Ipod Books

Maybe everyone else on the planet has known about this forever but I just discovered that our library has books on ipod. Amazing! I'm listening to Stephen King's Black House. It is so cool. I can listen to it when I'm sitting at track practice waiting for Nick's event. I can listen to it when I get to school to pick him up, and in the morning while I'm waiting for him to get ready for school. I didn't realize I spend so much time waiting for Nick. Oh well. I'm getting a lot of "reading" and stitching done.
My current projects are on a rush that I hope to have finished by Monday evening. I have the key bookmarks that several ladies stitched. I'm doing the finishing by sewing them to the felt with the ribbon in the center. I did several by hand and also did some on the machine. I left one with Jill so we will have 15 all together. We are donating them as part of a bookmark stitching contest. I am almost finished with the April Hardanger Card of the Month. I need to finish the center of it. I will be getting the May card soon. I'm also working on a blackwork butterfly. I have most of it finished. There are four circles that use a lighter shade than the rest of the pattern. I don't really like the color but I've only completed one of the circles. Maybe it will look better when it's finished.

Emma is Two

Two is such a great age. At two there are still fairy tale dreams to come true, magic to believe in, and toys, toys, toys! It's also the best time to eat cake or cupcakes. You can see from the picture that she enjoyed her cupcake more than anyone else. Her favorite gift was that little telephone with a cord that rolls across the floor and the eyes move up and down. She loved it! Mom knows best. Phoebe bought her the shirt she's wearing months ago and kept it hanging in the closet waiting for this day. She made it through most of the party with it clean but by the time the party was over, it was in the laundry room. Oh well, it was worth it. Just look at that face!

Brazilian Embrodiery

I found an outline pic on the net after taking Liz's class in Brazilian Embroidery. My printer didn't work so I just held the paper up to the screen and traced it. I used the colors from the kit that we had in the class and then added one or two of my own. I think the white button in the center was a clever touch. I can be creative, yes, I can. I enjoy this type of stitching so I'm sure you'll see more in the future.

March Card of the Month

I am working on the April Card of the Month from Nordic Needle. It's the most difficult card in the series so far. It has some cutting and weaving in the center section that I've never done before. Jill has offered to help me so I'm not as worried as before. The photo above is the card from March. It is my favorite so far. I love the bold, dramatic colors. All of the kits come with threads. This kit barely had enough thread to finish. There is actually a part at the top center that I had to leave out because I would have ran out. I may put a charm or button there but it looks pretty good without anything. We'll have to see if I get inspired.

Hardanger Card of the Month

I haven't stitched anything hardanger for quite awhile. Since the Hardy Girls haven't been meeting since last year I guess I didn't have any motivation. That, and the fact that I have about a millions things on my stitching to do list. (No one knows what I'm talking about, do you?)

Jill called me one day because she had just received her Nordic Needle catalog and found their Hardanger Card of the Month Club. She is the one who first introduced me to hardanger a few years ago. She signed up and I decided to wait to see if I liked hers before I committed myself to another new project. She had January and February at one of our TANA meetings. I fell in love with them. They work up very quickly and are absolutely beautiful. The cards match the floss color and each month there is a different fiber. Each month I will receive a new card and project. It reminds me of the mystery sampler that Del and I did a few years back. I have no idea what each month's pattern will look like until it comes in the mail. I love good surprises.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Another ongoing project is our trip around the world that Liz is taking us on for our monthly classes. March and April classes are Brazilian Embroidery. This was so much fun to do. I love the bullion knots. The cast on bullion knots remind me of needle tatting so it's fun as well. I had done bullion knots in the past but always got them knotted or too loose. I think these turned out quite well if I do say so myself.

Most of you will know what I'm talking about when we think of pieces we've worked on and have the memories that go with them. Not just the memories of learning new techniques or the amount of time we spent working on them. Most of us can remember what we were doing in our lives when we were stitching some particular pieces. The memory that I will have with this piece is working on it at the hospital while I sat with Jill while Larry was in the hospital. Becky came over during her lunch hour (or two) and stitched on hers.

Jill is such a very dear friend. I have so many wonderful memories with her but this is a difficult time. I hope that I can be there for her and give her the strength that she will need to keep her life going when his passes.

The Loss of a Pet

I woke up this morning to find my pet rat, Bella had died sometime this morning. I saw her around 1am when I gave her a treat. After I eat breakfast I always give her a piece of whatever it is I had, poptart, cereal, etc. When I went to give her breakfast this morning, I found her laying on the floor of her cage.
I know a lot of people think having a pet rat is strange. It's not like a puppy or a kitten. I never thought I'd have a rat as a pet either. My daughter used to have some of them and they were mean. She couldn't pet them or hold them without them biting her. The last one she had I took and kept because she got mad at it and was going to set it free. I felt sorry for it because it had been in a cage it's whole life and I didn't think it would survive on its own. I fed it and gave it water on a regular basis but when I had to clean the cage I had to put on extra strength, heavy-duty work gloves to take it out of the cage and then put it back in. It was terrifying to say the least.
Bella wasn't like that at all. I had gone to the animal shelter in Columbus with Phoebe and the girls to donate newspapers. Bella was in a cage with a bunch of her babies. Her name was Loretta then but nobody liked that name so I let Alyssa name her Bella. I'm sure if it was a boy she would've named it Edward. I went up to the cage to see the babies. Bella climbed up the side of the cage and just looked at me. I wouldn't call it love at first sight but it was kind of sweet in a twisted sort of way. The lady told me she was only $5 and that I could get a used cage for $10. I called Randy and told him I had a pet rat in a cage and was bringing it home. He's learned over the years to just go with it. It's usually better for him to just accept my strange behavior and be done with it.
Bella loved to be held. She would crawl all around my neck if we were walking together. If we sat on the couch she would just climb all over me. I would put her on the floor sometimes. At first I thought she'd run and hide and it would take me hours to catch her, but she never did that. She would venture off a little ways to explore and then hurry back to make sure I was still there.
She loved my furry bathrobe. Maybe it reminded her of her mommy. Just night before last I was holding her and she kept crawling down in the robe and just sitting there completely at peace.
I will miss her. She was a great pet, but more than that, a great friend who trusted me to care for her. I don't know how she died but I know she was happy living here with us.
Goodbye Bella.

When Life Gets Boring

I hear too many people compain that life gets boring. Sometimes boring is good. Too much excitement can be a bad thing. A week or so ago I was going to pick up Nick from school and head over to Hobby Lobby to use my Christmas gift card. Sounds ordinary, maybe even boring. This is ME we are talking about. Even walking down the stairs can be boring. In my house, you walk down the stairs to a landing and the door to the garage. Most people (not all people, meaning me, of course) walk down the entire flight of stairs to the landing, open the door and enter the garage. The important part is that one would walk down the ENTIRE flight of stairs to get to the landing. Not me. I had my hands full; purse, keys and a new cd to listen to while driving. I tried to step to the landing without walking down ALL of the steps. I fell and faceplanted into the wall, breaking my nose. Only me. I knew it was broken because I hit the wall hard and the only part of me that hit the wall was my nose. Blood was dripping all over the landing and my cell phone as I was calling Randy to pick up Nick and then take me to the ER. When I looked in the mirror there was also a major bump on the right side of my nose that wasn't there earlier. But, there was NO pain. Not until I got the ENT to have it straightened. The four pain shots, hurt. When the pain meds wore off, it hurt. When I got the ER I had to explain to the doctor that I did not slip outside on the ice like some people would. I don't need ice. Phoebe mentioned that for me to fall all I need is a little bit of forward movement. (Did I mention she's no longer in the will?) I hate photographs of myself even when I look my best but I thought I'd share a bit of my misfortune with you anyway.

This is taken while waiting for Randy to show up.
This was taken a few days later before I went to the ENT.

This is after the ENT fixed it.

This one is from yesterday. Bruises always look really bad just as they are getting better. I have gotten some stitching done. For some strange reason my family wouldn't let me drive, carry heavy objects or walk in the snow and ice.

This is a project that I've been working on for some time. I just put the finishing stitches in it yesterday. I'm heading off to Hobby Lobby to get the foam board to stretch it onto. (Wish me luck on this journey.)