Stitching Plans - 2010 SAL's

Now I'm feeling more like my usual self I thought I'd share a few stitching plans with you in this post, so you'll have an idea of what will be in store for the coming months, especially in 2010.......... which, I guess, will let you decide whether it's worth sticking around. LOL

As I mentioned in my last post I've joined the 2010 Weekly Stitch Along Blog, thanks to Gaynor, and I nominated my HAED Mother Earth piece. When I checked back for a pic I got a real shock when I realised that the last time I worked on this was way back in October..... 2008. Ooooopps! Now when I started this project I knew it would be a long term one but hadn't reckoned on it being quite this long term.... and heading towards official UFO status. So it's a good job I nominated it, isn't it? Here's where the stitching stopped back then:

There's an awful lot left to go but am sure the Blog Ladies will keep my nose to the grindstone with it. LOL Plus, the fact that I've now got the magnifier lamp will help things along too. It does help if you can actually see what you're stitching! The first official update for this is Sunday 3rd January, so guess how I'll be seeing in the New Year. ;0) If you haven't yet checked out the SAL Blog please have a look, as there are lots of beautiful projects that the members will be stitching on - very nice eye candy. :0)

As Mother Earth will be going into the Weekly Blog SAL slot that leaves Tuesday UFO Night, over at JA/S&S Forum vacant. Now some weeks I may just carry on with ME for this but there are a number of other projects I'd like to see progress now, and one in particular....... so for this I'm going to bring Sea Stars out again. (About time, I can hear Barb say. LOL) This fell by the wayside after a particularly sickening frogging episode that really spoilt the fun of the piece (anyone else feel like that?). This is where it was left off, post frogging session:

This is another piece that really needs to progress - it is now embarrassingly overdue, as Barb and Rosanne, the other SAL members, have long since finished theirs. Could this be my first large finish of 2010? That would be so good! :0)

New for 2010 is the JA/S&S Forum's Just Nan SAL. Now this particular SAL was inspired by seeing Julie's progress on her beautiful JN WIP piece Lady Scarlet. The SAL is an open one - in other words, you can stitch any JN design you want to - and the choices are varied. This is going to be another lovely one to watch, as well as participate in, whilst all those beautiful pieces develop. So what was my choice for it? This:

Flora, one of the Angels, which I chose because she will look lovely in my new Craft Room (whenever it gets finished! LOL). I'm using all the recommended DMC threads and Mill Hill beads - the only change I've made is to the fabric, which is Polstitches Sky High 28ct hand dye instead of the Antique White evenweave. Quite appropriate, I thought. :0)

I am going to be really careful of how many Challenges and other things I sign up for in 2010 as I don't want to overload myself and end up with the disappearing mojo problem again. If there's a Christmas ornie one going I will probably succumb to it, as my eventual aim is to have enough handmade ornies to fill our big tree, leaving the little metal tree for just blackwork ornies. The LHN ornie SAL tempted me but I decided to pass on it because the mojo was still awol and my cash is currently wanted elsewhere. Hopefully the one on JA/S&S Forum will continue..... and hopefully I'll actually keep up with it too. LOL

Health wise, as I said, I am doing better. Going upstairs no longer feels like a trek up the face of Everest and it doesn't hurt any more when I do it - good job because I've not been taking any painkillers for about 4/5 days now (started to get a paracetamol induced headache). The only thing that does hurt is sneezing, so I try not to do that too often. ;0)
Lifting and carrying is still banned, so I leave the heavy stuff to the menfolk - that includes asking the parcel delivery folks to bring boxes in for me, which they are happy to do when I explain that I've had an op and still have stitches in that I really don't want to pull. You can almost see some folks faces go green, so it's quite amusing really. Eheheh.
I go to the GP tomorrow for my post-op check up, seeing the nurse I know, as I'm comfortable with her....... and she'll take the time to answer any questions I have. She's also had the same op, so I know, from her own experiences, that she can give me a good idea of what to expect next. Although I have been having a few of those "power surges" already, though thankfully they are fairly mild at the moment. Maybe I won't need those Damart thermals after all. ROFL Fingers crossed for a clean bill of health. :0)

The blog reading catch up is almost complete - if I haven't visited yet I will be doing soon. Then there's an ornie finished, some cards made, a Sea Stars update pic and some nice post to share but I'll show those another time.

Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments. Hope you've all got the bulk of your festive preparations completed and are now able to enjoy some "me" time. :0)

Slowly, Slowly.....

No, not catchee monkey....... slowly, slowly getting back to my usual self as things heal, the pain recedes and the painkillers are dropped, thus helping my befuddled brain gain some semblance of normality. Well....... what passes for normality for me, anyways. LMAO I am getting really fed up of seeing the same four walls now, so I guess that's another good sign of improvement too. :0)

I have to show you the fab decoupaged card that Julie kindly sent to me last week:

Unfortunately the scan makes it look all flat and lifeless and it's not like that at all IRL: the nurse and teddy are 3-D and the whole is very beautifully made. Thank you again Julie, I love it. :0)

I have also been slowly, slowly trying to catch up with some of those things that went on the back burner whilst my mojo took quite a long holiday without me. When I checked I got a bit of a shock....... I haven't actually completed any ornies for the JA/S&S Forum's Monthly Christmas SAL since May! Ooooooppps! As it so happens I had a bit of a stitchfest after my first hospital stay and completed two small designs suitable for ornies....... it just took me a little longer to get round to the finishing..... as you do. ;0)

So, for your delectation, here is June's Ornie:

Design: Blackwork Partridge, kit
Designer: Carol Leather, for X-Calibre Designs
Fabric: 14ct white aida, as provided
Thread: black and gold metallic, as provided
Finish: pillow style ornie with ruched ribbon edging.

Here's a pic of the back view, so you can see the gorgeous gold on black fabric that I got from Thread Bear:

The chiffon ribbon was a 5m reel of Anita's Ribbon that I got from The Range for 99p - bargain! There's plenty left of both the fabric and ribbon for finishing more blackwork ornies, which I plan on doing at some point as I really like the combination. :0)

For July's ornie it was a reasonably quick little DMC design - I bought the kit from a shop in my local High Street that sells some cross stitch goodies, back when I had my first venture down that way earlier in the year. It was designed to be finished as a card but I had other ideas as soon as I saw it:

Design: Snowflake, from the Mini Kit Christmas Range
Designer: DMC
Fabric: good old white 14ct aida, as supplied
Thread: DMC 825; 932; 3752; 3756
Finish: Prairie Schooler style ornie

I added some glass bicone beads (another eBay bargain) and Mill Hill seed beads to the corners to give it a little festive sparkle. And yes, that is some actual, genuine sunshine you can see in that pic........ but, despite it being sunny out, it is also decidedly chilly, as the deep frost we had last night is still on the ground in the sheltered places, like my garden. Ise a stopping in today, where it's nice and warm! LOL

I've also picked up a needle again and have been making headways into the JA/S&S Challenge piece that was supposed to be done in October (I think), then there's November and December's pieces to do...... they are all lovely festive designs, so they will double up as pieces for the Christmas ornie SAL............ and that will take me up to October for ornie's. So that leaves two more to complete to make it a full year of ornies. Reckon I'll manage it? Nah, not too sure either but will give it my best shot. :0)

In the meantime I had a think (yes, it did hurt - my poor brain wondered what was happening! LOL) and decided that my HAED Mother Earth piece has been very sadly neglected of late and is in real danger of becoming a UFO....... to rectify that I asked to join Gaynor's Weekly SAL Blog for 2010 and she very kindly let me sign up and nominate Mother Earth as my SAL piece. Now I have to make progress on it. Yay! That leaves the JA/S&S Tuesday UFO Night and I reckon Sea Stars should put in an appearance for that......... plus there are a couple of other pieces that have been waiting to have beads added for some time, so they would be good candidates for then too. Slowly, slowly the stitchy bug is returning. :0)

As for other news: DH is in the middle of the big Outage thing at work so he's been working late all week, though has been compensating by going in a little later in the morning's so he can make sure I am up and safely downstairs and has chance to do any bits of shopping or jobs for me. Thankfully he still has a job: he has essential knowledge on the Instrumentation side (please don't ask what that means - I don't know!) that the steelworks can't afford to lose, as he's one of only a few remaining chaps that have it, so they aren't letting him go..... yet. DH prefers it that way - it should be a better package when he's 55 years old..... he's got another 2 years to go. Hopefully there'll still be a steelworks here for that long.

DS is busy with rehearsals for the Pantomime, as well as seeing his DGF and friends. I am getting lots of quiet evenings and you know what that means folks.......... yes, I am in charge of the TV remote! Mmmmmwwwwwaaaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhhhaaa! (evil laugh, in case you were wondering). Unfortunately there hasn't been an awful lot on in the evenings worth watching lately and the plans to watch all those DVD's just hasn't happened...... it's either been reading (finished a couple more books - see side bar), a minor trawl of eBay or sleep that has won out. Hopefully, now the stitchy bug seems to be returning, I shall be sitting and stitching a bit more instead, so I may well get to see those DVD's after all. LOL

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to visit and for all the lovely comments. I will be stopping by to visit blogs in the coming days, as I have a catch up with all your news. :0)

Just a Quickie....

to say a big thank you for all the well wishes. Not only are they greatly appreciated but they seemed to have worked well, as I was allowed home on Sunday night. :0)

The operation went well, with no complications, and the wound looks to be healing OK - very neat and tidy. Just a tad sore and when I walk I do a very good impression of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is playing havoc with my back, otherwise I don't feel too bad at all.

Unfortunately I haven't yet managed to keep my eyes open long enough to tackle anything stitchy related..... but that will come. Whilst in hospital I actually found myself wishing I'd packed a small piece to do in there! The lack of stitching to hand did mean I got another book read from cover to cover though: another Angel book by Jacky Newcomb (see side bar)....... which I left with the young lass in the next bed, as - after she told me her story - I felt she could do with a little Angelic intervention, Bless her.

Right, I'm away to the sofa and my fleecy blanket as I am now feeling shattered. I haven't done much but am getting tired very easily. Time to catch some z's again. LOL

Thank you again for all your kind thoughts and prayers, they really have made a difference. Hope to have a gradual catch up with you all in the coming days. :0)

Halloween Revisited

Well I finally got around to finishing off another of those Halloween ornies I stitched way back........... as in, way back in September 2008. It's another one of those jobs I've been doing "Just In Case". Yes, as you might be able to tell, those pre-op nerves are beginning to kick in a tad. Still I'm not as bad as I was when I was in my 30's and had to go have my tonsils out, which was my first ever operation.............. I actually wrote out a Will that time. LMAO

So what ornie finishing did I do? Well...... it was this one:

Design: Fall

Designer: Homespun Elegance, internet freebie

Fabric: Polstitches 28ct evenweave - Hot Potatoes

Threads: Carrie's Creations Pumpkin Spice, Raven, Pina Colada; Ozark Emerald; DMC for cat's eye

Finish: hanging pillow ornie.

I went with a bit of a Scarey Spice look with the black fibers........ kinda reminds me of one of my really bad hair days. LOL The charm was one I had in my stash - thought it was really appropriate for the piece. :0)

For the backing I used this fabric:

Don't you just love those crazy looking bats? I just wish I'd extracted my digit and got this piece finished much sooner - it didn't deserve to be left languishing in the drawer for so long. Though rather than thinking that this piece is a tad late for this Halloween I prefer to think that I am being incredibly organised and it is just very early for next Halloween. ROFL ;0)

As for other things: DH and I did a little shopping on Sunday, resulting in a few more Christmas pressies crossed off the list, plus I ordered some gifts from Amazon and eBay and they have arrived this week. Hopefully I'll get all the wrapping done tonight. We also did an online Tesco food shop and that was delivered and put away last night, so the cupboards, fridge and freezer are now nicely stocked, as that's one job I definitely won't be up to doing after tomorrow! LOL My other blog is now fully up-to-date with the latest happenings, so there'll be a hiatus on that now, until I'm up and about again. I've also done enough laundry to keep my two going for a while...... though they do at least know how to use the washing machine, should the need arise. Tomorrow morning I just need to add the last couple of bits to my toiletry bag and pop that into my case and I'll be all set to go.

It'll be an early start tomorrow as I've to be on the ward for 8am, though don't yet have a clue on what time I'll be going into theatre....... and so long as they dope me with a pre-med pretty smartish I won't be caring much when it is, either. Bless those lovely drugs! LOL

I have no idea when I'll be back online again, as I've been warned it'll take a while before I can sit up comfortably for long, so......... just in case......... I hope you all have a lovely festive season, however you celebrate, and that it is filled with lots of fun and laughter and that you all have a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. :0)

Thank you for all your lovely kind thoughts and well wishes, they are very much appreciated. Take care all. :0)

No Stitching But.....

that hasn't stopped me acquiring stash, although those acquisitions have been over a couple of months - I've just been really slack at blogging enough to share them before now.

First up is an eBay bargain 99p chart:


I love the version with the wording. The logo of the Alternative Therapy Clinic I go to is a sunflower and I plan on stitching the version with the wording for Jan, my Herbalist, as a thank you for all the help she has given me.... and all the help she will continue to give once I've had my op. She has helped me in more ways than she knows and helped to open up a whole new world for me (I write about that on my other blog), so it is such an appropriate piece. :0)

On the same day I also spotted this gorgeous fabric bargain too:


A large piece of opalescent fabric for under £4.00 and free P&P. Who could resist that? Certainly not me. ROFL I don't have any specific plans for it at the moment but just the right design is bound to turn up at some point.

Another day I was bored and browsing on the same good old auction site, following links to see where they'd take me, when I came across someone selling craft goodies for children...... only when I investigated there weren't just the pipe cleaner type stems but also some sparkly trims that were sold by the metre, ideal for Christmas ornies thought I.


As you can see I succumbed to a few of them. Those yellow stems were a freebie - I couldn't think what I could use them for (so did not fancy making that many Easter Chick legs! LOL) so gave them to my friend Alex, for her children.

Then another nosey around revealed these rather useful pieces of fabric at a bargain price and I was lucky enough to win the bids:


A 32ct fabric in Mocha and a 28ct in French Latte. Another couple of neutral colours that are especially useful as my stash seems to have a large bias towards hand dyes in pretty colours. Much as I like those pretty colours they aren't always suitable for some designs.

When I got fed-up of bargain hunting on eBay I had a wander over to Thread Bear for a nosey as I needed some different coloured backing fabrics. Whilst I was there I couldn't resist the sparkly felts they'd just got in stock...... and the chart was in the Sale section and goes with one from the same range that's already in my stash.


The 28ct is a piece of Lakeside Linens fabric and was bought specifically to stitch the Plum Pudding Salem Sisters piece on. Yes, I had all good intentions of starting this piece for Halloween........... but it just didn't happen. Yup, that mojo packed its bag and disappeared into the wild blue yonder....... again! The current happenings haven't exactly helped either.

Just so you're not left thinking that the Craft Bug had totally disappeared:


Yes, last week my cardmaking goodies came out of their boxes long enough for me to make a card for my DH's birthday. Though they did go straight back in again and haven't been touched since, as I've been busy with other things.

So, what has been happening to keep me busy? Well, I went for my pre-op checks on Tuesday morning and that took way more time than either of us expected. So the questions were asked and the forms were filled in by a very nice Staff Nurse called Gail; blood pressure and blood oxygen levels checked and noted; height and weight checked and noted (and I don't like their scales 'cos they have me 4lbs heavier than Jan's!); then various questions asked and answered - though not too many details wanted or needed about the op itself because I'm a firm believer that ignorance is bliss with that kind of thing as I really don't want nightmares beforehand, thanks; all the consents signed and a parting gift of a cup of pee, for testing. Finally there was a trip down to see the hospital vampires again so they could take four lots of my best red for various tests. Staff Nurse Gail reckoned I looked and sounded fit enough and the checks she did were fine, so - unless the test on the blood or pee turn anything up - it's all systems go, in the best Thunderbirds tradition. LOL

Meantime, I've been keeping up with the laundry and other dreaded H word jobs, trying to keep on top of things before the enforced break happens...... you know men, they aren't going to class things like that as a priority, are they? And I am not going to burst my stitches trying to keep things straight when I come home, so I'm getting it sorted now in the hopes that it won't begin to look like a mess for a while. Yeah, right - not with these two! LOL

Then there's making sure that the clothes I want to take in with me are clean, ironed and packed and the other bits I need are to hand (things have a nasty habit of disappearing into that Safe Place just when you want them). Shopping for enough soya milk and cornflakes to take in with me because the hospital don't have anything I am allowed to eat at breakfast time - plus enough for after I get out, as DH won't have the time to go into town for more. And that the cupboards, fridge and freezer are well stocked beforehand too........... because there isn't a snowball's chance in h*ll of me being able to help do that after the op. Plus I've been making sure my other blog is fully up-to-date (got more posts saved to draft) and doing my best to catch up with all the blogs on my blogger list because who knows how long it'll be before I'll be able to sit up to the computer - I've already been warned that I'll be left wondering if I'll ever be able to walk up straight ever again, due to it being an ordinary incision op with stitches. Thanks for that! LOL

I guess it's probably a good thing the mojo has gone on holiday again because, at this point, I'd probably end up having to frog it all anyways. LOL :0)

Thank you taking the time to stop by and for all the lovely comments you leave. Hope you all have a good weekend...... and all those in the UK stay safe and flood-free. :0)

A Gorgeous Giveaway Received

While I was busy burrowing into my shell I did manage to keep up with some blog reading and was delighted to find that I was one of the lucky winners for Andrea's Christmas Ornie's Giveaway. Andrea's work is always beautiful and the basketful of ornies looked amazing, so I was going to be a very happy person whichever ornie I received. But I did have a favourite that I loved on sight because it was such fun....... so imagine how doubly thrilled I was when I opened up the package and discovered the ornie she sent me was my favourite. :0)

So which one was it? This little beauty:



Isn't it a cutie? Those gold beads around the edges really sparkle IRL. Sorry but my pic really doesn't do it justice and the digicam just will not do a decent close up of anything - there's a much better pic over at Andrea's blog. :0)

The back of the ornie has a pretty border and Andrea's initials and the year stitched on it.


Thank you again for the most wonderful pick-me-up Andrea. Your stitching and finishing is awesome. I am delighted with my ornie and it will be going on my rotating metal Christmas tree that I have bought just to display hand stitched ornies.

Thank you for all the kind and supportive comments on my last post, they are greatly appreciated. I hope that all those in the UK stay safe during the current bad weather. Have a good weekend. :0)

An Update

Thought I'd just let you all know that I haven't gone and emigrated and not told anybody. Nope, I've just been behaving like a typical Cancerian and hiding in my shell for a bit while I waited for my hospital appointments to come... and go. Don't ask me what I've done with the time because I couldn't really tell you - it just sort of slipped past....... and I don't seem to have a great lot to show for it either. Well, apart from a few more posts on my other blog.

I had the second ultra-sound scan done last week: the cyst was still there, though looking like it was on the right side rather than the left, as it had appeared in the hospital. Bugger, and there was I hoping it would evaporate into thin air, never to appear again.

Today (11th) I saw Mr Roberts, the Gynae Consultant, to hear the verdict. The blood tests were OK and the cyst is definitely benign (thank you to all the powers that be!) but it's definitely not going to go away by itself. The confusion over which ovary it is is normal, as ovaries have a tendency to move around of their own accord. Apparently mine are real lively little beggars (at least part of me is still a bit of a party animal! LOL) and due to the large cyst making one ovary heavier than the other they have a tendency towards twisting..... and it was probably down to them twisting that I had the pain last month. He said they often don't know for certain which ovary the cyst is in until they go in there.

As I am 48 years old and not wanting any more kids (sheesh, make a baby at 48 and have a teenager when I'm into my 60's?!!! Hell, No!!!!) and they're having to go in for one ovary it's as well they take the other one out too, to save any further problems further down the line. It means a greatly reduced risk of ovarian cancer (it is still possible to develop one form of it but it's extremely rare) and also............ wait for it.............. no more monthlies.... Yay! Bring it on, said I.

Have you any idea how much cash I'm about to save, not having to buy the neccessaries every month? How much that adds up to in a whole year? No, neither do I - but I do know it's a small fortune. And it doesn't take a genius to guess what plans I have for said cash, too.

Yup....... a girl can never have too much stash. ;0)

Obviously, when I wave bye bye to the girls it will mean I go into full on menopause. I can't say that bothers me over much at this stage - I've been quite looking forward to embracing my Crone/Wise Woman Years - but I don't think DH (the poor, unsuspecting innocent) has yet gathered, let alone fully appreciates, what that means......................... that his reasonably laid back wife of 25 years is quite likely going to turn into an unbalanced, fire-breathing, ball-busting dragon lady............. at least, until Jan the Herbalist gets the right meds mix sorted for me. ROFL

Mr Roberts reckoned the waiting list was currently around 18 weeks. I tried to do the calculation as to what month that would be in my head but didn't quite make it. OK, far enough away not to get into a sweat about. I opted for normal surgery rather than keyhole: if I wanted keyhole surgery there would have been a delay while I was referred to the chap that does that, then another because he would have to see me before putting me on his list; having keyhole surgery means I'd be under the general anaesthetic for longer, compared to the 30 minutes for the ordinary surgery - far better for me, as my blood pressure tends to drop dramatically after a general; I'll only have one short incision scar, below my belly where it won't be seen, compared to four or so scars across it where they would be.
The main positive for keyhole is that you get to go home much quicker - doing it this way I won't, as I will have to spend around 3 days in hospital but I reckon I will find that a bit more reassuring initially...... because if there are any problems that crop up there are trained folks immediately on hand to deal with it. Oh, and not forgetting those marvellous morphine jabs they have for pain! :0)

So Mr Roberts filled in the relevant forms, handed them to us and told us to take them to the Booking Office and the lady there would sort out the details. With that we thanked him and left. When we found the Booking Office (clearly signed when coming in - not obvious when going out, as we found) the lady there had us in and added the operation details to my online notes. While she was doing that I said to DH that I wondered how much it would cost to have it done privately, not only to hurry things along but to get a time that suited us best and would guarantee Mr Roberts would do the op. The lady then told us that the private suite was closing shortly because there was a lack of patients for it, as the hospital was really quick on the waiting lists there was no real need to go private now - then told us that she had an available slot for me on 4th December. Sheesh, that certainly wasn't the 18 weeks Mr Roberts quoted!

After catching my breath I asked DH how that went with his work commitments, as the steelworks have a big Outage coming up - that means some 12 hour day shifts and some weekend working. The 4th wasn't looking too good, so the lady said: actually I have a cancellation slot available on the 27th of this month, with an appointment for the pre-op checks on the 17th, if that's any better. Gulp! Oh, boy - did that suddenly make it all so much more real! So, thinking that going for the earlier date will mean a whole lot less time for me to work myself up into a right old panic about it (yeah, right!), we booked it. I'll be on Ward 28 again........ hope I didn't make too lasting an impression the first time around. LOL After being given the necessary printouts and adding the dates to our diaries we thanked the lady and left...... feeling a little stunned by just how quick it's all going to be.

On the really bright side: though I shall have to seriously extract my digit to try and get all the present shopping done now, the earlier date does mean that I should have recovered enough to be able to enjoy the festivities. Oddly enough, just the night before, I'd been chatting to my DSis on the phone and said to her it would be great to get everything all done and dusted before Christmas.

I think someone up there was listening.

Eeeeerrrmmm................. is it too late to say I was only joking? LMAO

Thank you for all the lovely comments you left on my last post... and also for stopping by, despite the recent long gaps between posts. :0)