Day two

After work I finished the embroidery on the face, blushed the cheeks and added the hat trim with holly leaves and berries. Not to shabby for so short a time. I really should start a stopwatch during my stitching so I can see how long it really takes me. Speaking as a day it is pretty minor but an hour or two it's pretty good.

I also decided that I do enjoy my breaks at work and my day goes better when I have a small project I can do on them (got over that stressful feeling i had the first time). So last night I set up a project on the go bag. I have selected a book of ornaments as my first try. I haven't done any of these before but they are really cute. Another new thing for me this time is I am trying these without hoops and instead of taping, and wasting fabric, so the ends don't fray, I have overcast the edges. I like the look and the less bulky feel it gives. I am holding final judgement till the end so I can see if it really works for me.

Santa's Secret, a beginning...

This morning I enjoyed my holiday by sitting outside for an hour and a half stitching and sipping a hot cup of tea. The kids were playing chef in the sandbox and it was a nice cool morning. I began work on the Santa's Secret stocking. This is a stocking I have two of, one for my niece and the other for my big brother. I laughed when I laid out all the extra kits I have and told him he could pick out any one of them and I'd make it. He chose the one I picked for my niece. To me it is one of the sweetest, kid friendly looking Santa's, slightly feminine. If you knew my brother that would seem strange to you too. But when I asked he said it was because it was the only one with puppies. He is a huge animal lover and can not be trusted to enter a shelter without saving some poor dog or cat. One of the many things I love about him.

Step one is to embroider the snowflakes in the stocking front and add the sequins. If you'll notice in the picture the top has a lot of dots without sequins. I have deliberately left those off for now because when you work on the stocking those little things will snag on practically everything. And since I don't want to worry about tearing the top I will just do them at the end,at the same time I do the name. I finished Santa's hat and have started on the face. I do have to admit I am proud of the satin embroidery of the eyes. Satin stitching and French knots are my weak spots but I am quite happy with the results here. I made a change already, the snowflakes called for french knots at the points of the flakes but since I have extra beads I used those instead. Less French knots the happier I am. I did a quick count an this will be stocking 8. Fingers crossed I will soon be a pro at doing these.

Finished!

Wow, two finishes in one month. I think that is a record for me. I was upset to see how dirty it was when I removed it from the hoop. There is also a hoop outline. I hand washed, machine washed on delicate, air dried and ironed but to no avail. The hoop line is still there. I have decided when I frame it I will get a frame with a matt that has a round cut out. This way it will never be seen and I will be able to display it. I was hoping to add their names but I never found a letter style or placement I liked so I left them off. A second plan is to scrapbook the letters on the Matt in the frame but we shall see how that looks.

After this I emptied my sewing box of the previous stocking fiasco and have opened a new Bucilla stocking kit to do instead. I sorted the floss and sequins, ironed the felt, cut them to fit in my box and generally got everything set for me to start the actual sewing tomorrow. I was planning to do that tonight but after finishing A&E, spending the morning outside with my kids, taking them to see Epic and then having a cookout I am too exhausted to do any sewing tonight. It was a great day and I am really happy I have one more day before having to go back to work.

Without further ado here is the completed A&E, straight from the hoop.

Crosses complete!

Yay! Finally!! I have completed all of the cross stitches. I had planned to take a picture before doing any back stitches but I was so caught up I started them. I realized after only a few stitches so here it is. I screwed up a few times and miscounted. I would have fixed it but I couldn't figure out where I messed up. I think you can't tell there was a problem. So here it is...

Memorial Day weekend=extra stitching time

Woohoo! I love Holiday weekends that result in extra days off for me. More time to finish projects, relax with the kids and generally do what I want. Not much different than any other weekend except it lasts longer. I was soooo close last night to finishing all the full cross stitches on A&E (Aidan and Elora for short). Started watching Sherlock last night (I now have a crush on Watson, which means I also have a crush on a Hobbit...strange) and was whipping through at a fine pace when I somehow misplaced my white floss. I hadn't moved from that spot when it just disappeared. Still haven't been able to locate it so I raided my stash for another skein. By that time it was too late to continue. So my goal this weekend is to finish A&E including back stitching. I probably shouldn't set a goal, since every weekend I have done that something comes up that makes it impossible, but I'm stubborn maybe this time it'll work.

I have also been giving some thought to the stocking I was working on before getting easily distracted with anything and everything just so I wouldn't have to work on it. The conclusion is, I will not be finishing it. I know that many people find Janlynn kits easier but this kit has fought me every step of the way and has turned something that I was truly enjoying into something I dreaded. So, sucking up the fact that I paid for it, I will be repackaging it and storing it till I have forgotten how much I hated it (if that time ever comes), and I will choose a new stocking from my ever growing stash to replace it. Since I never told the recipient which one was to be theirs I figure changing a new one isn't too big a deal. I have also made the decision that I will never buy another Janlynn stocking kit again, Bucilla all the time for this diehard fan. (Just so you know this doesn't mean I hate the Janlynn brand, on the contrary, I love their cross stitch patterns just not their stockings)

I will leave you with a progress picture of A&E as of last night. Don't mind he quality, iPhone at night doesn't equal award winning photos.

Why it's a good idea to listen to instructions

I have read a lot about how you should bind the edge of your fabric, either with tape or overcast stitches. I thought I'd share a pic as to why that is a good idea. See all those loose threads? Yep that is annoying to work with and that'll teach me to not follow instructions. No matter the size of the project you should prep your fabric, lesson learned. Hope this helps anyone else out there who, like me, thought oh it's a small piece who needs to do that...

3 down, 1 to go

I finished my phone case Friday evening. It's not a perfect fit and it is a little wavy but I think it had a lot to do with my tension. All in all I enjoyed it and am happy with the results.

My second accomplishment and title of this post, I finished page 3 of 4 on Aidan and Elora's picture and have started working on page 4. I have really liked working on this one. I'm not surprised that it will be finished before Sleepy Hollow. Once I have that done I will continue work on Sleepy Hollow and I will be dragging out the yarn for my son's blanket. Every time we are near the yarn section at the store he hunts for a green yarn and reminds me that he really wants me to make him one.

I had a slight accident with my needle keeper this morning. I was enjoying the morning, sitting out back drinking a cup of coffee, stitching and watching the kids play. When I got up to make breakfast the magnet stuck to the metal board I keep my pattern on and it kept the back magnet while the front decorative part was pulled free with the hoop and flung against the sidewalk. The magnet glued to the back popped off. I was so worried that the front piece had suffered some damage but luckily it did not. A few minutes heating up the glue gun and I am back to working order and you can hardly tell there was any issue unless you study the back piece. All's well that ends well, I guess.

Nooooooo!

Don't you hate it when this happens!? I have a little more than one row to finish on the iPhone case and I ran out of the lighter color. Now I thought no big deal I'll just look through my stash and anything I have kitted up already to see if I can steal one length of floss to finish. I was in shock that out of ALL the floss I have purchased and the many multiples I have accumulated that I just happened use the one color I only had one of. I was sooooo close! This would have been first cross stitch project in years for me to have actually finished. I made a few ornaments, a wedding sampler and a pillow way back in high school but haven't worked on cross stitch since, until last year when I started Sleepy Hollow. After work I will be hitting the craft shop in hopes that they will have the color I need. If it all works out I'll have a finished case tonight to show you.

Page 3 almost done

I figured it had been awhile since I posted a picture of the SODA pattern inhale renamed Aidan and Elora. So, before I have completed the whole thing, here it is half way through page 3. I love that needle holder by the way. I purchased it a few weeks ago and was a bit worried about how it would stay on. I didn't want anything that would mark the fabric any way. It doesn't. : )

New iPhone case!

I have been wanting to get a new iPhone case for awhile now. My old one is getting pretty beat up looking and the rubber piece that goes around the camera lens slips out all the time, drives me nuts. Anyways, I have been on the lookout for a perfect case. I can spend tons of money on crafts but on other things I drag my feet on committing to a purchase, especially if the old one is still semi functioning. As I was walking through Walmart the other day I came across the new cross stitch iPhone case kits! Perfect! I snagged one up and thank goodness my hubby was there because I grabbed the wrong version. I didn't even think to check that. So after a quick exchange I was half way to having a new case. After work last night I started stitching it while watching Coupling. (That show is absolutely hilarious btw. Wish BBC made shows that lasted longer than a couple of years with a handful of episodes). I didn't use any of the patterns that came with it or the threads. After hours online in search of a pattern I just decided to wing it. Enough rambling. Here's a picture of the case after last nights progress.

It's not a Tuma...

Woohoo! Results are in and it is not a tumor. The calcium was reabsorbed and the bone was filled in with soft tissue. I am thinking hat means scar tissue. I do have a stress reaction in the fourth metatarsal and they said rest should cure that. This is great news. Although I would definitely live an extended amount of time off from work that is definitely not the way I'd like it to happen.

1 year follow-up...

Well it has been a little over one year since I had surgery on my foot to remove a benign aneursymal bone cyst. The bone was cleaned out leaving an eggshell thin bone layer which was packed with calcium in the hopes my body would reabsorb it and create new bone. Unfortunately it appears my body decided it likes having the equivalent of a hole in my foot because the calcium is gone and there is no bone to be seen. I still have pain there that shoots down the two little toes and extended walking is painful as the foot feels like it is having spasming muscle cramps and it swells up. So this has resulted in another MRI to make sure my body only just reabsorbed for the hell of it and not because the tumor is trying to grow back. I got the initial reading from the hospital radiologist which states there doesn't appear to be a recurrence but there is some stress reaction on the fourth toe. To me that explains the pain and that there isn't a need for immediate surgery. I will wait till I have my results from my specialist though before i get my hopes up, since I had the tumor back in 2008 and it took them until 2012 and about 4-5 X-rays for them to notice it even though I was complaining of pain and pointed directly at the point of origin. The 2008 X-ray showed it clearly too. I wasn't a happy camper. The tumor wasn't as dense back then either so it is possible they wouldn't have had to remove quite as much as they finally did. This from the same people that told me my foot wasn't broken and I must just be having muscle issues and sent me to another specialist who, when he put the original X-ray on the board asked what the hell were they thinking? I could see from the chair across the room that there was a break, immediately above the tumor i might add. By that time I had been walking on the break for two and a half months and each time it tried to heal I was rebreaking it. Overall it was 2 places to miss the break and 3 places to miss the tumor. Now before you think our hospital is full of incompetent idiots let me assure you that that isn't the case. I just have some really really crappy luck. So I anxiously await the call from the specialist.

In the meantime I have been working more on my two cross stitch projects. I have finished the horseman and tree and am filling in the moon. After that it is the top border, top half back stitching and beading. I can see the end but I have been working more on Aidan and Elora's because it is portable and the last two weekends we have been away from home. I am excited to note I have finally found something I can do in the car without getting carsick. I have tried reading puzzle books, crocheting, handheld games, etc and each one of them leaves me ill. So with some trepidation I packed my travel bag with the small project and I got more than I thought I would finished and not once did I turn green. Page 2 is done and I have started page 3. At this pace this one will be finished before Sleepy Hollow lol.

Last but certainly the best, last weekend we celebrated my daughter's 3rd birthday. I have been blessed with two amazing and beautiful kids. I love them more than I can put into words. We took her and her brother to the zoo in Tucson. On the way there she kept asking if she would get to see the 'raffes and the monkeys. Too cute! I love hearing her attempting to say giraffes. Watching her was priceless. Her brother and her had a blast playing together and I loved how they would hold hands to run to the next exhibit. Here is a picture of her after blowing out the candles.