The manipulator strikes again

Hello hello hello.  It's snowing.  Fine as fog.  Carole has already determined that trying to get up and down her driveway tomorrow would not be advisable, so she is changing her appointment to Thursday when we are sure the snow will be gone.  She is seeing improvement and continuing on the meds.

 

Stitching was stalled when our 80 gallon tank with the chlorinator sprung leaks and Carole called with a flooded bathroom at the same time.  Mark was kept busy!  Still waiting for parts to repair Carole's faucet and the vanity is drying out. Our replacement fiberglass tank is over $800 without installation.  Ridiculous.  After removing the equipment and changing the plumbing, we once again have working water in the house and need to have it tested and start over again.  

 

 I am anxious to see if my idea to expand the Chessie design will work.  My second choice for the 2017 start was Kathy's Black Heart.  But I've mentioned before about being a lazy stitcher and wanted the easiest route to a finish, so I did it again.  Changed the layout and adjusted the design to my level.  The project doesn't have to be advanced, it could be an easy stitch, but I need simplicity these days.  

I'm not a motif stitcher, prefer the letters and verse which is part of being a little lazy.  I know the letter patterns by heart, much easier and quicker than constantly referring to the chart for motif's stitch placement. Errors are rampant when I attempt such designs.  But I love this project.  So I removed all the diamond shaped elements which gives me more leeway if my placement is off a stitch.  Or two.  What do you think?  Haven't decided on the linen color yet, but it will be dark.

Taking it even further, I rearranged the bottom area, replaced the angel with a larger peacock and moved the bee to the bottom.  More room for errors!  I expanded the top area up a little more too.  Not sure if reworking designs will become a habit to accommodate my lack of stitching enthusiasm.  Seems to be happening more often!  I think making a project simpler for me may be the key to continuing to stitch.  Mojo is still not healthy, I know my patience and tolerance levels, and changes to help prevent reaching them may keep the needle moving. 

I like the final working and feel I can handle this, my next project after the Scottish Initial redux.

 

There are still a few items for sale on the tab if anyone is interested.  Will keep it up for a few more days.

 

Thanks for visiting!!

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Starting small

Greetings!  Freezing my arse off this morning on a sunny day covered in white.  May go out this afternoon but care package and meds were delivered yesterday so all is good.  Chris had a meeting at the Firehouse and stopped afterwards to pick up the food and take it to her.  Did not want to attempt that driveway!  I thank you and am touched by your concern and kind words regarding Carole but I really don't want to seem like I am expecting sympathy or praise for helping out.  There is no one else to help!  I'm it.  No choice! My brother is obsessive and will come in an emergency but we never request his help for errands.  He'll help any time, if it's scheduled and the roads are clear!   Wait ......

 

That phone call was from Carole. Last night she took a Tramadol because of muscle soreness from coughing and slept!  Good.  Said she sees a bit of improvement today, then hung up because she couldn't stop coughing.  Starting the new glucose meds today. We'll be taking her back to the doc Monday for follow-up, it's just going to take time to recover as with everyone that has contracted this bug.

So here's my plan.  I stitched this little design (even the over one) many years ago and the tiny tuck is still one of my favorites.  So I want to do it again on different linen.  The skinny scrap I pulled is Copper Penny and after looking at it, decided to work the design into an improvised sampler.  A little longer than my first one, and with added stitches.  Not sure how it will come out, not graphing it, who knows what will happen as I move along.   But this way, I get to stitch it again without it being the same as my other.  Does that make sense?

 

We'll see!

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

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Preview

Hello everyone.  How ya doing?

 

I posted the photos and prices for Saturday's sale on the For Sale tab above.  If you notice any errors, please let me know.

 

 

If you have any questions, please email me.

 

Still busy running around for additional meds to lower her whopping glucose and some food that may whet her appetite.  She's pretty weak from not eating, afraid to raise those numbers even higher, and not sleeping.  I am disappointed that her doctor (who takes very good care of her) did not anticipate these numbers with the high doses of steroids and order meds to counteract.  Hovering between 380 and 510.   Yikes!  Tomorrow will be better.  A lot better if it hadn't snowed. 

 

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Sale starts .......

Friday?  Saturday.  I just read that shipping rates are going up on the 17th, again, affecting all packages and Priority rates also.   Decided to sell these now, do not want to store until next Christmas, my brother has even more boxes .... and boxes ..... of stitchery.  I may go through them in a few days after he chooses his favorites.

 

I'm not sure if I will adjust the round pillow or leave it alone.  Nothing needs done to these three which are so beautifully stitched and finished.  It feels like there is a base form in the weighted bottoms.

 

I will try to take better photos but it's hard to get all the details because of their size. Hopefully posting them tomorrow so if anyone is interested they can take a better look.

 

Carole had a brief period of time where she was able to get a few sentences out before the cough took over.  Between the steroid injection and the double dose of pills, her glucose shot up to 582 and she was getting faint, so she took several of her diabetes (type2) meds to lower it but that was hours ago.  She's down to 380, the injection didn't help much, and she is monitoring her levels every half hour.  We already knew how steroids affect glucose levels and was surprised that the informational paperwork with the meds did not warn of this.

 

Here's the newest desktop calendar from Circa Home Living's blog.

https://circahomeliving.blogspot.com/

 

 

We have pretty nasty winds today and I heard some states had major damage. 

 Hope everyone is OK!

 

See ya later.

 

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Newly found

Hello people.  Hope all is well.  I've had to disinfect my car yesterday and today, taking Carole to doctors and testing.  She has a bug that comes with a relentless choking cough.  Double doses of a steroid pack preceded by a steroid injection.  Way too much for her and all her heart meds but they insisted.  Hopefully, something will help enough to allow her to lie down and get some sleep.

I had a lightweight down jacket on at the doc office.  No where did I see the wall mounted hand sanitizers, so while waiting for the doc to enter the room, I went to the sink and used the pump there. The spout was clogged with dried up gel and when I hit it, it shot up instead of down, all over the arm of my jacket.  We were moved to another room for a lung treatment and he popped back in just at the moment I was putting a tongue depressor in my purse.  They are perfect to put under that wobbly table.  Today at the clinic I rammed into the back of her wheelchair and shot her forward when I grabbed the handles to push her.  I forgot they are hand brakes now.  Then I came home to find my other laptop died, right before backup.  I wish I could afford a Mac.  Windows updates and IE upgrade caused the crash and I'm so tired of this I will not even try to work it out.

So here's what my brother found when going through some stored boxes.  I'm not sure if I will keep any, thought I would show them to you and maybe put a price on a few.  This first set is done on Aida from the early 80's, 7" pillow rounds, and mostly all filled in with stitches.  I will try to adjust the finishing because it's not what I would expect from a professional finisher.  The piping and back are the same Aida.

 

These are adorable standing Santas.  VERY nice finishing with burgundy velvet backs and piping.  The largest stands 12" the other two 8".

This little thing is unusual.  It is entirely filled with stitches and sewn into a stiff  ????  It's hollow, stands by itself, and wonky.  Red stitches are striped with metallic floss and trim is Wisper or another fuzz. Not sure if I will try to straighten out this one.

 

 

Another very large pillow on white Klostern with velvet back and piping.

A few pieces are needlepoint, but it took me a while to identify this design.  The wheels of this locomotive should have been darker and outlined.

So there you have it.   Not sure about prices yet, I'm not good at that.  What do you think?  I would post more photos of the items up for sale.  I also have my linen grab bag ready but with the computer issues, I lost the post.  Starting over. 

 

Ta-ta folks!

 

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Shrink to fit

That would be wonderful wouldn't it?  Unfortunately, it doesn't work on backsides getting into jeans.  And sometimes I have an issue with linen.  More so on WDW than others, but never on my unbleached rough stuff.

 

First of all, I finished Kogut's Primitive Santa with all the changes I made.  I forgot to add the hat tassel and still may.  Stitching after the finish is not uncommon for me and it works pretty well.

 

 

But the problem I have (created by not using a hoop) is a wonky edge to the stretched out linen as you can see.  The top edge is cut even with the linen thread and the sides have a thread pulled.  I usually do this and then pin to the ironing board so it doesn't move when fusing the interfacing.  If the facing is fused to linen that isn't perfectly straight, the finish will be wonky as you know.  I was using a heavy washcloth beneath because of the buttons.

I measure across the top width and bottom to see if the measurement is the same, also do that top to bottom on corners.  This one is 3/8" off and I stretched and steamed the linen's top width as much as I could to gain that 3/8", but it reached its limit.  Nothing I did pulled the stretched out wider bottom into alignment.

 So the bottom width was not going to line up and that's OK.  I like to follow the linen's threads when machine sewing for a really nice edge but it's not always possible.  You can see how the missing thread line is out from the interfacing which is the correct width.  As for closing the bottom, I tried Aleene's Fabric Fusion and did not like it at all.  Tacky is much better.  The Fusion did not grab quick enough.

So that's it for Santas.  Still have to assemble the bell but the cross stitching is completed.  On to a heart or sampler.

 

Hope everyone's New Year's Eve was enjoyable.  Many like myself prefer to stay home and not much routine is changed.  Others like to celebrate. 

 

Sun is out melting the snow.  Maybe golf tomorrow!

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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