Fading to darkness

  Losing the warmth and sounds of summer days is hard enough, but losing light is even harder to accept.  

This is 7:08.

In the blink of an eye and a few sips of iced coffee, 7:21.  

It happens so quickly.  

Today was warm and after a full day of errands and tasks, I enjoyed my swing  for almost an hour until the darkness and chill appeared and I went inside.

Once inside, made hotel reservations for her surgery and after seeing another price increase from 2 weeks ago, I got ticked and bought more stitching items.

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Good looking men

 that work hard, take pride in their work, go over and above to satisfy the client, respectful, take only lunch breaks, and never once pull out a phone, are greatly appreciated.  And even the owner comes out and contributes manual labor in record time.  Outstanding, and costing no more than others.  They just finished an out of town job at a college with retaining walls, new lawn, new shrubs, walk areas, laid stone steps.  One employee was here a few years ago to fix the mess that Jason left and Mark was grilling garden peppers, he offered him a grilled sandwich of Italian bread with peppers, garlic. and Velvetta (sorry, that is the BEST cheese for pepper sandwiches).  I did not remember of course since last week is already forgotten, but he mentioned that and said how much he enjoyed it and appreciated it.  

So here's my hydroseeded side yard where the sewer pipe was run to the street by an idiot.  Neighbors have a four to five foot wide area of dirt from a two foot bucket.  This guy brought in massive unnecessary equipment and destroyed ten times that.  No photos of the 100 feet of seed along the road where the pipe was installed by township workers (more great employees) and filled, leveled, seeded by the pepper guy.

This is off the gravel fill where the concrete patio once was.  Not sure what will be done there but it's walkable without twisting an ankle now.

So we have three weeks to surgery and I'm wondering if Rachel can be completed in that time.  But I am not Saltbox Stitcher or Brenda, no matter how I try.  I am already picking a few smalls to choose for the waiting room, something larger can be worked on at the hotel.  

I hear 'ya about the Medicare options.  I am the only one in our groups that has a supplement, not an advantage plan.  My cousin (advantage) was flown by helicopter to another hospital for emergency heart surgery, did not pay a penny.  They also get several hundred a year towards dental, and free eye exams and glasses.  I pay close to $200 a month, my drugs are very expensive with the mandatory plan D, no dental, no eye, nothing else.  Hard decision but you are correct, you cannot go back once you leave.   So switching to advantage and setting aside what I would be paying for other .... $2400 a year + $300 dental + $250 eye, almost $3000 a year to use for co-pays and testing, is something to think about.  Roll over every year and I cold have a tidy sum for uncovered bills, and if not used, pay off the damn sewer project!

Have a nice Sunday, first one in fricking October. 

 You know it's chilly when Petey sleeps in his house.

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Eureka!

 Fox and Rabbit 36 count approximate 18x27 Eureka linen.  This is darker than a cream, more of buttercream but leaning to 738/739 with an apricot undertone.  This piece is not mottled.  I paid $28.99  Selling for $28 includes shipping to US.  If outside of US, you pay postage.  Check or Paypal.

If interested, please email samplersandsantas@gmail.com

Since I moved up to using a single floss thread on higher counts, I had to create a stash of colors and larger pieces for the big girls.  I appreciate the 8x12 size that 123Stitch offers.  Perfect for smaller projects, checking color, and testing my ability to stitch higher counts without spending a lot.  There are a few others I would like to add but I'm done for now.  Finding a perfect color and getting something different in a second order has happened in almost all.  Names are deceiving also because if I had green in my cappuccino, caramel macchiato and especially my buttermilk, they would be down the drain.  I don't dare attempt to alter the undertone because except for PTP, an edge test with water or spittle from my iron left a spot.

Today I'm making an attempt to rid the clutter in all rooms, not extra decor but crap everywhere from not cleaning for so long.  But not until Advil kicks in.  My arthritis is raging in back, hips, and hands.  This fiasco of my decades long PCP's policy of patient removal if they see another doctor has really hurt me this last year.  I need to find one that I can trust, several issues need testing.  Will try to do this before year's end because I will need to drop my supplement and move to an advantage plan.  My Plan D which was not a help with drugs is rising $42 a month.  When are seniors with limited incomes going to get some help?  Oh, I get it.  They figure we won't be here much longer, but younger people will be voting for years to come.

Have a good weekend.  Let me know if you are interested in the linen. Thanks!

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I was trying to help

but I'm not reliable.

 

Just in case you are considering a linen order based on my comparisons, don't.  On the right is the first order of 40 count Antique Lace, LOVE, and the second order is on the left.  Nuh-uh.  The other colors in the order are fabulous (Prairie Grass and Tobias).  Tobias is similar in depth to Ale but more golden.  But what a second order would be only the dye gods know.  Now I have 36 and 40 count linen to use, nice to have an inventory (even a small one) to check against thread colors when looking at a new project.  

I had to order HATS Rosa Sugars after seeing Brenda's finish, which does not make sense.  I do not enjoy stitching borders and avoid at all costs, I don't like bright colors, and did not need another project.  There 'ya go.  I looked at the history and the model was stitched on 56 count.  Stitches would be the size of over one on 28?  But with twice the linen threads which to me, would make it much more difficult.  

Rachel's trees do look OK if not magnified.  I used the needle point to pry open the tightly pulled linen threads, move floss to the corners to make a true X, steamed and pressed while stretching slightly.  The result is not the best, but getting there was very tedious.

Finally received a response to messages, surgery is scheduled for Oct 22, with both surgeons on the same day.  We talked about the contradictions and confusion, some of which she was unaware.  We cannot request the anesthesiologist but being the first case of the day, we have a shot.

The township installed the culvert pipe and finished yesterday, today the landscapers are planning to repair the yard, cover and seed, including the newly installed 15" pipe. 

Have a good one.

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Tree-son

\trē′zən\ n. 

The deliberate refusal to use a hoop when executing a multitude of randomly spaced stitches resulting in uneven wonky crosses of various sizes from medium to barely visible.

What a mess.  I stitched the entire tree with one color, went back with the lighter to fill in.  Those lighter threads with little contrast to the linen are so very difficult for me to see, and then to attempt to find the two threads for the stitch when pulled so tightly was maddening.  I could not tell where the cross was or even if it was crossed.  Yoi.  If I ever have such a stitch pattern in another project, I will use my hoop and hope that will correct this.  I should have know better, tension is always an issue with me, but did not think it would cause such a hassle.

Page 2 - boom.  Even a little extra from adjoining areas.  I am not doing any more white until the end, and I've rolled and stitched the excess linen because spoolies, magnets, clips, constantly catching my floss.

No scheduled surgery yet, the surgeon's office was to call Monday, has not, and is not returning calls.

Have a good day folks.

Stitching with Kittens (no-reply), I don't stitch over one on 32, but I use DMC or cotton thread always.  The floche seemed to cover a little better with one thread, and I would really like to learn more about silks and some others that are thicker, or threads that are too fine.  When we have to order without visual, we have to do research!  I may look for a site that explains the thickness and best use for linen counts.

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More colors

Received two small pieces today and have a few more coming soon, the last of new colors and higher counts.  Hard to realize I only used 28 and 30 for so many years, and now I can't seem to veer away from using one thread and higher counts.  

So here's the two new which are very similar, probably interchangeable (unless the batch is different).  The background is the gorgeous Oatmeal (I regret returning the 40 count), the left is Caramel Macchiato and the right is Buttermilk.  Both somewhat green especially compared to the Oatmeal.

We drove back out to the Amish greenhouse and I got three small and the only large bronze left.  Aside from that one, four red were all that remained of the $7 size. They had six $10 size left but they are larger than my whisky barrels.  Many smaller (row behind the house) but still a very nice size offered all colors.  I got yellow and orange to mix with the bronze. Their pumpkins were reasonable and so many varieties and shapes to choose from, but I declined.

These houses are made from the polywood scraps (they make and sell outdoor furniture) and all were $98.

The summer flowers aren't dead yet, but I have looked at this dirt, roots, rocks, weeds, and concrete pieces all summer and I can't take the visual any more.  They (still don't know who "they" are) have written quite a few articles about how clutter in the bedroom gives your brain too much stimulation in processing it all and can affect rest.  I guess that would apply to any room and why I think my collecting addicted brother is so high strung.  Removing the planters and multiple waning blooms in exchange for one focal point, would be good right now.

Bought a few more charts thanks to floss tube and IG, but I am grateful to view what others share.  

Hope the week goes well for you.

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