I've been Bitten...

...by the crochet bug!  It's true.  Several years ago, I had a young co-worker introduce me to the world of crochet.  I learned a few basics, crocheted some dishcloths, and returned to stitching.  Over the years, Tumbles has managed to find the dirty dishcloths in the laundry basket and put holes in every single one!  (Naughty cat!)  He's got a fetish for dirty dishcloths and washcloths, weirdo kitty.  Anyhoo....time again to reacquaint myself with my crochet hooks, but I think this time is worse than last time!  I've so enjoyed crocheting as it doesn't strain my eyes like stitching has been doing lately.  For the past couple of weeks, I've been working in cotton yarn making these lovelies for my kitchen.

My favorites are the orange and the pink dishcloths.  I really like the pattern.  All of my dishcloths were free patterns I found online.  Hubby prefers dishcloths to sponges when doing the dishes, so to keep him happy and in business, I made up a whole bunch!  Do you think these are enough?

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One Down, Plenty to Go!

In an effort to work my way through my stitching basket, I pulled out an old friend, LHN's He's a Flake.  Once I got my bearings on him, it took me less than 3 hours to finish, including the time it took me to find beads in my stash closet.  Why did I ever put him down???  Without further ado, here's He's a Flake in all his finished glory!

Just as an FYI, I did substitute CC Cupid for the scarf and planter.  I also did NOT add the beads on the garland on the tree, but did put them on his hat.  I also did 2 French Knots for his eyes.  Did I mention that this was my January 1st piece in 2011???

Next up from the Great Stitching Basket Project is another LHN piece, "Blessed are the Peacemakers" from the seasonal saltbox series.  This is the final piece in this series that I'm stitching horizontally on one piece of fabric.  (Sorry for the quality, but if you click the pic, you can see it better.)

We've had rain for the past 2 days in my part of the world.  We picked up just shy of 4" of the wet stuff.  Hooray for rain in winter and not ice, sleet or snow!  It's been gloomy, though.  This Texas gal needs a shot of sunshine from time to time to sustain me.  Until next time, I'm off to update the gardening blog!

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Onward to 2013!

Since 2012 was pretty much a bust for me stitching-wise, I decided on the last day of 2012, I'd take inventory of what was lurking in my stitching basket.  I don't know what possessed me to do such a thing, but I did it nonetheless.  This is what I found:

Some of these projects have been lurking in said stitching basket for a couple of years (or more).  Two are very near completion.  A couple are about half-way complete.  One only needs a border stitched on it.  One has a mistake that I don't want to deal with.  One is destined to be put up for adoption.  Working on this pile will be my goal for 2013 as well as completing Quaker Friendship Sampler and my PS Birdhouse Sampler. 

Speaking of Quaker Friendship Sampler, I've been working on it!  My final stitches of 2012 were on this piece.  I finished the purple medallion in the upper right and have been working on the rectangular medallion under the green crown.  I tried to get that rectangle finished last night, but it just didn't happen.  Oh well...

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Updates, Updates, and More Updates! (Long & Several Pics)

First of all, I have had little to no motivation to do anything, much less stitch.  For the past 9 months or so I've been feeling very lethargic and somewhat depressed, for lack of a better word.  I thought it was due to the stress of having the husband recovering from heart bypass surgery and subsequently a heart defibrillator implant followed by his roller coaster ride with various heart medications and blood pressure medications. Come to find out that stress associated with all that really had no impact on me. 

In the past few months, I've especially been having some short-term memory problems such as knowing what word I want to use, then immediately forgetting it.  For the past several months, in addition to being lethargic and having some low-grade depression, I've also been having problems concentrating and focusing.  Long story short, my thyroid is more out of whack than normal and I have a cyst on my thryoid.  (I've been hypothyroid for 31 years and have been taking medication for it.)  I finally have a referral to an endocrinologist and will work to get in to see him sooner rather than later.  Now that I know what's going on, I can also start looking into some more natural ways to heal my thyroid, like through nutrition and natural supplements.  Hopefully, I'll start feeling better and become more productive, too.

With all that being said, I have been doing SOME stitching...not much, but SOME.  Some is better than none, right??

This is my latest progress scan of Prairie Schooler's Sunflower Sampler.  I am two thirds of the way finished with it!  It's been a long process to get this far, but I'm working on it.  I think I'm going to go back to a rotation rather than just stitching on one piece at a time.  Maybe I can get more accomplished...if I can remember what I'm doing!  LOL

In the midst of all this, my husband has decided to resume working on his DIY home improvement WIPs.  (He hates when I call them this, but that's what they are!)  One of the main motivators to get these done is that we're refinancing our home and we have to have a home inspection done.  These things have needed to be done for a couple of years, so it's great that he's finally getting them done.

First off, the bathroom project is back on track!  I think with today's work of applying more plaster and texturing the walls and ceiling in a couple of spots, he'll soon be ready to paint!!   Woot!

This is the ceiling where the previous plaster was coming down exposing the termite damage.  Can't see any of that now!  The husband also fixed the crack in the ceiling near the light fixture wiring, just in the top right of the pic.

This is the wall that had the diagonal gash across it from where they put the cord for that hideous retro light fixture.  Also, we put a plug box in where the light fixture used to be and closed up that spot.

Here you can see the texture on the wall.  The husband was doing some touch up work.

Daisy checking out the husband's work (and waiting for Tumbles to get her from the other side of the door).

 

 

The Door Project is also underway.  I didn't know this was going on the project list, but it's also almost completed.  My husband's son and his friend who are both quite handy are here helping to get the door installed. 

Several years ago, my husband busted half of our sliding glass door trying to install a cat door into our enclosed sunroom.  For a quick fix, he put a large piece of cardboard in the door frame with the intentions of fixing it soon.  "Soon" turned into several years.  A few weeks ago, the husband found a very nice, insulated, set of French doors on sale for cheap at Home Depot.  He purchased them and now they guys are installing them.  I tried finding a pic of my cardboard door, but was unable to, so you'll just have to imagine it!

Future French doors for the big opening into the enclosed sun room.  The door is leaning against the opening.  (Please ignore all the junk on the counter!)

Old door from the sunroom to the backyard.  You can see where Tumbles had started chewing the bottom of the window and you can see the rotting wood to the right of the door near the floor.  That wood has been taken out and will be replaced.  Also, this door seldom locked and only shut well with force.

New back door almost totally installed.  It's complete except for the threshold being screwed down.  (That's the silver plate at the very bottom of the door.)  Redoing the outside of the sunroom is also a project for the future.  The scratch marks you see are from the previous owner's dogs!  

Both of these doors the husband purchased at a deep discount at Home Depot.  They were for special orders that customers either refused upon delivery or were never picked up.  Yay for us!  They're both high quality doors, insulated, and steel.  They also have insulated windows which should help keep the heat down.  We'll paint the French Doors, but I'm not sure what color.  We might wait and do it when we paint the den.  Maybe at my next posting I'll have finished pics of the WIPs to show off!

Thank you for sticking with me!  I'm off to pull fabric & fibers for a new little Christmas project!

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Thankful

I pray that all my American friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for each of you, even though it's been sparse posting this year for me.  Life sometimes has a way of taking priority over everything else.  I hope that today you've taken time to rest, relax, and reflect on the many blessings in your life.

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Visitng Some Old Friends

After I completed my little Olympic piece, there were still a few days left to the Olympic celebration, so I pulled out this old friend, 4th of July 2011 by Aury TM. It's a complimentary design on her website, one of 4 patriotic designs she's done in this style.

I had originally begun this last year when all my husband's health problems began. I discovered I was off one thread after completing many hours on it. I gave up in disgust and put it away. Several months ago, I pulled it out again and frogged all that I'd stitched and started again. So far, so good!

With the end of summer upon us and football preseason on TV, I decided to pull out Sunflower Garden Sampler by Prairie Schooler. Last night while watching the 2nd half of the Cowboys game, I did the bird after the V & W and finished the pole for the birdhouse. Now, I just hope everything lines up when I get to the bottom of the alphabet!

Our bathroom project is on hold because we have to wait for the plaster to dry. If you think watching and waiting for pain to dry, try being patient while the quick-drying plaster dries!! Of course, having 200% humidity for the past 2 weeks doesn't help matters any. Now, with Isaac heading closer to us than originally predicted, no telling what the weather will be like for the next week. (I'm several hundred miles north and west of the predicted landfall, but our weather pattern will be affected.)

I know I've talked a lot about little Daisy Doodlebug on my blog, but I am amazed at how she is *still* settling into our home. She has finally gotten comfortable coming down into our bedroom. She now spends an enormous amount of time in the window on my side of the bed in the afternoon, much to Mr. Tumbles' dislike. That's *HIS* spot, thank you very much! Daisy also comes down and jumps up on the foot of the bed, walks up Mark's side of the bed, walks onto his nightstand, and then sits on the windowsill every morning before we get out of bed. If we stay in bed longer than she thinks we should, she walks across his chest and up onto either my chest or side where she plops herself down and kneads and purrs. This afternoon, I had just woke up from my nap and she settled herself behind my knees. That's a first for snuggling!! Woohoo!! She has also started to engage Hannah in play, which Hannah doesn't want to partake. LOL Additionally, Daisy will often interfere on Hannah's part when Tumbles starts to get too aggressive and starts to bully Hannah. Hannah is comfortable with Daisy, but they are not friends by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the time everyone lives harmoniously, but there are times when it gets a bit dicey.

I will leave you with some pics from my garden over the past week or so. The cooler temps have brought out lots of blooms!

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An Olympic Finish & Progress on the Bathroom Project

Flag City, USA
Designer: La-D-Da
Fabric: 32 ct. Autumn Fields linen
Fibers: GAST
Hooray for the Olympics and Team USA!! I have been enjoying the Olympic games and the stitching time it's afforded me. I put the final stitches in this little complimentary project a few nights ago. What a fun stitch!

The bathroom project continues. It's clear to me that it will not be finished before I return to work next week. That means that I will have to continue doing my contortionist act in the shower in the master bath. The hubby got all the plaster in the damaged areas scraped off, the places of sheetrock and cabinetry that were cut filled up, and is now ready to apply the plaster and paper to the ceiling. Ever wondered what it looks like underneath the plaster? That brown stuff is paper. Not sure why it's there, but something about it building the layers of the plaster.

After 2 coats of VERY smelly sealer, this is what it now looks like. It's ready for the plaster and taping.

It's been slow going because these sealers have to dry for 24 hours before you can do anything else with them. Hubby decided to take today off, so the plaster will be applied tomorrow. Maybe we'll be able to start painting on Sunday??

Hannah is wondering why there's plastic and a ladder in her bathtub!

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