Slow Weekend

With the rain and the cold, I didn't really accomplish much this weekend.  I work up Friday morning with nausea, making for a rotten day.  Saturday consisted of heavy rain, so I didn't go out.  Today, I was just feeling blah, so I just stayed in and stitched.

I did start some planning for a vacation to the number 1 item on my bucket list - Australia and New Zealand.  I have picked out a cruise that will make multiple stops in New Zealand, followed by several stops in Australia.  This will be a 16 day cruise in November.  Since I don't know whether I will feel like traveling in the future, I decided to tackle number 1 this year.

I did get some stitching done over the weekend.  Here are my progress pictures.

The Nativity by Glendon Place:

Edwardian Garden Party SAL:

Circe, the Sorceress from Passione Ricamo"

 

My Laptop is Here!

My new laptop arrived yesterday.  I spent most of the day yesterday installing software and getting everything configured.  I used it this morning to print some shipping labels on the big printer in the office.  Much easier than running up and down the steps between my desktop computer and the big printer.

I managed to get in touch with some friends that I hadn't talked to in years.  It was good to catch up on things.

I also did some more stitching on the Edwardian Garden Party SAL  Here is my latest progress picture:

Summer Planning

The Needle Arts Mystery Retreat will be held in Phoenix, AZ this year.  Mike and I are thinking about driving out there, seeing a few sites, and attending the retreat.  I have gone to two previous ones in Nashville, TN and Columbus, OH.  We really enjoyed those two retreats, so I think we may go this year.

Since we will be driving out to Arizona, I think we will spend some time at the Grand Canyon.  I'm not sure what other sites we will see.  I plan to stop at Silver Needle in Tulsa, OK on the way out.  Mike may want to stop at a few bicycle shops along the way.

On The Nativity, I stitched the bottom of the angel's gown and started on the bush behind Mary.  Here is my new progress picture:

I can no longer get all my stitching on the scanner bed.  I will soon have to move the fabric in my frame so I can stitch on other parts of the fabric.  To give you an idea of size, my completed stitching is currently 13 inches wide and 6 inches high.

Good Day for Stitching

It turned out to be a very good day for stitching.  I really didn't feel like going out or doing anything because of the chemo yesterday, so I stayed in my den and stitched a good portion of the day.  Today's piece was the Edwardian Garden Party SAL.  Here is my progress to date:

I did quite a bit on the tree and stitched Miss Lydia's face and hands.  I like to name the characters in the picture and give them a story.  My first guest at the garden party.is Miss Lydia Helmsley.  She is the only daughter of Baron Neville and Lady Agatha Helmsley.  She came to the party hoping a certain young man would be there and pay court to her.

I learned that my laptop has finally shipped.  It is coming direct from China.  You'd think that HP would at least warehouse them in the US.  It's too much to hope to find anything manufactured in the US anymore.

While I've been working on my computer today, my friend Shadow has been sitting on the back of my chair.  It is difficult to get a good picture of a black cat.  Especially when she doesn't want her picture taken.  She has grown up to be a beauty.  She'll be two years old in April.

Chemo is No Fun

I had my biweekly treatment with Avastin today.  It took them multiple tries to get an IV started.  Again!  My veins have gotten so tiny with the cold weather that they blow out easily.  I will have some pretty bruises tomorrow.  Oh well, they finally got the IV started and I got my treatment.  It took longer to get the IV started than it did to deliver the Avastin.

I fell asleep in the car on the way home and then took a nice long nap.  I don't know what is so tiring about sitting around all day, but I always come home from Duke completely exhausted.  It will take me the weekend to recover.

My new laptop still hasn't shipped.  I wonder when they will ship it to me.  I want instant gratification, but I also want what I want.  My only choice to get the laptop I really wanted was to order it online.  So now I sit waiting for them to ship it.  :( 


I did get a little stitching done on Circe between last night and this evening.  Here is the progress picture.

Tomorrow, I will work on my SAL piece.

Slow day

Today was not as bad as they were predicting.  The freezing rains were light.  The roads weren't icy in our area and Mike was able to get out to the post office for me.  However, I decided to stay in all day.

Shadow spent a lot of time at the front door, watching for the UPS man.  I tried to explain to her that he wasn't coming, but she didn't listen. She got so used to him coming by before Christmas that she expects him to say hello to her every day...

I did some stitching on the cow in The Nativity.  Here is my latest progress picture:

Rain!

Seems like all it did today was rain!  It was gray and dreary all day.  My backyard looks like a swamp.  It was the perfect day to stay in and relax.

Today, I stitched on my SAL piece.  I am down to the path and I am starting to stitch on the first lady at my garden party.  Here is my progress picture:

I am a Survivor

This little graphic says it all.  I've been through a lot over the last two years, including surgery, radiation, brachytherapy, two types of chemotherapy, and now a clinical trial.  There have been times when I have wondered if it was worth it.  But I'm still here and I'm still fighting.  I will continue the fight to the end. 

In October, 2013, my doctor told me I probably had at most a year to live.  It's now been 15 months and I'm still here.  And feeling better than I did back then.  The cancer may eventually take my life, but it has a major fight ahead of it.

A Bird UFO

While I was going through my stash, I discovered the magazines that contained the patterns for a Songbird Afghan that I started back in 2002.  That poor afghan has seemed like a lost cause.  First, my cat got sick and threw up on it.  I had to clean it to get out the stain.  Then, I stitched about a quarter of a bird before I discovered that I had started in the wrong place.  I had to remove all those stitches and start over on that bird.  Then, I lost the magazines that contained the design.  At least twice, I almost threw out the afghan, but I kept sticking it back in the box.

Today, I found the magazines!  I still like the afghan as much as I did when I first saw the picture in the magazine.  So I am determined to finish it.  Here are pictures of the three birds I have completed and the start of the fourth bird:

I decided to stitch on this today and here is my progress on the Cardinal.

After I finish the Cardinal, there are only two more birds to finish.  Maybe this long-time UFO will finally get finished...

Another Cold Day

It was another cold day today.  It only got up to the mid thirties and that is too cold for me.  Whenever it gets cold like this, my nose starts dripping and my lips get really chapped.  I just do not like this weather.

My husband went to our local Radio Shack to look for an audio cable.  He didn't find the cable, but he discovered that our local store is closing and they have everything in the store on sale at 50-70% off.  He came back to get me and we found all sorts of good stuff - some emergency radios, a Bluetooth speaker, a new wireless mouse, batteries, and other useful items.  Thank goodness I have been making some money on eBay to pay for this bounty.

I also decided to use the money I have made to purchase a new laptop.  It should be here toward the end of next week.  I will be able to take it on trips and use it in other areas of the house.  My Kindle is nice, but it doesn't have all the capabilities of a full-fledged computer.

I worked on Circe today.  Here is the progress picture.

I am getting closer to finished on this piece.  It has certainly taken awhile.

First Finish of 2015!

I have completed my first piece for 2015.  I just put the last bead in Zinnia by Nora Corbett of Mirabilia.

Here are the other pixies I have stitched in the past.

Pansy

Poppy

Ivy

This means that I can start another pixie.  I will have to look through my stash to decide which one gets stitched next.

Brrrrr!

It was COLD today.  When I woke up, it was only 13 degrees.  I don't think it got above 25 all day.  I have never liked cold, but since getting cancer, I am more sensitive to it than ever.

I did go out in the cold with a friend to do some clothes shopping.  I picked up some pants that fit (size Medium vs XL or 1X) and found a couple of outfits for my February cruise.  Tonight, I went over to Michaels for a  jewelry making class, but the instructor never showed.  :(  This class was on wire-wrapped jewelry, a technique I haven't tried.  Oh well.  Maybe another day.

I also got a little stitching on The Nativity completed today,  Here's the picture:

I filled in some of the palm tree trunk and started on the cow.  I'm making slow but steady progress.

Getting Colder!

It started getting cold today.  I think it will get down to 15 tonight and only up to 26 tomorrow.  Brrrrrr!  I don't do well with cold weather.  I think I will spend tomorrow sitting in my den stitching.  Unfortunately, I have to go out tomorrow evening so I will have to bundle up.

Today, I spent some time stitching on the Edwardian Garden Party SAL  I am still stitching on the green background in the top left corner, but I am about a quarter of the way done toward my goal for January.  Here is what I have finished:

Just Nan Designs

Apparently, a lot of people love Just Nan.  I spent the day going through my stash to pull out items to sell.  I posted 40 Just Nan charts on eBay this evening and already 12 of them have sold at the Buy It Now price.  A couple of people have contacted me asking if I have other charts available.  I also sold 8 of the 9 charts I had put on eBay last week to 'test the waters'.  Tomorrow morning will be spent packaging up the purchases and taking them to the post office.

I didn't get enough stitching today to post a progress pic.  I worked on Circe the Sorceress, but only managed to stitch 4 lengths of thread.  Next time I work on Circe, I will take a picture and post it to my blog.

Stash Reduction

I have decided that I need to reduce the amount of stash, at least a little bit.

• I have more stash than I could stitch in multiple lifetimes.
• My tastes have changed over the years.
• I know that I will buy more stash to add to this pile.

Therefore, I am going to post some of my stash on eBay (user ID Alexandyr) to see  if I can sell off some of it.  I decided to start with my Just  Nan collection.  I can't believe how much I collected since the mid 90's and I have stitched very few designs.  Therefore, I spent the morning scanning the pictures and writing them up in Turbo Lister.  I still have several more to finish, but I plan to publish the first batch of 50 patterns this week, hopefully tomorrow.

Here I am trying to reduce my stash and I got an order from Stoney Creek today.  I got their January pattern of the month with buttons and Mirabilia's At the Met.  I will never shrink the amount of stash if I keep buying...

This afternoon, I finished the cross stitching and the backstitching for Zinnia.  All I have left to do now is the beading.  This will probably be my first finish of 2015.  I love it when I can get a finish in January.  It makes me feel a little more positive about the year ahead.

Rainy Sunday

It was warm today, but it was rainy.  I stayed inside most of the day listening to TV and stitching.  Today, I decided to work on The Nativity.  I stitched some on Joseph's robe and staff and then stitched a little of the palm tree trunk.  Here is my progress to date.

Tomorrow will be drier, but I think it will start getting colder.  if cold weather sets in, I'll probably spend a lot of time stitching.  I'm not too fond of being cold.  :)

A Blah Day

Today was a blah day.  The weather was rather dreary and I was feeling kind of down from the chemo yesterday.  I spent the day just sitting around stitching and napping.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.  It's supposed to be warmer although it will still be rainy.

I decided to stitch on my SAL piece today.  I got part of the swing rope and some of the background stitched.  Here is the latest progress pic.

I am making progress, but it's slow going.

Long day at Duke

Today was a long day at Duke.  It started with labwork followed by a CT scan, an echocardiogram, a doctor's visit, and then treatment with Avastin.  Considering that it takes over an hour to get to Duke, that makes for a very long day.

The good news is that the CT scan and the echo showed no change.  None of my tumors have gotten larger and there are no new tumors.  My heart is still nice and strong.  So I can continue taking treatment.  Each month of treatment with no increase to the cancer prolongs my life by a month and that is good.

I did get a little stitching on Zinnia when I got home.  Here is what she looks like now...

I just need to finish her wing and all the beads and she will be done.  Maybe next week.

Happy New Year

Today is the start of the Cross Stitch Collection SAL.  I am stitching the Edwardian Garden Party as my project.  I found the magazine, made a copy of the chart so I can mark off progress, and then got the fabric mounted in a frame.  I then did some stitching and here is my progress.

Not a whole lot yet, but it's a start.  I am starting in the upper left hand corner of the piece.   The design is printed on six pages across three issues of the magazine.  I figured out that I need to stitch 1 page every 2 months or half a page a month.

The Nativity

I also did some stitching on The Nativity from Glendon Place.  The picture on the pattern doesn't look all that impressive, but I love how the colors of floss look against the dark background.

If you compare this picture to yesterday's picture, you'll see that I finished Mary's face and hands and filled in some of her gown.

I hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year and that it is better than 2014.  This will be my first full year of retirement and I have a lot of plans.  I'll let you know more details in the days and weeks to come.