestly, I won't spend close to $30 for a small chart even if I love it.  I know, that's foolish, but there are so many designers offering excellent samplers and designs for much less.  As linen continues to rise, the total cost is a consideration.  If the chart is a must have for me, and not a small, that's different.  But I gotta love it. 

 I guess I'm getting old!!  I think I have saved more cardboard boxes than I have charts.  Hey.  They may come in handy, you never toss a good box!!

The end.

Hope your weekend is peaceful!

****************

New project

Always a problem.  I told myself to kit projects I intend to start soon.  But being a bonehead, that crab does not follow my instructions.  Well, anyone's instructions.

But there's a larger outdoor project, getting the material today.  This space needs something, and I've wanted a large vintage metal sign to hang year round.  If there was a place to find one here, it would probably be quite costly.  So I am getting corrugated metal and also cedar boards to paint an old looking advertising sign of ..... something.  Costing less than a finished piece, but so much work.  The metal one will probably hang on the shed, the wood here, but that depends on the result of my attempt. 

This is one found on Etsy, metal, three sizes.  One is not quite wide enough, the largest is a little too wide. The second is from Etsy also but too small.

Not sure you could help with this problem, I've searched online for a week without a fix.  My emails are in an unreadable code, and not from the correct sender.  One from blogger opens as dh gate - not the sender, BBW as Taste of Home, so on.  Restart, reinstall, followed forum advice, and a few emails arrived as they should, but then changed to code.  WTH?

This will give you a chuckle.  Sophia, just turned ten, didn't realize that the body wash she always bathed with was a mens product.  She said "oh no!  For men!  I'm washing my chest with it and that's why I'm not getting boobs!".

I'm going to go kit now.

I hate picking a linen.

**************

Finish

 Just posted to Instagram.

Bernarda Bellon

The Wishing Thorn

4" x 5" on 40 count with dmc.

Two rows removed from design, minor changes.

Hope you had a safe 4th.  I have never heard thunderous, disturbing, scary, finale as this one.  Unbelievable sound level.

***********

The answer is out there

Where?

I had to call my doc since I received no calls or results from the test.  She said I have early beats, skipped beats, and general palps, nothing would cause this feeling.  She doesn't feel the magnesium is high enough to be the cause, and since my rate for 48 hours averaged normal, those drops are ok.  The worst episode happened during the test, so now what?  She offered to make an appt with cardio, but doesn't believe their findings will be different.  No ideas regarding the cause of my episodes.  So the answer is floating in the twilight zone.  

Bernarda is taking much longer than expected.

Now about those cats.  Condensed fiasco ... they were left to die in a rental that is being razed about an hour from here.  The property owner found them and called since he knows they were friends.  No agencies would help, overloaded.  She had no choice, and several escaped.  Daily drives back and forth to trap failed.  I found out yesterday that 12 were kittens about 7 weeks old, all failing.  One died that night, four others two days later, an agency 90 minutes from here took the remaining 7 yesterday (but not the two mothers) as an emergency.  I don't know if they have an answer about the cause yet.  Several adults are still here and looking for homes, four she knows were neutered several years ago.  That really wasn't condensed enough.

Adding to my beautiful collection of Brenda cards, this is the latest.  Handmade by her, perfection.  Thank you once again Brenda!

I can take off the hoodie worn the last few evenings, hot today.  I hope everyone has a safe 4th, I wish fireworks were only in shows and homeowners had nothing more than sparklers.

Be safe!  But enjoy.

***************