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This one had to go in the mail, but it is on it's way now. I hope the translation is correct. It'd be a shame to say the wrong thing. It's Pinoy or Filipino. It's supposed to say something like, Leave it to God.

Violet Club Christmas presents

On December 11, our local violet club held it's annual Christmas party. I made most of my gift. Libbie Glembocki got my present. Here's a picture of her wearing part of it. Also there is a Christmas ornament that I also made for her.

NOW it's a Stocking

All stitched up and ready to fill. The thing is, there is a major size discrepancy between Brandon's stocking and Madi's . I will post a picture below to provide proof. I think there are a couple of reasons for this, but mainly it's a difference in the count of Aida I used. 14 vs. 16. Anyway, it doesn't seem fair to Madi, because she's the child and her stocking will always be smaller. Oh well. She should learn now. Life isn't fair.

Here's the finish, but not quite finished

Still haven't had five minutes to put it together, but here is a pic of the finished cross stitch. Wait'll you see it in a stocking.

Stocking Finish

Finally!!! .The stocking is complete. Well the stitching anyway. Tomorrow I will launder it and construct the actual stocking. No pics until then. But it feels like a weight has been lifted. The deadline was self imposed, but very real to me. I'll start the next one as soon as I get it kitted up.

Back Stitching

I'm doing the backstitching. It's really time consuming, but I am doing a little fudging. The design says to use several different colors for the backstitching. But unless it's obvious, I'm just using the black. It's going along pretty well. After that, I'll just have the construction of the stocking itself. So, barring complications, it will be finished in time to hang for Christmas. Yahoo!

Nearing the Finish Line

I almost hate to stop stitching to update this blog, but I am starting to get excited. I've been stitching wonderfully pain free for a while now and the end is in sight for Brandon's Christmas stocking. I may actually finish it by Christmas. I've gotten all the hard parts done and now I'm working on the odds and ends on the last page. Then there is the necessary back-stitching. I will get there. It is soooo good to not have pain. I should really stitch something for my wonderful doctor who made my wrist feel sooo much better.

Still stitching away. I think I'm making a lot of progress. Hope to be on the last page by the end of the week. But we have a busy week.

WooHoo!

 

I actually started back stitching a couple of weeks ago. Just a little with pretty mixed results. At first, I was scared that I would never be able to stitch pain free again. But, when I did it consistantly, just a little bit every day, it did begin to hurt less and less. Now I can stitch pain free. The doctor said to limit my stitching to one hour at a time. I actually did less than an hour a day at first. Now, I can stitch pain free for a long time and I have to stop myself from overdoing it. I'm thinking of long range ability to do what I love to do. I don't think God gave me this love just to take it away. If I can stitch with vision in one eye, who'd have thought that my wrist would put the brakes on me. I have such a stash of projects that I want to get to. But me being me, I tried to coax God into giving me my stitching back by making deals. I know that isn't how it works, but I am not going to be greedy. If I get to finish the stockings for my family in my lifetime, I'll consider that prayer completely answered. Anything else will be gravy. I love to stitch and I can hardly stand to sit without doing something. Hey, I've been known to crochet, play a game on the computer watch tv and talk on the phone all at the same time. I'm nothing if not a multi-tasker. So, just sitting and doing one thing is like messing up my mind man. Can't hardly stand it. Do you think I have ADD? Actually, that's not right because I can do lots of things at the same time for a long time, I just have trouble sticking to "one" thing.

So, here is Stocking Number 2. For #1 son. The project takes six pages in the book. I've done four and the sixth one is very small. So, I have one real page to complete. Plus the backstitching. It's called To All A Good Night.

 

 

 

Issues

For quite a while, I have been having issues with my wrist. I'm not sure what's going on. I have an appointment with my ortho doc on Thursday. It's either arthritis or carpel tunnel. Neither one is something that means my stitching hobby is safe.
I purposed to do six Christmas stockings and I feel that I MUST do them. I only have one completed so far. But because it is threatened, I am stitching as much as I am able. Right now I am once again working on Brandon's stocking. I have completed the name banner and am working on the reindeer. Who are mostly complete and two more are on this sheet of the design. I'm determined to have it ready by Christmas. Back to stitching.

Not Cross Stitching

Cross Stitching is my passion. Crochet is my ministry. At least that's my thinking. I love to crochet afghans. Unfortunately, I only have so many people to give them to. So, I came upon the idea of crocheting for Hospice. This is totally anonymous in that I don't know them and they don't know me, so it's totally selfless giving. I get nothing but the warm fuzzy feeling of doing a good deed.
But, my sister, Carol, has a friend and co-worker who has been going through a cancer journey for many years. After she had given me several updates on her condition, I began to follow her blog, called Cheer Me On. I laughed and cried and waited with baited breath for the results of her scans and how the chemo was treating her. I admired her courage to keep a lot of absolute strangers informed of her progress. I prayed for this person whom I didn't actually know, but cared so much about. So, I asked my sister if she thought Karen would be upset at the prospect of receiving one of my afghans. My thought was that if she knew I crocheted for Hospice, she might think I thought she was nearing the end. Carol firmly assured me that this would not be the case and was able to tell me what her favorite color was without thinking. Pink! My favorite color. Which let me know I had picked the perfect person to stitch for. I accidentally (through the blog, I think) found out when her birthday was and managed to finish it in time to make it a birthday present. She loved it. I finally got a picture of her with, as she calls it, her pink blankie. Anonymous is nice. But, it's sometimes very heartening to see someone enjoy my stitching. Thanks Karen!

Karen's battle came to an end on August 16, 2012. Rest in Peace, Karen.

Good News

I was really getting worried! I was afraid my stitching mojo was gone. I had started Brandon's stocking almost immediately after finishing Madi's. Didn't get anywhere. Had it kitted up and started to stitch, but only got a few squares into it before I became distracted by the holidays. Then afterwards, I got two projects at once that had deadlines. Once I finished them, I have tried and tried to work on Brandon's stocking, but just couldn't get involved. Was I at the dead end road of stitching? Say it isn't so. Stitching is one of the things I do just for me. I couldn't bear to give it up.
But so far, this new project is going swimmingly. I haven't gotten far enough along to take a picture, but his name is on it, so it's for sure his. Once his name is on it, I can't turn my back on it. Got to get back to it.

Confession

This is something I hardly ever do. I am usually a person who no matter what works through a project. Even if it isn't working well, I am a finisher. Hard as I tried to get into Brandon's Christmas stocking, I just couldn't get into it. So, I'm done. I asked his permission, which I'm sure he really didn't care either way, but it was his project. So, he understood. Well he said he did. If you aren't a stitcher, you probably don't get it.
So, now within less than 24 hours, I have gotten permission, frogged all the previous stitching, picked out a new design, pulled the threads and gotten further than I had managed to do in the months since I said I started it. This one I might actually finish this year in spite of my super late start.
It's called To All A Good Night. From my favorite Christmas poem. I'll get back to stitching now.

The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome. The weather was beautiful (if you consider 90 degrees beautiful). So now I can show off the wedding piece. I hope they enjoy many many years of happily married life.

A Wedding Finish

The wedding piece is finished. No pictures yet. Have to get it framed and delivered. The wedding is just a few days away!
Now, back to the stockings for my family project. I've got a loooooong way to go on the second one.

Finishing a Finish

I actually finished this piece a few months ago. But it wasn't finished as in made ready for gifting. My sister's birthday was today, so it got finished. Here it is, as a pillow. Not sure if you can tell that it's a pillow, but here it is.

Getting There

It's always a struggle when I get to the point in a project when it's nearly finished, but not nearly finished. Know what I mean. I don't think this is going to be completed by the time the bride and groom walk down the aisle. It's less than a month away. But as long as it's finished before they celebrate their first anniversary, it's all good, right. I do want to get back to the stockings, so I need to really put my heart into this to finish it in time for the wedding. Right! Right!!!! Come on Sylvia, put the blog to bed and start stitching.

In Memory

For the three little boys who were so anticipated, so loved and now are missed by so many. I stitched this for you and then found out that you were not to be.

Beach Marriage

I am making steady progress on the wedding project. It isn't as fulfilling as the baby one, mostly because it's more abstract and there are not specific areas that I can call complete. One little wavy spot of sand in very limited color pallet. The verse has proven to be more challenging than I thought it would be.

Unhappy News

I am so sad.
I had finished the triplet's cross stitch last week. Now, today, I find out they are not to be.
I was really looking forward to giving this piece to Libbie and her family. But the pain of this loss must be unbearable for everyone. Her son and daughter in law are all the way in California and she can't just run over and hug them to try to make them feel better. Losing one baby is so hard. They've lost three.
I think I'll go ahead and post the piece in a few days. It is a completed project, after all.

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch

I've been so busy stitching that I've not had much time for blogging about it. I also can't put pictures out because of the possibility that someone might actually look at my blog. I don't think anybody does, because I have no followers, but you don't have to follow to check in now and then.
Anyway, I have two major projects. Triplets and a wedding. I'm working on the triplets now. I've made good progress and I can actually see the finish line, but it's still a long way off. I hope to finish it, so that I can at least make a good start on the wedding piece. The wedding takes place before the triplets are scheduled to arrive, but with babies you never know.